Tidbits from Taiwan

As my Grandpa Mentioned, its been like...a month since my last post, the longest gap so far. Explanation is, its what I predicted would happen at the beginning. As I got busier and busier (yes, its possible, I am busier) posts would lag a little. But I am still here and kicking. So, been building up a post for you all, and pictures too as soon I buy some more memory space in one form or another.

I had a great time two Saturdays ago with my previous Host Family. We had some Tailand Lunch, and then the little bro and I headed to the local A1 Pool Hall and played some games. Let me...forgot the word...yes, emphasize how extravagantly incredible the Taiwanese play pool. So Henry (about 12...I think) beat my a couple times, but it was well worth seeing a kid that age able to play so good. We rented StarWars and watched it in their home, and afterwards headed out to a Korean restaurant, mmm-mmm tasty (remind me to get wheat grain tea).

Sunday was a pretty relaxing day, just got some work done, returned the movie ("Perhaps Love" [如果愛 - Poor Translation on Someone's Part]) and chilled with the amigos watching Schindler's List.

Now Monday, Monday was cool. At 1:00, after a ridiculous amount of paperwork and signatures Elisa, Liz, and I left school 3 hours "early" at 1:00 to head with the Calligraphy Teacher (he now teaches both me and Elisa for 2 1/2 hours on Fridays) to the only left existing Hand made Ink Stick Shop in Taiwan. A dying art, ink stick making is a grulling process of running gobs of scolding hot gooey black through a press several times under the heat and a smell of chinese ingredients then shaping the sticks which then sit for a month to dry naturally. We spent several hours learning the art, and at the end had several beautifully decorated sticks made by ourselves to take home.

Surprise Surpise, Tuesday we didn't have school. So again, I set to work cleaning up some work, studying Chinese (endless), then at dinner time met with Phillip and Paola (half German, half Mexican girl who has lived in Taiwan all her life) to have a German dinner at Tina's 5-story house...its rather roomy. Dinner was scrumptuous and I also had a good taste of German language as out of the 7 people at the table I was the only one with the inability of speaking the tongue. While a had no idea what went on during that conversation for an Hour...Sixty Minutes...Three Thousand and Six Hundred seconds...hem, it was relaxing all the same.

So, I had a sweet weekend trip with Phillip, Paola, and Tina going down to GaoXiong to see Paola's father who lives there. So Friday I headed to Paola and Tina's High School up on YangMingSan Mountain, a mountain renowned for its beauty, and spent the day...in high school. Even though it was a European school, it seemed to be modelled architectually after the norm of a Chinese School, with the hallways outside the buildings and a center hole making it a donut. This European building however, had a roof over the center hole, made of metal that as the day grew warmer began to crack very loudly while it expanded. Small Tidbits, as I said.

After class broke, we grabbed our stuff at the house of Paola and headed to the airport where the four of us hoped on a plane and road the mere hour to southern Taiwan (small country). There we met Paola's dad, a jolly guy with a great German smile on his face.

Over the next several days Philip and I enjoyed free expenses at one of the best Hotels in GaoXiong, must be a fiver, and as a group we explored the river (I found GaoXiong to be prettier than Taipei, sadly) and some of the foreigner night life. But let me tell you, I barely understood a word that weekend...thats what happens when you put four Germans together. Fun though.

Upon our return from GaoXiong Paola's mom met us at the airport and we headed to the American Club, gaurenteed full of foreigners from all over the world and had some nosh. That night Tonia, the exchanger in my district from Texas moved into my current host house, making, for one house, the exchange student count...two. I think they are running short on houses. No fights about the shower luckily, as she gets up 1 hour before I do in the more (ahh sleep).

Wednesday we had a Rotary event where we all learned how to use those Chinese YoYos, I went for the free Chinese YoYo. Afterwards several of us (Me, Mason, Gaston, Frodo, and the new exchanger from South Africa - Clinton) headed toward TianMu to chill at a park or play pool. On the way we lost Clinton to a curfew, and when we finally arrived in TianMu Gaston and Frodo also had to head off because of the lateness. The survivors, Mason and I, headed to the local poolery, and knocked up some balls for an hour or so, chatting and the like. Good night.

Heh, Friday was funny. Paola gave us a call, Phillip and I, and so we headed to the park where they planned to be. As we approached we began to laugh at a group of people all dancing to seemingly no music. The dancing park is normal as old people do it all the time in parks at night and mornings, but these people were dancing hiphop style. What a sight...four Germans and a Chilean gathered around a single boombox dancing exuberantly to German techno in the middle of a soccer field for all to see. So, crazy as we were, Phily and I joined in. We chilled/danced/laughed at ourselves, for sometime and then split up the makeshift-club and crashed in our respective homes.

Saturday, another Rotary event. We made some Rice Triangles, headed to a sweet Aboriginal Museum, watched a wonderfully strange educational movie (...and then Tacaroo the hunter kept running and ran through the 500 years too present Taiwan and became a baseball player...). What the nice thing about that day was we met alot of people, including teachers in Taiwan, ex-exchangers from Taiwan and the like. Later that night after all the Rice-Triangles had been digested, Gaston, Mason, Clinton, Rita (ex-exchanger from Taiwan), and I went to the Tianmu park again to veg-out joined later by Paola, Tina, Lindsey and Lindsey's little sister visiting from the States. We had quick a little party going.

Sunday...suprise suprise, Rotary event. Elisa, Tonia, and my Rotary Club climbed up a mountain in BeiTou picking up trash seeing the scenery. At hikes end, we were disappointed by a lotto drawing and headed to catch some dinner. Great tea, great noodles, and out in the middle of a gorgeous garden with lots of lillies. The Taiwanese worker there gave us a tour after eating of the local plants and the endangered species and not quite sure why as I didn't pick up the reason, sang us several Taiwanese songs.

This week has been pretty chill too. I saw several movies (movie theaters eat my wallet) played some pool and studied Chinese, hip hip! Oh and Friday, got up an hour earlier than I have in a while (5:30AM) and headed to my school to meet my Calligrapher teacher. Elisa, Mr. Lin, and I climbed up the tallest mountain in XiZhi, took some photos, enjoyed the scenery, and hiked down to the school making it back by 11:00 AM for me to start my classes (short trip, short mountain).

Check it! The Mom and Pop (American brand) are coming this Monday for 6 days. I WILL be showing them the country here, travelling around, seeing my friends, skipping school, and all sorts of fun stuff. Can't wait for my new guests. I'll also hopefully have my brother Michael coming this July if that works out for several days as he travels the world on Semester at Sea this summer. While it would be hard to do, I might go over to Hong Kong to see my other brother Nicholas, who is also doing the travel the world thing on the Semester at Sea thing (he is currently on-board working it).

We'll see where life takes me.