Day 63 -- July 26

This morning was an easy going morning. I don’t have class today so I just lazed around a bit and skyped and chatted. It was nice to take a slow morning. I decided that I would go to Tamsui at the end of Red Line. This was a journey on my own and I really enjoyed it. Tamsui is at the northern most stop on the MRT. It actually took about an hour to get all the way the end. It was overcast today with serious threat of rain. It was a quiet area. They had a little park and a small shopping area for me to explore. It reminded me a lot of the San Francisco wharfs except significantly less people. I really just wandered around for about three hours. I found this nice little overhang near the water and sat quietly. It was relaxing. I also went up and down and got a bunch a pictures. There was art all long the waterfront. The pictures do a better job at telling my journey than the words I have.

    When I headed back I was really pleased that I had remembered to pack my umbrella. It was absolutely pouring by the time I made it back to GongGuan. Even with my umbrella I was getting wet. The track was flooding I had to kick off my flip flops so I could move more efficiently. Welcome to tropical islands during the summer. For some reason I felt really tired and went to take a nap. It ended when Johnny called and we chatted for a bit about plans. I think we will probably go see the new X-Men movie tomorrow. The Reno group is also going to meet up for breakfast tomorrow. I think after that Jillian and I are going to break off and go to the botanical gardens. I should have another slew of pictures tomorrow. Alright, time for sleeping!

Day 62 -- July 25

Today was an early day. I was out of the dorm by 9:15, so I could get to the conversation class on time. I really enjoy my once a week class. It really gives me an opportunity to speak Mandarin and to be correct without fear of embarrassment. We are always laughing and I have a good banter going with the teacher. It was fun a bunch of us sat in a group and went totally off topic. We tried talking about our majors and what we were doing in Taiwan. It was a little bit difficult but we made it through. Laoshi was excited that we went off script, she even helped us with words we didn’t know.

    Today’s class was very relaxed, we were talking about time, and words related to telling time. This will be our last class until next friday, I might be going to class on Monday I might not be. It depends on when the boys are leaving for Taichung. I will be going with them no matter what day they leave so if I go to class I do, if not, oh well. I already spoke to Laoshi about is and she is very understanding. I met up with James and Geoff by accident and we all took the bus home. I ended up with convenience store food for dinner, it all works out. I am off tomorrow so I will probably go somewhere by myself. I’m not sure where I am going to explore yet but I’ll figure it out. It’ll be an interesting adventure to say the least. That’s all I really have for right now. Tomorrow’s blog will definitely have pictures of some kind. Until then good night!

Day 61 -- July 24

2 full months in Taiwan! And what an anniversary it was, today was perhaps one of the best days I’ve had on a school day. Talked with a few friends in the morning hen headed off to class. That’s when things got fun. Today was an early class meaning I had to sit through four of class. In our intensive course four hours can be a little bit overwhelming, but Laoshi brought us snacks and coffee to get us through the day. We were all really excited, a little caffeine can make all the difference in the world. Then at the first break Shadia’s boyfriend (Shadia is my Columbian classmate) pokes his head in and says:

    “I hear that you guys have a four hour class, have some jaozi (potstickers) to get you through today.”

He had brought the whole class lunch. It was really sweet of him. By the time we rolled around to the end of break we were all full and content. It was a lot fun just sharing food and laughing with everyone. We also found out that our schedule is getting shuffled and Laoshi is taking another day off because the 12th’s meeting was cancelled due to the Typhoon. So Now I will be able to go to Taichung with the boys, no matter what day they leave. Super excited about it!  We finished out and I headed back to Gong Guan.

    Today was is also Sean’s last day in Taiwan. He heads home tomorrow morning really early. So we planned to go out and get dinner and have a proper goofy send off. It was decided that we would go to Cow Boss. A bad attempt to use English, there was some epic Engrish all over the restaurant. Our food came to us boiling hot and we were just laughing and goofing around. It was a good final memory of Sean. We sat around the table telling stories about epic times wandering the city. It feels like an era is coming to an end, but it is a good thing. Sean hasn’t been home in over a year. He has people to see and places to be. Good thoughts for his flight.

    Today was particularly eventful but it was a fulfilling day, and to top it off Eungyu (Korean friend) just came in to give me a handmade pineapple cake. I will inform you that it was fantastic. I am gonna get myself together and head off to bed. Let’s see what tomorrow will bring.

Day 60 -- July 23

So I said I wouldn’t update until Wednesday but I felt like writing a blog entry, so here we are. Today was  actually quite fun. I am getting smarted and have started buying bread at night to eat for breakfast. I usually don’t make it out of the room until 11 or so but I am awake no later than 8. The time between meals was beginning to take it’s toll. Eating a bunch of random snacks during the day is no way to live, at least not for me. I tend to eat things that are less healthy, though I am always up for some fresh pineapple. Reid, on of my classmates, suggested I buy some fruit on the way into MTC then save it for one of our breaks. I am very seriously considering this option. Now to find a fruit vendor open at 11am...

    Had a good long talk with Johnny on the 7/11 patio. Sometimes it’s just nice to have chats about life and the way things are. Coming to a different country has helped put my views and ‘truths’ into perspective. We also talked about heading to Taichung for a couple of days that we have off. Just escape the city that is Taipei, to big for my tastes but a necessary place to be. Also I have made a decision about my last two days in Taiwan. I finish school on the 21st and have to be out of the dorms by the 23rd. However, I am not leaving until the 24th in the afternoon. So I have decided to split the difference and get a hotel for two nights the 22nd and 23rd. I think sleeping in a decent bed will prepare me for the 15 hour flight back to Reno. My English friend, Alex, showed me a great site where I will be able to buy my hotel for incredibly cheap, 50 bucks a night cheap. I will keep you posted on that end.

    Something I have noticed is the usual places I frequent, many of the vendors now know my name and they also give me discounted prices. I was talking to Johnny about it, he said it’s Guan Xi, or business relations. This word a little bit difficult to translate, but essentially in this case for my it’s customer loyalty. Like today where I usually get coffee, I walked up said hello. We both complained about how hot it was today (which good lord it was hot). She got my coffee going, I paid, (10 NT less than normal price) and I waited for my number. She never gave it to me so I asked her what my number was. She said to me “your number is your name.” I don’t know why but I really like how she said it. Instead of my order being some random number I’m an actual person that was lovely. Sometimes here, you feel a little bit lie an exotic creature. Ayi and Grannies will come up touch your hair or your skin on the bus occasionally, it was nice to have my name identify me.

    Some food for thought in my case. It’s getting late so I will head off to bed. I’m going to keep posting I think even if it’s only a few words. I’ll try to get pictures of new things as best I can. Good Night!

Day 59 -- July 22

Well today was about as regular as you can get. It’s actually a little bit nice having a routine. I’m not sure if anything exciting will happen this week though it will probably change on the weekend. I may not post again until Wednesday. I’ll try to get pictures of something but right now I am trapped in the city. I’ll keep you posted. See you soon!

Day 57 & 58 -- July 20 & 21

So even though I went out with Jillian on Saturday we really didn’t do anything super exciting (more specifically nothing new happened) and then I went home and did homework. I watched a few TV shows and went to bed. I really didn’t feel like you guys wanted to know to much about it so I left that day blank. My Sunday however, was one of the best days I’ve had in Taiwan!

    My day began with meeting Sean and heading out from the GongGuan MRT station, we headed off to Main station. From there we met up with Mikki, we bought our train tickets for Ruifang. We swung into the mall and got lunch in extremely silly sized bowls. Then we were off. to where you may ask, we were going to Jiufen. This place is famous for inspiring the scenery in the Miyazaki film ‘Spirited Away’. It is a small little mountain town, very close to the ocean. It took us about an hour on the train followed by a 30 minute bus ride. The area around was stunning as well. We hopped off the bus and immediately went to find a place to take pictures of the bay. We had decided that we were going to let our inner artists out and get odd and fun pictures. I have some strange pictures that might need a little context.

    The famous red lantern area was packed with tourist, this is the second most famous tourist attraction in Taiwan. People moving, yelling, trying to get us to come buy things. So we hopped off the well worn track and went for a wander in the lower town. We had a lot of fun finding strange nooks and crannies to get fun pictures in. I also personally made a point of trying to help people take pictures. Anytime I saw someone trying to take a self-portrait I would offer to do it. It was actually quite nice to see people’s faces light up at the offer. We found a little cafe and looked out at the temples and just enjoyed the calmness of everything. Something about this place was beautiful, I am thinking that maybe before I leave I will spend a weekend of a night up there and just enjoy my stay. I don’t know yet there are still so many places to go visit.

So this is a wall...

So this is another wall

Miyazaki's Bath house inspiration

    We went back into the tourist area to find a place to sit down and watch the sunset. We found a little quite cafe where I got some ice cream and tea. We drank our tea and just talked for a couple of hours. There is something to be said in just enjoying the sun move across the sky. As the sun started to go down the clouds rolled in so our sunset was a little bit earlier than we thought. I still got some awesome pictures of the sky and the bay. Then we made an effort to find dinner which was a good old standard of beef noodles. By this point the lanterns had started to come on. We swung back by the famous street and got a bunch of pictures there. We decided to head home after that.

    The trip home was much longer for some reason on the train we kept stopping for about 5 to 10 minutes at each stop the the hour long ride became about an hour and half. We made it home all right. This day is best described by the pictures so I’m just going to let them do the talking. Back to the grind tomorrow! Good night everyone.