Hualien

Hey Party People,

Sorry it's been a while! Hope everyone's doing well. I've been having a great time, as you might have seen on flickr, but I still miss you all! Since my last entry, I've decided to return to the states in December (exact date: December 11), which is a few weeks later than originally planned. I'll be using the time (between the end of November and December 11) to visit Patrick and Lucy in Seoul and then Jeff in Hiroshima and Kyoto. Woot! Anyway, the point is that I'll be home for Christmas, and I'm looking forward to it. If I've learned anything in the last six weeks, it's that I'm a total banana (for those of you unfamiliar with the euphemism, just think about the color of a banana peel and the inside of the fruit...then think about your good friend Maggie's skin...). Taiwan's great, but I miss fresh air, cold weather, salads, Clif bars, and expensive cocktails (they can't make anything right here).

Anyway, the weekend before last was a four-day weekend, and I went to Hualien, Taiwan, a small city on the east coast of Taiwan (Taipei is in the north).


Despite the relentless rain and smelly hostel (Yeah, y'all...I stayed in a hostel. That was the first time and it's going to be the last time that's going to happen.), it was great fun, and really beautiful--sand, surf, and mountains! Plus, I had awesome company. :D Yay, Diana, Alex, and Dave! While we were there, we visited Taroko National Park, which was breathtaking (literally...the trails are really steep), and almost got stranded atop the mountain when we misunderstood the bus schedule. Luckily, some nice people at a neighboring hotel took pity on us and gave us shelter from the rain, a discount on dinner, and had a driver take us to the train station to get back to Hualien. Even luckier, we happened to avoid the rockfalls and mudslides that happened early the next morning. Yeesh.









The next day, we caught a cab out to JiCi/JeeChee Beach, which was a lovely black sand beach with a view of rock cliffs and mountains. True to form, we got rained on while waiting for the bus back to Hualien, and I might have ruined my favorite tunic. Bah. But, everything before that was great. Plus, the food in Hualien rocked and was a lot cheaper than Taipei.

Since our excursion, I've just been going to class, utilizing my gym membership, and hanging out with Jack Bauer, federal agent. Don't hate...I need my American television. Oh, I've also been plotting future escapes to Hong Kong, Seoul, and Kyoto...some things never change, even if you leave the cubicle world.

I miss you, boo boos! xx

You can stand under my umbrella-ella-ella-eh-eh-eh

So, after a mere 4 weeks here in Taipei, I've experienced my second natural disaster--a typhoon! (don't worry--it's just an exotic name for a hurricane, which is just a lot of rain and wind) What's important is that school and work were called off today, which was pretty fun, and a good deal since we've got a four-day weekend coming up this weekend (the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival). It's a pretty big deal, and from what I understand, it's the first four-day weekend in Taiwan history!

For the holiday, I'm heading to Hualien, Taiwan with Diana and Dave (see picture above), as well as Diana's friend Alex, who I haven't met yet. We'll be staying at a youth hostel there, visiting the beach, and hiking at Taroko National Park, a welcome change to the copious clouds of dust and soot in the city.

As for what I'm learning in class, we're on my favorite topic (well, technically, we finished my favorite topic Monday...shopping! Er, guanjie in Chinese.)...my second favorite topic: fooooood! Here's to finally being able to read something on the menu when I go out to eat. And for those of you who are interested in what I'm eating here in Taipei, my last week has been all about xiaolongbao, a.k.a. "little dragon buns" a.k.a. pork soup dumplings--pictured here for your viewing pleasure.

Oh, and I also made friends with a lucky radish (below) in Danshui, a sea-side town outside of Taipei, over the weekend. I'm sure it would have tasted delicious, but things would have gotten awkward.

All in all, I'm pretty into my routine now in Taipei, and I'm finding it really satisfying. I'm also playing around with the idea of staying on for another term at ShiDa (NTNU), which would keep me here till around March 2008. Then again, I miss New York a lot, so we'll have to see. At the very least, I'm extending my stay into the first couple weeks of December (instead of the original plan to stay till the end of November) to visit Japan, South Korea, and possibly China. Woot! Hope everyone is doing well--miss you all like crazy. Check back soon for pics from Hualien! Till then, I've updated my Flickr album...enjoy! *mwah

Kids Who Can't Read Good.

Sorry I've been bad about updating this week, y'all--a lot's happened! I had my first week at school, and it went really well. The first day gave me quite a scare, since I was up till the wee hours scrambling to finish my homework. Homework, people! guh. Anyway, we're speeding along quickly and learning about 40 characters a day--definitely a challenge, but I'm really enjoying it. The teacher is really cool, and very animated, so I don't have any trouble staying awake in class, even though 3 hours of intense concentration takes it out of me. I'm also less than fond of the daily dictation quiz and chapter test every three days(!). Oh well. There are 8 students in the class, most of whom are like me and were raised/born in the states and can speak Chinese, but can't read good and want to do other things good too. We're all 19-26 years old, so there's plenty to talk about, and they're cool kids.

My routine day normally goes:

7.15 AM wake up/shower

8.30 AM breakfast/ride with my uncle Sean, so he can drop me off at the metro stop on his way to work

9.15 AM arrive at school/study before class

10.20 AM class starts

1.10 PM class ends/lunch with classmates/obligatory chattering in English/start homework

3.30 PM gym with Diana, my UNC cohort

5.30/6 PM ride public transportation home

remainder of the night: homework

Thrilling, I know. In other news, I tried stinky tofu of the fried variety (the steamed kind really, really smells like a "steamer"...if you know what I mean) for the first time this week. Up until now, the, shall we say, pungent smell of it scared me, but it was actually really good!

Oh, and there was a pretty big earthquake in Taiwan on Friday morning, around 2 AM. It was pretty freaky, but I was half-asleep and therefore half-concious, so I wasn't all that fazed. My very first earthquake...awwww.

More soon! And as always, pics are up on Flickr. xx