Dharma Temple and JunMing Art Museum

Orientation and food stuffs

So, originally I had thought that the group and I had avoided the worst of the jet lag, but lo and behold it hit us hard yesterday. I think most of us had a five hour nap around mid afternoon. Good thing we didn't have anything planned for the rest of the day.

Today we had orientation, which consisted of us being introduced to our very helpful student teachers. They speak english very well and are not afraid to correct my Mandarin (which I really appreciate by the way). Speaking of being schooled on my Language ability. We took a placement test today that consisted of sentence construction and listening. I don't think anyone was very confident, but we got our results back all the same. We will be divided up into two classes. Intermediate and pre-Intermediate. I am proud to say that I barely scraped into the Upper division class. (Let it be noted that I was number 3 after the top two-- who are native Chinese speakers by the way...hahaha). I was glad to hear that our class will be forced to speak Mandarin all the time. That is what I am here for, so I am glad we can jump right in.

In other news, the group was treated to a really GREAT meal by the school. We had all of our new teaching assistants and professors there. It was an 8 course meal and it was delicious. We had, beef, gooey duck, bass, chicken neck, sea cucumber, shrimp.... you name it we had it. And, Yes real asian food is so much better that the stuff in the states. I felt like Andrew Zimern on Bizare Foods (its a T.V show btw). I was in heaven. The dinner was filled with some great conversations and interesting moments as we tried to speak with our teachers. For the rest of the day, our wonderful student guides took us into downtown Taipei and we had some very interesting Taiwanese ice cream.

**Say hello to our street vendor breakfast.... Oyster noodle soup. Yes these are real oysters and yes it was delicious.

A walk around town, Day 1

Well, that was painless...

As usual the plane trip went very well. For some unknown reason I really like airports and flying across the globe. This might seem like a no brainer, but you see I am a tall fella and, you may not know this, but the seats on a plane are very small. This is not a good combination. But, for me I like it all the same. I find the trade off between comfort and adventure more than worth it. I suppose seeing all of the people and getting to hear the snippets of their conversations gets me excited. I especially enjoy overhearing spanish conversations. No, it isn't eaves dropping; it isn't my fault they don't know I speak spanish... ha. No but seriously, there is something to be said about several different cultures all interacting with each other at the same time and through different cultural perspectives and languages.

Plus on this trip I get to see all of the asians with thier own specific cultures and habits. Sure, I get some funny looks in the airport, but I think I am watching them more closely than vice-a-versa. Spend enough time around them and you will get to see their individual differences.. and it is fascinating!

So, the group finally got to the airport in Taipei. No one lost anything and we all found our guides from the university. They by the way have been really helpful, especially to some people in our group who don't speak Mandarin very well. I can already tell it is going to be one heck of a good time here.

We have all gotten cleaned up, and at least I don't feel like a bum. After a 22 hour flight schedule, I have to say: Thank God for Shampoo!!

Packing Up

So, this Sunday I am flying out of Memphis, TN towards Taipei, Taiwan. I will be making a stop in Houston and another layover in Tokyo, Japan. Yeah, I know it is quite a strange way to go, but it gets me there on a student budget. Hey, at least I don't have to deal with the ATL or LAX. Any way. Since, the other students and I are taking seperate flights, we are going to have to meet up at the airport in Taiwan. From there we get a pickup by the University (NTPU). By that time it will be 10 P.M. Taiwanese time and you can bet I will be ready to crash. So that is the plan, now lets hope I don't forget anything.