Merry Christmas from school!

All I want for Christmas is you, baby! Christmastime is here! Have a holly jolly Christmas! Woooo!

If you can't tell, Christmas is my favorite holiday, so it was very exciting to celebrate in Taiwan where I became the unofficial ambassador of holiday spirit. This is, in part, because of my great love of Christmas. This is also, in part, because Christmas is really not a big deal in Taiwan at all. Everyone goes to work and school on Christmas as if it were nothing. You can find fake Christmas trees and decorations at the stationary stores and in the one mall in the county they were playing Christmas music over the loudspeaker. Many Taiwanese who are Christian go to church on Christmas eve, but on the whole it is definitely not celebrated to the extent that an American or European Christmas is. Therefore, I took it upon myself to hype Christmas as much as possible, because I think it is such a quintessential part of our culture, whether you like the included commericialism or not.

To bring in the Christmas spirit, all of my 20 classes had at least one lesson dedicated to the topic. At the suggestion of my co-teacher Cathy, every class listened to "All I Want for Christmas is You" by Mariah Carey. This was a perfect segue into discussing all of the Christmas references the song makes: stockings by the fireplace, St. Nick and the North Pole, mistletoe, etc. At San Sing Jr. High we also watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966 cartoon version) in all of the eighth grade classes. In English clubs we played Christmas bingo. Key awkward points in the lessons came whenever the movie mentioned the Grinch's dog Max (my co-teacher's name is also Max...) and when I explained mistletoe to my students and then the boys and girls (8th graders, mind you) asked for a kiss from Jill Teacher. I also made gingerbread cookies and fudge to share with all of the teachers at both schools, so they could experience some traditional Christmas foods. While making cookies 7 at a time in a convection roaster is not ideal, the excitement on their faces when they found out I had made the cookies for them was really great!

Obviously the best part of celebrating a holiday in a foreign country, though, is not what you bring but what you can observe. I already mentioned that Christmas isn't as readily observed as it is in America, but that is not to say that some people won't still decorate for the holiday. As a "Christmas present" to me, my English club at Xin Zhong asked Cathy to make me come late to class. When I got there they had drawn a Christmas mural on the chalkboard. Xin Zhong also, unlike San Sing, had every homeroom decorate a Christmas tree. Some were small, others were large. Everyone had cards tied to them with the students names and (I think...) wishes. They also had the most random assortment of ornaments and garlands that I have ever seen. Amongst Santa Claus ornaments and traditional balls were Frankenstein heads, Easter eggs and jack-o-lantern garlands. This also seemed to be completely normal, so I had to be very careful in talking about the trees in front of my co-workers. There is just something so endearing about the all-holiday tree, though, and the apparent normalcy of such an idea that made Christmas in Taiwan so worthwhile.

As for myself, I celebrated the holiday following my usual Thursday schedule. Over lunch, though, I went to the orphanage for a small service and a feast of Mexican food. Nell, Jamie, Jamie's boyfriend Dan and I went to Christmas Eve service at the local Catholic church (same hymns, different language). And a bunch of us did Christmas dinner together at a local Japanese barbeque restaurant. The 16 of us also arranged a gift exchange and had our own Christmas party that started in my apartment, wandered up to the roof and then down to the bar below our apartment. It was nice to be able to spend time with our make-shift family of Fulbrighters, as we couldn't be home to celebrate. And though we were missing Mary who went home to celebrate in America, our Fulbright family was able to put together a great time full of laughs (Brittany's mom led the dancing!). That being said, I'm looking forward to Christmas next year with my real family!

View from My Window

I spent another great (and busy!) weekend in Luodong. Friday Faith, Mary and I went to the National Symphony Orchestra String Ensemble concert in Yilan. It was a great performance, featuring Vivaldi's Four Seasons.

I taught my third class for the Talented English Program at Guo Hua Junior High School in the morning (we made pancakes and scallion pancakes), and in the afternoon Faith, Brittany and I went for a walk in the park. We joined Nell and Mandi for dinner at the Thai restaurant, and then went to Luodong Senior High School to see Adam's concert. He sang a beautiful solo in Chinese and Taiwanese, alongside elementary and junior high students currently studying piano, violin and pipa.

This morning, Faith, Nell, Brittany and I went to the orphanage for church and to help with the babies. We met Debbie for lunch at the vegetarian restaurant and had dou hua for dessert next door. And after a short nap, we struck up the festivities again to watch Home Alone, eat hot pot and make scallion pancakes.

Unfortunately, I don't have many pictures from this weekend, so instead I figured I would share this collection that I have taken over the past few months. My apartment building, Guan Tian Xia, is the tallest in Luodong. The name means "View of the world," and, in fact, our view of the world from the apartment is incredible. We are located on the corner of the building: one side overlooks the sports park (nicest park in Taiwan), while the other side looks out on ride fields. In all directions you can see the mountains in the distance, and, if you look carefully, you can also pick out other local landmarks like the temple with the giant golden land god on top of it. Additionally, the sky is so incredible -- sometimes very clear, othertimes with brooding clouds -- that I've just had to take pictures. So now, enjoy some of the sights that I get to see every day!

From the top: view of rice paddies from my bedroom window; clouds as the sun sets; the mountains on a clear day; looking down at the field across the street (note the foot prints from the farmer planting seeds); overlooking the park on a clear day; a view of the park on a rainy day; another view of the rice paddies.

Up Yangmingshan and Back Down

Beth's parents came to visit the over Thanksgiving, and joined us the weekend before for the dinner sponsored by the American Institute in Taiwan (essentially the American embassy) for Fulbright scholars. On Saturday, I set off with Beth and her mom up Yangmingshan. Beautiful weather and incredible scenery! (Note the Chinese characters engraved in the rock that have been mossed over.)

We took a bus up the mountain and hiked for a little bit at a waterfall. What is impressive about national parks in Taiwan is the access. People were climbing right up in, on and around these very slippery rocks right next to the waterfall. In America, that would have been roped off, for sure!

It was also pretty interesting that on nearly every flat surface, you would find an old person sleeping. We spotted this lovely pavilion amongst the trees, but as we got closer, we found that an old lady had camped out underneath it. With most, it was unclear if these were temporary shelters as they enjoyed the peace of nature, or semi-permanent encampments of a number of homeless people. I'm inclined to guess the first, as it was such a common picnic spot, but it was still very strange to walk up to a public area that felt as though it belonged to someone.

Then we followed a trail past these beautiful vantage points and arbors.

The views were really stupendous! And even though it was November, the weather was quite warm and pleasant. I think it really added to the whole day!

After walking down the trail, we arrived at the "Flower Clock." I had been particularly interested in finding it after discovering a sign that pointed the way, and when we got there it turned out to, indeed, be a large clock made of flowers. Still pretty cool, though!

Then, after hiking and exploring the park for quite a while, we walked down a hill and to the end of a drive just because it looked pretty, only to find the first house that Chiang Kai'shek lived in when he originally came to Taiwan. It was gated and seemed abandoned although possibly under renovations. It is currently part of an artists' residency complex.

And here is probably the gem of this weekend: we went to a club on Friday night but when we got there, it was closed. We couldn't figure out why, but met some people who told us that the police were in there and that it would open shortly. In the meantime we decided to go for a walk. When we got outside, all of the empty police cars were right there, so we decided to take a picture with the police cars. So after we caused what can only be assumed to be a scene, we turned around and realized that there was a police officer sitting in the car in front of us! Yikes!

Taipei Zoo and Advanced English Class

Brittany and I had a chance to go to Taipei Zoo in November with a group of kids from Guo Hua Junior High School in Luodong. The students are part of an advanced English class for gifted students that meets on Saturdays. In addition to the trip, I am actually teaching three classes to these students -- last week, today and next week! They are a great group of middle schoolers and getting to know them has been a blast! Last week we "studied" Christmas (they watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas), this week we made salsa and next week we're comparing American and Taiwanese pancakes.
So back to the zoo, we had a pretty cool trip. It was a beautiful day (high 20s in November!) and the zoo is very nice. They had to write reports about endangered animals, which was the main focus, but we saw a whole bunch of different exhibits.

One of the coolest was a butterfly garden. Not only were the butterflies all over, but they could be very easily induced to landing on people by holding out a finger.

It was also beautifully landscaped with increidble flowers. The whole exhibit though smelled faintly of slightly rotten fruit, as huge chunks of pineapple were placed on posts for the butterflies to feed on.

What makes Taipei zoo really interesting, though, is the huge dedication to poop. I've never seen anything like it! Between the McDonalds and a bathroom, there was this display which included a poop climb-through statue and smaller poop statues decorated to look like other things. I found the double poop ice cream cone particularly funny!

The students found it funny that Britt and I wanted pictures in front of the poop statue. I told them it was for my mom.

New meaning to "giraffe poop!"

The students found this in one of the vending machines and were laughing and joking in Chinese. Brittany and I asked them to explain, expecting it to be some obscure Chinese humor, but they had just mislabeled the prices, saying that you could get the item "on sale" for more than the original cost. It turns out we also got that joke...

But this is my favorite picture of all. Right as we were about to leave, headed for the exit (after having bought a poop purse in the gift shop, obviously!), we came across this sign. It was hanging over a bathroom. It might be hard to see, but on the right there is definitely text that says "Gather your feces." So I don't think that's a misinterpretaton of the English, it's just a weird thing to say!

The Taiwanese Life

I've actually been a terrible blogger lately (surprise, surprise!) and have not been very good at updating, despite the constant reminder on my Google calendar to post at least once a week. I've even tried to be better at bringing my camera places, but life has been busy here! So the next few posts will be pictures from the past month or so.

This entry (with all pictures borrowed from friends!) is entitled "The Taiwanese Life" because it highlights my scooter and a KTV party.

First, this picture is from Bonnie's visit to Yilan from Taipei (she is another Fulbright grantee doing research on mental health stigma) for our Thanksgiving party. When I picked her up at the bus station, it was only the second time she had ever ridden on a scooter, so we had to commemorate the event with pictures! Note: This photo really only shows an adapted Taiwanese life. If I were truly living a Taiwanese life, my scooter would double as family mini van with at least three kids and the family dog also squeezing on for a ride. No lie.

Next: KTV.

KTV (karaoke) is a huge phenomenon in Asia, as I understand, and Taiwan is certainly no exception! A bunch of teachers from one of my schools (三星國忠） got together for this party last week. Peter (on the right, holding the blue microphone) has been doing his military service in literacy promotion at the school, but he will be done in another week. So what better way to say goodbye than with gut-wrenching love songs set to hideous music videos from the 80s and 90s? (Actually, there is quite a large range of music, but those videos are the best!)
Angus made sure to keep the flow of English songs pumping (I believe we are singing "A Whole New World" in this picture...), but I quickly found that it was actually great practice to read along with the Chinese songs! I even learned a few new characters from listening and trying to sing along! (The only curveball is when a Taiwanese song comes on. The characters are the same, but the pronunciation is veryyyy different!)

All in all, though, it was a very fun time! For some reason, though, the men seemed to end up singing a lot of the female parts, and often sang duets together. I think they just really love to sing!

The Home of God's Love

Last weekend Brittany and I went to a wedding with Mary at a restaurant near Guan Tian Xia where we met Debbie, a local English teacher. She invited us to go to church with her the next Sunday (today) and help at the adjoining orphanage. Curious (past Fulbrighters have volunteered at the orphanage), we said yes. And that brings us to today.

We met Debbie bright and early outside of our apartment. After a beautiful drive through the country side, we arrived at the church and orphanage. Actually, the church services are held in the orphanage's multi-purpose room. We followed Debbie through a door and into a living room with babies, well, everywhere. There are currently 19 babies in the home, to be exact. Some are awaiting adoption, while others will grow up at the orphanage because their mothers didn't consent for them to be adopted. Either way, everyone there was so dedicated to these children.

I was surprised to enter the kitchen and see a slew of American faces. One couple was there with their daughter who had been adopted two years ago from the orphanage. On Tuesday, they will take home a beautiful baby boy, as well. Another family of four was there not to adopt, but to volunteer. Earlier in the fall when the orphanage was overwhelmed with 25 babies, they fostered two at their home. The children, Abigail (5) and River (7), compassionately played with the babies and spoke of one of the foster babies as though she were a little sister. "Look! She's on her knees! All by herself! She's never done that before!" River excitedly showed his mom, as Grayson, the baby, started to pull herself up on a leg of the counter.

So, it was overall just a pretty awesome experience. We'd bounce from kid to kid, keeping the walkers out of trouble and everyone from crying. I ended up with one little boy, Gao, by the end because he wouldn't stop fussing. After some rocking he fell asleep in my arms just in time for the 11 o'clock feeding. I couldn't wake him up, but Judy, the nurse, advised that sometimes he'll eat in his sleep. She said he's a failure to thrive baby, but if you hold him right he'll eat. And I got him to take the whole bottle while sleeping! (I also tried to burp him while sleeping, but ended up just holding his head in my hand as he continued to sleep sitting up.)

I think the experience was so interesting, because it was a very different view of adoption than I've ever had before. I've only ever known people who were adopted or wanted to adopt. But here, I got to see the other side -- the behind the scenes of adoption. The mass organization necessary to care for so many babies didn't diminish the love and attention each one had. Records were carefully kept about who had eaten how much and when and that their diapers were changed. And even the family adopting a child still pitched in at the orphanage. But I think the collage on the door spoke the biggest volumes. This is a small scale orphanage...only about 220 adoptions in several decades. But there were pictures of Christmases, birthdays and high school graduations. Those families remember the orphanage and are remembered at the orphanage. So instead of a stepping stone between families, it is really a community. For those who are not adopted, Judy said, many in college will come back on weekends just to hang out. This is the family they have grown up in. How amazing that potentially very sad situations have turned into such a positive community!

Not as easy as ABC: Uncovering a Taiwanese Classroom Mystery

So the other day as I was sitting through 8th grade English class taught in Chinese, I noticed that my co-teacher was reading off the answers to a worksheet in a rather strange way. As she rattled off the answers, "D" was missing! In it's place was a strange sound more like "joo," but sometimes life is strange in a foreign country, so I dismissed it.

On Monday in Chinese class, an exercise sparked the memory, so I asked my Chinese teacher. She started laughing and explained that it is very difficult for the Taiwanese to distinguish between "be" and "di." Since "di" is Taiwanese for pig, they translated it into Mandarin -- "zhu" (pronounced "joo"), hence the strange sounds. So in Taiwan, I guess to learn your alphabet you have to learn your A, B, C, pigs.

Happy Birthday, San Sing Junior High School!

San Sing Guo Zong (San Sing Junior High School), one of the two schools at which I teach, had their 50th birthday celebration on Saturday! The teachers have been very busy for the past few weeks to prepare for the occasion, but when I would ask what the celebration entailed, I could ascertain very little information. I did learn that there would be speeches from 830 to 1030 in the gym, and then a teacher told me that at 1130 "we sell things...french fries."

So with little to expect other than french fries, I headed for San Sing with my host mom, Janet, and her son Tom. Janet is also a junior high school English teacher, and she actually used to teach at San Sing before taking a job at a school in Luodong so she could spend more time with her son.

The day was drizzly, but as we pulled up you could just see swarms of people milling around the school. We missed the speeches (fortunately), but made it just in time for what seemed to be a small fair. Each homeroom arranged a tent on the tennis courts and sold all kinds of food from boba tea (iced tea with these chewy tapioca "pearls" in them) to "pizza" (ham, pineapple and cheese melted on a piece of white bread) to chicken nuggets.

As a teacher I was given 50 NT worth of tickets to use at the booths. I had intended to wander around the stalls and choose what looked most delicious (my taste isn't all that Taiwanese, still), but as soon as I set foot on the tennis courts I was heralded with calls of "Jill! Here!" as my students tried to sell me their wares. I would up buying boba tea from 804 and chocolates from 801, as well as a piece of black sugar cake from one of the 7th grade homerooms. It was very hard to decline a lot of the offers from my students, as they were so excited to see and interact with me (or maybe they just wanted to make the sale). Either way, I like to see them trying to use English to communicate with me. It would be easier to shut down, but as two girls stumbled through trying to tell me the price in English, they were thinking and applying what they have been learning in class. And for lower level students like these two girls, the fact that they were trying is so important!

Janet and I wandered and spoke with some of the teachers while Tom ate as much food as he could. Those conversations with Janet, though, were really enlightening. We knew many of the same people -- I knew their English names, she their Chinese. I could relate my observations, while she had a history of conversation and depth. The result of the language gap is huge, but being with Janet helped to bridge a little bit of that gap. (Left: Me with Angus, one of the soldiers stationed at San Sing to help improve English literacy. Angus is Taiwanese, but went to high school, college and graduate school in the US before coming back to do his mandatory military service.)

There were also a few ceremonies and performances, including aboriginal dancers and traditional Chinese opera performers, but unfortunately we had to leave before their big costumed performance. More than anything, though, it was great to see the school decked out and on display. Everyone there just wanted to celebrate the school and the work done there. I feel lucky to be part of such a community!

The State of Taiwan

This has been (obviously) a very political week. We celebrated Obama's election victory on Wednesday with a large Yilan Fulbright gathering over pizza. Many Taiwanese have followed the election and were also as happy as we were with the results. Most conversations go: "Obama, yeah? He is your party? You like him? You vote? You return to America to vote?" They are surprised to learn that we can vote from here by absentee ballot. (In Taiwan you have to return here to vote in person.)

One of the conversations turned, almost immediately, from the joy of the election results to Obama's policy towards Taiwan. Obama, I later found out, supports greater communication between Taiwan and China; McCain, on the other hand, supports arming Taiwan so it can defend itself against China. He is more pro-independence than Obama, so some Taiwanese were disappointed with the results of the election. And while I explained that I like Obama's position on so many other issues that he was the better choice, it is interesting that an election which I had previously hailed as placing us in a better position internationally is actually not always viewed as such by some people in Taiwan, whose issues I am now so surrounded by.

In Taiwan, meanwhile, the highest ranking Chinese envoy to ever visit Taiwan met with President Ma this week. He did not call President Ma by his title, thus not recognizing Taiwan's government as a sovereign entity. However, the fact that he did visit seems to be a softening of Chinese policy towards Taiwan.

In Taipei, the visit was met with huge protests outside of the envoy's hotel. Police in riot gear had to disperse a crowd so that the envoy could exit a building. These are definitely historical times, not just in America, but also in Taiwan. Read more about it in this Washington Post article.

Superheroes storm Taipei.

As a white American in an Asian country, I've found that I stick out like a sore thumb. In rural Yilan County where I live, just simply trying to order dinner can create a disturbance. (Just last weekend, a waitress at a Thai restaurant was barely able to take our order, despite the fact that we could tell her in Chinese. Seeing five foreigners together was almost too much, though, as she broke down into fits of shy giggling.) Here foreigners are a rarer species, especially if you venture into "local" restaurants and shops and stray from the more famous, touristy areas.

When we have ventured into Taipei, though, the story changes. Foreigners are actually pretty common in the capital, as with any major city. It has been a rather interesting adjustment to lose that sense of international celebrity (coming from small-town Yilan) and shift towards big city anonymity. This weekend, though, we completely shattered this latter idea, though, distinguishing ourselves as minor international celebrities in Taipei, as well!

Halloween is known here as a big American holiday. Many schools offered small celebrations or lessons on the holiday. I, myself, taught a Halloween lesson to the eighth grade at San Sing Junior High School and, played Halloween/English vocabulary Connect-Four at Xin Zhong Junior High School on Halloween day. My students and the other teachers at Xin Zhong definitely got a kick out of the fact that I showed up to work in an orange shirt and promptly put on a witch's hat for the remainder of the morning I was at school. As the resident American, I felt it part of my job to share such a typical snippet of American culture. Such exchange is, after all, part of why I'm here!

After Chinese class in the afternoon, Mary, Paige, Brittany and I set off for Taipei. We planned to meet up with Faith and Nell and celebrate Halloween in our costumes while enjoying the nightlife of the big city. So after finding dinner at a Taiwanese Italian restaurant (cabbage in pasta isn't exactly authentic Italian...) and settling into our hostel (a triumphant return to Taiwanmex), we started changing into costumes. Mary was a pirate, Brittany was a she-devil, Nell was a black cat, Faith was Lucy Liu from Charlie's Angels, Paige was Lara Crofts, and I dressed as Wonder Woman. (We had originally talked about doing all superhero costumes but a few people jumped ship because of the challenge of costuming.)

Once everyone was dressed we headed out for the first bar where we were meeting Matt, a friend of Mary's sister, and his girlfriend, Lydia. We planned to take the MRT (subway), so headed out. Immediately we caused quite a stir as we ran around in our costumes, posing for pictures. Of course, we had to change trains three times to get to the stop we were supposed to meet Matt at, so the scene lasted for quite a while and spread throughout the Taipei subway system, including Taipei Main Station which is always packed.

The bars were fun: the first was a small, local bar that was having a special Halloween party, although we were there early before it was very crowded. Nice to just hang out and play foosball and darts, though, as well as talk to the locals in the bar. We left around 1130, though, and headed for Room 18 which had free admission with Halloween costumes. The line for the club was pretty long, and as we were waiting people would come up and ask to take pictures with me. Inside the club we danced, attracting crowds of people to the American show in the front by the stage.

The next morning we headed for breakfast/lunch at Grandma Nitti's, a restaurant popular in the ex-pat community for it's western food. After an incredibly filling meal of a chicken fajita sub, salad with vinegarette dressing, rootbeer and pecan pie, we headed to Ximen for a little shopping and then Faith and I split off from the group to visit Taipei 101 and, more specifically, the Page One bookstore.

Taipei 101 is currently the tallest skyscraper in the world. The first few floors are a shopping mall that carries a lot of high-end, designer goods from Gucci and Coach to Dior and Louis Vuitton. About five floors up, though, the mall opens into a large atrium, and on that floor, amidst the smells of chocolate and the sights of fine restaurants, you will find Page One. This is one of the bookstores that carries a lot of English language books and a must-visit for ex-pats like us. Faith and I joked that the Fulbright is great, because almost any of us would visit Taipei 101 seemingly to window shop, but in reality spend most of our time scouring the shelves in the bookstore.

By the time we finished at 101, Faith had to go meet up with her relatives, so we headed back to the hostel so she could get her bags. As we traveled through the subway, though, we noticed that people would stop and stare. One guy outright recognized us from the club the night before and as we rode a train from City Hall to Main Station, another guy looked at me and said, "Wonder Woman?" All of a sudden the stares seemed to make sense: people recognized us from our spectacle the night before!

Brittany and I stopped for a while in Starbucks to rest and enjoy a cup of coffee, only to discover that Paige, who had met up with a friend that afternoon, was also in the same Starbucks but a floor up. We joined her and Lobsang, a Tibetan currently living in Taiwan, and after some more lounging, decided to head for Indian food in Ximen. After a delicious dinner, we wandered through the Ximen night market where I was stopped by a silhouette cutter who offered a free silhouette so that he could draw a crowd. And draw a crowd he did, singing and making me dance while cutting my silhouette. My favorite sang that he sang was "La Bamboo" (actually "La Bamba")! All in all, an excellent weekend in Taipei!

We share the morning. We share the milk tea.

Tonight we went to National Yilan University to see Lu Guang Zhong, a Taiwanese singer whom Adam is in love with. We sang this song, "Dui-a Dui-a," for our host family performance and it was definitely the highlight of tonight's concert!

After an ridiculous amount of talking and four warm-up bands, Lu Guang Zhong played this as his third song. The crowd went as nuts as a Taiwanese crowd apparently goes -- people actually moved a little (but I still wouldn't quite call it dancing) and the whole gym floor started to bounce with the chorus. It was a little scary, but still pretty cool. Plus, there is nothing like seeing Adam's face when he is really excited! So here: enjoy the Breakfast Song!

I was kidnapped by turtles and woke up at a Lil Jon concert.

What the weekend. It started bright and early Saturday morning as we set off for Turtle Island, which is a nature reserve off the coast of Yilan County. We have seen the island from a number of different vantage points on shore and were excited for the trip. It turned out to be one of the most long and arduous trips of which you could possibly conceive.

After a half hour boat ride to the island, we arrived and set off to climb the mountain. 1706 steps. The combination of dehydration, a lack of sleep, a choppy boat ride over, greasy breakfast and tequila from the night before all combined to create a perfect storm in my stomach such that every 50 to 75 steps I made Nell stop to make sure I didn't throw up. Still, we kept pushing and finally made it to the top! Views were incredible -- crystal blue water punctuated in the distance by a dark, mountainous horizon.

After our trek up the mountain we wandered around the island's lake and climbed back on board a boat for what we hoped would take us back to shore. Eight of us had made arrangements to take a bus to Taipei in the evening, and as time wore on our hopes of making the bus grew thinner and thinner. Little did we know that we were boarding the boat of doom.

Things started to go wrong when, about ten minutes in, the first passenger fell. A girl started vom-ing and we all got a chill of what the future held for us. As the boat bobbed up and down on huge ocean waves, we tried to find comfortable places, but still, five of sixteen of us ended up throwing up. Most of the rest of us also had some degree of sea sickness, as the boat trekked further and further out into the ocean, looking for the seemingly non-existent dolphins. By the time we expected to head back to shore, we pulled into a harbor, only to discover that it was the harbor at Turtle Island and that we had to pick up even more passengers before making the half hour journey to shore. By that point it was 430...the time our bus departed Yilan. When we finally arrived on shore, there was a definite sigh of relief, but we still had to get our acts together to make it to the concert in Taipei.

Saturday Part II: We took taxis back to Yilan, showered and dressed, and made it on an 830 bus. It takes about an hour and a half to make it to Taipei, so we were pressed for time as we wanted to be at this club, Luxy, by 1020 but no later than 1100 (there was supposed to be free admission before 1100). With some serious mobilizing, we were able to find the hostel, check in, put on our dresses, hail cabs and make it to the club by 1045.

Last weekend we had found a poster advertising Luxy's 5th anniversary party, which featured the American rapper, Lil Jon. None of us expected much of the concert, but it actually turned out to be a great concert and awesome night. After some pregaming at 7-11 (drinks in the club are very expensive, so a lot of people get beer or liquor there and drink outside before heading to the club), we went back to the club. By the time Lil Jon came on stage, we managed to elbow our way to the third row of the club -- close enough for his hype man to pour vodka and crunk juice all over my dress and to catch a sweaty towel that Lil Jon threw into the crowd. This might sound like a mundane account, but it was actually a great concert night!

The next morning we checked out of the hostel and headed to find some Mexican food at Amigos. The food was not bad for Taiwan, but we are realizing that our standards for Mexican food have fallen drastically since our arrival. Basically, any refried beans are good refried beans! After lunch, Britt, Paige and Mary went shopping in Ximen and Brett and I tried to go to the Museum of Contemporary Art, but ran out of time. Instead, we ran into this street artist who painted "Taiwanese stories." His pictures were actually quite beautiful, and at only 100NT a piece, quite a deal. He was also a great old man to talk to, sharing story after story, and despite professing to have poor English, we were able to touch on everything from American politics to the Chinese zodiac. And now I have two lovely paintings of flowers and mice for the living room!