I Miss Taiwan

I really do.

Page: I'm a Youth Ambassador. Now look what I have done!

When I think back on my last night in Taiwan I wasn't sad or even thinking about how the next morning when I would have to be getting on a plane and coming back home to Dallas. I was out with my host, DEMI, and others friends at the Taipae night market singing karaoke! Every Sha-la-la-la Every Wo-o-wo-o, the signature song! It was a great way to end the trip just hanging out with everyone. When we went back home we said our last goodbyes and took more pictures with the family. They also gave Kathleen and myself a beautiful flower necklace, which we both were not expecting. I began packing my bags to go home to Plano and my once disaster of a room was empty:(

I got back from Taiwan yesterday evening and just now am getting a chance to write in the blog! Words cannot express the amazing memories that I have created and will remember for a lifetime. I have established friendships all with people across the world and a mom, dad, and sisters that I can call my second family. I have not only conceived friendships with the those back in Taiwan, but my fellow delegates as well. I can call these people my good friends and didn't even know them before this trip.

I imagined what it was going to be like but could have only dreamt in my wildest dreams how spectacular it was going to be in actuality. I have learned so much about the civilization of Asia and grown a profound knowledge of the Taiwanese culture. I hope to travel back in the future and maybe even fly up to go see my student graduate next year!

I cannot thank Ms. Williams, Mrs. Sloan, Mrs. Francis, Mrs. Jan, or Ms. Erma enough for allowing me this amazing once in a lifetime opportunity for me to be part of this delegation and a 2010 Plano Youth Ambassador. They have done so much hard work behind the scenes and are not credited, so thank you again! I must also acknowledge and thank the Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce, City of Taoyuan, The DFW Chamber of Commerce, and the City of Plano. I feel so grateful to have been given the honor and gone on this prodigious trip!

Farewell Taiwan!

ryan: :'/

Well it is currently 5:12 AM on my first night back and what better to do with jet lag than write my last blog?

Well saying goodbyes isn't ever easy, but this one was down right difficult. People were crying and taking pictures and getting final hugs and laughing and ....singing? Well we all handle difficult times the best we can and singing seems to have brought this group together through every shalalala and every woahohoh.

The only thing better than the karaoke with my friends and old friends from Taiwan was my last night with my family. Despite my pleads they sent me back with a suitcase full of gifts for my family. The gifts were all very kind and perfect in every way, but the kindest thing that they gave me to take back aside from memories was an enormous card filled with kind words from everyone in their family. I only wish i could return their courtesy in some way. I only wish Allen could come stay with my family in the U.S.

Hopefully we will be able to host new students this Fall and we will be able to grow close with them and amongst ourselves again. I hope i can as good of a host as Allen was to me.

Amalia: Day 10 - Last Day

Today was my last full day in Taiwan. I can't believe it. These days have gone by in a supernatural speed. The days have turned into hours and the hours into minutes - I have no idea where all of our time has gone.

This morning, the host families and the delegation went to a ranch for our good-bye lunch. For the first three hours we just played like little five year olds. Swings, trampolines, "boat" rowing, obstacle courses... what did we NOT play on? During those three hours we also had a chance to say our thanks to everyone. When it was my turn I almost started to cry. My voice was all shaky, my eyes were getting watery and it was all from just saying thank you to everyone. I don't even want to think about how tomorrow morning will be. After we were all done playing around we went and had lunch. OUR LAST LUNCH IN TAIWAN! Once everyone was done we went into the presentation room and danced our dance one last time. We just went crazy *cough* Joseph *cough* but it was cute, we all had an awesome time doing our dance one last time. After our dance a few of us (Mimi, Demi, Allen, Ryan, Amanda, Kathleen, Page, and I) got together to go to the Taipai Night Market. We walked around, bought TONS of stuff (trying to spend all of the Taiwanese dollards we had left), and lastly we ended the night by KARAOKING! It was the best was to end not only end the night, but the trip. Everyone sang, ate, and danced. It was simply amazing. When I got home Mimi's uncle, aunt, and cousins were waiting for me to say good-bye. I almost tried then too. I know I've probably said this about 100 times but everyone here has SERIOUSLY pushed themselves into my heart.

Tonight is the last night that I will ever be sitting in Mimi's room, surrounded by wonderful things and people. It is the last time that I will hear Bach and know that the trash will get picked up soon. Tomorrow when I wake up I will be in my room. I will probably go see family or friends and I'm sorry but what we did in Taiwan TOTALLY beats that. I mean, I ADORE my family and friends but I will miss waking up (even if it WAS super early) and going to a new school. Hearing people cheer, clap, and take thousands of pictures of us as soon as we walk into their school. Seeing Mimi, Matt, Demi, Kathleen, Page, Dustin, Amanda, Ryan, Gena... EVERYONE every single day. I will miss taking the bus downtown and going shopping until late at night every night. Bus rides will never ever be the same or as fun because there will be no karaoke and my crazy family won't be there to crack jokes every two minutes. I will miss trying something new every day. I will miss EVERY little thing about Taiwan. EVERYTHING, even the smell of stinky tofu! All I can say is that these past 12 days have been the best days of my life and that I would never trade this experience for anything in the world. I am BEYONG glad to have been chosen to come, to have gotten such a wonderful host family, that the delegation was filled with amazing people, and that I got the priviledge to make awesome new friends and memories.

All I can says is THANK YOU TAIWAN.

Every Sha-la-la-la, Every Woah-woah-oh Still Shines

So today was my last day in Taiwan. (This time, anyway.)

This trip was the most fun I've ever had. I feel that I've experienced something that not a lot of people get to experience at this age (if ever), and it's really awesome. I've made so many new friends, and I feel like I have a second family in Taiwan. Matt has been such a great host.

This is all very bittersweet. I'm very excited to be home and see Shelley, and all my friends and family, but I will miss the people I've met in the past weeks very much. I'll try very hard to keep in touch with them.

Before I came here I pledged to myself that I would try every food that was offered to me. I am proud to say that I did so. Most of it was delicious. Some of it wasn't. But at least I tried it.

Anyway, I can't express how grateful I am for the chance to be on this trip. I wouldn't trade it for the world. Thanks to the delegation, you guys were great. Especially my crazy family! =D And thanks to the people of Taiwan for being so welcoming and friendly.

This will most likely be my last post, so thanks for reading! ---Dustin---

Dana: What happens if I intentionally miss our flight

I'm just kidding. I would never actually do thet, but it seems a bit tempting. There is so much here that I still haven't experienced.

Today we went to the goodbye lunch. Before the lunch, we got to walk around the ranch type thing we were at. There was this pond with about a dozen rafts in it. Each rafty was made out of about 6 plugged up pcv piped hooked together. We were suppossed to steer it with a bamboo pole. It was harder than it looked, but still lots of fun. I got the hang of it, but lots of other people got their shoes wet. Ryan and Joeseph horseplayed a bit and were responsible for almost knocking most of us off our rafts, but it was all in good fun. We had a blast.

Then, Ryan noticed this over water obstacle course. And what are teenagers going to do when they see a slightly dangerous recreational activity? We did it. All of the girls were in dresses, but we had all worn shorts underneath. It was quite a spectacle seeing all of these girls in sun dresses climbing and jumping. The course was made up of a log we had to balance across, mopnkey bars, and a rope swing. All of this was susspended above water. PAge and I were the first girls to do it, and we felt quite accomplished. I, along with most of the other girls, crawled accross the monkey bars to be sure we didn't get wet. As Amanda was doing so, this crowd of about fifty people walked by and started taking pictures. We really hoped they realized that she had shorts under her dress. She was really freaked out by the rope swing and din't want to fall into the muddy pond below. Ethan promised if she didn't make it accross, he would grab the rope and pull her in before she fell. She didn't make it, and Ethan, keeping his promise, lunged into the muddy water to get her, soaking his shoes in the proccess. It was really sweet that he did that.

Afterward we ate a hot pot buffet, which was delicious. Then we did our dance for the last time. I thought that I would be much sadder than I was. I don't think the reality of leaving had hit me quite yet. I truly enjoy being here. I wich our trip was just a little longer.

After the lunch, my family took me to TaiPei to go to Costco. It was similar to Costco in the US, but it was still a unique experience. First off, it has to floors. Sencondly, it is much more crowded. When I think of Costco, I think of enough room to have shopping carty races. Not a chance here. It was as crowded as six flags during a summer Saturday. I bought all of my favorite asian snacks that cost more in the US. I should have checked my suitcase weight before I bought all of that. Who knew pocky was so heavy?

On the way home, the girls ran into the FE21 department store "real quick." They were there long enough for me to take a nap. They didn't tell me what they were buying and I had a sneeking suspision that I shouldn't ask. I was right. when we got home, they have me wrapped gifts for my family members. =) I'm not alloiwed to open them, so I have no idea what they are.

My mom cooked me dinner tonight. It was AMZING. I'm not a big fan of fish, but this fish was really good. I had not idea what it was, but I ate alot of it. I also found out that there are fruits in existance that I don't like. There is this fruit called a Durian. Its brown and prickly and the size of a small watermellion. Inside, it is yellow and soft. It has a farmiliar taste, but I can't quite place it. It wasn't bad, but I wouldn't eat it if I didn't have to.

I did all of my packing tonight. It took six hours. I pity the poor security guy who elects to randomly search my bags. It will not be an easy task for them to put it all back in the bag. I often woinder as I am packing if the TSA workers have seen it all. I mean I have some pretty weird stuff in my luggage (like a life time supply of Asian snacks), I wonder if everyone has weird stuff in theirs. I really hope that I don't get stopped in security because on an x ray pocky sort of resembles dynamite and hi-chews might look like plastic explosives.

I am really meshing with my family and its a shame that I have to leave =(

Day before we leave

I leave early in the morning tomorrow. Taiwan has been an amazing experience, not only have I tried things I thought I'd never try (like trying iron eggs and taking pictures with so many people) I would like to thank everyone who put this trip together, the ambassadors for making the trip memorable, and of course mrs. sloan and mrs. francis- they put up with everything and made it really fun. My host family was amazing! I feel so comfortable with them, and they treat me like one of their own. My host family said they will visit me this year because their kids are coming to Texas to study in a town about two hours from where I live. I'd also like to thank Loretta because she prepared us and made me more calm about going 17 hours away. I am excited to see my family and friends. I got my nails done today with my host sister, I got a french manicure (so mom, no, you don't have to do my nails tomorrow). I'm excited to wish my dad happy fathers day because he's the best dad. I also can't wait to see my sister.

I will miss Taiwan but know that I will always have another home and family here

Dana: It keeps getting better and better

So I didn't blog last nighty because I was severely ill...more about that later...



Yesterday we went to another high school. Gena and Ryan got cute uniforms, but they only had enough fot two of us =(. But that was okay because what would I do with a uniform anyway? We made dumplings (again..I really good at it now) and met the Mayor. It was absolute chaos with a million flashes and two news cameras. It was so crowded!



After that we went back into this secluded room to rest until we noticed some guys playing soccer. We ran out and asked if we could play, or rather told them we were playing. But that was okay because they seemed to like the attention. It was sooo much fun. It would have been great if we just played sports all day (great for me at least, I think some of my group members would frown on that idea). AFter that we went to several classes. I actually learned something in chemistry. We watched a movie in English about Biomagnetism and it was interesting. In art class we did asian brush paintings. Most of the other ambassadors just doodled but I got really into it. I loved my painting and so did my classmates. They said they would frame it and send it to me. I don't know how that will work out, but I really hope it does.



We did our dance then went to athletics. They have a tug-of-war team. I didn't even know that was a sport. we got to play, but after seeing the team do it, it put us to shame. They were intense! Their hands have enormous calauses (sp?) from holding the rope so hard. In the car ride back to Carol's school I started to feel a little light headed. As Eve and I were waiting for our hosts, I started to see stars. The bus ride home was the longest 20 minutes of my life. I felt like I was going to puke, I lost all color, my right hand and cheeck went numb, I felt dizzy and nauseated, I had a killer head ache, and I couldn't gather my thoughts well enough to speak.



Carol thought it was heat stroke/dehydration, but I had had a TON of water. I'm pretty sure I know what it was but I'm not going to write it on my blog (don't worry, its not drugs or alcohol or anything like that). Anyway, I was hoping it would go away once I laid down for awhile, but when I did, I pretty much passed out from 6:00pm-11:00pm. I felt perfectly fine when I woke up, but it sort of blew that evenings plans. Carol's family was really great about it. They were very nurturing and I felt very safe with them in control.



Today I felt fine, so I went with the group as usual. We made pottery on a wheel, which was harder than I thought it would be. Dissapointingly, we didn't get to keep our pots. Afterward, we wne to the ceramics museaum where we saw this guy whip out pots like it was as easy and natural as brushing his teeth. We ran out of time to go shgopping, so we just went staright back to our families.



Winnie took me straight to thje nail place (we were making up time from me being sick). while waiting for a free nail stylist, we did some shopping and I had the best chocolate doughnut EVER. Everytime I think I've tried it all, I fins a new Taiwanese food that rock my world.



My nails look adorable. They are putting a pic of then on the Salon's blog! They are ruby slipper red with white bows. After the nails, Winnie and I ate dinner at a department store where we ran into Ryan, Gena, Mrs. Sloan, and their hosts and host's friends. Dinner was AMAZING. I had General Tao's chicken and a Bubble tea. the resatraunt we went to was the original bubble tea restaurant.



We then went to the Shu Uemura counter and I sort of had a feild day. What can I say? I can't get it in the US. Then we went to the convienience store wher I stocked up on Buenos, Hi-Chews, and Clean and clear oil sheets. In the US the oil sheets are $4.50 here they are $0.95 US.



We got home, and my family had a wonderful going away gift for me. It had stationary, lemon tea, face masks and the shu Uemura set that I wanted, but decided was too expensive.



I am going to miss this place and my family so much!

Ryan: i scream you scream we all scream for bing qi lin

Pottery: allow me to start of by referring to Amilia's retelling and say that my pottery was far superior to anyone else's. prettiest clay paper weight ever made. And yes, we are both very intelligent and did a super powerful highfive with clay on our hands. Just picture the mud pies you made when you were 5 but on your clothes instead. :) Even though my pottery skills were lacking, my coaster turned out to be very......unique. And it is true that i can't eat sushi. Fish already tastes bad to me, but covering it in seaweed then not cooking doesn't make it appeal more to me.

Museum: not the most exciting place we have been, but super secret missions my my super friends was super. Our guide was very kind and gave out prizes for correct answers. She was also quite informative. spending 10 days cooking a pot before cooking with a pot seems like a lot of hard work. And what do you need a vase 330 cm tall for, a tree?

Amazing Night: although i never got my bing qi lin, the night was with out a doubt the best of my whole trip. Gena, Mrs. Sloan and I were all invited to dinner with the students whom we hosted last September. Despite our protests they demanded to pay for our delicious meals and a rather fun and awkward night or carry-oke (sp? :P).
Seeing those friends we made last Summer kept a smile on our faces all night, and i didn't want to say goodbye. Who knew Taiwanese kids liked Lady Gaga so much. This will be the fondest memory in all of the trip.

Amalia: Day 8 and 9

These last two days have been pretty crazy (hints me not blogging last night). Yesterday we went to Shou-Shan High School where we all got to meet the mayor of Taoyuan. IT WAS FREAKING AWESOME. Kathleen and I got to make fried dumpling with him and the principle of the school! The delegation presented him our presents and he gave each of us pineapple cakes (which are incredibly delicious). The mayor left after about half an hour but Page and I followed him outside to ask if we could take a picture with him. He was being interviewed by the press (which was EVERYWHERE) and next thing we know, we are both being pushed to each of his sides by his assistant. It was pretty cool (that would be our second time being in the news) and soon after the press asked some people from the delegation a few questions. After the mayor was truly gone we all went to class. In was pretty interesting (we went to chemistry, physics, Chinese, and art) but the best class of all was P.E. We got to play tug-a-war with the school's team. HOLY COW, they are so intense (so of course we lost). After school was over, my crazy family (Mimi, Demi, Matt, Dustin, Kathleen, Page) and I went to Taiwan's version of Walmart. All I have to say is that Taiwan's Walmart kicks the Walmart back home's butt. First of all it has 5 stories and a food court. The escalators are the coolest things ever (we played with them for a while...) and they have everthing you could imagine. Bottom line, each off us spent about 500-700 Taiwanese dollars. Once we were done eating and shopping Mimi and I went home, got our stuff, and went over to Demi's for a FULL OUT SLEEPOVER! We had gotten so much delicious junk food earlier (chips, chocolate, gummies, candy, soda, etc) and do you know how much of it we ate? About 1/4th. BARELY ANYTHING, but whatever. We now have a tons of food for the 14 hour flight back home. Ok so we didn't really eat anything but we had so much fun. We hung out with Demi's family, watched the World Cup, helped Page and Kathleen pack, and boy/girl talk for THE longest time. Even though we only got about 5 hours of sleep I do not regret it, we all got even closer.

Today was all about pottery and sight seeing. We first went to make pottery and coasters. The coasters were fun, we just kind of sat and colored. But the actual pottery making? Oh my gosh, total disaster. Let me just start off by saying that Ryan was my pottery making buddy and we were both AWFUL pottery makers; mine kept on ripping, his was just this big ball of goo. Anyways, I have no idea why but we decided to high five each other (our hands were completely covered with water and clay of course) and BAM! I as showered in clay, fun... Anyways, we worked SO HARD on our pots and for what? For nothing, we didn't even get to keep them! Ok so once we were done with pottery we had lunch - SUSHI. I know people love sushi, but sadly I do not. I hate seaweed and sushi is COVERED with it. Luckly, I am not the only person who doesn't like sushi, Ryan doesn't either. So we (along with the Shou-Shan sponsor) took a little walk to Seven Eleven to get some food. Point of the story is not about lunch it is about what I learned about Taiwanese culture. Turns out that today the sponsor was suppose to be picking her wedding dress up but the principle of the school told her that it was her duty to show us around so she had no choice but to cancel her appointment and show is around. I felt awful, but what shocked me the most was how seriously people take their jobs here. When their head person asks them to do something, they MUST do it. It is almost like they have no other choice. Alright, so after we all finished lunch we headed off to the Pottery and Clay Museum. The best part of the WHOLE DAY was before we started our tour. Dustin, Ryan, and I went on a super secrey mission to Seven Eleven. It was pretty awesome and of course all of the evidence has been discarded (it is all in our stomachs). Anyways, we all got a quick tour and then we went to meet the pottery master. He was a really funny older man who taught us about accient pottery making/spinnig. After the tour was over we all did a little shopping and then went home. Today was the very first day that I did not hang out with my crazy family after school. Instead we came home and had some really good bonding time with Mimi. We talked a about boys and stuff that goes on at school... We just had REALLY GOOD girl talk. Around five it was dinner time. All of Mimi's family came over, cooked together, and ate dinner together. Tonight helped me create so many new more memories with every amazing member of the Lu family.

Within these past two days I have had to say goodbye to Eunice (new friend), Evelyn (new friend), Grandma, and Mimi's aunt and cousin. Every single time I was super duper close to crying. I have grown to LOVE these people. All I can think of is, "what is going to happen Monday morning?" I will FOR SURE be crying, that's what. Taiwan has become my second home and these people (the Lu family and the delgation) have become my second family. I will for sure miss every single second of this experience once it comes to an end.

Finally Blogging Again, Dustin Ackerman

Okay, sorry about the lack of blogging. The past few days have been really busy. I'm not sure how much I'll remember.

Tuesday we went to Ping Jeng High school. It was the day before the Dragon Boat festival, so everyone was in a great mood. We learned a lot about the celebration and it's traditions. We watched two plays about it. When they were over, we were broken into groups and we each had to learn one line of the play in Chinese. (I'm learning quite a bit of it, it's a beautiful language.) Then we made rice dumplings, which is a traditional dish eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival. We also made these little necklace-type things that are supposed to ward off evil spirits. I sewed it myself! =D

Then that night, oh man, NIGHT MARKET. Every Taiwanese student asked me, from the moment I got here, if I had tried stinky tofu yet. Well, I did. And it's not bad at all. As long as you can get it past your lips without smelling it, you're in for a treat. Then I had more chicken feet and hearts, and these REALLY amazing sweet potato fries. I can't wait to go back to the night market on Sunday.

Wednesday was the Dragon Boat Festival. We took a long bus ride to the river, where we got to watch the boat races. It was very hot that day, which probably made it less exciting than it really was. We tried a lot more of the local food, and this mango slush that was freakin' out of this world. After the festival we went out to dinner with Matt's family at a steakhouse. A 10 oz ribeye cost 410 NT, which is only about 12 dollars. That price includes a buffet where you can get all the vegetables, rice, noodles, and dessert you can eat. It was awesome.

Thursday we visited Nan Kan High School, where we had to make our presentations from the scavenger hunt. We went to class, and made more dumplings. It was pretty cool. But the coolsest part was after school. We went to see Toy Story 3. Since I'm in the future, I got to see it a day earlier than all you people back home! ha! Then we went to Mcdonalds, where I got a Big Mac with four patties.

So that brings us to today. I'm so tired, that I'll blog about today in the morning. I had to post this because apparently I have a big following back home. Anyway..

Come back tomorrow for more!

ryan: i like to eat eat eat

The schools: The schools we are visiting are filled with students i wish i could be surrounded by in my own school. Students shouting, asking for pictures, and not acting like 6 year olds in the hallways, it's pretty nice. I'm not sure how they can endure the heat sometimes though. If i had to wear long pants and dress shirts like them in the heat of Taiwan that can rival Texas I might die of heat stroke. The one reliefe from the heat is the constant breeze that flows through the school. Most of the windows remain open and all of the hallways are only blocking the elements from the top. The students clean their schools, wash the dishes, pay attention in class, and go to cram school. How do they have time or energy to host American students?

My Family: It wouldn't be a lie for me to say that my host probably is the most fluent of all the hosts i have met. Thi is obviously helpful as all i know how to say in Chinese are the basics and "why are you laughing" as other kids always laugh at me if i speak a word of Chinese. Despite my host being nearly fluent, his mother doesn't seem to know a word. However, she more than masks her inability by being one of the sweetest people I have had the honor to meet in Taiwan. She cooks, cleans, and works a full time job, how does she also have the time to look after her 3 children +1 while her husband is working in China? The other two children speak English at the level you would expect a 3rd year Spanish student to speak Spanish. I was very lucky in my placement in Taiwan. Not only is my host Allen very likable and keeps the whole group laughing, but he takes me to see all of the sites in Taiwan. I couldn't have asked for anything better!

Is anything Less than expected or diffifcult: Well despite the apprarent lack of sleep on all the delegations faces, I do believe we are all happy to be here. It isn't a stretch to say that the Taiwanese hospitality is far greater than expected, and the living conditions are far superior to that which we were prepared for. All in all, it has been a fantastic trip, and i wouldn't trade it for the world.

Maritza - This week in Taoyuan

Day five to eight:
The week has flown by. It is Friday 10 AM and we just met the mayor Wu Chih-Yang of Taoyuan County. A lot of dignitaries came with him to the school. Right now we are in our last school visit. Shou-Shan High School is one of the smallest schools that we visited. The mayor only stayed for about 15 to 20 minutes. The press was here and interviewed some of the students. We all got to take pictures with Mayor Wu and exchanged gifts. It was a very formal moment; especially for the Taiwanese. He came to the home economics classroom where the Youth Ambassadors were making fried dumplings. Amalia was so excited because she got to make dumplings with the mayor (special moment for her). He is a young guy (earlier fifties), graduated with a law degree from Harvard. It was a very hot morning and the kitchen was hot with the cooking taking place there. The students will be in regular classes the rest of the day.
Last Tuesday we went to Ping – Jen High School and it was a very organized day. The students received uniforms and they had to wear them in order to look like the students from the school. Some of the uniforms were small for the kids but, they were grateful and wore the uniforms with smiles. They participated in a play that the school put for them and got to make the traditional “rice ball” that Taiwanese eat during the Dragon Boat Festival, one of the most important holidays in Taiwan. We made silk print T-shirts and at the end of that day, students went to a martial art class. The teacher in the martial arts class is the World Champion and she just earned her title.
Wednesday we went to Longtan to the festival and it was crowded. However, it was very fun. We saw the dragon boat races and walked a little bit. From there we went to picnic and barbeque. We cooked our own food that included fish, pork sausages and chicken. Students were divided in groups and cooked and ate at their own stations. After lunch we walked and cross the Dasi’s bridge which is very new. It was beautiful bridge. The scenery here in Taiwan is just gorgeous.
Every day this week the students have gotten new uniforms to wear from the schools. I think they should have a suitcase just for their uniforms. Yesterday at Nankan the students were received and treated like movie stars. They had a lot of opportunities to interact with the students. The Nankan students played Chinese folk music that it was just fantastic. Our students did power point presentations about themselves and their experiences here in Taiwan. They have been performing their dances every chance they get. It is funny how well the students and teachers from Taiwan respond when the students ask them to dance. They go to the stage and dance and do their best.
We have things planned for the next two days that involves more cultural trips around the county. Our good-bye tea party is for Sunday at 9 AM. We have other activities planned but from 2PM on, we will be free of planned activities. Students will be with their host families until 6 AM Monday when we meet to get to the airport. It has been a busy but fantastic trip. The 2010 DYA are just an amazing, graceful and beautiful group of kids. The world is a safe place with them out there.

Amalia: Day 7

We have officially been here a whole week!

Alright so today we went to Nankan High School. I have to say that this was the most energetic school we have been to thus far. When we walked into the auditorium we were greeted with applause and cheers. Once everyone was there the students performed multiple songs for us (all of which were super pretty). Once they were done with their performance it was out turn to present. We started off with our dances (which they loved) and then it was powerpoint time (when we went to Bali we were told to take pictures because they wanted us to tell them what our favorite and least favorite things were). Everyone was doing an amazing job and then it was Kathleen, Page, and my turn. Ok so the three of us had the same powerpoint except for the title slide... BUT IN OUR DEFENSE we all got home at 11 and Mimi's powerpoint wasn't working and Demi's parents (Kathleen and Page's host) were waiting for them to go to sleep so they could go to sleep. Even though it was the same powerpoint, the three of us did an amazing job (or so I like to believe). Alright so after our presentations the students got to put necklaces on us and a few of us got to put necklaces on them. They all went CRAZY. But my favorite part of today was when the students got to ask us questions. One boy asked us what we all thought of him. When I said that I thought he was a cutie he said "no no no. Be SERIOUS." After that we all told him we thought he was nice and cute and he could not believe it! Then he started to shake our hands so when it was my turn I got up and hugged him. EVERYONE WENT CRAZY. Then we all hugged him. When we left Kathleen said to me "Amalia, I think we just made his life!" It was such a cute/funny moment. Anyways the rest of the day was pretty normal. We got school uniforms for presents, then we went to different classes, and had lunch. It was a pretty normal day - girls screaming over the guys (which is TOTALLY giving them all big heads ;]), hugging the students and them going crazy, taking thousands of pictures with students, waving nonstop. You know, the usual.

Ok so when we got to YFHS my crazy family (Matt, Mimi, Demi, Kathleen, Page, and Dustin) and I (along with other YFHS kids) went to... READY?!?!...MCDONALDS!!! We were all super excited to go. It tasted the same so we all felt like we were back home for an hour or so. After dinner we all went to see TOY STORY 3 IN 3D!!! IT WAS SO GOOOOOD! I won't give anything away but I will say that we were all crying (multiple sad/super cute parts). Once the movie was over we all went SHOPPING (which has become a ritual for us) all over town. I found out that Page and I share an addiction for hair accessories (she loves bows and I love headbands). Lets just say that we spent about 3 hours in total shopping and all we bought was hair stuff... But it was fun. Mimi and Demi are PRO DISCOUNT GETTERS (if that's even a word) and they got us AMAZING deals. Today was so fun! SHOPPING, MCDONALDS, AND TOY STORY? What more could we have asked for? We did some hardcore American things which made us all feel like we were back home for a few hours but surrounded by our beloved Taiwanese friends/family.

Dana: Do I have to go home?

Today we went to Nan Kan HS (Carol's school). Hunter (the physics teacher in charge of us) is really good a t guessing what we will like. Instead of having us talk to classes, he arranged an assembly. The Nan Kan students played music for us. Then, we each presented a power point about ourselves. Mrs. Francis made me feel really good about mine because she said as I was doing it she thought that if she had to hire someone to speak to an audience, it would be me. =) Then the students played a game where if they answered a question about america correctly, they got to present one of us with a good luck charm. And if we answered thw question, we got to present one. I answered the question "which president was killed in Dallas" (JFK).

Afterward, I went to history class with Carol. we watched a video about terrorism, aminly focusing on the events leading up to September 11th. I was sort of surprised the teacher chose to present such an emotional issue with Americans in her class, but after the video it made sense. She asked us about our perspective on hatred of America and the 2001 attack on America. I was super glad that she did that because watching the kids reactions to the video in class made me realize how little they realize the impact it had. They just see it as a historical event, but I see it as an event that altered my life. I expessed how emotional it was and that remembered everything about that day. I also expressed that I recognize that all groups/cultures have radicals and extremist, so we can't hate a full group for the actions of few. I wish I could have talked more, but I didn't want to hog the speaking time.

Next we ate luch in Emily's (carol's Host) class. They eat lunch in their classrooms, so they are with the same people ALL day. What happens if you have no friends in your class? Lunch was really good. We had this passion fruit soup that most of us hated, but I loved it.

After that we went to the police academy. It was interesting. I think the best way to describe it is like an american Military school.

Afterward, Amanda's "mom" took uGena, Eve, Amanda, and me to see Toy Story 3. It was in English with Chinese subtitles. I cried for 50% of the movie. It is about Andy growing up and leaving his toys behind when he goes to college. It was really emotional for me, but no one else understood because they are all younger than I am.

I really love Taiwan. The food is incredible, and so cheap. Gena and I had a full past dinner and it was less than $5 for both of us.

Amalia: Day 6

Ok so I officially do not want to leave Taiwan. Today was so amazing that I don't even know where to begin! Alright so we actually got to sleep in today (it is funny how sleeping until 8 in considered sleeping in here). As I was getting ready Mimi told me that her dad, grandma, and aunt had prepared a special breakfast for me. I was so excited to try it so i pretty much ran downstairs and stopped cold in front of the kitchen table. There was RICE, FISH, GREEN BEANS, and EGGS. My first thougt was "this is BREAKFAST food?" Long story short I ate it all in like 10 minutes. It was DELICIOUS. The fish was seriously the best fish I have EVER had in all of my life. Bad part was that we were super late... but it was so worth it. Today's destination was THE DRAGON BOAT FESTIVAL! I had the idea that it was just one huge boat that looked like a dragon but I was totally wrong. The Dragon Boat Festival is a rowing race. We saw a couple of races, walked around (I was with Page, Ryan, and Dustin. We went CRAZY. We took pictured with the only girl row team and played in all of their playgrounds), and then we left to go to the BBQ. The BBQ was so much fun. At first the students from Basi High School cooked for us for as soon as we had had enough Kathleen and I took over. We cooked EVERYTHING. Pork, chicken, stake, shrimp, corn, veggies... We went a little wild but we had a good time. OH! About 20 minutes into the BBQ, the press came! There was a news camera and they were recording us while we cooked and danced our line dance. THEY INTERVIEWED JOSEPH!!! It was sooo cool. But do not despair, we represented the U.S.A perfectly. We also had yet another dance battle. The winning team (MINE OF COURSE) consisted of me, Kathleen, Gena, Ryan, and our secret weapon RAY (student from Basi). The other team was made up of Page, Dana, Amanda, and a lot of Basi students. After the dance off we went to our final destination of the day: Dasi Bridge. It was SO pretty. Once we crossed it, we took these stairs (oh my gosh, it was like hitching a mountain) that led to Basi Park. We OF COURSE ran around like little five year olds and took thousands of pictures. After spending about 2 hours there, we turned around and went back to the bus. We were having such a good time (karaoke!) and before we knew it the Basi students had to go. IT WAS SO SAD. They were so nice and sweet to us we were all just super sad to see them go. Hopefully we will be able to host some of them in October! Anyways, once we got to school part of my crazy family (Kathleen, Page, Dustin, and Matt) and I took the bus to downtown to meet up with Demi and Mimi. When we met up with them we split up (the boys left) and the girls went to go shopping.

Mimi and I had to leave after the first store. Her parents picked us up and we went to this sea food restaurant were we met up with her uncles, cousins, aunt, and grandma. They were all so nice! They made me make a tost so I thanked Mimi's parents for allowing me to stay in their home and I thanked the whole family for being so kind to me and for taking me into their family. Lastly I told them that they would also be my Taiwanese family. They told me that they all loved me and hoped that I was having a wonderful time and that I was more than welcome to come back to Taiwan - that they would be there for me. I was so touched. This family has totally stolen a huge part of my heart, I ADORE them. Ok so at the restaurant I tried even MORE stuff. I had octopus eye, snail, frog legs, and duck blood soup. I was all REALLY GOOD. We got home pretty late but it was SO WORTH IT. I got to spend some quality time with Mimi and her family and I got to make precious memories that I will treasure forever.

Kathleen: Great food, great people, great shopping, what DON'T they have here?

So today was SO much fun! At this point you are probably thinking, "Does this girl ever NOT think something is fun?"... in Taiwan everything is fun! We got to sleep in today because it was the Dragon Boat festival and the school was closed! Page and I woke up around 8 and then headed to Yung Feng to meet the rest of the delegation! We headed back to Dasi where we went to the Dragon Boat festival! A Dragon Boat is just like a fancy canoe with a dragon carved in it! It was really cool to watch and it reminded me of the canoe races we had at the camp I used to go to! After the festival we headed to a place where we made lunch! It was super cute. We got to BBQ our own food! It was a lot of fun! Amalia and I manned our grill! The students from Dasi did not want us to cook but we made them let us! And I must say the food we made was DELICIOUS! The students from Dasi were so great! They were all so sweet and funny! And I got into an argument with them about who would win the NBA Championships, the Celtics obviously! I was sad when we had to say our final goodbyes to them! We won't be seeing them at all for the rest of the trip but hopefully some of them will come to Dallas this fall and we will get to see them!

After we got back from the Dragon Festival Matt led us by bus to meet Demi and Mimi at the Taoyuan downtown where we got to do some shopping! It's so cool because we have kind of become a little family, Amalia, Page, Dustin, Matt, Demi, Mimi, and I! I will honestly miss them so much when we have to leave! This trip is going by so fast! Demi's friend Spark also went shopping with us! I got some REALLY cute stuff today! I can't wait to show you guys everything! After our shopping adventures were fininshed we headed to dinner with Demi's family! We ate some AMAZING steak at this really cool restaraunt! And now we are home!

Tomorrow we go to two more high schools and after school my little family is going to see Toy Story 3! I am SUPER excited! It is in english but it has chinese subtitles! It will be so great! I plan to cherish every moment we have left here!

Joseph's Blog

So I pretty much want to live here in Taiwan now. Today we went to the Dragon Boat Festival and had an awesome time. The bus ride there was full of ecitement as we sang karaoke as loud as we could. A pretty cool show with drums started us off and we then saw a few of the dragon boats racing. Then we walked around and then drove to a cool place with a large bridge (I forget the name). There, we went sightseeing and Eve and I went on a hunt for some BingQiLing but to no avail. Lunch was great. We got to barbeque virtually everything we got our hands on and it was good. After lunch we performed our dance for them and I had my first news report interview in Chinese (I bet you five dollars I said something wrong and insulted someone's mother in front of the camera). After we went walking a little bit more, we went back to the bus and went home. Gena and Amanda are going to be so jealous because my family's dad and I got to meet THE MISSIONARIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We then picked up Eddie and we all visited the LDS church for a few minutes which happens to be a few miles from their house. I am very excited for what else lies ahead.

Dana: Why Don't they make this in AMERICA???

So I didn't blog yesterday (we got home really late) so I'm afraid I forgot a ton of details. Oh, and just FYI, I know there are typos. I generally don't have time to proofread at all before bedtime. Sorry.

Yesterday was the first day that it didn't rain, and we could feel the temperature difference. It was hot, but not unbearable IF you wore light clothes. We went to a school, and they informed us that they had uniforms to give us to wear. We were all extremely excited. We wanted the cute little skirts that they had, but it turned out they were giving us the more casual sports uniforms. That was still okay until we pulled the uniforms out of the bags and realized that they were long sleeves and long pants. And I'm not talking light weight cotton long sleeve shirts and breezy work out pants. They wew thick and hot. On top of that, they gave me a small. I am NOT an American small much less an Asian small. The bottom of the pants were half way up mugh calf (more like capris) and the waist dug into my sides. Most of the group just wore the size they were given, but I asked for a different size because they were so short. The shirt was tight, but I could live with it. I was honestly really upset that they made us wear a uniform meant for winter during the summer. I just didn't understand why they would think those clothes were appropriate. Thjey didn't have bigger pants on hand, so I got to keep my shorts for a little while.

Next the students put on a play (in english) for us. I was really cute. It was about Taiwanese legends, including the one about the origin of the dragon boat festival (which was today). They incorporated modern phrases and songs into the skit, which made it hilarious. Then they put us into groups to learn some Chinese lines for the same play. After that they showed up with my pants in a bigger size. Oh joy! But the pants really were'nt that bad. We did our dances (which they loved) and they performed the play, this time in Chinese with each of us having a small part. That was genuinely fun. My line was "I'm in a Hurry (in Chines of course)

Then we made rice dumplings. To make them you basically make a pocket with two banana leaves, put rice in it, fold the leaves up so it becomes a trangular piramid, and tie them together so they don't unfold while boiling. The thing was, when I would go to fold mine, the teacher helping kept taking it from me because I was doing it wrong, do it herself, unfold it, then give it back to me. It was okay the first time, but I just wished they would teach me how to do it instead of doing it for me (without showing me) then giving it to me to try. But now I can sort of make rice dumplings!

Next we made these Chinese good luck charms. I'm a really independent person, so after you show me how to do something, I want to do it myself. They told all of the students how to make the charms in Chinese, but my students (we each had a group that was in charge of us) didn't translate for me, so I was left guessing what to do. I looked at one of the finished good luck charms and figured it out. But everytime I started a new step, the teacher kept taking it out of my hands to do it for me. It was frustrating because I wanted to do it myself. Not to mention it was pretty easy in the first place. I was also frustrated because she explained it to all of the Taiwanese kids, but they still seemed cluelesss when I asked them questions. When It came time for the sewing part, I threaded my needle, tied the two ends of the thread todether and started sewing. It was a really easy sewing job, just stiching the opening of a pouch closed. After I had done about four stitches, the teacher came over and took it because she said I was doing it wrong. She cut out the stiched I had already done, cut the knot at the end of my thread, and started sewing with a single thread instead of the thread doubled. Then she basically tried to teach me how to sew. I was getting sort of upset because they were treating me like a little kid. This wasn't rocket science, it was just sewing. In the end, a doubled thread really wouldn't have made a difference, it just would have been easier.

At on point the boy who was in charge of helping me asked if people did this in the US, and he made a sewing motion. I was like "Do people sew in the US?" And he said that was what he was asking. I was sort of amused by the question. I'm pretty sure every country on the planet has sewing. I'm really glad that we have this program because the kids here truly have never been exposed to other cultures. Then he asked me if I knew how to sew before today and if I had ever done it, and I assured him that I had. Halfway through sewing, the tread came out of the needle (because it didn't have a knot because it wasn't double). For some reson that really upset me. I tried to be open to their way of doing each thing, but I just didn't understand why they cared so much that we did things a certain way. If you get to the same place, what does it matter which road you take? I guess I might be making a big deal out of nothing, but it wasn't necessarily their actions that upset me. It was their attitude about my ability. Of coarse, I completely hid my frustration and was very courteous.

Next we had lunch, which was really good. They had ordered pizza, but they told us we could have the pizza after we ate the dumplings. Those dumplings dissapeared pretty fast. And when I say disapeared, they weren't necessarily eaten (we aren't big fans of rice dumplings, but students keep giving them to us). Most of us have gotten really good at making food look eaten, but only taking a few bites. The pizza was excellent. It was dominoes, but it was way better than dominoes in the US. They put shrimp and peas on their pizza here, which is sort of odd, but they had other toppings too, so it was okay. The pizza here has less tomato sause, but other than those two changes, its pretty much like in America. I think they were a little surprised how much we ate. I think we left them with a really important cultural fact: American teenagers will eat a lot of pizza (especially ones who haven't had American food in the last week).

The next activity was art class. We got to silk screen shirts. I really liked the art teacher. He let us be creative, and just corrected us when we were really going to mess up. The design that we silk screened was the American and Taiwanese flag together with the words "when the Eastt meets the West" in both English and Chinese. We all got to pick where we put the sesign. I pit mine going sideways on both the front and the back. We're going to wear them on the plane home.

Next was martial arts class. We were all very restricted in our uniforms and couldn't imagine doing martial arts in them. We talked to the students about it, who said we could change. we still wanted to be respectful of their uniform wishes, so we compromises and only wore half the uniform. I wore the pants with my UT shirt. We got to choose swords or bamboo sticks. Gena and I chose bamboo sticks (like in Mulan!). Everyone else choose swords. We learned a short routine, and at the end of the lesson, presented our routine. (think its on Facebook, but I think Gena might be the only one you can see)

After we left, Gena and I went straight from school to the night market with our hosts. We rode the bus to Tai Pei. the Nightmarket was AMAZING. I wanted to buy cheap clothes, but I'm not exactly petite and all of the stuff in the night market looked like it would be too small for most Asian girls. Alot of the stuff was more expensive than I thought it would be. Winnie explained that halp of the stuff comes from Japan, and half from China. The stuff from Japan is much more expensive, but its cooler. I bought headbands, a gift for Darbianna (yes, Yona, you have to wait til I get home to know what it is), and a tiny gift for my family members in the states. I also ate a lot. Okay, why hasn't this food been introduced to the US??? All of the food was super reasonably priced. We first had this thing that tasted like a Beignet (french dougnut). Next we had mango-sweet potato swirl ice cream. I wasn't a fan of the sweet potato part, but mixed with the mango, it tasted like candy. Gena loved the sweet-potato ice cream. Then they took us to a soup shop where we had a Taiwanese soup which was amazing. We didn't like the meat that was in the soup, but their was only a little, so we picked it out. But, we can at least say we tried it. when we were trying to determine what the meat was, I told Gena not to ask because I wanted to pass judgement on it without preconcieved notions. I'm glad we tried it before we knew what it was because it turned out to be pig intestine. The people here seem to be much less sensitive to hot food. Our hosts were already done with their soup before ours was cool enough for me and Gena to eat it. Afterward, we had Pomagranite juice, which was delicious. While we were standing in like for burritos, I saw a Buddist temple. I really needed to go to the bathroom, and their aren't bathrooms in the night market. I asked if their were bathrooms in the temple, and there were. So, we got to go inside the temple. It was really ornate. It was interesting that they don't have pews or anything. They just stand or kneel on cushions. The burrito was like Chipoltle, but Asianafied. I don't know how to describe it. Just thing Chines and Mexican food mixed together. It was also good. After that, we went to an ice cream parlor where we has ice cream snow. It was like milky shaved ice. It was SOOOOOO good. Gena and I split mango flavored (with REAL mangos) I also had some of Carol's green tea snow ice which was the best green tea ice cream ever. On the way back to the bus stop, we passed a fruit stand. Gena samples a strawberry and said it was the best strawberry she had ever tasted. I didn't believe her until I tried one. We split a cup of strawberries. At first we thought they had a ton of sugar on them, but Winnie assured us that they were unsweetened. We didn't believe her for a long tome, but she was so persistant with the fact that there was no sugar added that we finally did. The fruit here is amazing. I want to know what they do to it to make it so sweet. It tastes like candy. My host mom puts salt on apples, which I thought was gross until I realized they are too sweet without it.

We got home at 11:50, so I skipped my blog and went straight to the shower. I was going to skip blow drying my hair, but my host mom was adiment that I would get sick if I didn't. They don't quite understand that I almost never blow dry my hair. If I walk around with it wet, they hand me a blow dryer. I appreciate their concern, I really do, but I don't think wet hair will make me sick in this heat. But don't get me wrong, I really love my host family. The mom and dad are extremely cute with their little hand signs. Winnie and Carol are really great to talk to. I'm really glad I have a host family who I can really relate to.

This morning, Carol decided she needed to study, so she didn't come with me to the Dragon Boat Festival. (It is a holiday so she didn't have school) I'm really glad she decided to do that because I've been worried that my stay here had been effecting her grades, although her English grades should improve with all of the talking we do.

We went to the Dragon boat races with the sponsoring high school. It was really crowded and hotwith lots of cigarette smoke. It was cool, but I was relieved when we left.

After that, we went to a bar-b-q at a park. At first, this was an extremely amusing experience. The group of Taiwanese kids Ryan and I were assigned to had never bar-b-qued in their life. That would have been okay except they thought they knew how to do it. Ryan and I kept trying to help, but they would say we were doing it wrong. They couldn't get the charcoal lit, but wouldn't take our advice. We were't quite sure what to do in that situation. Ryan and I definately know how to bar-b-q (I do it all the time while RVing), but we couldn't just push the Taiwanes kids out of the way and do it ourselves. Finally they used a flame thrower to light the coals. But then the fire was way to hot. They though that in order to cook on it, flames needed to be coming up when really the coals just need to be red. After about 5 minutes of cooking, I
was served a sausage that was black on one end and still raw on the other, and the students told me it was ready to eat. I tried to be a polite guest, but I draw the line at eating raw sausage. Their lack of barb-b-q skills didn't really upset me and their tendency to not listen to us didn't either. I was perfectly fine with letting them do the cooking, even if it wasn't quite done the right way. I knewI could eat a nutrition bar if it didn't go well. After about an hour of trying to find a balance between politeness and showing them the right way, Mrs. Francis suggested that we forget the sausage chicken and fish and jsut let the students eat those. We ate the corn, mushrooms, and peppers (all of which can be eaten even if they're half raw). We also managed to get the pork chops fully cooked because they were thin. Overall it was a good experience once we gave up on cooked meat. It was still fun and we bonded with the students, which is what it was supposed to be about. I also sang in public for the first time since sixth grade. They had us each sing songs (they got lots of enjoyment out of this). If you don't know, I'm tome deaf and really can't sing to save my life. But what was I supposed to do with 20 Taiwanese kids teling me to sing. I warned them that I was bad at it before hand. I sung "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid. I actually love singing, I'm just awful at it.

The next stop was this bridge which is really famous, but I didn't catch the name. It was the picture oppurtinity of the trip. I took 100 photos. Not to mention, this random man had never seen a true redhead before, so he asked if he could take a picture with me. At first I thought he wanted me to take a picture of him and his wife, but whe I realized he wanted me in the picture, I felt really important. It made my day! After crossing the bridge, we walked down a side street and bought this mango iced smoothie for under $1 US. Again, why can't we get this in America? It was excellent.

After that, we went home. Tonight, the entire family except Carol is busy, so we are having a night in. We ate pizza for dinner. It is sort of nice to take a breather because we have done something every night since I have been here.

We have started a "quote book" of all the funny things the ambassadors say on the trip. So far, I have the most quotes in the book, which I don't think is a good thing. I will admit they have caught me saying some really funny stuff.

I swear my english is getting worse. Yesterday, I said colonaited instead of colonized and I keep making sentence structure mistakes. I can completely understand how someone can lose a language if they don't use it enough.

2010 Taiwan Trip

Amalia: Day 5

So today was seriously one of the best days we've had so far. The school of the day was Pin Jeng High School which is where our beloved Allen goes (Allen is Ryan's host). We were greeted with a red carpet and claps/cheers. It was the cutest way we have been greetest so far. So right after our amazing greeting we went into the school's conference room and got gifts from the principle. THEY WERE THE SCHOOL'S UNIFORMS!!! They were actually pretty cool looking uniforms, but there were two tiny problems. #1 They had like 6 trillion layers and it was FREAKING HOT today. #2 The pants didn't fit any of us (except for Amanda). But we were all good sports and used them all day long. Ok so after we got our gifts we went to their theater where the students put on a production for us about how rice dumplings came to be. After it was over we were all divided into small groups. Our team mates taught us a couple of sentences from the play and then dropped a big bomb on us - we were going to perform...IN CHINESE! Once we all got our lines down we made rice dummpling necklaces (THE TEACHER TOLD ME THAT I MADE THE BEST ONE!) Then we went to the school's kitchen to learn how to make rice dumplings. Once they were done we went back to the theater room to perform! We all did an amazing job and everyone thought we were hilarious. OH MY GOODNESS, funniest thing happened when we were bowing after we were done with our theatrical performance! This girl had been telling me that in Taiwan there is no physical contact between girls and guys. The most they do is shake hands, nothing more. Ok so this girl stood next to me when we were lining up to bow and then Ryan comes and stands on her other side. When we both grabbed her hands she TOTALLY FREAKED OUT. She was full out screaming and giggling and jumping up and down. Cutest thing E-V-E-R. Anyways after our plays we went to the conference room to eat the rice dumplings we made and pizza. The pizza was DELICIOUS! It had no sauce - it was just cheese and toppings and sea food. SO GOOD. After lunch we went to art class were we got to make t-shirts that combined the U.S and Taiwan. I love our shirts and making them made them even more special. Once we were all finished with our shirts we went to KUNG-FU! We got to pick between a sword and a bamboo stick. OF COURSE I PICKED THE SWORD! In my group we had Kathleen, Joseph, Eve, Ethan, Ryan, and I. We started off pretty bad (Kathleen accidentally cut Ryan's finger...) but by the end we looked like we could all totally kill someone. We were simply B.A. After we all showed each other our mad skills, it was time for us to go. Pin Jeng was most definately one of my favorite schools.

When we all got back to YFHS my crazy family (Page, Kathleen, Ethan, Dustin, Mimi, Demi, Matt, and I) went to the NIGHT MARKET along with other classmates. HOLY COW, I tried so many new things. Chicken heart, chicken feet, stinky tofu, some weird fish, cake, pig blood cake... And I have to say it was all pretty good! We also shopped till we dropped, literally. Today was pretty amazing but the sweetest moment of the night was when we told Matt, Demi, and Mimi that we were going to buy them Coldstone ice cream. They said that it was too expensive, then they said they didn't want any, but finally we convinced them to let us buy them some. I love those three, they are seriously 0ne of the sweetest people I will ever meet. Mimi's mom picked us up from the mall and when she saw all of my shopping bags, she got SUPER excited. As soon as we got home we all went upstairs and I showed her everything I bought, she loved it all. We were all screaming and jumping and just having awesome girl time.

So acting in a Chinese play, making rice dumplings (food and jewelry), making t-shirts, learning how to do Kung-Fu with a sword, going to the Night Market, shopping, and spending time with Mimi and her mom made today one of the best days of the trip.

Kathleen: Short and Sweet

They me start this by saying that I am aboslutely exhausted and I might fall asleep mid-blog but I will try not to! These past two days have been so much fun! On Monday we went to Dasi Senior High School where we were split into groups, my group was me, Amalia- my adventure buddy, Dustin, and Ethan. First we went to Chinese and Earth Science and then we headed to PE where we played basketball and my team was so beast! My brother, Jacob, would have been so proud of me! After that we made dumplings and then headed to an elementary school where we saw a top show which was freaking awesome! I learned how to play a top! Then that night we went to dinner with a bunch of people and I saw Lucy, Eileen, JEFFY, Jack, and others from the people who visited us which was really cool! Amalia and I shared this AMAZING mango mega snowcone with real mangos in it! Ohmy goodness it was SO good! I could eat it repeatedly for the rest of my life! Then Demi, Page, and I went to cram school until 10:30 which is why I didn't blog yesterday!

Today we went to Ping Jen Senior High School where we were met with bright, cheery faces! We watched their students perform a play in english which we then performed in Chinese. YES, I said words in chinese! Ask me when I get home and I'll read them to you! I also introduced myself in Chinese! Then we made these really cool shirts!Then we did some martial arts which was freaking awesome! Once we got back to our home school we headed to the night market! It was awesome! We had some...interesting foods! And saw some really cool stuff! We did a little bit of shopping after and now we are home! Tomorrow is a national holiday and we go back to Dasi for a BBQ! I am very excited to see my basketball team again! And the boys I talked to about soccer I told them Spain, ESPANA was taking it all the way! Haha

Page:

Today we woke up bright and early at 6am again! We took the bus to Pin Jeng Senior High School. They were one of my favorite schools thus far. They were all waiting for us outside as we pulled up, on a red carpet! It was pure AWESOMENESSSSS!!! The students applauded as we were walking in and being photographed by an adminastrator. I loved every minute of it. Once we got settled we went and watched a drama the had prepared for us, IN ENGLISH! Then they made us play roles in the drama, IN CHINEESE! They would applaud in excitement once we finished our line even though we all knew we had messed up miserabley. After the drama we went and made rice dumplings for lunch, luckily they also had some PIZZA! Eveyone was so excited to eat! It was different though because there was no sauce on the pizza. I still liked it. In our afternoon classes we went to art and Kung-Fu. The art class was a blast because we gotto make shirt that had American and Taiwaneese flags on them! They look legit! Then in Kung-Fu we leared a routine. The knife was my weaponv of choice. The moves were cool, but it got pretty hot in the uniforms they gave us we had to wear! They gave us long sleeves and sweat pants in a school with no air conditioning! We all hung in there though. The school was so sweet and welcoming!



Later in the night we went to the Taoyuan night market that everyone seems to speak so highly of. There are lighted streets and shops all the way down. I tried some pretty out there foods like chicken feet, stinky tofu, spicy fish eggs, pinapple, jellied bean curd, and a few other things that I don't know how to say in english! I suprisingly loved then all soooooo much!! We shopped around the streets for a while and then left in a taxi to go to a department store. We looked around inside, but didn't buy anything because it was all too expensive. Upstairs in the food court we went to Coldstone Creamry and got some ice cream. To our hosts it was very expensive, so we bought them some. It was a super fun night!

Maritza- Day 4

Day four:
It hasn’t been as hot and humid as we were told so many times before we came. The rain is making the temperature a little bit cool and nice. We were inside most of the day yesterday so the rain didn’t bother us much. Last night it was beautiful, no rain and it was cool. Amy had a friend that came to pick us up and took us out. We went to Tiger Head Mountain outside of the city. It is more like a tall hill and you can see the whole city of Tao-Yuan from the top. It was amazing. A lot of young lovers and older couples come to seat there every night. It was interesting to see how many bike riders go up the hill at night. We went around 7PM, it was very dark and we saw a lot of cyclers. Taiwanese people are very brave. I call that dangerous. The view was amazing.
During the day we saw two schools. First we went to Dasi High School. It is a brand new high school. It is a year old and we can tell. It still smells like new. It is very modern and has lots of new technology. The teachers are very young. Most of them look like the students in the building. Our students learned how to make dumplings (pork) and had them for lunch. They were able to seat in classes for about half of the day. From Dasi, we rode the bus to Mei-Hua elementary school to see a Top Show. The young children and their coach put on an amazing show for our students. Our kids performed both dances and were so well received by the young ones. It was very funny to hear them screaming and happy. It was a beautiful afternoon. I truly enjoy the interaction of our students with the Taiwanese students.

Amalia: Day 4

Today started off like any other day: wake up freaking early, eat something new for breakfast, go to school, hang out until it is time for our Taiwanese siblings to start class... and thats where the pattern stopped. Turns out that the whole school had an English test today so while everyone was taking their quiz Kathleen, Page, Ethan, Dustin, and I got to see what tests are like in Taiwan. All I can say is that the way they take tests here would not work in the U.S. First of all, there are NO TEACHERS IN THE ROOM. The students are trusted to not cheat during these tests. And big thing is... THEY DON'T! They don't talk or look at each other's papers or NOTHING. We were all extremely surprised by that and how honorable these students are! Ok so after the quiz we were taken down to the front of the school and got in the school's car to go to Dasi High School. We were divided into three groups (Kathleen, Dustin, and Ethan were with me) are sent off to see different classes. First we went to Chinise were we got to "read" a Taiwanese novel. Then we went to Earth Science and hung out and finally we went to P.E. and played hardcore games of basketball. The best part of the day was when we got to make DUMPLINGS!!!! It was SO MUCH FUN. I must have made atleast 10 dumplings... Anyways, after making/eating dumplings the whole delegation got to talk and play around with a few kids who were chosen to spend the day with us. They were the cutest things I have ever seen. At first they were all shy and kept on stammering. They kept on saying "I am very shy right now because you guys are so very beautiful and handsome". But after a couple of minutes they all opened up and began to joke around. We talked about the World Cup and a girl (Jennifer) had to guts to beat Ryan up! It was so hilarious! They were all so nice and funny and cute. After Dasi High School we went to Mei-Wha Elementary School where we were taught all about tops. OH MY GOSH, we met the Top Team and they are they most talented 12 year olds I have EVER met. They could make the tops jump and spin on their hands and could make them fly. It was FASCINATING. After they were done with their presentation, they showed us how to spin tops and do certain tricks. Best part was that we actually got to keep the tops we were given to practice on. I have a feeling Mimi is going to get sick of me playing with my top pretty soon...

So once we got back to our home school (YFHS) my crazy family (Kathleen, Page, Mimi, Demi, Dustin, Matt, Ethan, and I) went out for dinner. Ok so dinner was most certainly an experience I will never forget. Page, Kathleen, and I split two dishes. They were soups that tasted like tea but were frozen...yeah...it was very interesting... However, dessert was AMAZING. Kathleen and I ordered this mango thing. First of all, it was HUGE. It was a mango icee with slices of mango and on top on the mango icee mountain was mango ice cream. It was seriously one of the best things I have EVER had. Alright so after dinner we all went to look around the city and shop. I decided that since we were shopping I might as well look for things for my family. We must have walked all over Taiwan and I did not buy a single thing. NOT ONE! My legs are sore from walking all over town, but tomorrow my CRAZY family and I are going to the Night Market. I am super duper freaking excited for that. Lets hope that I will be ablet o find something tomorrow and if not, oh well. Walking around the night market and trying new things will most definately make up for it!

Ryan: o you are so tall and handsome *giggle*

Society: Why can't American girls be this easy to get along with? Everywhere we go we are swarmed by a frenzy of Taiwanese students. By the way they interact with eachother, not just us, I get the feeling that they aren't just putting up a facade while we are here.

Shopping: Has anyone else ever bought a leather wallet for 3$? Or perhaps a backpack for 10-15$? But you may be wondering "Is that Gucci bag real?" and i might just answer, "Who cares it is a bag for 1/10 the price of the cheapest American knock-off. At that price who cares about the name-brand." The real trick to Taiwanese shopping is being able to haggle to get the price down to a more reasonable level. Bad news: none of us can bargain in Chinese. Good news: Allen, AKA the proud founder of the ~loser, loser cha-cha-cha~ dance, can. As mentioned in previous posts, the shop owners are quite animated. However, I must say that the dancing turkish ice-cream maker that shoots the bird at me when i dance like him was my favorite, and not just for his charming personality and good looks. He is also quite good at looking silly and bringing you down to the same level.

Home life: Uhhhhh hey Mom, any chance you wanna pack up the rest of my stuff and fedex it to me, because I'm staying. Aside from sleeping on the floor because my feet hang off the bed, there is not much else i could ask for. His mother always has fresh fruit and food coking. The house is clean and tidy. Most importantly, the children in the family speak much better english than the 10 words in Chinese that I know, 4 of them being ma, ma, ma, and ma. Good luck understanding that one if you know nothing about Chinese.

The night life: Not quite the same connotation you would expect in America. My host doesnt study as much as we are made to believe, but the idea that the students in Taiwan study more is not a common misconception. Tonight i went to the city pool with my host who swam like a cuttle fish, which tastes delicious by the way, while he teached me how to swim like a frog, whose distant cousin the lizard we met in the bathroom today. Don't worry though, he was polite and wore a suit. Turns out he only wanted to sell me insurance.

Communication Barrier: Each sunday night Allen and his brother attend an English class with a teacher who studied English for 10+ years in America and has been to over 150+ countries. Trust me, he had the proof. His vast collection of knick-knacks and 4 foot long cigar, however, are not what impressed me. What i must most astounded by was the level of difficuklty in the English they were learning. You can ask any of the other American students, my host is almost fluent and probably speaks better english than any other host. This class explains why. Gerunds. A word i have been trying to forget. However, they are learning it at the age of 15! I think i was introduced to the term in my 8th grade English class. 1 year behind in grammar isn't too bad. Application of words seems to be the only problem.

Why so few posts: Well, i have very limited internet access, which doesn't even start until 11 or 12 P.M after an 18 hour day of walking around. Not to forget i have to split my computer time with my homework.

Rain, Danceoffs, Karen and Chicken Feet: Dustin Ackerman

Well, I was too sleepy to blog last night. So I'll cover yesterday as well.

Yesterday started with a bus ride to the docks, and a boat ride to some more docks. We were introduced to the area and were given our packets to begin a scavenger hunt. The first thing we saw was a FIVE story Starbucks. It was freakin' amazing. Unfortunately, they don't make the flavor Frappuccino that I like in Taiwan.

We walked around the market-type area for several hours, taking pictures for the scavenger hunt and trying a whole lot of strange food. Some of it was delicious, and some not so much. I already knew how the iron eggs tasted, but I let everyone else find out for themselves. haha. The fish cookies were very good, though.

After we finished our scavenger hunt, becoming soaked to the bone with rain in the process, we went to the bus station to wait for the rest of the group. There were some dancers that were warming up with their music, so we stood and watched for awhile. But once the rest of the group got there, we challenged them to a dance-off. Starting with our line dance, then doing silly dances. I think they won.

After that we went home and had pizza. It had no tomato sauce, but lots of cheese. The toppings were shrimp and rice on one, and crab and green beans on the other one. Delicious.

That brings us to today. In the morning we got to the school, and went to Demi's classroom for awhile. We got to watch them take an English test. Shortly we were picked up by a van and driven to Dashi Senior High, where we participated in class and made dumplings.

Next we went to the elementary school, where we saw the top-spinning team do some amazing stuff, and we got our own tops. Then the best part of the day began.

Some of us went to this place where they serve this strange jello-looking stuff with beans. Maggie, Lucy, and Wendy met us there. Then Vincent and Jack shortly after. Maggie had to leave, but I think I'll see her again before I go home. Matt said it was okay for me to go out with them for awhile while he and Ethan went to look for some posters.

We had SO much fun. First we went to this little shop where Vincent let me try all his favorite foods, and most of them were great. Then we took a trip to the arcade where we played all sorts of games. After that Matt and Ethan met back up with us, and we walked around town some more. We stopped at another stand and Lucy bought me chicken feet, chicken hearts, and other things that have no English name, but look very strange. It was all delicious. Then it was time to go. =/

I missed them so much, I'm glad I got to spend time with them. So here I sit with my bag of chicken feet.

As a side note, we met this girl named Karen at the High School. She is so strange. Whenever we walk she follows us around and is a little bit creepy. But maybe it's just how she is.

Anyway, that's all for today. Come back for more tomorrow! =D

Dana: Tops here are different, Ikea is not.

Thank goodness I brought extra tennis shoes and orthopedic insoles. My shoes are still soaked from yesterday. Things her take FOREVER to dry.

Today we went to Dashi High School. It was a a lot further away than the others. (about an hour car ride). Eve got car sick on the way there, and I wished had brought ginger pills with me. This school was very different. I think the best way to describe it would be to say the other school buildings were like Dallas ISD, but this one was like Plano isd, if that makes sense. In geography class, the students did presentations. I noticed that they were way less formal than presentations in school in the US. They didn't have to use good speaking skills. Most of them stood with their backs to the audience reading the power point and I couldn't hear them. Then again, maybe my standards are just high because of speech. I noticed that none of the students take notes in the classes. I would never be able to learn without taking notes! Some of them also text in plain view during class. I thought Asian schools were supposed to be stricter! But, again, maybe they were only like that because of us. In Social studies class we played a game where each ambassador in the class (Joeseph, Ryan and I) had a team and whoever knew the embassador the best by the end of class won (they did a presentation about us). That was a lot of fun because we got to share in depth details about our lives and culture. For lunch, we got to make dumplings. they were really good.

After that we went to an elementary school. We thought we were going to see elementary classes, but it turns out that this school has a world renound spinning top team, and that was who we saw. The kids on the team were only twelve, but they could do some amazing stuff with the tops. Check out Gena's Facebook video to see it. We then learned how to do the tops. It was sooo cool!

I went to IKEA for dinner with Carol. It turns out that the ONLY difference between different Ikeas is the language, which was disapointing. But I was able to get some cool burnt orange stuff (hook 'em horns!).

I am much more tired tonight and want to go to bed early.

Amanda: Raindrops keep falling on my head...

Yesterday was another great day in taiwan! It pored rain ALL day and by the end of it we all were soaked but it was so fun! We went to a seaside market, via kareoke bus of course and a boat, where the gang was divided into teams. Cathy, my host sister, went and I was so happy that she didn't have to study :) Well Gena, Ryan, Joseph, Dana, Eve and I were all on a team, the better team might I add, along with our host students. Let me tell you, having them all with us (especially Allen who is Ryan's host) made the experience all the more fun. Well our teams received little booklets with pictures and we had 4 hours to find the things along the market and take pictures of them. The team that returned with the most pictures would win. I got to try so many new things like eel, shrimp with the shell still on it, turkish ice cream and so many other cool things. We walked along the market, forgetting all about the scavenger hunt, and just enjoyed being together. At around 2 it started to POUR. I still got wet even though i had an umbrella and my socks got soaked. Anything that was in my backpack that wasnt sealed was dretched in water (my toilet paper roll included). Anyway, our team sought refudge in a mcdonalds where we enjoyed hot fudge sundays and mcflurries (or hurricanes as they are called here). We all met at the train station, and seeing that my team sort of disregarded the game, the other team "won". But really we're all winners, right? Well we found a group of taiwanese breakdancers and decided hey wont it be fun if we had a danceoff with them? We danced our texas linedance completely off beat with the music they were playing and were destroyed by their inhuman bends and twists. Basically no matter how hard we tried our inferior "shopping carts" and "sprinklers" just couldnt live up to their mad asian dancing skills. We had a good time though and they thought we were funny. It was a great ending to a potential disasterious day.

Today couldnt quite top yesterday's rainy day fun, but it came pretty close. After eating a nutricious bread with sunflower seeds, grains and cranberries for breakfast (my family's jaws would drop open if they found out i actually ate something healthy) i walked to Cathy's school with her. The sun was shinging and it was a great change from yesterday. When I arrived, a teacher drove Eve, Gena, Dana and I to Dasi High School. It was quite a long drive (a little more than 1 hour) and Eve got a little car sick. There were lots of winding roads and mountains on the way and the scenery was beautiful. Once at Dasi High, we were met by some students that would take us to class. I went to Civics, art and chemistry. During art, we sketched the scenery and danced with the students. They taught us all of the cool asian songs, choreography included. Lets just say that my lack of coordination when doing any physical activity once again did not fail to appear when i least wanted it to. I bet they got a few laughs watching me. For lunch, we made dumpliongs. Thats right MADE them. Instead of EATING them we got to MAKE them. That was so good and I promise they tasted ten times better because i made them. From Dasi High School we went to Mei-Wha Elementary School where we got to watch a top show. In Taiwan they play with tops (like the spinning type) and are pretty darn good at it too. These kids are 12 years old and they can spin tops made out of hats, tires, water bottles and the traditional wooden kind too of course. They can make the tops ride down string, land on bottle caps, and on drums. It was one of the most amazing things i have ever seen for someone so young. After watching the masters do it, they let us have a try. On my first attempt it hit my face. Youre supposed to pull a rope that is wrapped around a wooden top and then it is supposed to spin. My fell on its side and the rope whipped my face. Well after many tries, it finally worked and everyone had a blast doing it. Those little kids were the cutest and perfromed a routine for us. The teacher let us keep our tops to practice and we drove home. One thing that I've noticed here is that my english is getting progressively worse and worse with each day. I'm starting to speak "chinglish" as some say it which means english words with chinese grammar. My sentence strucutres are really weird and i feel like im getting an accent. Haha well I'm really getting so close to all the kids on this trip and were almost like a little family. Taiwan is staring to feel like my home away from home and i'm truly loving it here. It's been so great and I can't believe its been 5 days already and I cant wait to do what we have planned for the rest of the trip.

Maritza- Day three:

Day Three:
Guess what? It rained super hard today. We met at the high school at 8:30 AM to go to Tamsui, a town northwest of here. It is a tourist attraction and a very pretty town surrounded by mountains and bordered by the Tamsui River. However, we all got so wet that they had cut the trip a little bit short due to the pouring rain. We rode a boat in order to cross a large bridge that took us to the business part of the town and had lunch there. Hunter, our guide today, is a teacher from the NanKan High School. We will visit that high school next Thursday. He is very knowledgeable and I can tell that he is a great teacher. Hunter had planned activities for the students to do while in town but really the rain made it difficult to accomplish. I learned later that Hunter has a tour license and therefore was able to pin point a lot of sites and tell us about things in the area. It was fun.
Tamsui is known for the food and shopping areas. The kids had the opportunity to shop for food and for souvenirs. We returned to Tao-Yuan at around 4:30 and went our separate ways. I am pretty sure the students will tell you more interesting stories about their day in Tamsui.

Dana: Best day EVER!!!!!

So today started out great with a breakfast I loved. It was special K and drinkable wheat yogurt. The yogurt was amazing, but sppecial K here tastes way different. Its more like wheaties. I didn't have a spoon(they didn't realize cereal is eaten in milk/yogurt) so I didn't eat very much special K.

We rode the bus (Kareoke included) to this park by the sea shore. On the way, we saw these people in all black with black and white flags. It was a funeral for a gang leader and the people were the gang members. We only glimpsed them, so it wasn't scary or anything, just interesting that everyone was aware of who they were and what was happening. I always thought gangs were less public. At the park, we took a boat accross the harbor. We ate in this fishmarket area that had the food already prepared. I had fried eel and fried sweet potatoes. Yum! Then we found ice cream bars for 20 NT Dollars (Thats like 75 cents ish) They were buy one get one free! We then went to a set of streets with TONS of shops. Hunter, the Taiwanese teacher in charge of us set us up into two groups and gave us a photo scavenger hunt. He allowed us to go off by ourselves as long as we stayed together. We were so enthralled by shopping that our group forgot about the scavenger hunt (the other group got all the photos). I got a foot tall mango ice cream cone for 10 NT dollars (32 cents). It is officially my favorite food. We walked around for awhile and came accross a Turkish ice cream shop. Our hosts were explaining what it was, and they said it was "Turkey Ice cream" It had us freaked out until I realized it was Turkish ice cream. The guy selling it was hilarious. Check out the facebook video to see him flirting with us. I got some ice cream, and it was so odd. It was sort of gummy. Someone got video of it partially falling out of my mouth because I wasn't expecting it to be so resistant. Then it started raining really hard (it has been raining on and off since I have been here) So we went to a soup restaurant where I had fish ball soup (like meat balls but with fish). It tasted okay, but the fishballs were hard to chew because they were big (we didn't have knives) I've been having that problem alot. something will taste good but I will choke eating it because it will be too gummy to chew or to big of a bite. We also ate this noodle dish that tasted exactly like refried beans, but in noodle form. It wasn't bad, but difficult to get used to. We gave the taiwanese students sour patch kids. They obviously don't eat sour food very often, because most of them couldn't hangle the sour taste. We were wondering what their reaction would be to warheads if just Sour Patch kids are too strong. The shopping area we were in was crowded and our hopsts said it is the place where the pickpockets hang out. I was so grateful that I had my money pouch that I wear inder my shirt. I always used to thing my grandma was weird for wearing hers everywhere, but now I understand. Its really nice not having to always watch your wallet. Plus juggling the camera in the pouring rain would have made keeping an eye on my backpack impossible.

speaking of my camera, I am proud to say, I walked through POURING rain most of the day and didn't get it wet. This morning, I made a zip lock bag water cover for it, so that only the lens is exposed. Then today when it rained really hard I wrapped my ponch around it. At the begining of the day I didn't have an umbrella (they are hard to hold while taking pictures, so I declined carols offer to borrow one). By noon, the $3 umbrellas started looking really appealing, so I finally gave in and bought one. I was so glad I did. About 30 seconds after I purchased it, It started raining herder than ever before.

Before we left, we met the other group at the subway station. There were some guys break dancing. Some of us took pictures with them. Then someone, I think it was page, said we should do our dance for them. The guys (except Dustin) thought it was an awful idea, but us girls were all for it. DANCE OFF! No, I am not kidding. We did a dance off in a Taiwanese train station. Half the train station stopped to watch. And yes, our dance style was Texas line dance. We also did a few other dance moves, but they won hands down. We knew they would, but it was fun anyway. We knew we were embarassing ourselves, but we figured that everyone stares at us anyway, why not have fun and make staring at us interesting? that dance off basically rocked my world. I cannot express how happy I am that we did it.

When I got home, my mom inststed I take a shower so I wouldn't be cold. My feet were the only things that were really wet, but she was adiment. Winnie said she was afraid I would get sick. My family is always worried about me being cold and asking me if I need a jacket. I don't understand why they think I would be cold. True, it is raining, but it is still warm, and there is very little air conditioning. I finally found out why my mom is so preoccupied with me being cold. At dinner, she had iced tea, and she fished all the ice out of it. I asked Winnie why, and she said that lots of people in taiwan believe women shouldn't eat cold things or be cold because it effects their reproductive systems and causes infertility. Hear that Mr. Murry? Keeping your classroom ice cold is hurting your female students! It is sort of an old wives tale I guess, so there are lots of women who don't each ice cream or iced beverages.

Before dinner, they took me to a nail salon. I'm going to be blunt here. The nail salons in the US stink. In reference to both quality and smell. The first thing I noticed was that the nail salon smelled flowery, not like acetone. Second, they are much gentler with your nails. Third, the overall quality and attention to detail is much better here. This means doing your nails takes 3 hours. I wanted these sparkly red fake nails that Winnie has, but they are gel nails, not acrylic. Gel nails have to go on the real nail, not tips, so my nails were too short. The lady didn't realize that until she had taken my acrylic nails off. Because of that, she painted my nails and put acrylic bows on them for free. I will go back at the end of the trip when my nails are longer to get the gel nails.

For dinner we had spagetti, Taiwanese style. I had Thai spagetti, which was really good. My family was super worried about it being to spicy, and they expected me to have to trade meals with them. They were flabbergasted when I ate it. It was definately spicy, but not unmanageable. It was very good. I explained to them that I love Cajun and Mexican food, which are both spicy. I'm not quite sure they understand what Cajun is. They may know a lot about texas, but we need to send some students from Louisianna here!

More lessons: Winnie and Carol say that most people in Taiwan would be embarassed to have foreigner stay with them. They wanted to make sure my family would be okay with it before Winnie and carol came to stay. I can't imagine being embarrased by having a foreign guest. The idea didn't even occur to me. It just shows how different out culture is. Winnie was surprised to here that she wouldn't stick out at all in Plano. I also learned that my family does indeed have family time, just more outside the house. They mostly eat dinner out. They also have a sitting area that I missed before where they hang out in the evenings. I am really getting aclimated to the culture here.


Overall it was an epic day.

Kathleen: It's Raining, It's Pouring, & No One is Snoring...Yet!

So today began like a normal day! This morning Demi's dad dropped us off at this little place off the street that had breakfast sandwhiches! It was delicious! My sandwhich had ham, egg, cucumber, and some kind of sauce, it was delicious! He picked us back up and we headed to the school where we met the rest of the delegation. After we were all there we headed to an island! We got to ride a boat over there! It was super fun and the island was really cute. We all explored on the wharf a little bit and then we headed farther inland where we had a scavenger hunt! We were split into two groups, my group was me, Amalia, Page, Demi, Mimi, Matt, Dustin, Jenny, and Ethan! We did a little bit of shopping, we ate ALOT, and we had to take picture of certain things. We ate some... interesting things. I had some sort of iron egg? It was awful but I took one for the team. When we were almost done with our scavenger hunt when the other teamed called and asked if we would stop the scavenger hunt due to weather which we of course said no to. We wanted to win! So we continued despite the tsunami going on around us! After I was soaked to the bone. I was so,so, SO wet. It was crazy. We met the other group at the train station where there happened to be a dance crew warming up so we decided to battle them with our Texas style line dance! Me, Page, Amalia, Dustin, Amanda, Gena, and Dana did our best to show these boys up.... well it didn't work! Haha! They were good sports about it and played along despite our complete lack of dancing ability! It has definitely been one of the funnest moments of the trip thus far!

After our dance off we got back on the bus and headed back to the school where Demi's dad met us and we headed back to Demi's to shower and get ready for dinner at her grandparents house! We got ready quickly and Demi taught us how to say grandma and grandpa in Chinese, "Ama" and "Agong" so we would be able to talk to her grandparents. When we got to their house we said hi to them and saw the ENORMOUS amount of food they made! They made noodles, beef, chicken, clams, eggs, tofu, water chesnuts, greens, soup, and rice! It was all delicous and i tried everything! Andrew Zimmerman would be proud! I couldn't eat too much because I am so full! They feed us every chance they get! It is absolutely insane. After dinner we ate fruit and drank tea. The fruit here is freakishly delicious! I love it! Then we, kind of, learned how to play mahjong. Apparently Demi's mom is really good at mahjong! I doubt i would be! Then we took a picture with Agong. We wanted one with Ama but she was shy! When we got home I got to help Demi's younger sister Peggy with her english homework! I'm glad I can be of some help around here!

Tomorrow we go to an elementary school which I am super excited about it! I can't wait to see all the little kids! Hopefully when I get home my clothes will be dry...if it ever stops raining here!