Amalia: Day 3

Today was without a doubt the best day so far. How can I sum the day up in a couple of words? Rain, scaverger hunt, new foods, shopping, dance off, family time, and soup!

Ok so the day started off at Yung-Feng High school were we all met up to go to the Bali Township together. Bali is about an hour and a half away so there most definately was karaoke where we declared Ms. Sloan the queen of karaoke. Once we reached Bali we took a billion and one pictures and took a boat to go to Bali Fisherman's Wharf Touring. We were given about an hour to walk around, explore, take pictures, and try food. Once the hour came to an end we were all divided into two teams, Team One (aka. greatest team in the universe) and Team Two (aka. giver upers). We were given packets with a bunch of pictures and were told that we had four hours to find all of those places and take pictures of them. We also had to try a minimun of four new foods and shop. Team One consisted of the greatest people: Mimi (my Taiwanese sister), Demi (host), Matt (host), Jennie (a student from NHS), Kathleen (my adventure buddy), Dustin, Ethan, Page, and I. I adore these guys, we have become a crazy family! Anyways, we took off as soon as the bus stopped with full force but stopped about 5 minutes later to shop. Run, look, take pictures, eat, shop. That was the patterned we used during the four hours we were given. However there was one little source of nature that took the scavenger hunt to an EXTREME level... drum roll... RAIN! Originally, it was just drizzeling but then it started to pour. Two people *cough* Page and Kathleen *cough* forgot their umbrellas so we all decided to share. We quickly learned that there was no way to stay completely dry so we stopped caring and stuck to protecting out bags. Anyways, we had TWO more pictures left to win the scavenger hunt when we got a little phone call from Team Two saying that they wanted to stop the game due to the weather. NO WAY! We had worked so hard and had sacreficed so much to just stop two pictures short, so we told them to forget it! We took the last pictures and walked over to the bus station where we were suppose to meet. While we waited for Team Two we watched a group of break dancers dance in the middle of the station. A few minutes later Team Two showed up and after some minutes of loser calling we came up with the idea of having a dance off with the break dancers we had been watching. We asked Demi and Mimi to ask them if they wanted to lose in a dance off with a few American girls and they agreed to the battle! So Page, Kathleen, Dana, Amanda, Gena, Dustin (a last minute addition), and I formed a team and BATTLED!!! We started off with our Delegation dance, then Page and Gena did the jerk, and after them Kathleen and I showed off our mad skills. It was pretty obvious that we lost, but that doesn't really matter. I mean, WE HAD A DANCE OFF IN THE MIDDLE OF A BUS STATION IN TAIWAN WITH ACTUAL BREAK DANCERS!!! That is something that I will never ever get to do ever again. People actually gathered, made a big circle, took pictures and videos, and cheered. When it was over Dustin said to me, "If a year ago someone told me that I would be in Taiwan having a dance off I would have said that were crazy". I couldn't agree more. This trip is for sure one of the greatest experiences I will ever have in my life.

Ok so all of that awesomeness Mimi and I went to her uncle's house where I met her uncle, aunt, cousins, and grandma. I tried even more stuff, all of which was extremely delicious because her aunt is an amazing cook. Anyways, they were all just hanging out, talking, joking around. It made me think of my family and my host family and how even though each family is from a completely different culture they are both somewhat alike. For dinner, we went out with Mimi's grandmother to this really cool restaurant. It was a buffet of meats, sea food, noodles, and vegetables. After you chose what you wanted you would put it all in a little pot and make a soup. It was SUPER COOL and delicious. Mimi's grandmother kept on giving me all of these things to try and would tell me what to put the food together and how to cook it. She was so sweet and funny and just caring.

Today made me be so thankful for being given such an amazing opportunity. I have gotten to experience tons of new things, try lots of food, see so many new things, and just get to know amazing people. I can't wait to see what the next week had in store for me!