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.