Kathleen: Day Two

Well today was yet another fun filled day! After an awesome nine hours of sleep Page and I got up and got ready to head to the school at 7:40. Demi's dad drove us to the school where we met the rest of the delegation. We were given new shirts by our lovely host school Yung-Feng Senior High, the girls got pink and red shirts and the boys got black and...black shirts-such a variety! No, they are cute shirts and the girls wore the pink ones today. Can you guess what color the boys wore? After we were all changed we got on a bus and headed to Taipei, it was about an hour drive. Talk about the most fun hour of my life, the bus was basically a mocing karoke machine! We had so much fun singing, watching the strange videos, and trying to decipher some of the words!

The first thing we did in Taipei was go to the Palace Museum which was so interesting! I learned so much about Chinese and Taiwanese history! I got to see the "Mona Lisa" of Chinese pottery it is called "Mao Gong Ding", it was beautiful! I learned how to read some ancient Chinese characters and even answered some questions correctly! I'm sure you all would be proud! Our tour guide was hilarious and so informative! It was definitely an awesome experience. After the museum we walked over to this cute little restaurant where we had lunch. Some of the stuff I had was GREAT like the sausage, the fried squid, and the noodles but some of the stuff I had was... not so great but I tried it all. Not gonna lie I kind of feel like Anthony Bourdain in No Reservations!

After lunch we took some cute pictures and headed to Taipei 101, the second tallest building in the world with the fastest elevator! It was so amazing! First we rode to the fifth floor and then from there we rode to the eighty-eighth floor! We could not go any higher because of the weather but it was still amazing! We we literally in the clouds! I took some good pictures and I hope to get them up on facebook soon!

After that we headed to the Memory Gardens for the first President of Taiwan. Apparently he was a pretty controversial man. I don't really know but what I do is that his memory garden is BEAUTIFUL! There is a huge statue of him that two men from the army or navy gaurd for an hour and the do not blink for a whole hour. Seriously! How crazy is that? We were lucky enought to get to see the changing of the gaurd ceremony which was pretty awesome! I got some good pictures of that too!

We headed home after that! We sang some more karoke and then the bus dropped Amailia, Mimi, Demi, Page, and I off near Mimi and Demi's homes! We went in a near by 7-11 before Demi's grandfather picked us up, they have seaweed flavored chips! How awesome is that? Demi's grandfather informed us that the speed limit here is 60 kilometers per hour but I think most people go faster! Ha! He dropped us off at restaraunt where we met Demi's family for dinner! It was kind of like fondue but not. There was a heating bowl with a soup like substance where we cooked our food. I had shrimp and chicken along with a variety of other vegetables and stuff. Page and I sat with Demi and her sisters, this is really the first time we have gotten to spend time with them and they are so sweet! Our dinner was filled with lots of giggles mostly because me and Page suck at using chopsticks! But we try :) After dinner we went next door and had tea and coffee at a cafe and then we walked home!

I'm having a lot of fun! I can't wait to meet more people! Taiwan is definitely an amazing place! I wish everyone had this opportunity! Don't miss me too much!