The last time I wrote on this blog I was in a very different place. I was living in an apartment in Taipei, Taiwan with the love of my life. The trip, like the relationship, was fun while it lasted but all good things must come to an end. As for now, I am single and for the first time in my life, I am actually understanding what being independent really means.

As for my travels, I may have lost my travel buddy but I have not lost the bug. I am off to Salvador, Brazil for six weeks. With the love of my life, Michelle, I will be fooling around for 10 days and then I will join other members of Rutgers and Northeastern Universities for Global Pact. We will be studying about activism and how it can be used to create programs that can enhance the lives of people living in Brazil, a country filled with environmental and poverty issues.

So, have no fear, trusted readers. Ms. Luther has overcome and boldly continues to make each second of life worth living. And living it on a beach in Brazil for 6 weeks ain't half bad!

Stay tuned for more about life, love, and Brazil...

* I'm using another website to write about Brazil: Go to lexedy.wordpress.com

With three weeks left, Ergin and I decided to go and see all of the touristy places in Taipei. We visited some museums including Taipei Story House, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, and Taipei StoryLand. At Taipei Story House, which is a historical French building, we saw a silly exhibition about pets. It was actually kind of sad because they had a movie about the life of a puppy that ended with his death... I walked out before the doggy died.

Before going to the Story House, we went to the Fine Arts Museum. I had already been there but Ergin hadn't had the chance to see the museum yet. All the exhibitions were the same though except, unfortunately, they had gotten rid of the calligraphy exhibition which had been my favorite.

By the time we were done with all the museums we were very tired, especially since we had had class before we went exploring.

The next day we decided to visit the Taipei Storyland (different from Story House). It's in the basement of a mall near Taipei Main Station. The museum was based on Taipei in the 1960s and upon entering, you can walk through the streets, visit an old movie theater where you can watch an old chinese movie, go to a soda pop shop and have a drink, and visit old toy shops. It was very cute and we had lots of fun walking through the old streets.

On Friday, I took Ergin out on a date. We went to see Bourne Ultimatum which was sooooo good... definitely the best one yet!!! AAA I loved it sooo much!!! I just hope it convinced Ergin not to go into the CIA!!! I made him promise me that we would never become and Asset (an assassin for the CIA). Then, we decided to walk home because it was a beautiful night and it was too late to take the MRT. We walked right by the Sun Yat Set Memorial which I had seen before but not been so close to it. It's absolutely my favorite building in Taiwan. I can't wait to show Mommy and Daddy and Angie when they get here. We also walked by the Presidents house... i think!!! It was huge! I was so impressed with Ergin's sense of direction though... he got us all the way home almost!!! We would have been able to walk all the way there but by that point my feet were hurting and we decided to take a taxi.

Today, we made plans to go to Danshui, since its not raining. I can't wait to eat seafood!!!

Oo I forgot, we also went to a little town that's half an hour away called YingGe. It's the ceramics capital of Taiwan and I bought some souvenirs.. non of which were actual ceramics though. I'm going to go back with Mommy and Daddy and Angie so they can find a tea set. I bought a set of calligraphy brushes that I got engraved with my name, Ergin's name and taiwan all in Chinese. They are so pretty and definitely the perfect souvenir!

Love you all,
Lexi

The week after we went to LuDao we decided to stay in Taipei as we had spent so much of our scholarship money. We bought some nummy food at the local grocery store and Ergin and I have been making fried noodles and other concoctions as well. I'm actually not that bad a cook you know!

The next Saturday we went to the Astronomy museum. We saw a stupey 3-D movie which was kinda bad but it was great because we could actually understand what the characters were saying. This of course was only because the story was Hanzel and Gretel and it was directed to an audience members under 8 but it still made us feel pretty good about ourselves. The guy who lets people in at the door was very nice as well and gave me an "ET" character that didn't really look like ET that he had made from the 3D glasses. All throughout the theater were different skillfully crafted sculptures made from the same glasses. I was very impressed but all Ergin could say was "they have way too much time on their hands" which was true! We also went on a ride that reminded me of one of the dinky rides you go on in Disney... also for little kids. We both enjoyed it very much though and had lots of fun in the museum. After we left, we went to a small park across from the main museum and took pictures with the various sculptures.


After leaving the Astronomy Museum, Ergin and I decided to go to the Living Mall. We had seen it before when we went to Taipei 101 (so from the air) and it looked very interesting! When we got there I was so impressed with the architecture. A lot of buildings in Taiwan are relatively new and, therefore, are very modern in their architecture. Sadly though, there are too many malls and department stores in Taipei so I don't know if this mall gets much business. Really incredible to look at though. When we got there we had just missed a dance show and they were giving out awards to a bunch of different groups. We ate at the food court... which is far superior then any food courts in the U.S. and left.



On Sunday we went to the Red Pavilion Theater. It supposedly is based on Japanese architecture but it looked more Spanish to me. Inside was very beautiful and they had fish tanks that had pictures of old Chinese movies in them. They also were selling Chinese puppets for very cheap. I have to go back to get one!! We then went to a Parini Grill Store... yes its not Panini its Parini here hahaha and ate lunch. Later, we came home and Ergin went out with a Language Exchange partner.



This last week I bought a PSP... yes I have become sort of a gamer... thanks to Ergin that is. It's so pretty and pink!!!! Updating on our class, its great and we both have agreed that it has improved our Chinese by 200000000000000%! So now we are about 3rd grade speaking level...

Anyways so back to traveling. This weekend we also decided to stay around Taipei. On Saturday we had planned to go to Danshui, like I stated earlier, but it was raining soo hard that my friend canceled on us. It didn't matter though because Ergin's friend and high school track coach Victor Wu (who will be referred to as Wu from now on because that's what everyone calls him) had just arrived in Taipei the day before. We met up with him at a Dork Convention (Computers and stuff) and walked around. Supposedly, it is one of the biggest conventions on the planet and we bought some memory so I could finally advance in my PSP game... it took me two times and many hours of playing to learn that everything I had saved didn't really save because my PSP didn't have any memory!!! We then decided to meet up with my friend who had made plans with earlier and ate again (we ate Turkish food with Wu earlier) at the Eslite food court. Eslite is a very shishi department store that also includes a very good bookstore. My friend, Tiffany, had brought her friend along and for a few hours we talked with them in Chinese while Wu became our constant translator. We discussed a lot about the differences between our cultures and our languages. It was great to have Wu there because he is fluent in both languages, has lived in both countries, and is very insightful about both cultures. I was very glad to meet him and I aspire to be able to speak like him one day!

Sunday, we woke up rather late but decided that we should still go out. We took a train to Keelung (which took about 40 minutes and cost a little over a dollar American) to go sight seeing. When we got there we just managed to get a map from the tourist agency before it closed at 4. We then walked a little towards where we thought Fairy Cave was. Fairy Cave is a cave that holds four different shrines in it. After walking for a little while in the humidity, we finally got a taxi to take us there which was a good idea because we would never have found it otherwise. The cave was incredibly beautiful. Like all temples in Taiwan, it was elaborately decorated and colorful but the fact that it was in a cave connected it back to the Earth and made it even more special. One of the shrines was in a more remote part of the cave and we followed a group of Taiwanese tourists through a very claustrophobic opening to get to it. Along the narrow passageway characters were carved in the walls. Actually all throughout the shrine characters are carved. I had first thought that it was graffiti but I think it might be religious scripture instead.



After visiting the cave we started to walk back to town. While we were walking we heard the sound of firecrackers and wondered if it was part of a parade of some sort. On our way to the cave we had seen some people carrying alters. When we finally caught up to the group we were excited to see that it was a parade and walked along with them. There were huge drums, other instruments, fire works, alters and men dressed in traditional costume. The coolest thing, though, was the huge puppets that people wore. The costumes were about 10 feet tall and had scowly heads and beautiful clothing. They looked a lot like the puppets I had seen at the Red Pavilion Theater. After taking a lot of pictures, we asked a military officer who was following them what the parade was for. We didn't really understand what he said but it was probably some sort of religious celebration. The funniest part about the whole thing though was that Ergin and I were kind of an attraction by ourselves. While walking along with the Taiwanese people, we got more attention (looks and "Hellos") from the performers then they were receiving from the passerbies.



After leaving the parade, Ergin and I took a taxi to another temple or fort on the other side of the town. It was incredibly huge and beautifully painted.



We then walked up to the top the highest part of Keelung to where a tall Buddha like figure stood looking over Keelung. At the top we could see the entire town including the "KEELUNG" sign that had been placed in the hills much like "HOLLYWOOD". The tall sculpture was accompanied by two ferocious lions and a smaller, chubbier buddha that faced the other way. We also got to ring a huge bell and took lots of touristy pictures!



We then walked back to Downtown just as it was getting dark. Keelung is probably most famous for its Night Market. It was very busy and very big and the food we ate there was so delicious. I also managed to buy another purse ("bobo" in chinese). I can't resist them they are so cute! I also bought a dorky little kid watch and Ergin and I bought some pineapple cakes that are extremely delicious. After filling ourselves up, we went to another temple were we paid our respects and gave some donations. We also picked up some paper money, candles and incense as souvenirs for us to remember all the temples we had gone to. In Taiwan, these items are all burned to show respect to the gods, in this case Buddha.

Thoroughly exhausted we headed home on the 8:00 train and got back to our lovely, air-conditioned apartment.

Love you guys,
Lexi and Ergin


To see pictures of Keelung go to:
http://rutgers.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2196461&l=26a53&id=8827851

To see pictures of the museums go to:
http://rutgers.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2194309&l=eb7c6&id=8827851

So after getting through the racism we finally were able to rent a the
Motoche (scooter) =]. Like Lexi said, I have never rode one before so I
had to wing it. It wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be =D. I
went to fill up the scooter with "petrol" It cost about NT$150 (about
$4.65) for a full tank that lasted for 2 days of all day riding. So I
headed back to the hotel and picked up Toots (Lexi). We headed
toward the Prison's on the island. The first one we stopped at was an
actual active prison for those who are rehabilitating. Hence we
couldn't go inside =P. We then rode over to the next prison that's
now a historical site (Lex mentioned it in the last post). We went inside and took a look at all the prison cells. It was actually kind of spooky thinking about the prisoners they use to keep there and all the torture that went on. We left the
prison and headed for the cave.



The cave was very beautiful. The story goes (I think =\), a fisherman
was lost at sea and came on to the island. He entered the cave and
there was a rock that looked like a mermaid. Supposedly it protected
him from....they don't really say. Anyway we took a look inside and
Toots wanted to go further in, so after using her power of persuading I
gave in and went with her. It was so beautiful just how natural
everything was. We left the cave and headed to the Tourist Information
Center to pick up our camping gear. We then continued along the island and found another famous sight, Little Great Wall of China. It's basically a walkway that leads to a cliff where you can see the ocean. Very beautiful. Afterward we headed over to a place to rent snorkling gear so we didn't have to bother driving all the way
back since the snorkling areas were near our camping area.




We made it back to the campsite and set up the tent as quickly as we
could. We picked the best spot with a beautiful view. After we set the
tent up we quickly got into our snorkling outfits. We looked pretty
funny =D.



I've never been snorkling before so I was all gitty and
excited. Toots and I hopped back on our "Motoche" and headed to the
first area. All I can say is "Oh My God" The coral was beautiful and
their were over 50 different tropical fish. We went to the next area a
little further away. The nice old lady we rented our snorkling gear
from recommended that area. It was even more amazing. I was so happy!
It was all just so beautiful hidden underneath the water. It was so
funny it was Toots and me out in the deep ends looking at all the coral
while most of the Taiwanese (Who can't really swim) were all in the
shallow end. Since most Taiwanese cannot swim they have these ropes
that about 7 people hold onto while an instructor pulls them around to
look at the coral, and of course they all wear lifejackets as well.
It's was pretty funny but understandable. After snorkling for 2 hours
we started pruning up so we headed back to return the gear. We then
went back to the campgrounds to take a nap.

We woke up realizing we passed out for a couple of hours. We rode
toward town watching the sunset along the clear beautiful beach. This
Island by far was one of the most beautiful places I had ever been to.
Some of the little islands near by had names like sleeping beauty, dog,
and kneeling monk obviously because of the way they looked. We reached
town and ate at stand that fried whatever you picked like fries,
chicken, and many other unkown things =], all yummy. After munching we
went to an ice shop that specialized in Green Island's famous Seaweed
Ice. The seaweed ice tasted very...different but scrumptuous. We then
went to 7-11 (not surprised...their everywhere) and loaded up on snacks
and drinks. On our way back we drove through the mountains to admire
the dark scenery. The sky was lit with hundreds of stars and of course
Betelgeuse that beautiful red star in the sky. Toots was scared because
it was so dark we could barely see anything around us, I was too
focused on driving so I had no time to be scared =P. After seeing no
one for about 20 minutesish we found more then 25 people ontop of the a
mountain enjoying the night scenery. It was getting late and we were
tired so we headed back to the campsite and slept the night away.

Sunday morning we were suppose to get up at 4AM or 5AM...we got up at
neither...8:30am we woke up and headed over to the hotsprings as quick
as we could to make up for lost time. The hot springs were amazing,
even if it was hot outside. They had a cold spring to so we tried both
=D. After the hotsprings we headed over to the hiking trail that was
suppose to lead to the volcano. The hiking trail had so many lizards
running around kinda made you want to take one home =]. Along the trail
we ran into some workers that were clearing the pathway. I give them
props for working out in the devastating heat =O! We also ran into
something else, a ginormous spider! We headed up the mountain, to the
peak where we could not go any further because their was a military
base....therefore we could not see the volcano =*[.



We were already late in returning the scooter on time so we headed back, packed up and headed straight toward the Scooter Rental. We returned the Motoche and
waited for the next boat to take us back to TaiDong. We immediately
took a taxi to the Train station, after we boarded and sat comfortably
in our seats, an hour later more people boarded and basically told us
that the seats were theirs. So we got up and sat on the ground in
between the carts for the rest of the 4-5 hours.

-Ergin- =D

So let's see three weeks ago... and yes I do remember what we did.... I think!! Well I'm going to talk about the Museums, Green Island, and then add to this later because today we are going to Beitou, which is the Hot springs capital and then Danshui, which we have already been to but didn't really get a chance to explore that much.

The Art Museums: Our guide books had told us that if we go anywhere in Taibei, we should make the National Palace Museum a top priority. It takes a metro ride and a bus ride to get there, but the building itself is worth the trip. Unfortunately for us, who have been spoiled with museums like the Met, the Louvre, and the Prada, the National Palace Museum didn't live up to my standards (I'm such a snob!). There were twenty different tour groups walking through all of the exhibitions stopping in front of the smallest artifacts, most of which were little jade ornaments that could be seen throughout the entire museum, or beautiful jars and pots. It was a nice to see the art, but with two floors full of the same thing, we walked through the museum rather quickly. The exhibition I liked the most was the ancient books that were displayed open to show the beautiful calligraphy within them. The books were also bound in glorious fabrics with complicated weaving displaying dragons.

After leaving the National Palace Museum, I went to the National Fine Arts Museum which is much more convenient to get to. The building, like most new buildings in Taiwan, is a piece of art itself. It's boxy shape makes it noticeable from the MRT platform when you just get out of the train. Luckily for me, students were welcomed to tour the museum for free and I took my time to explore all four levels. The basement had a huge open area in it where musicians and actors could perform and tables and chairs were provided for at least sixty people. It also held a photo exhibition entitled, "The First Photo Gallery of Taiwan, The Legend of Rose Marie". Various artists' black and white photos were displayed as examples from the Rose Marie Gallery which was the first photo gallery in Taiwan. The photographs were very beautiful and I took my time to look at each and attempt to understand the story that went behind them.

The first floor held examples of modern art entitled, "Mind and Space, Exploring the Possibilities." As it was modern art, it had everything you would expect it to have including, two tv screens that only showed a man's eye and a babies eye. When one of them spoke, the picture would change to focus on their mouth, while the other appeared to be looking at his speaking. Then they would mimic the other, whether in baby language or Daddy language, both unintelligible. There were some nicer pieces though that I really liked.

The second floor contained pieces from their permanent collection, all still life. Some of the art was very impressive, while others looked like finger paintings. The fourth floor, which was my favorite by far, contained a solo exhibition by the artist, Chen Meng-Tze entitled "Looking Through" as well as "Open FUN- 2007 Taipei International Modern Calligraphy Exhibition". The solo exhibition was painted well and encompassed a lot of exploring reflections, something I find extremely hard to capture in paint. It was more or less boring though and I quickly moved on to the Calligraphy Exhibition. This was AMAZING! It made my trip completely worth it!!! And more then made up for the disappointment I felt with the other museum. The exhibition included over 100 paintings, all using Chinese characters. It was absolutely amazing to me to see how such emotion and beauty can be depicted with words. My favorite piece was of the character for "Pain". The artist used strong and violent brush strokes to write it and before seeing the title, I could feel the pain that the image depicted. FANTASTIC... GENIUS!!! It really made me realize how incredible this language is. To be able to depict human emotions with one character! I must start learning traditional. I think that simplified is really sad... the butchering of a language for political reasons... Traditional Chinese characters describe the culture of ancient China and depict emotions that one cannot understand if they look at Simplified chinese. Instead, I see years of Communist rule and the destruction of everything that is beautiful and different. Interestingly enough, many Taiwanese people believe that people in China will start using traditional writing as their first form of communication again.

So anyways, the museum was great and unfortunately, all the exhibitions will have gone before you guys come to visit me. I'm sure, if you want to go, we will be able to find new and exciting things there. Oh... and I tried to look Mommy up but I was at the wrong museum I guess.

On Sunday we went to the National History Museum to go see the terra-cotta Warriors that were brought to Taiwan from XiAn, China. We didn't get to see them because the line was ridiculously long and instead explored the small but wonderful museum itself. Complete with Japanese Armor and beautiful hand painted scrolls, the museum was definitely worth the trip and Ergin seemed much more satisfied at seeing ancient spears and weapons rather then jade ornaments and jars. The National History Museum is right next to the Botanical Gardens which we walked through on our way back to the Metro. They were very beautiful, even in the summer when most of the flowers aren't in bloom.

After we went to the museum, Ergin and I took the MRT to Guting Station which is where our school is. We had been invited by our professor to a picnic with his other students. The picnic was held in DaAn park which is a lovely and busy park. In the center of it is an outdoor theater where performances are held often. LIke in a lot of parks in Taibei, the park also includes bumpy stoned walkways that are meant to massage your feet as you walk on them barefoot. After buying fruit, hurting my feet from trying to walk on the not-so-comfortable and definitely not revitalizing walkways, and looking for our professor in the park which seemed to be much larger then we had expected, we finally found them next to the theater. We ate wonderful Nicaraguan food that one of my classmates, who is from Nicaragua, had cooked. It made me miss Brayan's mommy's cooking! We stayed there until nightfall and then walked back to the station with leftovers in our bags. I got a chance to talk with my professor about his life history and found that he had served in the Taiwanese army, used to be a journalist, majored in Chinese literature, taught in Maine, and then became a teacher. He is a fantastic teacher and all of my classmates agree! I have learned so much from him even though I already know everything we are studying!

Our week was the same as usual... we has language exchange dates and went to class. We made nummy food in cooking class.. and yes I finally know how to cook!!! Which I have found, is very easy as long as you fry everything! I have become very good at making fried noodles!

On Friday we made our way to the train station to begin our 7 hour trip to TaiDong, which is on the East Coast, and very south, of Taiwan. Unfortunately for us, we didn't know that we had to buy our tickets earlier to get seats, so we had to sit on the floor for most of the trip. We had originally though that since, A) it was night and B) we had taken the slow train, the it wouldn't be crowded. It was jammed pack full of people, all of whom were going to the same place as us! We had also thought we could save money by taking an over night train and therefore not have to get a hotel in TaiDong Friday night. I guess saving the 400 wasn't really worth it when we didn't get to sleep while sitting on the floor. Luckily, I had bought Ergin a new PSP game, (kind of like game boy) and we played that for most of the trip.

When we finally got to TaiDong, it was 6 in the morning and we ran out of the station, along with everyone else on the train, and quickly got to a taxi. I has very afraid that everyone would follow us or beat us to the docks and would be coming to Green Island along with us! Luckily, we got there quickly enough and managed to get a ticket for the 7:30 boat ride, the 7:00 had already been filled. It took an hour to get to Green Island, but it was a beautiful day and the wind and excitement of new adventures kept us awake.

When we got to Green Island, we were a little bewildered and didn't realize we should rent a scooter right away. I had though that the tourist information center was going to provide us with one (as I had booked everything with them in Chinese... there was bound to be some misunderstandings) and after walking for 20 minutes in the sun (scooter seems to be the only form of transport on the island) we found that the tourist agency didn't have a bike for us. That was fine because there were more scooters on the island then there were people but we had to deal with the disgruntled shop workers who didn't like or trust foreigners. After getting our first taste of intolerance in Taiwan, (a man had driven a scooter over to the tourist building, saw that we weren't asian, said that foreigners drive too fast, and left), we decided we would have to walk. I arranged to come and pick up the tent equipment for our campsite later on and asked them to take our backpacks and we walked to the lighthouse. It was very beautiful. The story goes that an American ship named after one of our presidents, Reagan maybe, crashed into Green Island, so they built a lighthouse to prevent that from happening again.


We then walked along the road trying to find the famous prison. During the Chinese Revolution, Green Island had been the home to three prisons, one of which still exists today, which is more of a get back into society rehabilitation center for prisoners. The most dangerous criminals in Taiwan were shipped to Green Island and placed in the biggest prison. The most historical prison though is known as the Green Island Lodge and was home to political prisoners who were thought to support Chairman Mao and Communism. Many were tortured here and it now stays open as a symbol of human rights violations. Next to the prison, a human rights memorial was built to remember those who suffered.

As we walked along the island, trying to find Green Island Lodge, we turned into a hotel area, which I had though might be the prison. It was very lucky that we walked into the hotel as we asked the women who was working there if she could rent us a scooter. She said there was no problem even after I told her about our issue with the local scooter renters. She took Ergin on her own scooter and brought him to the port were we had first arrived. The people there rented him a scooter without any questions and after winging it, as Ergin hadn't really rorode a scooter before... he came back to the hotel and picked me up. There is no way we would have been able to see the entire island if we hadn't found one so thank god for my horrible sense of direction.,...


I'll write more about Green Island when I get back from Danshui... I know, the suspense is killing you right!
Love you guys,
Lexi

Here are some pictures of LuDao:
http://rutgers.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2196435&l=a0cc6&id=8827851

Last Friday as well as this Friday Ergin and I went to Daxi, a very small town on the North East coast but south of Taipei. It took us about 2 hours to get there by train and when we arrived it was dark. We immediately checked into a local surf shop/ inn called Xiao Gu's Cool Surf Shop. The owner, Xiao Gu, is an old surfer who has lived in Daxi for 25 years, 15 of which he was surfed there. He and his wife own the surf shop along with possibly another one in Fulong, another, more famous, beach town. After checking in, Ergin and I walked around a little to the town to get water and to see what it was like. The town is very very small but just big enough to have a Family Mart, basically a 7 Eleven style everything store. After walking around a little we suddenly realized that we were being watched over by enormous moutains. It was very eery to see though as they were so black that it was as if they just snuck up on us. We then went back to Cool and to our little room. The room is Japanese style with a big mattress on the floor. There are no locks for our room, or for the entrance to the shop for that matter, but it was safe to leave our belongings there. On the second trip though, we made sure to leave our translators, passports, and other valuables in our locked aparment at home.


This is Turtle Island. It's just off the coast and used to be a military base. It's inaccessible to the public except if you go with a group so we are planning on going with our school. It seems very very cool!

We came down again from our rooms and attempted to find the beach. There weren't very many lights so we were a little afraid to walk along the narrow pathway that seperates the beach from the houses.

Luckily Xiao Gu was there and he accompanied us to the beach were we sat for about an hour and spoke in Chinese with him. It was sooo cool because he was using slang and we were understanding what he was saying. Daxi is the main place in Taiwan where surfers go to find waves. The waves are biggest in the winter but they are still just big enough to attract surfers during the summer time. We also learned that there jelly fish in the water. ehhhh.... but Xiao Gu seemed rather calm about this and we were reassured by his warm smile and friendly and relaxed outlook on everything. We went to sleep and told Xiao Gu that we would see him the next day so we could try and surf with him.

We woke up a little late the next day and went straight to the beach. There, we found that Xiao Gu had gone to another beach but we still could rent a surf board from one of the many kids that worked at his tent. I never figured out whether he had a lot of children or if he was just friends with a bunch of teenagers because the entire time we were there we must have seen 10 different guys hanging out. So we attempted surfing... well i say attempted because I was still very clumsy when it came to standing up... I fell over and over!!! Well Ergin, the athlete, stood up on the first try. And looked mighty fine doing it. He looked like he had been doing it for years.


This is the beach where we surfed. It's called Honey Moon Beach. Very nice black sand beach!


SEE Ergin's Surfing!!!

So the day was over, we ate noodles on the beach, swam in the ocean, saw some jelly fish and other kinds of fish, drank a whole lot of sea water, and got burned alive!! Sooo badly! So we were feeling a little sick and hungry so we went to town and bought shrimp and little fish that are seasoned and taste like chips. We then went back home and slept.

Ergin's Red Face!!!!

Sunday we were completely burned and tired and decided to go back home. We were very tired and went to sleep.

On Wednesday we had our first day of KungFu! It was so great. I felt like I was really doing something Chinese! And the motions are very strong and beautiful, it made me very happy and I'm still sore (It's now Sunday) from it. I'm definitley going to do more of it!

This last week I also went to a really nice restaurant with a girl named Vivi. She had studied in France for a few years and we spoke in Chinese and French which was really great. I miss French a lot. We then met with her friend and talked about a bunch of girly things in English and Chinese. It was so much fun and I really liked them. Vivi told me she could help me schedule a hair appointment but we'll see. If not I might just go to a local one next week. I really want to do something different and I want bangs. My hair is so hot here and it's always tangled and blah! Anyways it will grow back.. eventually...

Ergin and I also went to see Transformers! Sooooo good!! omg! I mean they are Transformers... robots in disguise!!! and ooo i love thee o Shia LaBeouf!!! Angie go see it! and mommy and daddy too!!!

This Friday Ergin and I went out again to a club. It was so much fun! I ended up dancing on stage with some random Taiwanese girl who later saw me and became obsessed with me! I made sure that those Taiwanese girls knew what it was really like to have a butt!! and be able to use it!!hahha My friend Sanny was there promoting Whiskey (her job) and we also met one of her other LE partners Tiffany who just happens to be a recent graduate of Rutgers New Brunswick.

On Saturday Ergin and I went back to Daxi because there was a concert being held there. We got there at night.. we slept in because we partied too hard.. and walked to the concert where we watched a few bands play on the beach. They were all very good. We then ate a lot of food and went back to the hotel and slept. Today, Sunday, we got up at 5 in the morning and went to the beach because we didn't want the sun to eat our newly depealed skin up again. We got to see a little of the sunrise and spent a few hours on the beach.. which we had mostly to ourselves. We were really the only ones in the water for most of the time until I saw some more jelly fish... there were 5 or 6 swimming together towards me... must be attracted to by beautiful butt... and i freaked out (wouldn't you) and ran out of the water. They were about two feet long (the one I saw before was smaller with pugdy stingers) including the "whiskers" as xiao gu calls them and I definitely got stung by one later on... or maybe not.. but it felt like it. I was fine though.. don't worry!


Ergin and I then took the 9:ish train to Fulong where we ate the famous lunch boxes they have!!! Sooo good and then went to the beach which is absolutely beautiful. We took all the pictures on our disposable camera though because I wanted to finish the film from when we went to the zoo the first time. We rented 30 minutes on a katamaran that was manned by a 28ish guy and a 12 year old boy. They were both very nice. The boat ride was so much fun, except when I slipped on my way from the front of the boat to my seat... I hurt my bum! But it was so fun! haha

So we are back now... watching Harry Potter (we are going to see it next week) and Ergin is cleaning the house and doing laundry. (I did it last time... I'm not making him do it!!) Miss you guys and love you!!!
Lexi ; P

Hey all! Just to add to Ergin's story....

When I went out with Vita we went to Guanliang to buy shoes. I decided that I would just wear my Converses to the club considering finding shoes in my size would be way too hard. At one point I tried on a L skirt at a store in our local night market and it wouldn't go past my thigh. I had to try it once after all. So we just decided to eat and walk around a little. We went to this little restaurant... like the usual ones where the stand is in the front and you walk in behind it, and ordered chicken noodle soup but it was pork. I dunno it tasted like chicken noodle soup to me. Then we went and bought bubble tea but it was different. They cook the bubbles in something like maple syrup and add milk or cream and ice. Unfortunately, me being clumsy, I ended up spilling the drink all over the stand's counter while trying to put the straw in. They all laughed at me.. I did too.

After we went to eat, Vita and I came back home to look up stuff for her because she will be going to Wildwood NJ in about a week to work and travel. I showed her all the websites to go to for booking hotels, etc. She will be there when i get back so I'm going to have her over at New Brunswick for a few days. Show her U.S. college life and the campus. I love her, she's really cute and sweet and so much fun. We then went to the bar and then the club. It's good going out with Taiwanese people because they know where the cheap places are.

Dragon Boat Festival.
The Festival was fun but it would be more fun if we were in it. Maybe if I ever come back I'd join the team. More importantly though, I learned a valuable lesson. After we missed my friends race, I went to the porter potty. Once I finished my business, I noticed that there was no toilet paper, at all, in the stall. There wasn't even a place for it. Well unfortunately for me, I didn't just pee. So I pulled my pants up, kept my legs a little spread, and hobbled out of the John feeling very unpleasant. After telling Ergin my situation, he saved the day by sneaking behind the judges table and stealing some tissue from a box. My hero!!! Bums were wiped, hands were cleaned, and we made it safely back to the bus station. Next time I'll make sure to bring so paper with me!

On Tuesday, not Sunday, Vita's play was very fun. It was cool to be able to understand a little of what they were saying and the actors were very good. I was glad that I was able to instantaneously realize that one of the characters killed themselves... I didn't look too dumb! I was even more glad to see Vita again!

Like Ergin said, we missed class on Wednesday. We were really tired and I forgot to turn the alarm clock on. We awoke to the lovely sound of Mozart outside our window telling us it was 1:00, garbage dumping time. Our class starts at 12:10. So we took the rest of the day off which was very good because I was sicky!

Thursday I met with Sanny, who is sooo adorable.. Ergin will never meet her. We spent four hours together and she taught me a bunch of new words like "weird", "snorkeling" "death god" (Anime reference for Shinigami which is the Japanese word for death god... i was trying to explain to her the plot of the show Bleach... my new guilty pleasure). She also helped me plan out my trip to the beach next weekend with Ergin and even hooked us up with a hotel that would be very cheap. She wrote me a script and gave me the number of the owner of the hotel. Tuesday morning, I called him and was very happy to know that I understood most of what he said back to me after I read him what she had written! Yay Sanny! Yay Me! Yay Xiao Gu (the owner)! She also said she is going to take me to Danshui this coming week to show me around. I'm very excited!

Friday, in class, we had our oral presentations about what we did during duan wu jie, dragon boat festival. I was very happy because I think I had a very good presentation and I even taught the class some new words! I really love my class and my teacher.

Friday night, I met with Sunnie again, (my first LE partner). We went to a very expensive Shanhai restaurant that is owned by a famous Taiwanese singer. I bought two "Snacks", so I wouldn't have to pay 300. I got Shanghai dumplings, i forgot what they are called but they are definitely nummy! and pumpkin cake... which are dumplings in the shape of pumpkins with red bean inside! OOOO i love red bean! It was very satisfying. I learned some new words with Sunnie like Mihu which means clumsy!! Perfect for me and Mommy!!!

Today, Saturday, Ergin and I and my class took a field trip to Taipei Zoo, again. It was very very fun, but it rained right when we got there. We ended up running from shelter to shelter to try and escape the thunder storm and eventually made it to the insectarium. There, we saw the butterflies we had seen last time we went. One had made very good friend with Ergin last time and tried to suck pollen out of his finger. This time, Ergin was ignored, but a butterfly became attched to another one of our classmates', ZhongBao, who is from Indonesia, ear. We took pictures! That's Weizi in the background.. the one Ergin and I have a crush on!

After the insect world, I had the smashing idea to buy ponchos so we all went down to the gift shop and got ponchos. I took purple! Ergin was green.

We then walked to the Koala House, took the shuttle train to the Penguin house and Reptile house, and then walked around a bit more. At the reptile house, we were lucky enough to once again see turtles getting it on. These ones were a little quicker with the thrusting though.... only 3 seconds before another thrust, unlike the other ones who had taken 6. Very funny to watch. Ergin and I played the "Find the Reptile in the Cage First" game... I totally won!!! We ended up staying there until it closed and took the train home with one of our classmates who lives right near us. She's one of the girls from Japan who was in the Dragon Boat race. Very very sweet and pretty. We talked a lot in Chinese which was nice.





I really enjoyed the field trip we had. Since the dragon boat festival was on a Tuesday, everyone took Monday off as well. Therefore, all the people who work had to also work this Saturday to make up for that Monday. That sucks right?! We also had to make up a class so our teacher, after reading Ergin and my diary, which we used to do our oral presentations, suggested the zoo. It was a great idea even though it rained. And I learned how to say a bunch more animals. Like Angie, Hippo is HeMa, which means river horse. hehe!

I am very busy next weekend. I have at least one date a day and on two days I have two! Soo popular but I'm trying to keep very busy and immerse myself completely in Chinese. I'm also trying out Kung Fu lessons so hopefully that will be fun. On Monday, one of my dates is going to be with this woman who invited me to go to the gym with her. I'm happy because I'll get some excercise... finally! And first time at the gym is free! Maybe if it's not too expensive I'll sign up for a month or something. If I go with her then I'll go you know! Practice Chinese and get healthy! And Monday, Ergin and I are going to sign up for cooking classes which will start in July!

So when I come back.. I will be able to cook, be able to defend myself, be healthier, and know how to say hippo in chinese! YaTa! (that means I did it in Japanese.....)

Love you all!
Lexi

Sorry to keep you all waiting it was all Lexi's fault (pause)...not! =] yes yes I am to blame as usual. Ok it is now Friday night. I will start with just about a week ago. Well let's start with class. Since the Dragon Boat Festival just passed at the end of our class they gave us "zongci." "Zongci" is a traditional food Taiwanese people eat during the celebration of "Duanwujie" (Dragon Boat Festival). Zongci is like a rice dumpling covered in bamboo leaves then steamed. It actually looks pretty interesting because of its triangular shape. I had the vegetarion zongci since most of them have pork in it. Mine came looking like a rectangle instead of a triagle. I guess so you can tell the difference because you won't know what's inside unless you open it. Everyone of course loved it. After class I got a call from one of my language exchange partners (Marie). She was waiting for me outside because she bought me 2 vegetarian zongci. It was very sweet of her because I told her how I didn't eat pork. She told me when she bought them she tried one for herself because she never had a vegetarian zongci. She said the vegetarian one tasted better then the one with pork hehe but from what I heard everyplace makes them differently.

At this point Lexi and I had to split up because she had a date with one of her language exchange partners named Vita (a very nice taiwanese girl) Lexi will add to this later. So anyway I headed back to the Mandarin Training Center to finish up some homework then headed home. Lexi ended up bringing Vita back home (naughty lexi!). Vita actually took us out later that night to a place called "Sauce" an all you can drink bar. The way you pay is you roll the dice and what ever the higher number is you add two zero's to the end of it. So let's just say you roll a 2 and a 4, you would pay $400. I thought it was pretty cool hehe. After Sauce we went to a club called Neo19 near Taipei 101. This club was amazing. It started out with just me and Lexi dancing and everyone watching haha. But everyone loved it so then they all started dancing too! it was awesome! Lex and I got that party started hehe. We even got some compliment from some weirdo's New Jersey. The night was pretty good. My friend Dan from Rutgers who's studying at ShiDa also joined us. The night life in Taipei is crazy =].

Saturday was "xiuxi" day =]. Basically our resting day. Onto sunday! Sunday morning we woke up early (9:00) because our classmate Ya Xi Zi invited us to watch her compete in the Dragon Boat Races. Our university "ShiDa" has two teams, 1 mixed team males and females, 1 all males. Lex and I wanted to join the race but the deadline to register was in March =[. So anyway we went to one of the MRT Station ZhongXiao FuXing to meet our other two classmates Wei Zi and Ju Li. Wei Zi is the cutest thing ever. Lex and I want to kidnap her and take her home. She's about in her 30's but so adorable. She's from Japan but her dad is Korean and her mom is Chinese. So we all waited for the bus to pick us up and us to the Festival. When we reached the festival we headed toward the river. The Dragon Boat races had teams from all over the world competing. Each team has 1 flag grabber, 1 person who steers, 1 drummer and the rest of the 12ish are rowers. The people who row follow the beat of drum. In order to win you must race about 250 meters and grab the flag in your lane (hence the flag grabber, their might be technical terms for these positions...but I dont know them so shhh). Lex and I walked around and checked out all the different kind of food they had at the festival. We ate some vegetable noodles which tasted amazing =]. Our classmate still wasn't racing until later so we walked around a little more and when we got back....the race was over =[. We met up with Ya Xi Zi and asked her about her race. They got in 1st of course =] but later we found out that they got disqualified =[ because the person that steers wasn't wearing his life vest (His body was too big for the lifevest). Turns out our team started protesting by covering all the lanes of the races and shouting their team name. The police came to get them in their little boats and surrounded our team. So they all abandoned ship and swam for it lol! Lex and I left shortly afterward.

We were heading home on the MRT up until we forgot to get off at our transfer stop 3-4 stops ago. The MRT was heading toward the Taipei Zoo so of course we went =]. The zoo was amazing!! I loved it. It was actually pretty big. We saw every kind of animal you can think of except for....the panda...yeah thats right...the panda =[. No panda! Bah anyway. We are actually going to the Taipei Zoo again tomorrow because long story short, we have to make up a day of class we missed for the holiday so we're going to make it up on Saturday by going to the Zoo. We returned home after spending about 4 hours at the festival, then 3 more hours at the Zoo walking around. It was well worth it.

Monday morning, as you already know we're tired and sleepy =P. So we got up late and didn't head out until the evening. Lexi wanted to go MiraMar Entertainment Mall. It is pretty much this ginourmous mall. (gigantic + enormous = ginourmus..with a little fusion it works.) This mall also had the biggest ferris wheel in the world. It takes 13 minutes to get to the top. Lexi and I didn't get to go on because it was very crowded since no one had school or work the next day. So we will return and of course we'll post pictures =P. Lex asked me on a date to see Harriet (XD) Potter in IMAX so she got tickets to see it in 2 weeks I believe. We left MiraMar and went to ShiLin night market (it is a ginourmous night market) so many places to buy and eat pretty much anything for cheap =]. I found this awesome Skull with Wings belt buckle =D!! The day ends with Lexi and I looking at the time running back to the MRT before it closes so we can get back home. fun =].

Sunday...defnitely tired. We slept in and relaxed. Later that night we went to go see a play that Vita invited us to. Vita did the lights for the play which were of course amazing =]. The play itself was so funny for the parts I understood hehe. But the ending was a huge twist....it ended with sniffle's and tears. It was about a group of teens who grew up together and 10 years later they were hanging out and drinking having a great time. One of them was very depressed and when the girl he liked turned him down....he hung himself at the end, it was sad...the acting was amazing evening I can't really tell lol. But it was well worth watching. We returned home after the play finishe dour homework and went to bed. We forgot to set the alarm so we ended up sleeping through class. Lexi was sick too =[. So I dropped our homework off, went food shopping then returned to the apartment.

Thursday was an average day class, listening homework, then met up Marie to help her study for TOFEL (an English exam). Today (Friday) was the same up until after class, Lex and I went to get our flights changed from September 3rd to September 1st. Turns out most of the flights are booked so we're on the waiting list for september 1st and August 30th. Afterward thanks to me we got lost and Lexi found our way back to the MRT and we came back home. Lexi left for her date and I left for my meeting with Sunny. Sunny took me back to ShiLin to show me around, and it turns out that Lexi and I missed so much heh. She showed me where the arcade is too ^_^!! I saw the bowling place which is really pimp. Their are huge screens of hot music videos playing while you bowl, except its mucho dinero. She also showed me where the mechanical bull was and a place to play people in BB Gun which is kind alike paintball but you play with small BB's, you shoot each others balloons that are attached to your body. Looks fun and safe (you have to wear these uber huge goggles). But yeah, she helped me buy my skull belt and we returned home. Well, until next time. zai jian!!

First of all... go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/9083853@N04/ to see my photos! Finally they are up!!!

I have to get ready to go see a play in Chinese so the blog will stil have to wait... love you all!!!!!!!

I had my second date today. It was with a very awesome girl named Vita. We spoke Chinese most of the time and I finally gained some hope. I have been questioning whether I would improve my speaking or not considering Ergin and I have not been speaking Chinese to one another (it's his fault....haha). She is 19, drama major, but not an actor. She is learning how to do crew and production work. She is going to Wildwood, NJ in 17 days for three months. I'm going to help her get a hotel and try and find her a house where she can stay for those months. She hasn't prepared very well for her stay. Hopefully we'll be able to find something for her. We are going to go out again on Friday to buy me shoes... yes I need a 13th pair. Luckily for me, she is size 8 so she knows where to shop for big shoes. She was very sweet and patient with me and by the end of the night I was very tired from trying to speak Chinese or explain in Chinese what an English word meant. I like her very much and I'm sad she won't be here for the three months I'm here. When I get back to the United States though, I'm going to take her to New York, which is why she is really going to New Jersey. We went to Ximen which is the hotspot for teenagers. It is very expensive but pretty to look at. Some of the girls who go there are very beautiful but in a very scary way. They just look like they would eat a guy up.

So in other news, the last two days I've been kind of sick. O that lovely UTI!!! Luckily for me, I caught it very early, went to the university clinic the day it started and got free antibiotics for it. It's better now. The doctors were very cute and thank god urinary tract infection was part of their limited vocabulary. The didn't know how to say cranberry juice though! I stayed home from class yesterday to sleep a bit. I also canceled my two dates so I have to reschedule those. Today my stomach was hurting, I think from not eating enough food. I'm also fine now.

We had our first test today in class. It started with our teacher reading sentences and us having to answer a multiple choice questions. It was very difficult. Completely listening comprehension and a lot of them. It's good though, because I'm training my ear to understand Chinese better. We then had dictation which wasn't too bad. The rest was fine but that beginning part killed me. I'm still loving the class and the people in it! Especially the Japanese girls. They are soooo cute!!!! OMG!!

After class, Ergin and I went food shopping. Unfortunately within the city there aren't very big shopping centers. Therefore the ones that do exist are a bit expensive. One of Ergin's dates, who he has decided he will see two times a week because she is so good at teaching him Chinese, said there was a Costco somewhere around. Anyways, we bought eggs and cheese, yogurt, juice (cranberry of course), pasta and sauce, and oreos and Chinese cookies that are hen hao chi (very tasty)!! I also splurged on peanut butter and raspberry jam, which are very expensive here in comparison with everything else and of course bread. Now when I get sick again, I'll have food I can eat at home instead of starving because I don't want to walk down the million stairs... okay there's not that many... to get food. The only downside is that now we'll have a lot of garbage and we always miss the garbage truck. It comes twice a day, there aren't any garbage cans. You hand the garbage man your trash at 1:00 and 7:30 and we are never home during that time.

The other day we went to our little convenience store in the local night market and just decided to look around. I went to the makeup isle and looked for mascara. Well of course they don't have it because everyone's eye lashes are already black. Instead I found this other stuff that's kind of disturbing. They have this thing that looks like mascara but there's a tool that comes with it that looks like a small two pronged fork. What I'm guessing, by the picture on the back, is that the tool is used to hold up the eye lid and the mascara looking tube is actually glue. It's to glue your eyelids up so that they don't fold over and you can see your eyelashes! But Asian people have beautiful eyes!!! Why would they want to glue them? The other item looked like a clamp of some sort and it turned out, I think, to be a tool to make the bridge of your nose higher. So you make it less flat. How painful!!! I don't get it.. Beauty is so stupid sometimes... I mean I'm one to talk considering I walked around in painful high heels for way to long.. but... ouch!

Speaking of high heels, on Sunday, Ergin and I went to the National Theater to see Macbeth. We got all prettied up and went. When we got there the ticket saleswoman told us that the play was canceled because one of the dancers got hurt. I guess here they don't have back up dancers! I was so sad! I was really looking forward to that! They don't even have it rescheduled! So we'll have to keep our eyes open for another show.

Anyways love you all and I'll talk to you soon!!! Hope you are having a good time in Turkey and Paris!!

Aurevoir!
Lex

Yesterday we had class again. Our teacher Xiu De Ming is very nice and very good at making us feel relaxed about the language. He teaches us very slowly and repeats things until we get them. He also corrects everyone's pronounciation continuously so that we can really start to learn how to speak like a native speaker. I'm really enjoying the class and the people in it are very very nice. There are two Japanese girls who are absolutely adorable, a guy from Indonesia (I think), a woman from England, and guy from Korea, and a girl from Nicaragua. Ergin and I are the only two people from the United States in the class. We invited all of them to come join us tonight to celebrate Ergin's 22 birthday, which is tomorrow. Hopefully they won't think that I'm going to pay for the entire meal... cause that is not happening.

Last night I went on my date with Sunnie, my new language exchange partner. She's very adorable and reminds me of Emily Clare a little. She works in a government job doing a lot of translation etc. She majored in English in college and speaks very well. I took her to the restaurant we are going to tonight. I also invited her to come tonight as well. We mainly spoke in English the entire time while I attempted to throw some Chinese sentences in here and there. I told her that next time we are only going to speak mainly Chinese. She was very nice and I really liked her so we decided to meet once a week.

I have deleted all of the guys who have e-mailed me and I'm meeting another girl on Monday. I figured by getting rid of all the guys I can limit my chances of feeling creeped out. I'm so popular! I'm going to have a date every night! Next week I'm also going to try out a Kung Fu class for free. The lessons, if I decide to go with this guy, are about $10.00 a class. That's very good considering fencing lessons were wayyyy more. It'll be a group lesson though which is fine. Maybe if I get more serious I'll try out one-on-one lessons.

Yesterday, after class, and after we came home to get the homework Ergin forgot and came back to school (silly boy), we were trying to call our classmates to let them know where we were going to meet to go to dinner. I was about to call my second classmate when an elderly Taiwanese man with long grey hair approached Ergin and I and just began talking to us. He was totally the Nutty Professor type and very excentric (angie I don't know how to spell that so shut up... love you). He started speaking to us in Chinese and English and told us about all the people he's met and how they studied. He must have talked non-stop for about 15 minutes before I finally told him I had to meet someone and we quickly got out of there. He did offer some very good advice though about studying Chinese. He said that what we should do is not worry so much about writing and reading, we should really practice our speaking and listening and every day review the lessons and really learn what we need to know. In the end, we probably won't ever be able to read a magazine in Chinese because even Chinese people dont' normally go through a whole magazine without having to look up a word they don't know. Chinese is very difficult because very word is a different character. Although some of the words have some symbols in it that are the same, such as ke (class) and qing (please) which both have a speaking symbol in it, one could never really recognize what a word means without having learned it before. Once again I must question how Rutgers teaches Chinese. Is it really important to know how to say "tribes" when we don't know how to say "shirt" or "pants" or "bubble tea"!!!!

Anyways... I miss my family. I love you soo much and I really can't wait for you to come and visit! Ergin's phone is being stupid so I'll have to try and catch you on Skype... Love you love you!

-Lex

Okay so I'm not really sure where I left off but I'll update my fans on what has been going on since Danshui.

We got the apartment, and after a lotttttt of cleaning, the place looks very nice. Its very big and its near the MRT station which is a stop away from the university I'm going to. The next challenge is laundry. We think we bought laundry detergent but the clothes aren't very clean so maybe its just fabric softener. Ergin and I will have to look again. We have internet now in our apartment (after Ergin worked for many hours to try and get a name and password from ADSL).

The other day, Ergin and I met up with Pei-Ling and her husband WeiWen. Pei-Ling was a graduate student at Rutgers Newark getting her PhD in Criminal Justice. She is friends with one of daddy's colleagues, Ko Lin Chin. We met them at Taipei 101, the tallest building in the world. Once again, typical of Taiwanese people, they were amazingly nice and wonderful. Pei-Ling bought Ergin and I tickets to go to the observation deck at the top of Taipei 101 to see all of Taipei. It was not cheap. The view was incredibly beautiful and I finally realized that Taipei is really in a valley. With green mountains surrounding it on all sides, and rivers running through it, the view is breathtaking. WeiWen was very sweet and gave us a nice tour of the building including showing us how the building protects the stores if a fire breaks out. He works with fire fighers. We then went with them to a traditional Taiwanese restaurant and had the best meal so far. They once again paid for everything including the bubble tea I had and Monster Ice we had later. (I'm leaving what monster ice is as a surprise for those who are coming to visit). Everything was so good and it was such a great night. Pei-Ling's son also came along and he didn't speak much English. Of course, though, when Ergin and I tried to speak to him in Chinese, he said the few words he knew in English back to us.

Today was our second day at the Mandarin Training Center at ShiDa (National Taiwan Normal University). The classes are very good even though Ergin and I were placed in a class that is way below our level. We decided to stay in the class because although our vocabulary and reading level is higher, our speaking isn't very good and this class is a great review. It's really making me think about Rutgers Chinese though. As much as I love the class I wonder if it's really necessary for us to learn so many vocabulary words when I still have trouble asking a vendor for a scallion pancake. The classes aren't very practical and maybe I'll be able to read scholarly writing but I won't be able to tell a doctor that my throat hurts. The teacher in our class speaks Chinese the entire time and takes it very slow so things like "what time is it" "what is your name" and "when did you get up this morning" are ingrained in our heads. I'm also enjoying learning traditional, eventhough it's a little hard. It's all about the patience and beauty of it though. And it's interesting to see how traditional and simplified at times look nothing alike.

Ergin and I also have placed ads for language exchange on TeaLit.com. I have already received many responses mainly from creepy men, who I'm not intending on writing back to. I did speak with one girl though on MSN and we are going to meet up tomorrow to eat Monster Ice. She majored in English at National Taiwan University (not ShiDa) and seems very nice. She was very cute about it too because she said she was nervous and that this was very first time meeting a Language Exchange person. hahaha. Don't worry, Ergin will be there with me at least until I meet her and see that she's not a hairy fat creepy old man. I'm sure she's not. Hopefully she'll be able to help me with Chinese because Ergin and I are speaking to each other in Chinese but not enough.

On Sunday, it's Ergin's 22 birthday. Old huh? I'm taking him to a play. We are going to see Macbeth, well the Taiwanese Version of Macbeth, at the Chiang Kai Shek National Theater. Interestingly enough, the Chiang Kai Shek memorial is actually going to be changing its name because the government doesn't want to commemorate the dicatotor. They are calling it something like National Taiwan Democratic Memorial something. Ooo Politics! So unfortunately we weren't able to see any of the statues of him or anything when we went to visit.

OK as I promised, here are some words my darling family needs to know before they come:

Yi ge cesuo zai na li? ce= sen Where is the bathroom?
Duo Xiao Qian? its pronounced, dwo shiow chi-en? How much?
Dui bu qi. Pronounced, dooa boo chi... excuse me or sorry (good for getting through crowds)
xie xie ... pronounced, she-ye she-ye, Thank you (say it fast)
ohh and the numbers

1= yi or just say the letter "e"
2= er
3= san
4= si...as in s-ugh
5= wu... woo
6=liu... lee-o say it fast
7=qi... chi
8=ba
9=jiu...like the letter "g" and the letter "o" but together g..o say it fast and don't read go
10= shi... sh-ugh like four but with a sh...
11= shi yi
12= shi er
... you get the picture
when you get to 20 its
er shi
30=san shi
40= si shi.... etc.
100= ban

and "kuai"... pronounce k-wi like i as in "I" means dollars

love you all,
pictures will come soon (I have scholarship applications to write!!!)

-Lex

On Thursday, Ergin and I went to finish all of our errands with the school. We had to open up a bank account with the local post office on campus and get a name stamp. Now my name, in Chinese, is official! After we finished everything, we came home and rested a little while. Then Ergin said he wanted to take me somewhere but it was a surprise. I knew he had been planning something because earlier, I was trying to look at these papers he was reading and he told me I wasn't allowed to.

We ended up going to Danshui which is about a 40 minute ride on the metro. The train goes out of the underground tunnel and outside and it was really nice to see all of the other towns that we passed on our way there. Taipei is a lot bigger then I thought. We got to Danshui and walked through the town. It reminded me a little bit of Atlantic City but not as dirty or as big. It was right on the water and there were a lot of street vendors. Ergin bought glasses that make him look very sophisticated and I got a pair too. We then caught a fairy to an island across the way and ate at a seafood place there. The food, as usual, was very, very delicious. We had garlic mussels that were so big, and steamed shrimp. The shrimp were, of course, whole, and we had to use our hands to pull their heads off, trying, carefully, not to get any brain on our hands. We then deshelled then and the legs came right off. I evenutally became very skilled with this. The food was soooooooooooo good and with our bellies full, we went outside to rent a bike.

I have never rode on a two seater bike but it was a very fun experience. Ergin took the front and we rode for about an hour along the coast. It was very romantic because it was just about sunset when we rode. Later, I tried to sit in the front but I couldn't steer. We ended up falling into the bushes many times! We then went to the local shops and Ergin tried the claw game (where you have a claw and you have to pick up a toy)100 times. He ended up winning three or four!! It's very cheap here though so its not big deal but its very addictive. I bought some post cards and gifts for people. Ergin also got a trucker hat and with his new glasses he was definitely emo. It was a little to unfamiliar to me, but he liked his new look.

It was a very nice trip and I definitely needed it. We have been very stressed the past week because of all the things we've had to do and we have been fighting a little about stupid things. This was a nice way to get back to our normal selves and enjoy each other. It was so romantic and wonderful and I'm so happy Ergin brought me there. He really does love me!!! haha!

We came back on the train around 9 and went to a movie theater near Taipei 101. Although we were tired, I really wanted to see Pirates of the Carribean. It was good but not fantastic. I think the fact that we were sitting in really comfortable chairs and the theater wasn't crowded made it more enjoyable. I also ate sweet popcorn! And of course it was clean. After the movie, we took a taxi to the hostel.

Yesterday, Friday, we checked out of the hostel and moved into our new apartment. When I finally got there, (Ergin took the subway and I took a cab because my luggage is way too heavy), we had to wait a little for the previous people who were living there to come with the keys. The last tenant, Rodney is a very cool rastafarian from California. He was really nice and invited us to go with him to the Dragon Boat Festival on the East coast. He has aboriginal friends there who, he said, take the festival very seriously and its a really good time. We talked to him for a while and he told us about all of the good places to go. There's a night market not to far from our apartment and the subway isn't too far either. Our apartment is also a subway stop away from the school.

Rodney's girlfriend is Taiwanese and they called the landlord over while they were there to help us talk to him. He only speaks Chinese and is one of those guys who looks completely normal but is massively rich. He owns our entire building. He's very laid back and since we are only staying for three months we didn't have to give a security deposit or sign a lease. We just have to give each months rent to the parking attendant across the street and he picks it up.

We then decided to go treat ourselves and went to 3C, an electronics store. Ergin and I have both been very interested in finding a translator where we can write in the chinese characters and it can translate it for us. We found the coolest one, for a little sum of money. It's in color, has a million language settings, has an organizer, etc, and the coolest part is it has a program that teaches you Chinese. There are clips of movies such as Bring it On, and What Women Want that you watch and they translate into Chinese later for you. It also has songs and TV shows. There's a microfone on it too that lets you hear how its supposed to be pronounced!!! SOOOO cool!!!

Anways, we came back from the store (after eating McDonalds.. i know but I really was craving a cheese burger)and started to look at the apartment and see what had to be done. We went to the night market, where we bought all of the necessary supplies for very cheap and then we decided to go to IKEA to buy decent sheets. IKEA looks very small but when you walk in it it seems like it goes on forver. We bought sheets, poperie, candles, and pillows and came back and started to clean everything. While Ergin went back with Dan, our friend from Rutgers, to the night market, I started to clean the bathroom. I used a lot of bleach and definitely cleaned out a million years of dirt from the tiles in the shower.. ewww...
We mopped the living room and kind of clean the bedroom (we didn't want to mop it yet because we didn't want to breath bleach in the entire night). After getting everything ready, we had a very nice sleep.

Today we are going to eat with a friend of Ko Lin Chin at Taipei 101. I have to find a place where I can buy flowers for her. The only problem is that I don't want her to have to carry them everywhere. Oh well!
I'll download pictures when we get internet in our apartment (I'm at an internet cafe right now next to a bunch of kids playing video games!).

Love you all,
Lex

Yesterday was a very busy and nice day. Ergin's friend, Joyce, invited us to go to the WuLai mountain. We took the metro to the last stop on the green line and waited for her and her friends there. When they came, we caught a bus up a very windy road to the top of the mountain. The mountain was absolutely beautiful and its main habitants, a Taiwanese aboriginal tribe, were very friendly. Their main source of income is tourism and as we got higher up the mountain we saw more of them. I bought a belt that they had hand made and spoke with them a little. They were, as usual, very nice and said my chinese was very good. Taiwanese are very impressed when foreigners can speak their language. Unfortunately though, I've heard that the darker you are, the stranger you are and many really only like white people.


After going to the souvenir shop, we took a very small train that led us to a cable car that took us across the valley in which hot springs are, to the biggest waterfall in Taiwan. Although it wasn't very huge, it was still beautiful and the park itself was full of tropical vegetation and many things to see and do. There is actually a hotel near the waterfall as well as an entire obstacle course which includes ropes, wooden walkways that shake when you walk across them, and prehistoric rollercoasters. Ergin was particularly excited about this aspect of our trip as he kept running around, leading the group. By the end of the day we all agreedthat Ergin would make a great adventurer/secret agent. It was very humid in the jungle but not very hot and the view was worth all the sweat we created. By the end of our trip we were very exhausted after climbing stairs all over the mountain.


At around three o'clock we took the cable car back down to the mountain where we went to see an aboriginal dancing show. It was only us six in the audience but they still put on a show for us. The women were extremely beautiful as well as the men (the best dancer in the show was a very gay man who seemed to be the leader of the group and life of the party). During the last performance of the show the dancers demonstrated the traditional practices of marriage. Instead of exchanging a ring, the bride and group get down on their knees and place the faces almost to the ground. As they stay there the man performing the services comes over with a huge plant leaf and wacks both of them in the butt and they are married. After they finished the dance the groom came to me and placed the traditional headress and vest on and pulled me onto the stage. Ergin was picked by the bride (who was way to pretty....) and our friend Manuel (a very intelligent German fellow who Ergin called Miguel in the last entry) was taken by another woman. The three Taiwanese people in our group were neglected and sat to take pictures. We all were made to get into position and with a wack on our butts we were married to our significant others. Mine didn't smile much but was cute, Ergin's was probably 12. We continued to dance with the performers (Ergin had to put a chair on his back and carry his bride around the dance floor) lead by the Fabulous male dancer and got pictures taken of us which were given to us as presents for 300NT! It was worth it though. I mean it's not that often that you get wacked in the ass with a reed! As we were leaving Ergin's young bride and another dancer who also looked 12 showed us the way out... right into the changing room. Fortunately for the female dancers (who were in bra and underwear by that time) I was in the lead of the group. We quickly turned around to see the hooligans run behind a curtain giggling as we went out the exit.


After the show, we walked down to where the restaurants were and ate aboriginal food. It was absolutely delicious. Everything was very flavorful and most of it was vegetables (Mommy)! We also ate whole little fish (sardines?) and little shrimp, head and all. They tasted like potato chips and once you got over the fact that you were eating shell as well as eyes, brain, and legs, they were very delicious.


With our bellies full, we walked back to the bus station where we returned to Taipei and came home to welcome beds. I became a couch potato and watched "Bleach" and Ergin went to sleep.

Today, Ergin and I went to register for our classes. By the way, I totally forgot to wash the conditioner out of my hair when I was in the shower so I had conditioner in it the entire day. It was especially gross when I was sweating. Anyways...we had to do an oral and written test and placed us into Basic Chinese. I got a 44 out of 100 something which makes sense considering the test was in traditional and I can't read that. We are also planning on taking a culture class and a cooking class. The cooking class is in Chinese but they hold up all the ingredients so we figure we can get by. After we registered we went to eat a noodle place. The food was good. Ergin got an ice cream bar after and was very surprised to see how small it was! (That's what she said... haha)


We then went to Chang Kai Check Memorial Hall and walked around there. At the hall is the National Theater of Taiwan so Ergin and I went to look at the shows that were playing. I wanted to take him out to a show for his birthday so I bought two tickets for the Taiwanese version of Macbeth. It looks really good from the add. We then walked around grounds, fed very hungry fish, and came home to rest a little. Ergin went out to an electronic mall to find gadgets. He's looking, in particular, for a small computer where you can write in Chinese characters and it will tell you what they mean. I'm totally getting one! I still wanted to watch Bleach... i'm addicted... and I had to write this blog so he went without me. I figured that would be better anyways as I would just slow him down. I can't interfere with his gamer/electronics dork side!!!



At 7:30, Rodney, the previous owner of the apartment we hope to rent, is calling us to give us details about the lease. Don't worry, we're not going to sign anything we can't read and I'm not going to give him any money. I want to meet the landlord and talk to him about living there. Hopefully we'll be able to leave the closet and go to the mansion soon!!! I'm getting restless!! On Saturday or Sunday one of my contacts in Taiwan is going to take Ergin and I out to dinner at Taipei 101, the tallest building in the world. It's a shopping center but you can go to the top and see all of Taipei! It should be very fun and I won't forget to bring them flowers!!!

Some more generalizations, questions, and observations:
- Taipei is extremely clean but there are no garbages on the streets!! Well there are on but they are very hard to find and they are very small!

- Napkins? Who would have thought? They are just not that available in restaurants. And I mean you need them especially when eating soup!!

- In Taiwan, not many people smile in public when they are alone. Although its the same in New York, they look a lot more unhappy. But then, when they get a phone call or see a friend, their faces become so bright and cheerful you have to smile too. I want to keep them all in my pocket! I've never seen such happy, beautiful faces!

- Another thing about touching... I may have mentioned this but when exchanging money you place it in a dish. Today, when I was buying a student metro card, I accidentally took the dish along with my money and started to walk away! I'm so silly!

- This city would be a very nice place to live. English teachers get paid $20.00 American an hour, the city is very clean, the rent is cheap, no one really smokes (surprisingly), and everyone is very nice to you and accomadating, especially in stores. It's those smiles that gets me!!

(Don't worry mommy and daddy and angie, I'm not moving to Taiwan...)
-Lex

My turn!! (Ergin =]) ..and the day begins with a clueless morning. As you know our room is the size of a small walk-in closet with no windows, its cute but we're pretty much oblivious to time and sun. We woke up at about 10 am. Our plans were pretty much set for the day. We're trying to find an apartment in Taiwan to lease for 3 months. It turns out the the owner of Taiwanmex (the hostel we're at now) owns another hostel that has bigger rooms. They offered about 10,000TD a month to each of us for one room that has two beds (not bunked) and barely any room to even store our luggage. It's better then the room we have now but definitely isn't worth the price. So we decided to put it on our "back up" list, you know.....just in case we don't find anything. (Our emergency, emergency aparment... love you, lex)

As we left Taiwanmex I wanted to test my phone card to see if the number was active yet. The operator for the phone company ended up answering (in Chinese of course). I tried to speak as much as I could to explain the problem with my phone but since my terminology with problems with SIM cards isn't up to par I asked him in Chinese if he spoke any English, very little he said but he did me the favor of transferring me to the english department of the cell phone company. I spoke to a very sweet lady who spoke in broken English but better then the other operator. She told me I needed to return to the store that I bought it from and correct an address error on the form I filled out. It turns out when I bought the SIM card the address I gave them had to be written in chinese. When I walked into the store one of the company representatives approached and asked in English if he could help me, just because I'm white doesn't mean I speak English does it? =P I should of spoke Turkish instead just for fun but I didn't, maybe next time. His english wasn't that good so I had to explain in broken chinese about what happened and it went a little something like this..(this is after he gave me the blank stare of "this is as far as my English goes") It didn't matter, I came to Taiwan to speak chinese so I gave it a try..and it went a little something like this,

Me: Ni de gongsi gei wo yi ge dianhua, tamen gaosu wo wo de dizhi cuo le (your company gave me a call and told me my address was incorrect)

Rep: Oh ok! I know now. (Of course he responded in english)

So he whipped out my form I signed from the night before and we changed the address. It took less then 2 hours for them to activate the SIM card which is great because usually for most SIM cards it takes about 24 hours and I get free incoming calls! Taiwan is great Dui ma? Dui ah! (Yes? Yeahh!)

So that's that, now the time was around 1ish so we decided to head over to the Mandarin Training Center at National Taiwan Normal University to look at the bulletin board filled with apartment ads. This is all thanks to my friend Joyce whose been such a sweetheart and a great help to Lex and I. So we found the bulletin board and browsed around. We took down the numbers and decided to call a few places. The first place we called a man picked up and we made an appointment for 8:30pm, The second place we called we made the appointment for 9:30pm. We figured that would be enough for the day and we'd possibly call a few more places later. After we left MTC we went into a 7-11 near the campus. As we walked in I thought I heard someone call my voice, but I shrugged it off thinking I was just imagining it, come on its Taipei its like NYC who would know me? It turns out my friend Dan, whom I went to Nanjing with (Rutgers Study Abroad in China), was making photocopies in the store. So we chatted for a bit and after him running a few errands we went out to eat. We ended up going to a nice Taiwanese Restaurant located in an alleyway. The menu was in Chinese, Japanese, and English. So I ordered the Curry Chicken, Lexi ordered Miso Soup with (Pork or Beef?) and Dan had Champion Noodles! It was oodles of fun and yum yum too! We all loved our dishes. Taipei has so many great restaurants. Afterward we made plans to meet up my friend Joyce for Dim Sum, Hong Kong style.

We met her up later that night, the restaurant she took us to is open 24 hours and looked pretty fancy. We met 2 friends of hers, one from Rutgers and another whose German. Miguel (the German) was very cong ming (intelligent) He's been studying chinese for 6 months and knows so much about Taipei concerning there laws, government, and the water park near by =]. Turns out the water parks only for kiddies =[. We ordered all types of food including my favorite, chicken feet. Yes I know it sounds kind of gross but honestly you have to try it, its just so tasty. It was a wonderful dinner and she (Joyce) invited us to come with her and her friends tomorrow to a mountain park. Again she's such a sweetheart.


After dinner it was about time for Lex and I to go visit the 2 apartments we had made appointments for. The first guy was really nice. The room he was renting was a decent size and had lots of closet space . He seemed a little awkward but still was uber nice. He offered about 11,000TD a month for the both of us combined which is definitely a lot cheaper then what Taiwanmex offered (10,000TD each). I loved the place because we would be living with his wife, baby, a graduate student, and 2 undergrads..perfect for practicing chinese with. We took his information down and left. The next place we looked at was a one person room which only one person can live in, that ruled that out. But the trip there wasn't for nothing. It turns out that their neighbors were moving out. The apartment was pretty big with a kitchen, big living room, bathroom and 3 bedrooms for 22,000NT. This is actually the best deal we've come across so far. We are more then likely leaning toward leasing it. We'll definitely know by tomorrow =]. As the night went on we retired at our lovely little hostel. Until tomorrow, Zai Jian!
-Ergin

Not being able to sleep and encouraged by our stomachs, Ergin and I left the hostel at four in the morning seeking food on the streets of Taipei. Thank god for globilization as we managed to find a 7 Eleven and bought buns for an early breakfast. Mine had powdered pork inside of it, strange but very tasty. Later we returned to 7 Eleven where I bought a rice triangle that had shrimp inside of the rice. The ingenious packaging and pictured instructions were too tough for me and I failed the test of trying to fit in. I'm almost there. When I travel to other countries such as Turkey or France or to Little Italy, I get stared at because of my hair and, let's face it, my bum is pretty. Here the men stare at me becaue I'm not in proportion with everyone else. My hair is now dark enough but my boobs and butt are much too big! I'm kind of an oddity, although I have seen a few like me walking around the metro station.

After walking around the ZhongShan part of Taipei, Ergin and I went back to the hostel where we slept until 10. We then got dressed and went to the Jade Market. This market, along with the Flower Market, are very famous for their size and merchandise. We only went to the Jade Market where there was hundreds of tables where sellers sold their jade trinkets. There was also wood carvings, tea pots, other stones, and metal works. There was two things I really wanted but Ergin told me I could get them somewhere else for much cheaper. The first were wooden combs that had inlaid pieces of antique metal. They were so beautiful but the man was selling them for $100 to $200 American dollars. The other item was an wooden carved incense holder. The detail was incredible but the sellers wanted $50 American dollars for it. Everything was very expensive but I did manage to buy a little piece of jade that I strung on to a silver necklace. I have no skill with barganning and no desire to argue with a seller until I can get to a price I came way more than afford and that they use to just live off of, but none the less I was proud of myself for at least attempting it. The piece of jade was NT$180 and I got it down to $150 much to the sellers amusement. I did cheat though because instead of using Chinese words I took out my calculator and typed in a number. We then went to eat at a small restaurant who's front just looks like a hot dog stand that doesn't serve hot dogs. We had rice and meat, Ergin had fish and hopefully his stomach will take it. We also bought a scallion pancake, my new favourite food. Angie you are going to be so set when you come visit because the food is so delicious!


After we went to the Jade Market Ergin and I split up. He went to find a sim card to activate his phone while I went to the LongShan Temple. When you get out of the metro station you immediately face the temple. It's incredible because all around it are modern, run down buildings and the temple itself is extraordinarily detailed, colorful, and ancient-looking. The temple is multi-denominational and it was very crowded. As I walked in through the main gates I saw the temple itself and the waterfalls to the right and left of it. Inside the entrance of the temple there are food sellers and a bunch of people were in line buying fruits and cookies. When I entered the main part of the temple a woman gave me six pieces of incense. I followed my fellow worshippers and lit my incense on fire and then proceeded to pray for everyone I cared about. In the center of the temple (which is mostly outdoors) a huge metal cualdron sat where all the incense was placed after people were finished with it. I made a wish on each one of my sticks praying that each one of my loveones would be okay and be healthy. Mommy, Daddy, Angie, and all my friends all have an incense stick with their name on it. The temple was very beautiful and I was glad to be there when it was crowded because I could see how everyone prayed. There were also other objects used to pray including two halves of a circle that people would hold in their hands, pray, throw the halves on the ground, look how they landed, and either throw them again or pick them up and pray again.


After leaving the temple I walked around and found the LongShan Market where I bought a wooden beaded bracelet like the one Ergin has. The bracelet smells really nice and the scent goes into your skin when you wear it. I also bought foam sandals like the one that TaiwanMex has. They are very comfortable and I found two for NT$40 which is a little over a dollar American. I walked along the street a little more and eventually came to a comic book store where I bought two books from the series Bleach. It's my guilty pleaure that Ergin has introduced me to. I watch the Anime whenever I have the chance. The store itself is more like a library where you pay NT$8 to read books. The owner allowed me to buy them though which I kind of feel bad about because now kids may not get a chance to read it. I then went to a scooter store where I attempted to talk to the owner about renting a scooter. By the end of our conversation I more or less understood that I couldn't rent one but could only buy one. I think it would be too expenisve to rent one anyways, not to mention unsafe to drive.

After coming back to the hostel, I met up with Ergin who was unsuccessful in his hunt. We decided to go to the Snake Alley Night Market, known by this name because of the few shops on the street that lure customers by have live shows of snakes eating rabbits or if one asks, disembowling the live snake infront of you. Fortunately, when I went there, all I saw was dead snakes, which were already without bowels, and live ones in cages. While in the alley Ergin and I decided to get a foot massage, something my guide book recommends doing. It was extremely painful but very good and the man who was massaging my feet was very friendly. We talked a little during my 40 minute session and it was nice to once again practice my Chinese. The foot massage was NT$400 or about $13 American dollars. Not bad for that kind of pain!


After the massage, we continued down the street and became surrounded by good smells and thousands of vendors. I had barbecue pork surrounding scallions with nummy sauce and bought another purse of NT$100 or a little over $3.00. It's so cute, Mommy would be proud! I've been carrying my new purse with me everywhere and I haven't lost a thing yet! Don't worry Daddy, the purse has a zipper and never leaves my shoulder! Before the night was done Ergin did find a Sim card and a new battery for his phone.


After going to the night market, we were glad to return home to our little closet. Early today, I spoke with another group of "Wai Gui"s and asked them their advice about finding an apartment. Three of them were from South Africa, the fourth from England (Angie, you would have loved the one guy I was talking to, skinny, very cute, and had an accent... but no Ergin!). They said it was very hard to find an apartment for such a short time but that the TaiwanMex owners have another hostel with a private room that has a kitchen as well. I spoke with one of the owners, who's from Guatemala and he said he would show the room to us tomorrow. If it's nice enough we're going to take it so we can relax and not have to worry about a place to live for the next week. I ended up speaking to him in Spanish, very fluently I might add, and was very excited when I came back in my room. Maybe I will be able to learn all of these languages I aspire to learn after all. Who knew I would come to Taiwan to speak Spanish!?

Tomorrow we are going to also go the Mandarin Training Center to see when we have to take our placement exams. We hope to travel to one of the National Parks in Taiwan this weekend and spend a few days there before we start school. Hopefully we'll be able to find a place to stay where ever we go.

We left at around 3:00 AM Friday, May 25th. We flew to Seattle, Washington on a six hour flight, sat in the Seattle Airport for about an hour, and then flew to Taipei, Taiwan on a 12 hour flight. Interestingly enough, the trip was not bad at all. We slept most of the time or watched movies. The time flew by very quickly. The only thing that was a problem was that Ergin and I were sitting in the middle two seats of a four-seater and I drank so much water the entire trip (I drank at least 6 bottles of water to quench my thirst), I kept making my neighbors move out of their seats so I could go to the bathroom. Ergin moved once...


When we arrived in Taipei it finally hit us that we were going to be living in a country we had never been to for three months. We immediately went to the tourist counter in the airport and grabbed every single brochure we could get our hands on. After exchanging money we went to the bus station to catch a bus (which costs NT$125 or a little under $5 American). While exchanging our money, a taxi driver approached Ergin and offered to give us a ride for NT$1200 or $40 American. So to all of those who are planning on coming to visit us (Mommy, Daddy, Angie) take the bus! When we arrived at Taipei Main Station we had to treck across the station carrying our bags with us. Serves me right for bringing 12 shoes included in two bags that weigh 60 and 20 lbs and my backpack. This is where we should have taken a taxi. As you can imagine, by the end of our voyage I was very cranky, not to mention my ears had not popped (and still have not) from the flight. We got on the subway (which, as we learned, you wait in lines to get on) and came to our lovely little destination.

TaiwanMex Hostel is a very adorable, very, very, small hostel that is run by a sweet Chinese women who was nice enough to speak Mandarin to us even though we are more than rusty at this point. Our room is about the size of a closet and fits only a bunk bed and a small desk, ours had to be taken out to fit our luggage (Ergin brought 2 heavy suitcases as well).

The hostel is on the second floor with a very small staircase and no elevator. Considering the outside temperature is about 80 degrees and Taiwan is as humid as a sauna making it feel more like 95, Ergin and I were drenched by the time we were done bring up our luggage.

When we finally left the hostel to explore, we took the MRT (subway) to the National Taiwan Normal University to see if we could find any bulletin boards where apartments for rent would be posted. We ended up with nothing but did walk around the streets and saw two adds in a window. Now, calling the landlord will be our biggest challenge yet so we might try to go to a web site and see if we can e-mail them instead. We ate our first meal of our stay at a cute little chain fast food restaurant that serves meat with rice and vegetables in these little, disposable, wood boxes. The women serving us probably felt sorry for us because while we were contentedly munching on the delicious meal they had prepared they brought us fried chicken. I thought this was very funny and I told Ergin that Angie would love it here.

After we ate, we went to the underground malls attached to the Taipei Main Station. They weren't too crowded and had different kinds of stores such as clothing stores, electronics stores, and souvenir stores. Around the electronic stores, mobs of Chinese men and boys would stand and watch others play video games or in one instance, sit together and play games of their PSPs.


The funniest thing that happened while we were walking along the mall involved a small girl and I. While walking past me, the girl, who was with her family, pointed at me and called me a "Bai Gui" which means "White Ghost". When she said it I burst out into laughter. I wonder what her mother had thought of me who was laughing at a 5 year old child. Ergin and I have seen other white people but they are few and far between.

Customs:
Masks (Especially among the young people who ride scooters everywhere. The masks, which cover the nose and mouth, have become a fashion statement and comes is a variety of colors and patterns. Many were being sold in stores in the underground mall).

No Contact (On the plane, when the stuardist poured you juice or tea they would offer you their tray, you would place your empty cup on the tray, and they would fill it up with liquid and offer the drink back to you on the tray. They never touched the glass).

7 Eleven (Perhaps as an excuse to stand in the air conditioning Ergin and I went into at least three different 7 Eleven's, all within a few blocks of one another. They are what Starbucks is to New York. Starbucks, as a mater of fact, is here too, along with McDonalds, Subway, and Dominos Pizza).

First Impressions:
Everybody I've interacted with in Taiwan is accommodating and very nice. Servers and clerks are all sweet and attempt to speak in English if they think you don't know Chinese. If you do speak Chinese to them, though, they are very grateful and will immediately switch, helping you along the way. I bought a purse in a store and the woman there, who's English wasn't very good but was better then my Chinese, was so excited that I spoke even a little. When we were in the subway, we were attempting to get around and with our luggage, and our Western look, we stuck out like sore thumbs. Many people helped us out, though, by pointing in the right direction. Another customer at the restaurant where we were eating offered his advice about the fried chicken saying that he could get it chopped up for us so we could add it to our rice dish. Courtesy is a very big deal and you can see that not only by interacting with people here but by watching them. While there are a few that are constantly in a rush, most people take time to say thank you even if they are serving you. They also stand to one side on the escalator so other can pass by and like I said above, stand in line to get onto the subway.
- Lex

Five more days until we go to TAIWAN!!! This is very exciting. I'm having trouble with packing though as I want to bring all my shoes! We'll be there during Monsoon season so rubbers are a must (hehe).. and we're going to be hiking so I need my hiking boots. Not to mention flip-flops, high heels, sneakers, dork-sandals! ALLL MYYY CLOTHES FOR THREE MONTHS!!!
Anyways, enough with that, to whom it may concern... We (Ergin and I) are going to be staying in a Hostel in Taipei until we can find an apartment and attending National Taiwan Normal University. Come back to visit for pictures and the entries Ergin and I will be writing about our stay in Taipei!