In a few days, we will be starting the "Down South" trip, where we will tour around Taiwan. So far, we've spent our time in Taipei (in the North), so our destinations for the next ten days (starting Thursday) will all be south of where we are now. Hopefully, I will be placing a map on the blog to show where we're headed, but to sum it up, we will be touring Taiwan in a clockwise direction: Taipei --> Taroko National Park --> Hualien --> Pingtung --> Kenting --> Kaoshiung --> Tainan --> Taichung --> Taipei. I can't guarantee I can write a post daily, but I will try.
Classes this morning was typical. Our Mandarin teacher believes that the fastest method of learning a language is through song, spending a significant part of every class encouraging us to sing Mando-pop. Today's specialty: Jay Chou. As usual, our teacher also provided us with a unique Taiwanese food, this time Bao Bao Bing, a type of ice-cream-like dessert from a store on the eastern side of the Shilin Night Market.
Mandarin class was followed by Culture class, where we made some more toys, this time mice from plastic tubing. I'm not great with knots, but the mice turned out okay.
[picture pending]
In the last few days in Taipei before the trip, our activities have slowed down, to allow for more time for orientation, logistics, and packing, as well as wrapping up our activities in Jiantan. Tomorrow is our last Mandarin class: I've always been planning on writing a post on the lessons, though I've never gotten to it, so I'll likely summarize all my thoughts later. With classes nearly over, we held our Speech / Recital contests today. Three to four students from each section (seven in total, arranged by skill level) recited a story, joke, or tongue twister (lower levels), or gave a speech written by themselves (higher levels).
Once the speech arts contest was over, we had about two hours to spare 'till dinner, so a few friends and I walked around the nearby area, passing by restaurants, bakeries, and lots of convenience stores, buying a few snacks for the bus rides. Before heading to dinner, we stopped by a bubble tea place at the Shilin Night Market; I bought a pudding milk tea. It's like bubble tea, but instead of tapioca pearls, they toss in an egg pudding and shake it up!
After dinner, we signed up for our Taiwan trip buses, and then participated in group games and activities, ranging from trivia (yay trivia!), to passing rubber bands with straws, and all that kinda stuff. Then we were off to pack and clean up. I still find time everyday to play the flute, as my technique is still quite weak, and music is also a great form of meditation. As I pack my bag for the trip, I'll make sure I bring the flute along =).
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