This bed is too small.... NO, your Legs too long!

Legs too long!
see all photos »

So yes I am slow getting to writing in this bloggie but that's because these past few days have been pretty full.  I woke up after my second night in Taipei to find an email from Lily with their location. SWEET!!!  So I went and found not only Lily, but Tashi, Jacob M., Alex,Jon and Kim.  Hooray for friends and commrades who are just as lost as me.   So I moved to their hostel which was the Happy Family 2 Hostel, which was alright, its excactly what you would expect for 10 USD a night.  I got a single room for the dorm room rate because there was construction on the dorm rooms.  The bed in my room was TINY.  hence the title... and whenever I figure out how to read chinese I will be able to upload pictures (so don't hold your breath, ok?)  Lily and I decided to go find some dinner that night and ended up going for a long walk into the heart of Taipei... somewhere where I don't think foreigners go ever judging by the perplexed stared we got.   But we made it back in one piece.

graffiti on the door pt1
see all photos »

Saturday we all trooped down to the National Palace Museum which was brilliant!  Ancient amazing things and tons of them.  We didn't have enought time to give it justice and since it was so cheep I am thinking about going back.  We did see the famed Jade Cabbage though, which believe it or not, looked like an actuall living bok-choy plant only it was shiny and jade.   then we all got on the bullet train for Taichung.  That was cool.  it is very clean and very fast, only you can't really feel how fast it is going because it is as smooth as it is fast.

But we made it back in one piece.

graffiti on the door pt2
see all photos »

We met up with everyone else in our program on the Tunghai campus that night and professor Perry took us to a beautiful tea house for dinner. The next day we had to ourselves to chill and explore the campus, although this is their final week and everyone was taking finals.  On monday we came in to interview for placement.  I think I ended up being in the lowest class. but I have learned that being remedial has its perks.  I hope that it holds true here as well.

Taxi!!
see all photos »

the past two days we have spent the majority on a tiny bus on our way to, around, and back from Xitou.  Which is AMAZING.  It is where the best Oolong tea in Taiwan is grown and it is the site of one of Chiang Kai Shek's getaways... where we stayed last night.  Then this morning we got to take a walk to see a 2800 year old tree called the "Spirit Tree"  It was holy. Then a local tea farmer took us up to her farm where we sampled some prize winning tea ( sooo delicious!!!) and saw how they processed it.  She also weaves bamboo and makes purses and hair pins.  It was all set on a hillside overlooking the adjacent mountains and valley.  It was really stunning.  The farmer gave the girls bamboo hair pins that she had made. I was touched.  Now I am about to get some Mango Ice with my local roomates.  Class starts tomorrow at 8 so I think that bedtime will be not too far from now either.  I'll figure out how to put up pictures and flesh out this barebones tale in a bit.   Thanks for sticking with me!  :)