Yesterday was my first time out into Taipei without any native Taiwanese to guide me. The two other exchange students from my Rotary Club and I managed to meet at Taipei Main station, find a place to eat, order, and find our way to the Rotary meeting. It was a good experience. Even though my two friends are from Japan and France the default language is English. Easy for me good for them. Their Chinese and English will be better when they leave Taiwan. The Moon Festival Party the Rotary Club hosted was just as fun as our outing before hand. It included free moon cakes, raffles, plenty of food and drink, singing, dancing, toasts, puppet shows, and merriment. It was a grand time. I was encouraged to do multiple numbers including some Micheal Jackson. I was fortunate enough to have my French friend sing and dance along with me while my Japanese friend played the tambourine.
Today everything is cancelled because of the typhoon, which apparently made it onto the CNN news broad cast. So for fun I cooked my family some french toast and bacon for dinner. The experience was rewarding, especially after I received complements on how good the food and maple syrup was.
Friday night I experienced Ximen with my fellow exchange students, going out of the house the first time by myself. Getting to Ximen was easy returning home wasn't, however after some phone calls home I managed to find my way thanks to the help of some good citizens. After getting off the bus that brought me within a reasonable distance to my home I was able to ride on our family's motor scooter.
I'll try to make an effort this week to cover some more day to day living in the blog. As always emails are more than welcome.
jlpane2930@gmail.com
J-L,
ReplyDeleteDid you cook dinner because of my suggestion? I hope they liked it. Did you get my follow-up email about my travels? Hope it helped. Your adventure out by yourself sounded rewarding. Just keep your eyes open and be safe.
Steve