Okay, okay... I know I'm slightly behind, but I want to start from the beginning of the trip.
We arrived in Taipei at 6am. We had just gotten off of a 12 hour flight. Although I had slept for probably about 6 hours, I was very exhausted and my body was tired of sitting up all night. I was amazed at how clean and westernized the airportwas. All of our luggage showed up as well. This feels like a huge victory after losing luggage before while flying internationally. I was amazed at how many Christmas decorations were in the airport. There were trees, lights and snow flakes and a huge sign that said "Merry Christmas." Almost all of the signs are in Mandarin and English. They also show their numbers how we do them in English.
After sitting in the airport, we drove on the freeway to our the Yout
h Center. From that drive, the city reminds me of Seattle. The Youth Center looks a lot like a college dorm. The inside is more like a hotel though. We have our own shower. We're sleeping in twin beds. I don't have a problem with them, but all of the four guys on the trip have their feet hang off the end. The beds are very firm, which I like. I'm rooming with two other girls, Courtney and Kamian. We arrived at the youth center and stored our luggage in the lobby. From there we got our cards for the transit system called t
he mass rapid transit system (MRT). These cards can be used for the light rail system or the busses.
We then went to the bus stop that is closest to the youth center and practiced riding the bus to TAS. It is about a 10 to 15 minute bus ride from the youth center. We got off of the bus stop by the youth center and walked to a bank to exchange money. We then walked to Starbucks across the street and got coffee. We then walked back to the school and entered the school grounds. We visited each of our classrooms and the places we will be able to eat lunch and dinner. Although the school is older, it is very impressive. They are celebrating their 60th anniversary and recently got a new athletic field. It is a K-12 school and they have an American curriculum. TAS is a private school and costs about 10,000 American dollars per year. Teachers are able to get free tuition for their children. The classroom that I will be observing in is very large compared to my elementary music classroom. There are Orff instruments in the room and there is also plenty of room for movement. Seeing the school made me very excited to start on Monday!
After checking out the school we walked to a whole in the wall place and ate lunch. People in Taiwan only eat with chopsticks. I have had very little experience eating with them. I have startedto slow down how fast I eat because I'm struggling to pick up food with the chopsticks. The food is very good though. I haven't had a bad meal yet!
After lunch we rode the bus back to the youth center and we were able to go into our rooms. We unpacked and settled in. We are all on the same floor. This makes coordinating meeting times very easy. Although some of our cell phones work here, the charge per minute is ridiculous. Texting is also very costly too. Not being readily available by cell phone is actually very freeing. Almost all of us took a nap in the afternoon. For dinner we wandered around downtown Taipei looking for some place to eat. Most places were full or closed. We ended up going to Outback Steakhouse. From there we went to the top of hotel where a New Year's Eve part was being held. At midnight we were able to watch the fireworks being shot off of the Taipei 101 Tower.
Zaijian!
JP
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