This is a picture of all of the exchange students (minus Ilvia who wasn't here when the picture was taken) that attend NTCB (National Taipei College of Business). This week has been a pretty crazy week. Classes are just starting to ramp up, so I've had lots of homework to do and pretests to take (though some of the homework is in English so it's pretty easy but time consuming). We just finished Chapter 1 in my Chinese class, so we have a big test Monday that is in all traditional Chinese characters... This week I went to a shopping mall called Myramar which has a gigantic Ferris Wheel attached to it! I went with some of the other exchange students from my school, as well as with some Taiwanese students from NTCB. We didn't ride on the Ferris Wheel, but we did get to eat delicious food in the food court. Then yesterday, Saturday, I went to a lot of different places. First, I went to Dazhi to eat lunch with one of my friends, then I went with some other friends from school to a Japanese school festival, and finally I went to a Rotary dinner with my family. Well, I should probably study for my Chinese test now. 再見!

Today after school, Maren (one of my classmates who is an exchange student from Germany) and I went to Ximen, which is a major market district in Taiwan. There you can buy all sorts of things like clothes, jewelry, food, shoes, posters, books, movies, etc. I bought a black and white checkered hat for only 200 NT (6 USD)! It's so close to the school that you can just walk there and not pay to take the MRT. Also, my classes were pretty fun. I have an awesome speech communication in English class! The teacher loves having me in the class because I can help the other students learn American English (she says I am an expert on English). Yesterday was a typhoon, so I couldn't really leave the house. So, I have really don't have anything to say about this weekend other than that I was lazy and watched tv all day! I'm having a really fun time in Taiwan!

This week was the first week of school at NTCB (National Taipei College of Business). My classes include Chinese instruction, English classes (communication and business English), P.E., and Japanese class (though I also want to take French, too). I've made a lot of friends with both the exchange students and the Taiwanese students. School has actually been a lot of fun!

Today is the first week of school at the National Taipei College of Business. In the morning I take Chinese language class, and in the afternoon I have gym and English class. I have already made a lot of friends and met a lot of nice teachers. In the morning I am going to kung fu club, so I have to get up at 6:30!

Golden Eastern Arborvitae

Today I went to the flower market with one of my classmates and bought some materials for a bonsai tree. This was the end result: a wind swept something-or-another tree (I really don't know what kind of tree it is, but it caught my eye and was only 5 USD). I wish I had taken a before picture, because it was basically a giant bush (I removed probably half of the branches and half of the root system).

Yesterday we went to Yilan (pronounced ee-lahn). This town is about maybe fourty-five minutes away from where we live in Taipei. We got an early start for Yilan at seven in the morning, but thankfully the first thing we did when we go there was eat dumplings (picture 4). After that, we headed off to a hot spring, but before we did that we stopped at a general store and I bought a traditional Taiwanese hat for about 3 USD (picture 3). At the hot springs, I got to see how hot the magma-warmed water actually was. At the actual spring itself (picture 2), you can see steam pouring out of the ground. The water was actually so hot that we were able to hard-boil eggs in it! After the hot springs, we were off to eat some delicious sweet pork and then go to a museum for Taiwanese Traditional Art. There we saw all sorts of cool things, including the traditional puppets (picture 1). All in all, it was a very cool day!

Today I went to the Eslite Bookstore, the biggest bookstore in all of Taiwan. I wanted to buy a book on bonsai, but most all of the books were in Chinese. After that, Justin and I burned some more paper money (we do this the 2nd and 16th of the lunar calendar, as well as on major holidays to honor the gods and ancestors and to bring good luck to the home and business). Then we went to the traditional market to buy some vegetables. It is kind of like a Farmer's Market, exept the meat and fish and vegetables are layed out on the street. Now I'm off to help Justin pack because he is leaving tomorrow early in the morning. 再見!

Today is the last day of July on the Chinese lunar calendar. July (on the lunar calendar) is known in Chinese as "gway oo ray" or "Ghost Month". According to tradition, this is the month that the deceased wander the earth. The ghosts you especially want to look out for are the ghosts of deceased ancestors that have not been properly honored. Due to Ghost Month, we have not been able to go into the ocean since I arrived because that is where the most ghosts reside. The last day of ghost month is especially important because this is the day when the most ghosts are out. Today, as is customary for many and most people in Taiwan, we left out food offerings for the ghosts with incense attached to them (as seen in the picture above). After that, we burned paper money, which isn't real money but paper stamped with silver and gold, origami flowers and gold coins, and pictures of clothing and other necessities that the ghosts need. This is different from the normal burning of paper money, which goes to deceased ancestors, because instead it goes to the gods of the Chinese folk religion as well as the ghosts that wander the earth. The best part, after the paper money is burned and the incense dies out, we got to eat the food! All in all it was a very interesting day.

Yesterday we went to the flower market. The market is located underneath the freeway and is filled with all sorts of beautiful things. Basically the garden section was every gardener's dream. There were beautiful pots, soil, seeds, watering cans, and an assortment of flowers to choose from. My favorite part of the market were the bonsai trees. They had every sort of tree you could imagine! I wish I could have bought one, but they are far to expensive. Maybe I will buy an unfinished one and grow it while I'm in Taiwan?

Today Engrid took me to a second-hand market. For 200 NT, you can rent a table for the day and sell all sorts of stuff. There I bought a feng shui compass and a small jade carving for a grand total of 120 NT (4 USD)! Afterwards, we all went to go eat really spicy noodles.

Here are some pictures taken from the roof of the building I live in. Enjoy!

Here is a picture of me at one of the many temples in Taiwan. Today Justin and I went here so that I could get a glimpse of the religious practices of Taiwan. I only got a picture of the outside because I felt that it would be disrespectful to take a picture of the inside of the temple. Inside the temple there were tables upon tables filled with food (as an offering to the gods) as well as lots of incense and statues.

Yesterday, there was a big hurricane in Taipei, so I didn't get to do much outside or get any pictures. Engrid, her friend, Justin, and I went to a district filled with department stores and looked around at the different stores there. One of the stores was a tree-story bookstore! I found a copy of the book 1984 and picked it up for only 180 NT (about five or six dollars)! After that, we had a delicious dinner at home, and Engrid, Hank, Justin, and I taught each other card games. Not bad for a rainy day!