Hey everybody!

Sorry that it has been so long since my last post! I've been really busy recently with learning chinese, visiting places (museums, zoo, and such), and generally living in Taipei. A week or so ago I had a really great visit to the National Palace Museum. The museum features many Chinese art and history pieces made of bronze, paper, ivory, jade, gold and silver, and other materials. Some of the pieces were so intricate that it took decades for them to be completed! Also, Christmas is coming up and that is abundantly obvious in many of the shopping districts of Taipei. Many stores are filled with Christmas trees, garland, santas, just generally Christmas-y things. They also have really cheap santa hats (30 cents) that I am buying all of the exchange students at school for Christmas (shh! don't tell them!). Also, the Rotary is holding an overnight event over Christmas Eve and Christmas, so it will be really neat to spend Christmas with the other exchange students! Also, I want to wish a very special happy birthday to my brother Adam. He is officially 15 years old right now in Taiwan, but still 14 years old in America! Kind of mind-boggling, isn't it? Oh, this is a picture of (left to right) Maren from Germany, Samuel from Maryland, and Julia from France. Also, taking the picture is Caroline from France. This picture is taken in a park near my school where we like to go sometimes during our long lunch breaks (that is, when we are not breaking the school rules by eating in the library or talking to the school staff about politics, which talking about politics isn't breaking the rules just eating in the library). Anyways, I am having a really great time here, learning a lot, and learning to see the world in new ways. Bye bye!