This is a picture of the entire family at the harbour in Keelung City. Isn't the ocean beautiful?

This building that is decked out in advertisements houses what is known as a cram school. These cram schools take place after the regular school day (from 7-10pm) and teach a variety of subjects, a popular one being English. Students go to these cram schools in order to study for important exams that will get them into a good college.

This is my room. It is clean, cozy, and comfortable. What more could you ask for?

Due to the request of my family (back in the USA), I will do my best to explain what this shrine, for lack of a better word, is. As you may or may not know, the main religions in Taiwan are Buddhism, Taoism, and Chinese folk religions. Usually, however, people and families will blend these religions together. After taking into account the blending of religions in Taiwan, over probably about 95 percent of people here on the island are some form of Buddhist/Taoist/Chinese folk religion religion. The family that I am in is primarily Taoists, with a smaller blend of Buddhism and Chinese folk religion. The shrine in their home is to honor their ancestors and their Gods. Every morning and evening, they perform a ritual know as "bi-bi". This involves replacing the water in the cups in front and the lighting of incense. Not every family does this in Taiwan, but many do. I will try to touch more on the religious practices of Taiwan in my later posts!

For my birthday dinner we went to eat steak at T.G.I Friday's. There, I recieved a happy birthday song in Chinese and English from the staff and ate a New York Strip. Afterwards, I was so tired from the busy day that I fell asleep at about nine o'clock!

Yesterday we went to the harbour in Keelung City. There we ate a lunch of mysterious foods that (I think) included squid, some sort of seaweed, whole shrimp, and fish skin. Afterwards, we visited the fish market. I have never seen so many fish in one place! There were sea snails, live octopi, clams, live puffer fish, just to name a few. As you can see in the picture, in order to get a fish out of the buckets, a person would just climb on top of the edges of the buckets to the fish. About three feet behind me as I took this picture was the harbour where the fish were caught!

Wow. I wish I would have taken my camera to the CostCo last night. I can't even begin to describe how overwhelming the store was. Imagine Sam's Club in Springfield with three stories and ten times as many people in it. I never imagined that there would be any warehouse stores in Taipei! Next time I will be sure to take my camera.