Lucy in Taiwan! / 露思在台湾

It has been a fantastic conclusion to this trip. I finally met my family friend, Sophia, and her brother Bruce, along with her husband, Bruce's wife, and Sophia's daughter Linda and three granddaughters! Sophia was so sweet, she was tearing up when we met at the station. She took me to see her and Bruce's office for her business, Yutop, and it was a very comforting place. It was nice to be surrounded by biking paraphernalia, it felt like home! Me with Sophia and Bruce. The painting in the background was made by their mother! We then went to have lunch with their family. Funnily enough, this was the same place that we'd have dinner later as a class! It was nerve-wracking to meet the rest of the family, I didn't want to seem like I was intruding. They were very welcoming, though, and Linda was very nice to talk to! (From left to right): Peter, Sophia's husband, Linda's three daughters, Linda, Bruce, Me, Becca, Bruce's wife, and Sophia. After lunch we went ...

I apologize for the short hiatus in updating, it has been a busy conclusion to this trip. Yesterday we had duck for dinner, which made me cry! The skin was so crisp and juicy, the meat itself was mouth-wateringly fatty and delicious. I ate some more fish eye, and I even tried the duck's brain! I jokingly said that maybe eating the duck's brain would make me smarter, but after talking to the students at NTU it seems like that actually is an old superstition. They even said that their parents would make a pig brain stew for them the night before a big test! On the topic of the National Taiwan University, the students there were so sweet and fun! I went out with some classmates with a few of the students and they were so fun to talk to! We first walked to a pond on-campus that they jokingly called "Drunk Lake" and watched all the different birds there. The ducks had big growths on their faces, kind-of like chickens or turkeys, which I thought was very interesting. After ...

  We finished drying our extracts yesterday, and ended our Taichung experience with dim sum! We ate with Dr. Huang's friend Vicky and her two students, Sharon and Pati. They're so sweet. I teared up saying goodbye to them! This restaurant we ate at had the best tripe I've ever had! Normally I can only eat one or two but I ate the whole saucer! I only cried a little bit at dinner and no one really noticed, which is good. Today we arrived at Sun Moon Lake! It truly is as beautiful as they say. It's amazing how tall the mountains form around the lake, reaching higher and higher, all the way up to the stars! It reminds me of Lake Sammamish in a way, that's the lake that I grew up by in my hometown of Issaquah, WA. It's interesting because historically Sun Moon Lake was actually two separate lakes -- a sun and a moon, and was much smaller. Dr. Huang said that during Japanese occupation the government combined the two lakes to make one large lake to have a larger rese...

  Our chemistry experiment improved greatly from Monday. I actually feel like I better understand what's going on, what we're doing, and why we're doing it. I also am pretty good at it! At one point the machine said "warning" only because the pressure was low, but I got scared so I ran and hid behind a chair! It was all okay though, it was expected to be low.  I'm struggling to post a video on this blog, so I will link it here . For the latter part of today we went to Tunghai University to have a calligraphy and tea class. The professor who gave us the lesson was very sweet! His name was 白老师 (Teacher Bai), and he said he's been practicing calligraphy since he was 8! He taught us all the steps to write 春，meaning "spring". Since I've done some calligraphy before, and he knew that, I think he was a little harder on me than others. Rightfully so, though! I'm always looking to improve! He then wrote us 春 in different styles for us to keep. I c...

  Today was...a lot. As most study abroads go a couple weeks in, it seems our group is starting to get tired of each other. There is some drama in the group that is very frustrating, but...let's not get on that. In the morning we went to the China Medical University (中国医药大学) hospital to get a lesson in acupuncture and cupping. I got acupuncture done for my lower back, but because I was too scared to have the needles in my arms, I only had needles in my legs. It felt strange and hurt a little, but it felt like it was draining the strain out of my legs. My legs still ache even now! I also had some cupping done for my upper back. I didn't know what cupping was before, it's essentially where the doctor heats up cups and places them on spots on your back, and the pressure pulls the skin up. It felt really nice! Afterward we started our chemistry experiment at CMU. This was difficult and confusing mainly because Dr. Huang wasn't present for it. He had to attend to another stu...

Yesterday we entered Kenting National Park (墾丁国家公园)! It's a national park that extends the whole lower peninsula of the island. It's truly beautiful and makes me appreciate this country so much more. Although I do enjoy the city life and all its spoils, returning to nature really helps set me back to ground zero. One fascinating thing about a beach here is that it's I believe 97% seashell sand! That's the highest percentage in the world! Because of this, they have the area fenced off, for conservation reasons. The way the mountains border the ocean here reminds me of home in a way, although it's much more tropical and warm than Seattle. The museum at the Kenting visitor's center was fascinating. It had lots of information about current ecological threats to the park, conservation efforts, and indigenous history of the area. It makes me think that maybe my next global perspectives paper should be on the indigenous history of Taiwan... We went snorkeling at part o...

  Today was a long day of driving, but we made it to Kaohsiung (高雄市), where Dr. Huang's college is! We watched the sunset on the pier, where he said he skipped many classes. We also saw some Taiwanese macaques, known as the formosan rock macaque. Unlike Japanese macaques, which I'm used to, they have paler faces and brown noses. We even saw some of them mount each other, funnily enough. Dr. Huang said that when he went to school there the monkeys were on the other side of the mountain, and he's not sure why they've migrated over onto the campus side. My theory is either encroaching developments or that they realized they could be fed by the students and teachers. Later we went and met some Taiwanese students, had dinner and went to the Kaohsiung night market with them. It was a lot of fun! They were all very sweet and fun! I felt a little intimidated and shy because they were upperclassmen to me, but they were all very kind. We tried many Taiwanese street foods and game...

  With the help of the beloved Ji-san (Dr. Huang's friend) we ventured outside of the city! We went to Yilan City, to a traditional art museum, a brewery, and a bakery! At the art museum we did some indigo dyeing which was very fun, and now I have a new handkerchief! At the bakery I wasn't planning on buying anything, just planning to try as many samples as I could, but I saw something so delectable and cheap I couldn't resist! It was a strawberry sort of bun, like a pineapple bun you may get as dessert. It was so good, with a kind of cream cheese frosting on the inside, and it was only 35 yuan! Later in the day, back in Taipei, we took the gondola up to Maokong (猫空), or as I like to call it, Maoshan (cat mountain). The gondola was very enjoyable, as I've been on quite a few in my life. In fact, I showed everyone an old picture I have of my dad holding me as a baby in a gondola! I'm not entirely sure why the mountain was named for cats as I didn't see any, but D...

  Happy new year! We made it! Another year! And it was quite the New Year's Eve to start it off! We first finished the experiment and looked at the results, which came out how we hoped. All the little embryo eggs hatched and the little zebrafish were free to swim about. It was interesting because Dr. Huang showed us what different stages of heart failure looked like in the embryos, which was information I've never  had exposure to before. It was fascinating. Afterwards we went to the Longshan Temple, which Dr. Huang said was the oldest temple in Taiwan, or at least the oldest of its scale. He also said it was a Tao temple, which is interesting because I never knew of any Tao gods, I only ever thought of it as a philosophy than anything. But I guess that is kind-of what religion is -- a kind of philosophy. The temple was absolutely beautiful. It was decorated with komainus and dragons, and there were little gods and spirits dancing on the roofs. I was thinking that if I came to...