Chemistry, Calligraphy, and Tea / 化学，书法，和茶

 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 chose the old style, which he said is called 小篆，meaning "small stamp". He was really taken aback when I chose this style, and exclaimed that it's really hard to write. He did it beautifully.

We then had a tea class with 白老师 which was very calming. A lot of the steps were very familiar, but I was taken aback by how it's different from Japanese tea ceremonies. There was no chasen, which I suppose makes sense as there's no need for whisking. There was also no hishaku (柄杓) which is the small bamboo spoon used to carry water. We drank both an oolong tea from Dayuling (大禹嶺) and a black tea from Sun Moon Lake. The black tea was delicious and smelt amazing, so I must get some when we go there!