Jingge & Hotel

Saturday, July 13^th

This morning I had to pack up and get ready to leave the Chen’s, my host family.  Allen and Erwin came in to help me finish packing.  I wish I could take them with me!  They are so adorable and helpful.  I love this picture of Erwin – the suitcase is as big as him!  But he took all of my luggage to the living room.  I was giggling because I thought one of two things, either he is extremely helpful or he’s ready for me to get out of his house!  ;)

For breakfast I had dumplings!  Mmmm!  I think I’m going to try making breakfast dumplings when I get home.  I really have had unique breakfasts while I’ve been here.  At the Cheng’s, my host family in Lin-Kou, I had salad for breakfast every morning.  At first I thought it was weird, but I actually really liked it.  It was quite refreshing to have a salad in the morning especially with fruit and bamboo.  By the way, I love bamboo.  I hope or wonder if I can find it at a store when I get home. 

I was able to have a leisurely morning at the Chen’s so I read and attended piano performances from both Allen and Erwin.  My heart melted when they both asked me (in Chinese, but I knew what they were saying) to listen to them play the piano. 

Jimmy and Beauty took me to have the “best” stinky tofu before we met the rest of the group for a trip to Jingge.  It actually wasn’t that stinky and was pretty good. 

Jimmy, Beauty, Allen and Erwin and I all headed to Yong Ping HS to take a trip to Yingge. Although, I had already been there, I was looking forward to walking some more around town.  I love looking at all the pottery and ceramics.  It was extremely hard to practice restraint and not buy more pottery.  One of the teachers with us, May, bought some egg cakes for us to share.  They were delicious.  Carol and Jackey # 3 told us that the egg cakes remind them of their childhood.  They make them with different things inside – cheese and eggs.  Or they can be plain and you can dip them in chocolate. 

We arrived at the Howard Civil Service International House this evening and were met by Wu, our interpreter from Pan Chiao High School, and her aunt who was responsible for arranging the exchange here in Taiwan.  We all had a delicious meal at Vietnamese restaurant.  We had the restaurant’s special dessert that tasted like strawberry milk with fruit. 

 We thought we should just call it an early night, but Wu was meeting some friends at the W Hotel in Taipei, so we figured we should check out the Taipei nightlife.  The hotel was spectacular and the view from the pool was breathtaking.

We are headed to the Jade Market tomorrow and several sites in Taipei city.