Last day's photos in Taipei!

Fond farewell from Taipei, Taiwan...

Tears were shed as we said goodbye to our Hui Wen friends. We slowly began our journey to Taipei and back home, gathering on the bus after a final photo and a multitude of hugs. When we said goodbye to Taichung, a new horizon came into sight, a new exciting place. We travelled to Taipei by bus for about two hours, even making a another new friend, Demi, along the way. We learned that Demi was visiting from Japan and staying in Taichung for the next two weeks.

We reached Taipei by 11:30 and stopped for lunch at the Taipei 101 food court. The majority of Pingree students ate Mos Burger meals at the food court. Mos Burger is a fast food restaurant that was founded in Japan. A student favorite at Mos Burger was their sticky rice burger. Indian, Japanese, and Italian were among the many types of the food that the food court offered. After eating, various students went shopping. The tea shops and souvenir shops were very popular.

At 12:00, the whole group reconvened for a quick meeting before testing the world's fastest elevator, travelling over 10 floors up within seconds. The scenery we saw from Taipei 101 was incredible! We also learned how the building functions. We discussed the architectural and engineering feat that Taipei 101's damper is while enjoying the adorable damper babies, figurines based on the building's structure, as well.

Next, we visited the Chiang Kai- Shek Memorial Park. The park was gorgeous! The architecture made it unique from many of the other buildings we saw. The roof of the building was a delicate blue, in memory of Chiang Kai-Shek, and the center of the park was a very large garden, likely filled with beautiful flowers and many fruits in the summer. Our final viewing spot, in the park, was a huge castle at the exit and inside it was Chiang Kai- Shek's tomb. When we reached the top of the stairs, some of us were able to see a guard changing ceremony.

The national palace museum was our last stop of the day. We saw many of the exhibits there. The exhibits using jade for statues were quite a spectacle. People lined up to see the marvelous green jade, a jade creation rumored to be extraordinarily beautiful. The types of pottery that we saw in the museum were also special. They were very different from the pots often displayed at museums back home.

Lastly, we arrived at the hotel for our last Taiwanese meal. We were served a vegetable stir fry, fried chicken, taro soup, octopus, and frosted shrimp. After finishing the meal, it was time to rest or go to the night market. The students who went to the night market went shopping for the final time in Taiwan, enjoying the very cheap prices here.
Hannah Wilson.

Last day tears and farewell

We began our last day at Hui-Wen School by attending classes one last time. I went to a gym class for possibly the fourth time. I was supposed to play basketball outside in the very hot and humid weather, but luckily the Taiwanese students picked up on my facial expressions and provided me with other options. They let me just sit and talk with some of the other Taiwanese students in the lovely shade. We talked a lot about food, pop music, and my time in Taiwan. Brady spoke Chinese to some of them.
After class we attended a coffee tasting session. We ate cheesecake and tasted six different types of coffee. The coffee came from places like Kenya and Ethiopia. I really enjoyed the session because I love coffee. I thought it was very creative for the exchange directors to schedule the coffee activity.
 Next we went to a painting class. We used ink and brush to paint images of bamboo on rice paper. We learned three different strokes that were used to create our images. They were very difficult.
After a small lunch of dumplings and a long break, we went to our Goodbye 
Party. The school gave us goodie bags filled with things with the Hui-Wen School logo. Some very sweet and touching speeches were said by the Hui-Wen directors of the trip and Pingree's leaders. A few tears were cried.
After a more snacks, the Taiwanese students and the Pingree students got up in front of everyone and said a few things they enjoyed on the trip and then gave a few touching goodbye remarks. More tears were cried.
I went out for Thai food with my host family and I got to meet her cousins and aunts. I feel very close to my host family now and I am going to miss them a lot.
Coming to Taiwan I saved room in my suitcase to bring back gifts. I actually didn't do an excessive amount of shopping, but my suitcase is so dense that I have to leave a few food items behind. This is because all of the Taiwanese students and my host family gave me so many goodbye gifts. I think my bursting suitcase of gifts sums up how friendly, welcoming, and caring people are in Taiwan.
Alena Larsen

A day in Taipei

We took the world's fastest elevator to the 85th floor of Taipei 101 and it only took 37 seconds. The pic below is on the observation deck in Taipei 101.

Visited Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall

heading to Taipei

We have just arrived Taipei. We're in Taipei 101 now.

Aboriginal Park and learning Chinese in the best way!

Today we went to an aboriginal amusement park where there were many roller coasters and other rides. I personally don't love going on these rides, but it was still very fun to walk around and go on a few while watching other people enjoy the terrifying ones (which I really don't understand how they like it). Unfortunately it started to rain, but that also broke the heat that's plagued us this past week. While on the subject, environmentally today was exciting: there was an earthquake coming in at a magnitude of 5.9 (which ranks moderate to strong) at  10:13 UTC. Asking around, no one felt it, but that might be due to the rain and the fact that we were on the ground instead of a higher floor. It's interesting to think any earthquake is normal here since Massachusetts doesn't have that problem.

After struggling in the sudden cold for a little while and finally returning home, the brother of my host student sat me down and started writing Chinese characters for me to learn. He's been trying to learn English and has wanted to talk with me, so this was a great experience. Throughout our trip, I've been keeping a list of words and phrases I've picked up along the way. I am full or wo bao le has been extremely useful since they give us so much food as a sign of hospitality. Anyways, tonight my list gained a new section. I really like to learn Chinese and being immersed in the language is both daunting and so helpful. I'm just hoping that the minute I get back to America I don't forget everything that I now know!

Nina Lubbeck

A ride from the amusement park

Traveling to Sun Moon Lake (usually a beautiful, popular place, but today was misty, cold, and the middle of a drought. Still fun to ride)

One page of notes from tonight.

Sunday church, a new dress, and warrior-style makeup!

My day started with my host family bringing me to their church, where I wore a Chinese dress that they had given me as a very generous present. Before church, we had breakfast at a 7-11 (they're much better here than they are in America). At first, I was a bit nervous about going to church because I don't consider myself to be very religious, but it was a good experience overall. I was really struck by how passionate they were.  There were multiple people crying during the service. Afterwards, we talked with some of my host's friends, who were all really nice (I've found that the people in Taiwan are, in general, incredibly friendly). When we got home, Josephine had two more of her friends come over, and they wanted me to do makeup on them. My makeup has been a large part of my conversations with the Taiwanese students because they are not allowed to wear makeup.  My look is much more bold, so it was interesting to do it. Even my host student's brother wanted me to do warrior-style makeup on him! It was a great experience for me. That night, we went to eat dinner at their grandparents' house with a lot of their extended family, and it was really fun. I tried some different foods (Including a fish head, which wasn't that bad) and felt very welcomed. All in all, it was a fairly relaxing day, but I still experienced a lot and had fun.

         Abby Mosse