In language class, I learned the phonics song. You guessed it-- we had to sing in class. I still don't know all the sounds cold yet. It showed on my last test-- not exactly a great mark. I have to prepare for lesson 1, because there will be a test tomorrow. After class, there was a lecture on Chinese music. It was too bad it was so boring. The highlights were the 3 live performances by the lecturer's students. (Aside, the lecturer was very knowledgeable in how physics relates to the various instruments.)
The music lecture was cut short so that the Minister of Education could have an informal forum. He was a very interesting person. He told us about his 3 sons: first= doctor from Johns Hopkins and residency at Harvard; second= physicist in Belgium; third= business professor. The Minister also told us his connection with the program: his first son met his future wife on the trip, thus the term, "Love Boat", really applied in his family. One of my friends asked if he had a daughter, which was funny at the time.
The afternoon had us running around the Taipei zoo. I hung out with Del, John, and Ryan. Around there, we actually got to meet Henry's Melodie. I took pictures for a change! As well, I remembered to do all the things I forgot to do on the previous excursion-- sunscreen, sunglasses, and a hat. I also met more people on the bus-ride back. A name that comes to mind is Elaine, a meds student at Indiana University. She's originally from Sarnia but her parents moved to the States. So, there was a lot we could talk about. We returned in time for dinner, which was also another feat.
Tonight, I went to the acrobatics presentation. Excellent show. Also,
I had to prepare for the variety show song. We ended up choosing Summer
Lovin', from the Grease soundtrack. Choosing this song was a
royal pain. First, it took us forever in council meeting to finalize our
decision. Second, there was also a rogue group, led by this guy named Jack,
who wanted us to do a skit which had us sneak out of camp and go clubbing,
based on a Mission: Impossible theme. I guess that group did not
realize that there would be government officials who were attending this
performance. After practice, I had to go to council meeting with Keli'i.
Today's meeting was much more organized. I am in charge of the Olympic
games sign-up.
My second folk art was the Chinese Yo-Yo. The teacher of course taught us tricks in Mandarin, so it was essentially me learning by mimicking. It took me a while to get that thing going but I did. However the teacher informed me that I was doing it incorrectly. My "doing-it-wrong" technique allowed me to do 3 of the 5 tricks. Strange, don't you think?
Once class was finished, I packed my bags and headed straight for a taxi to my great-uncle's apartment. The first thing I did when I got there was eat. Luckily my mom bought some radish cakes. After asking how my great-uncle was doing, (he recently had non-invasive surgery), we went out for lunch. My mom took me to a quick place for "sung-lat mee". It started raining so we ducked into a barber shop. I needed a haircut, so I was lucky. The "barber" was a female. I was skeptical at first, but once she did the job, I was a believer. They messaged my scalp and neck. Wow, that was really nice. I had to get another haircut before I go back, that's for sure! My aunt came over and gave us umbrellas (how did she know where we were?!) to use to back to the apartment.
Later in the afternoon, I went, along with my mom, went over to another
"aunt's" house. I called her aunt Sochiko. My aunt Sochiko bought us snacks
to eat (Chinese style crepes). Following the Chinese tradition, we went
out for dinner. There were other relatives who I do not have any idea what
relation they have with me. Don't get me wrong-- they were extremely nice.
During dinner, I was thinking how small the portions are here because I
knew there were serious $$ for this meal. We returned via taxi back to
my great-uncle's, early enough for me to shower and be in bed by 10:30.
I was so tired because I wasn't getting much sleep during the week.
This day was also a climbing day. Since it was so close to the water,
you'd expect some king of trek upwards but I wasn't expecting THAT
much! We walked around the various local shops. Because there were so many
tourists around, walking was slow. I did purchase an instant camera because
I left the other one behind. I also had to buy some root beer, the only
one I like, at the 7-Eleven. I saw my auntie's elementary school at the
top of the hill. That was the only cool spot, temperature-wise, on the
whole journey. I saw my grandfather's medical clinic, now turned into a
mining museum. My mom asked to look around the place-- she remembers everything,
which is kind of scary. My mom only lived there until she was 7; she said
everything looked much more spacious then. We also had time to ring up
an old friend of the family.
The return home to Chien Tan allowed me a chance to get a glimpse of the Ocean campus, where the other tour members were staying. Let's say I am not looking forward to the exchange of campuses. The drive back took a damn long time-- all the urbanites were returning from their weekend out on the beaches.
Choir practice was much better tonight. My first impression of Jack may have been misguided. He, along with Sam, worked very hard on the choreography and organization over the weekend. Seems that our production will look and sound pretty good at the military college TOMORROW night.
After bed check, we snuck out through the front gate again and headed
to the good KTV, the Cash Box one. Who went? Wil, Del, Belinda, Lawrence,
Keli'i, Melvin and I went. This time we had business cards which allowed
us to get there without getting people lost. The wait wasn't too long.
The room we got was nice-- we all could sit without being cramped. As usual,
we had to buy stuff-- I got mineral water. We sang many songs-- too many
to remember. There was a screw up with the system because we got so many
Chinese songs. We left the place at 3 and 200 NT poorer. Had to wash the
stink before I went to bed. I have a feeling I'm going to regret staying
up so late tomorrow.
I've started to notice that I've begun to eat a lot at meals. This concerns me-- the amount of oil they use to cook the stuff and the coating of MSG on the surface makes me wonder how much plaque is forming in the arteries. The "mystery-fried-thing" and fries began to taste okay, perhaps a little good. What once I considered most horrible meals began to satisfy my palette. I've been away from Canada much too long.
The afternoon had us headed over to the military college to check out the facilities for this evening. They showed us a propaganda film, which I passed out. I did get to meet another Californian. Her name was Amy Chang, and she was also a swimmer. Anyway, they had us separated into little groups touring different sections of the college.
We came back to Chien Tan for a quick dinner. We also had a quick meeting for the talent show. At first, the student committee was going to do a drag-queen fashion show, but we opted for a skit where one person was the "face" while another person does the "arms". There is a story that goes with the skit. At first, Ray was going to be my arms, since I was a face. However, he decided just to get materials to use. Armless, I had to get another partner. At the meeting, Elaine, another council member, was very quick to volunteer to be my arms. In fact, I thought she was a little too enthusiastic. This was the same Elaine from the bus ride back from the zoo.
Another cause for concern was the attire for tonight's performance. Since I, along with the other members of the choir, had to dress up for the Grease song (jeans & t-shirt), we first had to wear our formal clothes there, then change backstage. It was so hot! The night ceremony was very good. We did a good job for Summer Lovin' for the little practise we had. Ocean did some Chinese song with instrumentals. The other acts were also good. The ballroom dance section took people from the audience up onto the stage. One of the female dancers picked me... well, I couldn't cha-cha worth shit. Instead, I "danced" with Belinda. That was fun... =)
The return back from the college had a huge, I guess for Taiwan
standards, fireworks display. Elaine, on the bus ride back, borrowed my
sweaty shirt to keep her legs warm... kind of wonder about her intentions.
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