More hiking!

Last weekend was fun, first on Saturday was the "運動會" which is, I don't really know how to explain-- first there was marching by the students, then they did their little dance routines they had been practicing since school started, there were speeches and introductions of all the educational "bigwigs" who made appearances that day, then the sports began. There were races, relays, tug-o-war (students, as well as community members-- who were actually really into it.)

Speaking of the community tug-o-war, I was struck by how many of the men were chewing the 檳榔 (betel nut- Taiwan's version of chewing tobacco that comes from the seed of a palm that is grown ALL OVER the island of Taiwan. It is wrapped in the leaf of a different plant and chewed for it's mildly stimulating effect). Previously, I wondered just how growing SO many of these trees everywhere (whole mountainsides are cut down and planted with the palm)-- on Saturday I realized it is because SO many people chew the stuff like it's bubble gum.

On Sunday I left early for 大雪山 (Big Snow Mountain) to do some hiking. It was a little over 2 hours on a scooter, and it was away from everything! Really quiet and peaceful, the only mild complaint is that trails in Taiwan just seem to follow the ridge up to the top, no matter how steep it happens to be. They seem to not believe in switchbacks. So they will put lots and lots of stairs the whole way, along with rope lining the trail so you don't fall. I only took a couple pictures though. Next time I go I will take more!

Another shot at my glory days...

This weekend I was invited to play in a 3 on 3 tournament, I would be playing with two other girls I had never met before. Mostly the games were easy, my teammates were pretty good, so we beat the other teams pretty easily. It was so funny though, the other players thought I was a star or something. They were almost honored to lose to us. And I had a little cheering section, every time I made a basket they all "ooh-ed" and "aww-ed". When the game was over, they all wanted to give me a high fives. It was kind of embarrassing, but not too bad ;) So we made it to the championship game, and we faced the other good team. They were all about my height (which is really tall for Taiwan) and strong, and they played pretty well too. They had one girl that was taller than me, but obviously a post player and so kind of slow. I was surprised that they chose her to guard me in the game~ I love playing against post players, because they are so slow! If I play against the quicker, littler guards I tend to struggle a bit more. So I just started to score on her pretty easily, but they also scored some points too. Finally, the score was 13 to 11, we had 13. The games are to 15 points or until time runs out, and each basket counts as 2 points. We had the ball, and I drove past the big girl and shot the ball to win the game... but missed!!! I was mad I missed so tried to steal the ball back from the tall girl but fouled her instead, and she got 2 free throws, to potentially tie the game! I was so upset with myself, but fortunately she missed both shots and time ran out. We won! 1st place! Myself and each of my teammates got a trophy, a tee-shirt, and a box of soap. Yes, soap. I guess there is logic to that, we sweat so much during the game, we can go home and take a shower using our new soap! haha. Strange prize though. Good fun!

Taizhong finally dips below 70 degrees!

I have been spoiled by the beautiful mild weather in Taiwan, this morning was a cool 65 degrees! I felt like it was so cold... hahaha! I think I have been "wussified" by the balmy weather here... riding my scooter to school this morning was definitely chilly to me. But, it gave me the chance to wear the shiny new Adidas jacket (a thin one) that I bought this weekend at the night market. Lookin' good... ;)

I think winter is on the way!

Obama wins!

It's really amazing to me~ the level of excitement and interest in the US presidential election. Taiwan, on the whole, are huge fans of Obama! Everyone wants to talk to me about it...

They all ask if America is a racist place... apparently, money matters more to people than race!

I feel a bit bad for the guy... he'll be inheriting a pretty horrible legacy from the Bush fiasco... what a mess to be thrown into from the start!

Traffic laws in Taiwan II

Well, remember what I said about anything goes in Taiwan?? haha- not quite-- I almost got a ticket! The whole situation happened something like this: There is an intersection on my way home where I have to turn left, but the light takes FOREVER to change, so a lot of the time, if I see that the the turn left arrow is illuminated (this is for cars only... scooters have to turn kind of right into a special area in front of the traffic going the direction you want to go) I will just pretend I am a car and turn left too. Well, one day, there was a policeman there waiting for violators like me. He waved his little wand at me to signal for me to turn over. The conversation follows:
Officer (in Chinese). "(Your driver's license please)"
Me: *blink* *blink* "Excuse me?"
Officer: "(You can't turn left at an intersection on a scooter. Your driver's license please.)"
Me: *blink* *blink* "Sorry? What?"
Officer: *exasperated sigh* "(You are on a scooter.)" He points to scooter, then draws picture of intersection for me. While drawing on paper continues to explain in Chinese what I did wrong. "(You have to turn into the scooter lane and wait for the light to change. You can't turn left on a scooter.)"
Me: "Oh, so what your saying is that I have to turn right first, then go straight across the intersection the direction I want to go?"
Officer: *nods* "(Please pay more attention.)"
Me: "Oh, OK, thank you. Bye bye!"
Officer: *motions for me to leave* "(Please pay more attention)"
Me: "Bye!"

Close one eh! Sometimes, it is nice to be a foreigner... I can pretend I don't understand Chinese... hehehe. The officer feels like it would be too much trouble to deal with me and sends me on my way. Buuut... I think I might not break so many traffic laws in the next couple weeks :)