Bonus day in Taipei

The past 72 hours have been quite eventful! The flight schedule for me was:

San Diego > Los Angeles > Taipei > (change airports in Taipei) > Taitung

The further along in my travels, the more Fulbrighters I met. Everyone has been so friendly and nice! All travels were going quite smoothly until we arrived at our second airport in Taipei. We all boarded on a small plane to fly to Taitung, our future home, only to hear that the rain was so strong there we couldn't fly. After disembarking the plane we were told to get back on because the weather was clearing up. We all joked about how funny it would be if we had to get off again. Well it turns out that there was a typhoon going through Taitung, so we did have to get off the plane, and it was not funny. Fortunately the Fulbright staff in Taiwan is so wonderful that they took care of everything and decided that we would stay in Taipei for the night and try for Taitung again the next day. 

We stayed at the Look Hotel, which I would highly recommend to anyone visiting Taipei. The facility is lovely and right next to the Peace Park and National Taiwan Museum. After dropping off our bags and taking care of a few Fulbright errands, we were able to spend the time however we wanted. We went to a night market for dinner and drinks. A night market is basically an open air street market that (I think) can be open at any time.

Songshan Airport

Night Market Entrance

Chicken Hot Pot

We went to this restaurant because the sign in English said "Good Hot Pot" out front... Sometimes you have to take people's words for it

Drinks named after astrological signs

Peace Park 

In the morning we had a complimentary breakfast and then a few of us went to grab coffee and walk around the park next to our hotel. We are leaving for the airport soon and hoping for better luck this time! But I don't think any of us would be mad if we had to spend some more time in Taipei ;)

Breakfast

From Top (clockwise)

~ Noodles with some sort of meat

~ I think bamboo with some sort of meat

~ Fried tofu 

~ Steam bun with some sort of meat

(The point here is I have no idea what I am eating)

Bean There Coffee Shop

Just around the corner from our hotel. Really phenomenal coffee. 

Book shop inside of coffee shop

Peace Park

Peace Park

After a delayed flight we finally made it to Taitung and it has been wonderful. We will start workshops soon.

Pronunciation Update: Taitung is really spoken as "Taidong". This was a huge surprise.

Chinese word of the day: xièxie, which means "thank you". I am often confused, lost, and in need of assistance, so this word comes in handy. Next I need to learn how to apologize for being in the way, and how to say "please kill this cockroach"