Sunday was alright. It was 228, a holiday I explained in my previous post. For this holiday we went to the 228 Memorial Park (yes, there is a park named just for this day). We went through the 228 Museum, which is free admittance on 228, then got to watch the annual ceremony unfold.
Modern art statue or something. It looked like it needed a hug.
We were allowed somewhat "backstage" so we got to sit on a bunch of short stools with our view blocked by bunches of bodyguards. Roughly half of the time, the speakers (including the President) were using Taiwanese, which is not a dialect of Chinese that I am capable of understanding.
The front display at the ceremony.
Mayor of Taipei (left) and President of the Republic of China (right). Both appeared and spoke at the ceremony.
After this we took bunches of group pictures. I'm not sure why everyone wants a group picture on their camera. What with the internet and all, it seems like we could take one, maybe two group photos and then share them via internet.
I then went with one of the other students (a year-long student) to get food at the nearby Taipei University Hospital's food court. It was alright. Then I headed back to Zhengda to get ready for my dinner and hangout plans with a couple of the Taiwanese gays.
These activities were lots of fun. We went to a nice sit-down restaurant, then walked to the lantern display at the Chiang Kai-Shek memorial. Schools and groups from all over had built giant lanterns in interesting shapes, and they were all on display. Sadly, as my camera is incapable of functioning at night, I do not have photos. After that we went back to campus and bought some beers and sat and talked for several hours. My day finally ended at 1 AM when I walked back up the mountain to the dorm.
Today classes started. I was originally in an intermediate-mid class (2nd year 2nd level of three) but as I had suspected, it was far too easy. So my teacher is allowing me to try an intermediate-high class (2nd year 3rd level). We'll see if this class is also too easy, but I don't think they like to move people up too much at one time. Then I had dinner with my grrlfriend and now here I am in my dorm room again.
I have spoken to some of my readers about even more details and new interests, and you may be wondering why that isn't on here. Once things are more set, I will consider including that information as well. After all, this promises to be a great opportunity to compare cultures! ^_^
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