Inaugural Post: My First Three Days in Pingtung

Well, I finally caved into the idea of blogging about my time in Taiwan.  It took me a whole three days to realize that blogging isn't too bad after all.  Per my blog's description, I'll be studying Chinese in Pingtung, Taiwan for two months.  I'll be taking intensive language courses during the week and will be traveling throughout the country on weekends.  I'm really excited and look forward to every new experience that is bound to come my way, including eating smelly tofu and chicken heart.

It has been a pretty busy three days since I landed in Taipei, Taiwan's capital city.  Upon arrival, I took a bullet train down to Kiaosiung, Taiwan's second biggest city, and was picked up by my roommate, Gino.  A little on Gino now.  

As seen, Gino is the man.  He's a Junior majoring in Computer Science and he lives in a city adjascent to Pingtung.  His Chinese name is Kai-Bo.  I guess that all of our roommates and tutors were told to choose American names to ease our transition to the language.  Most names are pretty standard: Robert, Andy, Jeff, Olivia, etc.  It is funny how some chose to take a more interesting route, like Gino, Lance, and Stan (same name as my dad).  Overall, I think this is pretty damn considerate on the part of these people.

Today, Monday, was our first actual day of the program.  It started with an "Opening Ceremony" and finished with a campus tour.  The opening ceremony was an awesome experience.  Some pictures below...

As seen, the opening ceremony included a group of Buddhas dancing to Techno music, a Dragon dance show, and a Taiwanese Opera.  It was all really impressive.  The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs came all the way from Taipei to welcome us and view the ceremony.  The program really put a lot of energy into making a positive first impression on us.  Supposedly, the dancing Buddhas to the left won a prestigious award in Shanghai for their performance.  It was awesome - literally six people in Buddha outfits doing a synchonrized dance to Taiwanese techno.   

The Dragon Dance was pretty sweet too.  It definitely took a ton of coordination to perform the act.  Better yet, they were all on roller blades.  I think that was probably the sweetest part of the ceremony. 

 I would be lying if I said that I understood one word any of these women said during the Opera.  It was explained beforehand that the plot entailed a young street vendor vying for the love of a noble princess.  Overall, they were pretty solid singers.        

I've really enjoyed my time here thus far.  I'll post again in a week or so when I have some more stories to tell.  Until then, some of you might find these pictures pretty funny/interesting. 

The Taiwanese do not take their safety lightly.  On the bullet train, they provide patrons with an "emergency hammer" to blast through windows in case of a crash. 

This photo was taken in an outdoor market in Kiaosiung.  A modern toilet ice cream store?  There is really no way to explain this. 

They are obsessed with Golden Retrievers here.  Seriously, every brand of dog food or dog cleaner had a Golden on the package. 

My first dinner of really good dumplings in a spicy sauce.  Gino ordered it for me.