The Trip Continues

I'm gonna skip ahead before I give you the journal post: for culture class Tuesday we learned about Diabolo, something's that's easier to show than explain, and I just so happened to take some video of elementary kids playing Diabolo. But quickly I'll tell you what you have to have to play. You have two sticks with a string in the middle, a long one, and you also have a goblet-shaped item that's thin in the middle. You can put it on the string and it'll just roll back and forth if you lift the sticks. When you start playing you need to get the goblet thing spinning fast so you lift your right hand over and over and let the left hand follow the right. You have to concentrate a lot otherwise the string might get tangled. The kids, as I said before, were really good. One of the kids was rolling the goblet back and forth, then tossed it into the air, did a jumprope with the string and sticks, and caught it back on the string without missing anything!


I'll put the video now and hope it works. There! Now try to click it or find a play button. Here's my actual journal of events that day/week.




July 12, 2009

Man, can’t believe I was on the plane heading for Taiwan only a week ago. It feels like a ton longer because I think I’ve been doing so much stuff (I still think that even though I was playing The Sims a while ago and am going to now). Still no luck with the ATM so I’m holding off on having people pay for me until I can find a working machine to get money to pay them back. But last night if my friend Tina hadn’t bought my train and bus tickets I’d still be in Kaohsiung. Man, it’s raining and thundering like crazy now. The storm’s pretty close. I’m going to turn off my computer now. Last night a few of us tried to watch a movie but the TV didn’t work with the cables or something so we were going to watch it tonight but I think I’m going to bed now. I’ve been feeling kind of dizzy today and I have a little headache. It might be the heat or I’m tired. It’s 9:47 now anyway and tomorrow I have class so I shouldn’t stay up too late. Olivia and another student have been helping me try and find a working ATM. I hope I can soon otherwise everyone will be buying my meals for the whole trip (and it’s only the end of the first week).

In other news, a rat ran past me when I was taking a walk in the campus park today (he was cute; if you liked the movie Ratatouille you’ll know what I’m talking about), a weird-looking cousin of the potato bug landed on my head, and when it started to get dark I saw lots and lots of bats flying around!! It was really cool. I thought they were birds at first but then thought they looked too fluttery and fast to be birds (even if some birds are pretty fast). They were diving around and some dove close to the pond that was in the park. They were catching bugs and they were really fun to watch. They probably would fit in your hand; they were pretty small and cute. Well, I’m going to bed now. I’ll put more about the temple later. I’m starting to get lazy about writing every day but maybe I’ll write journals a few times a week since I don’t want to get behind, it’s fun, and it’s an assignment for when I get back. Night, everyone. Wish me luck with the ATM. There might be an international one in a 7-11, or so I’ve heard. A guy who came said he had trouble too but I think he found one.

One of the program helpers (can’t remember his name now *Update: His name's Stan and he's really nice and helpful) said that there are typhoons anywhere from 2-5 times a month if I heard him right. There will probably be one soon; they happen in July and August usually. And actually, I found out in class today (Monday) that there is a typhoon around Indonesia and it might hit Taiwan sometime but people aren’t sure if it will yet. If it does near the weekend we might not have home stay but if it does during the week class might be cancelled. It’s scary but a tiny bit exciting (if no one gets hurt but you never know). Well I’m off to an ATM in a 7-11 at 6:00 and I am praying that it works because right after that I’m going to dinner with my study partner Wu Yue (I'm so bad, I got her name wrong: well, Wu is her last name but her name is Yue Ying) and her friend Stan. If the machine doesn’t work and we don’t try another I either will have to have mountains of self control not to get anything and persuade them I’m not hungry (although I told them I was already so I guess that’s out) or one of them will pay for me (since Stan knows my money issues). Wish me luck with finding an ATM that works.