The weekend is over...school starts tomorrow. Ahhhh, what to wear! Haha just kidding. I suppose my vacation is over. It was a nice week. This weekend I got a cell phone. I was soooo happy to get it. I felt oh so naked without one. Now I can call people if I get lost, check what time it is, and hopefully get phone calls from friends! Other than that, nothing exciting happened. I spent most of my time hanging out with my family. Saturday I got the cell phone and then spent the day with my Aunt and my cousin while they went shopping for a lap top in Taipei. Then Sunday I went to Hukou to see the rest of my family. It was fun.

I guess the only crazy thing that happened was my freaking out that I didn't have any hot water for a night. My cousin spent the night with her Dad in another city while I stayed home by myself on Saturday. No big deal...but when I went to take a shower Saturday night...the water was cold! So I decided that I wasn't really that stinky...hehe, and went to bed without the shower. I assumed that I would have hot water in the morning for some reason. But when I got up in the morning to take a shower, the water was still cold! I started to get all annoyed. I kept looking at this gas water heating thingy. I knew that there was suppose to be a pilot light on...which wasn't on...and i didn't know how to fix it. And I was all by myself. So I freaked out.

I had to muster up the courage to call my Uncle for help! So I was forced to speak Chinese!!! I managed to explain to him that the water wasn't hot...and he said he'd come over to see what was wrong...Yay! (He lives down the street) He came over and was like...you need a new battery. That was it!!! Lame....I couldn't figure it out... HAHAHA, at least I have hot water now. I'm such a wuss...and I guess a little spoiled!

That's all I have for you guys now...maybe next time I'll have something more interesting...we'll see, HAHAHA!

So yesterday was a pretty chill day. I didn't do much during the day. Went food shopping at a place called "Wellcome"....don't know why they need the extra "l"... but it's not really my problem. I was pretty happy with the place. I found that I can get produce and meat there, and it's walking distance. I'm still trying to figure out where everything is so that when school starts, I'll be all set.

Then after I had dinner, my cousin and I went to Shilin Night Market. It is the biggest night market in Taipei. There were a lot of "interesting" things there. Definitely a lot of strange foods. I took a picture of one of the street vendor's cart. Mmmmm....ok not really...hahaha! I didn't try any of these foods. It was just fun to look at. The one thing I will for sure try...eventually, is stinky tofu. It's suppose to smell puttrid, but taste good. Not quite sure how that'll turn out...I'll let you know. I spent most of my time at the "claw" game place. I don't know the correct term for these games, so from now on, it will be known as the claw game! Anyways, I played a few and and mostly lost, but i did win twice! I won a mini Super Mario Red Mushroom key chain thingy and a hello kitty bag. I knew what I was getting into with the mushroom...but the bag was the result of picking a box with a prize written on a piece of paper inside of the box. My cousin and I wanted to win a talking stuffed parrot...but no such luck. But you just wait! By the end of the year we'll have that parrot! Hehehe.

Well, that was yesterday...Today I went to the Taipei Zoo. It's a lot bigger than I thought it was. I probably only saw about a third of it. I did of course, made sure that I saw the insectarium! I was quite pleased with it. There were a lot of butterflies. In fact there were just as many cool "wild" butterflies outdoors as there were indoors. I didn't really get to take to many pictures...i forgot to charge my battery...lame... But I did get a few nice ones. So I guess I'll have to go back and finish the rest of the zoo. And I need to pick a nice warm day so all the bugs will come out and play.

Well that about covers these last two days. I have just the weekend left to play. School starts Monday. I'll find out when my classes are tomorrow...then my mini vacation is over. Then hopefully I can talk to people without feeling like a dummy! Anyways, Happy Thanksgiving to all of you at home!

So it's begun...I finally made the decision to go to Taiwan to study...and here I am. It's been 5 days. I arrived nice and early (5:45 am) Friday November 21. A whole 25 minutes early! So I sat around and began to take in the surroundings. Since then, I have been to Zhoung Li, Hokou and Taipei visiting all my relatives and then moving in to my apartment. After I got all my stuff put away, I went to school to register. And I found out that I practically live on campus! All I have to do is cross the main street right next to my apartment and i'm not only on campus, but the first building on campus is mine. Ahhh...laziness. How great this will be! Hahaha!

I'm excited to start school again. It's been a while. It'll be nice to know how to communicate with people. So far it's been interesting "talking" to people. Everything I say is so basic that I actually want to stat school soon just so I can go order some food or ask a stranger for directions! I've been relying on my family way too much. One funny thing I noticed is that every time I visit Taiwan, people like to give me free stuff. Hahaha! I was shopping for some fruits with my Aunt and she asked if I had ever tried this fruit called "budda's head" (i'll have to take a picture of it next time)...which I replied that I hadn't. And the owner overheard us and decided to give one to me as a welcome gift. Hahaha! It was yummy.

I know it's only been 5 days, but I miss all of you at home! I hope you all have a nice Thanksgiving! I'll try to post as often as I can. My next one will definitely include some pictures. Enjoy the holiday everyone!