Xitou park 溪頭國家公園

My first family invited me to spend three days at 溪頭國家公園, a National park in central Taiwan. Of course, I agreed. It was really nice of them to invite me, they have their own exchanger now and they definitely did not have to do that:) My lunch on the way to the park was a squid, pasta dish! It wasn’t the best squid I’ve had but it was still pretty darn tasty! The cabin we were staying at was beautiful and the only thing rustic about it was that hot water shut off at midnight. That would have been nice to know before midnight but it’s all good! Me, Sophia, and David(their current exchanger) slept upstairs in a room that looked like it belonged to the seven dwarves. There were five beds lined up next to each other, the one at the end being a double, the room could have easily fit three more people. Because David is the tallest he got the double but Sophia and I got the extra blankets from the spare beds. This was more than a fair trade because it was FREEZING! We also went to a small market that was called “monster village.” Everything had eyes or was a monster. We went when it was dark so it was a bit more spooky;) I could write another paragraph about the amazing scenery but you know what they say... so here’s the pictures:

Thanks for reading,

Autumn Crisovan, 丁晚秋

Companion

For some reason, a few of the exchangers got residency cards that expired in January. Luckily, I was not one of them. Heloisa and William were however. So when my host mom invited me to go with them to change their cards, we all assumed it was because we would spend the day together. As it turns out my host mom had to work afterwards and we have no idea why they asked me to come. It turned out okay though. Heloisa and I had seen on some of our classmates’ instagram that there was a giant, inflatable art piece (called “Companion”) at the Chiang Kai-Shek. Neither of us had anything better to do so we decided to check it out.  To be honest, I thought the giant was kind of scary and a bit strange. He was dressed like Mikey Mouse but with just shades of gray, but he has a human skull for a head. We took pictures with him anyway. The most interesting part for me was when we went into the memorial hall. Lots of seemingly random videos were. One of those videos was of a post-World War II Nazi rally in the US. It was quite surprising! It was in English, American flags were flying along side swastikas, and a Jewish man was dragged on to stage and beaten. After the video I had two questions. First, why had I never seen this before? Second, why was it playing here? Those questions are yet to have answers but I am glad to have seen that tape and learned a little piece of American history, regardless of the strange setting.

Thanks for reading

Autumn Crisovan, 丁晚秋

Taipei Fine Art Museum

The week before Chinese New Year we don’t have school but 爸爸媽媽 (my host parents) did have work. I am not the kind of person who is content to spend an entire day lying around the house. Especially when the entire city of Taipei is so accessible! I decided to go to a museum. I was a bit unsure because it was quite far away and because I couldn’t find anyone to go with me, I was going alone. It turned out to be a place that one should go alone! Many of the exhibits were in English! Some of them took time to understand and think about and I was glad to not have another person rushing me along. Because the exhibits are continuously changing I can tell you about them without spoiling the museum for future inbounds. My favorite exhibit was an entire room.  Immediately after entering I was given a feeling of unease like I was watching a suspenseful movie. There was music playing but it was the most quiet of the sounds going on. On both walls there were videos playing on loop and over all that, one person at a time would ask Siri a question, each person speaking a different language than the last. On the wall street there were artistic images of people. Next to them was a pair of headphones so that the viewer could stop and listen to their voice, language, and, if the viewer could understand, their story.
Thanks for reading,
Autumn 丁晚秋

Here’s the link to the museum website: https://www.tfam.museum/index.aspx?ddlLang=zh-tw

“We’re going on a bike thing”

Yeah, turns out the “bike thing” was peddle-power cars that run on a train track. Let me back up. Every month our Rotary district gathers everyone together do an event. Last month it was Christmas, January is MUCH more random. My host mom told me we were going to something with biking. So we all gathered in Banqiao to get on the tour bed. Our first stop was the sea. The miserable weather made huge waves that, if we stood close enough, we could feel the spray from. The wind and the smell of the ocean made me feel so alive! Next was the pedal cars. They were fish-shaped, two person cars that ran along a track built into the mountain. We would pedal along, the top of the fish protecting us from the rain until we reached a tunnel. There were lights along the walls and ceiling and music playing from unseen speakers. It was very strange but also fun. Our last stop was a museum about ocean life. This was also an odd choice for a group of young foreigners. There was nothing alive and I think I was the only one to actually read some of the descriptions. None the less, it’s always good to see everyone and we had pizza for dinner! I’d call it up to be a good day.
Thanks for reading,
Autumn 丁晚秋

Taipei Zoo

Friday our Chinese teachers took us to Taipei Zoo. First of all, it was crazy cheap to get in, like two US dollars! There was a really impressive assortment of animals. At first, our Chinese teachers would  say the name of the animal we were looking at in Chinese and we’d all repeat it. There was A LOT of   animals and that got old pretty quickly so eventually they’d just tell them the names of the more common animals. The exhibit I was most looking forward to was the Formosa black bear. They are like the mascot of Taiwan and I think they are adorable! They have big, round ears and a white V across their chest. When we got to the exhibit he was sleeping! We couldn’t see his ears or is chest! The others moved on but I I stayed a little longer, disappointedly looking at the heap of black fur. As I turned to leave he started to roll over! His face now towards the glass he put his big paw over his nose so I could see the famous markings! He was so cute! I was satisfied. One might think that going to the zoo with our teachers would make the experience lame however, our teachers are college students, and only a few years older then we are. They are very fun and made the zoo all the better with their presence. It you are an exchange student in Taipei I would definitely recommend spending a day at the zoo.