Dear friends,
Last night I went with my school's basketball coach and some Fulbright English Teaching Assistants (ETAs) to watch a baseball game. It was so much fun! This was probably the first time I actually payed attention to a baseball game for the entire nine innings. Back in the States, I usually get bored after the fifth inning and want to leave because the game is taking so long. But this time was much more exciting. I think it was more exciting because at the baseball game, the fans had organized cheers. The teams that played against each other were the Taipei Elephant Brothers (yes, that's their full name) and the Kaohsiung La New Bears. Taipei's colors are yellow and black and Kaohsiung's colors are teal and white. We initially thought we were going to cheer for La New Bears because it was Kaohsiung's home team, but apparently Taipei has a larger fan base.

The crowds had organized cheers and would wave their little yellow horns/sticks that make noise. Taiwanese baseball games are pretty noisy, but I think that's a good thing because then people like me don't fall asleep! I enjoyed the cheers very much. There were a lot of cheers that involved saying "Chuan Lei Da!" for "Home Run!" In the end, the Elephant Brothers (Taipei Team) won by one point.

A popular player on the Elephant Brothers team, #23, scored three home runs at the game prior to the one we watched. #23's nickname is Cha-Cha. At last night's game, we saw one home run made by #52 whose nickname is Electric Fireball. It was pretty sweet.

Outside the baseball stadium after the game

Kate, me, and Coach Pao

Kate, Selena (remember her from my previous posts? Her brother owns the Modern Toilet Restaurants), and me

You can find more pictures of the baseball game here.

Dear friends,
Today was a very fun day. Patty, a local English teacher, took me and four other Fulbrighters to Mei-Nung, a Hakka Village 40 minutes outside of Kaohsiung. The Hakka are a type of tribe in Taiwan. This particular Hakka village is famous for their hand-painted umbrellas and hand-made pottery. The name, "Mei-Nung," means "beautiful (thick) mist." It is nestled among several small hills that are covered with bananas trees and beetle nut trees.

You can find the photo album for this day, here. We walked around the shops, saw the beautifully painted umbrellas, and then...made our own pottery! You won't get to see the grand masterpiece that I made until the end of this month when they send it to me. So, sit tight, and I'll post again when my hand-crafted artifact comes in =D. After making pottery, we had lunch and picked lemons at Patty's lemon farm.

Dear friends,
Last night, Selena, a colleague of me, Billy, and Kate at Ling Zhou Elementary School, took us to her brother's restaurant "Modern Toilet". Yes, you won't believe this, but the entire restaurant is toilet themed. The chairs are toilets, tables are bathtubs, curtains are shower curtains, etc. It's incredibly funny. The food is also delicious.

The seats at the restaurant

Taking a little shower in the restaurant =D

Hot Pot in a toilet bowl!

Rice curry, chicken, and cheese dish in a bathtub bowl!

Our drinks came in this

Kate getting napkins for Selena!

Dessert: ice cream in Taiwanese squatting toilets =D

And then...came the humongous dessert shaved ice with strawberry, strawberry syrup, fruit, and ice cream.

There are several "Modern Toilet" Restaurants in Taiwan, and they just opened up two restaurants in Hong Kong. We had a really great time at the restaurant. Food was good, atmosphere was great, and company was hilarious. We talked and laughed so much while we ate that the whole restaurant kept on turning their heads and either glared at us, or just stared at us. Good times!

Dear friends,
This past weekend, I went to Confucius Temple with my host family. You can find the pictures here. The Confucius Temple that I visited in Tainan was the first school that was built in Taiwan. The entire complex of "Confucius Temple" is made up of a temple and a school. There is a gate that connects the temple and the school. If you pass underneath it, you will become inspired and full of wisdom. See picture below.

The entire complex was very beautiful. We went with a tour guide and she told us all about the significance of the architecture and explained the placement of the plaques in honor of Confucius and his forefathers.

Next week is Confucius Teacher's Day. When we went to Confucius Temple, many people were rehearsing their performances for the celebration next week. So, we got to see a preview of what's to come. It was yet another fun filled day!

Dear Friends,
This past weekend, the Fulbrighters and I ended up going to the Love River (Aihe), instead of going to Lotus Lake. There was apparently a heat wave that struck Kaohsiung and it was incredibly hot. So, our Fulbright group decided to sleep in and just take the bus to Love River.

You can find the corresponding photo album with this blog post, here. We took a love boat tour and then walked alongside the river. As we were walking by the river, we passed by a glassblower who was selling lots of cute artifacts.

Since I wanted to buy my friends in America gifts, I bought two glass phone charms that glow in the dark at this stand. Right when I was about to leave, the glassblower stops me and says he wants to make me a gift. The other Fulbrighters and I watched in awe as he made me this:

An Angel! It was a very nice gift and now I have a glass angel watching over me while I'm in Taiwan.