Ambassador Hsinchu

It’s probably a good idea for me to begin by introducing myself I grew up in the United States but, my parents are originally from Taiwan. Since, we have family over here I was able to visit during the summer while on break. Whenever I visited, relatives would always ask if I would be interested in settling ...

I've arrived in Taiwan yesterday afternoon completely exhausted and jetlagged, but nevertheless extremely excited. This was the the first of 64 days in Taiwan, of which I hope, there will be many days to explore this island. I will be primarily doing research here working with a university, although I would like to learn more than just the confines of my lab especially since this ...

... drink' for $15 special. We had tons of fun and just enjoyed being the life of the party (as a foreigner...I often feel like the main attraction at a zoo or something). We stumbled home around 4 AM or so. The next day...as I was taking inventory of all my possessions...I noticed that my Visa card was M.I.A. I looked high and low and could not find the damn thing. Meghan and I retraced our steps from Saturday night but were unable to find the Visa card. I had ...

... entry) I took a picture of our "pod" seats on the plane. Pretty nice seats for the international traveler, very high tech.

... and outfits were worn by the performers. The exploding fireworks were very impressive yet not very far from the festivities. It was very loud and a little scary. We did play some street games ourselves. We were not very good. We then left the night market and made our way back to Linkou. It is easy to appreciate all the lights of Taipei; its like Times Square everywhere.

Arrived and had bad weather and a worse headache that lasted for two days...but I was able to get out and tour the city a bit and when the weather cleared, it kind of jump-started my sightseeing and traveling. The first few days I spent just running errands like gettting some new camera equipment and dropping off my passport at the Korean embassy for a new visa - I walked and walked and walked all over! Monday I did my ...

Morning on the far side of the Pacific was a real spectacle. Cumulus clouds flattened against the stratosphere appeared to be giant fungi against the rose horizon, or else strange relatives of the jelly fish, thrusting through the cloud cover like dolphin's from the sea. Before this the only thing's visible beyond my window had been the lonely glow of fishing vessels and the crooked neck of japan, glittering against the black sea like ...

For the past week, the interns and I have been very enthusiastically and eagerly checking weather websites, watching a typhoon approach the island. The typhoon seemed to increase in speed, moving to a category 1 specification, until, just as it was about to hit Taiwan... it fell to tropical storm. Everyday got increasingly windier, and then Wednesday at work wild rain began. With much hope, we watched the TV at 10 pm that night in hopes of a ...

... my leaving and of course my Chinese military boyfriend, Benjamin. The work: teaching in Taiwan is an art form, doing it the way I did it, the art is trying to keep yourself entertained through the mindless hours of trying to teach 50 14-years olds how to count further than 100. As bad as those days at the junior high school could be just as good were the days at the cram school with my co-teacher Tina by my side. Classes no bigger than 13 kids ...

... rice and we pounded our own, quite tiring. You pound a special rice until it makes this sticky mixture. Than you roll it into balls, and roll it into this sugar and peanut powder. It sounds weird, but it tastes so good. Afterwards we stopped off at a "Miniture World" Theme Park. We spent a few hours touring the displays and riding the roller coasters. For dinner we headed to a chinese restaurant, with ...