Swallow Castle Hotel Taichung

... On Sunday I went with 2 of my roommates to Metropolitan Park just outside the city. It is a huge park with a beautiful view of the city. It was a nice getaway for a couple hours. We walked around the park and enjoyed the beautiful fall weather. It was 80 degrees and sunny, a little windy, but really enjoyable. I am loving the fall weather here! It feels like summer/fall back home. It is cool in the mornings, gets pretty warm during the day ...

... make some call and catch up with some friends back home. It is a lot of work staying in touch with everyone back home but I really look forward to find out what everyone is doing. <br><br>On Saturday I slept in and lounged around the house until a group of us headed to the movie theater to see The Proposal, it was opening day for the movie here. If you haven't seen that movie I suggest you go see it. It is a great movie! I loved it. After we got ...

... it into one big party! We went with the theme of "Anything BUT Clothes" meaning that you had to come dressed in anything but normal clothes! I went with a birthday theme. I was dressed in a white plastic table cloth decorated with candles, bows, ribbon, a birthday card and garland. My roommate and I won for the best costume of the night! Others came dressed in shower curtains, towels, ponchos, garbage bags, pillowcases, aluminum foil and other ...

... all ages ride on scooters. People will be holding a baby while riding on the back of a scooter. They also have little seats that younger kids can sit in that sits in between the drivers legs! Not much of a car seat!<br><br>3. I was walking home from school the other day and saw the strangest ladder. It looked like it was made of PVC pipe with black tape over it and the rungs on the ladder were connected with wire. All I can say is that I am glad I won't be ...

... a group of teachers went to see the new Harry Potter film. I enjoyed it even though I haven't seen all the movies yet. It was released here on Wednesday. It is fun going to movies because I feel like I am back home. The films are in English with Chinese subtitles and with the lights off I forget where I am....then I remember that I am one of the few Americans in the theater and that I am surrounded by Asians. But for that short while I do feel like I am home! <br><br>Friday ...

... together and held an event of their own: Guy's Night Out. Guy's Night Out was to be an evening of manliness to match the women's evening of feminism. A meticulous schedule was created and to be followed as the evening unfolded. It was to be a grand evening of male bonding. Needless to say, only the roommates, Joel and Joe, and myself joined in the "Guys Night Out" extravaganza (although we were joined a little later in the evening by Brent, one of the ...

... I was going to be attending an engagement feast. The feast was held on a Sunday afternoon at a banquet hall on the opposite side of town. I took my moped to the festival with about five other staff members. It was on the ride to the festival that I realized I was driving with the best-dressed biker gang in the Far East, and could only imagine the stares I would get if this was going on back home. We entered the building on their red carpet entrance and were ...

... around the area to have a bowl full of this dessert. It consisted of shaved ice on the bottom of the bowl (or boiling water, depending on what you prefer), pineapple, lima beans, mango, some kind of brown mushy substance, sugar, and any other random item you could think of. It does sound rather unappetizing and I was pretty skeptical about ordering it. However, it was actually quite refreshing on a hot and humid day and was quite tasty.

... the most part, by 5pm you never would have suspected that we were just hit by a tropical storm. Everything returned to business as usual. What is very surprising to hear is that our city was one of the hardest hit, and that this storm resulted in almost 20 deaths. It is the closest I have come, or hope to come to a hurricane. It was definitely a pretty scary experience. I always yell at ...

... he should be my partner for the three-legged race. He accepted (who wouldn't?) and we lined up for the first heat. The race started off strong with us letting the others wear themselves out early in the race. We decided to opt for the classic "1-2" march count in an effort to keep from falling on each other. However, when the dust finally settled, we ended up with the bronze medal. We would not get past the first round, and eventually had to watch the remaining ...