Dr Wu came to pick up Melinda and me at 7:45a because we wanted to see Alan give his presentation this morning at 8:45. Patrick and David drove Ted and Shuying to Kaoshung early this morning for their 8am flight. When we arrived the lobby area was not full and there weren't many people. Dr Wu apologized for leaving us, and off he went to do what we imagine to be very important things.
We found seats in the back of the lecture hall and waited for the talks to begin. I sat and caught up on my blogging, while Melinda worked on some proposals for work. The lectures were interesting, but again we were hampered by the translation issue. I would have liked to have understood more of a talk that appeared to be about using LIDAR data in hydrology, but such is life.
At 10am it was break time and Alan, Patrick, and David asked if we would like to pay a visit to the NCKU student store. Both Melinda and I wanted t-shirts to take home. It was a bit of a walk to the other side of campus, and boy was it hot out today. When we arrived there was some debate as to where in the bookstore we would find souvineers. Turns out, unlike at American Universities, students wear no clothes that advertise their university. There was a paltry selection of polo shirts to choose from (I skipped buying one) and a lot more business related gadgets with the NCKU logo, like business card holders, expensive pens, mugs, and briefcases.
As we exited the student store, we walked past a laboratory supply store for students and in the window they had models wearing t-shirts. The styles were not exciting, but they were plentiful and cheap! $5 for 2 shirts. Yeah! On our way back to find our "lunch box" the boys suggested that we stop in at the new NCKU museum, which recently opened in the historic campus administration building. We had a very enthusiastic tour guide who made it her priority to inform us about all parts of the museum. Patrick did a wonderful job of translating her information.
I was surprised to learn that the initial Deans of the college were Japanese, not Taiwanese or Chinese. It wasn't until after WWII that the college got it's first Taiwanese Dean. The museum had a section dedicated to neat little mechanical devices that were used to teach engineering students about how different motors and gears worked, and a section that highlighted cultural history, like Taiwanese puppets. The museum was nice, but very hot. As it is a historic building, it had not been retrofitted to be air conditioned. Melinda and I were very hot and resorted to fanning ourselves with pamphlets. I even noticed David and Patrick doing the same, so it must have been warm.
After spending nearly 45 mins touring the museum, we set off to get lunch. Dr Wu mentioned that today's lunch was a special "lunch box" and to be sure to get it. Alan and David went to pick up the boxes while Patrick, Melinda, and I went to secure a spot at the picnic tables near the old banyan tree park we took photos of when we toured the NCKU campus last week.
David and Alan returned with a large bag and cold drinks (YEAH!) in no time. So it turns out the special lunch was much larger than the one yesterday. It contained, well, I'm not quite sure what. Something with taro root, and something in sticky rice that you put a gravy over top of; a bowl of wontons in a gelatinous suspension, and a container with some sort of rice mixture. As usual, it was good, but too much food. I think I could have eaten the contents for 3 meals. Alan, David, and Patrick ate theirs easily.
We cleaned up and went back to the meeting to find Dr Wu. Melinda and I wanted to return to the hotel to pack and take naps, but before hand, we needed to make arrangements with Dr Wu for dinner. Melinda and I had requested that we get pizza for dinner, because we weren't sure we could handle another banquet sized meal. Success! Dr Wu and his assistants would pick us up at the hotel tonight at 6:30p and we'd go for pizza buffet at Pizza Hut.
Melinda and I returned to the hotel, filled out some papers to ship some boxes back to the US via FedEx, and went to our rooms. I took a much needed nap and awoke feeling better. David, Patrick and Alan returned to fetch us at 6:30p, and off we went to meet Dr Wu at Pizza Hut.
Pizza Hut has one sit down restaurant in Tainan, and luckily it is near NCKU. It is on a corner, and is 3 stories tall. There is an area to pay on the first floor, while the eating areas are upstairs. On the 2nd floor there was a pizza buffet, salad bar, and drink dispensers. There were 3 different pizzas on the buffet, none of which even looked vaguely familiar. I took a piece of something that had fine black whisps on it, and a piece of something that looked like it was covered with cheddar cheese.
Well, the black whisp pizza I think had squid on it and the black whisps were some sort of tea leaves. The other one did indeed have cheddar cheese on top, but instead of having tomato sauce it had some sort of sweet gravy under it. They both were good, but not what I was craving. Earlier using some sign language, I asked the employee who was refilling the pizza bar if they could make a supreme pizza (they had a sign for it, but none was out). Just as I was finishing my first 2 pieces, the supreme pizza came out. I was SO much happier with that pizza. Much closer to home. Interestingly, Dr Wu, Alan, David, and Patrick all ate more chicken wings than pizza. I think I ate more pizza than they did.
We did have a good conversation over dinner about microwave ovens and cooking styles in America. I don't know what we are going to do if they come to visit us. There really isn't much of a comparison food wise. But, I guess like us, they will adapt.
We made arangements to meet at 6:20a tomorrow morning so that we can take the Taiwan HSR back to TPE airport. I am sad to be leaving Taiwan, but I am ready to be home. I miss my family and I can't wait to see everyone.
This is probably the last entry I will make in my blog until I return to the US on Friday night. Bye until later!
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