ORIENTATION WEEK

This past week has been packed! We had orientation from about 8:00 am to around 5:30 pm everyday. In the evenings we had the opportunity to do a lot of fun things in Taipei!

Our orientation schedule was filled with classes on: Mandarin Chinese, English education in Taiwan, the Taiwanese Ministry of Education (the public school system here), living in Tawain and so on and so forth.

Our evenings were filled with opportunities upon opportunities to try new foods! Monday evening we went to a teahouse. We had interesting meals and learned how to make Chinese tea.

Tuesday night we went to another night market. Among other things, we tried "Stinky Tofu"...we wouldn’t necessarily recommend it. The only way we can think if describing it is, it tastes the way barn animals smell. It’s a big hit here, though.

(Video of me (Annalicia) trying to pick up a slimy oyster with chopsticks. I'm trying Oyster Omlets...another dish I was not a fan of, but one Taiwanese people love.)

After orientation on Wednesday we got to go to a Taoist temple. The temple is almost 300 years old and absolutely beautiful. It’s located right in the middle of Taipei. It was interesting to see the architecture and experience the Taoist atmosphere.

After visiting the temple we went to a night market called "Snake Alley". At this night market there are dozens of restaurants showing off snakes, turtles and lizards. They are not just there for looks, though...they’re there to be eaten!