Yesterday we had a placement test. It was ridiculously hard, but I guess that was the point. Today I begin classes.
After the test we saw the campus and had a big lunch hosted by the school, then watched the opening ceremonies. They brought in examples of the different cultures in Taiwan to give performances.
There was a Han Chinese musical group who played a few pieces on traditional Chinese instruments. There was a drumming dance performed by Ksitigarbha guards, to show their fierceness and scare away evil spirits. Several Hakka dances were performed by a group to exhibit Hakka culture and heritage. A group of indigenous Taiwanese dancers performed an Amis people dance.
The show ended with the Pingtung Di Ye Association, who are called the Dancing Gods Troupe— dancers dressed as baby gods (costumes that weigh around 60 pounds), and dance to techno music. Yep. Baby gods who rock out to techno. It was awesome.
After the ceremony a group of American and Taiwanese girls all walked into town; it was a long walk but a good way to see the city and figure out where things are at. We stopped for more shaved ice on the way back, and this time I tried chocolate. Mango is still my favorite though.
I got home just in time for my study companion for the month of August (Lucy) to show up at my room to offer to take me to another night market. This one was quite far away; about 20 minutes by motorbike. A group of us all went, and it was even better than the market from the night before. This market was larger and more spread out, but not as crowded. Lucy and two of her friends were great hosts, and wanted me to try just a little bit of everything. I don’t think we passed a single food stall without buying something.
My dinner was interesting. It started with delicious fried chicken bites, a bit like KFC popcorn chicken but covered in tasty spices that I don’t know what were, and a round little fried sweet potato. Then we had fruity ice cream covered in peanut shavings and rolled up in a little tortilla like thing. They offered to put parsley in it… but I opted for no parsley in my ice cream. Then we got a bit more adventurous. I ate a bag of fried squid tentacles (ok… I didn’t eat the whole bag… but I had quite a few), and a bite of a pig blood cake (pig blood and rice in a little square), and some hardened duck blood soup, and a large blob of seaweed jelly, and sucked a few snails out of their shells, had a delicious mango smoothie, then finished the night with a “vegetarian gelatin” drink. We couldn’t figure out what it was, despite quite a bit of effort.
There were carnival games at this night market, too, so even though I wasn’t in Kansas for the 4th, I still ended up at a carnival. It was a good chance event, because I hate not being in Kansas for the 4th.
Today is my first day of classes; I’m about to get some breakfast and then class is at 9. Glad to be getting started!
