Birthday!!! and Lugang

Today was my birthday. It was a lot of fun. I got to open the package from home this morning. Thank you for all of the letters and the presents. At school, every single one of my classes sang happy birthday to me. My home room class got me a cake and some presents. It was a lot of fun. My Chinese teacher got me some note cards with Chinese sayings on them, they also have the English translation on them.
Lugang is a town near mine. We went last Sunday to visit a temple there that is dedicated to the goddess Mazu. It was very interesting. All around the temple were vendors selling many different things. Some had food, but there were also clothing and toy vendors. It was very fun. Thank you for all of your love and support.

Zai Jian!

Jiji and keyboards

Last Sunday, I went with 4 of my friends to Jiji. It was a lot of fun. We took the train from Yuanlin to Jiji, and then we rented bicycles. We got 2 tandem bikes, and 1 regular one. I got to ride on the back of one of the tandem ones. We rode to two temples, one outdoor museum/exhibit, and all around town. The temples are beautiful, the colors are so vivid the architecture is amazing. The collapsed temple collapsed 11 years ago during a large earthquake. It was still beautiful and interesting, even though it was damaged. The museum/exhibit was of old military vehicles. They were interesting, but not nearly as fun as the rope swing there. For lunch, we went to a local restaurant and had dumplings. It is banana season in Jiji, so everyone was either buying, selling, or growing bananas. I had a lot of fun, and my friends got me a souvenir puzzle as an early birthday present. I got the package that my mom sent, opened it, and put it away. I plan on saving my present for my actual birthday. All I know, is that it includes bubble wrap :D. Thanks!

Zai Jian.

Rotary Weekend

This last weekend has been all about Rotary. Saturday, I wen to the District President's home and made dumplings with some of the other exchange students. It was a lot of fun, we didn't spend a lot of time making dumplings, mainly we just chatted. It was great, we had so much to talk about. It helped that their were only 10 of us, 6 from the U.S., one from Canada, one from Mexico, and two from Thailand, so we were able to talk as one big group.
Sunday was Taiwan's National Day, and the exchange students in some of the districts got to be in a parade. (It was the anniversary of the day when the dynasties were overthrown in China, and a new government was formed. This is not the day Taiwan became its own country, that is Jan. 1.) I left Yuanlin at 7:30 and arrived in Taichung at 8:15. All the exchange students in my district met in Taichung, then we took the bus to Taipei. It was about a 4 hour drive, maybe a bit shorter. When we arrived in Taipei, we got of the bus and waited until the parade started. There, we met with the exchange students that are living in Taipei. It was great to see all the people I meet at the airport, and to trade stories. Taylor (from my U.S. district) was there, so we got to catch up too. When the parade finally started, everyone was already tired from the bus ride, so the 5 kilometers (about 3 miles) was a little annoying. We had a good time, and ended up in a lot of newspapers and on t.v. I took some pictures, but I haven't had time to put them on facebook yet, they will be there soon, along with the pictures of a keyboard.
Thank you everyone for your love and support. It means a lot to me that you want to know what I am doing. I'm sorry you haven't gotten any letters recently, I have been so busy. I will try to send them every 10 days or so, every week if I can. I sent one yesterday, so give it a week and it will be there. I love you all!

Zai Jian

Sitou

Sitou is the name of the mountain I visited with my host family last Sunday. It was beautiful, but very rainy. We went on a short hike and looked at the oolong tea plants that covered pieces of the mountains. Unfortunately, that was the same time the rain decided to show up. We had to leave early, because it was just horrendous. Because I have so many pictures, I am putting the rest of them in a folder on my facebook. Otherwise, it would just take up too much space. If I am not friends with you on facebook, tell me in a comment and I'll friend you. You could try to find me, but there are over 5,000 'Jenn Lewis's on facebook.
I have been having a lot of fun. Everything is going well, and I feel comfortable when I go around town or to the park alone. Everyone is nice, and I have many new friends. I love all of you, thanks for keeping up on how I am doing.

Zai Jian