Saturday, September 27, 2008

Crazy Weather!

So many typhoons! This weekend there is supposed to be a very severe typhoon coming, tomorrow is supposed to be the worst. My cousin said that if the typhoon directly hits Taiwan, it might be the second worst typhoon Taiwan has seen in decades... I hope it is not... although parts of Taipei are already flooded. The weather here is crazy... although none of the locals seem to think anything of it. Also, yesterday while my cousin and I were eating dinner, he suddenly said, "Oh, I think there's an earthquake!" Although, I couldn't feel anything. Strange weather they have here...

Today my CIEE group is going to a Confucius temple to see a very special ceremony. My program director, Christie, said that it is supposed to be extremely special because President Ma will be attending... how cool! Maybe I can catch a glimpse of him... Also, Christie said that there are some interesting religious musical procedures that go on, so I hope to document some of it to let you guys see. Today is also the day of the 2008 Taipei Gay Parade, and I really wish I could have attended ,but there is just not enough time.

Several of our CIEE members and our Taiwanese roommates went out last week for KTVing... it really is so much fun! Now I can see why it is so popular here, people are not shy when it comes to singing, no matter what quality their voices are (although, I feel that Taiwanese overall are better singers than us Americans... perhaps because they have had much more practice??) So, my first KTV-fest ended up turning into a giant party because there were so many people. Finally, during a Taiwanese pop song called "Bad Boy," all of our CIEE ambassadors just went totally wild and blasted their hearts out. It was SOOO much fun, I wish that we had this same hobby back in the states. I'll post the video so you guys can see how excited everyone got!

Well, we are about to leave for the temple soon, so I'll have to stop here. Also, one last thing, we are signing up for school clubs and I am very excited that they have a guitar club and also a Gu-Tzin club (a traditional Chinese instrument), which, if I am able to attend, will do so. And so will become part of my musical journey here in Taiwan. Ok, I'm off to the temple, I'll update again soon! ^^

-Tina

PS. Also, my address here in Taiwan (in case anyone wants to send me mail... hint hint... lol! Just kidding ^^)

Tina Chen
CIEE Taipei
Room 340202, Ji Tao Lou
National Chengchi University No. 64, Section 2, Zhi Nan Rd.
Taipei, Taiwan 116


1 comment:

Unknown said...

whoa! i remember going to a ktv with other people of Taiwanese descent but not from Taiwan...it was awkward for me but fun for them haha. The artist who sang the bad boy song went to Cincinnati once and some people of DACA and CACA (haha, it's for Cinci people) went to hear it...that was about...wow...10 years ago. Stay safe from the typhoons, Tina!