My First Full Day in Taiwan

Things are much brighter today. But first I will back up and fill you in on last night. About 1 hour after I posted my last message I get a call from Mike. EVA Airlines told him that they did not know where our luggage was and that they never received it from Alaska Airlines so we would not be getting it the next day. Bummer! I went to sleep around 7 pm and woke up at 3 am. I wrote in my journal and went back to sleep until 8am. So I feel much better today - unlike yesterday when I felt like a zombie.

Good news came shortly after 8am when I learned that my luggage had arrive at the airport and would be delivered to the hotel by 1 pm. What a relief, as it would have been a very hard experience to find something to wear in the department store. All of the women here are at least a head shorter than me and most of them are very skinny.

The group met up at breakfast and then revised our presentation. We had to cut out Kim's personal part and do some rearranging to make things work with the rest of our presentation.

This afternoon Becca and I ventured out on a walk. The streets are crazy and there must be a million mopeds in Taichung alone. I have learned that the sidewalks are not for walking but are parking lots for mopeds. We did manage to get a picture of elevator girl. What an interesting job that would be. The streets are filled with big, bright signs. There are even some that have English. The people seem fascinated by English and try to use it. The people are very nice and are going above and beyond to try and talk to us. Everyone likes to tell us Hello and How are you? but most don't know what to say when we ask them how they are. Some of the parents would tell their children to tell us "Hi". It has been fun. The food has been great - but I must admit there were a few things at the buffet for breakfast that I decided to pass on. I wasn't ready for them yet, but am sure that they will resurface later.

Tonight we have our welcome party and give our first presentation. The GSE team coming to Alaska, district governor, and other important people will be here.