Second Day in Taiwan

Friday June 12th
Since it is only my second day in Taiwan, my body is still not used to the time difference. I got up at one in the morning thinking it was time to get up. Luckily I was able to fall back asleep, but at 4:00, I was wide awake. It might have been early, but since it gets bright so early in Taiwan, I felt like I had accidentally slept in. After a chicken sandwich and some extremely sweet milk it was off to St. Peters High School. When Mrs. Williams and the past chaperones said they treat you like celebrities, they were not kidding. As soon as we walked into the courtyard students were screaming and trying to take pictures with us. It was hard to get up on stage and perform after watching multiple performances done by the Hsinchu students. I almost got kicked in the head, but the break dancing was my favorite to watch. I thought learning the Hoedown Throwdown was hard, but then I tried making Chinese knots. After a couple minutes it seemed like everyone had figured it out, but me. I couldn’t remember if string one goes over three or through the loop made my four and two. It might have been difficult, but it was something I never would have tried if I wasn't in Taiwan.
I didn't know what to expect when they said we were going to a science park. I assumed it would be a calm indoor activity which involved learning about science. I was completely wrong. Instead, we got there and were told we would be playing paintball. The red mark and bruise on my wrist is proof that I am not very talented when it comes to playing the game. I don't think I hit one person with my fifty bullets, but it was still fun to dress up in camouflage and shoot the guns. As we were all rushing to cool air and wiping the sweat off our bodies we realized that bike riding was next on the agenda. That was quite the adventure. Maya, Tiffany, and I all got into a three person bicycle and began our ride on the 17 kilometers of beautiful Hsinchu coast line. It took about five minutes for us to get lost. There was no one in site, and we came extremely close to getting run over by a car. It got to a point where our calves were in so much pain that we decided to just give up. That's when we saw Mrs. Ross and some of the other Taiwanese students. They kindly offered us ice cream cones and then we headed towards the beach. While standing on the beach I experienced what I know will be one of the best moments of my trip. First of all, I was standing on a beautiful beach. Then on top of that there was a breeze that I had been looking for all day. I could hear the sound of the waves crashing, smell the ocean's aroma, and taste the sweet ice cream I held in my hands. I didn't want to leave the beach, but it was time for us to get back and be picked by our families.
The day ended with a couple of the Plano students and a couple of the host students going out to dinner and a movie. I ate my first rice burger today, and I hope that it was not my last! After an amazing meal we took the bus to the movie theater/department store. It was hard to not go to sleep in the dark theater, but I managed to stay awake for the entire movie. I am going to need a lot more energy if I want to keep up with all of the activities we do each day.

Favorite food/drink of the day: rice burgers
Interesting thing learned about Taiwan: there are no speed limits!