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Sorry it's been so long since the last post. Time keeps getting away from me.

It's been three long but good weeks. A few weekends ago we found a little bar called Bushiban which means "cram school" in Chinese. Children in Taiwan usually go to school from 8am-4pm and then go to cram schools to learn English, math, or you name it, until 10pm at night. No wonder people think children in the US are coddled.

We picked Bushiban since we read about cheap beer prices online. We were disappointed with the place when we arrived. It was bare bones and a complete dive with 90's rock playing. After a few beers Hector took over the music with his iPod and saved the night. By the end of the evening everyone was dancing and the owner was asking Hector to DJ on a regular basis.

I had my Chinese midterm exams. Studying was time consuming and painful... A week of doing nothing but going to the library and when I wasn't studying I was tormented by feeling I wasn't studying enough. I did well and will be keeping my scholarship.

Celebrating the end of midterms

The Mexicans and my Honduran friend Beto (right)

Sergio, Alice and I decided to go to Sun Moon Lake and Taichung on Saturday following midterms. Sun Moon Lake is the largest body of fresh water in Taiwan; that's not saying a lot since the island (Taiwan) is relatively small, but the lake is beautiful, particularly the aqua water, and is surrounded by mountains. We walked a few miles along the lake and visited a temple in the mountains.

Taichung is the third largest city in Taiwan; at first it seemed industrial and I was disappointed when our bus pulled in. We met up with an Indonesian student who went to the language school last year at NCCU. She showed us around, took us to a night market, the museum, the university she's attending now, and the Taichung Jazz Festival. When it was time to leave I wasn't ready to go...

Taichung Night Market

National Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung

Quaint side street, Taichung

Grassy building, Taichung

Taichung Jazz Festival

As our bus was pulling out of Taichung there was a major celebration going on with floats, fireworks, lights, costumes, music....

Sergio on our frilly bus... very Taiwanese

I spent most of last week trying to get caught up from being out of commission with midterm studying and traveling. We've also been spending a fair amount of time apartment hunting since Bo and I have to be out of the dorms by the end of November. We're hoping to find a place within walking distance to school.

On Friday, a group of us went to Taiwan Beer Garden, the factory/brewery where Taiwan Beer is made. Again, we picked the place based on cheap beer prices. It was neat -- a humongous beer production site in the middle of the city. The "garden" was a warehouse with picnic tables; there weren't many other waiguorens (foreigners). We had beer with fried tofu and sweet potatoes.

The beer garden closed early since it's mostly a restaurant. We followed the Lonely Planet guide book and headed to "Indian Beer House;" the book let us down a little. Turns out the place, which is listed under the Bars and Clubs section in the guidebook is really called "Jurassic Restaurant." It was the most bizarre place: three stories of empty tables set for nonexistent diners, Native American art and dinosaur skeletons everywhere... It was a unique experience and we had fun imagining who created the place and what the person was thinking.