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This weekend was filled with adventures!

THURSDAY: The day started off with a bang! We got to sleep in! We then spent the next 500 hours working on homework for this course. After many hours, the 12 of us could no longer stand to work on it anymore, so we headed out on the town. We did the usual, stop at about three different places along the way to get different parts of our meals, then walked around and did a little shopping. Everything was pretty calm until sundown hit. We headed off to the Night Market via a taxi ride of death (I seriously hate riding in those taxi's). Night Market's are quite the scene. I think I blogged about it earlier so I will try not to repeat myself. This glorified swap meet is full of food, shopping, and lots of people. They are very popular here in Taiwan so we will probably be hitting up a few more in the next few weeks.

FRIDAY: My roommates and I got up to go running and ended up joining a Tai Chi (spelling?) class in the middle of some random park. [Side note: it is near impossible to run around here. There are no side walks or trails so you are basically running on the roads right next to all the scooters, or "motorcycles" as they call them here. Running against traffic is like playing chicken with all the scooters.] Anywho, our morning run ended in a nearby park (the only park around here), where a local dancing class was taking place. The group of women allowed us to join for free and welcomed us back for the rest of the month. Dancing to all that Chinese music was quite the workout and was so much fun! Once again, they were all videoing us and taking pictures. They treat us like celebrities. In the afternoon we took a train to go see a guy who makes swords and uses human bones to fuel the fire (I think I mentioned this in my last blog post, so see below). In the evening during our search for dinner, we stumbled upon a meat market. After seeing some pretty grotesque things, my adventure was not over yet. I proceeded to see a poor chicken go from living to un-stuffed in a matter of minutes. It was the most barbaric, horrible, depressing, making-you-want-to-go vegetarian thing I have EVER seen! I will refrain from posting the video of it. As he was hacking at the lifeless creature, I was fortunate enough to receive part of the chicken on me (insert sarcasm in case you couldn't tell).... featured below is chicken blood that was flung onto my arm. My large appetite was completely lost and I ate a plain "dong bing" (it is basically a flaky tortilla) for dinner. I haven't eaten chicken since.

Someone caught my speechless face right after the tragedy happened.

This poor chicken was, two minutes prior, was clucking at me. Little did I know it was begging me to set him free.

Later that night we got to experience the Taiwan movie theater. Our group wanted to see the Avengers. I had no clue what it was, but I went along with it. The movie theater was pretty normal except that it looked like Space Mountain from Disneyland on the inside and all the movies were in English with Chinese subtitles. The popcorn even tasted normal! Once again we had a exhilarating taxi ride home.

Inside the movie theater

We love the adorable Asian kids! They start them driving young.

SATURDAY: Today we headed out to Anping, a train and bus ride away. Anping is famous for the dutch fort located there. [Mini history lesson: The Taiwanese aborigines were originally located in Anping, prior to the Dutch invasion. The Dutch then arrived and wanted to take over Taiwan because of its prime trading routes. So they came in and killed all the deer so they could utilize the trade routes, and the aborigines had to move on to other things. The Dutch built their fort as a place of safety. The Chinese then came in and wanted to take over Taiwan and eventually succeeded when they ran out the Dutch. Taiwan remained under Chinese rule until the Japanese invaded. After Japan lost in WWII, China reclaimed Taiwan, making Taiwan the Republic of China. However, it is interesting because the Taiwanese do not like to be called a part of China.] After visiting the Dutch fort, we walked along the nearby river, famous for dragon races, which is a big rowing race. Some more shopping ensued and then we headed back. Saturday night my roommate and I went for another run and then we all played games and ate ice cream in our dorms.

Across the street from the fort

The picture on the wall features the Dutch fort in its entirety

Background not foreground (I'm looking pretty nasty these days. Gotta love humidity!)

Cool comparison of the armor and weapons between the Dutch and the Chinese

This guy was on our shopping street. Mom, they have them here too! Haha!

SUNDAY: Today was pretty mellow as well. We found our local church and attended Sacrament meeting there. We were fortunate to have headsets and an interpreter there, although her English was not that good so only about half of the meeting was translated for us. It was such an unique experience. I love being able to see members of our church gather together even when we are on the other side of the world. One of the first people we met was Lebron James himself! Well at least that is what he referred to himself as. He is such a cute old man and is having us all over for dinner in a couple weeks. After church I got a wonderful Sunday nap, followed by more homework with the group. Our meals today were heavenly. They consisted of Pizza Hut and Subway. We decided we needed an American food day and let me tell you, it was amazing. The pizza never tasted better, which is saying a lot coming from me. 

Lebron James, Nikki, and I

Nicole and I outside the church

This weekend was relaxing and very enjoyable. It is so much fun to experience life in Tainan. Now that we have been here for a week, I really feel like I know my way around, including where to eat and where to run. I'm practically a native. Clinicals start early again tomorrow and I will continue to work out in the community for this week. I can't wait!

 Just for kicks:

This mom is feeding here baby. This is an action shot, not a stationary bike.