Leaving Taiwan Tomorrow

Saturday, June 16, 2007 (Continued)

Had a nice evening at the apartment with Karel, the manager, and Paula, his girl friend. They came over to get a room ready for new guests who were arriving, and we visited while waiting. Karel told about how he grew up in Czechoslovakia in communist days. His father booked a ticket to Cuba on a flight that had to stop in Canada to refuel and asked immigration for asylum while they were deplaned for the refueling. Two years later, he sponsored his wife and Karel and brought them to Canada, too. Eventually, Karel, a psychology major, ended up in Taiwan because of a project as a part of graduate work--helping create a Chinese dictionary for English speakers/readers that would function logically. At the present time, he is teaching English at a school and managing the Mandarin Hostel. But he and Paula are working on ideas to try to help students in Canada, and eventually internationally, too, be more motivated and get better educations. One idea is a reality TV show that would be a competition for scholarships. Another is a program that would promote involvement in motivational activities related to the subject areas such as math and science that many students try to avoid.

The new apartment mates arrived around 10:00 after having flown all the way from New York. They are educators, too, and are here on a two-month project.

Sunday, June 17, 2007--Taipei

Well, my last day here has arrived. It was cloudy with thunder in the morning, so I stayed inside until after 15:00. Finally, I took the metro to see a few sights I still had missed. I went first to Longshon Temple. It's probably the most important temple in all of Taiwan. Many people were there, and they were singing songs. It was interesting to watch and listen. From there, I walked by the Chaing Kai-shek Memorial Hall, the National Theater, and the National Concert Hall. Finally, I walked through Peace Park before catching the metro back to the neighborhood.

I picked up food at a local stall and brought it home to eat. I had rice with a sauce that had small chunks of pork in it and three side dishes--scrambled egg with tomatoes, stewed cabbage, and stir-fried green peppers and onions. It was very tasty.

I'm packed and ready to go tomorrow morning. I will take a quick shower and be out of here within 20-25 minutes of the alarm going off around 3:45. It's going to be a long, hard day. And when I arrive in Bali in the evening, I'll have to find a hotel there. Yuck!