Once again I have not done such a good job about updating! Haha. I will just start with Saturday, Sept 3.  Cyndi decided to have a BBQ at the apartment. She and Jo went to Carrefour and bought tons of supplies. Cyndi’s brother manned the grill, of course, while we girls did the chopping and preparing. They taught me how to play mahjong! It’s fun. It is a lot like gin rummy. I won a couple times…beginner’s luck I guess. I have had several friends here tell me they want to teach me how to play mahjong and want to play with me so I am glad that I finally learned! The food was delicious. We were pretty much eating over the course of about 4 hours.
On Tuesday, we went to salsa night at Brass Monkey but not before making curry at the apartment. It was delicious. I was a little skeptical when we got to Brass Monkey but after we hung out and played pool for about an hour, the salsa music finally started up and a few people started dancing. Then later it became quite crowded. There were a lot of talented, advanced guys there as well, which is exciting. I am happy that I have found a place to dance salsa and that there are lots of good leads! It is apparently a “foreigner bar” but there seemed to be a pretty good mix of people. I taught Cyndi and Jo how to dance salsa, meringue, and bachata and danced with a couple of guys, including the DJ, who is a really fun lead! Cyndi and Jo were impressed with my skills (they actually told me this I’m not just bragging hehe). It was a fun night and I look forward to going back many times.
On Wednesday, my friend Catherine came up to Taipei from Pingtung (south Taiwan) to see her brother’s badminton game. I really enjoyed spending time with Catherine. She is so easy to talk to, not just because she is good at English. We went to lunch at Din Tai Fung with Catherine’s friend. This restaurant was rated by the NY Times as one of the top 10 best restaurants in the world! It was really great. The food was delicious (好吃) and the service was very attentive. It was a nice experience! The restaurant is located in Sogo department store so we walked around the store for a while. Department stores here (at least the ones I have been in so far) are basically all similar to the Macy’s in NYC. Huge. We went to Starbucks for a bit and then made our way to the gym where Catherine’s brother’s game would be held. His game was not until 8:30 so we watched the other games while we waited. Catherine’s brother is an internationally ranked badminton player (100 something) and is on Taiwan’s national team and graduated from NTSU. His game was against the number 50 something player who is from Malaysia. It was a really good and seemingly well matched game, but unfortunately Catherine’s brother lost. Catherine’s friends, her brother, and I all went to dinner after the game, which was really enjoyable. I tried fried oysters, little friend crabs, and some other things I didn’t think I would be able to try. We also had KFC. Catherine’s brother’s friend works there and gave him food for free. KFC really tastes better here, by the way. So does Burger King. Anyway, I got a kick out of the fact that we could bring outside food into the restaurant. I explained that in America we would probably get asked to leave. Not only did this restaurant allow us to eat our KFC, but they also gave us a plate for the chicken, and then the chef came out and asked if he could cut it for us. Taiwan…so friendly!
On Thursday, Cyndi and I went shopping. I forget the name of the area. It has lots of clothing and accessory stalls. Tons of them actually. We walked around and browsed the stores and I bought a necklace. Oh yeah, I also got threading done again that day and busted out laughing in the woman’s face. Very embarrassing.
On Friday, I went to Studio Classroom’s weekly English Bible study with Cindy. It started with singing some contemporary worship songs and prayer and then split up into small groups. I met several new people, including some other foreigners, and I saw some of the people I met when Cindy and her dad gave me a tour of Studio Classroom. I met a lady named Charlotte who has been working at Studio Classroom for something like 8 years and is now fluent in Chinese. She gave me some advice on learning Chinese and gave me her e-mail address so I could ask her questions. On Sunday, Cyndi, her boyfriend Damien, his friend Fernando, and I went to Formosa Fun Coast, a smallish water park in Bali (Taiwan, not Indonesia).  It definitely suits its name. We had a fun day. I realized about halfway through the day that we had a very diverse group…1 Taiwanese, 1 French, 1 Ecuadorian, and 1 American. It’s neat to incorporate 4 different cultures into conversations. After the water park, we were supposed to go to Daniel Pearl Day of Music, but we were tired and it was getting late so we came back to the apartment and played mahjong. On Tuesday, Yi came to visit! He is one of my closest friends so I was so happy that I finally got to see him (he has been busy with military service in south Taiwan). He brought me a box of moon cakes from Starbucks packed in a cool box. Such a sweetheart! I really enjoyed his company. I always enjoy talking to Yi and it was nice to be able to spend time with him in person after 2 years of Skype and MSN. Last night I had a nice Skype chat with one of my best friends at home, LaDarius. It really helps to have Skype. Miss him a lot, along with all of my friends and family at home, so shouts to all of you at home who are reading this! Love and miss all of you!