31

Today marks my first monthsary with Taiwan :-)
I have been in this beautiful country for 31 days already and I have experienced a lot of things and learned so many things as well. This journey is definitely one of my most memorable and significant parts of life.

Two more months! 60 days of more learning, fun and adventure.
I'm not yet in a hurry to go back to the Phiippines. :-)

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chill

Weird and erratic weather continues to hound Taipei. Last Friday, the weather was sunny at around 27C in the morning. It was such a pleasant day after days of non-stop rains. But by afternoon, it started raining again and the temperature dropped to around 14C. My friend Alvin was wearing shorts and thin clothing that day since it was warm during the morning, but unfortunatey for him, it was too cold by nighttime.

Then just this weekend. We visited the Yangmingshan National Park. It's on a high altitude (maybe like Tagaytay or Baguio), but it's just 30mins away from the city proper. It was so cold that day. I was just wearing regular jacket. Aside from the low temperature which was around 7-9C, strong cool winds add chill to the already super cold day. It was the coldest day of my life. But I still enjoyed the trip since flowers were in bloom this season including the Cherry Blossoms.

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pope's toilet

After class today, our Korean friend told us there will be a free movie tonight at the Arts and Culture center in the university. Maan and I decided to stay and watch the movie. It was "El Banyo del Papa" or "The Pope's Toilet". We were excited to see the Spanish movie, since it was also presented to the Oscars way back. We sat comfortably in the only sofa in the room near the screen. The lights were turned off... But what we forgot was: we were in Taiwan! Alas when the movie started, we were surprised to see the subtitles were in Chinese!! We couldn't go out since the exit was blocked. So we just stayed there the whole movie listening to Spanish language and reading Chinese subtitles. Well, we still kinda understood the movie based on body movements of the characters. But it was frustrating when the audience laughed, and we didn't. It was a funny experience. We were used to English subtitles in the Philippines kasi... hehehe. We vowed not to watch a non-English film in Taiwan!
hehehe

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ni hao

I have been here in Taiwan for barely a week, and yet I feel I have been here for months now. I guess a lot of new things happened this week that made me feel this way. Taiwan is a different country compared to the Philippines. For one, the weather. It's much cooler in Taiwan. And they have weird weather. Yesterday it was sunny and now it was raining the whole day. We visited the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall despite the rain. People here are very disciplined and courteous. Buses will stop only in bus stops. Bus drivers will always say thank you. And I am not worried of snatchers anymore, unlike Manila where I always check my bag.

Everything this week was really new to me. And everyting was just wonderful. Experiences like these are things I'm sure I will never forget. Taiwan is awesome.

Xie Xie for now.

we watched the Taipei Symphony Orchestra inside campus for free
(not allowed picture-taking while they are performing)


at the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall

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first day of class

Today is my 18th first day of class (after 17 years from kinder to college). It was such a hectic day-- we got semi-lost in Taipei. But what I can say is that Filipinos are really helpful. We met fellow Pinoy Pan and Rina and they helped us a lot. Pan toured as inside our dorm-- the International House, while Rina toured as at our new school-- National Chengchi University. Today it was Maan, Alvin and my first time to be in the city all by ourselves. We took the wrong bus, which led us to take the MRT.. basta we were kinda lost until we saw Yuki, a Japanese dude who also live in our dorm. We tried Taiwan's Starbucks, Mcdonalds and also the usual 711 and Watsons. It was also cold today since it was raining-- we had to buy umbrellas. Overall, it was a great experience and a chance for us to tour the city. By the way, I saw the Taipei 101 tower for the first time, albeit from afar. :-)

at the entrance of the school

with alvin and maan during the Welcome Party

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