In Which I Climb a Mountain and Visit a Night Market

Today was packed! I woke up at 5:45 and my host family drove me to St. Dominic’s for morning Mass. Today was the feast of Mary’s birthday, so Mass was incredibly well attended. I saw some of the same people I saw last week and the priest remembered me! I have written out the Mass parts for the Liturgy of the Word in pinyin so I was able to participate in at least the first half of Mass. I’m working on the Liturgy of the Eucharist currently.

After Mass, I went to the MRT station to meet Brandon and Kate for breakfast. We ate at a 7-11. I ate a pastry and an apple. I also had a glass of chocolate milk. Then, we met up with the rest of the NSLI-Y group to go climb a mountain. We took a taxi to the mountain where we met our tour guides. The hike up was hard, especially considering it was 90 degrees and 70% humidity. However, we had a beautiful view of Kaohsiung at the top! In addition, we also saw some monkeys!

Kaohsiung

The Mountain

Monkey!

The climb down was pretty crazy.We had to hold on to ropes to keep from slipping because the rocks were steep and wet. We all made it down successfully though. A few of us are planning to go back some time soon to climb even higher than we did today.

Tree on the Way Down

I went home, took a shower and then went to lunch with my host parents. We at a restaurant near our house. Then, I changed into nice clothes and went to Wenzao with my host parents for our opening ceremony. The ceremony went incredibly well! It was attending by host families, professors from Wenzao and quite a few government officials. We all had to give speeches in Chinese. Thankfully, I was able to get through mine without messing up too badly. I am sure that in nine months, I’ll be laughing about how much effort it took me to give that short speech.

After the opening ceremony, my host mom and I went home where I took a nap. We then picked Jim up from school.

Jim's School

We ate dinner at a restaurant nearby.

My Dinner

Then, we went to the dentist office so Jim could get his braces checked.

Next, we went to the Reifeng night market to meet up with a few of my American friends. The night market was pretty neat! It was packed with different booths selling clothing and food. I had a great time looking around.

Reifeng Night Market

All in all, today was exhausting but amazing!