Day 4

Today we went to Taipei City New Immigrant's Hall in the Wanhua District (No.171,Sec.2,Changsha St.,Wanhua Dist.,Taipei City‧02-23701046). The New Immigrant's Hall is a place for spouses and families from different countries to come and learn how to assimilate into Taiwan culture. It was interesting to learn that there is a high percentage of Taiwanese men who end up marrying women from Southeast Asia, particularly Vietnam. The New Immigrant's Hall would help these Vietnamese women adapt to Taiwan by teaching them the language and helping them acquire skills such as nail art and cooking. In addition, they offered classes for the men and their families that taught them their wives' culture and language in order to promote better communication between the newlyweds. 


Later on, we saw some historical artifacts from the Wanhua district. The most amazing thing that I saw was this ginormous bowl with a map of Wanhua district painted in it! This bowl was a large replica of a smaller, China bowl, that had the same amount of precision and detail as the larger bowl!

Before we returned to TMU, we stopped by Long San Temple, which is also located in Wanhua district- which is also famous for selling live snake meat!!! The temple was very beautiful and very large! We learned that the temple was half Buddhist and half Taoist, one of the only temples of this kind!!! While the other students were taking a tour of the temple, I wandered over to 85 degrees C, a Taiwanese bakery, and treated myself to a cool sea salt green tea! I had visited this temple before and decided to explore the area around the temple a little more this time!

Back at school, Adam and I decided to grab lunch at a place called Fool's Noodles (小南門福州傻瓜乾麵), located near our school. These noodles were cooked perfectly al dente and lightly seasoned with chili oil and soy sauce! So simple, yet so good! These cold noodles were perfect for a hot day! In addition, we got some pickles with pork and some Taiwanese A vegetables. These side dishes were perfect compliments to the noodles! In total, the meal cost no more than 100 NT total for 2 people!!!! That's less than 4 US dollars! Simply mind blowing.

After lunch, we were treated to a lecture by Dr. Chen on National Health Insurance. This lecture was very interesting because just a day earlier, we visited the Bureau of National Health Insurance. We learned a lot from Dr. Chen about the leading causes of death in Taiwan and how Taiwan differs from the U.S. Also, we learned about the different levels of healthcare providers, ranging from the hospitals to the health stations in the townships and the health rooms in the villages!! 

Later that night, we went to Taipei 101 and got to watch the sunset from the top! 

The view was spectacular and even more amazing than the one I saw the last time I visited Taiwan (~3 years ago). After enjoying the beautiful sunset, the group decided to wander around the 101 area, exploring the various night life. I saw a much younger crowd roaming around Taipei 101 during the night than during the day. The area was very lively, brightly lit by the large neon signs and street lights! In the end, we decided to explore this gigantic super building called Neo 19, which houses many establishments... quite notably, another Momo Paradise! Rather than treat our inner glutton, we decided to go to a lounge instead and be social! There, we played pool table and foosball, while enjoying the company of each other!