Friday February 1st, 2013
Day two of Eastern Rotary Culture Tour Trip! It began with
an unpleasant misunderstanding. My roommates and I were told the night before
to be packed, dressed and in the lobby by a certain time. We did just that but
not a single Rotary person nor exchange student was there, only one employee
who hadn’t even turned on the rooms lights yet. Something was definitely wrong.
In a way it felt like last night and the “ghost hunt” thing because no one else
was there but if no Rotarians were there, something was 100% wrong. It turned
out that time was the wake up time
told to us and not the call time. Crap. So we patiently waited for the proper
time to roll around, which meant breakfast buffet time.
Again as tasty as last night’s dinner. A peculiar dish as
titled “recycled tea leaves bun.” It is so hard to explain the shape and taste
but whatever it was, I went for seconds. XD Also the same as last night’s
dinner was Asian themed food. So no pancakes, sausages, etc. like an American
breakfast but various Asian breakfast stuffs. Still good though. :)
Rotary advised us to eat up at breakfast because we would
need the strength today. Why? Well because our next stop was to go rafting. The
sound of this excited me because I was looking forward to real rafting and not
a water fight on boats slowly inching forward like last time. Upon arrival I
sure got a smack in the face. Expecting a rapid new river, we went to the exact
same facility as my last rafting experience (a.k.a. not even close to real
rapids). Well shucks that’s irony for ya! XD
Since we were in winter, each exchange student was given a
wetsuit. Mmm, sexy…not. XD Here’s my peeps, Group 1, all in our top-designer
outfits fit for kings and queens. Oh my gosh why do I look so freakishly short
next to our French friend, Gregoire? Apparently I didn’t drink enough milk as a
child for the calcium to make bones grow. :P Other than the wetsuits,
everything else was pretty much the same as last time in the preparation
department.
The actual rafting was refreshingly different from my
previous visit. For one, my boat members worked as a team in paddling so there
was substantial forward movement despite most of the river being fairly
standstill. Our drive was to be in front which was first place in our eyes and
fitting since we were the revered group 1! Not really but it was still fun
trying to row our way to an imaginary victory. :P
A bit of water fights broke out now and then but not nearly
as much as the water war I’m a veteran of. The large scoop in each boat I
recall from the water war had the original purpose of shoveling out water that
snuck in the boat but was used improperly as a water missile launcher. That
scooper was not among our provided equipment this time around, which was
probably a good thing. XD Though getting invading water out of the boat was a
bit problematic. :P Another difference between rafting experiences was that we
didn’t take a half-way break to eat lunch. We lunch the whole way through
without stopping. In my opinion that was better because after getting soaked
from the cold waters fired from enemy boats and stepping on land where an even
colder wind blows while you sit inactive, you slowly form into an ice cube.
Therefore propelling all the way through was more comfortable to me.
On this river (Xiuguluan River) the waters are very calm
expect for a few short spots that rock your boat a bit but nothing difficult to
handle if everyone works together as a team. Though it’s not rare for a boat to
flip nor is it hard to remedy, one boat flipped and trapped an exchange student
underneath for a bit. She did get out safe and sound but the incident
frightened her tears refusing to continue rafting. My boat pulled her out of
the water and flagged down the safe, calm motorboat holding our tour guides
taking pictures along the way so she could board. Other than that, the trip was
quite fun.
Group 1 is proud to say our boat didn’t flip even a single
time. Some of its members were still drenched with water. That would be because
they abandoned ship just for the short pleasure of being in the water. They wanted to fall off but since the boat
failed to buck them off, neeeeeeeeeeer. That would be the sound effect of them
willingly and on purpose sliding into the cold waters. After a minute or two of
floating (thanks to the lifejacket) alongside the boat, they eventually climbed
back in and joined the team rowing. One German boy named Antony tumbled into
the water over five times, all most likely not accidental. XD Silly but all in
good humor.
Speaking of humor, a guy from Florida named Grant was in my
group. (Grant will be the fifth person from the left in the above wetsuit
picture and Antony being the fourth from the left in case you wanted a picture
reference) Grant is very much an outgoing comedian clown of the exchange
students. This personality was greatly shown as he became our tour guide
throughout the river. So many things came out of that witty mouth of his such
as, “If you look to your right you will see the esteemed cliff used by the
aboriginals. All the males had to dive from this high cliff into the shallow
waters of this very river. If you survived, you became a man. If you
didn’t…well…” XD He had that kind of amusing imagination but also sharp eyes as
he spotted actual monkeys in the mountain’s trees. A tad difficult to see but
nonetheless caused a riot of “MONKEYS! I SEE MONKEYS!” that rippled down the
line of rafts causing the other exchange students to have matching reactions.
XD
The employees who piloted motorboats down the river with us
were as playful as ever. Their job was to guide us as smoothly down the river
as possible, alerting us of any trouble spots and sometimes pulling chains of
linked rafts together through certain areas. But when free, they did a favorite
impish deed of theirs just like last time. Accelerate their boats toward an
unsuspecting raft and then sharply turn causing a large spray of water to
attack the rafters. They did this quite frequently. We managed to get our
revenge on one motorboat, splashing water at him when he came within range. He
didn’t pick a fight though. Nope, he was too busy smoking a cigarette to do so.
I can just imagine what those employees say to people who ask them what they
did today. “Oh I just terrorized some foreigners all morning with water.” XD
Overall, I enjoyed this rafting a bunch more than the last.
Knowing all your fellow rafters helps to make even more pleasurable. And even
though it was winter, I didn’t feel nearly as cold as last time. Thanks sexy
*cough* wetsuit!
Once on shore again, it was off to the facility’s showers.
Nothing exciting there right? Think again. Bloody-murder was being screamed in
the girl’s showers that spread down the stalls like the plague. That so-called
plague would be a toad. Really? A toad caused all that fuss? Now I understand
not wanting it to touch you but one girl who I believe was in the stall in to
mine shrieked so loudly it made my ears ring painfully. Owie. No I didn’t see
the toad but I could hear where it moved based on the exclamations. XD
Lunch was a biandang (Chinese lunchbox) inside the tour bus
on our way to Chao Feng Ranch & Resort. During the drive, Ice Age 4 played
on the TV screens. With not having yet seen it, I was keen on watching the
movie instead of sleeping. It was an ok movie but what caused a few protests
was with three minutes left of the movie, it was turned off as we were pulling
into our destination. A “nooooooo” moment echoed through the bus. XD (We were
able to see the last several minutes the next day thankfully just to ease our
minds)
This place was more countryside styled with buildings that
looked like wee little barns. Cute. ^_^ Checking in and placing our things
inside our rooms, we encouraged to go and visit the hot spring located not too
far from our barns. Most everyone went except but Shania didn’t. It turns out
that bathing in hot springs are against the Native American culture and takes
numerous ceremonies to remedy. Don’t ask me how or why, that’s just what she
told me and I respect that.
Among who did go, here’s our experience. Beforehand we were
told that there were dressed and undressed hot springs, so naturally I think
there’ll be four springs each assigned to different genders and clothing
requirement plus I’ve known traditional hot springs to separate the sexes. So
Mariko, Mika and I go together to the building, showed the employees are
wristband pass for the hot springs, strip to our bathing suits in the locker
room and head outside. As we emerged I felt like someone smacked me in the
face. The first thing I saw were dudes. Clothed dudes mind you but dudes
nonetheless. My mind red flagged the possibility of going into the wrong room
and retreated back into the locker room. It turned out that my original
thoughts concerning room separation were wrong. The hot springs did have
swimsuit and non-swimsuit options for hot springs. What the difference was that
the swimsuit required one was for everyone and the bare-skin was only for women
who wanted to go in. I did go in the right area after all, despite there being
guys. XD
The hot springs were not at all how I pictured them. I
thought we would experience a traditional hot spring in all of its natural
glory. I haven’t had the pleasure of such a thing yet and therefore was excited
for it. But no, it was rather four small separated man-made pools that were
just hot tubs engineered to look like natural rocks. *sigh* No traditional
natural hot spring for me yet. Don’t get me wrong, the ones today were nice but
just not meeting my high expectations. It did have a bonus of a sauna though,
which was good.
Heading back to our barn suit, all three of us crashed on
the bed for a rest, joining Shania who was already in la-la-land. We awoke when
the time came to meet up with the rest of Rotary to take a bus to dinner.
Here we are waiting and strangely enough were among the
first ones to arrive. That makes the third time this trip! From left to right
we have: Mika, yours truly, Mariko and a tour guide.
Once all piled on the buses, the exchange students were
astonished at the amount of time it took to get to dinner. That is, no time at
all. We contemplated why we took buses to a place that only took a five-minute
walk. And they say America is lazy! XD
The meal comprised of Asian styled food in the rotating
table form. A part of the night had performers on stage, a singer and some
aboriginal dancers.
I’ll let you guess which one of the two this guy is. XD He
first came on stage just in black clothing but later appeared with the tassel
and pom-pom purse strapped across his chest. As to why, it baffles me up to
this day.
Now I don’t know if these our genuine aboriginals, the same
goes for the dancing, but nonetheless was enjoyable to view. It brought fond
memories from the previous day up and a hankering for learning some moves.
Something came up that did upset the mood. About a week ago
I had requested to Rotary (both Texas and Taiwan) if I could return to American
either on May 26th or 27th because of the desire to
attend my sister’s college graduation. Texas Rotary was fine with it,
encouraged it even but I found out tonight a problem Taiwan Rotary had with it.
A lady told me Rotary was “discussing my case” as to whether or not my exchange
would be considered an early leave. She said if I left too early, Taiwan Rotary
would label my exchange as incomplete and therefore not give me a certificate
proving my exchange, giving college credit, etc. According to her another boy
who was leaving earlier than me in order to attend his desired college is going
through this as well. It was…a sudden and harsh impact of information to take
in. That’s all I’ll say.
For the finale of the night, Rotary had an evening party in
a small clubhouse-like room. Evening party should be properly called ‘Each
Rotary group entertaining everyone with games.’ We were told to prepare games
or activities and between the six groups, some good ones were thought of.
First up were these guys who explained a Mad-Lib kind of
game. You ask the person next to you any question and they answer accordingly.
This action is passed around the circle and everyone needs to remember what
question they asked and what their answer was to whatever question was asked to
them. Afterwards everyone scrambles around, mixing up the circle so you’re
standing next to new people. The chain begins with asking your original
question but the person next to you has to use their answer from last time.
Things can get quite interesting like that! I quite liked my chunk of the
circle. Here’s how it went:
Person to the left of me:
How would you kill someone?
Me:
The Lord of the Rings.
Me:
What is your greatest fear?
Person to the right of me:
French fries.
FANTASTIC ACCIDENTAL HUMOR! XD
My group taught everyone the telephone game. Remember that?
How much it was played in elementary school and how hilarious it was? That’s
the feeling of what we were hoping to capture. With the ingredients of fifty
exchange students, many who are not native English speakers and have accents
combined with people not wanting to pass on what they heard because it didn’t
make sense, it somewhat subdued the game’s comedy. But heck we all had fun
anyway.
Other games were musical chairs, charades and impressions. The
impressions were basically imitating other exchange students and seeing if you
could figure out who it was. Do you recall our tall French friend Gregoire? He
did a fine job on his assigned person-to-impersonate. First he began gracefully
air combing his short hair, then worked his way down to his shoulders…then
back...then lower. Figured out who it is yet? :P While taking a video from the
beginning, the camera started shaking in my hands from laughing at the
realization. XD My laughter was so coarse and deep as result of the
ever-present cold I so conveniently caught before the trip, if you remember.
That’s right I was still a sicky. Fun.
I did get assigned one impression to do and I was not very
enthusiastic about it. XD My person was Braden, the Pennsylvanian guy who
rotated host families with me. He’s a very, very
outgoing soul that gets too crazy. I was told to imitate him by dancing around
sexy and if I had an undershirt (which I didn’t) to teasingly lift up my shirt
while dancing. Umm…there were Rotarians watching. You know, the people who hold
my exchange in their hands? Yet I had to go out a dance, shaking buttocks and
all. My shirt stayed as a shirt should and lifted up only a bit while miming
the rest through. It was really hard to get people to guess correctly because
everything I was doing also matched another boy named Grant. Yeah, the same
Grant from Florida mentioned earlier. Grant and Braden are like long lost twins
in my eyes so everything I did was understandably accused of being Grant. It
just made it hard for me to provoke the correct answer out.
Once all the groups had gone, cranked up music played and
the lights turned off save for a flashlight that produced moving disco light
shapes. I think the second song was the Macarena. By the end of it only Maxime
(Belgium dude) and I remained dancing in the building. Everyone just up and
left, which I find totally strange. Regardless of being the only two partyers,
we danced away as several Rotary members who coordinated the party stayed. In
my opinion they went through the trouble of organizing a dance party just for
the exchange students and the least we can do is make use of it. That and I
just wanted to dance. ;) Kicking off my chunky flip-flops, I proceeded to
prance and shake around the room while Maxime joined the free-style festivity.
We danced our hearts out. I gained great satisfaction and a
good work out all in one energetic bundle! We pulled two lady tour guides in
their late 20’s onto the dance floor and got them dancing as well. A blast was
had between us all. Amazing how the act of dancing can create bonds without
words.
Eventually the lights did come back on and the music ceased.
Grabbing my flip-flops I looked at the bottom of my feet. Oh…my…goodness. What
once was a flesh colored foot was now caked in black grim. Oh good sweet
Lordie, ew! So nasty! Other than the golf-cart ride to our barn suites, I
walked home barefoot. XD Opening the door to our barn, I crawled on my hands
and knees, feet sticking up in the air, and inched my way straight to the
shower where the black returned to being it’s proper pink color. It just goes
to show how hard I partied…or how dirty the floor was. XD
With an iPod free night, I slept soundly and peacefully. I
hope y’all do the same. Peace out!
Afterward I located a famous bubble tea stand known to be overly delicious. You could tell it was a good place just from how ridiculously long the line was. White chalk on the ground outlined where the line was supposed to serpentine around. This reason why such a crowd gathers to wait in line is in the ingredients used. The place uses condensed milk and black sugar for the tapioca pearls. It’s the black sugar aspect that made this drink so memorably wonderful. Really, twas scrumptious! You should definitely try it out if you ever visit Taiwan because you won’t find it anything similar anywhere else!
