When I was talking with a friend on Skype about my tai chi class in the afternoon, he said, “That doesn’t sound like a scholarship!”  It made me laugh.

In addition to my language classes, I’m also taking a Chinese painting class and a tai chi class.  Also this week: Tammy took me to play volleyball with her team from the Department of Nursing, several TUSA students went to a barbecue dinner, and everybody went to one of Tainan’s Night Markets.  And a group of us went out to play board games at Funny House. And we all went out for Eduardo’s birthday/the Fourth of July.  So it was a busy week.

Our Chinese painting teacher knows 13 languages, has been all over the world, and is hilarious.  He’ll paint a perfect landscape in five minutes and go, “Very easy, very easy.”  He has his Masters degree in German Literature and has been painting as a hobby for 30 years.  Here are some of the demonstrations he did for all of the TUSA students.

Since I opted to take Chinese painting over calligraphy, I get to watch him do a demonstration every week and try to replicate it.  Half of the TUSA students are in my class, along with some other students from France, Vietnam, Nigeria, England, Germany, and Denmark.  During the mixed class, he painted fruit.

Here’s how mine turned out:

I found tai chi a little slow, but I could definitely appreciate the art.  Our teacher, an older man with a big smile, demonstrated the difference between using force and chi by picking strong guys out of the audience, and pushing on their chest.  When he used force, the guy would stand still, unmoved.  But when he used chi, every guy would inevitably step backward.  With chi, his touch was much softer than when he used force.  He also demonstrated the difference by having students try to push his finger forward with their arm, but his finger always won the confrontation.  It was a little unbelievable, and I couldn’t help but see him with green pointy ears and a light saber.  Then he had us practice a routine and hold certain positions for a long period of time.  It was pretty exhausting.

One day after class, Tammy, invited me to play volleyball with her team from the Department of Nursing.  We played on hard courts, but the courts were outdoor— about five volleyball nets set up on a blacktop.  I have never seen this type of court in the United States— it’s usually either the gym floor (indoor) or a sand court (outdoor).  There were tons of people playing volleyball, and they were all really good too.  It’s so hard to find people in the United States who are good and like to play all the time.  Tammy said people play there every day from 4:30 to 7 p.m.  I bumped the ball around with some of her friends, and then played in two games.  A lot of people took me up on the opportunity to practice their English.

After volleyball we all went to a steamed egg place.  This was probably my favorite meal of the trip so far.  The egg was so light, fluffy, and buttery— though Tammy said they don’t cook the egg with butter.  Amazing.  The egg was on top a bed of rice with vegetables.  Tammy’s volleyball team had a lot of fun trying to translate the menu for me.

I really liked them, and I definitely want to go back (both to the volleyball courts and the steamed egg place).

Another highlight of the week was the Night Market.  As soon as we got there we saw a rainbow!  If you look closely, you can vaguely see a double rainbow.

They had all kinds of food I’ve never heard of, and I got to taste a lot of it.  I tried pig’s blood, and a specialty in Taiwan that has oysters, eggs, and vegetables, in a sweet sauce.  I split it with Tammy.  In an impossibly consistent trend, it was amazing, per usual.

I also got an egg roll with ice cream in it.  The guy making it said I was pretty, so I got a discount.

And I bought a shirt from Singapore that has a beaded elephant on it.  Everything there was so cheap, and they had things ranging from food, to clothes, to cell phone cases, to carnival games.

Another night, we all went out for a barbecue dinner.  A group of about 10 of us all picked out skewers of raw meat, vegetables, and seafood, and the chefs cooked them and brought them to our table.  We all tried everything.  I specifically remember having squid and asparagus wrapped in beef.  Though the skewers were small, we ordered a ton of them.  It was a filling meal.

A different night, after going out for a delicious dumpling dinner…

…a small group of us went to play board games.  There were only a few American ones I recognized, and the rest were games from foreign countries.  They were SO fun.  I’m definitely buying a couple next time I go.  I don’t know why we don’t have them in the United States.

On the Fourth of July, everyone went out to a nice bar with a strict dress code called Muse.  I almost wasn’t allowed in because of my golden sandals, but luckily, Leorah had an extra pair of close-toed shoes.  Thank you, Leorah!  It was an especially fun night if you were a girl, because it was ladies night and admission and drinks were free for us.  Yes, I danced with a few Taiwanese guys.  It was a great time.  Repping red, white, and blue!