I can see everything from here!

Ah. Tired, tired, tiredness. I've had a full day and now feel the results. First off was my Mandarin test which....ahaha....oh ahahaha was....interesting. There were two parts, a listening and reading part. The listening part was so-so because I recognized a lot of key words but the problem was I wasn't sure if they put a negative in front of the word, therefore enticing the opposite of the word. The tape was playing so fast, it was engaging the brain for sure. Oh, the test even had an authentic intimidation period before the actual test. :P The reading part was so frustrating. Here's why. Many exchange students didn't really know how to read characters so there was a lot of nervous laughing when we reached that section. I was thrilled because I could read several characters like "I," "he/she," "number of"and more. The part that was frustrating was that when I recognized something like "cup" in the question, all three answers had a picture of a cup. All...three... It did not help me at all. *sigh* Oh well. At least I know I can read a bit even if my test score doesn't reflect it. XD We should get our assigned group tomorrow so perhaps they might even have my score. We shall see!

After the test, my host father and I rushed to my counselor for a lunch meeting at a very nice Western-type buffet. I would've taken many pictures but photography was not allowed. Sad face. The food varied from steak to chicken fillet to sushi to salad to ice cream to whatever else they had. It was way too much variety to taste and see it all. In hopes of finding water to drink I ended up getting something waaaaaaay off from water. All the drinks were in machines with mostly Chinese and no English. Whatever the heck I got from the machine I do not regret it at all. IT WAS DELICIOUS! A curious mix between fruit juice, milk and smoothie taste, this drink was sweet and savory. Enough about food though, wait wait, I have to say something real quick. THEY HAD CHECKERED COOKIES! OMG! Ok, now I'm done. ^_^ The lunch meeting had two surprise guests I didn't know of, who were my counselor's son and his girlfriend. Both lovely, lovely people, they work in the music industry. Super nice, super pleasant as they continue the reputation of Taiwanese being some of the friendliest people ever. Our conversation for the most part revolved around music. They were such fascinating people, difficult to describe because of their wide range of talents and interests. Just know they were awesome and I hope to meet them again, perhaps in their studio to see their work. ^_^

Following Andrea being stuffed from the buffet, I met up with several other exchange students along with some "locals" if you will, at Taipei 101. As I've said before, I've been inside Taipei 101 but yet had I to travel up observation deck. I can now say I've stood in the second tallest building in the world at the 89th level. We couldn't go all the way up to stand outside because it was closed off due to the unsafe typhoon winds. 

But before going to the top, let us view the bottom, shall we? To the left is a tiny bit of Taipei 101's shopping area. It's mainly all fancy-shmancy stores that are pretty expensive. It's the bottom floor that is better to shop because that's where the food court is. Yummy food! (This is where I got my healthy pregnant food at XD) The food is soooo much cheaper than the higher level shopping. The expensive stores would be modern art, crystal sculptures, millionaire clothing and such. Not very affordable...at all.

 Here we have two teens trying to push over Taipei 101. Oh noes! Unfortunately my picture is blurry because I burst out laughing from pushing against air. It's a very weird feeling and hard to keep a straight face with. So instead it looks like I'm high-fiving the building and giving it a handshake all at once. XD

Let us take the elevator up to the 89th floor now. Watch your step coming inside. There we go. The doors have shut...we're now going up. This is the world's fastest elevator going 1010 meters a minute, taking only 30 seconds to reach the top. Be sure to swallow now and then to avoid your ears popping. It does have aerodynamic pressure controlled features but still, swallowing would be a good idea. *bing* Ah! We have arrived at the observation deck! And look! Our timing is perfect because the sun is just setting! QUICK! Grab your camera!

 

 

 

Did you see that beauty? IT'S GORGEOUS! The transition from day to sunset to night was a wonder to behold. The sky was just breath-taking as it was accompanied by the city's dancing, vivid lights. That little red and white thing we Texan exchange students are posing next to is called a "damper baby." A damper is designed to reduce movement from wind by 40% to ensure stability and comfort while maintaining flexibility for earthquake zone buildings. The enormous one in Taipei 101 is the "largest passive tuned mass damper in the world" weighing 660 metric tons. DANG!

There it is. The damper of oh-my-gosh-this-thing-is-huge-ness. Thanks to it I didn't die, so thanks damper! ^_^ Want more fun facts? Ok! The damper is 5.5 m in diameter and is suspended from the 92nd floor to 87th floor. Meaning it is gigantic!

Did you enjoy your visit to Taipei 101? I hope so because I'm closing this post now as I dive into bed. Thanks for reading my stuff! Byebye! ^_^