Sunday Fun-day

We went to Pier 2 today... If i had to describe it to you, it was like a combination of a farmers market, the state fair, and downtown festival!

We really had no idea what "Pier 2" was going to really be, it was just a tourist attraction that we thought would be fun to try out. Which was nice, because we went with no expectations in mind.

We took a taxi there to try a different way of transportation! Once we got close we found the Taiwan Railway museum which was fun to check out, really was not too much to check out at this time so we decided to keep walking to find the pier 2 activities. Many of the displays you needed to have a wristband to get into which you had to buy. We did not really know what we would be paying for so we just walked around first before deciding to buy a band. I'm glad we waited because we had plenty of fun just walking around.

There were tiny shops on tables lining the streets outside of all the buildings included in the' pier'. It was so cool to see some of the things that people were able to make, construct, or paint. Real talent at this place. We could get into a few building for free, looking at antiques and cute little indoor shops. At the actual pier itself, there are huge cost guard ships docked on the pier which were incredible to see. We had got to the end of the exhibits on the route we had taken, so we decided to go back, filtering through more street shops.

It was a very hot afternoon so we decided to grab some ice cream at a local place we spotted earlier. It was probably the best decision we made, because it was very good ice cream and very refreshing!

Next we decided it was not quite time to go back home so we walked back to the Taiwan Train station museum where their was a large dirt and grass park area where the abandoned train tracks actually laid. We thought we could go find a spot to hang out and relax before going back. I am so glad we decided to do this, because where we had just walked hours before and was empty, was now filled with hundreds of people, FLYING KITES and BLOWING BUBBLES! It was the coolest sight. There had to be at least 100 kites flying at different heights. Children with bubble wands, filling the park with bubbles just flying everywhere. We grabbed a place to sit and watch, there was always something to look at with so many people in one area. It felt like a great place to have a picnic! After hanging out for a few minutes, we spotted a fence boarding the park a ways away, that was lined with so many flights. We were not sure if people were buying the kites or renting them. Zoe and Ashley went to check it out, Ky and I held down our spot. Sure enough, they came back a few minutes later with a kite, which Ashley flew for a good amount of time while we were there! It was breathtaking to just lay in the grass and look up at all of the kites, some of them were huge, with very long tails, that were so far up in the sky they looked like they were barely moving. A truly magical view!

We finally left around 5pm and headed to the MRT to travel to a new night market, different from the one near our apartment to get some food. What a busy place, so so many people. It was like the Iowa State Fair but instead of food vendors across the streets from one another, these were like 3 feet across from one another. So many people, but so much great food! (yess great food, I am slowly begging to get used to the food, one day at a time!)

Another busy day, we are going to sleep so hard tonight!!

Here we come week 2... Many of us start teaching small amounts this week... wish us luck!!