So for the first two weeks of Orientation, we filled out a lot of paper work so that we are not sent back to America, and we were also shown the city. We were on a tour bus for a majority of the time and played numerous rounds of mafia.

We're taken on trips to many nice restaurants for lunch and dinner, the beach, and night markets.  Night markets are a lot of fun because they're basically a row of street stands, where you can buy food, clothing, and tiny gift items.  I might also buy a pair of new glasses from the night market and then go to an eye glass store and get the lens made.  I always wanted a pair of the plastic, Clark Kent-like glasses. 

We were also shown English Villages (英語村) that we would be running during our year in Kaohsiung. They're intended to allow kids to have a more real life situation for kids to practice speaking English. Some of those simulated environments are very real and a lot of fun.  Go to my album if you want to see pics.

Orientation also involves a lot of sitting around. But this is good because it gives us a lot of bonding time with the other people on the trip. Since the orientation days are sometimes long, I typically come home, wanting to close my door and speak to no one. So, I'm glad that I have other opportunities to chill with my fellow posse. To my Colby people, I even played Big Blue Moon with them, and they reacted in the same frustrated way. A highlight of orientation was when the principal of 三民國小 took us out to an amazing seafood restaurant to jump start our stay in Taiwan. We also met one of the many officials from the Bureau of Education there (We met A LOT of people from the Bureau of Education of Kaohsiung City). He had lunch with us, threw Katie, who is a Fulbrighter from Pennsylvania, a microphone, had us start singing, and left. I sang “My Girl” with Rebekah, who is one of my roommates and is from New Jersey; we were magical and are so ready for our auditions for America Idol.

All in all, I'm thankful for Fulbright because we have a lot of support and people who care about us. We love all the coordinators in charge of us – Alex, Chris, Amanda, and Phil; they do a lot for us and truly care for our wellbeing.