Just keep swimming.

The Taiwanese swimming pool rules are a little extreme. My host brothers both take swimming lessons and I got to accompany them to the pool, along with Lucy one day.

Host Mother: Did you bring swim clothes?

Me: Yes!

Host Mother: Okay, bring them. What about a swim cap? Goggles?

Me: Hahahaa, is that a joke, of course not.

Host Mother: I have some you borrow.

We arrive at the pool, all is good to go. I go into the men’s locker room and discover that everyone must shower before going into the pool. Sure, no problem. I put in my swim gear and head out to the pool.

Host Mother: Where is your swim clothes?

Me: I’m wearing them.

Host Mother: (Really confused) Huh? Okay, I will ask.

She walks over to the pool lifeguard/lord/rules man to ask if it is okay that I wear my ‘swim clothes’ to the pool. All is approved and I get to swim.

Taiwan Swimming Pool Rules:

1. Only Speedos or tight spandex allowed in the pool. NO SWIM TRUNKS! Exception: Carlos the foreigner who looks clueless about everything.

2. All persons must wear protective swim caps.

3. If you are not swimming laps you must get out of the pool or pretend you are swimming laps.

4. Goggles are strongly recommended, so much so that they are mandatory.

5. After you finish swimming you must jump in the zero-degrees-Celsius water followed by the 32-degree-Celsius water. It’s good for the body (Um, NO).

6. No jumping in the pool, no splashing, no laughing, no fun, no talking to others – YOU ARE THERE TO SWIM.

Taiwanese Mind Readers!

Having contact with my host family has turned out to be quite entertaining! My little Taiwanese brother has been the family representative and has emailed me quite a few times. So far I know that my mom's name is Tina (English names that is), little brother named Johnny (Age 8), emailing master little brother Alex (Age 12) and my farther (intentionally - Yes, he called him my farther) who doesn't have an English name (I will be sure to give him one, I'm thinking Dumbledore).

Alex's English is rather impressive for a young kid of only 12 years, but sometimes weird things happen thanks to the wonderful process of translating. Prime example:

Alex is casually asking me about what I would like to do in Taiwan and where I would like to go, when all of the sudden I read the following sentence - "By the way, my mother wants me to ask you, are you good at performing arts and magic? (WHAT!) May we see your show when we're on the bus."

MAGIC? PERFORMING ARTS? This family must be a family of mind readers because I happen to be great at magic and performing arts. My juggling show will surely impress them, guess I should start practicing. If only I could get my wand to work!

Say what? SayTAIWAN!

Did you miss me?

Well, the adventures of Carlos in China continues... Although this time there is democracy involved! I have been selected to participate in the program called SayTAIWAN, which is a celebration of the 100 years of Taiwan. Check-out the link to the program here! SayTAIWAN. (My name is there! I'm like famous or something!)

Finally have my plane ticket, host family, and city location figured out. All I have to do is prepare for the HOT & HUMID weather of August in Taiwan. I will be hosted for two weeks in Kaohsiung (Actually pronounced Gao1 Xiong2 高雄), Taiwan. Kaohsiung happens to be Tulsa's sister city - that's right, Tulsa has sister cities! This will be my second Asian sister city to visit and I am so excited. Today, I met with Sharon Hwang from the Tulsa Global Alliance and she told me all about Taiwan and gave me lots of travel information and tips - THANKS Sharon. I'm getting more and more excited as I type, I MIGHT EVEN HAVE TO START USING ALL CAPS TO DEMONSTRATE MY EXCITEMENT!!!

After talking to Sharon I realized I know ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ABOUT TAIWAN! Here is a list of the things I knew about Taiwan:
1. It is an island.
2. Capitol in Taipei
3. Tulsa has a sister city there. That's all.

I am kind of freaking out though because Taiwan is awesome, but they use traditional characters! WHY? WHY! For those of you who don't study Mandarin Chinese, it's kind of like have learned the alphabet (You know, ABC's and such) and then all of the sudden going to a country that only uses hieroglyphics! HIEROGLYPHICS! Can you image that!

Anyway, I am really excited about this opportunity and can't wait to share all my experiences via this wonderful blog. I hope you will read and ride along with me on this roller coaster of excitement, food, people and TAIWAN!

Things I am most excited about:
1. THE FOOD - I hear their fruit is as fresh as it comes! The have awesome sea food (it's an island for goodness shake!)! And the Taiwanese food, oh the food!
2. I might meet the president! Yes, the president of Taiwan!
3. Lucy and Carlos reunion. My friend Lucy from the Gansu Fellowship Program will also be in Taiwan when I am there! Wow!