Upcoming Rap Concert

Hey everyone,

Well, I hope you guys had a good Christmas. Christmas here is a little different. Some people and stores put up Christmas decorations, and also some people exchange gifts. Other than that I would say its just another day here. I mean the people here will say merry Christmas, but the stores, schools, and everywhere else is still open.

Anyways, I wanna tell you about a rap show I'll be going to in Taipei on Dec. 31st. Now, you guys know about 2 months ago I saw Lil Jon which was awesome. Well this time I'll be going to see Three 6 Mafia! Lil Jon and Three 6 Mafia are my two favorite, and who would have ever thought I would see them here in Taiwan!? I had no idea Three 6 Mafia was coming here until yesterday morning when my friend sent me a text telling me that. As soon as I read it I was looking for hotels in Taipei. Unfortunately, most of the hotels are booked/overpriced because in Taipei they always have a huge fireworks show for the New Year at Taipei 101 (tallest building). I wouldn't mind going to see that too, but I want to see Three 6 Mafia instead. What I plan on doing is going to Taipei Wednesday afternoon hang out for a little bit then go to the club where they will be at. Then when the show is over just take a bus back home. It will be pretty late, but I don't mind.

If liked Three 6 Mafia since middle school, so they have been around for awhile. All of my friends and I like them too. Another cool this is that they are also from Tennessee. I just think it will be fun to go to. I'll take lots of pictures and show you guys. Here is the website for you guys to look at. I hope everything is going good and I will talk to you later.

http://www.luxy-taipei.com/

Merry Christmas

Hey guys,

I hope you have a good Christmas. It's Christmas here, but it really doesn't feel like it. For one thing its about 80 degrees here right now.

Ok, I will talk to you guys later on.

The Giant Buddha

Hey guys,

I just wanted to talk about my experience with the Buddha statue. I just want to say that it really was huge. It was sitting down, and I heard there will be 2 new Buddhas built that are even larger than this one in different countries. This one was at the top of a mountain, and you can get here several ways. One way is to hike from the bottom of the mountain up to statue. It looks like a really nice hike because you would get to see beautiful mountains and the trail is paved too. I would say it would take a good 2 - 3 hours to do. Another way to get up is driving which is normal, but the other way to get up there was with a sky tram. I actually forgot what it is called, but you guys know what I am talking about. It was really nice becuase I got see pretty views.

Also over there you can do a little gift shopping and stuff of course. There is a monastery next to the Buddha which everyone visits. This is why the Buddha was created in the first place, because the monks wanted to have one. I went to the monastery and had a vegan lunch. It was a little less filling than what I am use to, but still it was good.

Overall, my time up there at the mountain was nice. I was glad I got to go there because I have seen pictures of it, and I've heard it was a nice place to visit.

Ok well, I hope you guys are doing good. Christmas is coming up soon, but over here it doesn't feel like it. I will talk to you guys later on.

Hong Kong

Hey everyone,

I'm back from Hong Kong. I had a great time there, and I really liked Hong Kong. I thought there was a lot to do there. Well, maybe because it was my first time there. Some things I did was go see the Giant Buddha, go the "The Peak" which is on top of a mountain on the island Hong Kong, and I also saw "The Symphony of Lights". The Symphony of Lights was pretty cool because you would go to the other island, Kowloon, and watch all the buildings on the Hong Kong island light up and play along with some music. I kept thinking how did they do that because there were maybe 20 buildings all in sync with music playing.

I thought the people there were pretty nice and all that kind of stuff. Hong Kong is a cool place because in one area you can do all the shopping you want, in another area you can go to the beach/hiking/camping, in another area you can see traditional Hong Kong stuff, and in another area you can see all the business people walking around. I think it was cool seeing all the businessmen walking around the huge buildings, and I just kept thinking what was there job and that kind of stuff.

I would say I could have spent a week there checking out other stuff. I was only there for 3 days, so I just got to see a little bit. Anyways, I can tell you more about it later on but here are some pictures.

My Favorite Restaurant in THE WORLD!

Hey guys,

I think I have been holding out on you because I haven't told you guys about my favorite place to eat in the world!

Let me try and explain it. It is a buffet BBQ restaurant. You can stay as long as you want, and they are open until 2 A.M. There are a lot of different style BBQs with these restaurants. For example, one is they put a grill on your table and you cook on that. Another is you put the food on a pan which is heated by stones. You can have your choice. Also, I forgot to mention the price is really really cheap. Well, I think it is cheap for what it is. It costs about $12.00. I mean its a buffet, and these types of restaurants in the US don't cost $12.00. They should be a lot more expensive.

The food you can eat here is for everyone. If you love seafood, you can get unlimited seafood. Are you a vegetarian? Don't worry, you can have grilled veggies. One of the things I like is the beef at the restaurants, so let me use beef as an example. I actually don't really care too much for beef, but the restaurants have different types of beef. I really only like the really thin flavored one. What I mean is if you want beef you would have to tell the waiter what type.

If you are in the mood for some strange food for Americans like intenstines and stuff they have that too. Also, you can with the buffet it inluces unlimited food and also unlimited rice, drinks, ice cream, and everything else. What I'm saying is that it is just a really good place to eat for your money.

Here are some websites to look at.

http://yayan.com.tw/yayan/menu1.html

http://buffet-monkey.com/main.htm

Oh and by the way, I will be going to Hong Kong for a few days, so I will post again when I get back. See you guys later!

English Singing Contest

Hey guys,

Tomorrow I'll go to another English singing contest, but this one is suppose to be really popular. My friends told me the entire school goes to it.

I also will be going to Hong Kong next week. I am excited because I think it should probably be fun there. I don't know exactly what I will do yet, but I'll do tourist stuff. I won't stay long, so I have to make the most of my time. I'll take a lot of pictures to show you guys. When I know what I will do I will be sure to tell you guys. I think there might be a lot to do there for people going there for the first time.

What else has been going on...well, nothing else really. Ok, I will talk to you guys later on.

Country Cooking

PLAN B



Hello,

The other day I went out with my friends to one of their homes. She lives in Taichung County, and it is pretty nice out there. There's a lot of rice farmers out there.

Let me tell you what we did. We used her family's field and dug a big hole in the ground. We then had to dig up some dirt to make a wall going up. After that we would start a fire, and let it sit until the dirt we used for the wall was really hot. Then, we put the food in the hole. The food was sweet potatoes, chicken, corn, and another potato. We of course wrapped the food up so it wouldn't get dirty. Then, we smashed the wall to collapse it onto the food, and we would let it cook for a few hours. That was what we did, and it was a lot of fun. I got to hang out with some of my friends and have a good time.

When the time was up to check the food we all went out to see it. There was one problem...the food wasn't even close to being cooked. By this time, from start to finish it was about 4 hours. We then went to plan B which was a BBQ. We dug up all the food and unwrapped it and started to BBQ it.

It was a lot of fun and we played games and that kind of stuff. Here are some pictures.

The next day was graduation pictures at the school where my friends are. I took a lot of pictures with them which was fun. They do graduation a little different here in Taiwan. One of the things they do different is with pictures. I don't know about other universities in the US, but over here they take pictures according to departments, so for example, the English department would all take pictures together. Also, they all dress up a certain way for fun. My friends dressed up like scholars.

One more thing to talk about. I joined this hip hop dance club at school. It is a lot of fun. Everyone in it has been dancing for awhile. For me, it was my first time to ever learn how to dance, so I am really really really bad. My friends are in it too, so they help me out.

Ok that's it for now. Talk to you guys later.

Singing Competition

Hey everyone,

Today was the final round of the singing competition. I thought everyone did a pretty good job, and it looks like everyone wanted to have a good time. Sorry I still don't have any pictures yet.

It is getting colder here little by little everyday, and it starts to get dark around 5 PM here. Also, mosquitoes are biting me like crazy! Tomorrow I should have more interesting news because I will go out to eat in the county. I will take some pictures too.

I noticed that the rice fields here were harvested. From what I have seen, the farmers plant the rice. When they plant it they drench the field in water. It seems like the water doesn't soak in for awhile. I have passed this one field every week and for 3 weeks now and there is still water there. Maybe the farmer soaks it every day or something. Then it just seems like the farmers don't do too much labor. I will see them walking up and down in their fields, but I really haven't seen too many tools. Later, around this time of the year they get the rice, and they also burn their fields when they get all their rice. I was wondering how much do the farmer get for their rice? I also don't know too much how to farm and the plant, but from what I have seen, it seems like a rice farmer might require a little less labor than other types of farmers.

Ok guys, I will post some pictures later on. See you.

Hey Guys

Hello,

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. I think I've been a little busy, and there hasn't been too much going on here. I'll give you a quick rundown of what I've been doing for these few days. I have been going to play basketball a little bit more. I will go alone and find people to play with. There are always people playing there, so it works out great. On the weekend, I rode my bike for about 3 hours total. I was pretty tired. I started off riding it on the busy streets, but then I was getting a little nervous after a car almost hit me. I started to ride on the roads next to the main street. Taichung (where I live) is set up pretty much like a grid, so it is pretty easy to get around. The only problem is that I can't read any signs. What else did I do...I went out with my friends which was fun.

On Thursday I am going to do something different. I don't know what it is called, but some of my friends invited me to go out for lunch, but the part that is different is how the food is cooked. They were trying to explain it to me but I haven't seen this style of cooking before. What I will do is dig a hole in the side of a hill and then start a fire in it. Then i will put the food in the hole once the fire dies down. Then I cover up the hole, but just the entrance of it. I don't know if it makes sense or not. They said it will take about 2-3 hours to cook depending on what the food is. Anyways, it sounds pretty good because they said we will have chicken and potatoes.

On another note. I sometimes play basketball here, and if you know me, I like to shoot 3 pointers. So when I'm playing here I usually always still do that...but it was just informed to me that the 3 pointers still only count as 1 point! The games people play here are 3 on 3 up to 6 points, and no matter where you shoot from it only counts as 1 point. I guess I wish I knew that earlier because I like to shoot 3 pointers. I thought it was funny though because I was playing a guy 1 on 1 and I thought I had won the game, but he said nope. I made 4 3 pointers in a row, then I said, is the game not over? He then said nope, and that's when he told me 3 pointers only count as 1 point.

Ok anyways, sorry if this stuff doesn't make sense. I will talk to you guys later on.