Day 6 (5/14) Taipei

2nd BUSINESS VISIT JOY ENTERPRISE: We first got an English lesson from a Chinese teacher; we had to pretend that we were 8 years old; it was so fun! We got to see first hand how they teach young Chinese children English. They also publish an entire series of textbooks and learning materials including CD-Roms, flash cards, monthly magazines, etc. One of the co-founders came in to meet us- she bowed at the door; her presence actually made my eyes start to water- she had such a warm, powerful, wise aura about her. We also got to talk with a guy who works as the playwright & publisher. He was born in Malaysia and shared his experiences with us. Interesting. Inspiring. Jenny was pregnant and due any day, yet she was still working, still taking classes- impressive. The Chinese are hard workers and very self-disciplined.
NATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITY: Case discussion with students at NTU. Meredith and I were in a group with two NTU students named Anson and Yule. Yule was very professional-even passed out his business card. They were both fun to talk to, as well as extremely smart. Too bad we had to talk about OLPC. We found out that they had volunteered to do the case discussion with us. We were thinking no way- they had to get some type of extra credit or incentive, right?! But they surely did not. They wanted to participate. It demonstrates (once again) how much lazier Americans are. The average college student takes 21 credit hours...Insane!!
CALLIGRAPHY LESSON: We first had a short introduction to it through PowerPoint adn they spoke English perfectly. We got to write a word/phrase down then have one of the professionals write the Chinese characters on pretty paper for us to keep. I got EARTH. Next we got to practice on grid paper, but it was difficult. This takes years and years of practicing to perfect.
TAIPEI 101: We all met up with one of the NTU students named Sophia to go for dinner and to Taipei 101 (tallest building in the world). We ate dinner at a Japanese restaurant/bar. I sat next to Sopia, so it gave me a chance to chat with her and ask questions. She was so kind to us, adn I was stunned at the fact that she was willing to share her free time with us. I found out some interesting facts like in China the year is actually 98 (2009 minus 1911=98), but they know 2009 as well and can go by both years. The food was really good and we watched the cook make the food on an open grill. All the meals were served with seaweed salad and I was satisfied! Taipei 101 has the world's fastest elevator. It took us from the fifth floor to the 89th floor in 36 seconds- high speed. My ears popped right off the bat. The elevator guide could speak 3 languages: Chinese, Japanese, English. Even Sophia was tri-lingual, speaking Chinese, English, and German. The views from the 91st floor of Taipei 101 were gorgeous...city lights for as far as you could see. There was a huge farris wheel in the distance that Sophia said was the most famous. It lit up with multi-colored lights and was beautiful at night. The Grand Damper is a massive ball at the top of the building that helps ease the swaying, and prevents the building from snapping off from wind. Fun night!!