We made it!  It was a little bit later than we had hoped, but after a nice flight, we landed in Taipei safe and sound!

Upon completing our trek through the immigration line, we met up with our tour guides from the Hutong – Jeffrey, Danielle, Ian (not to be confused with me!) and Miranda.  The Hutong crew did a great job of setting the tone for our trip ensuring that we are strengthening our community, stepping out of our comfort zones and, above all else, having fun!

Our first stop was to the Sun Yat Sen memorial.  Due to the late arrival of our flight, we didn’t get to see as much of the memorial as we would have hoped, but what we did see was incredible.  Students were eager to complete their scavenger hunt for trivia all while learning about the impact of this man.  While at the memorial, students were treated to a performance of the changing of the guard.  Everyone was impressed by the impeccable timing and intricate movements of the guards during this event.

After that, we split off into our smaller groups and debriefed about what we had already experienced and why we were exploring Taipei for the week.  The students gave some great, insightful responses which impressed our Hutong hosts.

From there, we travelled to a local restaurant to enjoy our first meal in Taiwan – beef and noodles (which had free refills!).  After a long day’s travel, we were all happy to sit down to a nice meal with our fellow travellers.

Now that it is evening, we are checked into our hotel and looking forward to getting our day started tomorrow.  Tomorrow will be the first of our split days:  half of the students will be enjoying a bike trip to Tamsui, while the other half will engage their creative side with some hands-on craft activities.

Stay tuned for more tomorrow!