Students of the National Taiwan College of Performing Arts visited us and shared their rousing song and dance performances. The performances included more than just singing - the performers displayed their years of experience with backflips and twists. The singing that accompanied them, though, was outstanding. They sang traditional narratives from ancient Chinese literature that were translated for us on a projector.
I had the most fun attending a hot spring for the first time! Hot springs are heated outdoor pools and jacuzzis that are known to be traditional throughout East Asian culture. Ours was attached to the resort, so we were able to enjoy it as soon as our conference meetings were finished. The hottest spring was my favorite, but it got as hot as 45 degrees Celsius. Can you figure out how many degrees that is in Fahrenheit?
This week I read up on a lot of information about Chinese New Year to figure out why we were being given such a long break. According to my sources, the exact date of the Chinese New Year changes every year: this year it falls on February 5th. It is usually called 春節 ("chun-jie") which means Spring Festival. It follows a dating system called the lunar calendar, which tracks the moon instead of the sun.
This week I played my first video game in Chinese. I somehow found a video game store with owners that were eager to play on the Nintendo Switch with us. We played the new Super Smash Bros Ultimate, but it was completely in Chinese. It was interesting seeing the names of the characters on this version.
