He has a color and thus a family, but he likes to sunbathe next to one of my favorite dumpling stands. When he sees me, he wags his tail vigorously and rolls over so I rub his belly. Sometimes before giving him a small treat, I will tell him to sit in Chinese, "坐", and he sits. I did not have time to see him this week, but I did buy him a red bean dog plush. Red bean is like vanilla in America; it is extremely popular. I will give it to him the next time I visit him. I also saw many birds, and they look about the same as they do in America. Likewise, I saw several cows. In Kinmen, there is a large farming culture, and the locals like to have cows help plow their fields and produce milk. I also saw many chickens, since the locals like to have fresh eggs, too.
I am very glad that Sunday was sunny, because my friend and I got to hike Taiwu Mountain "太武山", which means "too military mountain". Most words, including location names, in Chinese describe the person, place, or thing themselves and are compund words. For this mountain, it has statues and historical locations that are preserved from previous battles with China. Another example is America, which is called "美國" or "beautiful country".
Taiwan has been experiencing many earthquakes within the last few weeks. Particuarly, a location called Hualien has been hit very hard. They have received many earthquakes over the last few weeks, and my community and I are continuing to check-in with people we know there. Earthquakes are common in Taiwan, because it is situated on the Eurasian Sea and Philippine tectonic plates.
