Thursday

I found the library on campus. They have a lot of books and manuscripts in Asian languages, but they also have and absurd amount of English literature. They not only subscribe to the "Mark Twain Journal", but also to the "Mark Twain Circular". Maybe they just like Mark Twain. The library doesn't have as many computers as the University of Idaho, but U of I must just be that badass. There is one thing this library has that U of I doesn't, and that is an elaborate security system. They have huge metal doors poised to fall down (between support pillars) to surround the books. I don't know if it is to protect against fire or theft, but either way, they are ready.

Ai Jin, Luke, and I went out to dinner with Iris and her friend Shirley. Ai Jin and I had met Iris the other night after eating dinner, when they were playing that teletubbies games. Dinner was good, and I was able to follow most of the conversation. Both Iris and Shirley are English students (basically all of the Taiwanese people we've met have been English majors), but Ai Jin doesn't beat around the bush at all. He calls everyone out, and tells (or asks, depending on who they are), not to speak English. (He even told me that we shouldn't eat with anyone who speaks English, and I could care less what they do, but in the interest of going with the flow, I agreed with him.) All of the Taiwanese people are really good about it and speak Chinese, though some of our classmates still speak English. I found out that most people studying English get to choose their own English name. Some people choose really wierd names that aren't English at all, like Yapple, or Abboz, or something crazy. I also learned that the name Jasper is really common here. I've even seen a couple bikes with Jasper written on them in big letters, and I almost bought one, but when I went to the store, they didn't have any left.
I had heard that Chinese people love to eat, but this was really brought home to me when I learned that Irises favorite thing to do is to try to find new restaurants with her friends. It's definitely a big city pastime, but it sounds like fun.

After dinner Iris and Shirley left, and Luke went running. Ai Jin and I stumbled upon another welcome party, similar to the one with the teletubbies game. All I noticed at first was a huddled circle of people all staring at something in the center, and every so often they would all scream of cheer. I thought they were playing dice, or had staged and organized wasp vs. spider showdown, but it was just a massive game of paper-rock-scissors. I think money was somehow involved, but I'm not sure. We watched for a bit, but it got awkward and we left.