CLICK HERE TO READ IN CHINESE
July 21, 2008 – I got up at 5 AM, after only 4 hours of sleep. Even though plenty of sleep is good for the body, there’s only so much to do in Taiwan (台灣) that I couldn’t afford to waste time sleeping. I started my day in a beautiful way by walking onto the balcony and gazing out at the city’s skyline, which included the Taipei 101 building (台北101). The gorgeous sight gave me some great motivation to get up and get going! I met Kang (陳康) and Gates (許庭榮) downstairs in the hotel lobby, and they surprised me with a breakfast of soy milk and a vegetable omelet. I had hoped to grab some breakfast on the way out, but the restaurant was closed so it was very nice of them to bring me some!

We drove down to the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall (國立國父紀念館), where we saw quite a lot of the local people doing their morning Tai Chi exercises, plus some native dancing. It was a very overwhelming sight, because it was only 6 AM! As for the hall, the Memorial Hall itself is one of the most important sights in Taiwan, because it is the principal educational, cultural and social center for the Taiwanese people, and stands as a memorial for Sun Yat-sen (孫中山), who is the national “father” of Taiwan. The Hall is a huge building, and very pretty too.

Next on the agenda was an interview with Xiao-Shu Wang (王曉書), a famous model in Taiwan. But that wasn’t the most amazing thing about her, however. The amazing thing is that she’s deaf, and yet is a popular model in Asia! Xiao has even traveled around the world to perform, as well. She’s been on the covers of many magazines, and also has been in many articles, ads, newspapers and so on as a model. Currently, she is working for Taiwan Deaf TV as an anchor. During the interview, we exchanged our experiences about what it was like being part of the media. She was very friendly, and fun to be with. Just imagine if we had a model like her back in the United States!

It was now midday in Taipei, and Will Chin (靳武龍), a local Deaf native, was my guide for this part of the day. I finally had the chance to go to Taipei 101 (台北101), the tallest skyscraper in the world. Taipei 101 has some amazing features to it, including the elevators. Two elevators are listed as the world’s fastest elevators, and there’s even a car park elevator. We got to the top of the building within 32 seconds, from the 5th floor to the 89th floor. The 91st floor’s outdoor observatory was closed, sadly enough, but we had a chance to go to the 91st floor itself with a special guest. Will was very thrilled to have this opportunity since he had never gotten the chance to go up to the 91st floor before.

Then we went over to the Ximen-ding (西門町) shopping center. Ximen (西門) means “west gate”, and ding (町) is the Mandarin pronunciation of the Japanese character for “district”. When I exited from the underground entrance to the MRT (台北捷運) (Taipei’s subway system), I felt like I was in Tokyo (東京)! It had great shopping, food, drinks and so on. I decided to find some toys for my kids, like plush doll figures of Mario, Luigi, and so on. Another surprise came for me when Will brought me some local sweet and sour fruit drinks. They were very delicious!

Our next destination was the offices of the 2009 Summer Deaflympics organization, over at Taipei Area. I was very impressed by the setup of their offices, which takes up two stories in the Arena complex (台北小巨蛋). Of course, just like us, they do have cubicles. While there, I had a chance to meet the hardworking senior officials of the organization: Dr. Emile Sheng (盛治仁博士), the chairperson; Kuo-Jui Lin (林國瑞), CEO; and Chih-Ho Chen (陳志和), President. They’ve been really busy preparing for the special invitation games which will take place during the week of September 5-10, so they can have their staff and volunteers get some experience with running a major event before next year’s Deaflympics (September 5-15, 2009). Looking over the whole organization, I can assure you that they are definitely ready for next year. It’s the experience of a lifetime, so don’t miss out on the chance!

Now it was 7 PM in Taipei, but my day wasn’t over yet. I met again with Yu-Ping Chao (趙玉平), the Secretary General of the Chinese Taipei Sports Association of the Deaf (中華民國聽障者體育運動協會), and his people at an old Chinese restaurant. I was floored by dinner, because we had 12 courses delivered to us as a way of saying “good luck” to us in Chinese. They served us two different kinds of rice wine, from Taiwan and China. We had a lot of joy and fun, and shared many laughs for several hours. As for our meal, we completely finished off all 12 courses, and even had a plate of Taiwanese guava. When dinner ended, the association people invited me to come visit their offices, since it was only a few blocks away. I couldn’t resist an opportunity to see where they worked, so we went. Boy, what a treasure find! I saw all their medals, trophies, and awards from all over the world. It was a fantastic sight! They certainly accomplished what they wanted to do with their sports program. The association’s even surprised the Taiwanese government at times with their success. I’m very proud of these great people!

It’s almost midnight here, and it’s time for me to go to bed. I have to get up at 5 AM again to go to the domestic airport here, for a flight to Hualien (花蓮). I wonder what I’ll find there tomorrow!