1st day of Activities

From left to Right we have our amazing professor Dr. Haung, Anna, Kaylee, Me, and Mikayla. We are missing one more person, but she will be joining us a little later. Ready to explore, even though we all only got about 3 hours of sleep. We also got our local numbers today, so I got a Sim card that gives me unlimited data , and allows me to text and communicate with everyone on the trip with our Taiwanese numbers. 

We started off our day traveling to this academic building as this is where the Zebra fish we will be using in our research our housed. Inside of this building where many Taiwanese Students go to class, contains the lab where we set up our first chemical treatment on the Zebra Fish embryos.

Here is a picture of some Zebra Fish Embryos under a dissecting microscope. As you can see there are clear outer casing around either a brown or yellow colored embryo. The brown ones are dead. We extracted a total of 80 or so of the alive embryos to use in the experiment, using different chemicals, and incubating as we wait for the results.

We got these cards called "Easy cards" which we use in order to get on the buses and the subway. Whats really interesting here is that you actually scan your card when getting on and when getting off. I am not sure why we have to do that, but back home you on scan when you get on. Also, you must be quick so you can make it, because everyone is in a hurry and moves really fast. If you don't you will most likely miss the bus/subway.

I am not sure the Actual name for this toilet, but I have been calling it the Squatty Potty. Essentially, you squat down, butt back facing the door, and handle your business. When you are done, you wipe, flush, wash hands, and call it a day. I did go ahead and gave it a shot. It wasn't as bad as it looked, and actually if you need to go number 2, its the best way. Just beware of the knees. 

Just a view of the streets of Taiwan

The beef, and pork wasn't displayed in this picture, but this was by far the best meal I have had so far in Taiwan. It is a hot pot. So you pick your broth which boils right there in front of you. Then you have the option to pick beef, pork, both, and sea food which you cook for yourself in the broth. From left to right we had a spicy Korean broth, a vegetable broth, and a Mongolian broth. We also had a lot of sauces and spices to pick from, so I grabbed chopped garlic, chilies, and green onion. The big bowl that looks like a salad actually had a variety of different vegetables in there. leaks, cabbage, mushrooms, tomatoes, corn, and more. We also had the option to chose rice or noodles, so I chose the Japanese style noodles. It all had an amazing taste, and we all shared our broths and were able to sit and enjoy our meal.We arrived at this restaurant at about 11:45, and didn't leave until some time after 2pm. It is currently 4 minutes away from 9pm here and I am still full. I can definitely say the portion sizes here are a lot bigger then they are in the US. I mean is a massive amount of food. Oh, We also got to meet Dr. Huang's brother, his wife, and their beautiful baby girl. They ate with us, and it was nothing short of amazing.

Even though I am sure my stomach was ready to blow from all the food, I had to eat the dessert. I asked for the strawberry roll ice cream, thinking I was about to get some rolled ice cream, and then we were given these Popsicle that say roll on it. I wasn't upset though. They were realllly good, id say it tasted like a better version on Neapolitan ice cream.