getting lost

the weather was very nice today for the first time in about a week. instead of eating the cafeteria food, my classmates and i bought some lunch boxes and sat at the field behind the main library to enjoy the weather.

following that, i went home for a little rest and then took a nice walk this afternoon. when i say walk, maybe trek might be more accurate, at least by my standards. i made my way to daan park for the first time today. it's a very nice place, reminding me of hermann park back home, in that it's this big quiet place in the middle of the busy city. some people were playing croquet, others were just out for a stroll. it would have been a nice day to fly a kite. there's a little pond and an amphitheatre with a view of taipei 101 from the top of a small hill. the walk from the south end to the north end was probably around twenty minutes.

after leaving the park, i headed west down xinyi rd. towards yongkang st., where both din tai fung and the lamian place are at. i got there a little early, around 4:30, so i bummed around the small park there and took some time to write a postcard. i had my dinner at the lamian place. the food is delicious and i thought i would treat myself after being sick all week.

after that, i started walking back through daan park towards school for my kung fu class this evening. i came out of daan park at a different spot and ended up going the wrong way. i walked all the way to national taiwan normal university, before realizing my mistake. fortunately, mrt guting station was close by and i was able to get to taida from there. in all, i think i walked close to 6km this afternoon. not too bad i guess.

our kung fu club is pretty small, with maybe 5-7 people showing up at any particular meeting. i did the best i could although i'm not completely over my cold yet. i learned another stance, two new sets, and another section for the liu he quan set. i wish i could remember all the names in chinese, but it's slow going. the sounds don't map to anything i can see in my head. i know 馬步 is the horse stance, simply because i know the word for horse. 弓步 is the bow stance, and then the other two i don't remember the names yet.

i've also found out that the club isn't free but has a very affordable fee. $300 for the club, plus $250 for pants, and $300 for shoes, for a grand total of $850NT (about $26USD). pretty good i think.

it's been a long day. time to get some rest.