Springing into April

This first week of April has sprung us into the final stages of our GSE experience. As you can expect, it has been full of new experiences and great people. Here’s a recap!

DAY 15 - WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1

The first day of the month really set the tone for this leg of our journey: it was restful and fun! While Barry, Kyle, and Fabio were on a real estate tour, Nat and I were treated by an adorable Rotarian couple to a “top secret” excursion - a quick ride on the state-of-the-art High Speed Rail to Tainan, a city in southern Taiwan!

DAY 16 - THURSDAY, APRIL 2

We visited our second Taiwanese university, Providence University, which was founded by American nuns at the beginning of the 20th century to educate women and raise their social status. It has been a co-ed institution for less than 20 years.

After lunch at none other than TGI Fridays, the afternoon highlight was a visit to Novatec Wheels US, a company that produces and assembles bicycle parts. We even got to test a few of the electric bikes out, where Fabio was literally wheeling and dealing...

DAY 17 - FRIDAY, APRIL 3

We were all touched by our visit to the Changhua Tz-sh Children's Home, a home for people with special needs and orphans. We met some of the residents and played games with them!

DAY 18 - SATURDAY, APRIL 4

The weekend marked our first experience of “free time” since we arrived on this Asian island. We spent the morning and the early afternoon in the home of a Rotarian before transferring to a hotel in the Fengyuan District. That night was the first night we were truly on our own, and to us, it was a true gift. Natalie, Fabio, Kyle and I went out to central Taichung City and devoured our delicious Italian meal. (We've had a lot of great Chinese food, but by this point in time, we were in serious need of victuals from some other country, because... well, you know, we're Americans.)

DAY 19 - SUNDAY, APRIL 5

We celebrated Easter by enjoying a day to ourselves in the big city of Taichung - after sleeping in for the first time in weeks! Our team went out to lunch and enjoyed some delicious hamburgers, fries and Cokes, because... we're still Americans. Barry, Kyle, Natalie and I attended an Easter service at a small international church - Grace Church - in the afternoon.

DAY 20 - MONDAY, APRIL 6

Our last week in Taiwan began with an exciting adventure - biking along the Dongfeng Bikeway! We were all delighted to get out and enjoy the scenery of the Taiwan countryside, and we had a great time with a fun bunch of Rotarians from Fengyuan!

In the evening, we participated in the most eventful Rotary meeting to date, which ended with an hour of karaoke. While Barry does have the best singing voice of the group, Natalie and I may have stolen the show with our performance of Taylor Swift’s Blank Space. Just sayin’...

Our story isn't over, but we have only a little time left in Taiwan. Stay tuned to learn about the final days of our GSE experience visiting District 3460.