We began the day with another lecture. This time, it was dedicated to tools we could use to practice our Chinese. I already used or knew almost all of them, so it wasn’t that helpful. However, I do really appreciate 范老师 (fan4lao3shi1, laoshi=teacher) effort. Since we knew we would be back home late, we decided to hit the gym right after. When we left the gym, we went straight to the MRT station, which is Taiwan’s form of metro train system (BTW, subway in mandarin is 地铁/地鐵(di4tie3), but in Taiwan, they use the word 捷运/捷運). We were to take it to the Tamsui District or 淡水(dan4shui3), which means clear water.
The Tamsui district was named after the Tamsui River and is a popular tourist attraction because of the Fisherman’s Wharf. At the Wharf, or 码头(ma3tou2), the sunset is visible across the Taiwanese Strait. Our first stop there was the Cloud Gate Theater, home to the Cloud Gate Dance Group. Cloud Gate combines modern classical dance with traditional eastern martial arts and Tai Chi and was founded in 1973 by 林懷民 (lin2huai2min2). While the guided tour was, honestly, a bit boring, they directed us to the dance studio for a video. However, their sound broke down so instead, we danced. It was a bit awkward, but it was lots of fun.
After we departed from the Theater, we left for the Wharf. There, we climbed over the Lover’s Bridge, built in 2003. The sunset was a bit anticlimactic because there was a bit of overcast. Still, I made sure to take many nice pictures. Finally, we made our way over to the 淡水英專夜市(dan4shui3ying1zhuan1ye4shi4), or Tamsui British Night Market. The trip there itself was exciting since we biked for a while to get there. The market, while fun, was a bit of a letdown. They had a bunch of the same 花枝店 (hua1zhi1dian4), or squid shops, selling seafood. Also, a lot of the shops started closing around 10:00.
Regardless, today was a fun day, packed with many nice memories. I hope most days are able to turn out like today.
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