One day the teachers at my school in Taiwan got to take a field trip of our own! The school took us on buses out to an Outdoor Education Centre, the same place the students get to go. I tried the rock climbing with two colleagues, while the more aggressive teachers went paintballing and the rest went hiking. Trying to rock climb in Taiwan was challenging and I have to say the language barrier has been getting really, really frustrating. The only two words of English the instructor used were "harness" and "caribiner". Not only did we not get any of the instructions, but everyone kept making jokes and yelling out things in Chinese, and it was so easy to feel like an outsider. Thankfully, the teachers encouraged me and I made it to the top! The unusual part about the whole trip was that we are supposed to be teaching different activities for a grade nine weekend English camp in the future. Who knows how we're going to figure it out on our own: I pity the students who end up in one of our archery classes! In the afternoon, we visited the camp’s garden. They had white turnips that teachers could pull and take home. I decided to pass on the whole idea, considering the odds that I would actually cook and eat a strange vegetable. It was fun to watch, though, and I was happy with my choice when everyone else's turnips started to stink up the bus! Later on, the school paid for an extensive seafood dinner. The kind where 10 people sit around a big table with a lazy susan for 15-20 courses of seafood. Although I'm not a big seafood eater, there were a couple of dishes I liked (scallops and a plain cooked fish). My "try-a-new-food" experience of the evening was lobster blood! It was the consistency of water and a purple-grey color. No taste, thankfully. And please don't ask me what the purpose of drinking lobster blood is, I don't have a clue. The most disturbing dish by far was a lobster sitting on a plate of ice. I was turning the lazy susan and I almost screamed when I thought I saw one of the legs move. Sure enough, they all started moving! It was still alive (and dying, I suppose). It came back a few courses later having been cooked (is that fun, or what?) All in all, it was a great day to get out of the city and enjoy some fresh air. I returned with new experiences, memories of beautiful vistas and a unique perspective on life in Taiwan.