Welcome to Taiwan!

Valerie and I are now in our second day in Taipei. We both arrived safely after long flights. When we arrived at the apartment where we are staying we both were able to go right to bed and slept well. We have had little trouble adjusting to the 12 hour time difference. Amazing!

On our first day here our host, Rebecca, took us to a little shop to get an authentic Taiwanese breakfast complete with various pastries and sweet soybean milk. Afterwards I officially registered as an international volunteer with Deaflympics. That evening Valerie, Rebecca, and I attended an assembly for the nearly 10,000 volunteers for the Deaflympics. There I met Chris, Aaron, and Miriam. All three of them are Deaf from the U.S. who are volunteering. It was so much fun to have someone to talk to that I understood! We also met many Taiwanese Deaf volunteers. We did our best to gesture and try to understand each other. It was so exciting!

This morning Valerie and I walked to the breakfast shop on our own and ordered by pointing at what we wanted. We were proud of ourselves that we had been able to get breakfast and pay for it on our own. We have also learned how to walk to Rebecca's home from the apartment where we are staying. Finally today we went in search of a place to connect to wireless internet. After many adventures at the public library we finally ended up at Starbucks - all on our own!

Tomorrow I have training for the Deaflympics all morning. I'm excited to spend time with my new Deaf friends!

-Jen