Us and the Kiddos: Taiwan Date Night

Sunday, April 30, 2017

Taiwan Date Night

After Louis' turn picking out of our magic bag of countries- it was my go. I reached in and drew out country 206. I wonder what the odds of that are, he chose 106, I chose 206. Anyways, as we wandered down the list of countries my curiosity was piqued....what was it going to be...

TAIWAN

I knew Taiwan was a country, but that is about as far as my knowledge of Taiwan went. So it proved to not only be fun, but educational as well. :)

So, strap on your traveling boots, we're going to Taiwan! :)

"Taiwan is a small island nation 180km east of China with modern cities, traditional Chinese temples, hot springs resorts and dramatic mountainous terrain. Taipei, the country’s capital in the north, is known for its busy night markets, Chinese Imperial art at the National Palace Museum and Taipei 101, a 509m-tall, bamboo-shaped skyscraper with an observation deck"

Capital: Taipei

President: Tsai Ing-wen

Population: 23.52 million (2016)

Official script: Traditional Chinese

Currency: New Taiwan dollar

Official language: Standard Mandarin

Fun Trivia Facts:

The country of Taiwan national sport is Baseball. Taiwan won the 1995 little league world championship in the US. It is the first time they have one a World Series in any sport

Taiwan is world famous for its one production of Hollywood type movies. It is famous for creating "City of Sadness"(1989). In 2001, Ang Lees "Crouching, Tiger, Hidden Dragon" Are some of its best known titles

Taiwan has the first woman ever to win a world Nobel Peace Prize presented too Lu Hsiu-lein

Taiwan participates in the Olympics every year but its best year was 1977 when it sent 22 athletes to compete and came back with 22 gold medals for a variety of sports

The land mass of Taiwanese islands are only about the size of Massachusetts in the U.S

Taiwan has some of the most elaborate and authentic historical museums in all of Asia which consist of over 35,000 artifacts from countries around the world. Many tourist flock here for the Regular on exhibit displays of jade, paintings, sculptures of many dynasties

Taiwan has the highest mountain in all of southeast Asia the Jade mountain is nearly 13000ft tall

84% of the people are Taiwanese, with only 14% being mainland Chinese. Most of the people of Taiwan can trace their ancestry to China

Many students wear school uniforms. They are comfortable, athletic looking and have a fluorescent color to them

Most Taiwanese don’t like the rain. It rains often; however, walking in a bit of rain is a no no in the culture, even if it is only for a few seconds. This typically has to do with pollution and fears of acid rain on their skin

Taiwanese girls like to have fair skin and therefore stay away from the sunshine at all costs.

There are no garbage cans outdoors. Garbage cans are usually kept inside of a house or place of business. The garbage is tossed into a garbage truck when it arrives. These trucks play loud music to indicate their arrival in the streets.

7-11 convenience stores are everywhere, and they are basically open all night with various amenities. These stores are owned by a Japanese company. In these stores, you can print a document, call a taxi, send a parcel, pay your bills and do much more.

Some of the kids have funny English names like King, Circle or Lion

Crying or expressing emotions at school to each other is not an issue whether you are a teenager, boy or a girl

The first presidential election was held in 1996. This was also the time of the Taiwan Missile Crisis.

As China does not recognize Taiwan’s independence, the Taiwan flag is not allowed to be used during sporting events. The Taipei flag is replaced during these occasions.

It takes roughly eight hours to drive around the whole island

Most people in Taiwan are Buddhist or Taoist. They love to draw upon the wisdom of nature.

****Although Taiwan operates as an independent country, many countries (including the U.S.) do not officially recognize it as one. The People’s Republic of China considers Taiwan a breakaway province of China, and countries who wish to maintain diplomatic relations with China have had to sever their formal relations with Taiwan

This picture is way out of order here, but this is our bubble tea. Apparently bubble tea was invented in Taiwans capital city of Taipei, in 1998, I think....