Back to Taipei

It's been a long time since this blog was updated, but it's about time to do so! I am back in Taipei to teach the Leadership class again as part of Baruch's Executive Master's degree program. I was supposed to be here last year, but the economy was so bad here that they couldn't get enough students to run the program. I had invited Mom to come along last year, and we were so disappointed when it was canceled. But now it is on, and we're here! Mom flew to Detroit on July 4, and then we flew together from Detroit to Tokyo, and then (because our flight was late) we had to rush through the airport in Tokyo to catch our flight to Taipei. We arrived at about 10pm local time last night.
We are no longer staying at the Howard International House, but are instead now at the Howard Garden Suites, which is very nice. We stayed up as late as we could last night, and then slept until about 7am, so as to try to get on local time. This morning we had a great breakfast in the hotel, and then went out to get a SIM card for a phone, so that Mom would be able to reach me while I am teaching and she is exploring. She is booked to go on a City Tour tomorrow morning, which is when my class starts. I want to be sure that she is comfortable, and knows that she has a way to reach me (I am given a phone for local calls by the local office here). So we got a SIM card, and need to see why it isn't quite working yet.
We found that this new hotel is only a very few minutes walk from the subway (MRT) station, so we started out the adventure here by getting a day pass for the MRT, and then went to Longshan Temple. Mom and I talked about how similar some things seemed at this old Buddhist Temple -- some people are obviously very devout, and some are going through the motions; there are prayer beads that look a lot like rosaries; there's a lot of incense; you see a lot more older people at the temple than you do elsewhere, since older folks are often among the more devoted to their faith; and there are rituals, motions, etc. that people make that reminded us of genuflection and other similar patterns we're a little more familiar with. But a lot is different as well, with the offerings to the ancestors, the varieties of Buddhas recognized, the throwing of tokens for fortune telling, and the traditional Buddhist and Taoist influences intermixing in the same temple. It was a great place to start our day. We also went through several little shopping alleys, and into a mall underneath the MRT at the Longshan Temple.
It is really hot here, so we took it easy today as we started off. We'll go out tonight, probably to a Night Market, to get a little more start on the visit. My class starts early tomorrow, and Mom's tour does as well, so we won't be out late, that's for sure.

It's great to be here, and to be on an adventure with Mom!