The New Year 跨年

First I have to apologize that I haven't updated recently for many reasons but at last I am sitting in front of my computer and mainly wish to share some beautiful pictures from the New Year! As all of you are already aware. My time in Taiwan would have ended in December but among some of the many reasons for my staying, witnessing a New Year and Chinese New Year in Asia was along the top of the list. New Years is like Christmas and so I wanted to experience the hype that is the biggest holiday in this area of the world. This year especially was important for Taiwan because it celebrated 100 years as the ROC or Republic of China. The mastermind of the main show was the same who had worked on the Beijing 2008 Olympics according to my teacher. The neat effects included a spiraling effect of fireworks zipping up and down the side of Taipei 101 as well as fireworks bursting to form 100 in the sky. Not only one area of the city was celebrating with fireworks. The Taipei Flora Expo also had it's own show of fireworks as well as other areas of the city. From the vantage point at the rooftop of Ayaka's apartment building my friends' and I could see everything, plus, here's the best part, not deal with the crowds! A record number of people had gathered around the second tallest building of the world so it took hours to return home for some of my friends who had chosen to go straight to the site. It might have been worth the crowds if it wasn't a record freezing night to top it off. I wanted to share a picture of my Japanese friend Ayaka's toilet from her apartment. I made a joke of saying, if the room became too crowded with people, which she kept worrying about, I would gladly go sit on the toilet. It's Japanese style and has a warm setting. It's with out a doubt the most comfortable toilet ever when it's cold!

Before the fireworks started we called Rick, who had returned to Australia when I was supposed to go back. He had already been celebrating with friends so in his usual good humor he greeted us, "Greetings from the future!" It was special for us to celebrate with Rick so we had him on skype and took turns saying random things for him to guess who was talking at the time. He scored 100% He ended talking to us again later while he was trying to find a Taxi and talking about how he missed Taipei's convenient taxi service. (There is always plenty around)

The night ended around 3am for us as people slowly filtered out. Amy and I walked home, a few blocks away. We have no regrets about our moving to a closer area.
Please enjoy the photos! I took a lot of the fireworks but it's hard for them to come in clearly and these are my favorites.