If looks could kill it would have been us instead of him

So, updates from the weekend are a little late, but here they are! As a sidenote, in reference to my title today, I had a good friend in high school who sent Yoko Ono a lengthy and expletive-laden email regarding Yoko's "hellacious Banshee scream" on the track of The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill" and how it ruined this "would be classic of pacifism-motivated music." Sixteen-year olds are neat, right?

1. I went to Ming Chuan's Taoyuan campus graduation on Saturday and there was a surprise guest. The President of Taiwan! He spoke briefly, shook some hands and then left. As he was leaving, people (including myself!) were standing maybe 20 feet from him. The reaction of the grads and families to him entering the graduation was pretty polarized, they were either wildly excited or clearly unhappy with him. But, it was definately a once in a lifetime experience!

2) That same night there was a huge fireworks display for the grads. Really amazing.

3) Sunday I ventured into Taipei, met a guy named Mark from Columbia, SC (very small world!). He was hilarious, loves Art Bar. We got pizza and beer and he told me about some neat hole-in-the-wall places to explore around South Carolina. I also shopped a lot on Sunday, and bought more books. It seems like I'll leave here with an entire unread library, which I feel pretty good about.

4) Ginger and I are doing dinner tonight, maybe at a Thai place or Japanese. She's got such a great perspective on experiencing education in Taiwan, and I'm excited to hear more about her in-class experiences as well as general cultural thoughts.

5) Most common question: Do you like Obama? People here love Barak Obama so much, and they love talking about him and asking questions about him. Get it, Obama!