All The Ghosts in The House Say "Yeah"

Come one ghost, come all ghosts! Today is Ghost Day and I am excited about getting spooked. I observe firecrackers tinting the air in the streets and little stations of food and other items like gift vouchers set up on roadsides. The ghosts are definitely coming and they will fetch vouchers to buy stuff with in hell. I am eight years old again and mesmerized, like Santa is about to slide down the chimney and give me a toy car.

After a delicious lunch of many food items at Shabu Shabu buffet (I ate aout 20 kilos of food competing with my host cousins)I could barely walk. I waddled. I was so full. And giggly. I was in Taiwan and being able to be as sillya s I am when I am home in Botswana.

The afternoon was karaoke in the mountains at someone's house, one of the family friends. I was hoarse and sang every song off key. I even pretended I could read Chinese and sang in made-up Chinese. I goofed on and my host brother goofed right back.

Then we went shopping. I had to get some stuff and people in shops were soooo friendly. And flattering - they kept telling me how handsome I was. And I goofed, yet again, and asked if that was why people always told me I look like I am Taiwan. Of course with my dark skin and kinky hair, I am nothing like what a Taiwanese is expected to look like. But we all just goofed all afternoon.

At the Lions Club meeting I met amazing people, older men in their fifties at least. I learnt "kan pe!" a phrase that means you must empty the cup, basically down your drink. Taiwan beer was smooth and the company was welcoming and full of laughter.

Later I met the Thai workers at the factory that my host family owns. After my zealous "Sa Wa De Ka" they invited me for a drink. It was a Thai gin of sorts. We laughed a lot and made so many jokes that I could have sworn we shared 10 languages.

I discovered a soft drink place called Coco. I still love Ching Shin and its yummy non-alcoholic cocktails. I went to bed with a smile on my face after a whole day of goooooooofing around like a cartoon! Kan Pe!!!

MIAOLI, Taiwan :)

We arrived in Hong Kong sleep-deprived and Phoebe had a cold. But both of us suddenly got excited when we realized that the long trip from Botswana had led us both to East Asia for the first time. We immediately met up with fellow SayTaiwan participants at the airport and sat down together for drinks. Phoebe observed that the waiters were putting in our orders through iPads which we thought was very exciting, tech-forward.

The flight to Taiwan was smooth and seeing a huge sign of SayTaiwan at the airport welcoming all participants was exciting and soon we were huddled up doing group photo-shoots in front of the sign. The airport staff were extremely efficient, friendly and helpful and before we knew it our visas were processed and we were collecting our luggage.

Meeting Alice was fun after having virtually talked to her so much over the last few months. We were given cellphones, welcome packets and I met my host brother, K, who took me to meet his father. On the way I was tremendously tired and kept dosing off but at the same time epically excited! We had dinner at a nice restaurant and I was happy to be using chopsticks and not making a mess at all. We got home and I slept like a log, after warning my host family that I might not be up before 9. I had arrived in Miaoli.