Settling In/Creepiest Museum Ever.

So after such a fun weekend in Kenting, it's unfortunately settled down a bit as classes have kicked into full gear. I just completed my first full week of classes, including my 3 hour Mandarin course on Mondays and Wednesdays. So far, we've learned how to write our names, how to introduce ourselves, the 4 tones, and some pinyin. 

"Wo joao Yi Yaping." (My name is Yi Yaping [my Chinese name, minus the tones])

I also started my Chinese Opera class as well as the Geoinformatics course, both of which I never planned on taking but which are actually pretty interesting.  The advantage of taking these exchange courses are 1) the courses are actually taught in English, and 2) you're in small classes with other exchange students. 

Other than school, I haven't really done too much in terms of going out. Although my friend Melody and I went on a few "girly" outings; we went shoe shopping at one of the night markets (3 pairs of shoes for roughly $20 USD!), explored the Living Mall that I had found in my guide book (and spent our money at the arcade games), and got our nails painted. Super girly, but definitely fun.

 Cute arcade game where the balls are blown into the air and you have to catch them and throw them into the pigs' mouths.

 Yummy candy that Melody and I each filled a bag with. :]

On Friday, a small group of us went to the Lin Liu-Hsin Puppet Theatre Museum. Creepiest. Museum. Ever. Now, just hearing the name, I really didn't go in with very high expectations, but oh my goodness. Most of the puppets displayed, while beautiful in concept, were just plain strange to look at. Plus, a lot of these puppets (and thus puppet shows) revolved around death, hell, and clowns. My three favorite things ever...
Still, it was a good laugh and so far I haven't had nightmares.

 These next few are actually quite amusing. They depict the punishments given in "Hell" for several sins and vary in gore depending on the severity of the sin. *Warning: The next few pictures are a little gory as they depict some of these punishments*

 The "Beheading Bell"... don't remember what you had to do to deserve this but I hope I never find out.

 Yeah... apparently this happens to husbands who are bad to their wives go to this Grinding Hell. Pretty disturbing...

 Creepy staring puppets.

The past few days, a group of us booked our plane tickets to go to the Philippines during our Spring Break. It kind of stinks because we don't get a full week off, but I know we'll make the most of our time there. Can't wait 'til April!!!

So now it's back to another week of classes and homework and reading. Fun, fun, fun!