Cindy's Blog

I'm so sorry that I didn't write about everything that happened the moment I came home. I just didn't feel like it.

Our graduation trip was on April 8 & 9(I think), and everyone who was going showed up at the Hsinchu Train Station at 6:50am(I think). I woke up at about 4:00am, just so I wouldn't be late. Then I spent a lot of time running around the house, trying to find the stuff I needed. Jerry, my brother, woke up first, because he sleeps in the same room as me and I was snooping in his side of the room, which I was only doing because he always takes most of the working batteries that we have in the house. I needed those batteries for the flashlight and camera I was going to bring. Finally, I found all the stuff I needed and managed to stuff it all into a gray backpack of Mom's, and all the electronics into the laptop bag I "borrowed" from Dad. Then, Mom drove me to the train station. I think we got there, like, 20 minutes early. At least half of the 6th grade was already there! My entire group-Sunny, Elysia, Karina, and me- was already there. After what seemed like a really long time of waiting, the parents and teachers that were coming along to supervise us, bought our tickets and we all went in to the station. after another buch of long waiting, which I mean enough time to take a couple of pictures, chat a bit, sit down, and play Nintendo. When the train finally arrived, there was a huge traffic jam from everyone trying to get on at the same time. We finally managed to get a seat together. I sat with Karina and Elysia and Sunny sat behind us. We turned our seat around so we were facing each other and so did most of the other groups. The train ride was pretty good. We mostly played Nintendo, Ipod, I-touch, PSPs, chatted with each other, and ate snacks, and stuff like that. The view outside was really pretty, but not many people looked at it, mostly eacause they were too busy playing Nintendo and stuff. After a while, I got bored of playing Nintendo and let Jamie play. I opened the laptop that Dad borrowed for me from Uncle Wei-i and tried to get Internet. I actually managed to get onto Facebook for about a minute before it shut down. After the train ride was over, we rode this bus, well, not really a bus, more like a van, because each "bus" could only fit, like, 7 kids and 1 grown-up, not counting the driver. The bus drive was a little noisy at first, but it got really quiet afterwards, because everyone fell asleep. My entire group was on the same bus as me, along with 3 other people: Jen, Victoria(I think), and someone else that I forgot. We drove to a place with a river nearby, and there were these wooden structures with 3 benches underneath like a picnic, except replace the table with 2 huge steaming pots full of stuff, sort of like a hot pot only you can't just throw in anything when you want to. While the people there made our lunch, all the kids went to play in the river. The teachers(I'll just call them that because I don't know what to call them) told us we could find jade in that river so all the kids were hunting for jade. The part of the river we played in was actually pretty shallow compared to the parts we went through when we were river tracing, only up to our knees. I managed to find 3 pieces of jade, but one was so tiny that I lost it when I put my pieces of jade in my purse. Some people slipped and got completely soaked. None of us were wearing our swimsuits so the decied not to change since they were probably going to slip and fall again or be splashed by Chu or somebody. I was lucky. I didn't fall and I managed not to get wet. By that time, lunch was ready and the teachers came over to tell us that lunch was ready and to dry off a little. We had a delicious lunch, and after we rested a bit, everyone who was going river tracing got a life jacket, "keep-warm" thingy suit, helmet that never really fit, and boots for us to wear. We had a AWESOME time at the river tracing. I don't know how to describe it.Some places we couldn't even reach the ground, even if the water came over our heads and we bounced(you know, like when you bob up and down and stuff)! After river tracing was over, we changed into dry clothes, had a little snack, actually a drink of some type of juice,got on the bus and drove off to the next place. That place was a biking place. There were all these bikes, some of them were for 2 people and some for 1 person. I got a 2 person bike with Elysia, and Karina got a bike alone. Biking with Elysia was TERRIFING!!!!! She drove like a MANIAC!!!!! She was trying to get first place in her mental made up contest of "whoever gets to the finish line first is the winner". Okay, I'm exaggerating, and that isn't true but she was trying to get first place. Eventually we got 4th place. The bike ride took a long time and when we all got back, we went to have dinner. Dinner was the worst part of the day. Well, it was only the shrimp that was disgusting. Most of the dinner was good, but then they served a bowl of live jumping shrimp who jumps out of their bowl and onto my chair. That spoiled the entire meal for me because who'd want a slimy wiggling thing on your chair while you're eating? After we ate, we rode a different bus to this firefly place and watched fireflies. It was so pretty! It was like lot and lots of Chritstmas trees all bunched up together with tons of beautiful,sparkling, moving lights! After we watched the fireflies we went back to the bus and went to the hotel.