Just a Note

In the end, our team won 1st place in robot design. I will be posting a link to a google album soon.

5-10-010 AMERICA!!!!!!

FINALLY IN AMERICA!!!!! I JUST FINISHED DOING MY MATH HOMEWORK!!! I CAN'T WAIT TILL I GO TO SCHOOL TOMORROW! I'M SO HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5-10-010

To follow up from yesterday, we went to a famous night-market called Shi-lin. It's famous for fried chicken! I tried one, and it is very different from American fried chicken. The fried chicken here is more of a sweet and spicy flavor. I tried this corn on the cob that had some kind of mystery sauce. Now, the corn looks like red corn on the cob! So today, our team is going to ride a cable car to this huge mountain. Then, we have some open time so I will do my *homework*. We will eat dinner at the 101 mall and go to the airport. I can't believe I'm finally going back to America after a long week of competition and fun activities!

5-9-010

I didn't tell you what happened yesterday. It will be a surprise when I come back. Anyways, I'm back to the hotel that has the awesome shower doors in Taipei. So, the tournament is over. The whole team is going to a famous night market called Shi-lin. I will tell you what happened.

5-7-010

Exciting day today. We woke up at 5 today and went to breakfast. After breakfast, we took a shuttle to the Kaohsiung Arena and got ready. Then, we had our research project presentation. We did the best with the judges we had. They barely spoke in English. After that, we had our robot design presentation, which we did AWESOME on! Our coach was like "In robotic language, you guys hit a home run!" He said that same thing to the teamwork presentation. After, we had this thing called friendship night. Everybody gathers up together and eat dinner. We sat with the other USA teams. This girl from Massachusetts and Sarah made up challenges for me to do. One of my favorites was to eat pasta with your eyes closed. Tomorrow's the last day of the tournament, so I will give you the results tomorrow. I promise that Japan won't beat us!

5-6-010 2/2

I had a very fun day today! We took a shuttle to a elementary school, that meant "glory" elementary school. We took a school tour and we had recess with them. It was incredible! In fact, there were 2nd graders further than half of Mirman's field. Then, we played basket ball with 6th graders, who sprained Luke's thumb just by lightly slapping him... Then, we walked from the school to the Love River. I forgot to ask the elementary school teacher why they named the river Love River, but it's KIND of self explanatory. What impressed me was that 5th and 6th graders at this elementary school take kayak and sail boat classes every evening. So, they let us kayak and sail the boat. I first went on the kayak, and it was very fun. Although it was my first time, I didn't drown! For those 30 minutes, there was a kayak race, and I won 4th. Luke won 2nd, by ramming into a kid into the harbor-looking thing. Then, we switched from kayaking to sail boating, or vise versa. For those 30 minutes, there was a water splashing fight, which I really didn't enjoy. I mean, I was ambushed over 9000 times AND there was a boy who just jumped into this full-of-bacteria river, and climbed into our boat, and started splashing water at me. In the end, I took a nice, warm shower. After, our team went to the Kaohsiung Arena to set our booth up. We saw a lot of world-wide teams. We started practicing our robot runs, and they were not great, but not bad. Then, our coach had to go to a coach meeting, so we were free for 50 minutes. I went to all of the Japanese teams, *dario* but there were NO laser beams that can kill us. However, there was 1 team that might have a chance to beat us by maybe 10 points. When I started talking to them in Japanese, they were surprised how well I was able to speak. After all that fun, our team came back to our hotel, and ate dinner. Then, we practiced our robot design presentation, and our research project. I am now going to sleep. I will tell you the outcome of the competition.

5-6-010 1/2

Today's the first day of the tournament. We will eat breakfast and take a bus to a school visit. Then, we will take another bus to the Love River. I'm guessing it's for couples and you take a boat and go around it. Anyways, then we will take ANOTHER bus to the Kaousiung Arena. We will set up our booth and practice EVERYTHING. Our robot game, design presentation, and our research presentation. I will let you know how that will go through.

5-5-010 3/3

We went to the DREAM MALL!!! Just in case I didn't tell you, it's about 15 minutes from here, and has a carnival on the roof! Luke, Matt, and I went to a toys r us there and bought 4 random minifigs! I got a space dude, a clown, nurse, and a crash dummy. At the carnival, we went into this huge ball, and this man inflated it. There's a pool and what you do is try to walk around and swim when you're IN the ball. We went to the hotel pool today and I'm about to go to a team meeting soon.

5-5-010 2/3

We just finished practicing our presentations at the hotel. We are probably going to the Dream Mall. It's this awesome mall where the roof is a CARNIVAL!!! Isn't that awesome? I am going to do our homework right now.

5-5-010 1/2

I am not sure what we're going to do today. Our coach and our parents are going to have a discussion today during breakfast. I will post everything if I have time after breakfast. BYE!!!

5-4-010 2/2

I am now in Kaoshiung. It's not as busy as Taipei. We took a bullet train here for 90 minutes. On the train ride, we played War, BS, and some other games I can't remember. At night, we went to the night market and tasted some weird-looking food. Luke and I tried chicken feet because our coach bribed us to eat it for 100 taiwanese dollars. It was basically just skin. I also tried duck throat, which was better than the chicken feet. When we came back, one of the top teams in FLL came up to as and said hi. They're called the NXT generation. They won second place for 3 years in Atlanta. The first place winner was called Watt. However, recently, NXT generation BEAT Watt this year, which makes them top team! How cool is that? Plus, they came up to talk to us and we gave them our business cards. Right now, I'm by myself in my room because my parents went to the lobby to tell them that our room is for handicap people. WE HAVE A RESTROOM THAT DOESN'T HAVE TISSUE PAPER, NOR A DOOR FOR THE SHOWER!!! IT'S ALL CONNECTED!!!! Anyways, I'm watching Planet of The Apes and half sleeping, so I will make a new post tomorrow!

5-4-010 1/3

Good morning!!!! I just took a shower. Here's what we're going to do today. In taiwan, there's a monument, like the Eiffel Tower in France. It's called Taiwan 101. Our team's going to eat breakfast right now, go to the Taiwan 101 mall, and take a BULLET TRAIN to Kaoushiung, where the tournament is held. Kaoushiung is the southern city of Taiwan. By then, it will be afternoon time, so all we do is eat dinner, do my homework (since it's monday over there), and go to sleep. I will make a new post about everything at night.


P.S. I have taken a lot of pictures, so I will make a google photo album, and put all my pictures in it. As soon as I make the album, I will send you the link.

5-3-010 2/2

I am back at my hotel and have sore feet... Like I said in the morning, we did go around and have fun. Unfortunately, I was not able to go to Snake Alley, nor the puppet museum or bug museum. Instead, the first thing we did was riding the taiwanese subways. Our coach bought us day passes, so we can go around riding subways. We saw the National Palace Museum. You can see ancient pottery, statues, and art. The most famous thing there was a jade stone (green and white), which was carved into a cabbage with 2 insects on it. We then ate lunch at a local restaurant near the Longshan Temple. The Westside team had wonton soup, noodles with vegetables and minced pork, and rice with minced pork. After that, we went to get drinks. I FOUND GREEN TEA SPRITE!!!!! It tasted SO GOOD! However, while I was drinking this awesome Sprite, I stepped on some dog's droppings... After lunch, we visited the Longshan Temple and prayed. Plus, I bought a NEW green Buddha!!!! Then, we went to shoe street, where there are shoe stores everywhere! I bought these awesome green shoes!!! Our team took a picture inside a huge model of a red high-heel. Finally, we went to the one and only 6 story-high electronic store!!!!!! Luke, my team member, told me that people around the world fly to Taiwan, just to get a good price at this store. I mean, there was an 8 GB MP5 for 1500 Taiwanese dollars (about 45 US dollars). I bought an emergency Ipod charger. It's very light weight, and only need 2 AA batteries. Then, we came back to our hotel and ate dinner. My mom wanted to take me to the night market, so only my family went to the night market. There were the old ladies, selling bento boxes. (To answer your question Ara) In fact, there was a bento box for pig-blood pudding!! How yummy does that sound? In the end, my mom got these hair pins, my dad had a foot massage, and I got two Beyblades. Unfortunately, they were 100% fake...

5-3-010 1/2

3:05 PM

Today's going to be a fun day! We have 1 day in Taipei to just walk around and explore. My mom wants to take me to Snake Alley. It's an arcade of snake cuisine and restaurants. My mom went to Snake Alley when she was in the orchestra group, and had seen one of the stuff I want to try, Snake Soup. There's a chef with a snake (alive!), and kills it right in front of you. Then, he squeezes all the snake blood into a bowl and chops the snake into pieces. The chef will ask you how you want the snake cooked. Don't you think snake soup is appetizing? After that, we're thinking of going to the puppet museum and the bug museum. My mom wants to take me to the night market at night and eat dinner. Dinner at the night markets are on the streets, with people selling bento boxes. It's not a restaurant! My mom told me that during her orchestra trip, she tried one of the bento boxes 3 times. So, she wants to take me to the exact place, where this old grandma was selling the bento boxes. I will post my experience at night.

5-2-010

8:15 AM

Well, things are going smoothly. I just unpacked things in my hotel, and making this post! Here's some information you need to know. Our team, Westside, is a team of 5 people. Luke, Matt, Ben, Sarah, and Kent (me). In November, our team attended the qualification tournament for FLL: First Lego League. First stands for "For Inspiration and Recognition for Science and Technology". We qualified for that one, and continued working for the Regional tournament in Legoland. Our team got the highest score for the Regionals, and won the Best Robot Performance Award, and the Champions award. So, our team was invited the OIC (Open International Championships) in Kaoshiung, Taiwan. We then worked very hard to reach a robust design and performance.

Here are some videos!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKrNK5aDVp0