Fulbright Taiwan mid-year Conference

The conference took place in Xitou, Nantou 南投溪頭, from January 16 to 18. Not including myself, 8 senior researchers (professors or lecturers), 11 junior researchers (post-college and master's, or current doctoral researchers), and 28 English teaching assistants ETA (16 in Yilan, and 12 in Kaohsiung) were present to present their current teaching or research in Taiwan. The ETAs were inspirational- their creativity and passion for teaching English was phenomenal. The senior and junior researchers had interesting topics from different disciplines, including film, art, history, religious studies, medicine, and river science.

We visited the Sun Moon Lake 日月潭 on January 16, before heading to Xitou. The mornings on January 17 and January 18 were free time for us to explore the beautiful trails in Xitou. On January 17, I hiked up to the highest point in the area, the Observatory in Mt. Pheonix, at 1800 meters latitude. It was where I could see the main part of Yu-shan, the highest mountain in Taiwan, the Sun Moon Lake, and two other mountain ranges, Hsue-shan and Hohuan-shan. I hiked up approximately 700-800 meters in altitude in two hours. My calves are still too sore for moving two-three days after the hike. On January 18, I hiked to see the Giant Tree and Sky Walk in the morning. We got back to Taipei after 6pm.