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Jiaoxi - City experiences - Progresses

Waterfalls and scooters

On Wednesday we went to Jiaoxi to explore if the area is nice for the Walkabout tour. As you might remember I went to Jiaoxi a few posts ago (Photos from the beach).
Usually only Jesper and I do the Walkabout tour. But this time Allan, a colleague and Falla, a local girl, who knows the place better than we do, joined us.
So we started our tour. We all were very curious and amused by a hot spring only for feet. Nothing special until we saw that they put small fish in it. The fish eat the dead skin cells from your legs and feet. First this was really uncomfortable and a little scary. The feeling is very weird and strange. Maybe you can imagine a needle stabbing very slightly on your skin. Thousands of times. A very sparkling feeling. But once you survived the first two minutes you get used to it, watch the fish and relax. Totally worth the experience.
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Really strange feeling… but worth it. Jesper and I enjoying fish in a different kind of way.

After visiting the hot spring, we decided to rent a scooter and visit the Wufongci waterfalls. A really amazing part of the nature. While hiking you pass the three waterfalls which are all of the same river. Starting with the smallest one you experience the beauty of nature and get amazed more and more by going further.


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Such a beautiful place to swim. Unfortunately it was too cold. This waterfall stunned me the most. You are standing in something like a pipe and the water seems to fall from the sky. You feel really small and impressed by the size of this wonder.

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Falla, me and Jesper in front of the second waterfall. Trying a heads pin. I failed. But a nice photo. Don’t forget Capoeira. I just was in the mood for a Macaco (monky flip).

After finishing the hiking and acrobatics we went to the city to visit a temple and get something to eat. When our stomachs were full we went to the public hot springs. The hot spring is free and very nice to visit after hiking. It is only for feet, but perfect to read a nice book and relax your muscles and clear your mind.

Explore Taipei more

Taipei city has very nice opportunities to do sports. I registered for YouBike and Allan showed me the National Taiwan University campus and took me to a sports center not far away from the office. 
YouBike is similar to the DB Bike in Germany but it is easier to use and cheaper. 
Here you can buy EasyCard, something like a debit card for public transport. You get 20 percent off on each ride with the MRT and free access to YouBike. 
The sports center is really amazing. You can do a workout in a gym for 50 NTD (1,25 Euro) or go swimming for 110 (2,75 Euro). But not only swimming. You have a sauna, water massage and a hot spring included. This is so nice! Doing sports and relax a few minutes later in hot water and sauna. Best you can do after a long day full of work and stress! In future I want to go there once a week to do my sports and clear my mind.

Final decisions

After a long conversation with Peter (my boss at Topology) and many hours of thoughts about my internship, I decided to stay in Taipei until 26th January. I will cover a time of 18 weeks of internship. This is what I need for my full graduation. But I want to explain how I decided this:
At fist I was very unhappy so I needed to talk about the duration of this internship again. My life was just too stressful and I had not enough time to do what I want.
Then a few things changed. 
Peter said, he will support my decision but he also wanted me to think about what my early leaving will affect. Not only for myself but the company and himself. I discovered that my work at Topology is getting more important and is more than some simple intern stuff. 
My new work uses my weak points and turn them into something that can profit the company. I don’t speak Chinese and am not familiar with the culture. My biggest advantage and disadvantage at the same time is to be a foreigner. This is one main point for me to change my decision. 
Another point that changed is that I got one day more to explore Taiwan. In fact my everyday life changed a lot and got more comfortable for me. On top of that, Peter gave me another point of view by saying that he rejected five other applications for an internship within this period. He wanted to show me that my decisions change other lives as well. I thought about that point before but not that deeply but afterwards this changed my perspective.
Concluding I would say I learned much about making decisions within the last weeks. I think this will help me in future decisions. 

On Monday I will probably post my first experiences as a stranger in Taiwan. I already made my thoughts and started writing.
I will tell you some  principles how to get food or use the MRT and what difficulties you will meet. 

Feel free to ask questions or give feedback :)

Lukas

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