SUPERBOWL!

Superbowl Sunday snuck up on me.  I'm not constantly bombarded with media of American sports and therefore didn't realize the day was approaching.  On Sunday I went to Taroko Gorge to meet up with Karin and her family who are here visiting from Chicago.  Her brother asked if there was any place in Hualien to watch the game and I couldn't believe that I didn't even realize it was happening!  As far as I know there is no such thing as a "sports bar" in Hualien, so when I got back home I did some internet research.  Turns out there are a few well-known sports bars in Taipei that open at 6am with a breakfast buffet and broadcast the game live.  CRAZY what we Americans will do for some football haha.  Well it was too late for me to be in Taipei that early, but I did find out that a couple bars were re-showing the game in the evening for those who couldn't make it that morning.  So, around 1pm on Monday I decided to hop on a train with Karin and her family who were headed back to Taipei.  I got in at 6pm, walked around in the area near the train station looking for some hostels, found one on the 22nd floor of some building and got a room for the night, then hopped on the MRT and met the Wissman's at Brass Monkey for the 8:00 Superbowl party.  We had so much fun (despite the loss for me)!  Karin's dad and I were the ONLY people in the bar rooting for Indy and it was sooo weird.  I've always watched the games surrounded by fellow Colt's fans with the occasional outsider rooting for the other team (eh hem, Megan...).  So I felt like I had to cheer extra loud to make up for the lack of fans in the room =)

The next morning I woke up, got some breakfast and got a train ticket back to Hualien.  It felt really great to be able to just go somewhere, do something fun for a night and then go home, all on my own.  Of course I had Karin, her brother, and the rents who were great company at the bar, but other than that I did the whole experience on my own and I love that about being here.  If I want to take the 3 hour train ride to the capital city, no big deal.  All and all I'd say the 24hrs cost me...(I'm converting to the US dollar).... $60 for train, room, and food.  It was definitely worth it and I'm going to miss being able to do things like this for so cheap when I go back home.