How much wood...?

Yesterday and today were more chill than Monday.  Yesterday we left Meifeng headquarters and took a short tour of the lower altitude sub-farm.  At the sub-farm we all picked two varieties of tomatoes, one of which was called Golden Sweet.  The two varieties were similar to grape tomatoes, except that they were a little bit larger, and the Golden Sweet were a yellow-orange color when ripe.  Every person got to pick a box full of tomatoes to take with them.  They are pretty sweet and have a good flavor.  They also aren't too juicy, so they are easy to eat without making a mess.  I even ate a few straight off the vine.

We then left the farm and headed toward Sun Moon Lake.  In the area, we ate at a restaurant that is run by the Thao tribe of aboriginal Taiwanese.  After our meal we got to see a short demonstration of the traditional dance of the tribe.  After they showed us one dance, they brought up several volunteers to learn a dance.  I ended up being one of the volunteers!  They only showed us about three moves, but we only got to practice each one once before putting it all together.  I'm sure we all looked really silly, but it actually was pretty fun.

After lunch we had a one hour tour around Sun Moon Lake.  Sun Moon Lake is a popular tourist destination, especially for travelers from mainland China.  There are many ritzy hotels around the lake.  One important part of the area's history is that it was a vacation destination for President Chiang Kai-Shek (the same one whose memorial we visited at the beginning of the program).  It is also important because the first hydroelectric dam in Taiwan was built on Sun Moon Lake during the Japanese occupation.  After the tour we had about an hour and a half of free time to spend around the lake.  There really wasn't a whole lot to do, but a group of us got some really good gelato at one of the fancy hotels.  I had a scoop each of chocolate and tiramisu for approximately $3 US...it was fantastic.

Many of these bushes have been planted in an effort to attract more butterflies to the area.  There was originally a large and diverse butterfly population, but many were harvested and sold because of the popularity of butterfly products before conservation became a widespread concern.

Hilarious English translation

We then drove to the Shueli Wood Utilization Factory (another satellite of NTU), where we are staying for two nights.  By the time we got here, we had just a little while to settle into our rooms before dinner.   I think that the room is really pretty, and they are nicer than we had be warned to expect because last year towels were not provided but this year they are.  The bed feels more like a box spring than a mattress, but we have a refrigerator.  You win some, you lose some.

After dinner, we had an activity with the traditional Chinese puzzle toy called the Luben lock.  We each sanded and rubbed vaseline into the six wooden pieces of our toy to bring out the natural coloration of the wood.  We then were taught how to assemble the puzzle, and had a competition to see who could solve it the quickest.  It actually is a fairly tricky puzzle.  The top two quickest were promised a prize.  I wasn't fast enough to win, but I did at least learn how to put the puzzle together.

Today was also spent at the Wood Utilization Factory.  We began the day by visiting their exhibition hall, which was established in 2009.  It displays furniture and artwork made from Taiwanese wood products such as bamboo, Taiwan cypress, and cinamomum.  There were so many pretty pieces on display.

These two are photos of a traditional Chinese bed frame.

After visiting the exhibition hall, we were allowed to tour some of the factory itself.  We saw the machines for sharpening saw blades, several large saws for cutting plank, and even got to see a worker make a baseball bat and a rolling pin on a lathe.  These two items were the prizes for the winners of the Luben lock competition.  It was really crazy from an American perspective to see this factory because the workers were not wearing any sort of safety equipment like eye protection or anything, and they allowed us to walk right up next to the machinery.  It was something that would never be allowed in the US.

The majority of the day (from 11am to 5pm, minus one hour for lunch) was spent making our own stools.  Everyone sanded, polyurethaned, assembled, and glued tiles into the top of their stool.  We also got to have the stool engraved with the laser engraver.  I didn't actually assemble mine so that it will be easier to take home, but I'm not exactly sure how I am going to pack it!  It turned out really pretty though. :)

The final activity for the day was a movie viewing of a "How Stuff Works" episode from the Discovery Chanel about wood.  I love this show anyway, and thought that this particular program was really interesting.  It covered the qualities of wood that make it such an important resource, uses of wood, logging, tree farming, hybrid and genetically modified poplar breeding, and cellulosic ethanol.  I have learned about many of these topics before in my classes, so it was interesting for me to see the presentation of the information in a format designed for the general public.  I thought it was well done and accurate to my knowledge, so it affirmed my opinion on the quality and reliability of Discovery.