The Roving Reporter

Found: Chicago dinosaur...

Posted by: Amy Reiter

Tuesday, March 27, 2007 9:35 AM

Missing some Sue?

I've found the Field Museum's famous dinosaur right here in Taitung, Taiwan, in its National Museum of Prehistory on the east coast of the island.

It was yet another small-world moment to see her famous face -- or rather, skeleton -- so far away from home.

The museum itself was wonderful, describing tangibly the history of the animals, land and people of Taiwan. Here in Taitung county, there are seven of the 13 aboriginal populations, making it a hub of study about the aboriginal people.

We had a very interesting, full day. We woke early and traveled by train to the east coast of the country. The mountains were on one side of us, the ocean on the other, and me in the middle, stunned by the beauty around me.

At the Ginza Hotel, we met Rotarians from Taitung, a Champaign-sized city, and saw an elementary school that served as an education lab for a local university (kind of like Uni High with littler kids) and met the woman who is chairman of the county's board. She hopes to preserve the natural beauty of the area while also promoting business and tourism -- though it seems to me those goals may be inevitably at odds at times.

Then it was on to the museum, dinner and back home.

Also, my thanks to Dentist, a very kind Rotarian here in Taitung, who has been reading this blog and told me at tonight's Rotary meeting that my feet had been soaking in the South China Sea two days ago.

Tomorrow, we're supposed to have an afternoon off -- I can't wait to go for a bike ride and hit the beach! It'll be our first significant time off in a week and a half.

words of the day, part 2:
liu, qi, ba, jiu, shi = six, seven, eight, nine, 10

Amy

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