Shayla Rowley—Highland, Utah, Vocal Performance, Alto II

Another busy, yet exciting day in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. This morning we got up and ate breakfast in the hotel again. The food is so good here!

After that we headed to the elementary school for our service project. If we had done nothing but this the whole trip it would have been worth it! They were so nice to us when we got there. They gave us a little LED lamp all wrapped up and a packet of other papers and stuff.

Then we got split up in groups to go to the different classrooms. The school we went to was one with a bunch of kids who were affected by a major typhoon and had suffered many losses. We were there to play with them and help them as they learned English.

I was so excited to be in a group with [Michael] Potter and Janelle [Cramer] and even more excited to hear we were going to a kindergarten class! Words cannot describe how fun it was! The kids were SOO adorable! The first thing we did when we got there was read them a couple of stories. Then we taught them “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.” They were so darling as they repeated everything we said. After that we taught them “Duck, Duck Goose” and “Red Light, Green Light.” Some of the rules were lost in the communication, but we still had a blast and the kids seemed to love it anyway.

The funniest thing was how much they adored Potter! From the second we walked in the room they were swarming around him, learning his name and touching the bit of scruff on his face … one of the boys tried to feel for any scruff on my face after feeling Potter’s, unfortunately I’m not equipped with that. The kids were so enthusiastic and it was so hard to say goodbye to them, especially since half of them would not stop tackling Potter.

After we left that, we went to the auditorium and sang for some of the older kids. Once again, we became celebrities as we took pictures and played games with them. Later they even started having us sign our autographs on their pieces of paper! They were all so fun and adorable we couldn’t resist.

After a few hours in the hotel, we hit the road again for our first major performance. We went to the ShaoKang Youth Society Education Hall. After rehearsing for a bit, we had to rush over to a buffer somewhat nearby for a speedy quick dinner because we didn’t have much time before our performance.

The buffet was an all-you-can-eat style and it had the most random foods. There were waffles, noodles, meat, fruit, bread with peanut butter or Nutella, ice cream, a chocolate fountain and lots of other random stuff. It was really good though.
The performance was actually a lot of fun. At first there weren’t very many people there, but then after intermission it filled up a lot more. I think it’s so funny how they all start shouting “Encore! Encore!” after we finish, so we always have to sing another song.

After we finished we all got to go down and meet with them and take pictures and such. Zani [Wong] was so cute taking all the jumping pictures with the Asians. That will forever be her trademark. She absolutely loves jumping pictures no matter where we go.

So far, I love Taiwan! It has been a fabulous experience and I have learned so much! I am so thankful I can be here and I am looking forward to the rest of the tour!