Hey everyone!

So a lot has happened since the last blog two days ago so this is going to be a long blog so get ready! After the first official day of the conference, our delegation woke up bright and early to prepare for the first day of committee. We are representing Ukraine in seven different General Assembly Committees and an NGO. After the first committee session every committee had set their agenda and began discussing their topics. Some of our delegation had even started working with others in their committee to write down their ideas in working papers. We all met up and headed over to the same Chinese food court we ate at the first day to eat lunch and talk about how committee was going. It was exciting to hear about the topics everyone was talking about in committee and the the delegates from other places that everyone had met. After lunch we all headed back to committee for the second session where we continued to debate our topics and dive further into working papers, some committees were even able to produce draft resolutions to submit to the committee. A few of the topics that we are debating are The Yom Kippur War in the Historical General Assembly, reconciliation and justice after extreme violations of human rights in the Legal Committee, the Pakistani and Indian non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in IAEA, and rights of refugees in SOCHUM. Members of our delegation have jumped into each of their respective topics, contributing to debate and authoring working papers and draft resolutions.

The social event for that night was Chinese Lunar New Year. The Chinese celebration of their new year is a really exciting event and the World MUN team did a great job of showing all the delegates the high lights of this celebration. The venue for the event was the beautiful Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial. This event highlighted aspects of the Chinese Lunar New Year festitval through food and entertainment. Shown below is Will Warren trying out a Chinese form of entertainment whose name is unknown.

As the second day of committee began, most committees had a draft resolutions on the table to discuss and start adding amendments to. The each committee session has thus far been very productive and everyone has continued to work really hard. Below is a picture of the LEGAL committee as delegates worked to merge two working papers into one draft resolution to be presented to the body.

The second day of committee only consisted of one committee session, leaving us with time to explore Taipei. We decided to go back to the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial to explore it in the daytime and take some pictures. The Memorial was beautiful and the ground around it were gorgeous as well. Below is a picture of Kylie and Meredith in front of the Memorial.

After the memorial, the group set out on a search for Qipaos. The Qipao is the traditional Chinese dress, and the ladies in our delegation have been searching for a shop to buy one in since we got here. We were unable to find one until we finally asked the concierge and they pointed us in the right direction. Below is a picture of us in front of the store were several of us bought Qipaos or other traditional Chinese clothing.

The social last night was the Cabaret. We all got dressed up in cocktail dresses and suits and headed out for a night of dancing and a talent show consisting of delegations at World MUN. Below is a picture of some of us on our way to the Cabaret.

And that brings us to today. We had another good day of committee and a lot of committees are close to passing resolutions for their topics. It's exciting to be so close to the end of committee so that we can see all our hard work paid off in the form of the resolution. After our second committee session of the day, we met up at the hotel and then headed out for dinner. We are currently waiting for everyone to get back from dinner and are planning on going out to explore the city some more. That's all for now!

Good morning everyone!

It's Emily, Will Thomas, and Meredith coming to you live from the Grand Hyatt Taipei where we are currently getting ready to head out to our second day of committee! But before we go, we have a few updates for you guys.

Two nights ago, we went to the Shilin night market where we ate Chinese food from vendors in a large food market and then headed over to the night market. There were tons of shops and more food vendors in the market. It was a lot of fun walking around and seeing all the different types of things they were selling. You could probably find anything there there were so many different things! The food vendors in the market were selling traditional Chinese dishes as well as some more Western foods as well. One food that we couldn't seem to get away from while wandering the market was the stinky tofu. It smelled awful! Below is a picture of what a street in the night market looked like.

On Sunday morning we got up early and set off for the Jade market again. We got a little lost onthe way because Will Thomas absolutely HAD to go to the Patagonia store in Taipei, but eventually we found not only the Patagonia store but also the Jade Market. The market had lots of different Chinese items to haggle for and buy. Some of the things people purchased included bracelets, rings, wall hanging, scrolls, old Chinese money, and more! It is custom to haggle for the items you buy at this type of market and no one haggled better than Jessica. Not only was she able to haggle with them in Chinese, but the girl is ruthless. She was able to lower the price of a lot of items we were trying to buy by about half the price!

After the jade market, we all headed back to the hotel to get ready for opening ceremonies.

We headed over to opening ceremonies which were held at the beautiful Sun-Yet Sen Memorial Hall in Taipei. You can see the building in the picture below.

At the opening ceremonies, there were a number of guest speakers including the President of Taiwan! He spoke to us about the importance of Model UN and told us about Taiwan and it's role in the international community. In addition to the President, we also heard from the Mayor of Taipei, President of National Taiwan University, Secretary General Ami Nash, and President of Taiwan University's Model UN Club Jason. There was also a performance by a local high school group who did a traditional indigenous tribal dance. Below is a picture of the President of Taiwan as he was speaking.

Following opening ceremonies, we all headed to get dinner in the Taipei 101 food court where everyone enjoyed a meal to their liking. The food court not only has many Chinese food places, but also a few places with Western options as well. After dinner, we went to the first social event: Global Village. This was a chance for countries to showcase their country's food and drink for the other delegates. Schools that had signed up to host a booth set up their tables with food and drink from their countries to share with the other delegates. There was also a dance floor where delegates could come together and dance. Below is a picture of some of our delegation with none other than Secretary General Ami Nash and Jason!

Sorry to everyone who has been following this blog, as you can tell we are really behind! More updates on yesterday's committee sessions, social event, and life in general!

Zai Jian!

Ni Hao!

It's Emily, Meredith, and Kylie here blogging to you during our afternoon siesta.

Well we've made it. We are currently in Taipei, Taiwan. We got here late last night after about 25 hours of traveling. As you can see below, we had a long exhausting trip and we slept anywhere and everywhere we could get reasonably comfortable. We flew from Birmingham to Atlanta. From there, we embarked on a 14 hour plane ride to Tokyo, Japan. After a short layover in Tokyo we had another 4 hour plane ride to Taipei. From the airport, we got in taxis and they took us to the Grand Hyatt Taipei.

Thus far, our first day has been adventurous and wet. It is raining in Taipei but that hasn't stopped us from exploring the city. A group of us, consisting of the three of us, Will Thomas, and Tiffany explored the area around our hotel for a little bit and then ventured onto the MRT, Taiwan's metro system, to go to the Jade Market. We walked around the shops for a little bit and saw pretty much what you'd think you see in a Taiwanese market - and it was really awesome. We didn't buy anything there, but mostly because we've heard great things about the night market and want to conserve our money.

After the market we met up with Jackie. Kelcey, Jo Flo, and Will Warren. We found a food court nearby, so we went to check out some of the local cuisine. It was kind of intimidating because there was really know way to know what you were ordering, but most places had pictures, so we just pointed and smiled. This is how the conversation about food went with pretty much everyone:

"What are you eating?"

"I don't know."

"Is it good"

"Yes!"

Hopefully meals will continue to be so successful!

Update later after the night market!

Zai jian

T-2 Hours Until Departure

Ni Hao! Wo jiao Emily he Meredith.

We are sitting in Ridgecrest East. Local time: 2AM. Meredith is currently updating here Ipod and creating a playlist for the flight and I am of course sitting here bugging her. What flight you ask? Well a team of 12 delegates from AIRC, including myself and Meredith are headed over to Taiwan for World MUN. We are leaving this morning at 4:00 to go to the Birmingham airport. We will fly from Birmingham to Atlanta, from Atlanta to Tokyo, and from Tokyo to Taipei. The past few months have been exciting and busy for our delegation from organizing logistics for the trip to researching information for the conference. We will be representing Ukraine in a variety of committees and are eagerly anticipating some rousing debate.

OH BOY- we just got a visitor. Mr. William Thomas just walked in the room, keen on spending some crucial get together time with us before we meet up again in approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes with the rest of the group.

Wo men ai ni.