There's A Buzz Throughout the City...

After much anticipation through billboards, bus panels, street banners - the 21st Summer Deaflympic Games have come (and gone) to Taipei! As I'm always on the lookout for inexpensive cultural experiences for myself and the kids, I dragged them out to watch a few events this week! It was fun to do something different and see something I've never seen before either! The Sports Arena area was really buzzing with lots of 'foreigners' and heaps of Taiwanese school kids - I love living in the capital city!!!

Tony met the five NZ athletes at a special welcome reception the week before the competition began. The Kiwi's won gold and bronze medals in karate which was very exciting!!!

We learned a new bus route (IKEA here we come!) and even had a new experience of riding on a wheelchair/stroller friendly bus. The driver didn't seem too experienced with the lift, but he managed alright... we had a lot more space and I didn't have to carry the double stroller down the stairs by myself - it was a great discovery! Too bad they're so sporadic.

The Sports Arena was all decked out for the big event... plus the gymnasium in the background looks like it had a fresh paint. The recently renovated Stadium looked cool from the outside - we may have to wait til next week before we get back over there to wander around.

We went to the events with our new(ish) friend Karen and her two kids, Sarah & Ethan. Thankfully the kids all got along and seemed to enjoy the games from the distance.

Sarah is a true flag-flying American - her dad will be so proud!

The city government or sports authority had arranged for different groups of school kids to support the different teams throughout each day... so it was pretty fun to see these large groups of 'cheerleaders' enjoying a day out of the classroom. The USA supporters took advantage of half-time to mingle with the crowd!

Hunter was pretty pleased when he realized this big thing blocking his view was actually a TV...

Badminton wasn't as user-friendly as the baskeball games, but the kids did get to see a different sport and they enjoyed it all.

Helena's a natural!!!

Hunter was inspired...

On Saturday morning, we took the kids on the backs of our bikes over to City Hall where we thought the cyclists would just take off and finish from... but to our delight the route was 50 times around the City Hall (which is almost 1 km per lap). So we were able to watch the competitors go around and around and around and around....

There was a Kiwi guy competing so Tony was keen to get out to watch and cheer! Poor guy - wearing all black in the morning heat!!! Part way through the event we noticed he'd unzipped part of his uniform - who'd blame him - it was already 30-something degrees by 9.30am!

Hunter appealing to his Kiwi side.

It was a fun morning out on the streets that are normally bustling with buses and scooters. We met up with Bob & Karen & the kids (then enjoyed brunch out) and bumped into our Aussie friends too - the Walkers.

Cycling was kind of easier to watch since the kids really could just roam around and the action was just right there in front of them - well, for a few seconds anyway...