Styrofoam Igloo Construction

So, as I mentioned before, me and the other Canadians here in Taiwan (Mariah from Alberta and Kevin and Chris from BC) are planning our table for the Inbound Country Fair this Sunday. We orginally wanted to hijack the zamboni from Taipei Arena and build an igloo, but we only decided to do one: the igloo. Since we can't make one out of ice because it'll melt, we decided to go with styrofoam. I was put in charge of gathering styrofoam.

At first, it was really hard because I had no idea where the heck I was supposed to find styrofoam in Taiwan. I asked my teachers at school and they directed me to this totally bogus place. I was about to ask my host mom last Saturday when my cell phone rang. It was Ju, from Brazil. She wanted me to come to her school's aniversary party. SO I ended up asking my host mom if I could go there instead. I was allowed, so I went. It took about an hour by MRT to get there. Anyway, it was kind of like a Fun Fair. There were activities and entertainment and classes were selling food and stuff. Ju's class was selling ice cream and soft drinks with dry ice cubes, it was so cool! It looked like the drink was billowing steam, but it was so cold! But they had the ice cream in styrofoam containers! I asked if I could have them and they kind of looked at me strange then asked me why I wanted it. I explained and they laughed and let me have it only if I promised to send them pictures.

You wouldn't believe some of the looks I got on the MRT as I was going home with my arms piled high with styrofoam. My host mom's face was priceless when I walked in the door. But, like Ju's classmates, she laughed once I'd explained myself.

Yesterday, i brought it back on the bus and MRT to Culture Class. Mariah, Kevin and I stayed after class to build the igloo. Chris went ice skating with his host brother, so we were all jealous. But we bought all kinds of junk food and had a great time anyway. I also purchased an exacto knife at 711 to cut up the styrofoam boxes. I knew I was going to get injured sometime duing the evening. It went well while I cut up all 5 boxes. Then I started making them a little more straighter and Kevin told me to cut towards my friend and not my thumb, but I didn't hear him, so I looked up and the knife slipped and now I have this huge gash on my finger. The same one with the scar from camping last year. It hasn't stopped bleeding yet, so I'm a little freaked out. Mariah had a complete 'Dad' moment and was all, 'the igloo! The igloo! Don't get any blood on the igloo!' Luckily, I had some Spiderman band-aids in my bag, so I was able to clean it out and put one on once the bleeding had slowed down. If yoou look at my profile picture on facebook, you can see it.

After that, we were fine. But Kevin did all the cutting from then on. My host mom still hasn't said anything about my hand. I think she's used to me coming home with band-aids on.

It's still not quite finished. We're ging to be at Zhonglun High School early on Sunday so we can put the last touched on it. It's going to be so cool! I'll be sure to take lots of pictures. I can't wait!