Sara Not In Taiwan

Should a grown man wear Crocs?...Even if he is a nurse?

2009-05-08T21:43:00.000-07:00

So every Friday is jeans day at the office. Last week I walked past a co-worker's cubicle and noticed he was wearing bright lime green Crocs that perfectly matched his bright lime green shirt. Wow. When you see something like that...you think...well that's kinda'...I can't think of an appropriate word to put here...and you also feel bad because he has no one to direct his poor, misguided fashion choices. But it also prompted me to wonder...Which came first? Did he already own the lime green shirt and then bought lime green Crocs to match? Or was there a sale on Crocs and did he decide to find shirts that matched his new plastic shoes? Or is there a store that preys on poor unsuspecting souls by selling Crocs and matching shirts together? So many questions!!! Lastly, and most importantly, does he have more pairs of Crocs at home in a variety of colors with matching shirts?

Well, guess what? Today I got my answer!!! Purple shirt and purple Crocs!!!! WOW! What color will we see on the next Jeans Friday? Red? Blue? YELLOW?!!! I can hardly wait. Something to look forward to...

Okay...I just overheard a snippet of conversation that might shed some light on this. The co-worker in question just said, "I'm what they call a 'commando shopper'. I like to get in and get out before anyone knows I'm there." That's the problem!!! He didn't think about the consequences of his purchase and probably fell victim to some money grubbing retailer who put the Crocs and shirts together for all those "commando shoppers" who make rash decisions about clothing in order to get the shopping over with. "Do I want plastic shoes and a matching shirt in lime green or Barney purple? Why not both?!" Insanity. It's cruel really. If you are a 'commando shopper" and have suffered from similar fashion blunders, please know that I'm not totally making fun of you...I'm also concerned for your welfare...as I hope others are concerned for me and my daily, hideous fashion mistakes.

Another quote I overheard a co-worker say today:

"I can guarantee you that you're probably right." Well gee's- if you can guarantee that I'm probably right...

****5/11/09 Update****

Today it's a red shirt and orange Crocs!!! So he's mixing things up a little. And it's not even Jeans day!!! Wow...things are getting a little crazy around here.

****5/13/09 Update****

Today it's black Crocs with a red strap...

****5/14/09 Update****

Holy Crap!!! Today it's bright sunshine yellow Crocs!!! I'm a little disappointed that he's not wearing a yellow shirt to match but wow...those yellow plastic shoes sure stand out! My suspicions have been confirmed: He actually owns just about every color of the rainbow in those plastic orthopedic shoes that should only be worn by...wait should they really be worn by anyone?

I'm an auntie!

2009-04-07T22:28:00.000-07:00

Julia Hawker born 4/7/09
7 lbs. 3 oz.

I like her alot!

I love Sharpies!

2009-03-19T19:16:00.000-07:00

Okay so two weeks ago my friends Elizabeth & Angie drove all the way down to Phoenix with me to get my stuff that's been sitting in a storage unit since leaving for Taiwan over a year ago. Even though it's been years since I've hung out with my two best friends from high school and college...we were able to revert back to 17-year-old behavior and have way too much fun.

And now I have a bed to sleep in, towels, sheets, blankets, shoes, and a lot of other junk I've been living without.

How cool are they for helping me load up all my crap in the Arizona heat?

We fit it all in!

The weather was gorgeous, by the way, and I'm still kicking myself for leaving Arizona to live in cold and dismal Utah. I'll be back Arizona...some day.

After all our hard work, we lounged by the pool at the hotel and met friends for dinner at Benihana's that night.

Brody, Me, Linda & Sloan

Tanya & Noah

After dinner, we went with Brody to hang out at Aunt Chilada's where he MC's for open mike night, in addition to teaching guests the fine art of drawing facial hair on your hands.

Seriously, if you don't have one already, do yourself a favor and buy a Sharpie Marker...you won't regret it!

Crisis Averted

2009-02-21T10:13:00.000-08:00

Bethany has her baking certificate from the Art Institute of Phoenix. With these qualifications, it was only a matter of time before she was asked to teach the sisters in Relief Society how to make cream puffs. She's made them plenty of times before and always uses the tried and tested recipe she learned at baking school. But on the fateful day of the Relief Society class, my mom got a tragic phone call. Bethany had made several batches and her cream puffs just weren't puffing. She was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, so my mom and I took work off early and raced home to assess the situation. I half expected to find Bethany curled up in the fetal position on the floor, surrounded by flour and baking paraphernalia. She was holding on by a thread and had taken down the framed graduation picture in the living room that shows her accepting a diploma while wearing a chef's hat and jacket.

Indeed, her puffs were flatter than fritters.

With only a few hours to spare, we got down to business and googled another cream puff recipe. Mom raced to the store to buy more eggs & butter. Here I am with a fake smile on my face trying to look like Betty Crocker.

My cream puffs definitely did not look as professional as Bethy's.

Teamwork

Filling the puffs...

If you look in the lower left hand corner of this picture, you can see Bethany's graduation picture.

In the end, Bethy's Relief Society cream puff class went off without a hitch and her graduation picture is back on display in the living room.

Ta-Da!!

It's been too long...

2009-02-16T21:26:00.001-08:00

Facebook is amazing!!! I just had the best night hanging out with two of my long lost friends from highschool. It was like we couldn't talk fast enough, there was so much to catch up on. I monopolized way too much of the conversation but I was so excited to see them again, I couldn't shut up. We've already got road trips to Phoenix and adventures in Vegas forming into plans and all because of Facebook. I just have to put in a plug for my friend ELIZABETH's amazing writing. Now I have another awesome blog to read.

All the single ladies!!!

2009-02-14T00:00:00.000-08:00

Womanizer...

To see Noah drop it like it's hot, click here. The boy's got rhythm.

2009-02-10T19:08:00.000-08:00

Who goes to Ohio on vacation in the dead of winter? We do.

And who drives 7 hours to to see Niagara Falls in a blizzard? That would be us.

Steve apparently did not get his fill of roach-infested hostels in Thailand & Taiwan so he booked us accommodations at the lovely YMCA in Buffalo, New York.

"Smells like something other than Oxygen."

We realized Steve was the only one who remembered to bring his passport, so the next day we went to the Niagara Falls library next door (how convenient) to print out our birth certificates (how extremely convenient I actually had my birth certificate saved on the thumb drive I just happened to have with me).

We crossed the border into Canada...

No trip would be complete without some of Joseph's bogus commentary...

We went underground behind the Falls....

and walked through a snow storm to check out the Hershey store.

Nobody would give in to my begging to switch to a hotel instead of the YMCA for the night so I filmed my own ransom video accusing Jessica, Joseph, & Steve of holding me captive.

It was still snowing a lot as we crossed back over the border and I made Steve run across the bridge yelling "Merry Christmas Bedford Falls!" With a little coaching, he still sounded nothing like Jimmy Stewart.

Anyone else would have been relentlessly ridiculed and chastised for exposing their feet to the elements...but not Jessica...she wore these shoes all day...in the freezing cold wind and snow...in Canada...in January...ouch

Denny's napkin ninja

I persuaded everyone to stop at Denny's for dinner with ulterior motives to get a room at the Days Inn next door. My persistence paid off and that night I slept in a soft warm bed that didn't require a ladder to get into.

The following day, we went to church in Kirtland and made the long drive back to Columbus. At this point, I had come down with one of the worst head colds I've ever had in my life and was so congested I could barely breathe.

On Monday, we waited for Joseph to get done with class and then we went out for Italian. They tell me the food was good...I couldn't taste anything.

Joseph took us on a tour of the beautiful Ohio State campus. Go Buckeyes!

If you don't want to hear anymore whining, you're gonna' want to stop reading here.

We were supposed to be getting on a plane in a few hours and the decongestant I took wasn't working. We got to the airport and found out our NW flight had been cancelled and the airline wouldn't put us up for the night. I was so sick, I decided to just get a room instead of waiting for hours at the airport with Steve & Jessica until a ride could be found to take us back to Joseph's. Way too early the next morning, I boarded a plane that sat for an hour at the terminal while they worked on electrical problems. We finally took off and my head felt like it was going to explode the entire flight. As we descended into Dallas, there was so much pressure, it felt like I had knives stabbing into both ears and I could hear high pitched squeaking noises coming out of them. The delay caused me to miss my connecting flight to Salt Lake and I had to wait at the Dallas airport for a few more hours until the next flight out. Hate to end this on a bad note so I'll just make up some stuff...I finally made it home to Salt Lake and was whisked away in my limo as dozens of paparazzi tried to snap photos of my famous face and red, congested nose. I can't believe you actually read this far and listened to my whining. You're a real trooper.

2009-01-17T16:38:00.001-08:00

We played a rousing gift exchange game and I just have to say, my Ikea cheese graters were hot ticket items.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-04T08:32:00.000-08:00

After all my blogs about Taiwan, I hate to make anyone read about the boring details of my life in Utah, but...Santa brought me a camera, so now you can at least look at pictures.

And...
JESSICA'S BACK IN AMERICA!!!! And even though we're not crashing scooters or figuring out how to read Chinese symbols as we wander around huge foreign cities, we're still tryin' to raise a ruckus!!

Throughout our stay in Taiwan, we went on a lot of crazy shopping spree adventures and longed for the day when we could just shop again in a good old American Target.

That day has come... Oh Target...how we love thee...

It's New Year's Eve and Jessica's got her Vogue pose on!

After getting all gussied up, we went down town to the JSM building to meet up with Steve and watch his Kristin do some Scottish dancing...the girl is amazing!

Then Steve had to steal the spotlight and do some dancing of his own with his cute mom.

Later, Jess & I walked around Temple Square.

Then we went to the Gallivan Center for First Night. (Shouldn't it be called Last Night since it's the last night of the year?) There was ice skating, musicians, a hypnotist, long lines for hot chocolate, huge crowds, and dropping temperatures.

There were art installations made from recyclable materials like this globe made out of plastic water bottles.

We almost froze to death but we made it to the fireworks show at midnight.

New Year's Day Jess helped me move my 3 suitcases and air mattress to a new place. Someday I'll get to move my stuff up here from Arizona so I don't have to keep living like a hobo.

We were looking around my new place when what to our wondering eyes should appear but A Train to Potevka (a book we read in Taiwan on recommendation from Joseph).

Then we went shopping at IKEA and tried out the furniture.

After a long day of shopping, we came home, Jessica made some awesome Sesame Chicken and peanut sauce, then we read this guy's hilarious blog...I love it.

More american adventures to come as we get ready for a trip to Ohio in the dead of winter...

2008-12-11T22:59:00.000-08:00

I don't know who this guy is, but I ran across his blog and was laughing so hard, I had tears streaming down my face.

2008-11-11T17:14:00.000-08:00

Can I possibly look any more ridiculous? The answer is yes, because there were dozens of pictures taken that are just as bad if not worse than this one, but I won't subject you to them. Since all of my friends in Taiwan appear to have been supermodels in another life, it's kinda' scary when you see this train-wreck standing next to their spectacularlousness. Apparently, I'm hoping in this picture that by wearing a princess tiara, you won't notice my ginormous forehead bandage. Is it working?

Anyway, I'm finally gonna' attempt to finish blogging about our trip. The day after the accident on Green Island, we boarded the Vomit Barge and headed back to Taiwan. I got a lot of stares from locals who were probably thinking, "There goes another crazy tourist who shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a scooter." As our boat pulled away from the dock, we realized Lorin, Tammy, and Whitney hadn't made it on board and we wondered if we would ever see them again as Green Island faded into the distance.

I managed to stay vomit free this time around by keeping a steady eye on the horizon- which isn't easy when you're holding onto the railing for dear life (with only one arm because your other arm is in a cast) as the waves toss the boat back and forth and people are slamming into each other all around you.

When we reached the shore, we made arrangements at the bus station to give a message to our lost friends telling them where to meet up with us in Kenting. Here's Jessica and Mary on one of our many stops as we wait for transportation to our next destination.

This is the inside of the old train we took on our way to Kenting. Colby seems awestruck by the fans that are somehow supposed to keep us cool since there was no air conditioning.

After a long, hot train ride, Lorin, Tammy, and Whitney miraculously caught up with us and we all boarded a bus to Kenting together. Hours later, we checked into our hostel and had dinner at this great pizza place.

That night, we found a new roommate hanging out in our room. I think I named him Kirby- but that could have been another roach...we met several throughout our trip...it's hard to keep them all straight.

Jessica resumed her nightly ritual of redressing her mangled leg wounds.

And I continued my ritual of wrapping a plastic bag around my cast every time I took a shower or every time it rained.

And it rained a lot. The next day we rented scooters and did some hiking and sight-seeing. Because of our injuries, Jessica and I opted out of going to the beach with everyone else but I'm hoping that maybe someday I'll get to go back and see Kenting's beautiful beaches.

Here's a picture of our room at the hostel.
Eleven people for three days...in a room smaller than than your average hotel room...priceless.

On Sunday, we all got ready for church and rode our scooters to a branch just north of Kenting.

Did I mention my friends all look like supermodels? Hello!
Beautiful girls.

After church, our Taiwanese friend, Nick took us sight-seeing in the area.

Then he took us to meet his friend Tommy who let us hang out at this little resort.

Apparently, some people think it's funny to dump a dirty towel on a poor, defenseless cripple and take a picture. Now who in their right mind would do such a thing?

Nice.

As usual, total strangers came up to Steve and Joseph asking in broken English if they could get pictures taken with them.
Poor guys- it must be rough. How come nobody wants a picture of a weirdo with a band aid on her forehead?

Tommy took us around to some beautiful spots in Kenting.

Tommy and Nick.

At the end of our stay in Kenting, Emily, Colby, Mary, & I headed back to Feng Yuan while everyone else went to Alishan for a few days. I went to the hospital to have a doctor cut a slit in my cast so that my fingers didn't explode.

Mango Ice. Love it. Crave it.

The next day, the four of us headed to Taipei. This is our room at the Happy Family Hostel. That afternoon, we were all exhausted and decided to take a nap. Apparently, we left the door unlocked and while we were sleeping, some guy came in our room and was getting something out of the closet. Colby woke up, assessed the situation, made an executive decision not to care, and went back to sleep. I don't know why but we thought it was hysterical when he told us about it later- Had to be there, I guess.

While in Taipei, we went to the top of the tallest building in the world- Taipei 101. This is the damper baby.

We went shopping at a huge night market and bought (among other things) these cool spiral potato chips on a stick made from one potato.

We also took a tour of the famous Chinese National Palace Museum.

Hopefully, one of these days, I'll get around to posting the pictures of the next leg of our trip in Thailand.

Green Island

2008-09-10T07:00:00.000-07:00

Okay- I guess it's finally time to bite the bullet and write my last blog about Taiwan. I would love to keep blogging after this but since my life has become drastically dull here in America, there's not much to blog about except for tedious job hunting.

ANYWAY, here it is...the final days of my fabulous, fun-filled adventures in Asia!

June 23rd: We're finally all packed up and ready to leave. I stocked up on motion sickness medication because I knew the ferry to Green Island was going to be rough. Jessica and I had a little too much fun making commercials for the little box of pills I bought. Bomit...don't vomit!

It took me several tries to get through the commercial...on the last take you can see the mascara streaks running down my face from laughing so hard. Yeah, I'm a dork...

We started our trip with dinner at the toilet restaurant. They serve your food in little toilets, bathtubs, and sinks...lovely.

Then we went shopping... you know how sometimes you get on an elevator and forget to hit a floor...

We had booked our trip with this high-strung South African guy named Eddie who took us to the bus stop and lectured us on sunscreen and driving safely on our scooters- "I don't want to get a call from the clinic- there's only one doctor on the island and he's always drunk." Remember Eddie's advice...it'll come up later in this blog.

It was kind of a rough night...the all-night bus had no air-conditioning, but we finally reached our destination the next morning. Most of us took a motion-sickness pill and we boarded the ferry. Not long after the ferry pulled out, I could hear people all around me retching. The boat was equipped with plenty of plastic barf bags and I soon joined my co-passengers in emptying the contents of my stomach. The Bomit medication definitely did not work. I got up and a steward wearing rubber gloves was ready and waiting to take my bag from me. He gave me two more empty bags and I headed outside for some fresh air where Tammy and Lauren were looking green and leaning over the railing. Joseph was gloating on how unaffected he was by the non-stop rocking motion of the waves. I got my revenge on him when I tossed my cookies over the railing and missed. Joseph accidentally put his hand on the railing and got a lovely surprise. Oops. Too much information? Here's the evidence on my shirt...disgusting...

If you ever get a chance to read the Lonely Planet Travel Guide for Taiwan, look up what it says about the "Vomit Barge". I'm lucky I survived.

We arrived at the island, rented scooters, and spent the day on the beach. That night, we ate dinner at a Taiwanese Barbecue...

We sang karoake and got a standing ovation from the Taiwanese tourists there.

We came home and found this gianormous spider in our bathroom...

Then, we gave Joseph some dreads...

He had some bad hair and a headache the next morning.

Green Island was amazing!!! We rode our scooters around the small island, swam and played on the beach, snorkeled, sat under the stars in the natural hot springs, and laughed our guts out in the hotel every night.

Then, tragedy struck! On our third day in paradise...while riding our scooters along the beautiful coastal road, I wrecked my scooter into a wall. These are the sunglasses I was wearing when my head hit the pavement.

I got eight stitches above my right eye and broke my left wrist.

It turns out that the only doctor on the island isn't always drunk- Here he is putting a cast on my broken arm.

Poor Jessica was on the back of the scooter and the pavement tore up her leg and foot. I'll forever be sorry for putting her through all that...she's one tough cookie.

With only one functioning arm...I was pretty useless, but I had a ton of help from all my personal assistants. I couldn't reach my head to do my hair and make up so from here on out... all the pictures of me are scary... Humidity is not my friend. I felt like Monica on that episode of Friends when her hair frizzes out into an enormous afro. Sad.

Try this at home... bend perpendicular to the wall, lift the chair, and try to stand up. Guys' center of gravity isn't in their hips so they can't stand up, but girls can...

That's it for now...There's lots more, so stay tuned for the second half of our trip to Thailand...elephants, kayaking, wild monkeys, hill tribe villages, and snorkeling...all with a broken arm!

Family

2008-08-21T12:33:00.000-07:00

I've tried to put a finger on why the last six months was so great. I think what I'll miss most about Taiwan is:

Laura's calm and easy-going personality

Tammy's energy and excitement for life

Whitney's cute laugh and genuine interest in whoever she's talking to

Yelling at Steve for driving me crazy and then laughing with Steve for driving me crazy

Laughing my guts out with Jessica and her ability to make anything out of nothing

Listening to Joseph's music and reading anything he writes

Feeling Mary's honest expressions of love and concern for all of us

Somehow the stars aligned just right to put together a group of people that became like a second family to me. I miss being able to walk into any room and find someone to talk, laugh, and play with. Taiwan could have been just another adventure, but living with such a great combination of fun and amazing people was truly a miracle. They let me into their lives and wormed their way into my heart and I couldn't help but get really attached. I will miss being able to talk to, learn from, and see them everyday. It's hard saying good-bye to a way of life as a family especially when there's more than one family you're losing.

Graduation

2008-06-21T02:05:00.000-07:00

It's all over... we survived.... Saturday was graduation for the basic reading and 6th grade classes. All of these pictures are courtesy of Steve or Mary since I don't have a camera anymore.

The kids performed both Chinese and English musical numbers for graduation. This dragon dance was awesome.

These are our youngest kindergartners Oscar, Dream, Yvonne, and Sky. They are so cute- we can't get enough of them. Yvonne can't stop giggling whenever she sees Joseph and Steve...it's hilarious.

We love our kindergartners...

Here's Stanley as the cutest bunny rabbit I've ever seen. He still likes to tell me, "I don't want sit by you!"

These are Joseph and Laura's cute kindergarten basic readers. The amazing Mr. Joseph actually choreographed most of the song and the kids love it. It's fun to watch how much they get into the song.

We took this picture of my basic reading class just before we realized they were performing next and no one had their dwarf costumes on. Somehow we got everyone dressed and made it just in time!

They sang and danced to Whistle While You Work with brooms and mops. This is Sunny in her dwarf costume.

Here's my class waiting to get their diplomas.

The last number was put on by all of the teachers...but we don't have any pictures of it. We acted out the song, The Lion Sleeps Tonight and Steve was the Lion. The kids loved it.

I don't think I've ever seen Chris (a student in my Basic Reading class) display very much emotion... but after graduation he was really crying. The thought crossed my mind that maybe he got in trouble and was actually crying over some corporal punishment inflicted on him- but his parents said he was really sad and asked me to take a picture with him. It just amazed me that he was this distraught over school ending...wow...who knew?

This is Peggy- another one of my students who graduated on Saturday.

There is a wall at Berhan that has the pictures of each group of teachers that have come here. This is the picture that will be posted on that wall at Berhan to be viewed for years to come by future Berhan teachers.

After graduation, we all went out to eat a huge Taiwanese meal courtesy of Frances and Gerald (the owners of the school).

This is Fennie- one of the new secretaries this semester. We loved getting to know her and hate saying goodbye. She's a lot of fun.

Gloria and Peggy are two more secretaries who work at our school. The amazing Gloria took time out of her busy schedule to show us how to make dumplings...they were sooooo good! She is amazing!!!

We've had a fun weekend reminiscing, packing, having a huge potluck with whatever was left of the food in the kitchen, and playing murder in the dark on the top floors of our building. Tomorrow we're off on our ten day trip around Taiwan and then it's another ten days in Thailand. I'll be home July 15th. This six months went by so fast...I just hope I survive the separation from this awesome family we've become. We've had way too much fun here... the next 3 weeks are going to be awesome...so long as we don't get rained out...typhoon season is here...

My 33rd Birthday!!!

2008-06-16T08:15:00.000-07:00

So I went to the beach last weekend and somehow didn't make it home with my camera... I don't know what's wrong with me but I can't stop losing things...first my Ipod, now this... I have no pictures of the beach or our trip to the water park last week. Luckily, Steve took a ton of pictures of my birthday and I managed to drag the celebration out for three days.

I'll start with Friday: the day before my birthday. This is a typical scene where we're sitting and talking around the table at lunch just before class (we're all matching because we gotta' wear our Berhan shirts every Friday).

I made these "swimming pool" cupcakes to give to my classes to celebrate my birthday.

For some reason, people here don't like a lot of sugar in their desserts but it seems like they put sugar in everything else that you wouldn't normally want sweetened like beans and soup and mayonnaise. After eating these cupcakes, my kids asked me why Americans always use so much sugar. Wow...really? Kids that don't like sugar...

Friday night, I waited 'till midnight to open my birthday package from my family:

My awesome mom sent all kinds of fun party favors... princess party hats, rings, a pin the tail on the donkey game, balloons, and these awesome rhinestone and gold grills:

Saturday: My Birthday!

We met our students at the movie theater and went to see Prince Caspian. We all wished we had our cameras but no one did...so no picture.

It rained all day so instead of going out to eat that night, we decided to order pizza and blend up some fruity mocktail drinks...

Mocktails!!!

Joseph (president of the birthday committee) designed an amazing card for my birthday...even though the idea for the card came from his need to ridicule these camouflaged shorts I own.

I even received this camouflaged shirt and a camouflaged sewing kit so that if I ever want to disappear in the jungle...I'm completely equipped...

We were all too full of pizza, mocktails, and s'mores to eat birthday cake so we saved it for Sunday after church:

Jessica (the culinary artist) made THE MOST amazing almond, coconut, and mango cake! It was fabulous!!!

The celebration culminated in a rousing game of pin the tail on the donkey.

Every body keeps telling me 33 is going to be a great year...but I don't know how it could possibly beat 32...

We're winding down now and getting ready to leave. This is our last week of teaching and next Monday we're headed off on a ten day trip around Taiwan. Then it's another ten day trip to Thailand before we fly home. I'm sad because Jessica has decided to stay another six months and I'm feeling a little jealous that she is staying and I'm not...but on the other hand, I'm excited to get back to America where everything is familiar and I can read signs and labels and actually communicate with people.

Case in point: How in the world do you find fabric dye in a place where you can't read or speak the language? In America, this would be no problem, but here, finding just about anything can be a struggle.

I wanted to do tie-dye shirts with my class to wear for the Olympic events we're having this week. I actually got my kids to bring in t-shirts...but when I looked for dye in the stores, I couldn't find it...I have no idea if they even sell it here and I don't even know where to look. Some stores have a craft section but I haven't been able to find any kind of fabric dye. So, I resorted to dying the shirts with food coloring...unfortunately, the food coloring will probably bleed and turn all my sweaty little students into Smurf's...so much for that idea...I tried...

Lukang

2008-06-01T06:06:00.000-07:00

Okay- I lied...I might still make time to post a few more blogs...I lost my hair gel in Taipei last week and have spent the week trying to cope with frizzy Taiwan hair resulting from the really wet weather here- it's typhoon season. Yesterday we went to Lukang. It was raining and my hair frizzed out of control...it was so bad, Steve pointed out that my hair looked like the crazy girl on the billboard above me...that's nice.

I had never been to Lukang before so Steve and Joseph played tour guide. This video is long but it shows the level of quality they put into the tours they give...

We each bought one of these lanterns from this famous lantern painter.

This wooden shoe place is awesome: You pick out the color you want, they fit it to your feet and then they make your shoes for you right there.

I bought two pair.

The boys waited patiently while my shoes were being made. At one point, I looked over and they were staring at something with a look of shock and bewilderment on their faces...turns out they were looking at a little old lady and trying to figure out if she was a man or woman...is that really necessary?

Taiwan fashion at its finest...

I caught Steve red-handed with one of my fries hanging out of his mouth.

Sorry- this is gross but Steve said it needed to be documented and insisted on taking the picture. Last week I was running down the beautiful little bike trail that I love...enjoying the gorgeous trees and sunny weather...when I tripped and completely biffed it into the ground. After sliding face down on the pavement, I got up and thought...'wow- that was embarrassing- I'm surprised I'm not bleeding anywhere'...until I looked at my thumb. It was dripping with blood. I think the side of my thumb caught most of the weight of my fall because the skin was ripped off the whole side of my thumbnail- gross, I know...sorry. And my mom says scooters are dangerous...

I'm the one who's dangerous.

It's almost over...

2008-05-29T07:30:00.000-07:00

I don't think I have time to blog anymore. With only a few more weeks left of school and a ten day trip around Taiwan followed by a ten day trip to Thailand, we've got a lot to do to get ready before going home. We're busy planning a week of Olympic events for the kids during the last week of school, filling out progress reports, and practicing songs for the kids to perform for parents at graduation.

Anyway, I don't know if I'll be blogging very much after this but here's a random collection of what I've been up to over the past few weeks. Sometimes people walk around barefoot here. Sometimes we see construction guys working in their bare feet. I was trying to get this barefoot construction guy's picture without him knowing.... oops- he caught me...

We love going to the morning market. There are vendors on the street with tubs of fish and eels swimming around and all kinds of weird meats hanging out in the open for sale. I love how there's a lady hacking up a fish and right next to her are booths selling jewelry and clothes.

We went to see some wild monkeys at a monkey preserve...

Then two weeks ago, we went to a rock concert to see a Taiwanese band called Mayday.
Before the concert, Jessica and I went to a hair salon because for about $7 you can get an amazing 20 minute shoulder and head massage and your hair shampooed and styled. I'm addicted...
Here we are sporting our Taiwanese hair styles before the concert.

Green guy...

Here's the whole gang in the lounge, watching a movie...You can see the popcorn Destiny dumped on the floor... everybody was ticked but she made brownies to make up for it.

We're actually watching National Treasure II right now as I'm writing...

So anyway, I may or may not be blogging for awhile... you can check out the other teacher's (my peeps) blogs but they probably don't have time to blog either...

Kindergarten Activity

2008-05-04T04:47:00.000-07:00

Saturday our school put on an activity for all the kindergartners and their parents. We rode bikes, played games, and ate food.

It's rare that all 13 of us are together in the same place at the same time so I love that we have this picture.

This is Gloria, Owen, and Sami. Gloria is one of our awesome school secretaries and I get to teach both Owen and his older sister Sami.

The secretaries taught the kids this dance to perform for their parents.

The secretaries also did this clothespin activity with the kids.

Sharon decided to show us how high her pain tolerance level is...she's pretty hard core.

Steve didn't know that when you're blowing up a plastic toy, you have to pinch it to get the air inside. It's pretty funny watching the anticipation on Oscar's face while Steve is about ready to pass out, not wanting to disappoint.

Teresa can't get enough of Mr. Joseph...

Playin' with bubbles...

Who knew pulling people around on palm fronds could be so fun?

I don't know why I always have to take video while riding on moving vehicles...maybe I just can't get enough of hearing my mom telling me to be careful. But this makes me laugh and apparently Steve and Joseph were discussing behind us how funny it would be if I wrecked and landed in the water-filled field to the right. Nice...

I forgot to mention that last week Elder Scott came and spoke to our stake and we sang in Chinese with the stake choir. It was great to hear him speak and even though I know I butchered the Chinese, it was fun trying to learn the words.

Peter Pan Field Trip

2008-05-01T21:48:00.000-07:00

This week in kindergarten, the school took all the kindergartners to see a performance of Peter Pan at a nearby community theater. To get ready, we made pirate eye patches in art.

These are our mean pirate faces.

Here's a little snippet from the show...it was all in Chinese but fun to watch.

Steve's goal is to have 2,000 hits on his blog before we leave Taiwan so here's a link to his blog with more about our Peter Pan week. He and I share the morning kindergarten art class and had fun making pirate paraphernalia all week...except for my attempt at making Captain Hook's hooks out of play dough...that was kind of a disaster...fortunately, there are no pictures to prove it.

Andrea Bocelli Concert

2008-04-25T04:47:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, we had an awesome weekend. My favorite part was throwing a frisbee around in the park with Jess, Steve, and Joe. The weather has been gorgeous...just gotta' soak it up before it gets really hot here.

That night, Tammy, Whitney, Laura, Jessica, Gloria (one of our Taiwanese secretaries) and I went out to eat at a little Italian restaurant that actually has some pretty good food. It's hard to find anything close to American/Italian in Taiwan but Amici's is probably as close as we're going to find around here.

After that, we headed to an Andrea Bocelli concert in Taichung. It was his first concert ever in Taiwan and it was amazing.

I'm not sure why I feel the need to put this video on here except to show what it's like getting around on our scooters. And to show off Jessica'smad driving skills.

The concert was at an outdoor baseball stadium.

Later this week, the girls and I decided to go shopping since I'm told some people are sick of seeing the same clothes on certain people all the time. I won't mention names. Anyhoo...Taiwanese fashion is a sight to behold. Mary decided to educate the public on Taiwanese fashion and I feel the need to do the same...

For the record...I think these pants should be classified as child-abuse.

One of my students came to class wearing these pants...poor kid. And now I'm making it worse by sharing this with the world.

Oh- another blog-worthy note is that Jessica and I splurged and bought this crazy durian fruit from a fruit market. We assembled some major hardware to get the thing open.

Inside was this slimy white stuff that I thought tasted okay but everybody else thought was disgusting. Then it stunk up our fridge and I got grossed out and had to throw it out.

The end.

The "Man-ship"

2008-04-13T07:02:00.000-07:00

There is never a dull moment around Steve and Joseph. Friday night, I accepted an invitation to take an inside peek into the obscure lives of the only two male teachers at our school and find out how they're coping with all the attention and adoration showered on them everyday while living and working with 11 girls and several Taiwanese secretaries.

Unfortunately, my efforts to blend in and fully be accepted into their exclusive club failed when I accidentally dumped a cup of ice water into Joseph's lap at KFC. Oops.

Despite my faux pas...I was allowed to continue observing the subjects in an attempt to better understand a phenomena recently named the "man-ship". My findings were both educational and surprising.

After dinner, subject A (hereafter referred to as "Steve") wanted to look for T-shirts at a nearby clothing retail facility known as The Net.

Both subjects were not only willing to wear the same shirts in public, but also purchased matching shirts and then proceeded to shop for shoes. I'm pretty sure these two guys wouldn't be caught dead exhibiting this type of behavior in their natural American habitat, but the effects of living in Taiwan with a colony of women is clearly evident. Although my findings are inconclusive, it is safe to say that the "man-ship" phenomenon is a means of survival here and that more observation and research will not be necessary unless I really have nothing else to blog about.

To read more about this strange occurrence click here.

Taipei

2008-04-06T01:36:00.000-07:00

Friday was Tombsweeping Day and we had the day off. They let the cemetaries here get overgrown with weeds and vines and then once a year in April, they sweep and clean the tombs of their ancestors.

Anyway, because we got the day off, we planned a trip to Taipei. We stayed in the temple housing for people who come from out of town to go to the temple. After doing a session on Friday, we headed out for dinner in Taipei.

We found out there was a Macaroni grill near the Taipei 101 Tower so we rode the MRT down-town and walked around until we found it. It was the best meal ever!!!

After that, we had so much fun walking around and shopping. There were a lot of street performers and fun things to see. The weather was perfect!

I don't think we can go to Taipei without getting icecream at Cold Stone Creamery....sooo good!

Later, we hit one of the best night markets I have been to since being in Taiwan...can't wait to go back. I bought this fun watch for just $200NT ($6). Jessica approved my purchase since I can't make decisions on my own and Mary has declared it universally awesome since both she and Jessica like it.

The next day we decided to hike Elephant Mountain. Here's Laura and a view of Taipei 101.

Joseph & Jessica boldly forging new frontiers.

We walked all the way from up here to the 101 Tower where we met up with Steve for lunch.

On the way, we found this fun little park with a rock climbing wall where Jessica and Joseph showed their climbing prowess.

Sun Yat San Memorial

You know you wish you had a picture doing this...

While waiting for the train on our way home, a guy walked up and asked us if we were Mormon. He waved to his friend to come over and she introduced herself to us. We talked to them for a few minutes and they asked if they could get a picture with us. This is Esther on the left...she was really sweet. I swear, there are Mormons everywhere here. I am loving Taiwan way too much and am kind of dreading the day I have to come home and go back to the "real world". Only 3 more months left...

Freedom!

2008-04-01T01:21:00.000-07:00

There's a park nearby that has stairs up the side of this mountain where I like to go hiking. One day, I'm minding my own business, walking up the stairs, when I look up and see someone's bare hiney. Up ahead is some guy standing there swinging his arms back and forth with his pants around his knees. Is this normal? Do Taiwanese people like to do Tai Chi in the mountains in the nude? I spun around and bolted back down the stairs. This is a public park with lots of people and children around so...anyway...I haven't been back to that park since.

In other news, I'm done with riding the bus!!!! Jessica and I became the proud new owners of a Fuzzy 150cc scooter. Last week we went to Taichung and met up with this sketchy Canadian (I figured he's Canadian because he says aboot instead of about). We test drove a couple of his scooters. He handed me this crazy helmet and I couldn't resist the Power Ranger photo-op.

Go Go Power Rangers!

Luckily, Jessica and I decided not to pay the $18,000 he wanted for his scooter. Instead, we bought this scooter from Destiny for $11,000. Saturday was our first day of freedom! We christened our new mode of transportation with a fun-filled day of shopping in Taichung!

On our way around town, we saw this guy making a brave fashion statement by wearing a dog purse. I had to take the picture on the sly. Oh- and the dog was wearing a SARS mask.

Had to take a picture of these yummy fruit drinks - they were to die for! I love having a scooter and being able to go eat and shop anywhere I want!

I also love living on the top floor and having access to the roof. Especially when it's raining.

Easter Dinner

2008-03-30T00:26:00.000-07:00

Steve and Joseph can complain all they want about having to live with eleven girls, but give them the chance to do something like create a table center piece and they are all over it.

For Easter Sunday, I cut some kiwi to look like little Easter baskets and decided it would be fun to make a table center piece for Easter dinner. I jokingly told Steve to go find some flowers. Five minutes later the boy turns up with a bouquet of flowers he picked outside. Hello! I hired him on the spot!

Then I enlisted Joseph's help in constructing a bunny out of a hard-boiled egg.

The egg was still a little raw inside so, Joseph had to deal with some bunny leakage on his hand, but he pulled through it.

My proteges hard at work.

Look at that attention to detail!

Steve even came up with the idea to use some bed sheets for the table cloth (we're in Taiwan...we have to improvise).

A good time was had by all...

Oh and a shout out goes to my mom and dad for sending me a fabulous Easter package.
They don't celebrate Easter here but our school had planned a big Easter party for the kids. I realized an hour before the party that I needed to fill up 120 water balloons for the balloon toss. Fact: One out of every 3 Taiwanese balloons has a hole in it or completely malfunctions. But amazingly, my Easter package filled with 'Made in America' candy was delivered just in time for the party. Oh and they also sent me a TON of gum! Yay! The gum here lasts about two seconds and for some strange reason, a lot of the gum is cough drop flavored. Anyway, the balloon toss was fun but I forgot my camera so all I have is a picture of me and my gum.

Sun Moon Lake

2008-03-21T10:00:00.000-07:00

Saturday we went on a branch trip to Sun Moon Lake. Our first stop was a tour of the Chung Tai Chan Monastery.

We saw some amazing statues and monks and nuns with shaved heads and long robes.

This was our nun tour guide.

This is the first Patriarch of Chinese Chan Buddhism, Bodhidharma

At the end of the tour, they gave us flowers to make an offering to this Buddha that represents "the transformation Buddha."

We stopped at the Wenwu Temple overlooking Sun Moon Lake.
This is a picture of the Year of Steps at Wenwu Temple. There are 366 steps representing each day of the year. You can buy a wind chime at the temple where the temple workers pass it through incense and then you can write your wishes on it and hang it next to your birthday.

My birthday!!!

Joseph goofing off on the top of the Wenwu Temple.

Tzuen Pagoda

Walking up the spiral staircase inside the pagoda.

View from the top of the pagoda.

drumming

Later, we ate at this restaurant and Tammy is my new hero for being gutsy enough to eat a fish eyeball.

I miss my I-Pod

2008-03-14T17:38:00.000-07:00

I lost my I-Pod. I am very sad. I left it on a bus on my way to Taichung. Very sad. I miss it everyday and hope it comes back to me. Just wanted to put that out there.

Anyway, moving on. Here's a hodge-podge of stuff I've been up to lately:

I have a fourth grader whose parents own a restaurant and invited the teachers who teach their four children to eat dinner there. Tammy's parents are here visiting from Logan, Utah and they came too.

Our table was filled with special dishes that are typically eaten on holidays. I tried everything even though I have a strict policy against mystery meat. On the left, I'm actually about to suck the meat out of a little clam shell...something I would never do under normal circumstances. I even tried some of the eel...not a fan. There were these little fishes that were battered and deep fried whole (I could still see their beady black eyes)...I couldn't do the head and tail but I ate the body. I loved the deep fried shrimp and the veggie dishes that they served us.

The next day, we visited this temple in Chung Wa. There was a huge Buddha statue and a fountain show set to music.

Thursday night, we went to see a performing arts group in Taichung. I just have to give props to Whitney and myself for driving all the way to Taichung by ourselves with only a map and crazy Taiwanese street signs to guide us. Whit drove and I navigated. When we were stopped at red lights, we would try to ask other drivers next to us which way to the University by pointing to our map. We had to pick alternate routes when things like a cement barricade or forks in the road that weren't on our map came along, but we made it. Very few street signs are in English so it's disorienting when you can't always figure out where you are until you match the symbols on the streets signs with the symbols on the map. I would ask Whitney to help me look for symbols that looked like a battle ax or whatever else I could associate a symbol with. But as always, people here are very friendly and helpful. One guy even let us follow him on his scooter to find a parking spot and then helped us by lifting and moving other scooters over so we could squeeze ours into a spot.

The performance was great. I should write more but you can click here if you want to see a little bit more. Afterwards, there were Taiwanese reporters asking what we thought of the show. Whitney and I felt a little ridiculous answering questions, when really the only qualification we have is being American. They took our pictures and our names so we just might be quoted in some Taiwanese paper.

Here's a picture from Bunny's birthday.

We brought her a card and some cookies. (Bunny is one of the secretaries...she's in charge of getting us our requests for things like science experiments or kitchen activities.)

My little pizza makers.

4th grade science experiment

Wulai

2008-03-12T06:55:00.000-07:00

Our trip to Wulai was definitely one of my favorites so far.

At the top of this gondola ride is a resort with a gorgeous koi pond where we rode around in row boats.

There was a mountain training ropes course that was soooo much fun.

After our long day, we decided to find a hot spring resort and soak in a hot tub. Because of the language barrier, we didn't ask questions and found out after changing, that swimsuits were not allowed.

So here's the refund we got back.

The women there probably thought we were crazy because we refused to go "skinny dipping" in the hot tub. It was pretty funny.

Hot chocolate at Starbucks in Taipei, waiting for the train.

This Is Why I'm Here (Warning: Viewers may experience toxic levels of cuteness.)

2008-03-03T07:45:00.000-08:00

We had only been teaching kindergarten for three weeks when we found out some government paperwork restrictions would require us to temporarily change our schedules. We all thought it was pretty funny that Steve and Joseph had to switch over to teaching the 3 and 4 year old morning kindergarten classes until the paperwork issues were resolved.

After several weeks, I thought it was time to go and assess the damage, half expecting to see kindergarteners bouncing off the walls, hanging from the ceiling...mass chaos. Instead, what I found was a bunch of little lemmings hanging all over these guys with looks of complete adoration on their little faces...where is the loyalty?

Kid dominoes!

Really, is there anything cuter than little kids bouncing?

I kinda' miss these little stinkers.

Stanley told me one once that he didn't want to sit by me... I asked him to recreate the moment on film, however, due to a lack of theatrical training, he was unable to deliver his lines with the level of emotion given in his original performance.

Kindergarten Feeding

There is some serious snack-time discussion going on here...I had no idea 3 year olds were so interested in quantum physics.

Here are some of my pipsqueaks...they are a lot of fun...

We had fun making kites and flying them around.

Right now, we're working on decorating these "crab shells" made from playdough. We read A House For Hermit Crab by Eric Carle about a crab who decorates his house with the sea creatures he finds on the ocean floor.

So, in case you're thinking it's all play and no work here...you're right. It's all play...and I'm loving every minute of it.

Bike ride, picnic, and bad karma

2008-03-02T08:57:00.000-08:00

Cemetary

So sad...my ice cream rolled into the ditch...probably bad karma for accidentally disturbing the remains of the deceased in the cemetary...even though I wasn't the one who dropped and shattered the lid on the urn (no matter what Steve says).

Birthdays, fireworks, and KTV

2008-02-25T08:15:00.001-08:00

The weather was freezing for the first few days after we got back from vacation. It actually wouldn't be that bad except that there's no indoor heating and our floors are icy cold cement. I went to sleep with my blowdryer for a few nights to warm up my frozen toes. Things are back to normal now and we're just hopin' it stays that way.

Last week was Steve's b-day so we all went to everyone's favorite place for dumplings. Then we had birthday cake, ice cream, and peanut butter at McDonald's. (Peanutbutter in Taiwan has so much sugar, it tastes like candy...so Steve had the bright idea to bring peanut butter to McDonalds and put it on icecream.)

Chinese New Year fireworks on the roof!

Wanna' be pyros!!!

We ended the night with a crazy game of spoons. The spoons were hidden in different rooms and we had to hunt for them. I almost made it to the final round but Destiny and Joseph beat me to the last two spoons hidden in the girl's bathroom.

The next day was Sain's birthday!!! We decided to celebrate by participating in Taiwan's national pastime... Karoake or KTV as it's called here in Taiwan.

We love the random karoake videos and the chinglish lyrics.

Pushing the reject button! It's a tough job but somebody's gotta' do it!

Alishan

2008-02-19T00:58:00.000-08:00

The day after getting back from Hualien, we woke up and caught a 6:30am train to Chiayi. I think it was a two hour ride so we were able to catch up on some missed sleep. We left the train station to purchase bus tickets to Alishan but a very persistent woman who did not speak English really wanted us to buy shuttle bus tickets. We finally gave in and boarded the minivan that would take us to the mountain top.

It was a two hour ride full of twists and turns and about 30 minutes into it I was so car sick I wanted to die. Mary felt worse and by some miracle, our driver stopped at the halfway point for a short break. Poor Mary ended up leaving her breakfast in this little ditch.

I layed down on the seat the rest of the way up the mountain and was able to fight the nausea. Mary was looking pretty green and our driver, somehow sensing Mary's suffering, stopped again so that she could get rid of anything else in her stomach. I didn't get to enjoy the breathtaking views on the way up the mountain so Emily filmed this for me. Next time we come here...we are definitely taking a bus or train...no more crazy mini-van driver swerving around cars and steep corners for me, thanks.

This is the cute little bed and breakfast we stayed at. Our room was the window on the second floor to the left.

This was our room with electrically heated mattresses ... heavenly!!!!

I love the mountains!

Here we are doing our best "damsel in distress" impressions.

Wow...I'm a dork.

Then the fog started to roll in....

One minute things looked like this...

and the next we were surrounded in clouds...

These two trees have grown together into kind of a heart shape. We asked some Taiwanese guys that were there to be in a few of our pictures.

The Alishan temple was definitely my favorite so far.

If you ever do go to Alishan, you should be aware of Rule No: 56 of Forestry Law

In case you can't read it, this is what the sign says:

To fine NT:1000-60000 for the following act

1. To break or damage the properties of the Park

2. talls

3. Littering, Urinating, or others

4. Drawing or writing on walls and making noise.

I'm not sure if I broke rule number 2 but I'm only 5'5" so I think I'm okay.

We checked out the Alishan museum and I thought this diagram was interesting. The train route spirals the mountain three times before reaching the top.

We ate dinner at a delicious restaurant (except for the few pieces of raw chicken we found in the dish we ordered) and then did a little shopping.

We all bought hats since, according to Mary, "You lose 80% of your body heat through your head."

*Mary has since checked her numbers (using her favorite website...Wikipedia) and the actual percentage is 30-50%.

Alishan kind of reminded me of an Asian Park City. Apparently, they even get snow sometimes.

It was very cold that night and I can't tell you how fantastic those heated mattresses were in our hotel room...wow....heaven on earth.

We got up around 5:30 am the next morning, bundled up, and walked to the train station that would take us to the top of the mountain in hopes of seeing the gorgeous sunrise above the clouds that Emily had told us about. Here is the train we took...It kind of felt like we were riding the Hogwart's Express... a ghetto version of it anyway.

It was freezing cold but we kept our fingers nice and toasty with the handwarmers I brought from home that my mom put in my Christmas sock. Thanks mom!

At the top, this man was speaking to the throng of people that had made the trek up but unfortunately, we had absolutely no idea what he was saying. Everyone else seemed pretty entertained though.

We never did see the sun but the thick fog rolling through the forest was incredible. I want to come back in March or April when the cherry trees are blooming and the weather is better. We spent the rest of the day walking around the beautiful forest trails. I couldn't stop taking pictures even though the whole time I kept singing John Mayer's song, 3x5 which talks about seeing the world through both your eyes and overcoming the need to fit the world in a picture frame. Huh...this stupid blog is taking over my life.

I felt like I was in Narnia...

This is the Three Generation Tree that shows how one tree died and a second grew from it, then a third generation tree grew from the second tree.

There were a lot of Easter lilies growing wild.

We checked out of our room and caught a bus back to Chiayi. The ride back down the mountain was a lot better as far as not getting motion sickness goes. I loved Alishan and hopefully will get to go back again and see the sun.

Day Four: Hot Springs

2008-02-18T05:13:00.000-08:00

At this point in the trip, my camera battery had completely died so any pictures I post are courtesy of Steve and Tammy. Steve has already posted this hideous picture of me on his blog and has had a little too much laughter at my expense because of it. But since I spent the majority of the trip ridiculing the gargantuan helmet he had to wear the whole time, I guess we're even.

Day four started out with Laura and I getting up early and heading over to the scooter rental place to try and rent one more scooter. There wasn't one available right away so I left Laura there with my passport and international driver's license and went back to the hostel to take a shower before all the hot water was gone. Laura came back later with a fifth scooter. The girl was born ready to drive...she is a rockstar on the scooter. I hadn't driven at all the day before and was happy to let her take the wheel. As you can see from my nerdy picture...it doesn't look like I have a lot of confidence in my scooter driving ability. It was another cloudy day in Hualien but we would not be deterred from another fun scooter ride to a new destination. We decided to take Highway 11 and look for some hotsprings that were on our map.

Here are the scooter-riding duos:

Laura and Me!

Tammy and Whitney

Emily and Lish

Mary and Jessica

Joseph and Steve

(and the aforementioned orbit sized helmet that has it's own weather system)

There were road signs along the way telling us the names of the cities we were passing through but other than that, it was pretty hard to find anything. We stopped a few times and attempted to ask for directions but never really got a concrete answer on how to get to any hotsprings. We finally found this little hotspring resort to thaw out in. The water was fabulous!

After soaking to our hearts' content, we decided to head back. Oh yeah...quick story...so Steve is walking to his scooter and asks, "Where's my helmet?" Since his enormous helmet was sitting on his head, I haven't been able to stop quoting that line ever since. I even taught some of my students to say, "Where's my helmet?" to him whenever they see him. The guy will never live that one down. He's our special Steve. You know we love ya Steve!

Jessica is ready for wind and rain in this sporty Muslim woman burqa ensemble designed for comfort and functionality. Word.

We were just about to leave when we discovered Emily and Lish had a flat tire. Tammy and Whitney stayed behind with them to wait for the tire to be changed and the rest of us headed back in the freezing cold wind and wet weather. It was a long drive and nothing at all remotely exciting happened. Nothing at all. Just a peaceful, freezing cold drive back to our hostel in Hualien. Yeah, and when we got back, we decided to order pizza so that it would be there when everyone returned. Our wonderful hostel host, Chi called Pizza Hut for us and helped us order. That night we ate pizza, relaxed, and listened to the amazing poetry of the one and only Joseph Castleton. I think some of Joseph's belongings might end up "missing" in order to be sold on Ebay when he is rich and famous someday. Joseph, consider yourself warned.

Since Laura didn't get to see the coast where we had driven, she and I decided to wake up early the next morning and take a quick drive before our train left. First, we went to the train station at 6am to see if we could score some train seats before they completely sold out. We were able to get five seats and five standing tickets. Then we set out hoping to see the sun rising over the ocean and were able to see a few glimpses of it before it disappeared into the clouds. Laura has the pictures from our ride so I am unable to post them right now, but hopefully they will be available later.

The train ride home wasn't as crowded as it was on the way to Hualien and we were glad to be back after a very fun and unforgettable trip. I had to pack again that night because Emily, Mary, and I had planned a quick trip to Alishan National park. The three of us don't work on Tuesdays for the time being and had that extra day to travel. Will the blogging ever end? I can't keep up. Alishan was gorgeous and you better believe my next blog will have tons of pictures...trees, trees, and more trees.

Day Three: The Coast

2008-02-16T04:50:00.000-08:00

Can I just say- I love Laura. The girl is a total sweetheart. On day three of our trip, the sky was still cloudy, but we were determined to drive down the coast and see the beaches. There is only one place that will rent scooters to people without Taiwan driver's licenses and unfortunately, there were only four scooters left to rent by the time we got there. Lish and Laura volunteered to stay behind and do their own thing and I couldn't help feeling really depressed about not being able to keep "the family" together. Lish had been hesitant about riding scooters anyway, and wanted to spend the day shopping in Hualien. Laura decided to give Taroko Gorge another try. They wouldn't admit to it but I'm sure they would have preferred to come with the group but sacrificed without complaint. We later learned that Laura's efforts to spend the day in Taroko Gorge turned into a three hour long walk along the coast due to a missed train stop but luckily she made it back to us safe and sound. The girl rocks and deserves an award for being so selfless and making it so easy for us by giving up her chance to ride down the coast. Thanks Laura!

After strapping on our helmets and deciding who was driving and who was riding, we set off two by two on the scooters.

This is me asking a police officer how to get to Highway 11...he tried looking at my map but couldn't speak any English.

We found this steep winding road that led down to the beach.

You gotta' watch Steve in the lower left-hand corner of this video...

Let the frolicking begin!

I don't know the names of any of places we stopped at mainly because even though my map was in English, very few of the road signs were. We did find our way to a place called Jici Beach that I would love to visit again since it had a campground with cute little cabins right on the beach.

We hiked to the top of this hill overlooking Jici Beach.

Here's me and Mary chillin' at the hostel after our long day on the scooters.
We all headed out to find a place to eat and after dinner, Lish and I went shopping, explored a Shrine, and saw the movie Enchanted in the local movie theater. Totally fun day!

Day Two: Taroko Gorge

2008-02-14T01:28:00.001-08:00

Taroko Gorge is supposed to be Taiwan's version of the Grand Canyon. There are steep marble cliffs and supposedly some hiking trails...I didn't really see any of what I would consider hiking but that's possibly because our bus got stopped behind a huge line of traffic on our way up the gorge. After sitting there for about 20 minutes and seeing people get out of their cars and walk ahead, I decided to go and scout out the situation. A short distance ahead, there were two buses wedged between the mountain and the guard rail.

With so many narrow roads and tons of buses driving around, I'm thinking this is probably a daily occurrence around here.

We had already gotten a late start in the day, so with the bus de-wedging delay and the last tour bus leaving Taroko Gorge at 3pm, we didn't have time to see as much as we would have liked. However, we did have time for a hair-braiding contest on the bus. I love these pictures of the boys braiding Tammy's hair. We were placing bets on which of the two would be the better braider. The contest was pretty intense, but in the end Joseph won the prize for speediness and Steve's braid won for being more aesthetically pleasing.

Watching our bus driver maneuver through the narrow winding roads with barely enough room to squeeze by other cars and huge tour buses was pretty entertaining. I really wish I knew what our driver was saying to the other bus in this video...Jon George, can you interpret?

I brought snacks for the kiddos and Tammy used the Pringles to impersonate a duck. We coerced Joseph into participating and though he'll probably get a little irate when he sees this picture, it's too funny not to post.

Disclaimer: Joseph would rather hang from his toenails than see this picture here but, he has been so far unable extract the password to this blog. You can read his opinion about the power of public persuasion on his blog entry entitled: Sand Dance

After our quick tour of Taroko Gorge, we headed back to Hualien and found a fabulous restaurant to eat at.

I pointed to chicken on the menu but I think that the waiter might have thought I was pointing to the item just above the chicken....

I ended up eating the vegetables and giving the rest away. Call me a big chicken, but I just can't eat ostrich.

After dinner, we walked down to the night market again. Several of us had to use the bathroom so we stopped at a Starbucks to use their facilities (mostly because we know there will be clean western toilets and toilet paper a plenty). I'm not sure how it happened but for the rest of the trip (and probably forevermore), whenever anyone needed to use the restroom, we referred to it as "going to Starbucks".

Day One: Chinese New Year's Eve!

2008-02-13T17:02:00.000-08:00

Our long anticipated Chinese New Year trip to Hualien has come and gone and it's going to take me forever to get it all posted on this blog. I'm starting with day one of our trip as we walk to the train station in Fung Yuan. The ten of us walking down the street with all our bags brought on some stares but we're getting used to it by now.

In order to get seats on a train during Chinese New Year, you have to purchase tickets online two weeks in advance. Everything is booked this time of year and since I didn't know we could buy them online and I can't read the Chinese website anyway...the tickets did not get purchased in time to get seats. So we were not looking forward to a 5 hour train ride standing or sitting in any nooks and cranny's we could find on the train. Our group split up to increase our chances of finding space and Laura, Lish and I found a little doorway to sit in for the first leg of the trip.

A really cool Taiwanese guy named Lester started talking to us and answered some of our questions. Here is a video of him teaching us how to say 'Do you speak English?'.

I'm not sure why we asked him to teach us this phrase since if you ask someone if they speak English- you're pretty much going to get your answer whether you ask them in English or Chinese...but whatev. He also taught us how to say 'Happy New Year' and we used that phrase a lot.

Somewhere around Taipei, the train got really crowded and there was barely enough room to stand, but once we passed Taipei, seats became available and we were able to sit down for the last leg of our trip.

Sometimes I find myself staring at the chinese characters on these signs until I get a headache trying to see if I can decipher anything it says. I showed my students this video and they told me it just says that if you have any questions, you can ask the train conductor. That's helpful.

We finally reached Hualien sometime around 7:00pm and walked the short distance to our hostel. It was a really cute place and I wish I had taken more pictures of it. The owners, Chi and Tim were very helpful and friendly.

We found out people close up their restaurants for family dinner until 9pm on New Year's Eve so we set off into town to find something that was open. This is where we ended up eating.

After dinner, we walked down to the Hualien night market. I fell in love with the randomness of this Chinglish shirt at the night market but I didn't buy it.

I really wanted to walk down to the shore and see the fireworks over the ocean so Laura, Lish, and I splintered off from the group and headed down to see the sights and experience the seaside night market.

Lish bought some barbecued squid.

Here she is eating a squid tentacle...I tried some since I love calamari, but I'm a pansy and can't get past the fact that it wasn't disguised in deep-fried, breaded goodness.

I thought there was going to be some big count down at midnight and a huge fireworks show put on by the city or something, but in Taiwan, everyone kind of just does their own thing. There was a boardwalk along the coast where families were randomly setting off fireworks the whole evening. But midnight came and went with very little fanfare.

We met up with everyone back at the hostel and settled down for the night. Staying at a hostel is a weird experience. With all the bunk beds, it felt like girls camp except for the fact that we weren't all girls. The first night we had our own room but the following nights there were other travelers that stayed in our room as well. Here's pretty much the only picture I have of our room...

So that concludes Day One. Stay tuned for an exciting day two, an even more exciting day three, and a knock-down, drag-out crazy day four (actually my camera battery died by day four so it probably won't be that exciting but oh, the stories I have to tell...).

We're Back!

2008-02-10T06:06:00.001-08:00

We just got back from our 5 day trip to Hualien and Taroko Gorge and it was AMAZING! I have so many cool pictures to post and stories to tell but unfortunately our internet is down. So right now I'm standing on the roof top of our building, Chinese New Year fireworks are going off all around me, my fingers are freezing, it's 10 o'clock at night, and I'm trying to get an internet signal. (Am I a little obsessed?) However, standing outside is not much colder than being inside since we don't have indoor heating here in Taiwan. I think we may all be busting out the sleeping bags tonight (and adding several layers of clothing). Anyway, I'm heading off tomorrow for a quick trip to Alishan but wanted to post a few highlights. We spent a day scootering down the coast and checking out Taiwan's beautiful beaches.

One minute we're nice and dry and the next we get attacked by a wave.

Fortune Cookies and Murder in the Dark

2008-02-05T18:32:00.000-08:00

I seriously love it here...every day is a party and sometimes I wonder if it should be time for me to grow up...but after three stressful years of teaching elementary...I'm hoping that maybe I deserve a little break. Saturday night, Jessica decided to make fortune cookies. We all pitched in and had so much fun.

On a side note, fortune cookies aren't really Chinese. Nobody here has really even heard of them. I tried explaining to my kids what fortune cookies were and I think one of them remembered seeing fortune cookies in an American movie she saw once.

Sain is writing fortunes!

Time to lick the bowl!!!

Later, Mary, Tammy, Whitney and I stayed up till 2am to watch the live broadcast of President Hinckley's funeral online.

We have family home evening every Monday night complete with a lesson, treat, and game. Last night's F.H.E. was no exception. Mary gave an awesome lesson and I realized how thankful I am to have 12 more siblings that are probably the reason this experience in Taiwan is so sweet.

After the lesson and a treat, we played Murder in the Dark (or mafia). We turned out all the lights and used the whole fourth floor and the roof to hide from the murderer. Everyone decided to be stealthy and put on their Berhan sweatshirts.

I have a hysterical video of Steve and Jessica performing a moonlit dance on the roof (well actually there's no moon). I tried posting it but you can't see anything on here. Let me just give you some commentary: Their swan-like movements and graceful pirouettes silhouetted against the Taiwan night sky display their artistry and love of dance. I especially like the end when Jessica lifts Steve into the air as he extends his arms heavenward. Simply breathtaking...if only you could see it.