Fall is upon us

I was a bit surprised when  I saw this tree. The leaves are actually changing colors! I guess it was kind of silly of me to think Taiwan was always just hot and didn't have major season changes like in Utah. Well, Fall is coming, and the trees are proof. Last week was actually a lot cooler and there were several nights when I even left my fan off.

I've always loved birthday parties!

This is last Monday night after I had finished group tutoring. It's lit up light like a rose in the desert. I live on the roof.

I found the Carrefour store. It kind of just feels like a giant stuff store. There are escalators that take up shopping carts. I kind of just wandered around probably looking confused. Sometimes I feel a little weird going to the store. I've gotten to the point whenever I see other white people I just stop and stare. So I don't blame people for doing that to me, but it still feels a little strange.

Saturday I woke up early to go running with the sister missionaries. After my run, I was feeling happy with myself for being able to communicate with mostly words instead of gestures to buy some bow zi from a breakfast stand. I decided to eat it at the park and this is what I found when I got there. There was a croquet tournament going on. I just plopped myself on a bench and enjoyed my breakfast.

After a few minutes a little girl came up to me and started speaking with me in english. She was probably 8 or 9, and didn't know much english. I asked her what her name was in Chinese and thought it was great for both of us. She got to practice english, and I got to practice Chinese without being laughed at from pronouncing things wrong.

After finding out each other's names, and asking if she liked different kinds of fruit, I ran out of Chinese things to say.

This weekend was filled with many activities and things going on at church. I helped set up for the district RS birthday party. There was lots of food! And all of it was amazing! This isn't even 1/2 of all that was there. Along with the RS party, we also had a fireside/conference on Saturday and then stake conference on Sunday. I was amazed by how many missionaries are in the district.

It's been a little while since I caught a little critter. So here's one. Geckos are hard to catch, I'll say, but they are super cool. This is about as small as I've seen them here.

Yeah for mango ice cream! I guess the spoon couldn't handle it. (ha, no pun intended) When I bought the ice cream from the store I biked home as fast as I could cuz I didn't want it to melt.

The Moon Festival

was last Monday. I went to Taipei the Saturday before to celebrate the Moon Festival with the entire Chu family. I met them there, and got kind of lost in the Taipei train station. All I wanted was to find a bathroom, but the signs just kept pointing another way to go, and then the next sign would do the same thing until somehow I ended up in the Taipei City Mall. Thankfully with a few calls I was found. 

We went to a cool spot in the mountains. I decided I really like it up there. The temperature is perfect. It has been cooling off in Hualien lately, but I still find myself sweating a lot. While we were up in the mountain spot, we visited the family tomb. They call it sweeping the tomb. We put food and fake paper money for the ancestors on the other side.

We went on a nifty hike. On the way we got creative with out walking sticks. I put some flowers in the top of a bamboo stick. We're pretending we are aborigini.

Monday night we drove back to Hualien. I had asked for half of Tuesday off because I didn't know when we would be getting back. So Greg, Grace and I went hiking up a cool waterfall spot. It was kind of more like rocking climbing for most of it, but it was super fun and very beautiful. 

Most people who go up there have helmets, life jackets and special suits. We did get kind of wet, but we were fine without the gear and tour guides. 

On the way down we found a sign saying we were supposed to register with the police if we were going up there. Opps.

To get to the hiking spot, we had to bike a little ways in the mountains and it was pretty steep. When I had almost made it to the top, I heard a snapping noise and then realized my bike wasn't peddling normal any more. I looked down and the back wheel was wobbling a lot. I had to walk it up the rest of the way, and it was quite the experience riding it back down. The bike broke in the exact same why that my bike in Utah broke before I came to Taiwan. Maybe I'm just really good at breaking the back tires of bikes.

We took the bike to a bike shop, but it turned out that fixing it would be about as much as buying a used bike, soo that's what I did. And this one has a rack on the back for stuff!

On Thursday, Jeff invited Kim and me over to watch Soul Surfer. It was raining after the movie was done and we were going back on a scooter. Yay for rain coats. And yup, I'm the one in all pink.

Saturday was Green Day. The two branches in Hualien got together and we cleaned up garbage at the train station. There was quite a bit. This is me with Sister Bready and Sister Wu.

Saturday night I want to a single adult dinner. What is so amazing about this picture? There is actually a drink with the food, and there is a fork in the speghetti instead of chopsticks.

This is Grace and me at the restuarant where we ate.

Ok, now ask yourself a question. Do you know how to wash your clothes by hand? If your answer was no, well I don't know how either. Our washing machine would fill up with water and then just stop. All I know is what I've seen on Little House on the Prairie, so I swooshed the clothes around in the water for a little while and then hung them up to dry. Not an unpleasant experience, but still, not one I have ever really imagined myself doing.

This is the pamaramic view from the roof of the preschool where I live. It's a beautiful picture, but it's even better in real life.