I'm coming home Monday! Although, I also kind of feel like I'm leaving home. I cant believe it has been 6 months already! Tonight we had the preschool Christmas program. It was quite the production, much bigger than any preschool program I've ever seen in the US. There was singing and dancing and costumes and props. We'd been working on the program all this month. The children pulled it off though and did a great job. I'm really going to miss those kids. Being here with the kids has been so much fun.
I love Taiwan, it is a very special place, and I am super grateful I came here. I feel like these 6 months were the best thing I could be doing at this point in my life. I will miss it here. And now, I will be going back to Utah for a whole new adventure. Life is good!
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Saturday, December 3, 2011
It's getting a bit chilly.
December! How is it December already? I remember in early July thinking that Decemeber would never get here, and now here it is! I have a hard time remembering how hot it was then, because now I am just trying to figure out how to stay warm. It's not cold by Utah standards, but for Taiwan it's getting pretty cold and I need a jacket.
Here's a little bit of what I've been up to lately.
Last weekend I biked to Taroko Gorge with Greg, Grace and Tony Chu. I mapquested it later and it was almost 26miles of biking. In this picture there's the cool Chinese looking building with a waterfall, and right by the river is a music performance. They had bamboo flutes, pea pas, violins, pianos and probably more that I cant remember. It was super cool! They only let people down by the river when they have a performance going on, so I felt pretty lucky. We biked to another place in Taroko Gorge and heard a musical performance with over 100 french horns. Only french horns. When they played the Jurassic Park theme song it just seemed to fit perfectly with the jungle around us.
Here's a little bit of what I've been up to lately.
Last weekend I biked to Taroko Gorge with Greg, Grace and Tony Chu. I mapquested it later and it was almost 26miles of biking. In this picture there's the cool Chinese looking building with a waterfall, and right by the river is a music performance. They had bamboo flutes, pea pas, violins, pianos and probably more that I cant remember. It was super cool! They only let people down by the river when they have a performance going on, so I felt pretty lucky. We biked to another place in Taroko Gorge and heard a musical performance with over 100 french horns. Only french horns. When they played the Jurassic Park theme song it just seemed to fit perfectly with the jungle around us.
Earlier this week we took the traditional school picture. Arn't all the kids so cute! I'm so lucky to hang out with these kids everyday. We finished the alphabet this last week. It's so weird to finally be done. Now we are working on the upcoming Christmas Program.
Sorry I dont have more pictures, they take too long to put them up. Last week in church I was asked if I would give a talk in sacrament meeting the day before I fly back home. Oh, and they asked me if I could say it in Chinese. What a challenge! Along with being slightly terrified, I am pretty excited! Wish me luck!
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Something New Everyday
This week has been great! Monday, Kim and I had an FHE/visiting teaching party with some friends from our ward. We had homemade spaghetti and slippery pudding on the roof of the preschool.
This week we have been learning about Halloween! Tuesday we all learned about ghosts, and made ghost suckers. On Friday we will be going trick or treating, so we've been learning a good trick or treat song. We sing it in the morning, we sing it at lunch and we sing it in the afternoon. And if all the kids don't sing it with us the first time, we sing it again. Let's just say that song has been going through my head all week and I probably will never forget it.
Wednesday! I woke up early and saw the ocean. I wasn't there early enough to see the sun rise above the horizon, but it was still amazing none the less.
This week we have been learning about Halloween! Tuesday we all learned about ghosts, and made ghost suckers. On Friday we will be going trick or treating, so we've been learning a good trick or treat song. We sing it in the morning, we sing it at lunch and we sing it in the afternoon. And if all the kids don't sing it with us the first time, we sing it again. Let's just say that song has been going through my head all week and I probably will never forget it.
Wednesday! I woke up early and saw the ocean. I wasn't there early enough to see the sun rise above the horizon, but it was still amazing none the less.
The afternoon class got out a few minutes early for a birthday party! We had cake!
Wednesday night I went to the missionary english classes at the church to help out. Afterwards as I was leaving, I was chased by a red haired drunk taiwanese man. No joke. He came up and asked me some stuff in Chinese. After repeating a few times that I speak english, I walked with him back to the church to find someone who knows Chinese. When I got back the missionaries were kind enough to tell me he was drunk. There's nothing like being chased by a red haired drunk man to make you paranoid as you bike home. Well, I made it home alright, except for a bird decided it would leave a deposit on my leg. Nasty stuff, bird poop is.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
food, Food, FOOD!!!
Since I've been in Taiwan I've tried quite a few different kinds of interesting foods and drinks.
A tower of steamer container things to cook bow zi. There isn't an english name for bow zi. It is one of my favorite things to eat for breakfast. This particular bow zi stand is kind of famous in Hualien because it's only $5 for one bow zi. (That is around 15 cents in US money)
This is simply bread, but it is very good. It starts with an M, but I dont remember the name of it.
My attempt at making curry. I dont cook very often. I guess now you can see why.
This was after I got home from going to the night market for the first time. I got fresh fruit and smoothies. The juice stand where I got the smoothie gave me a melon smoothie for free, and maybe that's why I love going to that one so much. The orange looking fruit is mango. That is my favorite fruit in Hualien.
One of the preschooler's dad owns a hot dog restuarant. They serve hot dogs from different places in the world. I think this one was italien.
These are popular during the moon festival which was in September. I didn't really like them.
I went with the sisters on their P-day to get lunch with them a few weeks ago. Interesting story, the lady at this restuarant said she would give us the food for a discounted price, and then when it was time to pay she wanted the full price from us. I guess that is one way of doing business. Needless to say, I probably wont be going back there.
This a pretty popular here. They are too sweet for me. It's tomato covered in pretty much just plain sugar.
I tried this oyster while I was on Penhu Island the first week I was in Taiwan. We were fishing, and after trying a little bit of the oyster, I put the rest on the hook. I snagged some fish after that, but didn't fully catch anything.
This was also on Penhu Island. I was still paranoid about eating the meat then, so I got creative with the bits of meat, fish and strimp that were in my fried rice.
I was hungry and ate half of this while riding my bike before I thought of taking a picture. It's called tong yo bing, which translates to onion oil cake. It's really good.
This had some bean stuff inside. Interesting fact about Taiwan: they consider beans to be a yummy desert.
I learned about these my first week in Taiwan. They are called litchi, but are not my favorite fruit here. They are kind of a clear white inside with one big black seed.
Passion fruit! It's good, but the seeds are kind of sour when you crunch into them and it's a little bit of a shock until you get used to it. I didn't get used to it.
My own creation. Cereal with raisins and bananas! I have to try something a little American every once and a while.
This is also done guo cha, but there is milk too, and the little colored things are chewy.
I don't know how they got this, but at one of the branch FHE's they had this bit of hive with honey and bees that were still alive in it. The yellow bowl has the bees that they picked out of the hive to get to the honey.
I don't remember what this is called, but people really like it here. I think it's ok.
Barley tea. Again, it's ok to drink because it doesn't come from tea leaves.
Hole Long Guo! (I think I spelled it wrong, but that's how it sounds to me) It means fire dragon fruit, and it's one of my favorite fruits here.
I went to a restuarant just today and they had raw fish. I dont know why but I tried it. It tasted ok, but my mind couldn't get used to the idea of eating raw fish so I didn't finish it.
These are kind of like big fried dumplings in a box. Very tasty.
Look closely and see if you can guess what these are. Did you count 8 legs? Yup, I ate one of these too. It was interesting.
The yellow thing tastes kind of like fish fries.
There is a pretty big mall in Hualien called the amart. I like to go there to get grocerys. A few weeks ago I went with the Chu's and we had dinner. It was a lot of food!
This was at a RS birthday party celebration. A lot of times people bring their own bowls and chopsticks to things that involve food. The church has bowls and chopsticks which is lucky for me because I always forget to bring my own.
Greg is holding up a very salty baked fish. Once you got past the salt the fish part was pretty good.
I think the funnest part about eating this is using a toothpick to get the snail out of it's shell. I had this today at the restuarant too. After I ate it, I kind of just sat there looking a the empty shell and wondered why I just ate that. hmm...
Bananas here are amazing. This little banana kind of tasts like the little bananas in a runts candy pack.
This is fried shrimp drenched with mayonaise.
Ok, so if you might have noticed, none of these pictures are really in order. This goes back to Penhu Island also. It's a cactus, and I ate some of it. When the cactus turns purple, you can eat it like fruit and amazingly it actually tastes like it could be fruit.
A clam or oyster, I don't really know which is which. But I did learn that if it's closed, you shouldn't eat it because it's not fresh or died in some unhealthy way. This one was open so I ate it, and it was very salty.
Here's some bean soup desert. It's actually really good!
Fruit is also served for desert a lot of times. Especially watermelon.
This is a rice hamburger.
This is what my fridge looks like at the moment. The top shelf is mine.
Believe it or not, this is actually ice cream. The weird looking brown flaky stuff is peanut butter shavings. And the green is cilantro. I guess it kind of looks like an ice cream burrito.
On Penhu Island again. After we practiced our fishing skills, we BBQed some fish.
Here are a few of the things I've tried. And yes, every picture you see is something that I have at least tried.
This is done guo cha, or wintermelon tea. It's not real tea so it's fine to drink, and it's very good. They say that wintermelon tea actually can help you not get heat stroke on a very hot day.
A tower of steamer container things to cook bow zi. There isn't an english name for bow zi. It is one of my favorite things to eat for breakfast. This particular bow zi stand is kind of famous in Hualien because it's only $5 for one bow zi. (That is around 15 cents in US money)
This is simply bread, but it is very good. It starts with an M, but I dont remember the name of it.
My attempt at making curry. I dont cook very often. I guess now you can see why.
This was after I got home from going to the night market for the first time. I got fresh fruit and smoothies. The juice stand where I got the smoothie gave me a melon smoothie for free, and maybe that's why I love going to that one so much. The orange looking fruit is mango. That is my favorite fruit in Hualien.
One of the preschooler's dad owns a hot dog restuarant. They serve hot dogs from different places in the world. I think this one was italien.
These are popular during the moon festival which was in September. I didn't really like them.
I went with the sisters on their P-day to get lunch with them a few weeks ago. Interesting story, the lady at this restuarant said she would give us the food for a discounted price, and then when it was time to pay she wanted the full price from us. I guess that is one way of doing business. Needless to say, I probably wont be going back there.
This a pretty popular here. They are too sweet for me. It's tomato covered in pretty much just plain sugar.
I tried this oyster while I was on Penhu Island the first week I was in Taiwan. We were fishing, and after trying a little bit of the oyster, I put the rest on the hook. I snagged some fish after that, but didn't fully catch anything.
This was also on Penhu Island. I was still paranoid about eating the meat then, so I got creative with the bits of meat, fish and strimp that were in my fried rice.
I was hungry and ate half of this while riding my bike before I thought of taking a picture. It's called tong yo bing, which translates to onion oil cake. It's really good.
This had some bean stuff inside. Interesting fact about Taiwan: they consider beans to be a yummy desert.
I learned about these my first week in Taiwan. They are called litchi, but are not my favorite fruit here. They are kind of a clear white inside with one big black seed.
Passion fruit! It's good, but the seeds are kind of sour when you crunch into them and it's a little bit of a shock until you get used to it. I didn't get used to it.
My own creation. Cereal with raisins and bananas! I have to try something a little American every once and a while.
This is also done guo cha, but there is milk too, and the little colored things are chewy.
I don't know how they got this, but at one of the branch FHE's they had this bit of hive with honey and bees that were still alive in it. The yellow bowl has the bees that they picked out of the hive to get to the honey.
I don't remember what this is called, but people really like it here. I think it's ok.
Barley tea. Again, it's ok to drink because it doesn't come from tea leaves.
Hole Long Guo! (I think I spelled it wrong, but that's how it sounds to me) It means fire dragon fruit, and it's one of my favorite fruits here.
I went to a restuarant just today and they had raw fish. I dont know why but I tried it. It tasted ok, but my mind couldn't get used to the idea of eating raw fish so I didn't finish it.
These are kind of like big fried dumplings in a box. Very tasty.
Look closely and see if you can guess what these are. Did you count 8 legs? Yup, I ate one of these too. It was interesting.
The yellow thing tastes kind of like fish fries.
There is a pretty big mall in Hualien called the amart. I like to go there to get grocerys. A few weeks ago I went with the Chu's and we had dinner. It was a lot of food!
This was at a RS birthday party celebration. A lot of times people bring their own bowls and chopsticks to things that involve food. The church has bowls and chopsticks which is lucky for me because I always forget to bring my own.
Greg is holding up a very salty baked fish. Once you got past the salt the fish part was pretty good.
I think the funnest part about eating this is using a toothpick to get the snail out of it's shell. I had this today at the restuarant too. After I ate it, I kind of just sat there looking a the empty shell and wondered why I just ate that. hmm...
Bananas here are amazing. This little banana kind of tasts like the little bananas in a runts candy pack.
This is fried shrimp drenched with mayonaise.
Ok, so if you might have noticed, none of these pictures are really in order. This goes back to Penhu Island also. It's a cactus, and I ate some of it. When the cactus turns purple, you can eat it like fruit and amazingly it actually tastes like it could be fruit.
A clam or oyster, I don't really know which is which. But I did learn that if it's closed, you shouldn't eat it because it's not fresh or died in some unhealthy way. This one was open so I ate it, and it was very salty.
Here's some bean soup desert. It's actually really good!
Fruit is also served for desert a lot of times. Especially watermelon.
This is a rice hamburger.
This is what my fridge looks like at the moment. The top shelf is mine.
Believe it or not, this is actually ice cream. The weird looking brown flaky stuff is peanut butter shavings. And the green is cilantro. I guess it kind of looks like an ice cream burrito.
On Penhu Island again. After we practiced our fishing skills, we BBQed some fish.
This is very close to my house. Over the months as I bike past I saw it start out as like a little lake, and then they started to grow. I probably eat this more than any other food here in Hualien. If you haven't guessed yet, this is a rice field that is almost ready to be harvested.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
My Own Lion Mane
Have you ever walked into a room and everyone stops what they are doing and just stares at you, some with open mouths and wide eyes? Well, that hadn't happened to me before..until today. All I did was simply leave my hair down instead of putting it up in a pony tail. It's been cooling off and since I don't sweat hardly at all now, I thought I would just let my hair do what it wanted for a day and see what happened. Besides the staring, it's definitely worked to my advantage. The preschool kids were so shocked they forgot to misbehave because they were too busy staring at my hair. A lot of the 5 year old girls came up to me and said it was so cute and long, and then they would touch or pet it. Personally I just feel like I have a big puffy lion mane.
Monday, September 26, 2011
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.
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