Well, it has been some time since my last post so I thought I ought to catch up a little before more life happens and I forget what has happened the past fortnight or so. I blame my lack of diligence in logging partially to the tragic death of my camera. Because of it many of the pictures in this post are borrowed from my dear roomates. I am happy to say that the new camera is great and will definitely do some good in the coming months. Anyway, enough of these boring explanations and excuses! On with the blog!
Lets begin with the celebrations surrounding the very wonderful Moon Festival. Let me just say that I have long been a fan of holidays that coincide with the cycles of the moon and the sun. Therefore this one is very welcome in my life. I most certainly will be celebrating it in the years to come. How will I celebrate it you ask? Just like the Taiwanese of course. First we will have a serious karaoke party....
These people really know what they are doing when it comes to KTV. This little stage folds up into a truck akin to the truck seen in The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. And yes, we did enter the imaginarium and we did defeat it. We were just sitting and enjoying watching all our neighbors singing their hearts out when this adorable older gentleman, who had been on the stage at least three times already, brings us the book of songs and opens up to the English section. Here was our test. When confronted with less awesome songs, we chose to sing the best one there "Hey Jude." It was fantastic. And our audience was very warm. They even shared their Moon Festival BBQ with us. They gave us a couple of gigantic crustaceans that turned out to be shrimp after you ripped off the head and the legs and the shell. Quite yummy :).
The next day Kailey and I ventured to Taipei for a little visit to the Temple. (Yes I will include a temple trip to the list of festivities for Moon Festival.) It was a very good and relaxing day. We devoted the whole day to the trip so we weren't rushed at all and we really got to soak in the spirit. Afterwards we made our way to the oh, so impressive Chang Kai Shek Memorial.
This building is really quite remarkable. A must see for anyone visiting Taiwan. The picture really doesn't do it justice for how big and magnificent it truly is. We had heard it was big but we didn't truly understand just how big until we saw it for ourselves. Imagine if you will seeing a large building in the distance and slowly walking towards it. As you continue walking, it doesn't seem to get any closer. Still big and substantial but still far away. And then as you are walking away, when you glance back, it doesn't feel like you've moved away from it at all. It is an ever present structure of unending grandness! I would definitely like to visit again before I leave this little island.
The next week was the actual week of Moon Festival. We were Lucky enough to be invited to my student's, Ivy and Mimi's house for a little family Moon Festival BBQ. What a fun evening!
Here we have my little Mimi. I have posted picture of her before but I just think she is the cutest girl. She is very quiet and appears kind of shy but as I've gotten to know her she has begun to show me a little mischievous side that I kind of love about her. I do love my students...
When we first arrived at their house they invited us to play the Wii with them. A little taste of home to be sure. :) Unfortunately Rock Band has yet to be introduced to this country... but Wii fit is a lot of fun too..
I don't have any pictures of the BBQ itself, but due to the rain, it was conducted inside- definitely a new experience. I Love the Taiwanese style of BBQ. It is very relaxed and friendly. They have a couple of little grills that they all sit around and turn the pieces of mean, rice, tofu, vegetables, and whatever else you please, while chatting, enjoying each others company, and eating as they go. It lasts for several hours as they continue adding little bite size pieces to the grill. The food itself was rather good to. They certainly know how to make a good pork sausage.
And of course, what is a celebration in Taiwan without fireworks???
The next day was the actual day of Moon Festival, and our only day off for the entire six months we are here. We started off the day with a little taste of the oh so famous "Moon Cakes." I enjoyed them a lot. I will certainly try to find a good recipe for them to make for my next Moon Festival celebration.
We spent the majority of the day exploring parts of Taichung we hadn't seen yet. We came across this very intriguing Temple inside a Temple...
They seem to have encased an ancient temple inside a beautiful building for protection. The result is very intriguing. And just around the corner of this temple was my old friend Buddha sitting and smiling away...
I do love him a lot.If the fullness of the gospel had not been restored I might just have become a Buddhist... Who could resist those dimples??
That night we returned home and made our way up the mountain to eat dinner at a lovely little restaurant looking over the city of Changhua. The food was pretty good but it was the whole atmosphere of the place that truly made the night. We sat in this lovely little garden that was designed in a very Asian and classy way. There were families and children all around us playing with sparklers and having a grand old time. The best part was after dinner. We walked over to this little deck that looked out over the city and just watched as big fireworks were being shot into the air all across the city. It was one of the must stunning sights I have ever seen. The beautiful lights were seen dancing across the horizon and throughout Changhua and it's neighboring cities. I tried counting to see how many different places were shooting them off but soon gave up as I realized that it was literally in the hundreds. Everywhere you looked there was some sort of work being enjoyed. I felt like Jazmin must have felt when she and Aladdin stopped in China during their magic carpet ride. We were separate from all the celebrations, yet a part of them all at the same time. The only difference was that instead of one firework show, there were thousands, and instead of Aladdin, I had the moon to fall in love with. :) That being said, I wouldn't have switched places with Jasmin for the world.... unless of course a pet tiger was included in the deal...
I LOVE MOON FESTIVAL. It is right up there with Mid Summers Eve for favorite holiday.
That Saturday we decided to go on another little excursion to an unknown place: Wanggong. Wanggong is this little coastal town famous for its oyster harvesting. This trip was nothing grand but it was very relaxing and enjoyable. This little town was so unlike anything I had seen yet. It had an almost other-worldy feel that was very tantalizing and fascinating.
"You are the lighthouse, the sea mark, the tempest created this tide. I'm pulled to the black, silver ocean where the heavens and earth collide..."
Here we can see the people harvesting oysters. What a pleasant little way to spend an afternoon with your family :)
Of course most of my life is spent at school so I can't help but mention it again. When we returned to the school the next week we were surprised to find all of our favorite 7-11 treats mysteriously placed on our desk space. We were all so confused! who would know all of our favorites??
Kailey and her diet coke...
Liz and her dried mangoes....
Anna and her 10 NT chocolate...
And my darling Kinder Bueno....
After a little bit of detective work, we finally discovered the true source of our happiness. Dear Anna sneakily placed them on our desk space when she was the only one there. She is such a sweet heart. It was exactly what we all needed that day. I am so lucky to live with the girls that I do. I don't know what I'd do without their sweet friendship. :)
Meet Gilbert. This printer very determined to make my life difficult. It is nearing the end of its life, as you can see by the tape holding it together....
Our days at work can get very long. One day while I was working away at correcting papers, I paused to look around and found myself surrounded by this:
Yep. Anna, Kailey, and Linda were all sound asleep. I must confess I have had my share of desk top naps as well :)
Recently I have taken great pleasure in decorating my class room. My latest addition if the "fun. wall." I'm rather fond of it....
No I did not draw the mustache. That was Justin. He came up with it himself I swear. Although I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have thought of it on his own had I not already taught them the word mustache by showing them my mustache necklace... you know in the movies when the little students have a crush on their teacher, and you always wonder if the teacher realizes it... she does. 'Nough said.
For nest next couple of weekends we kept it low key and stayed in Changhua and Taichung again. The first weekend we did a nice bit of exploring up on Baguahshan. I feel like there are many treasure to be found up there yet...
We came across several abandoned buildings and fields that were very interesting, as all abandoned things are. They were kind of like modern day ruins. You can't help but wonder what they might have looked like in their days of glory and what sort of people occupied them and why they are no longer inhabited.... Here we have and abandoned Basketball court...
We also came across several abandoned houses and a massive school that didn't look too old, but was completely vacated.... fascinating.
This little guy was the guardian of a little house we passed by....
I want one. Isn't he just so lovable??
And then there was this wall around another house....
I thought this was rather thrifty... a fence made out of old doors...
Hibiscus: my favorite flower.
And just to add to the feeling of abandonment, we discovered the biggest, most overgrown cemetery I have ever seen. I love cemeteries. Here, there, and everywhere. I think they are so peaceful and beautiful. Especially the cemeteries in Taiwan. Instead of using open flat areas like we do, the tombs are encased in the hills and in the mountains...
They are not broken up into perfect little plots either. They just seem to put them wherever they can find room. So beautiful...
That night we met with the relief society of our ward to watch the Relief Society General Conference. The only way we could access it was using Alex's little computer, so here we are gathering around it to listen to our beloved church leaders.
It worked great, but I will still never again take the Broadcasts at home for granted...
I love these beautiful ladies!
The next weekend we got to enjoy the rebroadcast of General Conference. I must say it was a superb conference. ALL AROUND. I felt the love and support from our darling church leaders as I have never felt it before (except when face to face with Sister Dalton of course :)....) I felt the spirit so strongly throughout manifesting to me the truth of their messages and my faith was reaffirmed in their council and guidance. All questions and thoughts I had and even didn't realize I had were addressed and answered. I love this gospel so much and I'm so grateful for the way it blesses my life. I'm so grateful for the courage of our leaders. Where would we be without them? In fact I'm grateful to all the leaders I have had in my life. All the YW's leaders who were exactly what we young girls needed at that crazy time of life. All the bishopric's that have been there to help me at important moments of my life. All the Sunday School teachers that put up with our foolish classes and found ways to get us to love the scriptures. All of my Seminary and Institute teachers. Their wisdom will always stick with me. And most importantly my dear parents. Their steadiness of faith and trust in our leaders still set the perfect example for me as I venture out into the world. I feel their love and support constantly and I know that without their support I would be nowhere. They have given me greater opportunities than they themselves have ever had and for that I am eternally grateful. Dear parents, I hope you realize how grateful I am to you. Not another soul on this planet could have given me a greater life than the one you have provided (and are still providing haha) for me. :) Thank you. I would be a fool if I didn't pause to thank my siblings and friends here as well. I am blessed with the most wonderful people in my life.
Well thats quite enough of this expressing of gratitude... I just can't help but be grateful when I look back on my little life so far :)
Anyway.... back to Taiwan...
So then came John Lennon's 70th birthday....
Naturally we had a little party for him. What a good guy.
Well thats really about all I care to say in this long overdue blog. Do not fret, another one is soon on it's way. This blog will address our little trip to Green Island, or rather, The Island of Fantasy........
until then.... Zai Jian!
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