The Call to Adventure: Falling in Love

“People create stories create people; or rather stories create people create stories.”

-Chinua Achebe

"Falling in Love." An interesting title that may need a little explanation. Do not be alarmed, Mom. I have not fallen in love with a Taiwanese boy. I am not going to get married and stay here for the rest of my life. It's the nation I have fallen in love with. But it's not just that. It's people. It's their stories and their lives. Now, I had no intention of being so poetic and flowery when I set out to write this blog, but these are the things that have been running through my mind as of late. So, here you are, reading the silly musings of Karyn's brain. But hey, I never insisted you read this. If you wish to proceed that is entirely up to you...

This island is incredibly beautiful. It has everything you could possibly dream of. Ocean, mountain, meadow, gorge, plateau, city, country.... etc. I am constantly in awe over the beauties surrounding me. Even in the oh, so polluted city I can't help but notice little things that make lovely in it's own way. But lately it hasn't been the scenery that has captured my affection- even though I can't get enough of it. It's the people. I find so much pleasure in meeting new people and forming friendships. I'm even happy just to see little glimpses into the lives of strangers. I guess it's a good thing I plan on continuing in anthropology because I'm addicted to it. This new love for humanity has even had an effect on my amateur attempts at photography. I now try and include random strangers into my landscape shots. I love the stories it instantly creates. I guess thats my way of justifying the creeper shots I've been taking lately...

Moving on... this last weekend, Kailey, Liz and I went on a little adventure down to Kenting National Park. If ever there was a beautiful landscape, it would be (and is) found on this little southern tip of Taiwan. Looking back, I have realized that even though this trip was made for the purpose of enjoying nature, It was really the people we saw and met that made it memorable...

When arrived in Kenting, we were greeted at our hostel by Sophy. She and her husband, John, are the owners of the U-dive Hostel. Sophy is Taiwanese and John is Canadian. I was immediately impressed with this womans welcome. She was incredibly warm and friendly and helped us make our plans for the day. She was so happy with her life that you couldn't help but feel happy for her as well. After she showed us the coral beach next to the hostel she helped us make arrangements for our scooter rental, and as soon as John returned from his dive, he drove us down to the rental shop...

We rode in the back of his truck... Oh and the matching tie dye was completely unintentional. I guess this is what happens when you spend every waking moment with someone for six months...

And so did his dog, Dog.

John was an interesting fellow, but I will wait to give a better description of him.

Soon we had our scooters and we were on our way.

I do love scootin' around. I only wish it would be a practical investment in Utah. Few things bring more pleasure than riding along the coast on one of these.

We rode around for awhile until we decided to stop for lunch. This is a typical portion size in this country....

Notice the text on the plate. I am seriously going to miss some of the food here. This place was a very common style of restaurant here. You grab a little basket and fill it with whatever meets and vegetables and noodles you want and then they cook it up for you in a jiffy. Kind of like Mongolian BBQ. I will probably be making a lot of trips to that place when I get home...

After lunch we drove around until we found a quaint little beach to enjoy.

I kid you not, the sand on this beach was the softest sand I have ever felt in my life. It was bliss.

And in case you doubt my actual presence on the beach here is proof that I was there. Because I know it's a little hard to believe...

We had a bit of fun playing in the sand...

And after looking like fools for awhile our little snowman in the sand was born...

The glasses we found on the beach were the perfect addition. It's like they were meant for each other.

I'm pretty sure there are about three other people have their own copies of this picture. For some reason the American girls making a snowman in the sand seemed to be really amusing to the surrounding Taiwanese. They tried to be discreet but as a master creeper myself, I know the signs of a good stalker photo...

Several people paused to take pictures with our little message in the sand as well...

Fortunately we were able to befriend some of them and they took this lovely photo of us all fist pumping in a happy holiday...

And then I began taking some shots of people around us. I thought I'd return the favor I guess. I love this one with them burying their friend in the sand. Beaches are the same in every country...

This is my favorite picture from the whole trip. Which is why it's on here twice...

This delightful woman spent the whole day walking back and forth along the beach. She had a marvelous outfit on probably to protect her from the very dangerous rays of sunlight...

I love the person bumping along on their inner tube in this one...

And some cute little twins in matching outfits searching for shells...

After our lovely day at the beach we scooted our way back to the hostel where we washed up and got ready for a little BBQ on the roof top patio of our hostel. And what an experience that was. The company, the food, and the atmosphere made our little dinner a scene straight from a Dickens novel. I kid you not, I wrote extensive character sketches on everyone there in my little travel journal the next day. I'll give you a brief overview of it here, but I'll spare you the more boring descriptions. First we had two Canadian men who have been living in Taiwan for several decades now, and still don't speak very much Chinese. One of them was John Boo, our hostel owner and the other was his friend and neighbor, Richard (the Canadian version of Doc. Brown.) Richard still had a very thick Canadian accent. These two, unable to fully communicate with anyone else for many years, spent the evening chatting away, often repeating things they already said as if they were saying them for the first time. It was thoroughly entertaining. Later a few Taiwanese men joined us. One was the captain of John's ship and he was a very impressive figure. You could tell he was very intelligent as he sat silently smirking on as he listened to the conversation of John and Richard. Another man came later as well and soon he and the captain were carried away into their Chinese world. It was very interesting watching the simple conversation between English speakers work it's way in circles while the Chinese conversation took on a very different shape. You wouldn't think that living in a country where you don't really speak the language to be a life style that would bring much satisfaction in life. But after watching these two men who have been doing just that for quite some time, I was struck by their sense of contentment. They really have found their niche in the world and that is very respectable in my opinion. IT ended up being a much different evening than we could have anticipated, but it was definitely worth it.

The next morning we decided to wake up early and take a little stroll on the coral beach next to our hostel. Dog decided to join us...

What a beautiful place to live. No wonder these people are so happy with life...

We spent a few hours here just wandering around and soaking it in...

Can you see the star fish??

Moss covered coral is pretty too, what do you know....

Bliss...

Tidal pools just never get old I think...

And of course I found some human specimens to capture as well...

And a lovely fisherman hard at work...

What a life, eh?

When I talk about the people I have grown to love I could never leave out the three amazing girls that I have shared this little adventure with. They are my sisters and my best friends. I would not trade them for anyone in the world. :) Here we have the lovely Kailey and Liz...

Unfortunately Annalisa didn't come with us to Kenting, But she is just as much a part of it as ever. It will be so strange to not be with these ladies at all times. At least I will have Liz with me in Cedar City.

If you haven't noticed yet, the fist pump has become something of a routine here... almost as much as the peace sign.

After a delightful morning we made our way home. And this is what accompanied us on our train ride home....

People create stories create people; or rather stories create people create stories... I think this is a really fascinating idea. It is a never ending cycle. And as I look around me I can see countless people with countless stories to be created- each as intricate and lovely as the next....

Once again, please excuse my ridiculous attempts at poetic thought. I get a little carried away sometimes....

The Call to Adventure: A Wanderer in a Strange Land

"Now if this is boasting, even so will I boast; for this is my life and my light, my joy and my salvation, and my redemption from everlasting wo. Yea, blessed is the name of my God, who has been mindful of this people, who are a branch of the tree of Israel, and has been mindful of us, wanderers in a strange land.

Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea and I will give thanks unto my God forever. Amen."

Alma 26:36-37

What an incredible Thanksgiving week we had here on the good ol' isle of Formosa. I certainly have much to be thankful for. To start off we had the wonderful opportunity to return to the oh so lovely Jhushan. This time we were with Kitty's family so we were able to visit this beautiful "Sky Bridge." The way up there was pretty remarkable as well...

What we have here is the "sea of clouds." this happens when you get high enough up the mountains that you are completely above the mist. It's so amazing to see the clouds both above and below you. I've never seen anything quite like it.

Once we reached the top of the mountain, we had to descend countless stairs to reach the Sky Bridge. Of the many different kinds of staircases we used, my favorite was probably the very steep spiral stair case just above the bridge...

There is just something so intriguing about the image don't you think?

An even greater feast for the eyes was just ahead...

An age old fantasy of any and all adventurers is to cross a great suspension bridge in the middle of a wild, untamed jungle. The Sky Bridge was certainly the perfect place to realize such a goal. And don't worry I was sure to get a picture of myself on the bridge so I could prove I was really there...

And what could make a jungle suspension bridge even greater but a little Buddhist temple hidden away in the crevices of the cliff face?

I do love the devotion of the Buddhist faith. They find reason to worship anywhere and everywhere they can. It's really very beautiful.

This is the view of the bridge looking back after we crossed. Most suspension bridges are level on either side, but this one rises quite a bit, thus the name "Sky Bridge." When you cross back over, the last half is entirely made up of stairs. The idea is that you must continue forward, and with each step you become closer to heaven.

After hiking a bit we came across this little friend...

And then there was the second suspension bridge. This one was pretty cool too, and a lot older.

I like to call it the spider bridge for some pretty obvious reasons...

You can't really see the spiders in the picture but I think I lost count of them after about 12.

We continued on our path and saw many more breath taking sights.

This one reminds me of Ferngully...

If you look closely you can see a little crystal blue pond surrounded by gigantic boulders...

According to George and Grace, Kitty's parents, those boulders were not here a year ago. I wonder what it was that caused such a great shift in the face of the mountain.

Here is another view of the beautiful gorge.

I don't think that there is anything more lovely, geologically speaking, than a rock that has been weathered away by the natural force of water- particularly in gorges...

And as if we hadn't had enough of a visual treat yet, we came across a lovely little waterfall as well...

It was kind of interesting up there because there were a few families up there burning paper money- the kind you see in Buddhist temples or in little money fires on the side of the road. This usually indicates a funeral or the warding off of bad luck. Grace said that it probably meant that someone had died there. Sure enough, after talking with the families, she informed us that a year ago there had been an accident there and several young adults had slipped and fallen into the gorge. At that moment I was very grateful it was a sunny day. My shoes probably don't have the best grip in the world.

I was also surprised to come across some real wild poinsettias growing along the side of the road all the way up the mountain.

I had never seen it growing wild before. Lovely...

After our trek up and down and all around the mountain, we went on a wee trip to Jiji to see another Buddhist temple. But this temple was a little different from the ones we are used to...

About ten years ago on 9/21, there was a very large earthquake and the epicenter was not far from this village. The effects of it were felt all across the island. This little temple came crashing down directly on top of itself. It's really like nothing I've ever seen. The roof fell cleanly right on top almost as if it were built that way.

They have left it as it is as some sort of a monument. Kind of interesting. It made for quite a lovely end to a perfectly lovely day.

Thanksgiving week continued and we found ourselves enjoying a nice break from school on Tuesday. It was Health and Fitness week for the athletic department at NCUE and our college classes just so happen to be made up of students from the athletic department. They were having a Tae Kwan Do show and so we get permission to skip our prep hours that day and go see our students perform.

Unfortunately we were late so we just saw the tail end of it. But what we saw was pretty cool...

Notice the archers on the right. They were shooting at balloons across the stage. I wish there was an archery club at SUU. I would certainly be a member of that.

We got to have archery lesson's from these fine lads later that night.... but i'm getting ahead of myself...

We were at the back of the crowd for most of this but we did manage to see the end of the show. Afterwards we talked to a few of our students and one of them, Grace, got a picture of us by their flag.

While we were talking with our students, the head of the athletic department, Kenny Chi (not to be confused with Kenny G, as he told us the first time we met him), came over to thank us for coming. When we told him we were unfortunate enough to miss most of the show he immediately called a few students over to him and began speaking to them in Chinese. We had no idea that he was organizing a private show for us in their practice room! Indeed, they led us into their building and got all of the team back together for a quick show and lesson just for us. Grace got some great pictures from the event...

Tae Kwan Do is supposed to be one of the few sports that the Taiwanese are really good at.

I was very impressed.

Yes he is about to break that board that with his foot.

I think this next picture is pretty sweet. Their timing is so perfect. They were left completely unscathed.

And then came our turn. My student, Angus, took on the task of teaching the English teachers basic TKD. This is him trying to get us to yell louder...

Grace was also able to catch a bit of it on video.

Next we got to try our hand at breaking boards. I was a little afraid at first. But what do you know it, I'm a natural ninja ;)

My favorite part about this picture is the look of surprise on both of their faces....

Next they showed us how to break the board with a punch...

Brace yourself, here it comes...

And she goes for the punch...

And a nice clean break right down the middle. Although I must confess, I think they helped us to break it down the middle by applying the correct pressure. It probably would have broken whether I had punched it or not... but we can pretend I broke it with the sheer force of my bulging muscles.

Here we are with the team at the end of the mini lesson...

It was definitely a nice way to spend the afternoon.

Later that evening we returned to the campus for an archery lesson that turned into a mini tour to several Health and Fitness stations they had placed around campus for the event. It was a lot of fun getting to see our students outside of class. They really are great people. I just wish we all spoke the same language --fluently.

Here is another one of my students Ling. She is great. She can't speak hardly any English but that hasn't stopped us becoming friends. She always pulls out her camera during class and gets what are probably really awkward photos of me teaching and playing the guitar for the class. She even gets the occasional video in as well.

Those are her glasses frames i'm sporting in this photo. That is one of the more interesting fashion trends we find here quite often. Empty glasses frames.

While on our tour we got to test a few things out. This is Kailey testing her reaction time...

You watch for the light to turn red and then you jump as quickly as you can. Here is Liz giving it a go...

After that we stood on this machine that used electricity to tell you how alive you were. I'm 84% alive, if you were wondering. Well, actually I'm not sure what it was the machine did because once again it was all in Chinese... but it did print out a fancy paper with all sorts of information on it that I have no idea how it knew. A secret of the Orient I suppose...

Next we went to the weight room where my Ryan, another one of my students, showed us the mechanical bull machine...

I guess it's supposed to help you work your abs and other muscle groups....

Mostly, I just thought it was fun to ride...

And that was the end of our evening.

The next Thanksgiving Week activity for us was the actual Thanksgiving meal. We might have considered cooking our own little Thanksgiving meal for the occasion, but seeing as we do all our baking in our little toaster oven, cooking a turkey seemed a little above our heads. Therefore, we decided to go to a very popular, and delicious restaurant here in Taiwan: Tasty. No you don't get a free doughnut with every sandwich. Tasty is a very fancy, seven course kind of restaurant. Naturally I decided to document it all for my blogging pleasure....

Here we are at the lovely restaurant getting ready to get started...

Here is a glimpse at the menu...

And here is the lovely Kailey sporting the first course, the appetizer:

It was an excellent plate of shrimp and asparagus in a light honey mustardy sauce.

And course two, the antipasto:

This was a delicious mushroom fondue type substance. Quite good.

Course 3, the salad:

Yes this is a salad. A potato salad to be specific. Pleasantly decorated with a shrimp, head and all.

Course 4, the soup:

Pumpkin soup to take the place of the pumpkin pie we were missing on this fine day. I love the use of pumpkin in this country. They certainly know how to cook with it.

Next isn't really a full course, but a little refresher of the taste buds for between courses...

It's called Sawa and it definitely cleanses the palette.

And then comes course 5, the main dish:

Since we couldn't have turkey, I decided to go with the closest thing on the menu: Roasted Duck. It was absolutely superior. Tender and juicy and bursting with flavor. Marvelous.

Course 6, the fancy drink:

Mango Smoothie. It had been a few months since I had tasted a fresh mango and I had greatly missed it. Mango fast became my favorite fruit when I moved to this beloved little island. There is nothing more pleasant on the taste buds than a ripe, juicy mango, fresh from the local market. This mango smoothie did a rather good job of imitating that.

And now for course 7. The final course. And possibly the most delicious. Dessert:

This dessert is delicately named the "Chocolate Bag." What we see above is a crepe type pastry thing wrapped around chocolate and deep fried to a crispy, melted, dark chocolately masterpiece. You crack it open and let it spill out gently onto a little bowl of classic vanilla ice cream. Like so....

We were definitely full to bursting by the end, but it was most definitely very...

TASTY!

But Thanksgiving week did not end with Thanksgiving day. We had another adventure ahead of us that weekend: another glorious trip to Taipei. I always liked Taipei, but it wasn't until this trip that I truly fell in love with it. We started out our day with a little trip to the Temple. I really have grown quite fond of this building....

Here we are giving a 100-percent-thumbs-up for Sister Dalton :)

After that we made our way to the National Palace Museum. We really became masters of the MRT in Taipei during this trip. This is the stop where we transfered to a bus to take us to the museum. It is a pleasant little shopping center. We ended up getting dinner at a little pasta place here after seeing ancient treasures of Chinese past...

And here we are at the ever so famous National Palace Museum. This place really is a must see.

When Chang Kai Shek came to Taiwan, he brought with him ships and ships of ancient Chinese artifacts. When I say ships and ships, I really mean fleets and fleets. This museum changes most of their exhibits every couple of months. And they still have yet to recirculate items. There is enough stuff here to bring out new treasures every month for 60 years without showing the same thing twice. Impressive? Quite.

Unfortunately, cameras were not allowed in. This is understandable though seeing as some of the things we saw in there dated back to the 15th century B.C.E. It was thoroughly fascinating. I would definitely recommend a visit here should any of you decide to make a trip to Taiwan some day. If you do, let me know. I want in.

Many people have told me that they have visited palaces and museums in Beijing and other hot spots in China, and have not seen anything near as impressive as what is in the National Palace. I believe it too. All they are missing here are the Terracotta Warriors and the Great Wall. That being said, I do still really want to go to China some day. And I will.

We definitely had a grand old time at the museum :)

Our next, and final destination was the top of Taipei 101.

I had forgotten just how impressive this building really is.

As we made our way to the vastness that is Taipei 101, we found ourselves following behind another foreigner. He was very much aware of us- or at least he appeared that way by the intensity of his swagger. Here we have Kailey doing a very good impression of him as he presses on before us...

One last glimpse before we headed up her many floors.

Taipei 101 may no longer be the tallest building in the world, but it still has the fastest elevator in the world. Here we are anticipating the thrilling elevator ride ahead of us...

It certainly was snappy. We went from the fifth floor to the 89th floor in 45 seconds flat. My ears were popping like crazy I'll tell you what.

But it was worth it...

Here is our view from the 90th floor outdoor observatory...

It is so unreal up there. The city is so beautiful and so far away. Sky scrapers in Asia have something different to offer than other sky scrapers as well. Fireworks every weekend- not just holidays. As we sat up there, various pyro shows dotted the horizon- not unlike watching the fireworks in Changhua on Moon Festival. I will miss fireworks popping up all over the place when I go home.

Unfortunately we couldn't go all the way up to the 101st floor. That is only for the very rich people who own it.

This is our lovely 101 pose :)

And where would we be without another victorious fist pump picture...

Vote for me!

As we made our way down to the elevator we came across this sign...

Naturally we couldn't leave without seeing the SUPER BIG WIND DAMPER. Who could pass up such a sight!

In case you are like I used to be and have no idea what a wind damper is, here is a lovely sign that gives an explanation better than I ever could...

And here she is in all her glory.

Vast. Ness.

Kailey and Liz with their "This is the biggest wind damper I've ever seen!" faces.

We must have been really tired at this point because the wind damper jokes kept on rolling and tears of laughter kept bursting forth.

It didn't help that when we stopped in the bathroom, these signs were gently hung over the toilets...

I can't help but wonder if this sign was made because of a previous problem. Maybe people are just too used to the squatter???

When we finally landed back on earth we made our way back to the MRT station we had become so familiar with. As we walked we came across a giant chess game in the works....

Liz and I had to stop and play a spot of wizards chess of course. It made for an excellent end to a Taipei adventure. We finally got back to the main bus station where we paused at the Coldstone Creamery and then took our bus back home. Quite a pleasant day if I do say so myself.

And finally, we ended the week with a delightful dinner with Tiffany, Peggy, Belle, and the Sister Missionaries. We have long wanted lessons in Taiwanese cuisine and it turns out our Taiwanese friends were just as eager to learn how to bake American style. So we created this little cooking exchange. For our first week, Tiffany and Peggy made us a classic dinner of noodles, vegetables, and meatball soup.

I took many pictures of their process because I definitely want to recreate this in the future.

And here we all are sitting in our tiny kitchen, eating a happy little meal. One of the sisters was kind enough to take this picture. I really love all these girls. We have become such close friends. It will be very sad to part in a month...

And then it was our turn. We decided to go with something very classic. And what is more classic than good old fashioned chocolate chip cookies. They were just excited as we were to learn how to bake.

Well, it turned out to be a very different Thanksgiving than I have ever experienced. But it was good. I have much to be grateful for and I hope I never forget it. Life is exciting and beautiful and I can't get enough of it. I have one more month to go and I plan to make the most of it.