Sun Moon Lake

Lindsay and I took another weekend trip last weekend to Sun Moon Lake. It is about two hours away and we took a train and a bus to get there. We found a nice hotel to stay in- and even talked down the price! This is our romantic mosquito net! haha. I waited for my prince to come wake me up, but I guess he is still fighting the dragon!

This is a lion at one of the temples at Sun Moon Lake


This is the Match Maker temple- and there was a line of girls when we got there- waiting to see if they made a good match! If praying to a Buddhist Match Maker will get me one step closer to my match- then I'll take whatever works!

Lindsay and I offered our own prayer to the Match Maker!




The Wen Wu temple complex was incredible. It had three tiers of different temples in ascending height- and the view on the roof of the tallest was incredible!

I could hear all the shutter-bugs clicking when I struck this pose!

How can you resist a face like this?

The mighty lion at Wen Wu Temple



Lindsay and I purchased discounted tickets from the owner of our hotel to the Formosa Aboriginal Cultural Village. She didn't speak any English- and we had heard this was a good place to see the aborigines of Taiwan- the first to inhabit the isle Formosa. I was expecting something like the PCC- but we found an amusement park instead! It was a delightful surprise- and AGAIN there were so few people that we rarely had to wait in line! They did have a village with different huts and a few performances- but it was mostly park! They even had Mayan, Caribbean, Alien, Jurassic, and European themes. Not quite the cultural experience I was expecting- but amazing all the same!

Awesome coy pond- they swam around all the rocks you walk out on!

One of these things is not like the others!



Here are a few pictures from our Thanksgiving feast! We had over 20 people- and we ate on the roof of our building! It was a blast. All the food was made from scratch!


Most important food to me: mashed potatoes!


We had four pots of potatoes on the stove, plus my gravy.

I cooked a vat of gravy!

We are doing the moves to the dance Sorry Sorry!

Thanks!

I am sitting here on the night of Thanksgiving- and decided that it would be appropriate to share with you some of the things that I am thankful for right now!

1. My loving Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christ
2. Awesome and supportive family and friends- you guys rock my socks!
3. Dryers- and towels that are soft and fluffy! (as opposed to stiff and sand-papery!)
4. Missionary work- specifically the baptisms of two good friends of mine: Anup and Saurav! They will be great instruments in helping to spread the gospel in their native land of Nepal.
5. Chocolate- specifically Ritter-Sport Strawberry Yogurty goodness of love
6. Mosquito nets- 'nough said!
7. Adorable kids that give me sweet kisses and hugs and make me laugh
8. Mexican food (especially when I can actually eat it)
9. Music- it lifts my soul and gives power to my funky dance moves
10. Being able to take food into a movie theater
11. Skype, e-mail, blogs and Facebook- keeping me connected to those who really matter! ;)
12. Leche's fried rice, Daungwa Neo-ni, mangoes, dumplings
13. Traveling
14. My Asia trekking around Thailand and Malaysia
15. A guided trek through Northern Thailand that includes an elephant ride, sleeping with the local hill tribe, white-water rafting, bamboo-rafting, and hiking through the jungle! (-sigh- my life is awesome)
16. Soft beds
17. My Chaco sandals
18. SCUBA DIVING
19. The scriptures- it is amazing that a thing so simple as reading my scriptures everyday can make my life so much better!
20. My Y.W.
21. Christmas music- esp. the new David Archuleta Christmas album- check it out!
22. BOOKS
23. Tender mercies and the Lord's hand in my life daily- He really blesses me so much!
24. Laughing so hard your side aches
25. The kindness and helpfulness of the Taiwanese people! They never cease to amaze me! Also- living in Taiwan!

There are so many things I am thankful for- but these were just a few I was thinking of today! I encourage you all to write your own lists and see how blessed we all are! I love and miss you all and hope you have a marvelous Thanksgiving! Eat some Turkey and mashed potatoes and gravey for me! Oh- if you are wondering- we are going to try and create our own Thanksgiving meal on Saturday with what we can find in Costco- haha. There will be over 20 of us- mostly English teachers and some Taiwanese secretaries- it should be a blast!
Love to all!
Sarah aka. Shen-wan (to the babies who cannot say my name)

Smooth Ride

So over the last two weekends I have had some amazing experiences! First- last weekend Lindsay, Joseph, Andy and I went to a local amusement park. By the time we got there- we found out that there was only 2 1/2 hours left- but we decided to go anyway. Much to our surprise and pleasure- there was almost NO ONE at the park. We never had to wait in line once- and quite often would just stay on the ride and keep riding over and over. It was one of the BEST times I have had at an amusement park. It wasn't very big- and there was only one roller coaster- but we rode more rides than if we had spent the entire day at a busy one. My favorite ride was the one roller coaster. These Taiwanese really like to surprise you with these rides- it is not very big but we had no idea what was coming. I have never heard Lindsay scream that way before. You ride to the top- and when you are horizontal you stop- and then the front begins to rotate down, and the back rotates up- so that you are just hanging there- and then it releases and you fall straight down. It was crazy fun and I will try to load the secret video we made! Also- the ride that would compare to splash mountain also had a surprise- again, not as big- but just when you get to the top- it turned you around and you went down backwards. Also- another favorite part was at the end of that ride- we had just gotten off and we're all wet- and much to our delightful surprise- we found at the exit that they provided hair dryers you could insert a coin in and dry your hair. (I have since come to notice that the Taiwanese NEVER go out with wet hair. They also provided hair dryers at the water park.) It was just fantastic not to have to wait in line- let alone just staying on the ride to go again and again! We also had several groups who wanted pictures with the foreigners- so we also took pictures with them. I never tire of people staring at me and find it quite amusing! Loved the whole experience! Yesterday Lindsay and I ventured an 1 1/2 hours south to Guanziling to go to the Fire Water Cave (for future reference: was not really a cave- but a small pond on the mountainside) We had to take a train, then a bus, then a taxi up the mountain to see natural gas that forms as pressurized water comes out and ignites. It was really pretty cool to see fire burning right on top of the water! We then walked down the mountainside- which took 90 minutes and loved every minute of it. It seemed as if we were strolling through the jungle- minus the paved roads and tour buses and tourists that waved to the strange foreign girls walking down the mountain! At the bottom of the mountain- we found one of the coolest temple complexes that I have been to yet! It had many different buildings and a large, gold Buddha that is 300 years old. One of the monks spoke some English and was pointing out their treasures that were very old. I loved going through and took lots of pictures! One part of it was a man-made pond that was empty- but had several different bridges you could cross- and a gigantic Dragon and another statue of Buddha (I think.) It was also amazing on this trip how smoothly everything fell into place for us! We got to the train station 10 minutes before it left- same with our bus ride there- and then also the same with our train ride back! We were very blessed! I can't believe that I only have 5 weeks of teaching left- and then 5 weeks of traveling! My time here in Taiwan has really gone by swiftly- and I will miss Taiwan and her kind and wonderful people when I go! They are so amazing! Yet again as Lindsay and I traveled- we had several different people that went out of their way to help us. One man helped us get on the faster train and saved us a great deal of time. Another woman saw us wandering around confused inGuanziling as we tried to find the train- and walked with us until we found it. Did I mention that none of these times did we ask- and that they willing came to help. That is one of the things that I hope to take back with me to America- and something I think we could all do better at- freely offering to help others! The Taiwanese people are amazing and I love them!

Trick-or-treat!

For Halloween our school put on a huge party for all of our kids- and it was a blast! We stayed up until midnight Thursday decorating the school- and for Lindsay, Shannon, Lisa and I- our Haunted Houses that took up two rooms. The Halloween party was divided up into three segments- with the youngest attending in the morning- and I took them trick-or-treating. With the middle group, we made ghost lollipops- and this was my Basic Reading class. The third rotation was at night, and this was when I was in the Haunted House. I was a cat for the first two groups- then got scary for the last. I must confess that I really enjoyed scaring my kids as they came through the haunted house- sometimes the boys get a little cheeky in class- so I really enjoyed paybacks in the form of scaring the tar out of em! Some of my boys were so afraid that they couldn't go all the way through- they turned around and asked me to let them out. They also screamed in a higher pitch than the girls- which had me laughing so hard that I almost peed my pants! And ironically, it was my girls that made it all the way through the HH. Good times at the Halloween Party! We had a really good time talking about how much I scared them this week in class!
My trick-or-treating group- you can see their reactions as one of the secretaries came out with a scary mask on. That was the most we scared the youngest group.

My Basic Reading class as they finsihed making ghost lollipops.

One of the teachers requested erasers to give away as a prize for her game- and some of them said God Erases Sin- which I thought was hilarious- so I had to keep one. It felt like I was in the South again!

Lindsay preparing to get scary for the Haunted House- I have never seen her hair sooo big!

My nice cat costume!

Poor Cooper was not impressed when they dressed him up as a gypsy woman!

Julia and Jimmy- two of my kindergarteners!

Here is sweet little Simon- he is only two years old! He can't even speak Chinese yet and they have him in English school- expensive babysitters!


Scary Sarah! Get ready kids- no mercy! Also- Sunny scared the crap out of me with his Joker costume!

A picture is worth a thousand words...

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but I believe that some pictures need the words that go along with them. Here is the story: Our branch took a temple trip to Taipei and decided to take a trip to the Jade and Flower markets. While meandering through the flower market, I was taking dozens of pictures- esp. the orchids, which are my new favorite flower. I came upon one vendor that had some particularly beautiful orchids that cascaded down in a line. I took out my trusty camera and began to take a picture of said beautiful orchids when I was descended upon by a cute old Taiwanese man- the apparent owner of the flowers. He started to point at the orchid and said beautiful- then he pointed at me and said beautiful- then noticed that Lindsay and Wendy had walked up- and pointed at them and said beautiful. He then pointed at his cheek repeatedly while saying friends father, friends father. He then grabbed my arm and pulled all three of us over, took my camera from me, and took a picture of us. He then pulled Lindsay and Wendy out and took a picture of me- and proceeded to do individual shots of them as well. Then he grabbed some random Taiwanese person watching all of this and told him to take a picture of the four of us. He also grabbed his camera out of his bag and had the man take another of the four of us. While all of this was happening, he continued to repeat what may have been the only English words- and I also noted that we had gathered a small crowd that was watching and laughing a bit. Once the photo shoot was over, he grabbed Lindsay by the face and kissed her on the cheek. He then proceeded to kiss Wendy and myself on the cheek. It was one of the most random and funny things that has happened to me so far, and I enjoyed every bewildering minute of it. I was laughing out loud by the end, as were those who had stopped to watch. I love cute little Taiwanese men!


Flowers from the flower market! Loved it

I thought this picture was pretty sweet! The flowers are reflected in the plastic they are wrapped in.

I LOVE orchids!


Craziness of the Jade market!

Hair Wonderland

Yesterday I decided that enough was enough and my hair really needed a trim. I had Fenny write down what I wanted done in Chinese and took off to find her hair salon. (I didn't want to end up with a stylized mullet!) I get there- and the girl is so sweet and imediately begins to work on my hair. As you sit in the seat- you have your own personal TV and many channels to chose from- I watched part of Operation Dumbo Drop! Then- when they are FINISHED cutting your hair- they take you back to wash it. The chair you sit in is not like the uncomfortable ones back home- but a nice reclining chair that you are practically laying straight on- and then she laid a full length towel over my body- which was lovely because it was rather cold. She then proceeded to wash my hair twice- and this was accompanied by a 10 minute scalp massage. When she was done with that- which was heavenly- she then put a hot towel over my head- followed later by a cold towel- and then she styled my hair. This cost about 8 US dollars. Overall- a fantastic experience! Good one Taiwan hair salons- I salute you!

Taipei Zoo

On Saturday a group of 9 teachers went to the Taipei Zoo for Wendy's birthday. I have been to quite a few zoos in my day- and I do believe that the Taipei Zoo takes the cake for the most beautiful I have ever been to. It is nestled back in a little valley of Taipei- and it is so green and lush that you almost feel as if you are in the jungle, seeing the animals in their natural habitats. I really enjoyed my time there and intend to visit once more before I leave. We also went to a huge ferris wheel to see the view of Taipei. Here are a few pictures that captured the experience!

This is a picture of all the girls at this huge sign we found by the ferris wheel. We all crammed ourselves inside the holes- not the most comfortable pose- but funny!


Here is the ferris wheel we went up in to see Taipei at night!

Shannon and I inside the ferris wheel!

Sweet sculpture in front of the Zoo. We had just finished and I think I felt my cat like instincts kicking in! Rrrrrr baby!

All of us gals gettin our native on!

This gorilla means business!

There were at least 10 Hippos that I could count in these two pens- and they were really active and play-fighting. It was the COOLEST thing I have ever seen. They kept making loud grunting noises- but of course stopped as soon as I had my video going!

I just really liked all the big leaves- and this one was small compared to some we found! I guess I know how Adam and Eve did it now!

Ahhh...my favorite animal- the mighty elephant! Here I come my babies in Thailand!


This is a great example of what is surrounding the zoo. It felt like a jungle! Really beautiful landscape all around the zoo.

There were orchids hanging everywhere all over the zoo!



We came around the corner and this is one side of the zoo! Just BREATHTAKING! haha.

Of course it wouldn't be Taiwan without some reference to poop- so here you go- poop art!


The inside of this Ginormous poo is smaller than it looks! Pretty amazing that we all got in there! Side note: I don't think I have had a Taiwan post yet that doesn't reference poo in some way. I guess they really find it amusing over here. But who doesn't love a good poop joke- Lets be honest!

Embracing our animal instincts!