Taipei 3

Saturday, October 30th 2010

Second branch temple trip, my third temple trip, and fifth time to Taipei.

This time I got Allison to sub my class, so we left at 8:30ish.

I love this Temple!

Taipei LDS Temple

This is actually the first view we got of the temple on the first trip. We all got out of the bus and waited to cross the street (not knowing where the temple was) looking at the gas station and then all of a sudden we looked a further up and there was an Angel Moroni! It was a great sight!

Taipei Temple behind gas station

After we were through at the Temple, we ate lunch as we walked to the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial, where we spent the rest of the day.

Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Building

Cool Tree, Gate to Chiang Kai-shek Memorial, and Temple

Why is it that we just can't resist trying the jumping shot . . . my timing as a photographer isn't really up to par for this type of shot, but they're fun to try ;)

AnnaLisa

( from who's camera I stole all these pics)

Katy

And, of course, if you're in a tourist spot, in a big Asian city, and you happen to be a blond, chances are high that you will get a woman coming up to you, with out saying a word, just pointing to her camera, shaking her head when you try to take it (having assumed that she wants you to take her picture), then leading you to a spot to pose with her, to inevitably become, yet again, part of some random person's vacation photos.

Maybe it's not because I'm blond, but because we're wearing similarly matching ensembles

So randomly we got there just in time to watch the changing of the guard! It was awesome!

Chiang Kai-shek Memorial's Changing of the Guard

AnnaLisa in front of the big statue of Chiang Kai-shek

Chiang Kai-shek

(well, ok, just his statue, but he just looks so happy I had to include it)

Katy in front of the big statue of Chiang Kai-shek

It's just such a cool building I couldn't resist including another shot . . .

So in the ground level of the building is the gift shop, some museum, . . . and other stuff . . . but what caught my eye were these great doors!

(don't ask, just go with it ;)

Katy and the Chiang Kai-shek Doors

Katy caught . . . doing the rumba . . . with one of the Chiang Kai-shek Doors . . . well, to each their own . . .

Yep, I kinda over did the awesome door obsession . . . no, I take that back I can do better, I'll get back to you on that!

Well, after that we headed back to the bus and from there (or on there . . .) back to Feng Yuan. From there I left my shoes on the bus, got into an awkward situation with a car and driver, ended up 'having' to go to the store where I ran into both my bosses and their kids (their married), then realizing as they saw me I had a very unfavorable expression on my face (having just realized that I left said shoes on the bus) this thought leading me to think that they might think that this expression was because I ran into them, from there I was overly excited to see them (although they are great people, and deserve as many excited greetings as anyone), and felt I had to explain my expression, which I was given the chance to do after one of them asked, "You just get back?" (he, being in the same branch as us, knew about the temple trip), I got to follow up with, "Yes, and I JUST realized that I left my shoes on the bus!" After all that the rice I bought on this impulsive trip had flies in it, AND the rice they replaced it with (I found out after having eaten about a sixth of it) had larvae (or some other similar bug) in it . . . . I haven't made rice since . . .

How's that for a blog post full of run-on sentences? ;)

Life When Teaching in Taiwan

Well I guess I should catch up on what I've been up to for the last couple of months.

I went to Taipei again on the 30th of October, this time I really visited the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall (I will probably post more pictures of that, when I get them, in my next Taipei outing post).

This is a pic within the grounds of the memorial. You can see one of its gates in the background

Karyn and I

We've also had more creatures visiting our hallway. Around the first of October, around 11pm we found this apropos creature. Perfect to bring in the month of creepy things!

I swear it was bigger than it looks in this picture . . . .

Libby had to take it in b&w, there's just no other way to represent such a scene!

I really don't remember when we did this, but Allison got these very Asian face masks and we had a little face mask party (yep that's Devin, a real man, sporting this fashionable accessory ;)

Devin, Lien, Katy, Allison, Meg, Kristi, Libby, Erin

(Lien and I, sadly, broke the Berhan shirt theme,

I'm sorry guys . . .)

Well, originally we were going to watch a chick flick and eat snacks, but with the oddity of the masks the urge to act as, newly termed, creepers was just too much. So up to the roof we headed with creepy music, which of course included MJ's Thriller!

From the beginning of the circle at the Left:

Erin, Lien, Katy, Libby, Meg, Kristi

Saturday, October 2, 2010

We went to TGI Friday's for dinner with the Relief Society. With my freshly blond hair, I couldn't resist adopting a Marilyn Monroe look for a night!

So would you term this Karilyn Monrally or Marity Dalroe?

The Friday before Halloween we had some fun just playing in our classes . . . well for my rotations we made popcorn hands . . . a lot of popcorn and sprinkles were involved . . . and then a lot of sweeping!

For the morning class I just helped rotate the kids to each activity. Then, of course, we had to do a crazy group shot. It was a way fun day!!!

I wish I could tag the pic like facebook to point out which of the little ones are in my class, but I'll have to be content to say most of the first row and about half of the second row are in my class. I have the youngest ones. The little two year old in yellow standing with the third row on the left is also in my class.

Katy, Whitney, Libby, Erin, Lien, Allison, Devin, Meg, Kristi, Laura

Later that night we invited the secretaries from our school to have a Halloween cookie decorating party with us and then play Murder in the Dark. It was a great night! Somehow the mustaches appeared . . . whatcha think? It's the new accessory trend . . . ya . . .

Meg, Kristi, Allison, Katy, Lien, Libby, Laura, Kailey, Fenny, Holly, Devin, Whitney, Erin

Throughout the semester we've been celebrating un-birthdays and my fell on November 2 . . . why that day you may ask; well it was a Tuesday and we all have afternoon classes off on Tuesdays ;)

So with your birthday you get treated to a lunch of sorts (we went to this great Thai place) and your fridge decorated with handmade happiness, and of course balloons!

They know me quite well, don't you think?

The purple envelope contained random things I like said in Japanese!

This one I had to blow-up. Note the black eye-liner . . . :)

And then there's the paper stiletto.

Yep, that about sums it up! ;)

Monday, November 15, 2010 for our Monday night FHE activity we were told we had 30ish minutes to come up with a song to perform. Ours was I Want It That Way by the Backstreet Boys with me as an English Teacher Teaching correcting their Chinglish sung song ("Me no want hear! Me want fat way!")

Kristi, Laura, Katy

The other two skits were fabulous as well, although I don't think I could articulate them into words . . . . One was a Christmas theme, and the other was Pocahontas . . . with orange juice . . . and a suitcase . . . ya . . . ;)

Whitney, Meg, Libby, Allison, Kristi, Lien, Erin, Devin, Katy

Friday, November 19, 2010

Harry Potter Baby!!!

Need I say more?!

Laura, Erin, Libby, Kristi, Meg

I couldn't ruin the Berhan sweater theme, so took that picture and had them take one of me.

(I made sure they got my favorite character in there, Bellatrix Lestrange!)

Katy

Can you guess what series movie I'll be to the opening nigh of in December?! :D

Hsinchu

Saturday, October 16th, 2010

Hsinchu (pronounced shintshu in my book) Taiwan's Windy City is an hour or so north of where I live and the home of a good friend of my, Erin Shaw! We hung for the afternoon ;)

First lunch at this great Italian restaurant, yep it was fabulous!!!

Me with strawberry-kiwi frozen drink thing!

(actually I think it's an Italian Ice or something . . . it was good ;)

Erin and her coworker friend who took us to the restaurant

Erin and I

(check out the background to this and the last photo.

Rock the rod-iron and black-sheer curtains!!!)

After lunch we went window shopping

I failed at finding a good watch for the price I wanted :(

Then Erin told me about this great place with ancient bridge supports. Photo-op!

Me on former bridge thing . . . or I guess I would have been under the bridge if it was still there . . . logistics o.o

Me caught off guard (Erin does this quite a bit . . . )

This is the Hsinchu City Gate

A lot of young people hang out there and play music and decently dance to it.

(The next 3 pictures are at the gate)

Me caught off guard again . . . I like it . . .

It's the kind of artsy I like: stone + rod-iron :D

(we might have gone a little overboard with the sepia . . .

old stuff = sepia right?)

Well then you really do just get carried away. These were taken in a tunnel leading away from the gate that was lined with dingy mirrors so we took advantage of being able to see what the camera saw!

Erin Shaw and Me

. . . well I guess sepia wasn't the only thing we got carried away with . . .

Next is the story of the rose and sunflower:

The first thing that happened after I met up with Erin at the train station was a bunch of high school kids surrounding us (attempting to use their English skills) asking us to buy flowers for for charity for 100NT (3ish USD). Well the rose was just so cute, and it is my favorite flower. After that we were continually bombarded with other groups from the same high school. I would just show my rose and they would stop asking me, but wouldn't stop with Erin. I was the one who finally gave in and bought Erin a sunflower (it seems like her). So do you think they stopped asking? Why only one you should have two or three . . . . You gotta hand it to their persistence ;)

. . . and I was even wearing rose shaped earrings . . . can we say fate?

Then there was this great little park bench, just right for a photo of of smelling the rose(s) . . . I should have bought two!

Erin with her sunflower. It looked great with her purple shirt!

Yah, I don't know . . . .

Of course, a trip wouldn't be complete without random people asking you to take a picture with them . . . the thing that gets me is that they were foreigners too, they were from the Philippines!

Well I am in Asia, so I shouldn't be surprised when I see ads with celebrities I know, but three random Japanese ones in one ad . . . rock that on!!!

It was the sugar on top of a fabulous day :D

Miura Haruma, ? ?, Oguri Shun, and Eita

Bowling!

Friday, September 24th 2010

Bowling in Taiwan!

What could be a better end to a week than bowling?!

We got two lanes for 3 rounds plus shoes for 130NT each! (that's less than $4 US . . . is that good? I liked it)

Left to Right: Katy, Libby, Kristi, Laura, a blurry Meg, Allison

The first round consisted of us trying to figure out what the computer was trippn' on.

(well, how the turn taking went . . . the lanes were linked and let's just say it was confusing)

Left to Righ: Meg, Kristi, Katy, Libby, Lein, Laura, Allison

Check out the burn on my legs! see the massive difference between my righ inner calf and my left outer calf? Ya, my legs were the least burnt from Kenting, although you can't really see it due to the neon-lighting

Kristi and I up!

She would cursed me throughout the game!

I ended up taking 2nd!!!

Check out #4: 98 baby!

That was the 2nd round.

(we don't speak of the 3rd round . . . . Kristi and her braided belt comment! ;(

FUN TIMES!