Northern Taiwan: Taipei

Day 5: Even though we were sad to say goodbye to Ee, Terry, Charlyn and the Surf Shack, we were excited to see more of Taiwan. We had to wait at the bus stop for about 45 min to catch a bus to Kaoshing. From there we got on the High Speed Railway and headed up to Taipei.

About thirty minutes before our arrival in Taipei, we stopped at a usual stop to pick up more passengers when the most unusual thing happened. The train jerked about four times as if the track below us was breaking in half. At first I was scared, but no one else around me seemed to even flinch so I thought maybe it was normal? All of a sudden they were making announcements over the loud speaker in Chinese and they were not allowing anyone to enter or exit the train. Christine, Britney, and I looked around the train trying to get some answers. After about 10 minutes we finally asked if anyone could speak English and we were told that there had been an earthquake. Sweet!:) It was not the first one I have been in, but it was the first one I had ever felt. Unfortunately, due to the delay we were going to be late for our previously scheduled late check in time at our new hostel. Thankfully I had the phone number written down. We kindly asked a woman nearby (she did not speak much English, so it was difficult to explain) if she would call our hostel and tell them we would be late. After a lot of acting and hand motions, she kindly called for us! We were very lucky because we ended up getting there 90 minutes late. If we had not called they would not have stayed, and we would have been out on the streets for the night.

While our hostel was in a great location right in the center of the city, it was no Surf Shack. In fact it was far from the luxury service we received in Southern Taiwan. I literally gagged every single time I walked in to the bathroom, and I spread my dirty clothes all over the bed to sleep on. Lets just say my dirtiest clothes were a million times cleaner than the sheets on the bed; I had no choice. Needless to say, we spent very little time in our hostel. As bad as it was, I can't complain a whole lot considering it was only 12 dollars a night in a big city.

Please note the white stains. Trust me it is not just bad lighting. Those actually exist.

After we put our stuff down we got out of the hostel as fast as possible. We headed to one of the large night markets in Taipei. We wandered around the market for at least four hours and only covered a fraction of it. It was enormous; filled with everything under the sun. We experienced some very interesting smells (the nicest way I can describe it) and saw some crazy weird foods. Despite the gross factor associated with a lot of the food I took pictures of, the food we actually ate was some of the most delicious food I have ever had in my life. I wasn't sure if I would like "real" Chinese food. I definitely enjoy sesame chicken back in the U.S.A, but the real deal is better than I ever could have imagined!

We took a chance a tried a meat stick. We looked very careful and tried to pick one we thought was chicken. It ended up being chicken wrapped around grilled green onions. It had a sweet/tangy glaze on the outside. Yumm.

Pig liver. All you have to do is point and the fry it up right in front of you:)

This is where we ended up eating dinner. The man in the picture is cooking my food!

All three of our meals! We just ate right off the grill!

My meal! Soup, rice, sprouts, green onion, and seasoned beef! So good!

Christine's garlic basil chicken!

Animal testicles.

Who knows? I couldn't identify anything on this cart.

Bright pink fruit! I do not remember what it is called, but it was delicious!

A typical Taiwanese carnival game: fish for shrimp! When you win you get an over sized stuffed animal.

Day 6: The next morning we woke up in pools of sweat (sorry for the gross details). We knew we would never survive walking around the city and sightseeing all day, so we decided to get out of the city and head to the water. We went to the information booth at the train station and told them we wanted to go to the coast. In minutes, without any knowledge of where we were actually going, we were on a train going to the coast. Luckily, we were not disappointed. I'll show you the pictures and you can be the judge.

A beautiful temple right on the water!

After we spent the day exploring the northern coast of Taiwan, we headed to the 101 Tower: currently the tallest building the world! After waiting in line for 10 minutes, we took a 40 second elevator ride (the fastest elevator in the world) to the 93 floor! The view was breathtaking. We spent about an hour in the building, and then spent the rest of the evening eating, talking, and enjoying our last night of vacation!

Day 7: The following morning we arrived at the bus station expecting to take a 15 minute bus ride to the airport. We quickly discovered that we were not in the location we thought we were. We were informed that it would actually take us an hour to get to the airport (we probably should have figured that out before the morning of, but we thought we knew where we were in relation to the airport). After an hour of butterflies in our stomachs and some some speed walking/running in the airport, we arrived at our gate just in time! And just like that we were on our way back home. For that week only, H1N1 turned out to be the greatest pandemic ever.

Southern Taiwan: Kenting

My unexpected vacation to Taiwan ended up being one of the best weeks of my life, and one to add to my top ten list of favorite countries I've been fortunate enough to explore. I spent the week with my two girl friends Christine and Britney. Before our departure we had our plane tickets booked (we flew in to Taipei which is in northern Taiwan) and a hostel booked for the first few nights (the hostel we booked was in the very southern part of the country). All the other details of the trip were determined along the way.

Day 1: The three of us were waiting at the bus stop to catch the airport bus by 5:30 am on Sunday. It only took us about 1 hour to get to the airport because there was no traffic. Despite some difficulties along the way we made it to our gate in time for our flight and flew directly from Incheon, South Korea to Taipei, Taiwan. That was about as far as our pre-planning went so we immediately went to an information booth to figure out how the heck we were going to get to our hostel. We were directed to a bus that took us to the train station where we eventually hopped on the High Speed Railway. Before getting on the train, however, we stopped and got a little lunch at a 7 Eleven nearby. At that moment in time if we would have known how many more times we would be forced to eat at 7Eleven we would have definitely made a different decision.

The train ride was about two hours, and it was one of the most amazing train rides I have ever been on. Taiwan is a breathtakingly beautiful country. The luscious greenery, mountains, jungle like surroundings, and somewhat clean air were refreshing after living in South Korea for a few months. The train took us to a city called Kaohsiung where we were directed to take a 3 hour bus ride to Kenting.

As we got on the bus we instantly noticed that the bus had some goop in his teeth that was bright red, and made him look like he had some form of a disease. We later found out that it was just some drugs that are commonly used in Asia:) The bus was filled with big, leather arm chairs. They looked like someone went and stole them out of a frat house. While they were very comfortable and soft, they were not new or clean.

The bus itself looked like something you would see in a Hollywood movie about drug trafficking and smugglers. Despite the somewhat scary atmosphere of the bus ride, we had our first of many experiences with the wonderfully, loving, helpful Taiwanese people. There was a man on the bus who spoke really great English and spent a lot of the trip giving us information about Taiwan, the area we were staying, and things NOT to do. I had my guard up pretty high and spent a long time trying to decide how safe I felt with this man, and wondering if we were giving him too much information. Long story short: he ended up telling us that we were riding the bus to the wrong place and helped us get off at the stop we ACTUALLY wanted to get off at. At first the bus driver would not allow us to get off because we had told me we wanted to get off at a different place. I think he was just trying to help us, but we stood on the bus for a good 5 minutes while the bus driver and the helpful man fought in Chinese over where we were supposed to get off. The nice man ended up getting off the bus with us, at a place he wasn't even going, just to make sure we got to our hostel safely. Before he left he gave us his cell number, and wrote down a bunch of things in Chinese so that we could show bus drivers where we needed to go. Then he went back to the bus stop to wait for another bus. He was amazing. We learned quickly that Taiwanese people are the nicest, most friendly people in the world. They constantly went far out of their way to help us in every situation, and they were always attempting to use the little English they knew to communicate with us. This was a very unexpected blessing, because we are used to that kind of hospitality in South Korea.

Our hostel ended up being amazing, considering we didn't have enough time to research many places. Because it is Taiwan's "winter"season (still 80 degrees, but sometimes very windy) they weren't very busy. They ended up moving all of us in the same room with 3 double beds and air conditioning. We each got our own double bed! The hostel owners were a couple: a Canadian man (Terry) and a Taiwanese woman (Ee). They also had 5 month old baby (Charlyn) and we loved playing with her:) We became really close to the family, to the point where we felt like we were guests in their home. Also, Ee was an amazing cook. After we got there on the first night we settled in, and then ate dinner in the restaurant at the hostel. The menu was mostly American food so we all got burgers- delicious, and such a wonderful change from Korean food! There was only one other guy staying at the hostel so we hung out with him and the owners: exchanging life stories and enjoying some drinks. As first night guests we were given complimentary tequila shots-my very first one!

Day 2: The next day we headed straight for the beach. The purpose of our school closing to allow everyone to get lots of rest in order to stay healthy. Obviously, we had to take full advantage of this opportunity to rest- so a lot of our time was spent on the beach! Before we left for the beach we stopped at 7 Eleven and picked up some food for the day. The owners of the hostel took us to a private beach that was not accessible by bus and we arranged for them to pick us up, too (Wonderful service! They do not do that for all of their guests). We found a spot on the beach that we named "our spot", because it was hidden back in the trees and was blocked from the wind.

We spent the day tanning, and swimming, and tanning, and swimming, etc. It could not have been more perfect. In the middle of the day we met three Taiwanese people the same age as us; Fairy, Anita, and Charleton. They came right up to us wanting their picture taken with us, and wanted to practice their English! We were blown away by their friendliness (we have been in Korea almost 3 months and have yet to meet people our own age). They invited us out for drinks, so later that evening we joined them and about 5 of their friends at a nice bar. We spent the night drinking, talking, and exchanging life stories once again. Before we left we all exchanged HUGE hugs like we had known one another for years and they told us that they loved us and would miss us. Hopefully our paths will cross again one day. At the end of the evening we stopped at 7 Eleven to get a midnight snack (note the pattern developing..).

Day 3: The next day we wanted to try a new beach. We wanted to go to a beach that was accessible by bus so that we had the freedom to leave whenever we wanted. Even though we were advised not to, due to the high winds, we decided to test it out anyway. BAD decision. We were not at the beach for more than 5 minutes when we realized the wind was too crazy and we were not going to be able to survive an entire day there. Before we left, however, a group of tourists asked to take a picture with us ( I think they may have mistaken me for Britney Spears so I don't blame them). As we left the beach, to our surprise, there was a 7 Eleven. Even though we had tried to avoid it; it was clearly calling our names. We stopped in to get some tea milk, food for the day, and ask them if they could help us get a taxi to our favorite private beach. Even though we knew we wouldn't have a way to get home, we decided we wanted to just get there and we would figure our ride situation later. That was my plan, actually:):)

After taking lots of pictures on the beach a nice Chinese man emerged from the Sea in scuba gear and offered to take pictures of the three of us. How nice! After he took pictures he asked if we would take a picture of him and Britney (he thought she was beautiful). After our picture session he motioned to us that he was going to go home and eat (or so we thought). About fifteen minutes later he came back to the beach with two bottles of wine and a bag of cheap bread from, yup you guessed it, 7 Eleven! We tried to avoid him/ ignore him for awhile, but eventually gave in a sat with him on the beach and shared some wine and bread. After an hour or so of talking with our hands and acting things out in order to communicate, we said thank you and jumped in the water. He left shortly after.

When the sun started to set we decided we probably needed to try and find a ride home. We cleaned up our stuff and walked to this nearest little town. The town consisted of about two roads with small huts lining them. After realizing there was no convenience store (or really anything for that matter) we decided to ask some men sitting by the street, near a table of coconuts, for some help. We tried to make the motion of a using a telephone- trying to ask them if they would call us a taxi for us. The very large man (not like the men in South Korea) grinned, with visible drugs in his mouth, and told us he would just give us a ride home. Christine and Britney automatically looked at me (I have a habit of riding taking rides from strange, helpful men), and I had really felt like he genuinely wanted to help us. I also felt like we didn't really have many other options. The man went and got his car and he and his even larger son got in the front seats while we piled in the back. No more than 10 seconds in to the ride, they pulled out a bag of what we now call "Asian drugs." They look like large nuts that you crack open and eat. Our eyes widened and we squeezed hands as we watched them crack open the nuts while they were driving us home. Needless to say, they got us RIGHT to our hostel and we paid them just like we would have paid a taxi. No problem:)

That evening Ee and Terry closed the hostel and took us out for a traditional Taiwanese meal and then to the local hot springs. The food was delicious, and the hot springs were so relaxing ( like we needed to relax more:) ). Day 4: On the fourth day we finally decided we could not eat even one more meal 7 Eleven (by this time we had eaten about 6 or 7 meals there). We decided to sacrifice a little beach time and a little money to stay at the hostel and have a home-cooked American breakfast: Omelets, wheat toast, hash browns, fruit, and tea. It was probably the most amazing meal I have had in the past 3 months. After breakfast we arranged for Ee's mom to drop us off at the beach and pick us up later in the day. It truly felt like we were part of their family. As soon as we stepped on the beach and started walking toward "our spot," we spotted a tiny glimpse of a red and black wet suit sitting in our spot. Scuba man was back- waiting anxiously for our arrival. We immediately ducked behind some palm trees and formed a game plan. We decided we had to give up the spot for awhile and head to the other side of the beach. It was spending time with him for a few hours the precious day, but we really had no desire to spend our entire vacation with scuba man. After about two hours we saw him leave, and we ventured back over to our favorite part of the beach where we relaxed until mid afternoon.

Eventually we decided we wanted to go thank the very nice gentlemen that gave us a ride the previous day by supporting their coconut business. We took a nice stroll down the beach and headed in to the town where they were sitting with about 8 other men. That welcomed us with open arms and lovely red smiles. They seemed genuinely happy to see us again. We each bought a coconut, and the one man stabbed a hole in the top of each one so were able to drink the juice....yummy:)

Just as I was paying for my coconut I heard Christine say, "Oh my gosh! Guess who just rolled in...?"

Scuba man was back. This time he was in normal clothing and riding on his scooter. With a huge grin on his face he tried to tell us he was going to get food and that he would be right back. We immediately said no and started walking away (hoping he would get the hint). After asking several times he gave us a ridiculously sad face and drove away. We felt terrible but really did not want to spend our last few hours on the beach drinking wine that tasted like blood, and eating processed bread that tasted like it was made from hair. However, we were very naive to think it would be that easy to get rid of him. About fifteen minutes later he strolled up to our spot on the beach with a bottle of wine and a bag of bread. We felt bad but we wanted to stand our ground and say no, because we told him that we did not want any and he brought it anyway. We thought if we refused the food that he would go away. We were dead wrong. Instead he plopped right down beside me, opened the bottle for himself, and sat there for 45 minutes with the saddest looking face I have ever seen in my life. I swear he could have burst in to tears at any moment. After feeling horrible for 45 min and realizing he was not going to leave, we decided to man up and drink some of the wine. I secretly just dumped mine in the sand every time he looked away- it tasted awful. When he was done with his wine he decided to get a little more brave and he came and plopped down right between me and Britney; setting his foot right on top of mine-gross. Right before he passed out on the beach he tried to kiss Britney, and THAT was the last straw. He is the same age as my dad- it was completely in appropriate. As soon as he fell asleep we packed up our stuff, refusing to spend our last hour at the beach with him, and moved to the other side of the beach to wait for our ride. I am very thankful that we never saw scuba man again.

That evening Terry and Ee brought us in the Kenting where we ate and went shopping. It was a successful last night in southern Taiwan.

Swine Flu '09: Taiwan

Please do not confuse this with Spring Break '09 because that already happened and is long gone. I unexpectedly have another break in the school year due to the swine flu. My school has decided to close it's doors for an entire week, and I will be spending the week with two friends in Taiwan.

The school closing was not total a surprise. Last week a number of elementary aged, healthy kids in Korea passed away due to the swine flu, and everything has been quickly going downhill since then. All week parents were pulling their kids out of school; collecting their materials for a month or two months. I was losing kids left and right. In some classes I only had 2 or 3 kids. So many schools in my area have closed that LCI was basically forced to close its door to save face. The parents were perceiving their unwillingness to close as a sign that the school does care about the health of the kids. That is not a good image for the school to have, obviously.

Needless to say: I am not all that disappointed:)

I will be in Taiwan from Sunday to the following Saturday. We have flights booked and a hostel booked for a few nights. However, the hostel is on the opposite end of the country than the airport we are flying in to. We have not yet figured out how we will get to the city we are staying in, or where we will stay the rest of the week. We will figure it out when we get there:) I'm sure that those of you who know me well are not surprised by my travel plans!

Prayer request: I ask that you pray for safety as we embark on our first big adventure out of the country!

sending lots and lots of love.

Halloween Spirit Week!

Friday: Happy Halloween!!

Halloween Snacks: what happened to fun-size snickers bars??

Thursday: Backwards Day (I forgot my camera)

Wednesday: Sports Day/ Pumpkin Carving!

Tuesday: Crazy Hair Day!

Monday: Pajama Day!!

I ALMOST saw North Korea..

Last weekend I booked a trip to go see the DMZ (The area between North Korea and South Korea). Not only is it one of the most famous places in the world, but it is especially interesting right now given everything that is going on with North Korea. To make a long story short- my tiny travel alarm clock that I use ran out of batteries in the middle of the night- so I did not wake up. I got a wake-up call at 7:40 am from the friends I was supposed to be meeting at 7:30. I was still in bed. PANIC. I told them to go as I did not want to make them late. The bus for the trip was leaving at 9 am. Very nicely but sternly they told me to get up, put some clothes on, and try to make it there on my own (I hadn't showered in 2 days- but I paid 45 dollars for the trip). That's exactly what I did. They told me where the bus stop was and told me to call them for directions once I was on the bus.


When I got on the bus- the driver was trying to tell me something in Korean- it was as if he didn't want me to get on the bus. After a lot of hesitation (and our lack of ability to communicate) he waved me to sit down. At that point I called my friends and they had the courtesy of double checking where I got on the bus, to find out that I got on the bus going the WRONG way. As tears started dripping down my face, I noticed everyone on the bus was yelling at my in Korean. I hung up the phone and saw that the bus driver had stopped (in the middle of the road) and was waving me to come to the front. I ran to the front of the bus while he was sticking his head out the window flagging down the bus across the street and pointing for me to get on that bus. I have NO IDEA how he knew I was going the wrong way-but it turned out to be a complete blessing. So with tears in my eyes I ran across the street in a furry and was soon on the bus going the right way. However it was now 8:16am and I needed to catch the bus at 9:00am sharp. I had 44 minutes. At about 8 thirty I got a call from my friends giving me a heads up that I might not make it. They said the bus ride was 45 min and that then I would have about a 5 min walk. I decided to at least try- I had already been through so much- I was not going to give up. At 10 min to 9 I got another call from my friends saying that once I got off the bus I was going to have to ride the subway. There was no way I could make it. I didn't get off the bus until 9:01- by the time I got to the station, got on the subway, and made it to the correct stop it would have been at least 9:20. I missed it. I missed my tour of the DMZ. Luckily- I still have 10 more months here and plenty of time to see it again. There was nothing I could do so I treated myself to a coffee and a donut, and then I hopped back on the 45 min bus ride home.

"For everything you have missed, you have gained something else." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

In school we are preparing for our big Halloween Festival that will take place at the end of the month. My kids are working hard on their Halloween song that we are preparing for the song contest. It's called "I'm a Pumpkin." Also, there is a Classroom decorating contest between the teachers and the classrooms will be judged at the end of the month. The first prize winner gets a gift certificate. I am sure you can only imagine that this is taking a huge toll on my life. I have been lacking a lot of sleep due to late nights making decorations for my classroom. It has almost become an obsession. I will make sure to take pictures:)

This weekend I spent time exploring Korea. I woke up on Saturday morning and just got on the subway- only to hop off at stops that sounded cool- Seoyhan, Yatap and Anguk- I mean how could those places not be fun? I also made my way back to Insa-dong (the art district) where I went to a small traditional tea house, took off my shoes, sat on a pillow on the floor, drank plum tea (a traditional Korean tea) and read my book. I also fit in some shopping along the way:) Successful day!

I hope this update finds you all happy and healthy- flu season is upon. I thank God every day for each and every one of you and I am wishing you all the best!

XOXO,
Shauna

Family is a Circle of Love

The most important thing I have learned over the past 6 weeks is this: The world is a small, interconnected place filled with people that share very similar values. From my experience, many westerners think of the world as being such a large place filled with completely different people, practicing different customs, and having different beliefs. The reality is that the world is really not all that big and people are not all that different when you take the time to explore, learn, and get to know them. One fault of human beings all over the world is the tendency we have to judge others before we have taken the time to get to know them. In the past 22 years I have traveled to many areas of the world and I have learned that people on all parts of the globe share one same value: family. Whether that family consists of mom's and dad's, brother's and sisters, grandparents and cousins or just good friends- family time is important regardless of how or where that family time is spent.

I spent the past four days celebrating an important Korean holiday with family. Not my family by blood- but the family that has taken me in and treated me like their own while I spend a year living in South Korea. This past Saturday was Chuseok; similar to Thanksgiving in the United States. My friends Christine, Britney and I ventured three hours south to the third largest city in South Korea called Jeonju. There we stayed with Christine's Aunt Shina and Uncle Bob that are currently living here. Christine's Uncle married a woman from South Korea. They live in the United States, however, they are here for ten months while he is teaching at a University on a Fulbright scholarship.

We arrived on Thursday and Christine's uncle took us to the Traditional Korean Village where we saw places like the Jeon-dong Cathedral, and a summer place for the King called O-mok-dae. The village was quaint and peaceful; a beautiful town surrounded by mountains. We spent several hours there and then headed
home to eat some delicious Korean chicken and many wonderful side dishes (all Korean meals are served with 3- 10 side dishes depending on where you are).

The next day we spent the morning eating breakfast, talking, drinking coffee, learning Korean and relaxing. Around 11:30 am we headed out to Martyr's Mountain to spend the day hiking. Our first stop on the hike was Dong-go Sa: a Buddhist temple. The temple was right on the side of the mountain and one of the most peaceful places I have ever been. At the top of the mountain stood the largest white statue of Buddha I have ever seen. Breathtaking.

We continued our hike only stopping for about 30 minutes to eat lunch. In Korea when people go hiking they typically bring along Kimbop (it is known as hiking food). If you didn't know any better you would think it was sushi. However, the inside is not filled with raw fish but lots of vegetables and spam (Koreans love spam). After eating our Kimbop we continued to hike up to several peaks for the rest of the day. The day consisted of good conversation, good exercise, and amazing views. In the evening we walked around forever trying to find a place to eat Bibimbop, a traditional Korean meal that Jeonju is known for, but were unsuccessful due to the upcoming holiday (most places were closed). We ended up eating at one of the few open restaurants in town, drinking coffee in the park, and then heading home where we were fed more (Korean holiday weekends are similar to American ones- everyone is always in the kitchen eating no matter how much everyone has already eaten) and we played games until late in the night.

On Saturday, the five of us headed in Gwangju, about an hour and 1/2 bus ride away where Shina's family lives, to celebrate Chuseok. My bus ride consisted of me mentally preparing myself for the day ahead. I knew I was going to have to try new foods and new customs that may be uncomfortable for me. As the five of us rode in the elevator 17 floors to Shina's brother's apartment I was very nervous about the day. However, the nerves did not last long. As soon the elevators opened we were greeted by screaming family members, huge hugs, and many smiling faces! I have never felt so welcome in a person's home in my entire life. Most of them did not speak any English (a few words here and there) and so we hugged and smiled a lot. We were greeted with a HUGE thanksgiving like meal right away. We all sat on the floor around a very low table filled with about 15 plates of different dishes. I was so scared and nervous to try the food because I did not want to offend anyone, but it ended up being the best meal I have had since I have been here! So delicious! I can't really explain so I will just show you the pictures. I am very proud of myself for taking a huge bite out of the middle of a fish as its eyes and fangs were staring me in the face!
After the meal they took us out on a tour of the city! It was so unexpected, but so wonderful! They were fabulous hosts. They took us to the May 18th (1980) National Democracy Park, and up the Mudeung San (mountain) where we sat together eating traditional Korean food, drinking Korean rice wine, and watching the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen. Eventually they drove us back to the train station where we said our teary good-byes. It was hard to say good-bye to some of the most wonderful people I had ever met so soon after meeting them. What a wonderful day.

Today we woke up, and were able to eat the famous Jeonju Bibimbop, and then we headed home to Suji. The break was so fun and so relaxing; just what we all needed! Every night we stayed up late eating, playing games, talking, and learning Korean. Uncle Bob and Aunt Shina worked very hard to teach us some basic Korean-and we walked away with a lot of new vocabulary. I now know how to say phrases such as: I love you, excuse me, I am sorry, Let's go, It tastes good, and I can count from 1-10. The weekend was a complete success! I only hope I will have more opportunities to spend time with Christine's Aunt and Uncle before they head home to the States in December. The Koreans I know here were right: Chuseok is the best holiday of the year!