Temple, Taipei 101, & Chiang Kai Shek

Yesterday I went up to Taipei for the day which is the largest City in Taiwan. Bree and I went up there with our English Branch to go to the Temple. It was a great little bus ride up with everyone. It took about 2 1/2 hours to get up there and we enjoyed every moment of it watching some Johnny Lingo and having a good laugh  :) Why is it that everyone has seen Johnny Lingo? classic. Well once we got there we got to do Baptisms which was of course awesome. It was my second time  at the temple now and It is just unbelievable. It feels nice to connect with people through the power of the spirit when you don't speak their language. It's a common language to everyone. The poor man doing conformations couldn't pronounce my last name. It mostly came out Tolken. All in all it was a great experience.

We were busy getting in and out to watch children this time so these pictures are actually from my first time. But it still looks the same :) This last one i didn't take, but i wanted to show you what it looks like. Its hard to get the whole thing unless you are up in the sky. It's a pretty small area. 

Then I went to meet up with Bree and her friend Brad at the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial. If you want to know more about who Chiang Kai Shek was then i suggest you google it. I honestly didn't care for a history lesson but the place was pretty cool! 

From the Bottom looking up:

 

From the Top looking down:

They have two live guards at the top of the monument guarding the statue of Chiang Kai Shek and they are INTENSE. I have never seen guards before that could have been statues. It was scary. All I could think about was how they had to stare at each other from across the way without any sort of expression. How long can you stare at someone before one or both laugh or look away. 

 The man himself. It's hard to see but this thing was HUGE.

There was also a beautiful garden surrounding both sides.

 

After we left the memorial we headed to the second largest building in the world, Taipei 101. It reminds me of the space needle times a million. It has has 101 stories and reaches 1,667 feet. It has the fastest elevator in the world, I don't think my ears have ever popped so many times.

The few was breath taking. especially at night. They had an outdoor observation booth that we were able to go on. Its closed often for high winds. A good portion of it was closed off but we still saw a lot. 

On our way up to the observation deck we had to climb some stairs. As I was looking down I noticed that the staircase literally went to the bottom of the building. That's what the video is over. Its a little freaky to think of 101 flights of stairs to the bottom.

All in all it was a successful day! I was very pleased and enjoyed every moment of it. 

Love From Taiwan,

Jessica

I feel like I just got hit by a scooter... oh wait I did

When i stepped off the airplane in Taiwan and got into a van to take me to my apartment. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. That, my dear friends, was my first experience of what I like to call SAW 3.. I mean "Taiwanese Driving."

Basic American Driving rules:
1. Stay within the lines on the road.
2. Stop at red lights, go on green.
3. Look before changing lanes, including your blind spot.
4. Be aware of your surroundings.

Now if you want to learn how to drive in Taiwan look at those rules and title them Suggestions. Better yet, Please remove number 3 and 4. The only real rule they have in Taiwan is to watch in front of you. That is all. If someone slams on their brakes in front of you then it is your duty to stop. It took me quite some time to get use to this concept. Scooters just weave in and out of traffic, along with bikes.... cars.... trucks... buses... It's scary. No one told these people what the lines were for. Oh one more thing, If you want to go through a red light all you have to do it honk. I guess honking makes it all better. Honking is not the same as in the states, its their way of saying I am here. Not in a rude way, more like a polite wave.

So I would say that by now I had a pretty good idea on how to handle traffic (or did I should now say). On Halloween day (couldn't be more lucky right?) I wanted to stop by a local store to get a birthday card for Kate's birthday coming up. Started off like any normal. Not a very busy road so I was stopped in the middle of the road, on the double yellow line, waiting to turn left. Making it quite clear that I wanted to turn. I looked behind me (even though I shouldn't of needed to) and looked ahead of me. As I wanted for a scooter to pass me in the front I turned the wheel of my bike, quite slowly I may add, and out of  NO WHERE! and I mean noooooo where I hear this loud engine  and...

BANG!

Just like that a scooter sneaks up behind me and hits my front tire. And then my life flashed before me. My bike got ripped out from under me as I flew so gracefully backwards and landed like a ballerina......... I wish. It was more like the feeling of a 50 pound boy being shoved by a 200 pound man. I can still picture that instant in my mind. So I landed on my left hand and right elbow and my lower back. I rolled back with major whip lash to my neck and just sort of laid there on the ground. The boy who hit me also got knocked off his scooter and... with my luck at this point... didn't speak any english. I was in so much shock I just tried to pick up all my stuff and bike and go home. Only, I kept getting so dizzy I had to sit down. But looking like a complete idiot for a good five minutes I just picked up my stuff and walked my bike home.

The rest of the story is boring. My boss made me go to the "Hospital" which was more like an urgent care. they took some x-rays and all they showed was a messed up back. (BTW... I don't recommend Taiwanese doctors... kind of a sketchy place). The BEST part of all this, the part I wish I would have recorded was my lovely trip the next day to the "Chiropractor." (The over use of "Parentheses" is for the fact that there are no words in English to describe it.)

Oh the Chiropractor, what a man. He of course didn't speak any English so two Chinese Secretaries from work, along with Teacher Bree, come with me. At first I thought all would be ok. He gave me a little message and I was thinking I might come back. No, This man used me as hit own personal punching bag. I don't know much about Chinese Medicine but I do know that no American would put up with it in the States. He through me all over the room and the tears would not stop flowing out of my eyes.He literally picked me up with his back and started shaking me around. Mind you that I felt like an old lady BEFORE i got their from just being in an accident. At one point, in between the tears, I asked the Emily the secretary if he was aware I was about to punch his lights out. After she translates for me he turns and points to the crack in the wall. Emily giggles and says that the crack was from someone being in so much pain they kicked the wall. I know how they feel. Just do yourself a favor and never go to a Chinese Chiropractor. (Which is ironic because my Chiropractor at home is Chinese.)

But, in the end, I did feel much better and I am glad I went.... ok maybe glad is going a little too far. I can see why people would go. But all is better now! My hand stayed bruised for quite some time  and a very tender neck. And I'm back to square one with being a terrified biker on Taiwanese roads.

I must say that I also have a very thankul hear after this accident. I know it might sound strangebut I am thankful Heavenly Father gave me this chance to feel the affects of all the prayers for my safety that have been said on my behalf And this should have been a very terrible accident and it left me with minimal injuries. I know i was protected and I am very Thankful. 

Love (and pain) from Taiwan,

Jessica

Happy Halloween!

My blogging skills are... well let's be honest.. pretty much non existent. But I should get an A (or maybe a C) for trying.  So here we go!

In Taiwan Halloween is not an official holiday. But almost all the English schools have some sort of celebration. And since about 90% of the children here go to English schools they might find it easier to make it a holiday. Our job was to put together a Halloween Celebration for Friday. We had about 25+  kids come for a Halloween activity that afternoon. We made a haunted house and planned some other fun activities.

We started off the day with a costume contest. Here are some of the children in their costumes.... you can see why we had some trouble trying to judge the contest....

These kids are just so cute. They came with the most random costumes on and we honestly could not figure out what some of them were. But they were so excited.

These are two of my Pre-K girls. Mina the bee and Ula the princess. They had the cutest costumes. I was a pirate and Bree was Cat in the Hat. Phil and Mandy were Mickey and Minnie Mouse. All in all we had a CRAZY but fun day. You try handling all those children..... in one room... by yourself. Insane. Phil and Mandy would take two or three kids at a time through the haunted house while I watched the rest of them. Did I mention I had to face paint too? This is where some of my preschool skills came in handy (sort of).
(The person recording is my boss Sherry. She just walked around and took pictures and recorded)

It was a crazy day to say the least. After all our afternoon children left then we had evening classes. Not as many children dressed up but when we took them through the haunted house Bree snapped some pretty sweet pictures of them.

classic aren't they? It's at the very end of the haunted house where we fixed a plastic knife to fall from the ceiling. So fun. All in all it was a great Halloween and successful I might add.

Love From Taiwan,
Jessica