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

Individually we are one drop....

"Individually we are one drop. Together, we are the ocean."

(salt and pepper shaker in a restaurant. So cute)

This past week or so I have been thinking about all of the awesome people i have met in Taiwan and I figured it's about time you met them too. So here we go,

1. Bree Dalling

Bree gets number one because she is number one. Without Bree I would be dead.... quite literally. Bree is one of the teachers i live with and she has been here since January. So she pretty much knows everything (or at least thinks it) :P We have a little too much fun together. I'm glad we get along so well or else I would have really been all alone! She might kill me for posting this picture but it just describes her so well. And she loves to take pictures of herself on my iPod :)

2. Phil and Mandy Sagers 

Phil and Mandy make up the other two that i live with for a grand total of 4. :) It's so nice having them with us. They are by far some of the kindest people I know and so wonderful to work with. They are hard workers and are a great example to me. P.s. they love Tanged, and peanut butter. Does it get any better then that?

3.  Sister Missionaries

 (Sister Pomeroy, Sister Watterson, Sister Bray, JoJo an investigator)

We are so fortunate to live in the same building as the sisters in the area. In the beginning we had Sister Pomeroy and Sister Bray but about a month ago Sister Pomeroy was transferred. At first we were heart broken but now we have Sister Watterson and she is positively amazing. They stop by sometimes in the evenings and tell us stories and sometimes teach us Chinese. We could spend all our time with them if it was allowed. They are so funny and happy always. We just love them. (BTW we = Bree and I) 

4. Primary

For those who don't know my calling in the branch is the Primary Chorister. And i just love it. Not only are primary songs my absolute favorite thing in the whole world but the kids are just great. And they (usually) like to sing. I don't have a picture of them all yet so this one had to do. It is the Branch Presidents daughter right after a little cake love. So sweet.

5. Feng Yuan Sister

 (Back Row: Kendra, Bree, Me, Sara, Lauren, Jenny, Rachel, and Heather. Front Row: Veronica, Kylie, Jessica. MIA: Kaylie, and Christina )

That is pretty much what I always call them. It's just easier. They are the other girls (about 10) who are here teaching through ILP as well but at a different school. We all go to the same English branch... and make up about half the branch. I just love these girls. They are all active and strong girls and are just a joy to be around. Sometimes i secretly wish I was living with them so I could feed of there energy all day. Also I seem to classify Lauren Miller as one of them even though she is married and not teaching in Feng Yuan... But she is also quite amazing and fun to be around. :)

 

Just some more fun facts about my life here in Taiwan. Don't worry I didn't forget all the awesome children I teach, there is just not room to fit them all. So bits and pieces to come. 

Peace and blessings ya'll
Love From Taiwan,

Jessica

Green Island

So what do you do when you live on an island and you want to go on vacation? 

You go to an even smaller island :)

That's right people, Green Island. This last weekend we had Monday and Tuesday off of school for one of the big Taiwan holidays called Moon Festival (wish i could tell you more about it but I have no idea). So naturally Bree and I took advantage of this opportunity. The first few days were spent in a city called Kaohsiung where we had some pretty cool adventures. (By adventures I mean getting lost multiple times and spending most the day in a bus, train, or taxi.) All in all we saw some pretty cool things though. 

But I'm feeling a little more interested in my Green Island stories now, Kaohsiung will have to wait.

So after a couple long train rides we arrived in Taitung where the owner of our hotel picked us up. He is my favorite person in Taiwan by far, and I hardly know him. He was raised in South Africa for most his life and then spent some time in Ireland. He never stopped talking and had the most interesting accent you can imagine. He was hilarious. He got us safetly to our ferry 

If you know me then you know I'm not much of a water person, and i get motion sickness easily. Riding the ferry was fun at first... for the first 10 minutes. And then i just started getting freaked out at how much we were being thrown and the people throwing up behind us was getting old. So I shut my eyes and took a nap. The ride was about 50 minutes and I almost kissed the ground when we got off. 

Bree and I took the easy route by booking through "Taiwan Adventures,"  which I totally recommend if you ever have the option. They picked us up at the dock and took us to go get our scooter. What we didn't tell the guy is that we really didn't have much experience on a scooter. So somehow  i was in charge of riding to the hotel while following the van with Bree in it. I won't lie, I surprised myself on how well I did, But the scooter did die a few times (which wasn't me I swear) and we left it at some store and then brought us a new one later. 

Don't lie, I can see it, you're jealous. If I do say so myself I can pull off the hat + helmet pretty well. And lets not forget my hair, it has a mind of its own. Beautiful.

So once we were settled we were very eager to be on our way. Green Island is literally 20 Kilometers around and has  nice road all the way around it. There are no words to describe it's beauty as we quickly found out. Our first stop was the light house. 

 And the beautiful beach with the tide pools. This is where I took off a chunk of my toe while running around.

Pretty nifty eh? that would be a tissue and my hair band. No worries,  after a quick stop for a band aid we headed off. We were pretty much starving by now so we grabbed some food at a cute sea food restaurant. But I almost forgot the awesome warning signs....

My favorite one  is the No electrocuting, poisoning, or BOMBING of fish. Love it.

Pretty much The rest of the day was spent riding the scooter all around and taking beautiful pictures.

I could post pictures forever. The next one is a video, it was one of the only ways I could capture the beauty since my photography skills are lacking.

After  a full day of driving around and sight seeing we ended our day at the salt water hot springs (one of only three in the entire world!) They were very relaxing and.... I wouldn't recommend drinking the water because it's straight from the ocean, and it tastes like salt. Not that I would know, that's just what I hear.

The next morning we got up and had breakfast at the hotel. Which was just lovely. Then we headed to our 8 o'clock snorkeling appointment!

Looking good all ready in my wet suit. The water wasn't cold but this way the sharks couldn't eat  my toes. Bree was kind enough to let me use her underwater camera bag. Still  not amazing photos but loved documenting the experience. It was incredible. You could reach out and touch the fish!

I loved every minute of the vacation. Hopefully I can post more soon of other places. Seems it's taking my a while to get the hang of this.

Love From Taiwan,
Jessica