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

I want to ride my bicycle

The most recent adventure was Dongfong Green Passage. 

 This is a beautiful bike bath just out side of a town called Fangyuan. It use to be an old railroad but when the train shut down they turned it into a bike bath. It was a beautiful sight. The path was well paved. There were quite a few hills on the way there but on the way back it was mostly down hill. This picture is an example of the "farms" you see all around.

 

This bridge was also on the path. 

   

These two girls, Veronica and Sara, are teaching at the English school in Fangyuan. I know them from the English branch we all attend. They were kind enough to invite me on this adventure of theirs. I defiantly could hang out with them everyday. We had a fun time together. (Don't mind our sweatyness. It was VERY hot)

This is a few from the bridge. Taiwan has some of the most random architecture I have ever seen. I couldn't tell you why this is even here but it looks cool. 

Along the way we also saw a few of the old train cars from the train that use to run on this path. They are just tourist attractions now. They were really neat to walk through.

 

The bike path finishes in a little town but we got to tired and hot to go all the way. We hit marker 11 and decided to head back. So we went about 22 Kilometers (around 13.5 miles). The ride back was especially nice with the wind in our face and the steady decline. We flew like eagles! While leaving I think it was decided that we would be returning again (especially when we spotted the go carts) 

On my way back to the train station later that day I stopped to take a picture of the "love locks." The girls explained to me that people will write their names on locks and then hook them together on this fence to symbolize their forever love. I thought it was cute :)

Happy Birthday Mal-Pal!

Oh my dearest Mal-Pal,

Since I can't call you on your birthday I decided to write a blog just for you. I want you to know I love you and think you are an outstanding lady. You have so much life, energy, and passion. I want to have a spark like you.I can always count on you to be the one to learn new dances with me. And have funny inside jokes with. I hope your birthday is spectacular and you enjoy every moment of it.

Here is my birthday present for you:

These are a few of the children I teach in the morning and I thought you would like a little shout out from some Chinese people. (Don't worry, I'll bring you a real present as well)

I LOVE YOU! Don't forget it.
Love From Taiwan,
And Forever More,
Jessica

Ataya Resort

Welcome I had some fun "first time" experiences this weekend as i like to call them. There is a sister in my branch who is so kind to me. She came to Changhua and picked me up on Friday night to go camping. Her old Chinese branch was having a ward camp out and they invited her to come and she invited me. It was a lot of fun. The camp ground was also a resort and had some pretty cool and fun stuff to see and do.

 She has Three daughter (left to right) Shu-ya, L-ya, and En-ya. They defiantly kept me entertained and smiling all weekend.

When I arrived there Friday night it was late and they had some food waiting for us. They literally handed me a cooked fish. The whole thing. It was about a foot long and only an inch thick. First time I have ever had to pick apart an actual cook fish, tail, head, and all.

The next morning we went on a hike up the mountain and saw some amazing views and Chinese history. I tried to take pictures but of course my photography skills couldn't do it justice. So i took a short video of the view and the freaky see through bridge. I was more scared then i let on.

. 

Along with some cool hiking and scenery there was an "amusement park" at the resort with some rides. I also learned to be very thankful for the American way of making everything very safe and accident free. I was just waiting for something terrible to happen. 

 

I was of course excited to see Disney princesses, especially Belle.

Also there was this haunted house me and the three girls went into.  There was no doubt it violated every safety code in America. We couldn't see ANYTHING and there were no clear paths. I tripped multiple times and I had three terrified girls latched onto me. I had to take pictures just to see the flash from my camera (and document how scared they were).

 Everything was so beautiful and it felt nice to get out of the busy city and see so much green. It was very hot and i sweat through my clothes about 10 times but it was wonderful. 

All in all it was a very fun weekend and well worth the 28 mosquito bites I now have.

One more thing I forgot to mention.... for lunch we had lots of delicious things. One of which was Chicken heart. I guess there is a first time for everything. It honestly didn't taste bad but thinking about my heart beating while eating that thing almost made me loose my food

Love From Taiwan,

Jessica

Ode to food

For anyone who knows me then you know I have a few weaknesses, maybe more than a few, but the biggest one of all is food. I love food. I can't say it enough times. I love food. It's as much a fact as I am human. So naturally being in another country where they have NEW food i'm going a little crazy. In a good way. Not crazy like "I can't eat anything." Crazy like "I WANT TO EAT EVERYTHING." Hence the expanding waist line. 

The above collage just goes to show that I eat a lot. So much in fact that almost all my pictures are of my food. :) It's great. I've said it once and I'll say it again I'm sure but my favorite is sushi. I could eat it all day and be happy! I wish I could tell you all the kind I've had but frankly I don't know what they are and since my Chinese isn't very good, or even exists, then asking is quite impossible.  Notice the yellow/orangeish looking fruit in the bottom right corner? that would be a watermelon. Apparently there are orange watermelon and its perfectly normal. Tastes the same too. The best part is we can't tell which are read and which are red so it really is a surprise. 

Another good things is that I am slowly mastering the art of chopsticks so I can eat all this good food! This was some delicious food me and Bree got on our trip to Lugang yesterday. Some breaded chicken and rice with an assortment of vegtables. She had curry which also looked divine. 

Now, anyone got a good exercise plan for me? :)

Love from Taiwan, 

Jessica

Look at me! I can blog

Well Hello from Taiwan! 

So for a quick little update. As of July 1st I am now living in Taiwan in a one of the bigger cities called  Changhua. Most days I feel like I live on another planet. I am teaching english at a school called Maryland Language Institution and boy does it keep me busy! I start work around 8:30 and don't come home till around 7:00 or 8:00 depends on the day. But the kids are just so dang cute and fun (most of the time).

I live in an apartment about a 7 minute bike ride from the school. There are three others teachers also living here and are, lucky for me, very fun and friendly. Phil and Mandy are the married couple and there is one other girl named Bree. (I'll try and add pictures soon).

I will probably gain a thousand pounds while I am here because the food is so amazing. I love it all. Everyday at school there is a lady who cooks lunch for us and shes probably like a fairy godmother. Her food is HEAVENLY! (except when she throws a few unwanted ingredients in). I pretty much can die happy after lunch everyday. Mangos are in season right now and sometimes I feel like I should shower in them. They are so incredibly sweet and delicious its hard not to eat one for every meal. The pineapple are the same way. There is a tea shop close to our apartment that also sells "bing-shaw" which is like a slushy/slurpee but with real fruit and Ice. I have already had at least five Mango binshaw from there in the last few weeks, But my favorite food so far is the sushi. I can NOT get enough of it. I can't tell you all the kinds I have tried because 1. the list would be too long and 2. I don't even know what all of it was. When they don't speak english I just eat it. haha. But so far no vomiting has happened. 

It truly is a beautiful magical place and I love it here. Of course it's not home and I do miss everyone but i don't regret coming here at all. It has been a huge joy and blessing and I hope to record some awesome adventures that await me.

Love from Taiwan