Happy One Month!

Happy one month! It's been like a rollercoaster ride. Lots of ups and downs, unexpected turns, and momentary thrills. I've got a lot to cover from the past two weeks so let's get this started. Remember the 3-day weekend I told you guys about? Well, I can finally tell you about it! Haha. I know, it's been a long time since my last post. But anyways, on Sunday I drove with my boss (Amy) and Rinna to Sun Moon Lake. Only took about an hour with lots of beautiful scenery to gawk at along the way ^^ Although the weather was overcast, it definitely didn't take away the beauty of the lake. Our first stop was the gondola lift! We took these to the Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village/Amusement Park.

I loved the cable cars. They were so cute!

Up and over the mountain!

Here's part of Sun Moon Lake. It's called Sun Moon Lake because from an aerial view, one part of the lake looks like a sun and the other a moon.

The park started out as an outdoor museum to learn about Taiwanese aborigines (indigenous peoples). Later they added the theme park. I wish we had more time to look at the displays (9 village displays in total). They were so cool to look at but funny enough Amy was bored and wanted to hurry to the rides. Haha. So anyways, here's a quick walkthrough of the cultural village.


The first thing we heard was the music coming from this traditional dance performance. So, we followed and found this!
[WARNING: PARTIAL BUTT NUDITY]


I'm not sure what the significance of the first part is but it's funny listening to the one Asian lady scream/laugh. The boy making fire signifies him becoming a man. The next scene is a traditional wedding. Doesn't the rope swing look fun? ☺ The last bit is the "Stick Dance".

They would bury the dead underneath their homes. Yes, creepy.

Finally, Amy dragged us away and we headed towards the amusement park. So the park is based off of a really popular Japanese cartoon in Taiwan. It's call "One Piece". I had never heard of it but apparently it's really big here. We rode most of the rides, which were a lot like the ones we have in California. There was one that was almost identical to Disneyland's Splash Mountain, another one like Great America's Drop Zone, and Disneyland's Space Mountain. Talking about all these rides makes me miss home ^^ The place was swarming with teenagers. For some reason, it's really weird for me to see teenage couples in Taiwan. I don't know why. Maybe because I feel like they seem more innocent and shy so it's like "don't hold hands", "don't flirt with each other", "don't even look at each other!" Maybe you just have to be here to understand. Okay, getting back on topic.

This is from the cartoon I was talking about. They have this thing called a stamp rally where you try to get all the "One Piece" character stamps from around the park. If you collect all the stamps you can win a prize. We almost got all of them but we got lazy.

Does this look familiar? It's the same hat that's on the stuffed animal my student gave me! It wasn't til that moment that I realized the stuffed animal is a character from the cartoon. I got so excited ^^

See! See! Haha. His real name is Chopper but I'm still naming mine Becky.

Gary, is that you? NO. I thought the same thing. This character is also from "One Piece". He plays a telephone in the cartoon. So cute right? But seriously, he looks like Gary from Spongebob Squarepants. Tricked me too.

Amy and Rinna taking a stroll through this lovely walkway.

By 2:00 we were ready to get back to the lake and meet up with Winnie and her sister, Carol. So here we go, back on the cable car. This is something I wouldn't mind doing everyday. It was so relaxing, beautiful, peaceful.

Look at those stairs!

Don't you just love the silhouettes of the mountains?

Once we met up with Winne and Carol we bought tickets for a boat ride around the lake. While we waited for our departure time a former English teacher that Amy met treated us to tea-tasting. Had a breathtaking view on my left, good company on my right, and warm black tea in my belly. What more could I ask for? ☺ Next stop, the lake! I didn't know the boat would take us to different parts of the lake. I just thought it would be a ride around it. We stopped at two different places before heading back. The first stop was at a temple and at the second we just walked around some shopping streets. It'll be easier to just show you in pictures. Take a look!

This is the tea we drank. Red Jade Black Tea. It was grown right there at the lake ☺

Some street performers on the dock.

A clip of our boat ride. There's Rinna, Carol, and Winnie next to me.

Carol and Winnie taking pictures from the boat. They're so cute!

First stop, up to the temple.

At our first stop. Winnie and Carol bought me hot Tea Leave Eggs. OMG so yummy in my tummy ^^

I swear Amy will meditate anywhere. Haha.

In front of the temple, eating my egg and enjoying the view.

See the little island there on the right? People used to be allowed to go there and walk around but it flooded and now no one is allowed there. It's a shame because it looks so cute.

Why? Just, why?

See the temple at the top?

Hello, happy waving man!

Our second stop.

Chicken with rice inside. So bomb.

Cotton tree? Pretty from afar but gross up close.


On the way off the docks, a little girl joined the two street performers from earlier.

So that's the end of our Sun Moon Lake trip. The next day I took the bus to Taizhong to meet up with Bryan. He was kind enough to take me around the city. It was really nice to just walk and talk to someone. First he took me to see some traditional Japanese buildings. Although there were a lot of people that day, I was able to see some interesting things. I saw a newlywed's photoshoot (so cute) and a anime/cosplay photoshoot (cover up a little, there's children present!).

Newlyweds posing ♥

This tree rememinded me of Totoro and the huge tree he lived in ^^

Next was this cute, little mall by the park.

Huge park where families and friends can come to enjoy the sun.

I'm not creepy for taking a picture of this cute, little boy driving a Mini Cooper.

Bryan took me to a restaurant where all the young, cool kids hang out (near Yi-Zhong Street)...because he wishes he was young again. Haha.

Curry with fried pork and egg. Thinking about it makes me want more now. Mhmmmm.

Lot's of food, shopping, and people my age! I wish we had something like this in Jhushan.

So that's that! Now on to last weekend. Last weekend I went with Amy and the other teachers to Kaoshiung for LiveABC's annual conference meeting. LiveABC is the English program our curriculum is based off of. The meeting is mostly for the school owners but Amy invited the teachers to come along. Fine with me because I got free food! Haha. So this trip was much longer since it was a two hour drive. Finally we arrived at Crowne Plaza/E-da World. It's this crazy huge place equipt with large, fancy hotel, amusement park, outlet mall, kids center, outdoor vendors, and pretty much anything-else-you-want-they've-got-it. The plaza is fairly new, about two years old. But it's not near downtown Kaoshiung, it's actually in the countryside near the mountains. Our day went something like this: big owner's meeting/award ceremony (all in Chinese), free Chinese buffet style lunch (bomb), training course for owners (again, all in Chinese), a walk around the outlet stores, and free cute pastry box from Amy.

Amy (in red) receiving her award.

Can you find me?

I want a cool, yellow animal to drive around in!

I know this post has more pictures than explaining. Sorry! But that's only because I had a lot to catch up from. If you're wondering how I'm doing, I'm doing okay. Only, "okay", because to tell you the truth it's not easy. Teaching is a lot harder than I thought and I've come upon problems that I never thought about before. But this is what defines a journey, an adventure, right? Without these struggles, I would always be at the same place. Unfortunately, I've dropped one of the junior high classes from my schedule. I want nothing more but to teach them... but at this point it's out of my hands. At first I thought it was my fault for not being able to capture their attention, but now I know it was more than that. The class has 35 middle schoolers, all at different levels of English, and all with different interests towards learning English. Some of them wanted to be there, some of them didn't. Some of them understood everything I said, some of them understood nothing. At last I realized that it wasn't just me but about me in an unorganized situation. Other than that, work has been better. On the up side, I got paid a few days ago! Even though it was only a half month's pay, it still felt good to know that my hard work paid off. Oh! I almost forgot, I can finally show you what my apartment view looks like.

Some flowers I bought from that one shop near my apartment.

I caught a bug this week, but I feel like I'm recovering. The day after I got sick, I thought it would be a good idea to go out for a walk. The fresh air was nice but turns out it wasn't such a good idea. Anyways, I found the NTU Tropical Botanical Garden! I didn't have my camera with me at the time so I couldn't take any pictures. But once I get over being sick, I'll go back and take some. Oh, another thing! Last week I went to Nantou with Amy to apply for my ARC. I'm almost legal! YAY. Haha. Lately I've been missing American food so today I made it my goal to get McDonalds. Maybe it's not such a good thing that it's so nearby.

Tastes pretty much the same.

But then after eating it I realized, McDonalds is always good while you're eating it, but then afterwards you just feel gross and fat. And then you say, I never want to eat it again, but that's usually a lie ☺

♥ Amanda