Words to Never Forget!

Ok so here is a list of almost all the words that I learned over the past 2 years in Taiwan (at least the ones that I wrote down at one point). I do not know Pinyin so this is my own random spelling for the pronunciation. These are probably the words that I used most often on a day to day basis.

• Hello: knee how
• Goodbye: sigh jian
• Thank you: shure shure
• You are welcome: boo ca chi
• Ok: how
• Very good: hen how
• So-so: high how
• Not good: boo how
• Yes: deway
• Excuse me: dewee bo chi
• Sorry: bow chien/ dewee bo chi
• Beautiful: piow leon
• Handsome: shy
• Cute: cer eye
• I want: woh yow
• Math teacher: sue shia low shia
• I do not understand: temple dong
• I do not know: boo zi dow
• Cool: Wah say
• Annoying/cool/yay (and lots of things): oh yo
• It is ok: may guan she
• Welcome (said when you enter 7-11 stores): huan in guan ling
• Good morning: tzow on
• Good afternoon: oo on
• Good evening: won on
• Right: yo bien
• Left: zwo bien
• You are the apple of my eye: knee shuh wa-der sh-ow (eh sh-ow) pin qua…this is also a silly song!
• This: ziga
• That: naga
• Awesome: how bong/ lee-high….sarcastically saying awesome (volleyball): ah poo joe how bong bong
• Happy birthday: shun lee quai la
• Happy new year: shin knee yen qui la
• Thank you for your hard work: sheen coo la
• Hurry/quickly: quai dien
• We want our bill: woh man yow my don
• How much money: dwo shaow chien
• Water: shway
• Bubble tea: zen zoo nigh cha
• Ice: bing
• Sugar: tong
• Half: bon…..Less: way
• Zero: ling
• One: ee
• Two: er (want two of something: lianga)
• Three: sun
• Four: si
• Five: wu
• Six: leo
• Seven: chi
• Eight: ba
• Nine: geo
• Ten: Shi
• Eleven: shi ee….etc.

Taiwanese Fruit!

Taiwan has endless tasty fruits!! I’ve compiled a list of just a few of the mouth watering fruits over the past year.

I’ll add a couple more posts about Taiwan at my leisure in the coming months…I guess these posts are for the future me so that I will not forget anything about my awesome experiences in Taiwan!

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See You Later Taiwan!

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Time sure does fly fast! My second year of teaching in Taiwan has already come to a close. It was hard to say goodbye to all the students and faculty at ICA, but I look forward to seeing some of them again soon. I cannot fully express how wonderful of an experience teaching and living in Taiwan was for me.  I definitely put myself outside my comfort zone by moving half way across the world to a place where I am essentially illiterate. However, while living here I learned a lot about myself, learned how to be independent and ok with white noise (the unknown language being spoken all around you and never fully knowing what is going on), became more confident in myself in my abilities and what I believe, and gained several very close lifelong friends. Living abroad has also opened my eyes and mind to being more globally aware. I am now seeking out news articles about other countries and looking at minority issues with a different light. I plan to make traveling not a luxury and a rare occurrence in my life, but a necessity. I never would have imagined five years ago that I would ever live in another country for an extended amount of time, but here I am moving back home after two years in Asia. I have no idea what my future holds for me, but maybe that is the exciting part! Taiwan you are an absolutely beautiful country! This is not a goodbye; it is a see you later!

Adventures in Cambodia!

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On Tuesday June 9^th I headed out on a solo trip to Siem Reap, Cambodia. It was a long day of travel with a short layover in Shanghai before finally arriving at my hotel around midnight. I started off my trip on Wednesday by taking a tuk tuk to see numerous wats, or monastery temples, in and around Angkor, including the famous Angkor Wat and Angkor Tom. Angkor Wat was built in the twelfth century as a Hindu temple, but later was transformed into a Buddhist temple. It is the best preserved temple today, probably because it continued to be a significant religious center since its construction. It is one of the largest religious monuments on about a 500 acre site. When walking through it, it seems to go on forever with doors and passageways continuously leading back. It would take days to explore the entire site including all the temples in the Wat area (as there are a lot of them). Some of the temples have been overcome by the jungle and still even after the uncovering have trees growing right on top of them. I enjoyed watching some of the local children using these ancient sites as their daily playground. An interesting fact, both Tomb Raider and Indian Jones Temple of Doom were filmed here. After a full day of exploring temples, I got back to the hotel around 6pm and walked down the street to eat dinner at a local restaurant. I had heard that Pub Street was a great place for foreigners to stay because that is where all the good restaurants are located. The location is the only reason I picked the hotel that I did because it was located right off of Khmer Pub Street. Well it turns out the street that I wanted to stay on was called 8^th Street (the nickname was Pub Street) and my hotel was actually a 30 minute walk from this, haha oops!

On Thursday, I enjoyed the hotel pool in the morning and then went downtown for lunch and dinner, explored the market, and got my first massage of the trip!

I woke up early on Friday to watch the sunrise at Angkor Wat. I was supposed to be in the lobby at 4:45 am to catch my tuk tuk to the temple. When I got to the lobby a few minutes early, the workers at the front desk had been sleeping on the couch and were very confused when I came in. They said that it was only 3:45 am and that I had another hour to wait. It turns out Cambodia is one hour behind Taiwan and I did not realize it haha! I thought I had looked up the time difference, but I must have been mistaken! So I went back to bed for another hour already fully dressed for the day! When it was actually 4:45 am I took the tuk tuk to Angkor Wat and found a place to sit down and enjoy the sunrise. I got there when it was still pretty dark and it took until about 7 am until the sun was fully out. I took the rest of the morning to explore more temples in the Angkor area. I also went to Wat Thmey (a killing field near Siem Reap). There are killing fields all throughout Cambodia due to the Civil War in the mid 1960s to mid 1970s. It was sad, but interesting to read some of the accounts of people’s experiences during the genocide.  In the afternoon, I ventured downtown Siem Reap to explore, get a massage, and eat at Hard Rock Cafe.

Saturday I started a good routine of doing yoga in the morning, having breakfast, reading by the pool, and going swimming. In the afternoon I headed downtown for a cooking class where I learned how to make a type of Khmer curry, shrimp spring rolls, and a dessert with mango and sweet rice. I went to see Phare, the Cambodian circus, in the evening. It was my first time going to the circus and it was very exciting! I met a very nice couple from the Philippines there who I talked to most of the evening. When I got back to my hotel I had a message from Mom and Dad that said to call them as soon as I got the message. They told me that Grandma Helen passed away around 2am on Saturday morning (2 pm my time). It was pretty hard to be alone after hearing this. I felt guilty about even coming to Cambodia because if I had gone straight home after school got out I could have seen her again. After thinking about it for awhile I think maybe Grandma wanted to go at that moment so that I would not have to see her suffer. I’ll make it back home just in time for the wake and funeral; it is as if she planned it that way. I think it was around 4 pm (before I knew that Grandma had passed away) during my cooking class when someone asked me what types of foods were special from Minnesota. I told them all about growing up as a kid and helping Grandma make lefse, strul, meatballs, and mashed potatoes. I think she came to visit me at that moment. I tried to make the most of the rest of my trip as I know she would want me to take advantage of the opportunity to travel, but kept Grandma very close in my heart.

On Sunday I did my normal routine of yoga, breakfast, reading, and the pool before spending the afternoon downtown and saw a modern day temple called Wat Preah Prom Rath. I went to a dinner show in the evening which was quite entertaining. I ate a buffet dinner and then watched several traditional Cambodian dances. Monday was my last day in Cambodia. I started with my normal morning routine before going downtown. In the afternoon I went to the Senteurs d’Angkor Workshop where I learned and watched how several local crafts are made including: candles, baskets made from palm leaves, incense, curry powder, etc. After this I had went to the spa for a three hour appointment where I got a massage, facial, and Cambodian body wrap. I felt so rejuvenated after this! After dinner I flew back to Shanghai where I had a long layover before finally landing in Taiwan midday Tuesday.

Here are some things that I noticed in Cambodia:

• Any time you need to go anywhere there are a million tuk tuks and scooters ready to take you…I got so sick of the phrase, “tuk tuk lady?”
•  There were several Korean markets and restaurants including one that was called Pyongyang Restaurant. I thought this was strange until I remembered that Cambodia used to be a communist country and so they must have had close ties with Korea at one point.
• Personal shrines were everywhere; in almost every store and restaurant.
• Massages are very cheap!
• Cambodia is extremely hot!
• There are many poor people living here. I was asked twice to buy a meal for a woman’s baby. The first experience a 19 year old asked for me to buy here milk for her baby. I had my hands full at the moment and was kind of in a hurry so I just gave her some money. I reflected on this several times while I was there as I was not sure if giving her money was the right thing to do or not. First of all, the baby was sleeping and I saw the same girl go up to other tourists on a few different occasions throughout the rest of the trip. I am wondering if it is just the easiest way for her to make money as many tourists will see a baby and give her money. On my last day in Cambodia another woman with a kid around 2 years old was also holding a baby bottle and she asked me for milk for her baby too. I did not give her anything as the kid was clearly too old to be only drinking milk and thought it was just a tourist trap. This experience made me feel really guilty and then a few hours later I saw 2 more very young women with babies ask tourists for things. I asked a couple who was sitting next to me at the time if they’ve had this happen to them (they were a couple that were currently teaching in Cambodia) and they said that many times the actual parents send their older kids out with the young baby to ask tourists for money and food. I think I am more inclined to give money and help in any way I can if I see them trying somehow, such as making something and selling it or whatever it happens to be, but I find this is a hard topic to know the correct answer.

My trip to Cambodia was a great success! It was very relaxing and a nice way to end the year. Now on to a new adventure tomorrow morning as I move back home to Minnesota!!!

Mom and Dad Visit Taiwan

Friday April 3^rd I took the high speed rail up to the Taoyuan airport to meet Mom and Dad! They arrived around 8pm and we took a bus into Taipei where we stayed at a hotel near the Taipei Main MRT station. It was so good to finally see them again!!!

Saturday was a busy day! We took the MRT to the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial, the Longshan Temple, and the Shandao Temple. We were at the Shandao Temple around lunch time and the monks invited us downstairs for lunch. When we got to the lunch room all the tables were already set with the meal and we were the only ones there. After about 5 minutes the monks started marching in and chanting as they quickly filed into their places. There was around 200-300 monks there and we were the only foreigners and three of about fifteen civilians. They ate silently and were done in about 5-10 minutes when they rang a bell and started filling out again. I thought the meal was good, but as it was Mom and Dad’s first real meal in Taiwan I think it was a bit too traditional for them (they did not like it haha). After lunch we found a tea stand and Mom and Dad had their first bubble tea! They both liked it! Next we went to the National Palace Museum, which has the largest collection of ancient Chinese imperial artifacts and artworks in the world. Chiang Kai Shek took these artifacts and artworks from China when he fled to Taiwan in the early part of the twentieth century. For supper we went to a Thai restaurant in the Shilin night market. After this we went to the Taipei Eye where we saw a performance. The first half of the show had several different acrobatic acts and the second half was a traditional Chinese opera. The opera was a bit too much for me. The drums were very loud and high pitched and the singers sounded very different (the traditional way to sing is not what we are used to in western music). I am glad we saw it though as the costumes and make up were very nice and it was a good cultural performance. We were all very tired that night as this was a very busy day.

Sunday was Easter so we went to church in the morning. After this we went to Taipei 101 where we saw the cityscape. We ate at Din Tai Fung at the bottom of Taipei 101 to eat the famous xiaolongbao (soup dumplings). Next we took the gondola up to Maokong in the mountains to see the many tea plantations and tea houses. It was very beautiful!

Monday we met up with Shannon, Chris, and Sarah where we started our three day tour with My Taiwan Tour. We had a private van, driver, and tour guide to take us around the north east coast of Taiwan. On the way to Hualien we stopped at the King Car Whisky distillery in Yilan, ate lunch at a local restaurant in Yilan, stopped at the Quingshui Cliffs for a beautiful view point. Once in Hualien, we checked into the hotel and Mom and I went for a short walk in the city where we saw another temple. That night we all went shrimp fishing! After dark we drove to spot in the mountains where the river was shallow to do our shrimp fishing. We put on water shoes and got a net. I think all of us caught at least one crab and one shrimp although they were quite small. After we were finished the guides who were in charge cooked us a Taiwanese Barbeque. We had bamboo rice, shrimp, pork, fish, vegetables, and more. It was so good!

Tuesday we drove into Taroko Gorge where we did some light hiking. We even walked in a water curtain cave! On our walk we saw a monkey just on the edge of the trail. It did even run away as we walked by, just looked at us! Our final stop in Taroko Gorge was the Eternal Spring Shrine which is a tribute to the many lives lost in building the Central Cross-Island Highway. Next we started our drive back to Taipei and we stopped at a temple in Yilan along the way.

Wednesday we went to Yehilu which is a geopark in the north of Taiwan. There are many interested rock formations such as the famous, Queens Head. This geopark was very beautiful and I recommend going there if you are in Taiwan and have a chance. Our next stop was the Golden waterfall near Jiufen, which was very beautiful. Then we drove on to Jiufen, an old gold mining town with a nice market street. We also saw one of the first theaters in Taiwan there as well as the model for the famous Japanese anime, Spirited Away. After this we had a little extra time left before we had to head back to Taipei so we went to Shifen a famous town in Pingxi where the Sky Lantern Festival takes place. This was a very fun experience. Mom, Dad, and I released a red lantern which color represents family, health, and happiness. We also wrote our names on each side of the lantern with Chinese characters that also represent family, health, and happiness. I bought a small lantern that lights up that represents health and happiness. After this we went back to Taipei and Mom, Dad, and I took the HSR back to Taichung for the night. We had a lot of fun on the tour! Our tour guide, Kelly, was awesome; she spoke very good English and was very informational.

On Thursday we took the HSR to Chiayi where we got on a bus to Alishan National Scenic Area. The elevation was quite high so it took us a bit to adjust to the elevation. We walked around in the afternoon and saw beautiful scenery. We went to bed early as we woke at 3:30am to take a train to higher elevation in order to watch the sun rise. It was a bit cloudy, however, we were above some of the clouds and it was very beautiful. We went back to Taichung on Friday and ate lunch at a Japanese restaurant. After this we walked around the area where I normally go grocery shopping, get tea, etc. For supper we went to the night market where the school normally takes the kids on Saturdays. I had Mom and Dad try some green onion pancake, fried chicken, a corn dog with French fries on the outside, and a mango smoothie.

On Saturday, Dad was not feeling well; he had a bad cold and fever. He stayed at home while Mom and I did some shopping nearby. We went to the hardware store to get a tea set, the grocery store to buy some tea and chopsticks for everyone back home, and ate lunch at Sushi Express, a sushi restaurant where sushi comes by on a conveyor belt. In the afternoon we went to the mountains to a place near our school in Dakeng where monkeys are fed. There is no fence or anything and probably around 100-200 monkeys come for food. It is quite interesting! Mom and I ate at my place for supper, played cards, and had a girl’s night as Dad went to bed early since he was not feeling well.

On Sunday Dad was feeling much better. We all went to walk behind ICA to look at the rice fields and then took a tour of ICA. Next we took the bus downtown and went to the Science Museum, saw people’s park, and then had lunch at Wu Wei Tsao Tang Tea House where we had a tea ceremony. Next we went to the jade market for some souvenir shopping.

Monday morning Mom and Dad flew back to the US. We had such a fun time together and it was so good to see them again and to show them Taiwan!!!!

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Tainan School Field Trip

Today I went with Rebecca and a couple of her Chinese classes to a class field trip in Tainan, Taiwan. First we went to the National Museum of Taiwan History. It was a very interesting museum and I learned a lot about the history of Taiwan. Next we went to Yanping Old Street which is a street filled with food vendors and small trinket shops. I tried several famous foods from Tainan including coffin bread, fried shrimp, and tea from a famous stand. Next we saw Fort Zeelandia, which is an old military fort build in the 1620s. The fort had very beautiful flowers and Japanese style gardens. After this we went to another market street filled with lots of famous Tainan foods. It was a very fun day and I was excited I got to go with the students! Stay tuned as Mom and Dad will be here in two days!!! I’m so excited!!!

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Lantern Festival, Bike rides, Carton King and More!!!

I have not written about my random adventures for awhile, but I have done a few exciting things lately. I have included some random photos from what I have been up to lately.

A month or so ago I went to pick strawberries in Miaoli. Basically there is a strawberry town! They have strawberry sausages, cookies, bubble tea, pizza, cake, etc. There were also huge strawberry statues and live music. It was quite interesting. I also went hiking and camping with the school awhile ago, which was a lot of fun. The students made us hot pot for supper that night. It was cute to watch and they did a very nice job with it! One day I also biked to a giant Buddha statue and temple near the Chungyo department store. I was able to watch some type of service for awhile but of course did not fully understand what was going on as it was in Chinese.

It was recently Lantern Festival in Taiwan which is the fifteenth day of the Chinese New Year and signifying the end of Chinese New Year (in the lunar calendar). Taichung was the host city this year, which was the year of the sheep/ram/goat (in Chinese they basically have one word for these animals so you may hear it called different names). There were three different places in Taichung that had lanterns set up for the festival. I went to one of them and it was very fun to see all the cool lanterns. There were two huge lanterns one was a giant ship that you could actually walk up and into it. The other one was a huge ram in honor of the year of the ram.

We also recently had parent’s day at school where we had parent-teacher conferences, a concert, and also international day. Knights house had Egypt so we served Egyptian food and had some Egyptian costumes.

3-14-15 at 9:26am and 53 seconds was a very special day for mathematicians everywhere! It was the pi day that only happens once in a century!!! To celebrate, we made t-shirts, went to the science museum, stopped at a café where if you translate the Chinese it is called “Trigonometric,” ate pi, played pi darts (cricket, but you had to hit the digits of pi), and watched Imitation Game (a movie about the mathematician Alan Turing). It was a fun day!

This past Friday night I went shrimp fishing which I believe is a popular activity for Taiwanese men. John, Hickel, Christina, and I went to an indoor shrimp fishing place where I think they had 4 pools of shrimp. The pools looked like and were about the same size as an average hotel swimming pool and the shrimp were separated into male and female shrimp pools. Every hour the owners would dump a bucket of shrimp into the pools. We fished for male shrimp and they were a lot bigger than I was expecting. We used normal fishing poles (although they did not have a reel as the pools were not very big). I caught three shrimp in a 2 hour time span (I do not think that was very good haha). Afterwards John washed the shrimp and cooked them for us. They were very tasty!

I had another eye check up on Saturday as I got the LASIK this last August in Taiwan. They said that everything looked good and I can switch to only doing a checkup once a year now!

Today was filled with adventures! I woke up early today and stopped at a day market near school where they sell various foods and clothing. Then I biked up into the mountains and came across a fancy place where people have wedding receptions. For lunch I met up with Shannon and Chris and we went to a place near school called Carton King. Almost everything was made of cardboard…tables, chairs, statues, etc. It was really neat!

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Chinese New Year in the Philippines!

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Bayley, Michael (Hickel), and I headed out to spend Chinese New Year in the Philippines right after school got out on Friday afternoon February 13th! We landed in Manila at midnight and had to wait until 5am on Saturday for our next flight to Puerto Princesa, which is on the island called Palawan in the west. Once we landed we took a tuk tuk to get our permits for the underground river later in the week, then we took a van to make the four hour drive to El Nido (it should have taken about 5 hours but our driver was crazy fast making for a bit of a scary drive). We arrived in El Nido mid-afternoon and I went straight for the beach. After enjoying my first of many mango smoothies, I walked around the town to check out a small market and get a massage. We went out for dinner the first night and waited an hour before they told us that the dish that Hickel ordered they did not have tonight. Then we waited another hour to finally get our food. It was very slow service, but an enjoyable night and eventually very good food haha!

On Sunday, we walked along a path where a lot of locals lived and then walked along the beach for several kilometers. We stopped along the way to take in the view and get in the water. On our way back into town we found a few locals playing basketball and we challenged them to a 3 on 3 game! We had an incredible view for dinner that night, sitting on the second floor of a restaurant overlooking the ocean! Bayley’s friends from Colorado, Carina and Adam, met us at the hostel that night to join in for the rest of the trip.

Monday morning we rented kayaks and ventured to other islands. It was a lot of fun and you do not have to paddle for very long before you get to very nice beaches with few or no other people on them. I got a little burned today as we were in the water all day. We all got massages and had dinner and drinks in the evening.

I woke up pretty early on Tuesday morning so I went for a walk. We switched hostels this morning and then had a tuk tuk take us to a nearby waterfall. We had to walk for about 30-45 minutes to get to the waterfall. It was not very impressive, but it was nice to cool off in the water and the scenery in the tuk tuk and on the walk was beautiful. Next we went to a nearby hot spring (not the kind for swimming as it is extremely hot). Again the scenery on the way here was worth the trip. We saw a lot of carabao (water buffalo) today. In the evening Bayley, Hickel, and I ate sushi, Indonesian noodles, and curry for dinner and listened to live music by the ocean.

Wednesday we rented a private boat to go island hopping. First we went to Snake Island which is a small skinny island shaped like a snake and only appears at low tide. This island was extremely beautiful with very clear water. I saw a sea urchin, jelly fish, and mangroves. While we were pulling up to Snake Island I think our boat propeller hit the bottom and something broke so while we walked around the island the crew temporarily fixed it. Next we went to another island for lunch where we had the entire beach to ourselves. I laid on the beach for awhile and went snorkeling while the crewman prepared lunch which was fresh fish, squid, salad, rice, and fruit. While we were here another boat came for us to take for the rest of the day as ours was out of commission. Our next stop was Cathedral Cave which we were able crawl through a small hole to get into it. Then we saw Cudugnon Cave which we were only able to bring the boat in a bit as the base of it is water and it is not large enough for the boat. Next we went snorkeling at a very beautiful spot. I saw numerous neon blue fish, multicolored neon fish, and I even saw a clown fish hiding in sea anemone! Our last spot was another beautiful beach, where we enjoyed the scenery before heading back into El Nido. Bayley, Carina, Adam, and I enjoyed awesome Mexican food tonight, but unfortunately Hickel got sick so he stayed in tonight. Bayley and I visited for quite awhile outside the hostel before heading to bed.

On Thursday Hickel still was not feeling well so he stayed in El Nido while the rest of us took a van to Sabang. It was another long windy and bumpy ride. We arrived mid-afternoon and found a place to stay right away. We stayed in a hut right next to the ocean for very inexpensive (you could even stay at a fancy resort for anywhere from $50-120usd a night; which is really cheap compared to many other resorts). Everything in Sabang was much cheaper than El Nido. I think Sabang was my favorite place that we visited as it was less touristy and the people were very friendly. We found fresh mango smoothies and then walked around the town (it is a very small town). We heard music playing so we followed it. It turns out that there was a festival that just started today and happened every night until March 21^st. There was a bunch of children playing gambling games (I think since it was early in the night all the children were playing with coins but later in the evening it would be more for adults) and others chatting. I was not completely sure what would all be happening, but we talked to one guy who said there will be cock fights later on in the week. I watched a group of kids playing one of the games for awhile and figured out how to play. You put money on one of six colors on the table, then three color die were rolled and if you had money on one of the colors that was rolled you got twice the amount of money that you put on the table. I put some money on the table and had the kids help me pick out which color to place it on; it was fun. We had dinner at a restaurant next to where we were staying and had a few drinks.

Friday morning we took a boat to the Subterranean National Park and then got in a smaller boat to take a tour of the Underground River. This is an 8.2km underground river (although we only saw about the first 1.5km as you need a special type of permit to see the entire river and only 4.3km are accessible via boat). There were a lot of cool rock formations inside and tons of bats. Right outside the Underground River we saw two monkeys and a monitor lizard (very large lizard). After we got back to town we walked to a nearby waterfall. This was a nice waterfall and scenic walk along the ocean over many rocks. Next we took a paddle boat tour of the mangrove forest. Mangroves are helpful for preventing erosion, blockage from bad weather, a nesting place for many fish, and a home for many critters. We saw a baby rattle snake and a poisonous yellow and black snake (I forgot the name) curled up in a tree. The yellow and black snakes are nocturnal and our guide told us a story about how one time one fell in their boat but since it was during the day it was still sleeping. They had to pick it up with their hands and put it in the river, but it stayed asleep the entire time. Woodworms are destructive towards the mangroves as they eat them. Filipinos eat woodworms as a type of delicacy. Our guide brought back a piece of wood with us and chopped it in half to find a woodworm for us to try. Our guide washed it, took out the head and tail, and put vinegar on it to prepare it for us to try it. Bayley and I ate it and it was quite disgusting. Not my favorite dish to eat that’s for sure! After this, I got a massage and explored around town a bit. I tried eating a fried banana which was pretty tasty. At 6pm when we took a van to Puerto Princesa. We were in a 12 passenger van and kept picking up more people along the way. At one point we had 19 people in the van and there were 4 people in the front row (where the driver sits). The driver actually shared his seat with a woman and he had to lean way to the side to drive, it was pretty crazy. We arrived at our hostel in Puerto Princesa at around 8:30pm and Hickel met us there.

On Saturday morning the owners of the hostel made us breakfast and drove us to the airport (they were extremely nice). We arrived in Manila at about 8:30am and had about 12 hours before our next flight. Bayley, Hickel, and I took a taxi to the Mall of Asia in Manila and we spent the day walking around, eating, and we even watched a movie. I even tried ice-cream in a crepe cone, which was very good! We took the taxi back to the airport and flew to Taipei making it back to Taichung at around 2am.

Food: I had numerous mango smoothies, avocado smoothies, crepes, sea food, and mangos (really mango flavored anything as this is my favorite fruit including: crepes, pancake, dried mangos, and fresh mangos)!

Here are a few things that I noticed in the Philippines:

• They used recycled coke bottles and other glass bottles to put gasoline in to sell to people.
• When getting a hand shake, the person who grabbed the hand would bring the other person’s hand up to touch their own forehead (this is difficult to describe without showing you).
• Food and activities are very inexpensive compared to America.
• I saw children using a bamboo tree sort of like a teeter totter/bouncy swing.
• Children seemed to go from house to house and everyone in the community seemed to keep an eye on them.
• There seemed to be a lot of drum line type groups. I saw these in several places (they were always all male groups).

I thought of my Grandpa Nels a lot on this trip as he was in the navy (he became part of the Sea Bees) and stationed in the Philippines for a year in 1945-1946, right after World War II. He stayed on the island Samar which is in the east. He had a buddy on Calicoan Island and he went to visit him a few times. My family came across a bunch of the letters that he wrote to my grandma while he was living in the Philippines. He wrote about seeing lots of banana trees and palm trees which there definitely is a lot of. In the letters he wrote that it rained a lot and was very hot there and that he lived in a hut. He also wrote that there were natives that lived in the camp where he stayed and that they would have markets everyday selling things such as grass skirts, knives, and jewelry. Children would come up to them and pick up things from their G.I. cans. Locals would also want to buy mattress covers from them to make clothes out of. He wrote that there were shows every night that he would go to often (I think these were musical performances, maybe some comedy, but not 100% sure). Grandpa Nels did various jobs while stationed there including drilling holes in a rock quarry for the dynamite crew, operated a steam shovel, was put in charge of the steam shovels and was a mechanic, and he also ran a side job as a photo developer to make some extra money. It was nice knowing a little more about Grandpa Nels’ experiences in the Philippines when I traveled there; it made my experience more meaningful.

Overall this was an amazing adventure and I really like the Philippines. I would love to visit again sometime!

Shanghai Music Festival!

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The 8^th annual International School Choral Music Society (ISCMS) Festival was held in Shanghai this year from February 4^th through the 8th. Elisa, Maggie Lin, and I took 19 singers and 2 cellists to the festival. We left school at 5am on Wednesday morning and got to Shanghai at around noon. We went straight to the Dulwich College School in Shanghai to start the festival. I sang soprano with two other students, the other girls were altos, and all the boys were basses. We rehearsed all afternoon and then listened to a countertenor sing an aria concert Wednesday evening. On Thursday we rehearsed all day again and listened to another aria concert that night. Friday morning we went to the Yu Gardens. There is a market there where they sell various things such as food, jewelry, paintings, etc. The rest of the day Friday and Saturday morning we continued to rehearse. The concert was Saturday evening in the Shanghai Oriental Arts Center. We performed “17 Poets Formed Lines at the Foot of Mount Fuji” by Philip Henderson (also conducted and rehearsed by Henderson), Mozart’s “Mass in C minor K427,” and the orchestra played a few songs including “An American in Paris” by George Gershwin. 20 International Schools performed in the festival composed of 250 singers and 100 orchestra members (including both students and teachers). Sunday we slept in and then went to a nearby shopping mall for the afternoon before heading back to Taiwan. While in Shanghai, I tried crab roe soup in a dumpling (you did not eat the dumpling, but drank the soup out of it through a straw), dumplings,  and dessert from Honeymoon Desert store (this is a store that sells various fruity hot and cold desserts (maybe described as sweet soup) which usually include some type of tapioca). They were all very tasty!

New Zealand and a bit of Taiwan!

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Wednesday, December 24^th I boarded the plane to spend Christmas break in New Zealand with Angie!!! I flew from Taipei to Hong Kong to Auckland and finally to Queenstown (which is in the South Island) making it a full 24 hours of traveling. I arrived about noon on Christmas day (Thursday) and Angie did not fly in until Saturday, so I had some time to explore on my own first. I made it to my hotel which had a spectacular view and then walked back into town to start exploring. I sat on the beach for awhile to soak up the nice sunny warm Christmas day. I watched several street performers and ended up being a part of the final act of a magician show. The magician had asked for a volunteer and the little girl beside me was raising her hand so I was gesturing towards her so that she would get called on, instead he choose me. I had to go up front and position myself just so and try to throw a playing card on top of the roof of a building. He got the audience to start clapping to give me some encouragement. After I threw it, he said I did such a great job that he was going to give me 20 dollars. When I started walking away he said “don’t you want to trade that for anything?” Of course I said no and then he said, “Don’t you want to trade that for a watch?” I looked down at my wrist and sure enough he had taken my watch at some point and I had no idea haha. He did end up throwing the playing card on top of the building which was rather impressive.

Then next day I had to switch hotels. I walked around town for a bit and had Fergburger, a famous burger joint, for lunch. I ate it on the beach with a couple from Bangkok that I met waiting in line for the Fergburger. That’s one thing that I love about traveling is meeting random people and hearing about their traveling stories! After lunch I walked around the city gardens and found a skate park. I went back to the hotel about midday to make use of the pool and soak up the sun a bit and ended up falling asleep outside at the pool. I had dinner in town again and had an early night to bed as I was a bit jet lagged and tired.

The next day (Saturday) I met Angie in the hotel lobby. It was so nice to see her again and we had a great time together!!! Once she got settled into the hotel sans her check bag (it was stuck in the states yet) we headed into town for lunch and to walk around a bit. That night we took the gondola ride up to the top of the mountain to watch a Kiwi Haka performance done by the Maori (one of the indigenous tribes in New Zealand). We had a bit of time before the performance so we had a snack and enjoyed the view. The performance was short, but very well done. They sang and danced and told us some details about the Maori. At one point the asked for volunteers and I got to go on stage to learn a dance. After the performance we rode the gondola back down to town and went to the Ice Bar. This is a bar where everything is made out of ice, the bar itself, the chairs, tables, and cups. They provide parkas, boots, and gloves before you go inside. The temperature was set at -7.4˚C which is about 19˚F. It was a lot of fun, but they only allow you to stay inside for about 30 minutes before the next group of people goes inside.

On Sunday we had a bus ride to Glenorchy where we saw some famous Lord of the Rings film sites and other sites for many movies and advertisements (including Coors Light and Milka). Next we took a short nature walk before getting on the jet ski/boat where we were able to see more of the Dart River area. The bus brought us back to Queenstown and then we met up with the Nomads safari group who gave us a tour of the The Remarkables (a famous mountain range in Queenstown that was also used in the Lord of the Rings movies), Arrowtown, and the surrounding area. We saw people bungy jump off the bridge between a canyon, but thought we would save that for the next time haha (not really)! We also took the 4D jeep in the river to see more of the area and try our luck at panning for gold. Unfortunately, we did not strike it big with any gold, but it was fun to try. We were dropped off in town with just enough time to check on Angie’s luggage that still did not make it to Queenstown before we boarded the TSS Earnslaw for our steam boat ride to the Walter Peak sheep farm. We ate a buffet dinner which was extremely good and watched a sheep dog demonstration and sheering demonstration. This 22,000 head sheep farm was absolutely gorgeous with tons of flowers all over.

Monday morning we hiked for about an hour and a half up to the top of the gondola where we started our three hour zip line course. It was so much fun, great views, and rather thrilling. Angie and I both tried going upside down, starting with a trust fall, and no hands (which seemed to be the toughest). After this we moved to our new hostel where Angie got her luggage finally, went to a brief meeting about the Kepler Track, enjoyed Fergburger, bought some more food for our hike, and went to the third Hobbit movie in the theater (we had to see this in theaters if it was playing while we were in New Zealand right?!). That night we went to our hostel to pack up what we needed for the Kepler Track, as we had to carry all our supplies including sleeping bag, rain gear, food, water, etc).

At 6:45am on Tuesday we got on a bus to head to Te Anau where we were supposed to be dropped off at the Conservation Center at the edge of town so that we could pick up our Kepler Track tickets and board a water taxi (we only had 30 minutes for this). Unfortunately, we were dropped off in the middle of town and had to get to the Conservation Center on our own with only 30 minutes to spare before our water taxi left. After walking for about 5 minutes or so I stopped to ask someone where the Conservation Center was and she said it was a kilometer down the road and would take 10 minutes to walk there so Angie and I started running with our big packs on the entire kilometer. They then told us that the water taxi was back where we started so Angie started back towards the water taxi while I got our tickets. I then ran all the way back and made it with minutes to spare! We later found out that they would have made a second trip for us if we were late, but at least we found out that we could run with our packs on! The water taxi took a few minutes to get across the lake and then we were ready to start our trek!

The first hike to the Luxmore Hut was a steady incline the entire way. It is an 8.2km path and took us about 3 hours and 15 minutes with a lunch break. After we were passed the brush line it was quite windy and chilly. Once at our hut we warmed up a bit and then hiked about ten minutes to the Luxmore Cave before we cooked our dinner. The hut was much nicer than I expected with running water, toilets, stoves for cooking, and mattresses. A storm rolled in with strong winds and rain through the night. The next day (Wednesday; New Year’s Eve) we started hiking at about 9:30 with rain off and on the whole day. It was quite chilly as we were walking on the ridge for most of the day. We took a side trip to climb to the top of the Luxmore Summit (the highest point on the track at about 1472 meters or about 4830 feet, but the wind and rain started picking up just before we got to the top so we decided to turn back. There were two shelters where we were able to take a break from the wind and rain for a bit. Despite the bad weather, it was still absolutely gorgeous views! It took us about 2 hours to get to the first hut, an hour and 20 minutes to get to the second hut where we took a 10 minute lunch break, and then another hour and 50 minutes to walk the 14.6km to the Iris Burn Hut. Once at the hut we dropped off our gear and then walked another 50 minutes roundtrip to a waterfall. When we got back to the hut, warm dry clothes were a welcoming change! Since it was New Years Eve we drank our small bottle of wine that we brought along and stayed up until midnight to be one of the first in the world to bring in the New Year! We played cards with our friend Robyn and visited with a couple from Belgium, a guy from Canada, and a couple girls from New Zealand.

We started out at around 9am on Thursday for the 16.2km hike to the Moturau Hut. This was a fairly easy hiking day as the trail was mostly level ground. It took us about 2 hours and 30 minutes to a shelter where we ate our lunch and then about another 2 hours and 15 minutes until we reached the hut. I think we were slower walkers than most as we would stop every little while to take pictures and enjoy the scenery. We had quite a bit of time at the Moturau hut to enjoy the sun as it was finally starting to show itself. We stretched and layed on the beach for awhile and then finally were brave enough to go in the cold lake. It was very refreshing! The last day of our hike was a short one as it was only a 6km walk to where we would get picked up by a bus (this took us about an hour and 50 minutes). The bus brought us back to the edge of Te Anau. Since we had some time before our next bus came to bring us back to Queenstown we decided to walk another 40 minutes round trip to get a muffin. The muffin was definitely worth it though!

Once back in Queenstown, we showered and then headed straight to get some Fergburger. I usually do not like burgers that much, but this was so good I had it three times while I was in Queenstown! We saw an outdoor concert in the park and walked around a bit before we went to bed. I think we were both pretty tired from the hike.

On our last day in Queenstown (Saturday) we checked out the craft fair in the park and bought a few souvenirs. Walked around the town, ate pizza and ice cream, and enjoyed the amazing views one more time. We took the bus to the airport and got ready for our long flight to Taipei and then car ride to Taichung.

We arrived in Taichung about noon dropped our stuff off at my apartment, and then headed downtown to a traditional tea house downtown. We had tea and dessert and then went to the jade market where Angie got a salt lamp. For dinner we had Din Tai Fung, which is super tasty!

I had to go to school on Monday so Angie did some laundry at my place and then we biked to Sushi Express for lunch, got bubble tea (she said it was good but would take a bit to get used to the bubbles), and picked up a few different types of fruit for Angie to try. After school we went for a hike near my apartment and then went to hot pot for dinner. On Tuesday Angie went for a walk while I was at school to a park and got a little turned around on the way back, but she was able to make it ok and pick up some bubble tea! She came to school before lunch and then stayed with me at school for the rest of the day. After school we went to the Hot Springs and relaxed before we had dinner at the night market. Angie took off for another long flight back to the states on Wednesday morning. We had an amazing trip together and there are already talks of more back packing trips together! Thanks for being awesome Angie 🙂