Number 101

I can't believe that I've already written and passed up my 100th blog. I feel like there should be some sort celebration (or perhaps a more interesting blog post), but to be perfectly honest, I don't quite have the energy at the moment. I do have some pretty blog worthy moments to share, but the sharing will be done at a later date. Sorry. You're stuck with my gratitude list for today. I actually thought about not writing today, but that would mean that I'd be a quitter two days in, and that didn't sit well. So here goes...

5 Things I'm Grateful For

1. Aloe vera gel. I unfortunately got terribly sunburned yesterday after I laid out on the roof of our school. For some strange reason I thought my skin was above getting too much sun. I've been blessed with olive skin, so I generally don't burn too easily. but last night I was in agony before I found the aloe vera and stood in front of the AC.

2. Primary. Today was the first day I got to teach in Primary. And it was so much fun! I have to admit that I wasn't terribly keen on being a Primary teacher before because I'm teaching kids 6 days a week at school, but for some reason teaching kids at Church is whole 'nother kettle of fish. It was quite lovely. We learned all about obeying the law. And as my friend Lindsay and I were walking home from the bus station, we found application from the lesson.

The Taiwanese are very lax about their street laws. Jay-walking and running red lights isn't a big deal. But having used jay-walking as an example of breaking the law, Linds and I thought it would be quite hypocritical if we crossed the street without the green little man (the walking signal) telling us we could go.

3. Books. I love reading. I'm in the process of reading three books at the moment. I just finished North and South (quite lovely-perhaps even better than Pride and Prejudice and I'm an avid Jane Austen fan), and am now reading The Devil in the White City, The Host, and Authentic Happiness. So far I'm impressed with them all.

The Devil in the White City is a non-fiction account of the Columbia Exhibition in Chicago and how this colossal event coincided with the deeds of a rampant serial killer. Fascinating, I know!

The Host, is by Stephanie Meyer, the author of Twilight. I've been pretty hesitant to start reading it. As much as I like Twilight, there's a part of me that feels like I should be spending my time reading more worthwhile literature. But it's perfect for those days where you want to lay out on the roof. So that's what I did. And now I'm hooked.

Authentic Happiness is amazing. It's about positive psychology, and you should really check out the link right here! It's completely changed my perspective of things.

4. Soft beds. I never realized how good I had it in the States until I came to Taiwan. The beds here are like sleeping on box springs. I normally wake up once or twice with a numb arm. I'm getting more used to it (thank goodness), but it's not quite the same as my bed in Seattle.

5. Music!!!! If you couldn't tell, I'm slightly obsessed. I love sharing music with friends and learning about new bands. Since being here, my friend Sarah and I have learned that we have quite similar tastes in music. She's introduced me to the likes of Copeland (pictured), Passion Pit, and Mae, among many others. We also have found our mutual love for all things Chuck, and we both secretly aspire to be secret agents (who doesn't these days?). Oh, and we both have an undying love for The Arcade Fire, Sigur Ros, and Imogen Heap (among many others). Glorious!

In the words of Daffy Duck:

Th-th-th-that's all folks!

Five things....

I'm glad I'm doing this. This being listing things that I'm grateful for. Today it is as follows:

1. Being able to sleep at night. I went to bed early because I had an early class this morning, and I could not sleep for the life of me. I laid in bed until at least 2 am, and then kept on waking up intermittently. It was not a fun night, and I'm grateful for those nights where I can hit my pillow and be out in 5 seconds.

2. Flatmates that make me dinner. It was quite a lovely surprise when Sunny said he wanted to make Erin and I dinner tonight. He's an amazing cook, so I was lucky.

3. Sunscreen. Or maybe I should say when I use sunscreen. I laid out today and got my first bad sunburn in a long time. Generally I don't burn because of my skin type, so I'm grateful for the days I don't burn.

4. Air conditioning. I would die here without it. Not only does it keep my room cool, but it also cuts out the humidity, which is almost worst than the heat.

5. Cold showers on hot days. I love taking luke-warm to cold showers. There's nothing more refreshing after a long, hot day.

That's it for today!

Recipe for Happiness

Most everyone I know wants to be happy, as opposed to miserable. But it's one thing to be happy on the surface, and quite another to be truly happy. I want to be truly happy, but sometimes this object of desire slips away and hides in the shadows of my life.

I do admit that I have a tendency to be what I like to call melancholy. My mom (bless her) reminds me to stop worrying about things and enjoy life. So I've finally taken her advice and these past couple of months I've been more deliberately (my new favorite word) finding ways to be happy--beyond the surface.

My fabulous friend Sarah let me borrow this book called Authentic Happiness. It's been pretty insightful thus far. One thing that I learned , and have learned many times before but always seem to forget, is that one way that people can become happy is by listing all the things that they are grateful for. In the past I've kept gratitude journals, and they really do work. As I've focused on all the good positive things in my life, I don't seem to notice the not-so-happy things.

I've started a new goal to write down 5 things a day that I'm grateful for.

As I've been doing this, I thought that I could do this with my fifth graders. Asia is known for its high suicide levels, probably from the intense academic, social, and work pressures. My fifth graders are pre-teens and are going to be in the thick of things before they realize it. I had them take the Gratitude Test, and found that they all scored in the bottom 1/4 of all those tested. I told them we are going to do an experiment. For the next three weeks, I'm having them write down 5 things that they are grateful for as well. At the end of the three weeks we're all going to take the test again and see if we score any higher. It should be pretty interesting. And I'm quite excited to see what will happen.

Also, as a result, I've decided to start listing my things on this here blog. That way I'll be more likely to keep to it. So here goes:

5 things that I'm grateful for

1. That I'm here in Taiwan teaching these adorable kids:
2. That I'm a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the knowledge that it brings to me of who I am, and why I am here, and where I will be going once my life here on earth is over. And most importantly, that my family can be together forever. That's pretty awesome, if I do say so myself.

3. My stellar friends that listen to my various ramblings, random thoughts, and my deepest darkest secrets. :)

{My good friend (and former roommate) Emma and I eating some gyoza that we made}

{Me and my good friend Heather at her cookout in Georgetown}{My Bothell Stake friends. We kinda all grew up together. Dallas, Nikki, Ashlee, Ilene and Me!}{Great friends and roommates Kristen and Lex}{Kelly and Scott. Roommate and family friend. Need I say more?}{Miss Kate}{Me and Kellyn. We are soooo domestic!}

{Rachel love. Life is always a kooky adventure with her!}

{Emma and Kevin. I love these guys! Some of the greatest friends ever!}

{Me and Lexie Lou at the Bon Fire of Awesomeness I. She's pretty much amazing!}

{Ze Boyz. My outstanding guy friends prior to my mission. Corey offered to beat up anyone who broke my heart}

{Blurry picture, but I love it all the same. Me and Miss Larkin and her husband Cody at my quarter century bash.}

{Miss Ilene, Lex, Steph, and Kel at my graduation dinner. Lovely ladies.}

{Me and Pat talking music. Oh glorious!}

{Rocking with the ladies. Me, Connie, Megs, and Erin. Great friends and roommies in Taiwan.}

{Me and Russia--friend and confidante.}

They've all been a great help to me especially over the past 8 months.

4. My family (Of course!)

{Linds, Mom, and I.}

{Mom and Dad}

{My bro, Mikey.}

5. The sun. I know that might be a small thing after church, friends, and family, but honestly, I do so much better in sunny climates. I love Seattle with all my heart, but the winters are almost too dark, cold, and dreary.

Well, that's all. A marathon of a blog. Hopefully the next ones won't be so long. :)

Yes, Please!

So I was feeling the need tonight to watch one of my favorite movies of all time--The Last of the Mohicans. I've been listening to the soundtrack all week, and realized that I needed to find it somewhere here in Taiwan. Little did I know that the sparse DVD library that we have here at the school does include this amazing film.

I still remember the first time I watched Daniel Day Lewis and Eric Schweig running through the North Carolinian forests. My good friend and roommate, Jenna, was watching it one night in our apartment, and it soon became a favorite. I mean seriously--the music, the scenery...absolute perfection. And of course, who could forget Hawkeye:

or Uncas for that matter:

What woman in her right mind wouldn't want to be stared at with the same intensity that Hawkeye had for Cora? Seriously!

Well, enough said.

Here's to Hawkeye and Uncus, and the glorious film, The Last of the Mohicans.

Learning to not read like Robots

Beetle Mania!

{Benson, Beetle, Sam}

I ate poo?

Well, not really, but it sure looked like it! To many of you Americans this may look totally disgusting. Why would anyone want to eat their entree out of a toilet, slurp their beverages out of urinals, and devour their ice cream presented to them on ceramic squatters? The answer is:

This is ASIA.

I have to admit that Asians think that some of the strangest things are absolutely adorable. Like poo for instance. We don't quite think the same way about the bathroom in America, but here poo shows up as cutesy cartoons in the bathrooms, on T-shirts, and is even the theme of this restaurant, Modern Toilet.

It was a riot! Our table was made out of a bathtub, and the seats were made out of toilets, albeit with really cool toilet seats. As always, us crazy Americans were having the time of our lives taking funny pictures while to locals sat by and watched (sometimes I wonder how annoying they find us).

{Our table after we licked our squatters clean}

{Sunny, Connie, and Michelle}

{This image just makes me laugh. Gotta love the sparkly diva seat.}

Lukang: a year later...

A year ago I journeyed to Lukang with my good friend Fenny. This time it was a bit different. For one, it wasn't raining. Second, we knew where we were going. Third, there were ten of us.

But like before, I fell in love with this quaint, historical town.If you remember from past posts (aka the last time i was in Taiwan), Lukang is the home to several Living Heritage Award members--that's like being a national treasure. The last time I visited Mr.Wu Duen-how, I bought 4 of his amazing lanterns. This time I watched as my friends bought the lanterns. This man is incredible. The started studying the craft of paper lantern making and painting at the age of 13. He has been on television countless times, his modest shop has been visited by three Presidents of Taiwan, and by numerous tourists--both local and foreign. Today, I'm guessing he's in his 90s. He looks old. His apprentice (thank goodness he has one) was personalizing my friends' lanterns, while he scuffled out to the front of the shop and sat in his easy chair. It was interesting to observe. He seemed so at peace with how his life has gone. No regrets.

From there Sarah, Lindsay, and I headed to one of the famous historical lanes where we were going to meet up with the rest of our group. We got a bit lost (basically we turned too soon), and I decided to ask a group of Asian college students for some help. It was really funny. A side note--I've noticed that many Asians outside of the classroom are very shy about using English even though almost all of them have studied it since first grade. I approached this group and asked if anyone knew English. They started laughing nervously until one of them admitted that she knew English. We showed her the map and her friends all jumped in wanting to help. Then the questions of where we were from and what we were doing in Taiwan began. I felt like by the time we separated from them we had made new friends.

This historical street is my favorite part of the city. It is untouched by urbanization, so it's the real deal. I loved the different doors and roof shapes. There were little kittens crawling all over the place (in a picturesque sort of way, not in a creepy, unclean sort of way). Families with little kids in strollers, and couples young and new paced up and down this street. I loved it. It was a bit of heaven.

{A really cool temple on the side of the road}

{A woman making a basket . I loved the door way}
{Joanne and Angus. Our Taiwanese friends}{A cute kitty lurking about the streets}
{A cool motorcycle in an even cooler alleyway}{Me at the half well}{The gang taking it easy after drinking some star fruit juice. Notice Sarah and Lindsay's bags o' lanterns}{The gang plus the rad roof tops}{Yum. Ice cream}{A gorgeous yellow door. I'm slightly obsessed with the color yellow as of late}

If you come to Taiwan, you must, must, must visit Lukang. The charm is unparalleled.

Twilight, fifth graders, and chinese vampires

So as many as you may know, I'm teaching one of my former classes. When I had them a year ago they were sweet, tender 4th graders. Now they are flirty, angst-ridden pre-teens.They try to put up a front, but I just laugh at them. There's no hiding behind a wall of attitude with me. Mainly because I won't let them. I remind them all the time that I already know them, and know them well. Last year this was one of my favorite classes, so it's been great having them again.

Each class period we have journal writing time. They are good writers, so instead of having them write about pictures, I've been having them write about scenes from a few films. One day, one of my girls came to class with Twilight. I happen to really enjoy the Twilight series, and even own all of them (I know, I know. I'm probably too old for vampire romances, but hey, they do take place in Washington). I got the idea to show parts of Twilight the movie, in class. The girls have loved it, and I think quite a few of the boys have as well. It's been funny.

I remember talking with this same class around Halloween last year. I tried to give them some Halloweenesque spelling words and vampire was one of them. I tried to explain what a vampire was to them, and I swore they didn't get it.

me: You know, they suck your blood with sharp teeth.
them: Yeah, yeah, and they jumps like this....

They would then get up and start acting like a stiff, hopping zombie. I didn't get it. And finally this past week I had it explained to me. Western vampires and Eastern vampires are nothing alike except for the blood drinking thing.

Connie was talking to our mutual 1st grade class, and they explained it to her. I walked by their classroom yesterday, and they started hopping toward me like little vampires. I decided to play along and flee with my hands around my neck. They started laughing hysterically! I love these kids.

Anyways, I found this little video on youtube that explained the differences incredibly well. So hopefully you'll find it both entertaining and informative as I did.



Here's to knowing what to do if attacked by a Chinese vampire!

They say it's your birthday...

Happy Birthday Lisa!!!Hope it's just dandy!!!
(sorry, it's the only picture that I really have of you. we'll have to change that!)

The emerald typhoon, Morakot

At the very top of this picture of typhoon Morakot (meaning 'emerald' in Thai) you can see the slight white outline of Taiwan. If you can't see it very well, it's probably because the massive spinning mass of moisture is right on top of it.

Connie and Lisa, my two roommates have been tracking the tropical storms in our area wishing and hoping that a typhoon would come our way. The only days off from school this semester will be typhoon days, so we were pretty darn exciting when we found out last night that school was canceled today. Just take a look here:



It was a joyous celebration! Here you can actually hear the rain in the background:


The wind was blowing hard and fast, and this is what we found this morning:Laundry strewn all over the place. A little bit later a huge flower pot was blown off the ledge and dirt was all over the place.

So far the day has been a wonderful holiday from school. And...I really haven't done a thing. Sarah and I did take a walk into the center of town on a food run. We found some pretty funny things that I'll blog about later.

Here's to Morakot--the grand emerald typhoon!!

What are three girls to do on a fabulous, sunny, Taiwanese Saturday?

Bike to Taichung of course! For some reason we thought it would be a splendid idea to bike from Feng Yuan, the town in which we live, to the nearby city, Taichung. The last time I was here I though it would be a fun adventure, but didn't think anymore of it.

Well, until Leia, a student of mine, told me that she and her dad biked to Taiwan last weekend.

Me: Really?
Miss Leia: Yes, really.
Me: How long did it take you?
ML: Hmmm. About, about, about....I don't know.
Me: Really, you don't remember how long it took you?
ML: Miss Shan, I got new gloves. See! Oh, maybe two hours?

Only two hours! I had been thinking that it would take much longer. And, Leia most distinctively pointed out to me, they had ridden to the mountains, not the town.

My mind started mulling over this new bit of knowledge. I mentioned it to my roommate Connie, and immediately we decided it would be a cool thing to do. This past weekend promised to be the perfect opportunity for such a jaunt.

After my Saturday morning class, Connie, Erin and I loaded up our bikes with our waterbottles and bags, and started pedaling. And...it didn't take us very long at all. Granted most of the way into town was downhill, but still. I was shocked to find that it took us 55 minutes to get to the center of Taichung--that's only 10 minutes slower than the bus! And we weren't booking it by any means.

{Connie and Erin on the road}

{Yes, that is a building with Britney Spears plastered on it's side}

We ended up parking our bikes at the Church, and then set out to go exploring. We didn't get far. Only across the street where we found a Sushi Express, and had to go in. And it was fantastic!

We decided to go to Chung Yo, the big department store, and Connie and Erin got there makeup done at the MAC counter (Mindy, you've converted me!). As we were leaving we heard some pretty cool music coming from outside. Often there's some sort of concert going on on Saturdays so we went and investigated. It ended up being a belly dancing contest. And it was pretty much amazing!

It was interesting to see the different variety of women--and man--who made up the different teams/groups. Culturally in Taiwan one cannot be beautiful and big at the same time. Asians do have a tendency to be smaller boned, and I think because of that women have a lot of pressure to be slender, and sometimes unnaturally so. It was refreshing to see these middle aged women not ashamed of their bodies, even though they didn't necessarily fit what was culturally acceptable.

One of the teams singled out Erin and asked if she would film them. They were from Taipei and didn't have any friends to do it for them. They happened to be really good. Allen was the only guy belly dancer, and man did he have some amazing moves. His partner, Maggie, was absolutely gorgeous.

{One of the performing groups before the actually performance}

{I loved the colors}{Maggie and Allen performing}{Allen and Maggie after the show}

Good times, good times. I think I might have had more fun taking pictures of the the crowd than of the actual performers.

{Taiwanese school girls}{The most adorable girl wearing a mask at the show}
{A dog wearing goggles. Totally normal, right?}

{Cute Asian fashion}

{Gotta love the Hello Kitty umbrella}
Here's to a day of complete awesomeness! One of tans, endorphins, and amazing memories!

{Erin, Connie, and I with our bikes. Just about to ride back to Feng Yuan}