The Best of 2009

I happened upon this blog sometime in the middle of December and decided this was a cool idea. Though it may be a bit late, I still want to celebrate the end of the past year and the start of the new. So here goes!

The Best of 2009

Best Trip

 Can you guess where this is? I'll give you a couple of hints:

• I was there exactly a year ago.
• It's hot. 
• I road an elephant and slept with a hill tribe.
• And I went with 3 other incredibly cool people (the fourth, not as cool as of late).
• The air smelled of curry and coconut milk!
  

That's right! It's Thailand!

And I absolutely loved it. I'd go back in a heart beat.

 

Restaurant Moment

This one is a toss up between two. One is Ethipian food in Georgetown with a friend and her husband from Washington Seminar. Eating with your hands is always fun, and it was great to catch up with both of them.

This was the other:

The Modern Toilet as found in Taichung, Taiwan. It was wild, and the food was surprisingly good. Only in Asia would bathrooms, toilets, and poo be cutesified. 

Best Book

This one is hard as well, considering I've read so many books this year. But I think there are two that really helped me. Those of you who know me well, that this year was a tough one for many reasons, and I had to find a way to be happy. Authentic Happiness by Dr. Martin Seligman was excellent as well as Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I felt like her memoir, in particular, of getting over a heartbreaking relationship and learning to move on and love yourself was the kick in the pants that I really needed.

And... I'll end this entry right here. There are many more things where those came from, but I dare not make you suffer through a blog novel and a half. As much as I'm sure you adore my writing skills, I won't put you through that...

At least for now.

After all, tomorrow's another day.

(Muahaha!)

Books, Glorious Books!

Today I am grateful for the ability to read, and more specifically the ability to read good literature! I've always been something of a bookworm, a fact that my parents can well attest. When I was little, I had a night light in my room. At night, when my parents thought I was asleep, I would sneakily read the latest Baby-sitter's Club or Nancy Drew mystery. That is, until I got caught and had my trusty night light taken away. As I got older I tried other tricks, but my parents were way too smart. Who knew? :)

About that same time, my elementary school library held a writing contest. The topic was why you would want to be a librarian, or another similar topic. I, of course, entered because I, of course, wanted to be a librarian. And guess what? I won an honorable mention! My answer was somewhere along the lines that I wanted to be a librarian because I wanted to read all the books in the library.

To this day, I wouldn't mind being a librarian, and have even thought about going into library science. After seeing You've Got Mail, I wanted to own a bookstore/tea shop because I don't drink coffee, but I love the atmosphere of coffee shops. Anyhoo. I think you get the point...I'm slightly obsessed with reading and books.

This obsession  hasn't died down since being overseas. In fact, it may have heightened because I don't get out much. And after a long day of teaching, curling up with a good book and a large mug of mint tea is absolutely wonderful. I think I've probably read 10 books since I've been in Taiwan. Some of them have been fluff, but I've tried to read more of the "Classics."

Here's a list of some of my favorites:

Move over Jane Austen (I never thought I would say that because I'm a die-hard Jane Austen reader). This book is fabulous, and I may like the love story even more than Elizabeth and Darcy's.

This book really helped me through a difficult time, and coming to terms with some things that were happening in my life. It taught me how to let go and move on. I really admired the author's determination and passion for the year of her life portrayed in this book.

I've been meaning to read this book for years! And I finally bought a cheap copy of it here. I'm fascinated by the whole "Big Brother" theme. It makes me think. It made me realize how blessed I am to live in a nation where we are free, and we're lucky that we don't live in a society that is completely controlled by an elitist group. Parts of the book still confuse me, but it made me value what I do have, and made me vow to always exercise my constitutional rights. I know that there is much more to this book, but I don't have the brain-power at the moment to really get into it.

Going with the whole "Big Brother" theme, this book was a page turner, and I finished it and it's sequel in three days. It's juvenile literature, but it still brings up similar themes and questions posed in 1984.

This is one of Dan Brown's lesser known books, but I really found it to be fascinating. For one, the main character is a woman, and she's pretty awesome. And it's all about the NSA, code-breaking, and internet security. Truly fascinating.

One of my favorite humanities classes at BYU was Prof. Sederholm's American Humanities. It was split into two semesters and I took both halves by him. Simply amazing. Anyhow, in that class we learned all about the World's Fair. This book is about the Chicago World's Fair, but takes a new angle. At that same time in Chicago, there was a serial killer at large. This book connects the two and in the mean while weaves a fascinating tale. It's non-fiction, and sometimes it's hard to find non-fiction that is so riveting.

This is probably the best book I've read all year! Seriously. It's clean, it's witting, and thoroughly entertaining. It is set in post-WW2 England. Honestly, I can't get much more into it without wanting to give too much of it away. Just read it. Now. I really mean it.

Right now I'm in the process of reading The Alchemist, and am already in love. When I finally settle down, I'm going to have to have many, many, many shelves to house all of my wonderful books.

I'm grateful that I can read. Wouldn't it be a shame if I couldn't?

P.S. What's a good book you've read lately? I'd love to have suggestions!

Five things....

So, I really haven't been the best at keeping up the gratitude list thing. But will try to do better. I'm so glad that the week is almost over. I just have one more class tomorrow morning. Teaching 6 days a week isn't the greatest, but I guess I can't complain because I'm fortunate enough to actually have a job. And that would be number one on my list...

1. That I have a job. I remember the days back in Jan.-April when I didn't have a job. And it sucked. Having all that free time at first was nice, but there is such a thing of getting sick of having nothing to do. I did A LOT of reading. But it was nice to finally get a job at Trader Joe's.

2. Having a good day of teaching. All of my classes went really well today. Normally Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays are my most dreaded days, but today I was pleasantly surprised. One of my kids pretended to take a bite out of my arm and continued on saying that I tasted good. Really funny.

3. Chill nights out. Tonight after work was perfect. Arwyn, Lisa, and I headed down to my favorite Teppanyaki joint and had good food and conversation. Then on the way home we decided to get bevs at 85 C, a coffee shop. Once there we spotted some other teachers from the school and joined them. We stayed there all in all for about an hour and a half. It was just pleasant to get out and enjoy one's self.

4. Nice co-workers. It really makes a big difference on how I feel about work.

5. Being able to sleep in. Today I didn't get to, nor will I tomorrow, or Sunday, but it makes me appreciate the days that I can so much more!

I know that was terribly  short, and probably not that interesting. But I'm not going to worry about that now. I just finished Bridget Jones, The Edge of Reason, and realized that it was loosely based on my favorite Jane Austen novel, Persuasion. That made me happy, because I feel like I can relate to Bridget apart from all the booze and promiscuity. Anyways, she always makes me laugh, no matter what mood I'm in.

Here's to happy things in one's life!

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!

I...

1. Decided that this is my new favorite font, so hopefully you like it too.

2. Am craving this: And this would be my favorite tepanyaki place in Feng Yuan. I got addicted to certain restaurants, and would frequent them. After my 6:40-8:40 pm class I was too tired to cook anything, so I would get take-out. It was actually cheaper than cooking for myself. I am craving the lamb, the bean sprouts, and the fried cabbage like none other!

3. Am reading this:

The Glass Castle is a memoir by Jeannette Walls. A wonderful story-teller, Walls shares with her readers her bizarre upbringing, and I'm guessing (because I'm not done reading it yet) how she was able to come out a normal person. And of course my incredibly small summary won't do the delicious book justice. Her writing is amazing. I wasn't sure I was in the mood to start this book because it seemed like it would be depressing, but her ability to tell her story is remarkable. I recommend it to anyone who hasn't read it yet.

4. Want to play this:

Red light, green light was my BR class' favorite game. I miss their rambunctioness!

5. Miss her...:Gloria is one of the secretaries that works at Berhan, and is one of my great friends. I could go to Gloria for anything. She taught me Chinese, took me to the doctor, let me use her internet when the school's wasn't working, took me hiking, and supplied me with hours of good conversation. Gloria was like my mom away from home, and I miss her so much!

6. ...And them:
These are the four girls from my fourth grade class: Leia, Nancy, Wendy, and Madline. I looked forward to going to this class every day. They were the greatest!

7. Want to rock out like this:

This was an FHE activity where each room had to come up with a lipsinc. Sadly, I don't remember the song we did, and I think we had more fun dressing up than doing the actual lipsinc. And I just think that Connie looks freakin' awesome! Not to mention Megs awesome tattoo!

8. Miss the freedom of driving one of these:

Or should I say ride, because I was often too scared to actually drive one. And when I actually did, I happened to end up in a ditch all to often. Go figure. But I do really miss zipping around town and the feel of the wind blowing through my hair, the bugs in my mouth...you just got to love the whole experience.

9. Am currently obsessed with this:

The Soundtrack to the Original Motion Picture Amelie= HEAVEN! I can listen to this soundtrack over and over again and never get tired of it.

10. Am excited to be here:

Ok, so you can probably tell that this picture was taken the last time I was in DC, but that doesn't mean that I don't like being here now. Especially since it's so bitter cold. :) I'm glad I made the decision to move out east, and I think I'll be here for a while.