Chinese New Year provided us with a full week off of school, so we decided to travel north to Taipei, a city with a population of 16 million people. We figured that with that many people, something cool MUST be happening to celebrate the new year. I knew it was going to be a great trip when I saw the electric message board on the train wishing all the English speakers "Good Luck! and Good Healthy!" Its flattering that they make the attempt! Anywho, we started the trip off with a nice visit to the temple. It was great to put myself in the eternal frame of mind for a while. The temple always helps me with that.
We wandered over to the Chiang Kai-shek memorial where we had our pictures taken with dozens of different American-loving friends from all over Asia...mostly the Phillipines, Indonesia, and Korea. These folks repeatedly caught me watching the two girls in traditional dress and took the initiative to say hi to me. They, along with all other photograph buddies were unbeleivably friendly and excited to have a picture with Americans.
Taipei 101 is the tallest building in the world (although soon to be surpassed by a building in Dubai...that's no surprise...I mean the people made huge palm-tree-shaped islands for crying out loud.) The elevators are in the guiness book of world records for being the fastest in the world. We went from the 5th floor to the 89th floor in 37 seconds. I am usually more enthralled by natural beauty, but the ingenuity and human (God-given) genius presented in this building were captivating. Its amazing what knowledge will enable people to accomplish!
The National Palace Museum was a lot of fun and very educational. Why do those two have to be separated in my mind? Anywho, this lady was distributing information on a type of meditation called Falun Gong whose practicioners were being rounded up and killed in China. Supposedly they lacked a requisite permission slip that would allow them to gather in a group larger than 100 people. God Bless America!
We decided to have a "Who can get the cutest little kid picture?" contest. This was my first and, drum roll please, WINNING photo. What do you think? It was definitely a fun activity! I was extremely grateful for the language/cultural barriers in these situations, too. I could tell by the parents' body language that I was being a bit creepy, but since we couldn't communicate, I just fought through those awkward moments where we made eye contact and it was totally worth it!
This picture represents the most heartwarming portion of vacation. The three of us who remained in Taipei for an extra day were blessed to have the opportunity to help a young man with his Eagle Scout project. This little girl is an AIDS orphan who lives at this house called Harmony Homes Association. Many other children are in her situation and we were fortunate enough to be able to serve them. We worked on creating more outdoor playing space for them by adding sandboxes and preparing the roof for a bike race track and a hopscotch thingy. The best part, though, was when we just played with the kids. It reminded me of when I was in Ecuador where the kids are so many and the workers too few to render them the needed love and attention. It felt great to be able to brighten their day a bit!
The Taipei Zoo was awesome! Arwyn (maroon shirt) and Jaimie were my zoo buddies. We had fun trying to imitate or make up animal sounds for all the animals. What sound does a giraffe make? Try it. I met lots of cool people and was thus able to practice my German, Spanish and Chinese. Who would've thought, eh? God is a very creative being. The diversity and beauty in His creations were obvious to me during this visit.
One of my friends from the hostel we stayed in...Taiwanmex. It is called such because the guy who runs it is from mexico. I thought that was quite interesting. How does a Mexican end up running a business in Taiwan? Well, he met his wife when she visited Mexico. This is Diana from Singapore. She was like the hostel mom, always cutting up fruit for everyone, cleaning and making it feel like home. She was also my tour guide when we went to the Buddhist temple to pray on Chinese New Year's Eve. She explained all of the gods to me, what we were praying for and how prosperous i am going to be this next year. After all, it is the year of the cow (this could be your year, daddy!)
Mr. Yon from Korea...another hostel buddy. He was an entertaining soul with his sincere attempts at communication in English. He is an actor in Korea.Taipei was great and I enjoyed getting to know so many different and unique people. Taiwan is touching my heart!
Hi! I'm going to see if this works first before writing....
ReplyDeleteOh hi!! I'm glad that worked....
ReplyDeleteI am so very jealous of your week long New Years trip! Sounds like so very much fun! The "cutest little kid" photo is my fav....not suprised that you won!! Thats the cutest little thing I've ever seen! The zoo sounds like a blast! I've always loved the zoo....and I love how every zoo is different. You probably saw animals you never even knew existed. I think it's also great you got to go to the temple.....that's what I love about the church...it's true no matter where you go!! I'm so glad that you got to play and enjoy the sights....love you!
oh heyyyy!!! what is up or whats new
ReplyDeletepal. what a week!! what a very week!
omgiz. that sounds like truly an
adventure of your very lifetime. oh
and very words.
That is awesome that you got to go to
the temple. I love going to temples in
foreign countries. ok lets be honest here
i have only been to one in my whole life
but hey CHile rules! it was awesome the
two times that I was able to go and do
a session. I love the temple and should
definately go more often. I haven't been
since i went with you last semester jeff!
that is bad huh.
That really tall building seems very
interesting especially after all of
my studies in engineering. wow that
class is pretty hard but rewarding cause
i feel so smart when i understand the
concepts and can figure out a problem. it
is just great!
I love the zoo too. O my words. do
you remember the time we went to the
zoo and we were acting like we were
from england and all of us were
talking with our accents and making
the stupidest commments ever and people
were looking at us like "really? what
planet are you persons from?" omgizzle
that was some good times.
Keep up the good work brotha and continue
on with your adventures. I think about
you often and hope all is well. love
peace and get a piece(of taiwanese a**) o
my word i really cant believe i said that.
i think i was around payd and wayne too
long over christmas break. they sort of
rubbed off on me! now im dust teasin' ya
guys. ok peace out dane.
Judging from the photos, not the actuall post, you've adopted some Taiwanese children. Smart. You're not getting any younger.
ReplyDeleteDid you make any Chinese New Year Resolutions like, "Become a communist?" Remember when you used to love communism? Is that how you spell communism? I'm too fat to use the spell check today. Which basically means I don't want to.
Well, keep up the good work.
It feels as though several years have passed since I've commented. That's enough to make a grown man(or Hillary Clinton) cry! Heck, we're now in the year of the ox for crying out loud! I'm glad to see that you're having quite the time as you embark on a brand spanking new year!
ReplyDeleteThat building is lovely. I, like you, often enjoy the more naturey things. Actually, I just enjoy the really modern, like the building, and the really ancient, before people learned how to build. For example, the Rennassance was one of the most boring times in history. Yes I said it. The only thing note worthy from that period was the Mona Lisa. But she's fugly. I've even heard she's a he. I believe it. The fact that 'she' has no eyebrows is a dead giveaway.
That blurb about the gov. killing people for not having a slip simply boggles my brain. Clearly I live a sheltered life. I haven't seen the sun for years, hence the albinism.
That 'cutest kid' is pretty darn ugly. Defineitely only a face a mother could love. HAHA! Now I'm just teasin' ya. It tickles my fancy to say mean things about children. Twisted, I know. I suggest being careful when speaking ill of children around Kaylee though. She gets ticked!-well, until she joins in. :)
Oh the zoo! I love that place. Some of our closest relatives reside there. Yes the apes. We share 98% of our DNA with chimpanzees. I love my plethora of useless knowlege- if only one of these useless knowleges was spelling!-so dificult four me! Also, are you carring a man purse on that zebra? I'll pretend it's a bag full of apples and carrots for the giraffes.
Well I hope Diana is correct about your prosperity in the new year! If you do make it big time just remember to give me a nice slice of the pie(mostly a few G's). Let's rock let's rock today. bang bang bi.