The Only Thing Worse Than Not Having a GPS...

... is having a GPS. As we so aptly discovered in this weeks diversions.

On Thursday we were able to take to a car; my mom suggested a castle only about 15 minutes away. For this trip, we had the GPS AND the address via GoogleMaps.

I think everyone knows that sinking feeling when your GPS doesn't recognize or accept the address you are telling it to find. You insist your destination exists; pictures and testimonials support you! And yet your GPS mocks you with all its technology-ness- blaring in your face that "No matches were found." Oh how I hate that.

We decided to try and find the castle anyway. We knew the general area and we did have an address after all. Down the autobahn we went, searching for an exit that supposedly didn't exist. Part of the address included "Burg Lichtenberg" and soon we found a large brown sign announcing we were in the Burg Lichtenberg area- which was kind of a help but still no castle. After driving far past where we even thought we should be, we turned around and just took an exit and began driving again.

Finally, exasperated, we pulled into a small town and just stopped the car. Lo and Behold! They provided a map. We located the castle and learned our GPS didn't accept the address because the town 'Thallichtenberg" had only one 'l' on Google. A quick adjustment, and we were soon at the 13th century castle high up on the hill enjoying the brief break in the cloudy sky.

This section of the castle has been converted into a restaurant which we plan to visit on a sunnier day.

Gorgeous view!

Our next GPS adventure happened yesterday when we left to go to the Frankfurt LDS Temple for our ward temple day. The session started at 0900, and even though we're only about an hour and a half away, we were meeting for carpool at 0615- blech! It ended up just being us and one other ward member who agreed to drive. He asked us if we had a GPS, which we didn't, but we told him we were close to home and could go get it.

"Nah, I've got my phone GPS, we should be good. Let's go."

Famous last words...

The phone GPS did indeed get us to the temple, nearly two hours later. We missed multiple exits and worried we may miss everything. Fortunately, we were able to do some maneuvering and get there in time. Phew!

Fast forward, we left the temple around 1145 (after we paid for clothing rental, 12 Euro, ouch!). The phone only had 10% battery left and we needed gas. We managed to get directions to the gas station, and even write the basics down to get home from there before it died. And then, we were on our own.

Getting to the main freeway wasn't too bad, it was the four after that that eluded us. When Matt, our driver, expressed concern that we hadn't seen our exit yet, we flipped to a small map he luckily had in the car. We found a city we'd just seen a sign for and realized we were about an hour north of where we should have been. Oops.

Ray did some master navigating and suggested we take a diagonal route that would potentially save us some time. It probably did, but we'll never know because we still managed to miss exits and end up on wrong freeways. Finally we got to Frankfurt-am-Mainz and saw signs for cities remotely close to home. I was so happy to recognize a city! Until I converted the kilometers to miles and realized we were still about an hour from that city... which was still about half an hour from home. Ouch.

Needless to say, there was much rejoicing in our small party when we finally were on a road we all recognized, and the signs indicated we were indeed going the correct direction. Nearly three and a half hours later, we arrived back at home.

 Next time, no matter what, we'll just go back for the GPS.

We made it. Frankfurt Temple.

Frankfurt LDS Temple

On Being A Foreigner

Sunday morning we woke up to new snow, and as an added bonus: a layer of ice! It literally looked as if a giant had sneezed on the car and then it had frozen overnight. Nevertheless, we left home to get to our 9AM church block.

45 minutes later...

We were lost and a little frustrated that the roads had been so poorly cleared. But still, they weren't that bad- after all, I grew up in Utah! I've seen worse.

Apparently though, it's different in Germany. When we finally found the building around 9:15 we were surprised to see only 6 cars in the parking lot. Upon walking in, we were informed church had been cancelled due to the icy roads... : | Oh.

Fortunately, the German branch met at 11, so we were able to hang around until that time so we could at least participate in the sacrament. Bonus: we got our number on the calling tree list so we know the next time church is cancelled due to poor road conditions.

The German sacrament meeting was great, a sweet woman translated for us. Ray and I have been doing a bit of German each day. We're really determined to learn this language since we failed miserably at Mandarin. That being said, we've learned the alphabet and the sounds so we felt fairly confident when hymns came around that we could at least try and sing along.
Oh how wrong we were.

In the middle of the first hymn, singing loudly and confidently (my excellent choir teacher in high school always told us to sing loud and if you make a mistake, make it confidently), I could hear Ray snickering. He elbowed me discreetly and motioned for me to look a few pews ahead of us. There sat a little German boy, head fully turned around, staring at us with mouth wide open, and eyebrows raised in a look of what I can really only describe as: disdain mixed with confusion.

Apparently my two weeks of studying German haven't been enough to mask my OBVIOUSLY obnoxious American accent. You could tell this child was picking up on our off-key tones of German, and was clearly annoyed, appalled, alarmed and disgruntled at our inability to sing in his native tongue perfectly. He just kept staring.

The best part? I swear this child was no more than six. We giggled through the rest of the hymn and toned down our bravado so as not to offend him anymore.

Until Next Time, Taiwan

Currently, we are sitting at the Taipei International Airport, awaiting our 3PM flight to Shanghai. From there we will transfer planes and at 11:55PM tonight, we will be off to Frankfurt, Germany! Do you know what that means?

Ray and I have officially flown around the world together.

Just a fun thought I had : )

The last week in Taiwan has been so much fun and a bit unsettling too. Ray put it best when he said: "It makes me happy that I'm sad to be leaving Taiwan. It means I did something right." While we're so excited to see family (and have second Christmas!) leaving a place you called home is never easy.

As we've prepared, we have shared with each other the things we'll miss about Taiwan. Now we share them with you.

1. Our students- there couldn't be a cuter bunch of kids anywhere (except for our nieces and nephews who will only ever be trumped by our own children. We're planning on raising super model, Olympic swimmers, you know).

2. Select Food Items- Things like: fried curry dumplings, banana milk, fresh mango smoothies, rice triangles, and dongua cha are just a few of our favorites that are unique to Taiwan. With some luck, maybe we'll find fried curry dumplings in the states somewhere. We managed to find a brick of dongua cha (a fruit tea~ in English either Wax Gourd, or Wintermelon) so we're excited to try that out soon!

3. Flora and Fauna- Living in a tropical climate has been unbelievably rewarding in terms of the foliage. You can't go anywhere without being floored by the amount of greenery, the size of the greenery, and the vast varieties of it too!

4. People We've Met & Friends We've Made- Taiwan has some of the sweetest people in the world, they've been kind and helpful to us and even with a language barrier sometimes, we've made some lasting memories. Through church too we've met great people and created friendships that we look forward to tending for years to come.

5. Night Markets- Although Ray may beg to differ, they were one of the coolest things Taiwan had to offer. I never got tired of perusing the streets and checking out all the fun and quirky things for sale. 


Inevitably, we also developed a list of things we probably won't be yearning for any time soon...

1. BUGS- From cockroaches, to mosquitoes and biting midges, the bugs have been overwhelming and a rather unwelcome part of Taiwan. Of course as the weather cooled, things got better. The cockroaches especially though were a never ending battle we're happy to see the end of.

2. Humidity- In the summer you melt from it, in the winter you freeze from it. Who knew you could be shivering and shaking when it's only 62 degrees out! That's apparently what a wet cold will do to you though. We made it through alive, but humidity is something we could deal with less of in our lives. : )

3. Traffic- I don't think you ever quite fully adjust to being on a bike with 20 scooters around you, trying to get through an intersection with no stop lights or signs, and a tour bus eeking between you and oncoming traffic.

4. Smells- It scares us how accustomed to the smells of Taiwan we have become. When we first got here they were almost unbearable, now they're tolerable and sometimes even nice. Have we destroyed our noses forever?! Will we ever smell things the same?! We got some solace when we finally tried stinky tofu last week. Although we made it through the smell, it still did not taste good. Phew! We haven't lost all our senses yet!

 

"Stinky Tofu" by Ray
It tastes like eating a deep fried scab.

Ray ends now with some more reflective and mature writing.

It was a few weeks ago while walking to the store at night that I realized: I've grown accustom to this place. I've grown accustom to the old buildings, the abundant green foliage covering the mountains and popping out wherever it it can, the bright neon signs that line storefronts on the roadsides. I've grown accustom to the sound of hundreds of scooters bustling through the streets, the sound of people speaking in a kind of melodic warble all around us and not understanding what they're saying, the sound of children's laughter, and yelling and giggling. I've grown accustom to the smiles of helpful strangers and the "Hellow!"s of passersby; accustom to the feeling of being a foreigner at home in a foreign land, surrounding by everything I don't understand but feeling comfortable nonetheless. And this realization made me wonder; have I grown to love Taiwan? Do I love this place with all of its smells and foods and quarks and confusion? I know I'll miss it and that I'll look back at my time here fondly and often. Yes, Taiwan has truly "touched my heart."

The Final Countdown

Today we officially have exactly one month left in Taiwan.

YIKES!

That's not even a month of teaching days. That is: one month from today we will be on a plane leaving this gorgeous island. We really can't get over how quickly time has flown by.

Nothing tremendous has happened- we did finally get to go to the Taipei temple. It was a much needed trip, we're both happy we got to go.

 We got to the temple the day that Taiwan decided to have two weeks of rain in their "dry" winter season. But it was still beautiful, perhaps even more so.

In other news, Ray continues to be amazing by putting his endless array of talents to use in designing another game.

Meanwhile... I'm still trying to get these munchkins to put an 's' at the end of their plural nouns. *whew!*

Thirty one days until Germany. The reality is harder to take than I thought it would be. Chins up, and tackling each day with more conviction to love every second.

History and Heights - written by Ray

I enjoy finding places that allow me to time travel, to stand in a spot, look around, and imagine that what I'm seeing is exactly what someone standing in the same spot would have seen hundreds of years ago. This post is about two such places we visited recently.

The first is our trip to Lukang. Lukang was a major port in Taiwan a long time ago before the harbor filled with silt and was closed. Then when the railway was being constructed the city refused to let the tracks come close. The city was quickly passed over by progress and became a backwater piece of the past.

This however is a blessing, the city is now a preserved part of the history of this Isla Formosa. Much like Old Town in San Diego the streets of Lukang are filled with old buildings, rustic shops, market stalls, and artisans.

It was while exploring one such street that I stepped into a dim shop, lit only by the sunlight reaching in from the old wooden door. Instead of flashy souvenirs and knickknacks, this store sold authentic tea, dried and wrapped not in plastic, but in ink marked sheathes of what I think was bamboo. There was no artificial light; I could see no electronics, steel, or plastic; and the modern sounds of the bustling world outside were muffled and distant. As I walked around I imagined that this shop could have existed exactly the same two hundred years ago, and I was no longer an American teaching English in Taiwan; but an inhabitant of old Formosa on an errand to pick up tea for my family on the way home from working at the harbor. As I stepped out the door, back into the loud colors and noise of the street it felt like I was stepping through two hundred years and returning to the life I know.

Our other favorite part of Lukang was our trip to a fan painter famous among members of the Church here. For years missionaries have been bringing him pictures of their favorite temples and he paints the temple in the traditional style onto the fan. Luckily, he had a picture of the San Diego temple and Kailin and I are now proud owners of our favorite souvenir.

All of his work is so beautiful and he was very kind and gracious. We're planning another trip to see him soon.

The Chinese says: Families are Eternal

October Tenth is a national holiday in Taiwan (Double Ten Day) and as everyone had the day off work, our branch organized a bus ride up to Alishan; a national park 2,490 meters above sea level in the beautiful mountains of Taiwan. The air was crisp and clean, the sights verdant and vast, and the hikes relaxing and rejuvenating. Tourists love to come here for the dazzling view of the sunrise and the healing qualities of the mountains mists.
 

This is called the three generation tree and is one of my favorite natural wonders. About 1500 years ago a tree fell in the forest, years passed and a new tree grew out of its trunk and in time passed away. You can see a third tree growing out of its remains at the top of the picture. I love the symbolism of this phenomenon. We saw many grandparents posing with their children and grandchildren in front of its trunk.

This is the Sacred Tree. It's one of many giant, thousand year old cypress trees growing in the park. Its diameter was something like 12.5 meters!

Looking into the forest and enjoying a bit of time travel.

Although there are many bright and colorful temples in Taiwan, this was my favorite. Perhaps the clash of color against the soft sky and green forest endeared it to me.

By the time we made it to this crystal lake a fog had engulfed the mountain, but you can still see the perfect reflection and imagine how beautiful it is in the bright sun.

The roots of these two trees grew together to create "Love Forever"

After hiking up the mountain, this historic train was waiting to take us back down the mountain, providing all the scenery without any sweating. :)

A Smattering of Photos... with Toast

I wish this post included toast. I would kill for some delicious wheat bread, full of hearty oats and seeds and natural goodness. Smothered with some jelly, or perhaps homemade marmalade. But alas, I have none. So instead, we'll just move on to some photos.

A few weekends ago, the four of us (Ray, myself, and the two other teachers we work with) decided to go up to Taichung for a short weekend getaway. There are fabulous shopping streets in Taichung, an amazing, blissfully air conditioned mall, and most importantly: Modern Toilet. Modern Toilet is a restaurant (franchises available in Changhua!) where you sit on an upcycled toilet, and the tables are sinks or bathtubs with some plexi-glass over the top. Our tub came complete with a shower head mounted to the wall! We ordered some soda, and to our delight it came served in a miniature urinal- which Ray is beautifully displaying above. We also got a shaved ice dessert, which had a menagerie of: yellow shaved ice, soft serve on a wafer cookie, raisins, small croutons, mango chunks, and multiple flavors of gelatin pieces; all served in another urinal. Our friend got some french fries in a toilet teacup, and our neighbors ordered soup which comes in a small toilet. It was quite the adventure- and it left us wondering... could we pull off one of these franchises in America?

Here is a picture of me towards the end of one of my classes with our younger kids. They had made a Mr. Potato Head and were cracking up saying it was "Teacher Ray." I of course had to send of them to get Ray and my camera so we could document this. Aren't they the cutest? Johnny isn't trying to kill Yoyo there on the left, he just... didn't want to be in the picture I guess!

We stopped here at this lovely Confucius Temple on our way to Subway and some light shopping. The buildings are always so interesting, but the roof tops are what always get my attention. The animals and detail work are always just phenomenal. I wish I had my own personal tour guide that could just tell me everything about the significance of all these designs and animal statues.

 

Here we are in Taichung again! This time we went up to visit the Jade Market, unfortunately we didn't quite make it. We were delayed by some rain in Changhua, so by the time we rode our bikes to the train station and got a train up to the city it was already about 4:30PM. We got on a bus and told the driver we were looking for some certain streets and tried to communicate the Jade Market to him. He must have understood, or was just sick of us... He informed us the market was closed and we should just get off here. So with a vague idea of where we were in the city, we hopped off and went exploring. Fortunately we find this amazing Buddha statue, and eventually we made our way back to the Chungyo Department Store, where we could easily spend days just exploring the 14 levels of the three different buildings.

We also went to the night market in Taichung, which is way bigger than the one in Changhua, with a lot more to see. Though I will say, I feel like the Changhua night market has better "authentic" foods. We were starving when we got to the market though, so we all stopped at a dumpling place. Our native friend went to order, and came back to tell us she had gotten 10 potstickers. Among 5 people, alright- two for each of us. That will at least tide us over until we see something else we want to eat among the vendors. What we got however, was a bowl of soup for each of us, and 10 flats of 10 potstickers each! Nearly 100 dumplings, which I won't lie, only 10 of which were not consumed within about 15 minutes. They were delightful. :)

This past Friday, a huge typhoon was heading for us, so we got the day off work. Luckily, the typhoon took a southern turn and we didn't even get rain on Friday! Apparently once they've called the day off though, there is no going back, so we just had a nice, relaxing, typhoon free 3 day weekend. In preparation for the typhoon though, Ray and I had gone shopping for the ingredients to make some well deserved chocolate chip cookies. Chocolate chips were nowhere to be had, so we chopped up some chocolate bars instead. You should have seen us scouring the aisles for baking soda too! We had just about given up the entire venture when I spied a small, purple bag with the words "Sodium Bicarbonate" on it. Thank you sophomore year chemistry class for helping me bake cookies in Taiwan :) It was also my first time using a toaster oven! Which is why I'm now probably craving toast...

And finally, on Saturday morning we went to the morning market. We saw lots of cool things again, and everything was a great price, but in the end we ended up just buying me a pair of stud earrings since I left all my jewelry in America during our fast pack. I will definitely have to buy more- one pair for $30 NT ($1 USD) or 4 pair for $100 NT (~$3 USD), yes please!

We ended Saturday by going on a long bike ride to explore more of our "neighborhood." It was really beautiful- and we understand now why everyone has a scooter. The roads to get to homes would simply never accommodate a car. If you don't have a bike or a scooter, you're going to be walking for a long time, my friend. The greenery when we got up close to the mountain was just wild, it really dawned on me that we are living in a tropical country (as if the humidity weren't enough of a reminder). The apartments are so diverse and the range of well-off to impoverished is blatantly obvious, all within a 3 mile radius. Taiwan is unbelievably different from America, we're so glad we are here seeing and experiencing all of this, soaking it in to save and cherish for the rest of our lives.

One final note to end our Sunday. Ray and I both have callings in Primary now. Today was Ray's first day and I think his class will be a bit trying. It's been great to be a part of primary though, we're happy we are there. 

It's a Small World After All!

Last week we attended church at the American Branch in Taichung- about an hour north of us. It's a much bigger city than Changhua, as in, we realized we are really living in quite a rural little town. We like it that way though- access to more Taiwanese culture. Taichung has been very westernized with gigantic department stores and the like, which you definitely won't find where we are!

Anyway, back at the American Branch. When I walked in last week to Relief Society (which is first) and filed into the last row, a girl in front of me turned around and we made eye contact. In slow motion we realized we knew each other! I had gone to high school with her and we took Japanese together our junior year- what on earth was she doing here?! As I stood and introduced myself "I just moved here from CA with my husband Ray." she flipped around and whispered urgently "You're married now?!"

"Just had our one year! Are you here teaching with ILP?" I whispered back.

"On my mission!" She displayed her nametag. "I go home in 6 weeks!"

It was so insane seeing her again, we sat after church and caught up about old times and I filled her in on who is married now. It was great to see a familiar face. I love how the Gospel of Christ brings people together over oceans and vast lands. There is truly no end to His love. Missionaries are such a blessing to members and nonmembers alike and I am so grateful for their examples in being a light to the world.

This Sunday we attended church at the Chinese ward, because instead of a bike ride, a train ride, a bus and a walk away, it's only a 2 minute walk down the street. The sister missionaries met us in the morning and walked us there, where we met the elders and another American who has lived here for five years after serving his mission here. We totally hit it off with him and his wife, and it turns out: they live in the same apartment complex as us! We've already made plans to do some weekend traveling with them so they can show us around Changhua and beyond. Prepare yourselves for those epic tales soon to come.

A few other things of note:

I saw my first cockroach last night. It was vile and disgusting and I never want to see one again. Too bad another scampered across the floor this afternoon as I was watching the end of Inception. To my good fortune though- Ray saved the day with a can of Raid! Hopefully they don't make it up to our room on the 3rd floor, we've only seen them so far on the 1st. Bleh!

Our classes were small this week since it's summer holiday- hopefully this week they will beef up a little bit. I was so impressed with my students when they randomly broke into song: It's a Small World After All, followed by every verse and word to I've Been Workin' on the Railroad. Totally made my day :)

I figured out how to get pictures onto my new computer! So now we can share a little more of our experience with you all. For example: Here is how we feel about riding our bikes through terrifying streets of death.

Whichever face you look at, this is not okay. Even our dear friend's in the background staring so endearingly at us.