There's No Place Like Taiwan for the Holidays

The holidays have come and gone. I was pleasantly surprised by the experience here. We had a Christmas party at school which was a chore at first but turned out to be pretty fun. I was dumb enough to volunteer to be in charge of decorations so I spent a lot of time on a chair with scissors and tape in my mouth trying to hang snowflakes from the ceiling. Then I was in charge or carving 2 of the turkeys, a task I've never been trusted to do before. Now I know why. Then I got to eat the turkey dinner with 60 kids at about 10:30 am. I even got to put my catering skills to the test by teaching all the kids how to fold their napkins into little fans. "Teacherrrr show me..." x a million.

Turkey carving/ butchering with Brent and Lisa

some of my kids

One of my favorite things leading up to Christmas has been to look at the outrageous Ch-English cards. Some of my favorites:

"Happy Beer" featuring Santa holding a bottle of beer with that label

"There are flowers. I want to live in with you" with a Santa hat wearing cat

.... really words don't begin to do them justice but i thought I'd have a go.

Christmas turned out to be a beautiful little adventure. I went to a teacher-friendly mass on Christmas Eve and was found myself a little overwhelmed to be away from the people i love most. I was distracted from my sorrows by a HUGE Christmas cockroach that literally came right down the aisle and then went under my chair. Nothing can bring you back to the present like a killer bug that could survive nuclear war if put to the test. Unfortunately, this one didn't survive somebody's shoe.
The next morning I travelled to this island between Taiwan and Chinia called Punghu. It's supposed to be one of the windiest places in the hemisphere and I'd definitely believe it. At times I felt like the scooter was going to fly off to never never land (or maybe into a ditch). There were 9 of us who completely took over a big house. We went to the beach on Christmas, explored the island, exchanged gifts, got acupuncture while sitting around drinking wine... just another day. One of the best feelings was being able to take a deep breath and not feel like you've inhaled just as much fossil fuels as oxygen. I really miss blue (non smoggy) skies and trees.

Christmas Nap on the Beach

Battling the elements

Pretty bench on a pretty beach

To all those at home : I hope you had a wonderful Christmas full of love and laughter and I can't wait to see you in 2010!



If you're not jealous of my Christmas on the beach, then I have one more little note to add:
I'm going to THAILAND/ Cambodia in Feburary
.... and BORNEO in March

~~~Love and Chopsticks~~~
Han, Li Ya

Where you're meant to be

There's nothing you can know that isn't known.



Nothing you can see that isn't shown.



There's nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be



It's easy. All you need is love. Love is all you need







This classic Beatles song just shuffled its way into my life today and it really stuck with me. I've been on a bit of a roller coster. For the most part, it's an awesome rush and there's always something new and exciting ahead. I'm really living my life and trying to take every oporutnity that comes my way. At the same time, I also fully understand the concept of not seeing how important something is until you don't have it anymore.


Last weekend one of my roommates left to try her luck in mainland China. It was weird because I feel like we had become great friends after only living together for a month. It's funny how someone can be an active part of your life for such a short period of time but my experience here has been completely changed because of her. The way things have been working out have really made me think that everything happens for a reason. Right before I found out that this roommate Vicky was leaving, I visited Kenting and met a girl at the hostel who's become my new roommate. I'll be spending Christmas with a group of friends I met through Vicki and the new roommate Sarah on an island between Taiwan and China!!!!
In a lot of ways, it is difficult for me to be away from my family especially around Christmas. We have so many traditions that I absolutely love and will be sad to miss out on. Eggs benedict and mamosas on Christmas morning followed by an extraordinary example of teamwork between me and Erik to sort the presents.. these are things that I truly cherish. At the same time, I am so happy to be here in Taiwan. I'm developing a different interpretation of Christmas but it's still a very good one. There's a tree in the apartment and i've been singing Christmas songs for hours every day at school. I'm really excited to be spending the holiday on an island with some of my good friends in Kaohsiung too. I just have to remember that this is where i'm meant to be right now. I'm on the phone with my parents right now and have been requested to remind everyone that I love them very much... which of course I do!

~random story 1
ice breaker of the night: Tonight, while enjoying a few cold brews , the men at a neighboring table sent over a dish for us to enjoy. I took this opportunity to show off my hundreds of dollars/hours spent on Chinese classes and asked "what is this?" More times than not, it's better not to ask or atleast not until after you've finished eating the mystery meat product. Tonight was no different. Their reply- chicken blood. Of course we couldn't turn down this generous dish because that would make these lovely gentlemen lose much face. So I grinned, thanked them and dove into the feast of congealed chicken blood. I didn't expect to like it but it's actually quite a tasty little treat, if you can master of mind over matter thing. In my expert opinion, it's much better than congealed pig's blood.

~random story 2

The road to Alishan

A few weekends ago I went to a town called Jaiin to check out a haunted house. It wasn't very scary which could be due to the fact that I was travelling with 10 other people or because there was a coffee shop next door where you could bring a picture and get a certificate proving you visited the most haunted house in Taiwan. I ended up splitting off from my group and staying with some other people (who I didn't meet until after deciding to stay with them). They were having a killer BBQ by a lake where we ate/drank the night away. The next morning I met my roommate Sarah, and we took a 2 hour busride to a mountain top town called Jaiin. We hiked and visited some little tea shops. It was an incredible place. My favorite thing was this quaint little Zen Buddhist temple hiddin among th trees. As we aproached, we could hear a faint gong and then we peaked in and saw four Buddhist monks beginning their chanting/meditation. Even though I had no idea what they were saying, I was completely mesmerized by the beaty and simplicity of the whole experience. It was something I could really appreciate after living in the crazy city for a few months. After waking up at 5:00 am Monday morning, we hiked for an hour to the peak to watch the sunrise then hitch hiked back down the mountain so I could be back in time to teach.