I am so relieved! I accidentally broke my USB drive in two this morning and tried to put it back together. Didn't work. Needless to say I was in a panic. I had just finished quite a bit of written homework the day before and it was all stored on my USB.
I later took it into BYU's computer support place where an employee told me it wouldn't be fixable because some copper thing was missing and even if they sautered it back together there was a large chance of it not working. He then went on to tell me that I could hope to be lucky by pressing it together but don't count on it. The point of this story is that I prayed and prayed and prayed some more that my USB would work if I just pushed it back together and guess what... it did!!! I was so happy, I almost cried. :) I feel so blessed! And I have all of my important documents back!!
Hooray for prayer!
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Dead Duck
I never thought that this evening would turn out the way it did.
I haven't hung out with my friend Jessica Johnson for a while and she randomly texted me to ask what I was doing. I was at the movies at the time but I texted her back later and we decided to go get some ice cream.
It was after 9pm when I went to pick her up.
On our way to the ice cream shop we stopped at a stop sign to turn onto 8th north in Provo (which is right next to the duck pond). As we pulled to a stop we saw 3 ducks trying to cross the road and they looked a little confused. I mean if you had a bunch of lights shining in your eyes, wouldn't you be confused? :) As a car drove down the street they saw the ducks and stopped and drove around them. Sadly, the car right behind the first car didn't see the ducks until it was too late and ran over all 3 of them :(
One of the birds looked fine and another was slightly injured and they ran off to the side of the road. However, the third duck was too hurt and we watched it die. I'm not really a save the wildlife kind of a person but I wanted to still do something about it being in the middle of the road.
First I called my sister because she's an animal lover. She told me not to touch it and to use a plastic bag if I was going to touch it. (I think she said this because I told her I wanted to eat it since it had already died... don't judge me) :) I just want people to experience what I experienced in Taiwan :)
I then decided to call my friend Joseph Scoville because he has good advice on what to do. In all actuality I think I wanted to call a guy because I was hoping that they would tell me that it was okay to eat it and then help me cook it haha. However, Joseph told me the exact same thing that my sister did. Oh well, I guess its better to not risk the chance of getting a disease.
All in all, Jessica and I ended up hanging out with Joseph for the rest of the night and never went on got ice cream.
RIP DUCK
I haven't hung out with my friend Jessica Johnson for a while and she randomly texted me to ask what I was doing. I was at the movies at the time but I texted her back later and we decided to go get some ice cream.
It was after 9pm when I went to pick her up.
On our way to the ice cream shop we stopped at a stop sign to turn onto 8th north in Provo (which is right next to the duck pond). As we pulled to a stop we saw 3 ducks trying to cross the road and they looked a little confused. I mean if you had a bunch of lights shining in your eyes, wouldn't you be confused? :) As a car drove down the street they saw the ducks and stopped and drove around them. Sadly, the car right behind the first car didn't see the ducks until it was too late and ran over all 3 of them :(
One of the birds looked fine and another was slightly injured and they ran off to the side of the road. However, the third duck was too hurt and we watched it die. I'm not really a save the wildlife kind of a person but I wanted to still do something about it being in the middle of the road.
First I called my sister because she's an animal lover. She told me not to touch it and to use a plastic bag if I was going to touch it. (I think she said this because I told her I wanted to eat it since it had already died... don't judge me) :) I just want people to experience what I experienced in Taiwan :)
I then decided to call my friend Joseph Scoville because he has good advice on what to do. In all actuality I think I wanted to call a guy because I was hoping that they would tell me that it was okay to eat it and then help me cook it haha. However, Joseph told me the exact same thing that my sister did. Oh well, I guess its better to not risk the chance of getting a disease.
All in all, Jessica and I ended up hanging out with Joseph for the rest of the night and never went on got ice cream.
RIP DUCK
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Back on track?....... almost
I'm sitting in a hotel in Arizona still suffering from jet lag.
So far I've been pretty busy since I've been home from Taiwan. I tried to stay up as late as I could Friday evening when I got home, but 10 pm was as late as I could go.
I kind of had a whole system shock aka meltdown on the way home from the airport. I know that Americans live stressful lives but I didn't know it would affect me so much coming home. Its difficult going from a care free life to a "stress is all around you" one. Fist of all, I couldn't find my parents in the humongous LAX airport and secondly my speakers on my phone no longer work for some awesome reason so we tried to find each other through texting. haha
Once I finally found my mom under the Malaysia sign outside, we got in the truck and drove off. I thought I was used to my mom freaking out about my dad's driving, but I guess I guessed wrong :) There was tons of traffic and the traffic was crazy. With my mom stressing about the driving and my dad getting paranoid about his driving from my mom stressing, I started to stress out too... and boy I was a mess haha Tears began to flow and I couldn't understand why. I knew it probably had a lot to do with lack of sleep, but I was really confused. I think I had more of a culture shock coming back to America than when I left :P
I just gotta ask... Do Americans really have to live this way? lets slow down and relax a little
I kept busy Saturday and Monday by helping my Dad rebuild our fence. We have to do some touch-ups to our house since my parents might be moving to Arizona in the near future. After fixing the fence, I also got carried away with cleaning up the yard. I started sweeping dirt away from the fence and my mom asked me what I was doing and I told her I was making the yard look neater. She probably thinks I'm crazy lol On monday, even though my dad was really tired (he works so hard... he's such a good daddy) I persuaded him to also fix one of our cabinets in the kitchen by saying that I was going to do it :P Ultimately, I think he would trust me to do it if he gave me the instructions on what he wanted done, but it's probably better that he doesn't. I would probably end up breaking a water line or something. I didn't leave him to do it by himself though. I was quite the good tool hand-er off-er (?)
Sunday I went to the full block of my home ward and one hour of the singles ward. It was so much fun to see everyone. I love Auburndale ward and all of their quirks and will miss them so very much. Oh and I got up and bore my testimony in sacrament meeting which I haven't done in that ward in many many years.
Tuesday my parents and I drove to Arizona to look for a house. I love looking at houses with them and I love giving my input from the Young Adult perspective ;) They have gorgeous homes down here. But in case you were wanting to live by them (I mean, who wouldn't) :) it is stinkin' hot here! Although the heat has some good qualities about it... it means that I can go swimming year around! I went this morning and it was so enjoyable!
I also got to meet up with Rainy. She lives in the Mesa area. We got some dinner at Chick-fil-a and got caught up with each other and her new mission call. (We've only been apart for 5 days but it already feels like forever) She's going to New York City, New York South mission Spanish speaking. What great fun! She will do so awesome.
So far I've been pretty busy since I've been home from Taiwan. I tried to stay up as late as I could Friday evening when I got home, but 10 pm was as late as I could go.
I kind of had a whole system shock aka meltdown on the way home from the airport. I know that Americans live stressful lives but I didn't know it would affect me so much coming home. Its difficult going from a care free life to a "stress is all around you" one. Fist of all, I couldn't find my parents in the humongous LAX airport and secondly my speakers on my phone no longer work for some awesome reason so we tried to find each other through texting. haha
Once I finally found my mom under the Malaysia sign outside, we got in the truck and drove off. I thought I was used to my mom freaking out about my dad's driving, but I guess I guessed wrong :) There was tons of traffic and the traffic was crazy. With my mom stressing about the driving and my dad getting paranoid about his driving from my mom stressing, I started to stress out too... and boy I was a mess haha Tears began to flow and I couldn't understand why. I knew it probably had a lot to do with lack of sleep, but I was really confused. I think I had more of a culture shock coming back to America than when I left :P
I just gotta ask... Do Americans really have to live this way? lets slow down and relax a little
I kept busy Saturday and Monday by helping my Dad rebuild our fence. We have to do some touch-ups to our house since my parents might be moving to Arizona in the near future. After fixing the fence, I also got carried away with cleaning up the yard. I started sweeping dirt away from the fence and my mom asked me what I was doing and I told her I was making the yard look neater. She probably thinks I'm crazy lol On monday, even though my dad was really tired (he works so hard... he's such a good daddy) I persuaded him to also fix one of our cabinets in the kitchen by saying that I was going to do it :P Ultimately, I think he would trust me to do it if he gave me the instructions on what he wanted done, but it's probably better that he doesn't. I would probably end up breaking a water line or something. I didn't leave him to do it by himself though. I was quite the good tool hand-er off-er (?)
Sunday I went to the full block of my home ward and one hour of the singles ward. It was so much fun to see everyone. I love Auburndale ward and all of their quirks and will miss them so very much. Oh and I got up and bore my testimony in sacrament meeting which I haven't done in that ward in many many years.
Tuesday my parents and I drove to Arizona to look for a house. I love looking at houses with them and I love giving my input from the Young Adult perspective ;) They have gorgeous homes down here. But in case you were wanting to live by them (I mean, who wouldn't) :) it is stinkin' hot here! Although the heat has some good qualities about it... it means that I can go swimming year around! I went this morning and it was so enjoyable!
I also got to meet up with Rainy. She lives in the Mesa area. We got some dinner at Chick-fil-a and got caught up with each other and her new mission call. (We've only been apart for 5 days but it already feels like forever) She's going to New York City, New York South mission Spanish speaking. What great fun! She will do so awesome.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
"Zia Jian" means Goodbye in Mandarin
Wednesday June 2nd
Today we went to the Taipei Temple. Its a beautiful temple on the outside. Sadly we weren't able to see the inside because they didn't have enough people to help us. Luckily we get to go back tomorrow. Here are some pictures in the meantime:
After the temple, we met an L.D.S woman who showed us around the church building and the bookstore that were next door. She then showed us where the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial was. On the way there she kept buying us a bunch of traditional Taiwanese food. We ate spicy noodles, red bean soup, and a fried bread dipped in bean milk. The fried bread in the bean milk was really delicious.
We then walked around the CKS Memorial for a while. Its a really pretty park. We also watched the changing of the guard at the top of the CKS memorial building
It was raining (and had been raining all day) so we decided to head back to our Hostel and watch a movie and do a little bit of homework.
For dinner we went to a restaurant called Modern Toilet. Yes, you read that correctly. It is a themed restaurant and the funniest restaurant I have ever seen or heard about. They serve their food in toilet and squatter shaped dishes. hahaha It was quite the place. The tables were mad out of bathtubs and sinks and the seats were actual toilets. The wall directions were also decorated with bathroom tile and shower heads. At first I was disgusted at the thought of eating out of a toilet shaped bowl, but it wasn't bad at all. My favorite part was the ice cream that was served in a squatter :) I guess they have quite a few themed restaurants throughout Taipei. We heard there was a hospital type one where you eat off of surgical looking tables and bedpans and would like to try it out if possible. The Modern Toilet had very good food. I would eat there again for sure!
Today we went to the Taipei Temple. Its a beautiful temple on the outside. Sadly we weren't able to see the inside because they didn't have enough people to help us. Luckily we get to go back tomorrow. Here are some pictures in the meantime:
First glimpse of the temple behind a gas station
The church next to the temple
After the temple, we met an L.D.S woman who showed us around the church building and the bookstore that were next door. She then showed us where the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial was. On the way there she kept buying us a bunch of traditional Taiwanese food. We ate spicy noodles, red bean soup, and a fried bread dipped in bean milk. The fried bread in the bean milk was really delicious.
We then walked around the CKS Memorial for a while. Its a really pretty park. We also watched the changing of the guard at the top of the CKS memorial building
a fun tree
Chiang Kai Shek statue
changing of the guard. It was really funny to watch because some of their salutes looked like dance moves
We tried to find the National Museum of History with no luck :(It was raining (and had been raining all day) so we decided to head back to our Hostel and watch a movie and do a little bit of homework.
For dinner we went to a restaurant called Modern Toilet. Yes, you read that correctly. It is a themed restaurant and the funniest restaurant I have ever seen or heard about. They serve their food in toilet and squatter shaped dishes. hahaha It was quite the place. The tables were mad out of bathtubs and sinks and the seats were actual toilets. The wall directions were also decorated with bathroom tile and shower heads. At first I was disgusted at the thought of eating out of a toilet shaped bowl, but it wasn't bad at all. My favorite part was the ice cream that was served in a squatter :) I guess they have quite a few themed restaurants throughout Taipei. We heard there was a hospital type one where you eat off of surgical looking tables and bedpans and would like to try it out if possible. The Modern Toilet had very good food. I would eat there again for sure!
the front of the restaurant
The tables and chairs
Dinner is served
Yum!!
Dessert
So after the delicious dinner, we went out and shopped and hung around town. It was a lot of fun. We found so pretty interesting things. Here is one of the items that we saw
This is a backpack with brown and pink leopard, a pig face, lace, and a heart that has Elmo and Toy story figurines in it :) Very stylish
Thursday June 3rd
Well, today was my last non-traveling day in Taiwan. I can't believe we're already going home! My how time flies. Its going to be weird going home because I will leave Taiwan at about 4:50 pm on Friday and arrive in the states at 1:25 pm that same Friday.
So our last day in Taiwan was spent well. We went back to the Taipei temple and performed baptisms by proxy. The temple President kept asking us if it would be too much to do 20 names and we of course said it wouldn't be a problem. I told the temple President we could each do 50 names if he wanted but he wouldn't take my offer :) I think we each could have done 50 names easily (I have done it before) but I don't think the man baptizing would have held up.
After the temple the girls went to the church building next door while we waited for Kris. We were shown and seated in a conference room in one of the upper floors. While we waited in a conference room we began talking to one of the elderly missionary couples who were in the temple. We soon come to find out that this couple is over the church's public affairs for Taiwan. Therefore, they asked us if they could sort of interview us for a story. The fun thing is, is that they will submit the story to the public affairs office in Hong Kong and if the story gets chosen it will go in the Deseret News. Otherwise, I believe we will be able to find the article on the internet sometime in the future.
So after that fun and unexpected adventure, we went to the Taipei Zoo!! This was a very beautiful zoo, as most things here in Taiwan are. Everything was so green and the walkways were so gorgeous. The best thing was is that it only cost $2 American dollars to go in! The downside (if you consider this to be a downside) to the trip was that it was raining most of the time. I personally enjoyed it and thought it added to the beauty of the zoo. We saw a bunch pf animals (of course). My favorite ones were the hippos of course... but the Koala and Panda exhibits were a close second.
Koala!!
The beautiful, green pathways
An awesome looking flower along the pathway
A hedgehog that I liked
A sloth
Me and the elephants
The large crate that transfers elephants
Me trying to be look like a giraffe... My neck just couldn't quite match up to theirs
We saw these delicious crepe at one of the food stores in the zoo. It was so delicious and so worth it!!
Me getting eaten by my friend the hippopotamus... I just found out today that Hippos can swim in concrete
After the zoo, we headed over to Taipei 101. We couldn't even think of leaving Taiwan without seeing that up close :) We wanted to actually go up to the top, but decided against it because it was too expensive and none of us have that much money left since its that last day. We just walked around for a little bit instead.
Taipei 101 from afar
Taipei 101 a little closer up
The indoor mall inside Taipei 101
We were pretty worn out after all of these adventures, so we went home, ate dinner, did some last minute shopping, and packed.We tried to eat all of our favorite foods today and I got everything I wanted except for Mango Niu Nai (Niu Nai means milk).
Here is another dessert that I had today... both of them had bananas and chocolate syrup... yum! The dessert in the picture is Mien Mien ice (milky shaved ice) with toppings
This has been such an AMAZING trip!! I have learned a ton and have come to love the Taiwanese people so much. I will miss the people here and their constant generosity and loving hearts. I will also miss the fresh fruit and delicious food. We were told today that coming to Taiwan will ruin fruit for the rest of your life because it never tastes as good as it does here.... such a bummer! Well, I guess that just means I will have to come back! :P
Zia Jian!!!
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
"She" pronounced sheh means snake
Monday May 31st
Today was our last day in Hong Kong :( It has been fun... but I think I like Taiwan better. The people are nicer and its just different from a big city. Today we (Rainy, Christina Bohn, Katelyn and I) woke up early and went on a beautiful hike (aka nature walk) by one of the host families apartment buildings. It was just this paved pathway with a few hiking trails off to the side. We heard bullfrogs croaking, crickets chirping, and birds singing. We also were able to see some huge fish (almost as long as my leg!) and a few turtles swimming in the reservoir that we walked by. I enjoyed it very much! After the hike, we went to Central Station and met the rest of our group to eat lunch, then went shopping at Stanley Market. This is a major tourist shopping place and they had a bunch of fun stuff to look at. We then went back to the Mansion because it started raining and decided to go Kayaking. Now that was fun! We went Kayaking on the beach that is like 20 feet away from the house. Rainy, Christina Hunter and I were the only ones who wanted to go out because it was still raining. I have gone canoeing a few times and kayaking once before in my life, but Rainy and Christina hadn't. Christina didn't want to go in one by herself, but I used my skills of persuasion to convince her that it wasn't difficult and that she should go in one herself :) We kayaked to the beach that was just across the way but decided to not get out becuase of all of the rocks. On the way back, I was getting way ahead (my kayak was inflated more so I could get around a lot faster) so I stopped and waited for them. Christina had the idea of having Rainy and herself hold onto my boat while I paddle them back to the beach. I ex-nayed that idea and instead had them come on either side of me, I grab onto their kayaks, and they each paddle a side. Like I said... my powers of persuasion are great ;P I then began to yell out "Together" and they would yell "Heave/Ho" everytime they paddled. It was really silly but really fun. We also sang Disney songs such as "Just around the River Bend". Afterwards, we went to the harbor and traveled on a ferry across the harbor and watched the famous light show.
Tuesday June 1st
Today we woke up really early and left for the airport. It was kind of an adventure once we got back into Taiwan. We have not been to Taipei yet and have no idea where we are going. We bought some bus tickets and then took two buses to the Taipei Backpackers Hostel. On one of the buses, Tara and I were standing by the luggage to make sure it didn't fall. However, this was a bad spot to stand because our professor (Kris) told us once that we were at the right bus stop and Tara and I started taking all of our luggage out and then the bus driver told us this wasnt the right stop. Kris then said it was the next stop. so when we stopped at the next location, Tara and I started to unload the luggage again... bad idea. The bus driver waved to us to say that it wasn't the right stop. We then decided to wait until the bus driver signaled to us that it was the right location, which just happened to be the next stop :) I am just so thankful that all of those bags were so heavy so that I could get my workout in for the day ;) The hostel that we are staying at is nicer than the one in Haulien, except its a little more cramped in the rooms and the wireless internet doesn't always work. Luckily its working now!
Oh, today was also kind of fun for me because while everyone was taking a nap after the long trip, I organized our little outing to the snake market and found where we were supposed to go and what kind of transportation we were supposed to take. Our teacher Kris gets kind of stressed out when she has too much on her plate so I decided to take the reigns on this one. I say it was fun for me because I love organizing stuff like that... wish I could have done it more often this trip. Maybe there might have been less stress on behalf of our professor. :)
Today was our last day in Hong Kong :( It has been fun... but I think I like Taiwan better. The people are nicer and its just different from a big city. Today we (Rainy, Christina Bohn, Katelyn and I) woke up early and went on a beautiful hike (aka nature walk) by one of the host families apartment buildings. It was just this paved pathway with a few hiking trails off to the side. We heard bullfrogs croaking, crickets chirping, and birds singing. We also were able to see some huge fish (almost as long as my leg!) and a few turtles swimming in the reservoir that we walked by. I enjoyed it very much! After the hike, we went to Central Station and met the rest of our group to eat lunch, then went shopping at Stanley Market. This is a major tourist shopping place and they had a bunch of fun stuff to look at. We then went back to the Mansion because it started raining and decided to go Kayaking. Now that was fun! We went Kayaking on the beach that is like 20 feet away from the house. Rainy, Christina Hunter and I were the only ones who wanted to go out because it was still raining. I have gone canoeing a few times and kayaking once before in my life, but Rainy and Christina hadn't. Christina didn't want to go in one by herself, but I used my skills of persuasion to convince her that it wasn't difficult and that she should go in one herself :) We kayaked to the beach that was just across the way but decided to not get out becuase of all of the rocks. On the way back, I was getting way ahead (my kayak was inflated more so I could get around a lot faster) so I stopped and waited for them. Christina had the idea of having Rainy and herself hold onto my boat while I paddle them back to the beach. I ex-nayed that idea and instead had them come on either side of me, I grab onto their kayaks, and they each paddle a side. Like I said... my powers of persuasion are great ;P I then began to yell out "Together" and they would yell "Heave/Ho" everytime they paddled. It was really silly but really fun. We also sang Disney songs such as "Just around the River Bend". Afterwards, we went to the harbor and traveled on a ferry across the harbor and watched the famous light show.
A trail off of the pathway that we took
Walking in the Rain
The light show across the harbor
Look! It's the building that Batman jumped off of... so awesome!
Look again! You can buy umbrellas in a vending machine... even more awesome!
Tuesday June 1st
Today we woke up really early and left for the airport. It was kind of an adventure once we got back into Taiwan. We have not been to Taipei yet and have no idea where we are going. We bought some bus tickets and then took two buses to the Taipei Backpackers Hostel. On one of the buses, Tara and I were standing by the luggage to make sure it didn't fall. However, this was a bad spot to stand because our professor (Kris) told us once that we were at the right bus stop and Tara and I started taking all of our luggage out and then the bus driver told us this wasnt the right stop. Kris then said it was the next stop. so when we stopped at the next location, Tara and I started to unload the luggage again... bad idea. The bus driver waved to us to say that it wasn't the right stop. We then decided to wait until the bus driver signaled to us that it was the right location, which just happened to be the next stop :) I am just so thankful that all of those bags were so heavy so that I could get my workout in for the day ;) The hostel that we are staying at is nicer than the one in Haulien, except its a little more cramped in the rooms and the wireless internet doesn't always work. Luckily its working now!
We are back in Taiwan and cannot wait to have some of our favorite foods again!
The Hostel where we stayed
The squished room
After we got settled into our new living quarters, we headed out to the Huaxi Night Market aka the Snake Night Market :) I have been wanting to eat snake for quite some time now and I was ready for the opportunity. It took us a little while, but we eventually found it. The first restaurant we came across had a huge white and yellow snake and a few other smaller snakes inside of a cage. We started taking some pictures, but then got in trouble for it. We found another snake restaurant and there were 2 dead snakes hanging by their heads in the front of the restaurant. The man asked us if we would like some snake soup or barbecued snake and agreed to the BBQ snake. While we were waiting, the owner brought out a couple of his snakes and was messing with them and getting them to hiss and strike... kind of fun, yet scary to watch. The owner brought out the BBQ'd snake and there was hardly anything to bit into. We ended up picking off what little meat there was with our fingers. But let me tell you... It tasted soooo good. I really enjoyed it and it was like a dream come true for me. A few of the other girls didn't agree... but at least that allowed me to eat more :P We shopped around the night market and went and got some mysterious baked goods from Cafe 85 Degrees Celsius. Man its good to be back in Taiwan! I am so glad that we are able to end our trip in Taiwan instead of Hong Kong because there is such a difference between the two places. The atmosphere in Taiwan is just better and so much more inviting.
The Night Market
Mmmm... dried squid and fish... at least I think they are dried
Kaa... the big yellow snake
Rainy and I becoming close friends with the snake
The snakes that will be eaten for dinner
...and the snake that will eat you for dinner (its on top of the cage)
Yum!
Gathered around our small portion of snake... this stuff is really expensive, even in Taiwan
Me, relishing the delicious snake
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
