Hello there,
It has been FOREVER! since my last blog ... I'm sorry about that ... I have been busy with many things and have been too antsy to sit down and write.
Things are getting back to normal here, after the typhoon. The loss on this island has been absolutely incredible. So many have lost family members, homes, cars, pets and many other possessions. I am thankful to God that I was only affected mildly by this fierce storm, but my heart still breaks for the people of Taiwan. Please continue to pray for them! There is still a lot to clean up. I heard that there were several hundred bridges that were washed away by the flooding, not to mention an entire town in the mountains. While the lives of many city dwellers have gone back to normal, the people who live in the country and mountain areas are still suffering quite a lot.
School ended for me yesterday. Yeah! It was a very busy two months!! Friday afternoon, we had a farewell lunch with most of the teachers, office staff and foreign language students. It was a lot of fun! We went to a hot pot place that is like a buffet. Each person has their own pot built down into the table and you choose your own soup. Then you take your plate and go get whatever you want to put into your pot. It's lots of fun. They have a ton of other things you can eat and drink. We took a lot of pictures, as that was the last time many of us will see each other, at least for a while.
Last night, I was asleep by around 10:30pm ... and I didn't get up until 10:00 am ... ^-^ I needed the sleep so badly!! :) It felt more than wonderful to sleep early and not wake up until I was good and ready. lol
I'm doing laundry and finishing up my packing so that I will not be rushed during my last few days here. Most of my things are already packed but there are still a few things that need to be placed into my "puzzle" of belongings. :)
Tomorrow should be a great day!! :) In the morning, one of my classmates is going to come to service! I'm really excited! We are also supposed to have quite a few other visitors! Pray for our service!! :) We will be singing a special song, in English and in Chinese. We also sang this song last weekend at Camp Meeting. After church, we are having a pot luck! I made my favorite salad for them to try! (I also made this salad on Wednesday night for our English class BBQ. It was a big hit! ^o^)
Well, it's getting late here and I still need to pick up some things around my room before I hit the sack. Hope you are all doing well!! :) God bless!
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
嚇死我了！
Scare me to death!!!! Last night, August 16, 2009, I went with Tiffany, her roommate Cindy and her friend Nick to the night market. We had fun, once we got there ... the getting there was a little terrifying! And I'll tell you why ... I was at a stop sign and two dogs started approaching me ... there are lots of dogs in Taiwan that have lost their owners so I'm used to seeing it ... however, I'm not used to being close to them while walking or riding my bike. I usually see them from inside the car or from the back of a scooter. So, I had seen that they were up a little ways ahead of me on the sidewalk and I didn't want them to chase a fast object, so I didn't get on my bike, but rather walked it slowly over there. The dogs had just been barking at someone and I didn't want to rile them up again. As I came closer to them, they turned and noticed me. I was a little uncomfortable but I kept going. Then one was behind me and one to my side ... I felt my back go numb ... I was scared to death ... my heart was racing and I was focusing really hard to keep myself from screaming, running or both!
Neither of them barked at me ... they just peacefully followed me and wagged their tails ... I would have liked to stop and give them some attention, but I am too afraid to when it comes to dogs that have been roaming free.
Once I had gotten to the place to meet Tiffany, I parked my bike and went inside a 7 because it was cool. Browsing in 7, my heart was still pounding ...
Thank God that they did not harm me! They are probably just lonely, hungry and in need of some love.
Anyhow, I thought I would share my terrifying experience with you ... :)
Bye for now,
Kate
Neither of them barked at me ... they just peacefully followed me and wagged their tails ... I would have liked to stop and give them some attention, but I am too afraid to when it comes to dogs that have been roaming free.
Once I had gotten to the place to meet Tiffany, I parked my bike and went inside a 7 because it was cool. Browsing in 7, my heart was still pounding ...
Thank God that they did not harm me! They are probably just lonely, hungry and in need of some love.
Anyhow, I thought I would share my terrifying experience with you ... :)
Bye for now,
Kate
Thursday, August 13, 2009
八月十號，禮拜一 。。。台北！！
Taipei!!! Okay, finally I am getting these posted. I hope
that you enjoy looking at them, as much as I enjoyed
taking them and choosing ones to post for you.
These pictures were taken Monday, August 10, 2009.
We got to take a little trip up to Taipei because the
weather conditions weren't too bad there and because
we couldn't get into the house to do anything since the
water was still high. We left Sunday afternoon around 4:15
on a bus and got into Taipei around 10:00 I think ...
By Monday morning, the water had already gone
down most of the way and I was going to have class the
next day, so we had to keep our trip short and return
again to Tainan on Monday evening. What a great time
we had! Thank you, Sis. Bracken, for taking this time out
for me, to show me more of the beautiful country of Taiwan.
I enjoyed this trip so much. ^-^
My view of Taipei from the back of
the taxi window.
My first real glimpse at the 101
Not sure what this building is
Random city view
The Taipei 101 ... one of the world's tallest buildings!
(This building also houses the world's largest wind
damper and the world's fastest elevator)
This screen is inside of the elevator so you can see
how fast you are going as you ascend and descend.
I love this picture :) You can see part of the
building, as well as the city spread.
Listening to the tutorial.
Can you imagine working up that high?
This was the view below their feet.
This is a little blurb about the damper that
you will see in a few pictures later on.
Looking at the city was a little overwhelming ...
it's so huge! Sis. B said there are approximately
6 million people that live in this city.
I loved the views of the city ...
Black damper baby. Off to the left is the doorway
for the staircase that leads to the outdoor observatory.
The wind damper. You really can't tell in this picture how
big it is.
Baby red ... well, that's not his technical name,
but it works ;)
The top of Taipei 101 ... :D
Yeah! This is the floor that is home to
the outdoor observatory area of the 101
Taipei is such a large city!
Taking in the spectacular view! That day really was
gorgeous! Sis. Bracken said that usually you cannot
even see most of the city because of clouds/pollution.
We could not only see the city, but the mountains,
as well. It was the perfect day to visit the 101
This video is the pathway that we walked on to get to
the outdoor observatory. :) Pretty neat! As we walked,
the clouds would disappear and you could see the "city"
below. Then the clouds would reappear as you walked
on ahead. Very very cool!
This was a hallway that we walked into
on our way up to the out-door observatory. :)
It was really cool, but I have to admit, I started
to get motion sick when we first walked in. lol
Me next to the world's largest wind damper
Me and my damper baby friend
(There are four different colored
damper babies.)
Sorry this picture is fuzzy ... it explains the coral
in the picture below.
Gorgeous piece!! :) Unbelievable that
it's real.
This piece of coral gemstone was beautifully carved!
So intricate! It's titled, "Paradise."
等電梯送我們下樓。
The view once we stepped out of the
elevator. It's a very colorful wall, indeed. :)
Another view of the inside of the fifth floor.
Yet another view ... you can see the
bookstore, Page One, in the left side
of the frame.d
This picture is a view of the fifth floor, taken from
the sixth, I'm pretty sure. What you can see is a
neat book store that has English literature!! :)
They have pretty much every magazine in there
that you can get in the States ... it will cost you a
whole lot more than it would in the States, but still,
it's cool to know that it's available. :)
Sis. Bracken and I were trying to figure out
what this was ... it was a very large circle and
had random names around it ... it wasn't related
to time zones or organized alphabetically ...
if any of you reading this knows, please feel free
to fill me in. :D
This is our delicious lunch :) The bowl in
front of me is pumpkin soup.
This is the place we ate at. :) The 101 has
several little tea/light lunch/snack places
on the fifth floor.
This poster was in the elevator.
The Living Mall!!! 京華城!!! :)
I found out after the fact that this mall is
particularly famous and celebrities can be
spotted here ... d
.... I'll give you three chances to guess
whether or not blonde is their real hair color ...
This is the place where Sis. B and I found
an amazing sale!! :) We were going to explore
the mall some more, but happened to see a
skirt that was cute hanging on the rack of this
corner shop. We stopped to take a look and
ended up leaving about one hour later with
bags in our hands!! lol
A view of the inside. The left side of the
frame is part of the inside circle. You can also
see the elevator. It is pretty cool!
I took this picture for my two sisters, who both
adore shoes. :) This is a rather large shoe ...
probably four or five feet from toe to heal. :)
Another inside view. In this shot, you
can see more of the rounded shape.
When we walked out of the mall, it was slightly
raining. However, it was just a sprinkle and stopped
very shortly after.
We went into the mall on one side and
came out the other side. :)
With the natural lighting at this time of the day
and the color and design of the tile, I thought this
sidewalk looked cool.
Another view of the 101
At the station, on our way in to catch the HSR
On our way back to the 高鐵！(High speed rail)
Our bags :)
Pretty self explanatory ;)
Our snack on the train: mango and
almond roca. Both were quite
delicious!! I love eating Mango in
Taiwan!
Views of Taiwan from the window of the HSR:
This girl amused me greatly for she kept taking
self portraits! I was tempted to do two things ...
1. go and ask her if she would like me to take a
picture for her 2. begin taking self portraits :D
As you can see, me and Sis. B. riding the HSR.
It was then dark and we were getting close to
arriving in Tainan.
This was the panel on the back of the seat
in front of me.
These are our things ... we had several more
bags on our way back to Tainan than we did on
our way to Taipei ... hehe :D
Inside of each stall in these bathrooms
was a sign that read in both Chinese and
in English, "Please do not stand on the toilet."
While it seems pretty silly to tell people that,
here it can be a problem since people are
more used to the squat toilet style.
I found this sign so amusing!! :) The Chinese version
doesn't not say anything about kissing ... lol
The Chinese simply designates this as a place for
pick-up and drop-off.
As we were driving away, I saw another sign that said
"motorcycle kissing and ride area." I wish I had a picture
of that for you, Dad. :D You need that sign next to the
paramedic parking sign. haha
So, I hope this post has given you some insight to my
last weekend. There was much fun and also many
serious moments. Through it all, God is faithful.
Until next time,
K
that you enjoy looking at them, as much as I enjoyed
taking them and choosing ones to post for you.
These pictures were taken Monday, August 10, 2009.
We got to take a little trip up to Taipei because the
weather conditions weren't too bad there and because
we couldn't get into the house to do anything since the
water was still high. We left Sunday afternoon around 4:15
on a bus and got into Taipei around 10:00 I think ...
By Monday morning, the water had already gone
down most of the way and I was going to have class the
next day, so we had to keep our trip short and return
again to Tainan on Monday evening. What a great time
we had! Thank you, Sis. Bracken, for taking this time out
for me, to show me more of the beautiful country of Taiwan.
I enjoyed this trip so much. ^-^
My view of Taipei from the back of
the taxi window.
My first real glimpse at the 101
Not sure what this building is
Random city view
The Taipei 101 ... one of the world's tallest buildings!
(This building also houses the world's largest wind
damper and the world's fastest elevator)
This screen is inside of the elevator so you can see
how fast you are going as you ascend and descend.
I love this picture :) You can see part of the
building, as well as the city spread.
Listening to the tutorial.
Can you imagine working up that high?
This was the view below their feet.
This is a little blurb about the damper that
you will see in a few pictures later on.
Looking at the city was a little overwhelming ...
it's so huge! Sis. B said there are approximately
6 million people that live in this city.
I loved the views of the city ...
Black damper baby. Off to the left is the doorway
for the staircase that leads to the outdoor observatory.
The wind damper. You really can't tell in this picture how
big it is.
Baby red ... well, that's not his technical name,
but it works ;)
The top of Taipei 101 ... :D
Yeah! This is the floor that is home to
the outdoor observatory area of the 101
Taipei is such a large city!
Taking in the spectacular view! That day really was
gorgeous! Sis. Bracken said that usually you cannot
even see most of the city because of clouds/pollution.
We could not only see the city, but the mountains,
as well. It was the perfect day to visit the 101
This video is the pathway that we walked on to get to
the outdoor observatory. :) Pretty neat! As we walked,
the clouds would disappear and you could see the "city"
below. Then the clouds would reappear as you walked
on ahead. Very very cool!
This was a hallway that we walked into
on our way up to the out-door observatory. :)
It was really cool, but I have to admit, I started
to get motion sick when we first walked in. lol
Me next to the world's largest wind damper
Me and my damper baby friend
(There are four different colored
damper babies.)
Sorry this picture is fuzzy ... it explains the coral
in the picture below.
Gorgeous piece!! :) Unbelievable that
it's real.
This piece of coral gemstone was beautifully carved!
So intricate! It's titled, "Paradise."
等電梯送我們下樓。
The view once we stepped out of the
elevator. It's a very colorful wall, indeed. :)
Another view of the inside of the fifth floor.
Yet another view ... you can see the
bookstore, Page One, in the left side
of the frame.d
This picture is a view of the fifth floor, taken from
the sixth, I'm pretty sure. What you can see is a
neat book store that has English literature!! :)
They have pretty much every magazine in there
that you can get in the States ... it will cost you a
whole lot more than it would in the States, but still,
it's cool to know that it's available. :)
Sis. Bracken and I were trying to figure out
what this was ... it was a very large circle and
had random names around it ... it wasn't related
to time zones or organized alphabetically ...
if any of you reading this knows, please feel free
to fill me in. :D
This is our delicious lunch :) The bowl in
front of me is pumpkin soup.
This is the place we ate at. :) The 101 has
several little tea/light lunch/snack places
on the fifth floor.
This poster was in the elevator.
The Living Mall!!! 京華城!!! :)
I found out after the fact that this mall is
particularly famous and celebrities can be
spotted here ... d
.... I'll give you three chances to guess
whether or not blonde is their real hair color ...
This is the place where Sis. B and I found
an amazing sale!! :) We were going to explore
the mall some more, but happened to see a
skirt that was cute hanging on the rack of this
corner shop. We stopped to take a look and
ended up leaving about one hour later with
bags in our hands!! lol
A view of the inside. The left side of the
frame is part of the inside circle. You can also
see the elevator. It is pretty cool!
I took this picture for my two sisters, who both
adore shoes. :) This is a rather large shoe ...
probably four or five feet from toe to heal. :)
Another inside view. In this shot, you
can see more of the rounded shape.
When we walked out of the mall, it was slightly
raining. However, it was just a sprinkle and stopped
very shortly after.
We went into the mall on one side and
came out the other side. :)
With the natural lighting at this time of the day
and the color and design of the tile, I thought this
sidewalk looked cool.
Another view of the 101
At the station, on our way in to catch the HSR
On our way back to the 高鐵！(High speed rail)
Our bags :)
Pretty self explanatory ;)
Our snack on the train: mango and
almond roca. Both were quite
delicious!! I love eating Mango in
Taiwan!
Views of Taiwan from the window of the HSR:
This girl amused me greatly for she kept taking
self portraits! I was tempted to do two things ...
1. go and ask her if she would like me to take a
picture for her 2. begin taking self portraits :D
As you can see, me and Sis. B. riding the HSR.
It was then dark and we were getting close to
arriving in Tainan.
This was the panel on the back of the seat
in front of me.
These are our things ... we had several more
bags on our way back to Tainan than we did on
our way to Taipei ... hehe :D
Inside of each stall in these bathrooms
was a sign that read in both Chinese and
in English, "Please do not stand on the toilet."
While it seems pretty silly to tell people that,
here it can be a problem since people are
more used to the squat toilet style.
I found this sign so amusing!! :) The Chinese version
doesn't not say anything about kissing ... lol
The Chinese simply designates this as a place for
pick-up and drop-off.
As we were driving away, I saw another sign that said
"motorcycle kissing and ride area." I wish I had a picture
of that for you, Dad. :D You need that sign next to the
paramedic parking sign. haha
So, I hope this post has given you some insight to my
last weekend. There was much fun and also many
serious moments. Through it all, God is faithful.
Until next time,
K
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