Miracles come in all shapes and sizes

I'm convinced of this fact! Reason: I've stopped biting my nails entirely! Those of you who know me, you know how much of a miracle this is!! I've tried many different ways to break the habit but all to no avail. Then one day, about a week before I left, I just stopped biting ... Thank God! I'm finally not embarrassed by my hands anymore. lol

God is so good! I can feel Him in every step of this trip and am so happy to be in His will.

I'm saddened by the fact that Pandora doesn't work overseas!!! Ahhh!! 怎么辦！？That's one of my favorite ways to play music ... for now, itunes will have to suffice.

So I was looking through my camera and there is a considerable amount of pictures that I have not posted for your looking pleasure. It is my most sincere intention to rectify that this very night. ^-^ I'm not sure if they can all be in order, but I'm going to try to keep it that way. This involves uploading them backwards! 辛苦我了！哈哈。

From Thursday, September 2, 2010:
On my first official day in Taizhong, I woke up sometime around 5 am and couldn't sleep so I got up and took some pictures as the sun was coming up over the city.

I love the view of the mountains in this shot:
This was taken inside the administration building during registration:
From Friday, September 3, 2010:
On Friday, we had orientation. The night before, my roommates asked me to go with them to get some breakfast, so I did. I still ended up buying food at 7 though. Notice the wording on the bread? :D The clear bottle is obviously water and the green bottle is aloe drink. Then there is the raisin bread, along with a tuna fan tuan! ^-^
This is the lunch box that the school very kindly provided for us after a morning of orientation sessions (I didn't eat very much of it):


This is my building!

That night, I took the HSR to Tainan. I was anxious to get "home" and rest. My dinner consisted of Japanese style fried rice and my favorite mango drink!
From Saturday, September 4, 2010:
♪ ♫"-scusa me, but-a you see, back in old Napoli that amore!" ♪ ♫ Everybody now, "Wheeeeeeeeeen the moooooon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore ... " This sign is on the front of Carrefour. This picture is dedicated to my brother: David, this picture is for you :) I miss listening to music and goofing around with you while doing dishes. lol
I saw this t-shirt on an aisle display and made the girls model! It look several attempts at a photo to get one with them both looking at me and not laughing hysterically:
Tea from Alisha's favorite tea shop! The name in English of the shop is, "Magic Hand Tea":
My steady standby - Black tea:
Our dinner: You probably can't tell what this is, so I'll tell you. In the bowl is danbing and luobogao!! Sooo good! And the other thing is some sort of fried flat bread with sesame seeds on top.

I already filled you in on what happened on Sunday ~~ Monday I slept alot! :)

On Tuesday, I went back to Taizhong to meet with my professor. In the morning, Alisha took me to the train station near my old school in Tainan. It takes about two hours by normal train to arrive in Taizhong. This sign reads, "The next stop's station: Taizhong."
After meeting with my professor, I felt so much better. All day Sunday I felt like God was trying to tell me not to worry, that He had it all under control ... but I wanted to say, "God, how can everything be fine? I'm stepping into a situation that I don't think I'm prepared for!!" When I met with her, she kept assuring me that I had no reason to be nervous. She said that when she began studying for her masters in the States, she cried and cried because of the language barrier, as well as educational and cultural differences. While I was listening to her, I took a deep breath and let it all the way out. The situation she described was exactly how I pictured my first day at Zhongxing. But even if it did go that way, now I had confidence because 1) God is with me, 2) I wouldn't be the first one to experience it, 3) it would get better. If my professor can face graduate school under such circumstances, I could certainly face one class under the same pressure. Now, I understand a little better why Jesus was trying to assure me on Sunday. Why is it that concepts are so hard to pound into my stubborn head?? The pressure doesn't feel as great as it did, although the pressure to perform so as to save face for my Davis instructor is still there. ^-^

But, on another note about that Tuesday, I wore new shoes to meet with my new professor ... not such a good idea. lol The shoes were appropriate for the occasion and I like their style, but they made blisters! I wore them for about five hours that day. Nearing the end of the fifth hour, I was walking with my toes curled as to try and avoid further aggravation to the skin of my toes! I took pictures of my blisters so I could show them off, but after second thought and a second look at the pictures, I decided it was too unseemly to post. ;)

One very important feature of my dorm room is the ability to look my belongings. :) If makes me feel better about taking off for the weekend. Now, all the locks I have are TSA approved ... so if someone from the airport wanted to raid my closet for some girly clothes or cleaning supplies, they totally could. For my sake, let's hope that doesn't happen. lol
Public transportation in Taiwan is beginning to scare me less and less as I gain experience using it. The transportation systems here are good and can take you up and down the east coast, especially, with ease. (if you know how to use the system, that is) There is also a deal of English in the stations and in the trains themselves which really help at times. In the high speed rail station, there are announcements made in Mandarin, Taiwanese/Min dialect and English. The electronic signs also switch back and forth from Chinese to English.
So on Tuesday, I got to the HSR station too early to go in the gate right away. With time on my hands and a hungry stomach, I wanted to grab something to eat. The closest thing to me in the station was a McDonalds. haha You laugh ... but you try carrying all my junk about the station and tell me how far you want to walk to get something to eat! lol I did feel funny, though, walking in. And for good reason ... An American walking into a relatively small McDonald's at which people have nothing better to do than people watch is not the best idea ever. :D haha I tried talking to the girl at the counter and ordering my food in Chinese but she responded to me in English. Since she obviously wanted to practice and I was tired, I figured that I would just make it easier on both of us and speak English. That wasn't the funniest part to me, though. After I had ordered my chicken sandwich and had already begun eating, I looked around to see if there was any ketchup or ranch available that I could grab. Well, the two girls working at the counter saw me looking around. The next thing I knew, one of them was walking up to me and handed me a few napkins. lol That was the first time I've ever been served something at a McDonald's.

One thing that the McDonald's here has that I'm not sure if the American ones have is the nutrition(or should I say, non-nutrition) facts on the packaging. This was for my chicken sandwich:

The ride from Taizhong to Tainan by HSR is about 45 minutes. The train is kept clean and is pretty comfortable to commute on. This picture was taken by me, evidently, of my window. I like how you can see the inside of the train and the outside city lights. This was taken when we were already moving:
This is me after a very long day beginning in Tainan and ending in Tainan, with a trip to Taizhong in the middle. Can you see the bags under my eyes? :)

This is my breakfast from yesterday(Wed, Sept 8): it may look like a hamburger, but it most certainly isn't. It's CHICKEN, egg and lettuce on a bun. lol Quite yummy!


Last night on the way home from Bible study, we stopped to get a bite to eat. 甜不辣！The literal translation is, "Sweet but not spicy," however it is usually always some degree of spicy. But oh is it ever tasty! This picture is some tien-bu-la tofu and yam on my little skewer stick:


And this is one of my favorite things to drink, Passion Fruit Tea! However, this cup of tea was especially sweet to the point of making me feel a little sick. Even so, it was pretty tasty:


Since the last few days, I've started tinkering with the piano, much to my amusement. It made me wish I had paid a little better attention in my music classes and my piano lessons. But, despite the tinge of regret, I'm really enjoying playing around. My sister said she would scan in some of my favorite sheet music and email it to me so I can print it out. I'm pretty jazzed about that. Thank God for the conveniences of modern technology!

Today we went grocery shopping at Ai-mart!! This is us checking out and the cashier checking on the price for the bag of yellow onions:

And this is what you can buy there for approximately $35 US:
*Two bags
*Two cleaning cloths
*20 eggs
*Two small cartons of icecream (one is coffee/carmel and the other strawberry)
*5 apples
*7 bananas
*Celery
*7 chicken breasts
*2 bunches of green onions
*1 large head of cabbage
*2 small heads of lettuce
*5 yellow onions
*11-12 small-medium sized potatoes
*5-6 medium sized, green bell peppers
*3 heads of broccoli
*1 small bag of string beans (think that's what we call them)
*1 container of cilantro
*1 container of bean sprouts
*2 containers of another kind of sprouts :) lol
*1 small bag of thin, little, white mushrooms
*3 medium sized tomatoes

Now that I don't bite my nails, I need another miracle in my life ... learning to cook! I tried to cook tonight and I didn't ruin the food, but I definitely need to work on this skill. Looking on the bright side, at least the girls and I didn't die from anything we ate tonight! :-)
In the cup: iced tea
In the bowl: umm like a soup lol ... potato, cabbage, celery, yellow onion, cilantro, those little white mushrooms, bean sprouts, salt, pepper and some other flavoring that Alisha put in ^-^
On the plate: kind of like fried rice, but not haha ... chicken, egg, rice, green onion, bell pepper, salt, pepper, garlic powder
***(As a side note, there is no problem with my ice tea making skills. If I ever offer you a cup of tea that I have had anything to do with, don't be afraid! Chances are, you will not only survive to tell the story, but also enjoy it. lol )***
Joyce's teacher gave her some fruit today and she brought it to share after dinner. The picture below is a fruit that smells like lemon, but it actually not bitter like lemon. I'm not sure what it's called. It has a green exterior, is pear-shaped and this one has a really thick rind. Joyce also shared a fabulous peach! It was amazing!!

We bought Lexus a new toy, too! It's a small tire that's supposed to be indestructible and make his breath smell better. It does feel pretty sturdy, but I don't have my hopes up about that last one. ;-) He seems to like it and its easy to play tug-a-war with so it's a win-win situation!


Speaking of playing, the last two nights, the three of us chicas have played Phase 10! 好玩哦！We've had a lot of fun. Joyce and I won both nights, with Alisha lagging behind only one phase. Alisha was talking about it afterward and she couldn't figure out why it happened that way both times. I told her that was because almost every time she had a skip card, she used it on me so it was justice!!

Okay, well I think you're all caught up now and I'm exhausted! :) I hope you've enjoyed taking a peek into my life the last few days.

~k

P.S. A major shout-out to Jane and Missy for fixing the missions board in my absence! :) It looks great!