3 Months in Taiwan

So I have officially been in Taiwan for 3 months and it feels like just yesterday I was saying goodbye to everyone! This is turning out to be an even more amazing experience than I could have ever imagined.

Celebrating Deb's birthday

A couple of weeks ago, the Indiana FETs met in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on the west coast to celebrate a fellow FET, Debra's, birthday. Debra, her family, and I traveled together to Taiwan, but we haven't been able to see each other since orientation in August. It was great to see Debra, her husband Rommel, and her kids, Gabe and Josephine. I stayed in my first ever hostel, which actually turned out to be pretty nice. It was more of a two bedroom apartment, so we had a private bathroom, a kitchen, and a sitting area.

On Friday, we met up with our friend, Mike "Fatbat," and he took us to Kaohsiung's famous night market, Liouho Night Market. Mike also took us to the mountains and to Love River, where we saw lots of ferry boats.

We visited the Dream Mall and road the ferris wheel, where we were able to get a look of Kaohsiung at night. It was amazing!

And of course, what would the end of October be without celebrating Halloween. My friends from Hualien came to Taipei for the weekend and we all got costumes or became creative with the clothes we had made up our own costumes. It was a lot of fun, and I'm so glad I have friends who were here to celebrate with.

My broken toe continues to heal, slowly but surely. I've had to wear a splint for the past 3 1/2 weeks and I go back to the doctor on Monday to see if I can go back to normal activity. I will be so happy if he says I can stop wearing the splint. I'm dying to go shoe shopping!

I'm 1/4 of the way through this year, and I can't believe how quickly time is passing. There are still plenty of times I crave the normalcy of life back home, but I've also created a new normal here. I realized about a week ago that this is the longest I've ever gone without physically seeing my family, and the recent change for Daylight Savings has become a bit problematic, but these are the kinks you deal with, I suppose. I'm grateful for all the weekends I've been able to travel and experience the culture and sights of Taiwan because I know that July will be here before I know it. The weather has continued to cool, but I can honestly say I will not miss the brutal Indiana winter this year. I hope you have all enjoyed reading about this adventure; I know I have enjoyed sharing it with everyone.

The Dream Mall Ferris Wheel in Kaohsiung

A view of Kaohsiung from the ferris wheel

Enjoying the night air by the Love River

Liouhe Night Market

Pumpkin Craze

In an effort to showcase holidays in the US, Monica and I videotaped ourselves carving a pumpkin for our weekly English Corner. The pumpkin made friends quite quickly!

End of September/Beginning of October

The end of September, beginning of October has brought a lot of interesting news. Three typhoons were potentially heading straight for Taiwan, which was predicted to leave heavy damage to most areas. Some areas were still trying to rebuild after August's Typhoon Morakot, so the threat of three typhoons wasn't too welcome. Fortunately for Taiwan, all three typhoons changed paths, and Taiwan was only hit with heavy rains.

I was able to visit one of Taipei's tallest points, Yangmingshan. It gives you an amazing view of all Taipei, and we were able to see it at night. On Friday, Karin (one of the FETs in Taipei), invited me to help celebrate her birthday. A group of us went to a German restaurant and enjoyed lots of German food, an

d everyone indulged in a little dessert to help Karin celebrate.

Last weekend, I boarded a train to Hualien, where 3 other FETs are teaching. The train ride is amazing because to one side is mountains and to the other is the Pacific Ocean. At some points it looks as though the clouds, ocean, and mountains all blend in to one. U

nfortunately, it rained the entire weekend, but we FETs know how to have fun in any type of weather. We went to a mountainous area and then to a power plant for popsicles!

A mountain view in Hualien

On Sunday, the whole group went to see a movie, and then we got back on a train to Taipei. It was a great weekend, and so nice to see some friends.

Unfortunately, the week took a bit of a sour turn. On Tuesday, I broke my middle toe on my left foot. I was moving a kids' chair out of my way and kicked it with my foot

instead of moving it with my hands. I knew something was wrong instantly, but thought maybe I just bruised my foot badly. One of my Taiwanese co-teachers ac

companied me to the local clinic and I had x-rays taken and received a few days' worth of pain medication. I'll return on Monday to have another set of x-rays taken to make sure my toe is healing correctly.

The doctor said I will not be allowed to exercise for at least a month, so I will not be able to run the 5k race in November I had signed up for. I was able to find a friend to take my place and I know it will still be a lot of fun to watch the runners.

Hope this finds everyone well and I'll continue to update you on the events happening here in Taiwan!

Karin's Birthday

My broken toe all wrapped up; thank goodness I got a pedicure before it happened!

The view of Taipei from Yangmingshan