LAST TREASURES OF TAIWAN (PART 1)

我的心属于台湾.  My heart belongs to Taiwan. After many scooter gallivants, whirlwinds of adventures and travels, mustaches, chillins, videos documenting T.I.C., bakies and cookeries, pranks, tokens, murder in the dark, late night gig fests, recorders, creeping and freaking, meow lullabies and many, MANY stairs, I am home, back in the States. Although excited to be home, my heart truly still resides in Taiwan. I fell in love with the small island of Taiwan, its' residents and my dear beloveds: THE 4TH FLOOR OF AMAZING TEACHERS, whom I miss DEARLY. Although very difficult for me to say goodbye to this humble island and experience of a lifetime, I will never forget the memories, good times and fellow friends. After the semester ended, we teachers had a storm of travels to embark in. The day after Christmas, we traveled to GREEN ISLAND, which is a small island off of Taiwan. It was definitely a Matzeltov Moment. We stayed for 2 1/2 days...and it was BLISS.

Representing Taiwan, as best I can. Actually I am trying to calm my nerves before the treacherous boat ride that was headed to Green Island. The boat ride is known to make even the strongest stomach's feel regret...

Ferry ride! So far, so good. No prompts of wanting to throw up quite yet...

We made it GREEN ISLAND! We rented scooters, and the island is so small that on scooter, we could ride around the entire island in about 45 minutes. It was a Christmas vacation for the books!

Sleeping Beauty rock (laying down horizontally on the right side)

We went to this prison, that housed many of the P.O.W that didn't agree with the government of Taiwan at the time. Although educational, I kind of felt a little creepy being there. It was deserted and it definitely had a freaky feeling. 

Prison tower

Luxurious Lighthouse

The Orange House~ YUM!

We stayed at a SUPER NICE hostel. Totally modern, and chic. Green walls, orange ceilings, fluffy pillows, modern looking couches and decor...hot stuff.

We found this cement wall in the MIDDLE OF A GIANT FIELD. It was severely a double Matzeltov Moment, thus, it had to be documented.

Little Great Wall.

We found this quiet spot early in the dawn of morning. Green Island's SUNRISES are kind of a big deal, so we heard. 

Goodbye Green Island. You will be missed..

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Click on "older posts" below 
to keep reading about my adventures in
TAIWAN

ALTHOUGH BELATED, CHRISTMAS IN TAIWAN

Christmas day was the last day of teaching-such a fun filled day. We had a Christmas program for the students, in which the teachers sported delightful costumes ranging from Santa Claus himself, to elves, a Christmas tree and a lifesize snowman, which happened to be my part.  Here are some moments captured by our delicious CHRISTMAS PROGRAM below:

 It's a Christmas miracle....

Christmas program and DANCE. Disco ball, and all. It was awesome!

Truly a Christmas worth remembering! The school went ALL OUT on decorations, I have NEVER attended such a gala!

My dear beloveds. Charlene and Fenny setting up the goodies for the party!

Dancing with my students, Sam & Benson.

Me and Erin in our deliciously awesome Christmas outfits! 

Let me tell ya, being the snowman for the day was quite exhausting...

Celebrating Christmas with my students: Keith, Thomas,Amy & Carol

THE CHRISTMAS PROGRAM 

(look how adorable the chillins look in their Santa hats!)

Snowman and Reindeer, celebrating together.
Me and Katrina, my Kindergarten student. Adorable!

Christmas brings MANY surprises, like crazy costumes: including one of my favorite students, Kendra, who is dressed in a bunny rabbit costume. 
I MISS TAIWAN!!

Sporting costumes with G-man and Frances (directors of Berhan).

My beloved deary, Lien. MISS YOU!!

Getting ninja-riffic with Erin, my other stuffed costume friend.
I guess you can say, we lucked out getting the padded costumes!

This little girl, Lori, is seriously my favorite! And yes, she came adorned in a princess costume, because I guess Christmas means princesses, too. 

My dearest Amy. We went caroling through Stinky Tofu Alley. The response from the crowd was unbelievable! I couldn't help from laughing, it was such a chaotic, delightful moment, words can't sum up.

We went caroling to all of the little Kindergarten students.It was such a great experience to see the chillins react to Santa Claus...since Christmas isn't really celebrated in Taiwan, most families and children didn't really know how to act when Santa Claus graced them with his presence. It usually resulted in tears and screams from the chillins...AWESOME!

Chalkboard of Events. Hanukkah, of course had to be celebrated!

Our homeade Christmas tree, courtesy of Kristi's mom! Yay!

What better way to celebrate Christmas than with my beloved friends?! We decided to do a Christmas present exchange with everyone in the lounge of luxury!

THE CHRISTMAS RUSH IN TAIWAN

With Christmas approaching along with my arrival back in Utah, some shopping was needed to take care of last minute business...so where to go? LUKANG, of course! This magical town in Taiwan is FULL of delicious and money spending treasures! It is located Southwest of Fengyuan, where I live (about an 2 hour train ride). We spent an afternoon walking the cute little alleyways of one shop after another. There were so many choices, one could easily become overwhelmed, but it was enchanting. Here are some pictures to help illustrate the random, yet inspiring day we had in Lukang:

How's this for size? Ginormous chinese sandals. 

The fan man! He is famous for hand painting any design onto a rice paper fan. I had to indulge in this Asian delight. He has painted thousands and thousands of fans, and he is SO fast! Love him.

Just a wee sample of the "fan man's" finest work. He has pictures posted all over his walls with people he has painted fans for. He is famous on the island of Taiwan. Hopefully my picture will make it on the wall..

Yellow...lantern...must be fate!

Off to another hand painted artist! This man (pictured in gray) does fine painting onto Chinese lanterns. He sits on a very low chair (I don't know how he can sit so long without back stiffness) and paints away! 

Pottery!! Rustic pottery, shelved in a vintage looking blue house. 

I wish these pots were for sale!

There it is. 

Here we go again, more hand painted goodness!

Look at his wisdom. He is the actual owner of the lantern hand painted shop. 

He looks like a true sensei.

Check out his hat. So western. Notice the beetles and scary things to the bottom...

Yes, this is just a sample of all the shop type goodies located in the cute alleyways of Lukang.

This was definitely a Matzeltov Moment, as its' finest. I did get many presents (for the fam) and myself...

Lukang will always hold a special, random place in my heart. I love Taiwan!