amazing weekend!

what a weekend. =)

saturday after teaching the kindergarten, it was time to head down to taichung. caveat emptor: i dont speak chinese. in england, it was always very easy for me to find my way around because i spoke the language. it is so hard to navigate my way through a country where i cant speak the language!!!! (yet =) somehow, i managed to get myself from my house to the train station in a taxi (i will never know how i did that) and then from the train station in jhubei to taichung!

the train ride was brilliant. it was gorrrrrrrrrrgeous scenery the whole ride (about 1.5hrs). i ended up sitting by a girl who studied in newcastle! she is from taichung. she was so super nice. i really love all the people in taiwan...they are some of the nicest in the world i guess. anyway, she asked me who i was and what i was doing in taiwan and i heard myself say "i live in jhubei and im an english teacher." so strange to say that! i live in taiwan! wow. it still hasn't even sunk in yet. but, its true! i live in taiwan! amazing.

anyway, i arrived in taichung (amazingly) and met claire! it was so good to see her! we crammed the weekend full: ate deliciouuuuuuuuuuus japanese food (real japanese food, not yamato's), saw harry potter 6 (in english!!!!), went to a night market where i saw the cutest little boy selling cellphone charms and i couldnt resist so i bought one =), i drank mango green tea (my new favourite), and ate and ate and ate. the next day, we went to church! she translated the sermon for me. they even sang 'victory in jesus' in chinese! it was so amazing. afterward, we hung out talking to her friends...i have learned the words "mei guo ren" which means "american." i hear this when i walk down the streets often. all the people at her church were so nice! again i was telling people "i live in jhubei" and it felt a little more natural this time, though still unbelievable! the one thing i really hate is when someone comes up to me and starts speaking chinese and i cant reply. they usually switch into japanese then, and after that, they just smile and pat my arm. its kind of funny actually.

after church, claire and i went to the taichung national science museum. soooo amazingggggg! i love any kind of museum, but historical/science museums are my favourite (though i dont really like science...go figure). there was an awesome photography display and i got to see alot of cool things about taiwan's history (which now i'm dying to know more about!!!) then we went to an exhibit of chinese medicine which is fascinating. after the museum, we ate japanese fastfood (MOSBURGERRRRRRRRRRR) and then it was back on the train to hsinchu! just as pretty a train ride home. taiwan is an absoultely beautiful, beautiful place.

when i got back to hsinchu station, i met my friend milliya who is going to study at uncg next semester! she also brought her sweet sweet family. we headed out to the beach! it was a m a z i n g!!!! so beautiful. we got there right as it was getting dark and the sun was going down, and it was just amazing. i cant believe i was standing in the taiwan strait! unbelievable. it was nice weather too...finally not so hot. i really love taiwan beaches. very different from american ones, though. black sand and no discernable shore line. but still water and sand and creatures and fun times =) there are TONS of little tiny crabs that run around the beach and make little holes with really pretty designs in them! so cool. anyway, we headed back up from the beach to eat some supper. we ended up in a temple (yes, that kind of temple). it was actually amazing. for supper, we ate DELICIOUS food: some rice/pork something-or-other, tofu, soup, and pig intestine something-or-other (not so delicious but not as nasty as i had thought it would be). i also drank tea made of grass... after eating, milliya and her sisters took me through the temple, showing me all the gods and teaching me the customs. it was sooo interesting and temples are actually very beautiful. hsinchu city is so amazing!

tonight, i decided to head to the mosburger in jhubei (yayayaya im so happy they have one!). then i explored another part of the city that i hadn't been to yet. i ended up finding the coooooooolest home store (that i could never afford to shop in, of course) and a bazillion new restaurants to try. so excitinggggggg! i went grocery shopping after that and after a successful trip (i found nutelllllllllllllllllllllllla) i was walking out the door when this guy came up to me and asked if he could "make a short talk to me." he was asking me where i was from and did i like basketball, etc. he wanted to practice english! we exchanged emails and will probably be meeting soon! taiwanese people are sooo nice!

i come to love taiwan even more every day. when i was in the taichung night market, i saw a kid with a shirt that said: 'the road is long. so what?' i think that's good advice for all of us.

生日快樂 pamela! happy birthday!