Sun Moon Lake (日月潭) August 24, 2014

Surprisingly, there is nothing too crazy to report about this trip. We were able to easily navigate the train and bus station, we got on the bus and made it to Sun Moon Lake with no major incidents. The original plan was to rent bikes and ride to the famous temple, pagodas, and other local touristy spots. Due to my reputation of getting lost, I gave the responsibility of navigating the lake to Carolyn. We easily rented bikes and started down the trail. We were really struggling at the beginning and almost got ran over several times (we were a hot mess), but we eventually pulled ourselves together and started biking around the lake. Only to find out two hours later that we went the wrong way and would not be make it to the toutisty spots before the bus left to go back to Feng Yuan. We were still able to get beautiful pictures though.

What's a trip without a little Mango Shaved Ice!!

A Little of This and a Little of That

This post is dedicated to all of the little moments these past three months that can't fill a whole post but still deserve an honorable mention.  

1. Bukka Cafe and Costco

  As was mentioned in my last post, I was invited to a bear cafe and Costco back in July. After the mornings fiasco (see previous post), I was really lacking any desire to be adventurous - luckily these moments were full of things that reminded me of home. The cafe had a cute hipster charm to it. The only thing that would have made it feel more American would be music I can understand and menus I could read.

2. Laughing Buddha 

Several blocks away from our church building is a laughing buddha. One Saturday we went to go visit. The end.

3. Language Exchanges

Early on in the semester Peggy asked me if I would be interested in doing a language exchange. I was thrilled because even though I am not gifted in language I have made a much larger effort to learn the language this time around (it only took me three times in a foreign country to get there). Every Thursday Ib, myself, and several other secretaries go out to dinner or some other activity and practice our language. These nights are often filled with so much laughter and memorable experiences. It has turned into one of my favorite nights of the week!

4. Night Markets

Night markets are a big deal here. I don't really care for them, but yet I still find myself there most weekends. Some of the more popular ones are packed and can get crazy. Luckily we have found ones by our house that aren't too crowdad. But regardless of what night market you go to they will all have one thing in common- they STINK! For some reason the Chinese people love to eat stinky tofu (yes, that is really it's name)- it smells like raw sewage. I hate it. However there are occasionally some good finds at the night market like these roasted corns you can get for about 1 USD.

Or these jiao zi (dumplings) we found at the night market in Taipei for about 1 USD (seriously the best I have ever had).

There's always money in the banana stand... And occasionally yummy chocolate dipped bananas.

And no trip to the night market would be complete without a mango bing sha. This is a little spendier at 2 USD. (But do worth it for the whip cream)

Then there are the not so good finds:

The great thing about night markets is you never know what you are going to find like this shirt: 

Or even this:

Which is why I even though I don't love night markets you can still find me there on a Friday night.

5. KTV

There is a little past time that Chinese people love- in America we call it Karaoke, here they call it KTV. I have so many memories at KTV from all my travels to China. There was the memorable first KTV experience at the young age of 19 with Collin-oli. 

There was also the time when Jameson's face said it all as 10 girls busted out "My Humps" in honor of Haley's favorite shower jam and who can forget this dazzling duo busting out some Chinese song at our Christmas party festivities.  

Even though I have been KTVing so many times it never gets old. Plus it is fun to see others experience KTV for the first time, and let me just say this group killed it. If there was ever a place made for Cassidy, Josh, and Ib it would be KTVing. I will say the Chinese take their KTV very seriously, but that didn't stop us from having fun... I even busted out a tune or two (or three or four), despite my natural tendency to not sing in front of others. 

6. Typhoon  Matmo

Back in July we experienced our first typhoon, which really just meant we got the day off teaching and stayed in our PJ's all day. We eventually ventured out in the afternoon to go to the store/McDonald's. 

Happy Birthday to Me!!!!!!

10 Reasons Why I Had an Amazing Birthday:

10: I got to Skype with so many people including my dear friend Haley. She has been a part of my life since high school and our friendship has only gotten stronger over time, especially while I lived in Salt Lake. The term "glamorous" doesn't even begin to cover what our life is when we are together. Our outings usually consist of sweat pants, ice cream,  and occasionally bras. She is one of the few people I can tell to control her child as I walk past her in target and not think I am serious. She understands my sense of humor while other people think I am being bitchy. She has been one of my biggest supporters for this chapter of my life, and even though half of our conversation happened in the bathroom, my birthday wouldn't be complete without her. She is most definitely my sista from another mista.  

9. My amazing and dear friend, Ashley sent me an amazing (and super expensive) birthday package. The Chinese secretaries were all surprised that a friend would spend do much money to ship a package, to which I responded, "yeah, she is pretty much the best." Besides sending me a cute scarf and much needed church book, she sent me some food items I have been craving- my favorite: Mr. El Fudge!!! It used to be our go-to Friday night treat. I have really been missing them (and her!) 

8. I was showered with love by the Chinese secretaries all day! One of my biggest weaknesses is that I don't feel like I have much to contribute to a relationship- meaning that I don't understand why people want to be my friend and often times I underestimate how many people appreciate my friendship. It was such an eye opener to see how many of the Chinese secretaries value my friendship and who remembered it was my birthday and gave me a gift wether it was a cake, a necklace, a sweet card, flowers, a cute bracelet, or nail polish. 

7. I got to have a party in my morning class. I put my birthday on the calendar and told the kids all month that if they made good choices we would have a party. Luckily for me they made good choices and we got to enjoy an extra long break time complete with snacks brought by the kids and a musical interpretation of "Let it Go". Amy posed us for this picture, I love how candid it is- it truly captures everybody's personality!

6. Perhaps one of the best surprises that happened that morning was when Josh, Cassidy, and Heidi brought all their kids in to surprise me and sing happy birthday to me. I was totally not expecting to have 20ish little kids come and sing me happy birthday (and continue to wish me happy birthday clear into September!) There is nothing sweeter than the faces of little Asian kids wishing you a happy birthday! I wish I would have got a video but I was just so caught up in the moment that I forgot.

5. I couldn't think of a better way to start and end the day than by Skyping with a couple of handsome boys! I love hearing Emmit's raspy voice and I miss waking up to his handsome self every morning (more than that I miss dressing him in cute little plaid shirts and khaki pants!) I miss his cute little hands grabbing my face when he wants to talk to me and afternoon cuddles as we watch a movie. I miss having him help me get ready in the morning and him telling me to be quiet when I am singing. Even though Emmit was more fixated on the new kitty he was going to get, it was worth waking up at 6 am to hear his cute little raspy voice call me "my Tiff." 

The second handsome guy I got to talk to happens to be one of my dear friends from college, Ryan. Even though we really struggled finding a time to talk I am so glad he was persistent because it was the best ending to an already great day. 

4. I loved reading the birthday wishes on Facebook from my friends in all the chapters of my life. It is always such a great reminder at how many people have come into my life and how grateful I am for each and every one of them!

3. I got extra hugs from the babies in our afternoon class. I don't think there is anything better than a bunch of two year olds giving you lots of hugs - especially on your birthday!

2. I had one of the best surprise parties of all time! Seriously, I was speechless, and holding back tears. Thursday happens to be my language exchange night with Peggy, Cindy, Vickie, Holly, and Ib. Earlier in the week Peggy told me that the other secretaries and Ib wouldn't be able to go so it would just be the two of us, I didn't think anything of this as everybody had legitimate reasons why they couldn't come. Cindy even came up to me on Thursday, and in her broken English, told me she had to go home and couldn't come to language exchange that night.) I was sad Ib couldn't come but I always knew his family would come first. 

So at 6 pm we headed to the restaurant making a pit stop at the mall so a Peggy could pick out my present (nail polish, of course). We got to the restaurant and Peggy was very specific about where we sat (next to a window)-I figured it was because she liked the booth and not the seats. I started to pick out what I wanted to eat while Peggy went out to her scooter to "grab her notebook" and call her husband. I thought the behavior a little bizarre (she never talks to her husband on Thursday nights) but I still didn't think anything of it because I figured they had something they needed to discuss. Well as she is talking to her husband/ordering our food, I am in lala land. The people across from me kept smiling and waving. I ignored them the first couple times, I acknowledged them the next time, and by the fourth or fifth time of them smiling and pointing I finally looked outside, only to be surprised by this:

I was literally speechless my heart was so full of love it felt like it was going to burst. I was amazed at the fact that I had NO CLUE that they were planning this. It was funny to hear Ib's rendition of the event, it turns out they all beat me to the restaurant and were literally 10 feet away when I walked in. The Chinese secretaries were about 15 minutes late because they stopped to get flowers(that was who Peggy kept calling), and once everyone got there they were on completely seperate pages on how to surprise me. All while I was sitting there as clueless as could be. It was such an amazing night filled with laughter, love, and friendship. I always want to remember that feeling of joy and love. 

1. I was surrounded by so much love from people I have known for years to people I have just barley met. Words could never accurately describe how much love I had in my heart for those near and far who helped make this birthday do special. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to be surrounded by so many people who love me on several different continents. 

Mishaps and Misfortunes

I have a reputation among my friends of always finding myself in unfortunate (but often hilarious situations). Throughout the years I have collected numerous stories that have provided me and those around me with many tears of laughter. For instance there was the time I got hypothermia while repelling down seven waterfalls, the time I got stuck at the train station in China with no way to get home and no way to communicate. There was  the time I found two baby owls looking at me from inside a cave as I was rock climbing. There was the time I got over 170 bug bites while camping- then took Benedryal for the first time ever (not a good idea). There are also all the countless times my digestion issues have gotten in the way of whatever I was doing and provided me with some unfortunate and awkward stories. Perhaps one of my all time favorite stories is the when 3 random strangers grabbed my butt as they were helping me down a giant pothole while I was canyoneering in Southern Utah (all while I was in a polygomy dress- try to explain that one to them.) 

These are just a few occurrences to illustrate the awkward, uncomfortable, and at times potentially dangerous, situations I seem to find myself in- and as can be expected when traveling in a foreign country I have a more than a handful of stories to add to my repitore.

Often times my story can be attributed to one or a combination of the following things: inability to read a map, lack of experience in the great outdoors, obliviousness, blonde moments, the ever so hilarious close bathroom calls, or sometimes just bad luck. Over the years these stories have provided many (including myself) with so many tears of laughter.  Here are just a few snippets of some mishaps and misfortunes I have had while living in Taiwan: 

Mishap #1: The Missing Passport 

This mishap occurred even prior to stepping on the airplane. The week before I left I was trying to figure out what I wanted to take with me and what stuff I wanted to store in America so I had my stuff in several different locations. Well in shuffling my stuff around I happened to send my passport home with my aunt who was in town visiting me. It was only by the grace of God that I realized only a few short hours after she left Utah and I was able to get it back due to the good graces of my younger sister. Could you imagine the state of panic I would be in if I didn't realize it was missing until the night before. 

Mishap #2: The Rotten Apple

On the morning of July 26th I was in the process of getting ready for the day so I could go to breakfast at a cafe and Costco with some of the other Chinese teachers. I went to the kitchen to grab an apple for a pre-breakfast snack. As I was leaving the kitchen I had a brief thought that I should grab a knife and cut my apple into pieces. I quickly dismissed it as a silly idea and an utter waste of time. I went back in my room and started talking to Cassidy about potentially going out if town for my birthday weekend. I was either so enthralled in our conversation or in a hurray to get everything done before I left (or maybe a little of both) but I was not even paying attention to what I was putting in my mouth (rookie mistake- however in my defense I thought I was pretty safe with an apple.) I was several bites into it and was really enjoying my apple when in mid chew I start tasting something bitter in my mouth. I look down to behold black rot/mold with a ginormous bite taken out of it. It looked a little something like this (except much much worse-at least in my mind).

  Realizing that the bitter taste that was in my mouth was in fact this rotting apple, I proceeded to spit out the apple onto the ground, and attempt to wash out my mouth with water. The only problem was that I was dry heaving and thus proceeded to throw up my water everywhere. It took me a few minutes to compose myself (I literally could not stand to look at or touch the apple without gagging). After I cleaned up the water it took everything I had to pick it up and throw it away. I couldn't even snap a picture because I was gagging so bad- luckily Google has my back. Moral of the story: always cut your apples before eating them.

Mishap #3: This particular mishap is what inspired this whole blog post, as it was by far the funniest mishap and such a classic Tiffanee moment. One Thursday I decide to go for a run after work. I didn't have a specific destination in mind but I felt like I knew the city well enough that I would be fine exploring. There is something so exhilarating about weaving in and out of the other cars and scooters, often coming within inches of oncoming traffic. I started making left turns and right turns and more left turns, pretty soon I had made so many turns backtracking was no longer an option. I was confident that I knew what direction I needed to head in order to go back to a familiar street, so I started running in that direction. In the process of trying to find a familiar road, I ran past this amazing street (if you could call it that). It was really an alley big enough for one scooter to drive past at a time. It was next to a small river and all of the houses were small one room shanties with dirt floors and tin scraps for a roof. They looked a little something like this :

It was truly humbling. 

By this time the sun was starting to set and my Ipod was at 15% battery. Panic started to set in.... I literally had no clue where I was and how to get back home. Luckily there are 7-11's on every corner, I knew that some if them have wifi so I would be able to text my friends at the school and they could guide me back home. Well this plan soon backfired when I found out you needed a Taiwanese phone number to get the password. I then scrambled (and panicked some more), I tried using a pay phone but couldn't remember the schools number, I went across he street to an English cram school and would you believe that NOBODY spoke English. I was able to ask in my broken Chinese where the train station was and they pointed to the opposite way I was headed. I was so confident that it was not the way I should be going so I completely ignored that advice (turns out they were right). Flustered I ended up going back to the 7-11 and through the kindness of a worker there was able to get on the Wifi with her password. I texted Ib a picture of the street sign and he showed it to our sweet friend Peggy, and she came to rescue me.

The Chinese teachers couldn't believe that I ran that far (it was only 2.5 miles), and they got a good laugh out of it. It reminded me of a bumper sticker my friend Jess showed me on Spring Summit, it said "don't follow me I am probably lost". I have since redeemed myself and successfully navigated countless runs and a trip to Taipei but I still get the occasional joke about this one. Funniest part is that the 7-11 has become a point of reference for everyone (including myself) as the 7-11 where Tiffanee got lost (which is funny because there are literally 7-11s on every corner and they all look the same.)

Mishap #4: Back in July a group of us were sitting around the kitchen table conversing about the day. Josh posed the following question: which is heavier a bucket of bricks or a bucket of feathers. Thinking that I heard this riddle before I confidently proclaimed "they weigh the same!" Everybody started busting up laughing, still thinking that I had the correct answer I clarify, "a bucket is a form of measurement, like a bushel." We all proceed to laugh even harder. It turns out that the riddle I heard years ago was "what weighs more a pound of feathers or a pound of bricks." Apparently a bucket of bricks weighs more than a bucket of feathers. Who knew?

Mishap #5: Sun Moon Lake

There is this beautiful place called Sin Moon Lake only a few hours away with some beautiful temples and pagodas, as well as a beautiful bike path around the lake. One Saturday most of the teachers decided to go as a group to explore. My job was to navigate us from Feng Yuan to Puli and once there rent bikes, after that it was somebody else's turn to navigate. Well I got us there, we got our bikes, and started on the trail. 2 hours into the bike path we realized we were not on the side with the temples but actually the complete opposite side of the lake. By time we realized we were on the wrong side we didn't have time to go to the other side, so we totally missed all of the best sites all because of one wrong turn. However I can't complain when this was the view:

And for good measure- this next mishap didn't happen to me but it was too funny to not include. 

Mishap #6: The Kitchen Chairs 

We have a problem with our kitchen chairs breaking. Once they are broken it is very difficult to distinguish them from the non-broken chairs. One of the fastest ways to tell if it is broken us to sit on it only to have an induced moment of panic as your body starts to fall to the floor. I had the misfortune of having this happen one Sunday. However I quickly decided if I was going down I was taking somebody else with me. I quickly and quietly changed seats and waited for the next unsuspecting culprit to sit down and almost plummet to to ground. It didn't take long for another person to come into the kitchen grab some food and look for a place to sit down as I sat anxiously watching. The victim happened to be Josh- the guy who has scared the crap out of me so many times because he thinks it is funny. And let me just say there is nothing sweeter than revenge, especially when it comes as an expression on the face of somebody who has caused me so much panic. You know what the say about karma... it's totally true.