hualian and hualian
wow, we spent a disproportionate amount of time in Hualian last week!
It was rather fun though. On Monday we took the train there and met Lisa, who is an English teacher and a friend of our wonderful Amy Jieh. She took us past Hualian ocean park (a huge amusement park) out to a bed and breakfast that her friend owns right on the Pacific ocean and we had coffee. It was so beautiful out there! We then went back to do a little shopping (bought a bunt (cake) pan, caramel sauce, some parmesan cheese, and my new birthday skirt!) . We were checked into the Marshal hotel, which is a really nice hotel! We paid about $100 (total) for our shared room, which we got a 40% discount on since it was the middle of the week. The cost was NT$2800 instead of like NT$5600! It was a really nice room! We went for dinner at a very exciting find: an Indian and Pakistani restaurant! The owner is from Pakistan and speaks English quite well. It was really good food, and a nice break from the usual. In the evening we met our friends from Studio Classroom and got to see some more of Hualien, as they went touring some of the Taiwan specialties including oyster omelettes, almond milk, and a special type of ice cream. I didn't sample all of these things.
IOn Tuesday, we joined our Taipei co-workers for three rallies, one at a jr. high, one at a girl's high school, and one at a teacher's college. It was so much fun to be with everyone, I felt really encouraged by them. In the first school, only a smaller group had gone, and so I ended up doing a part in a small skit. It was interesting. We learned a great new song called "Life is a Gift" which we were singing for the rest of the week... and now that I'm going to type out the lyrics, I'll probably be singing it today too.
Life is a gift
Life is a gift
A gift of love
A gift from God
Life is a gift
A gift of love from God
A gift of love from above
It is so wonderful
Don't throw it away
It is so precious
Treasure it every day
At the second two rallies we got to talk to a lot of students afterward, which was really fun! I was impressed by their English. We even saw a girl we know from Yuli who goes to high school there. After the teacher's college rally, we actually met some people who will be working in Yuli this summer. We exchanged email addresses, and hopefully can work together if possible!
Anyways, after a fun week we went back to Hualian on Sunday! We went with Ariel and Richard who wanted to take me their for my birthday. We went to Richard's church which is right by Dong-Hua University. I really enjoyed it. Wow.. we've barely been to Yuli church this month! Anyways, we got to take a little tour of the university afterward (and a wonderful library with a whole floor of English books!) , then we went to eat one of Taiwan's most ingenious desserts: shaved ice topped with fresh mango and sweetened condensed milk... it was really good!!! We did a little shopping and went to Starbucks, and then went for a dinner of milk hot pot at this nice little cafe that used to be situated in Yuli. Milk hot pot is one of my favorite varieties of this fun dish. We left to look for fireflies since I've never seen real ones, but it was too late so there weren't any to be found... Oh yeah, and on the way home, Ariel bought this very unique drink that she wanted us to try: green tea with Heineken beer in it... it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be... but one sip was enough for me.... though I suppose I'd drink that over a whole can of beer if I had to choose one... anyways, how's that for random?
It was rather fun though. On Monday we took the train there and met Lisa, who is an English teacher and a friend of our wonderful Amy Jieh. She took us past Hualian ocean park (a huge amusement park) out to a bed and breakfast that her friend owns right on the Pacific ocean and we had coffee. It was so beautiful out there! We then went back to do a little shopping (bought a bunt (cake) pan, caramel sauce, some parmesan cheese, and my new birthday skirt!) . We were checked into the Marshal hotel, which is a really nice hotel! We paid about $100 (total) for our shared room, which we got a 40% discount on since it was the middle of the week. The cost was NT$2800 instead of like NT$5600! It was a really nice room! We went for dinner at a very exciting find: an Indian and Pakistani restaurant! The owner is from Pakistan and speaks English quite well. It was really good food, and a nice break from the usual. In the evening we met our friends from Studio Classroom and got to see some more of Hualien, as they went touring some of the Taiwan specialties including oyster omelettes, almond milk, and a special type of ice cream. I didn't sample all of these things.
IOn Tuesday, we joined our Taipei co-workers for three rallies, one at a jr. high, one at a girl's high school, and one at a teacher's college. It was so much fun to be with everyone, I felt really encouraged by them. In the first school, only a smaller group had gone, and so I ended up doing a part in a small skit. It was interesting. We learned a great new song called "Life is a Gift" which we were singing for the rest of the week... and now that I'm going to type out the lyrics, I'll probably be singing it today too.
Life is a gift
Life is a gift
A gift of love
A gift from God
Life is a gift
A gift of love from God
A gift of love from above
It is so wonderful
Don't throw it away
It is so precious
Treasure it every day
At the second two rallies we got to talk to a lot of students afterward, which was really fun! I was impressed by their English. We even saw a girl we know from Yuli who goes to high school there. After the teacher's college rally, we actually met some people who will be working in Yuli this summer. We exchanged email addresses, and hopefully can work together if possible!
Anyways, after a fun week we went back to Hualian on Sunday! We went with Ariel and Richard who wanted to take me their for my birthday. We went to Richard's church which is right by Dong-Hua University. I really enjoyed it. Wow.. we've barely been to Yuli church this month! Anyways, we got to take a little tour of the university afterward (and a wonderful library with a whole floor of English books!) , then we went to eat one of Taiwan's most ingenious desserts: shaved ice topped with fresh mango and sweetened condensed milk... it was really good!!! We did a little shopping and went to Starbucks, and then went for a dinner of milk hot pot at this nice little cafe that used to be situated in Yuli. Milk hot pot is one of my favorite varieties of this fun dish. We left to look for fireflies since I've never seen real ones, but it was too late so there weren't any to be found... Oh yeah, and on the way home, Ariel bought this very unique drink that she wanted us to try: green tea with Heineken beer in it... it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be... but one sip was enough for me.... though I suppose I'd drink that over a whole can of beer if I had to choose one... anyways, how's that for random?
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