"The soul that sees beauty may sometimes walk alone."

Exciting news! My Valentine story WILL be published in the February issue of Rainbow Time :-)

I also signed up to teach a Public Speaking Class starting in September.

HAPPY ONE MONTH of living in TAIWAN!

Since this is my last week in the Nantun District of Taichung, I have been working on really exploring the area I am currently living in. This area has so much to offer. We are within walking distance of the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts and the National Museum of Natural Science, which includes the Botanical Gardens, a Science Center, a Global Environmental Hall, a Life Science Hall, Human Cultures, and an IMAX. We are also near People's park, many nice hotels and malls. I would say we are downtown in the city, but there seems to be more than one downtown in Taichung.

Taiwan does have its touch of America in it. We have quite a few McDonalds, Starbucks, and Coldstone. I have also seen a KFC and a Subway here and there. You will also see a few cartoon characters that are "American," or at least so I think- Snoopy, Looney Toons, and Mickey Mouse are huge. 
Taiwanese youth seems to be going through- or still is in - a boy band phase. This is fine by me. They love Backstreet Boys. I have seen their old music videos being played in the superstores more than once. They also have their own Asian Boy bands who have some pretty catchy tunes. Especially Only U. If you watch, please wait for the chorus. One downfall to the topic of music here, I have no idea what hits are coming out back home. We can hear tons of English songs, but nothing newer than 2012.

If you are interested in the climate of Taiwan this is a great website to check out. The use Celsius with an average low of 13C in January and February which turns to about 55F. The average highest is 33C in July and August, which is about 94F. 

On Friday after school a small group of us went to the Feng Jia night market. I had been once before, but I was so overwhelmed with how big it was and the amount of distractions that I did not purchase anything. This time I bought a pair of shoes, a pair of royal blue shorts, and a must buy shirt featuring an elephant.
It's odd that outside of the night markets a lot of the shops and places to eat on the streets will open and close when it best suits them. There are times you will stop somewhere in the middle of the day and they've decided to close up shop.  You will never have trouble finding an open 7/11 or a tea shop, that is 100% guaranteed.

We have an ongoing joke among us "white" girls. Whenever we see another foreigner, and because it is somewhat rare, someone in the group shouts out, "Unicorn!" 

Later that same evening Katie, Cassie and I met a few of the other girls down at Hotel One. Supposedly the tallest building in Taichung. We chose this place because it is said to have an amazing view and live music. However the main reason was because of Jeff.  Jeff was also hired at the UNI fair where the majority of us were hired. I met him at the fair just after we had both been offered jobs. He arrived with a group of 10 other teachers (most from the Midwest- even one from Iowa) just over a week ago. So we worked on joining our groups.  You could REALLY see the difference in our groups based on just comfort of being in Taiwan. We have been here for a month now and they were on their 8th day.  We were dancing and conversing with locals and other people outside of our group. They were sitting down and sticking to themselves, just as we may have been.  BUT I do think I am in a very confident, beautiful group of girls that just love to dance and meet people. So I feel blessed :-)
 

On Saturday we celebrated our One Month Living in Taiwan!! Angela, Cassie, Katie and I had a lovely brunch at a place called Mocha Jane's Coffee House. It reminded me of a Panera. We had a wonderful conversation of future endeavors. Where we will visit this year, where we will teach next year, etc. I hope to visit Angela in South Africa someday. There is also a 5k marathon on the Great Wall of China that I hope to do in May.


We then walked to the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts. There were a lot of sections where no photography was allowed. One artist I took an interest in was Paul Chiang, he specializes in spiritual art. Art is something difficult to put into words, but I will say that art is as big of a focal point to the Taiwanese as protecting the environment. One painting was called "After the Extinction of the Bees." It was a dead, rotted Sunflower inside with cobwebs, out the window (what I took as looking into the past) were beautiful flourished Sunflowers. Quite sad. It also made me remember that I have seen bees being taken care of twice in different areas of Taichung. This countries effort to DO SOMETHING about the environment is noticeable.

On the walk home I purchased my first fruit market mango. I ate half of it today. If I could bring one thing back to America to share with everyone, it would be the taste of Taiwan mangoes!

I have tried to use a mask to block some of the city fumes. It is entirely too hot to wear, but I will try again.














Sunday, the Palace girls and I took a cab to see the giant Laughing Buddha that is famous in Taichung. After we enjoyed him and the surrounding sights we walked to the Botanical Gardens, which is apart of the National Museum of Natural Science. Then we walked through the featured outdoor exhibit which is all about how "Art is good for you." Before stopping at home we had an amazing dinner at Nu Pasta.

Two notable mentions. Some of the Taiwanese, especially girls, get very, very excited to just say 'Hello' to an American. They perk up, wave their hands very quickly, say hello and then giggle, smile and usually turn to talk about it with someone they are with. Also the Taiwanese don't start doing things till later in the day. Both Saturday and Sunday around 3 o'clock all of the sudden it was packed with people everywhere we went. Not sure why this is.




Currently I am reading two books, White Oleander and A Storm of Swords.  --Thanks for reading--XX-K