this is Halloween!

Even though there is no Halloween here in Taiwan, the school I work for still celebrates the wonderfully frightening holiday!

In my kindergarten class, I decided that we were going to make paper mache masks.

And it was a genius idea.

:)

I'm pretty proud!

Take a look

And to tie it all up in a nice pretty bow, my boss stole the masks to hang on the walls during our Halloween party. They were THAT cool!

happy moment of the day

I live in a four story building where the first three floors are the school. There are 10 of us living on the fourth floor. These are the stairs that we get to climb. They're not so bad but sometimes they are malicious after a hard day at work. If you had a rough day teaching, the last thing you want to do is lumber up 4 flights of stairs.

This is the worst part. The last set of stairs. It's basically the devil.

Where you are so close, and yet still so far away.

Luckily, there are pictures to encourage you on your way.

For example, the picture below means that you are almost to the second floor.

This picture, some ancient pottery, is the sign of the third floor.

But when you got to the point between the third and fourth floor, this is all you found.

It's not very encouraging! In fact, it's almost degrading. You've come this far but have nothing to show for it. You still have another set of stairs ahead of you!

It's the worst.

But today, that all changed.

And ^ablessed are they who shall seek to bring forth my ^bZion at that day, for they shall have the ^cgift and the ^dpower of the Holy Ghost; and if they ^eendure unto the end they shall be ^flifted up at the last day, and shall be saved in the everlasting ^gkingdom of the Lamb; and whoso shall ^hpublish peace, yea, tidings of great joy, how beautiful upon the mountains shall they be. 1 Nephi 13:37

It made me so happy! And now, climbing the stairs is not nearly as bad. I think I'll memorize the scripture so I can quote it as I'm walking up the last flight of stairs. That will make my life all the better. Thank goodness for whoever put that there.

my Dad is the bomb.com

In case you were wondering, the answer is yes!

In case you didn't know, the question was "Do you have the best Dad in the entire cosmos?"

My Daddy, who is THE MAN!, came to visit little old me

ALL THE WAY IN TAIWAN!!!!

I gave him the biggest hug of his life!

I showed him my turtles, as well as my scooter.

And like a good Daddy, he let me drive!

Then I showed him (and my wonderful Aunt) one of the most gorgeous temples in Fengyuan.

Then we went to Earthquake park where we fed the fish.

It was quite relaxing and super fun!

I introduced my favorite drink to him (I don't think he really liked it though).

OR he was really full from all the other stuff I made him try. Haha

Basically, I love my Daddy.

I'm the luckiest girl alive!

Thank you Heavenly Father for such a great Earthly Father.

I will forever be grateful for him.

the Hawaii of Taiwan

Last weekend was a holiday for the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival. Which meant that we teachers did not have school on Monday. We took advantage of this three day weekend to go to Kenting; the Hawaii of Taiwan. It was exactly what I needed. It was so much fun.

Next to the beach was this cool little setup.
We got the peach smoothie! (And the popcorn chicken, which was DELICIOUS!)

Later that night we went to the nightmarket. It was so busy and very cool. Some of us got some delicious cone pizzas (it's a pizza... in a cone!) and corn dogs that looked like rock candy. Haha. We got this other scone like thing too... but I inhaled it before I could take a picture. Oh, and I bought two cups of watermelon milk. Yum!

Camping with the students

The latest and greatest adventure in Taiwan was in one of my classes.

We just started a new book called P.J. Funnybunny goes Camping. So, I decided that my students and I were going to go camping too! Unfortunately, I wasn't willing to deal with those pesky Mosquitoes, so I put the tent up in the classroom.

I guess all those years of girls camp and family camping trips paid off. I actually put a tent together all by my lonesome. :)
Jessica and Pearl weren't so sure about the tent. They were the last ones to get in the tent. They seemed a little nervous.

Candy and Sharon were liking it alright. They thought it was fun and cool. The wouldn't stop touching the walls like they were going to crash on top of them! haha

Felix (who apparently thinks he's a jedi) loved the tent! Benjamin, although he looks bored in the picture, was just trying to pose for the camera. He said before I took the picture "I take picture like American!"
As you can see, Jeremy was OVERLY excited about the tent. He just couldn't control himself long enough for the picture. King, who loves his gang signs, ended up getting in the last picture too.
Here's King again. Haha He loves his buddy Sean, who really didn't want to get his picture taken. He kept telling me "No Teacher, I so ugly!" haha
I have a second class right after my 2nd grade class. The second class is a writing class for Junior High kids. I only have three or four students on Tuesdays. They jumped inside the tent before I had a chance to say otherwise. So, I let them write in the tent for the first half of class. For the second half, they got too hot and returned to their desks.
It was.... an entertaining way to end my day. :) Gotta love these Taiwanese kids.

A-bao

One of my favorite places to eat is just around the corner from where we live. It is called A-bao house. It's a breakfast place that is only open until 2:00pm I believe. It is so delicious!

My favorite things to get there are the Soy Milk (with sugar) and the chicken burgers. They are both so delicious. The cup even says so!

Anyway, since it's my favorite place to eat, I thought I would blog about it. I went there once this weekend. And once the week before. If I were made of money I would go all the time. It is cheap considering all the other places I could go eat, but still.... eating from home is always the cheapest.

strangers in Laie, friends in Taiwan

I have a dear friend who i met in Hawaii named Terri Wu. She is a sweetheart and I am so blessed to know her.

The other day, we got together for dinner and exploration because she lives here in Feng Yuan.

We went to a Americanized Taiwanese restaurant

- where they played The Eagles and ACDC for background music. Haha

I ordered fried pork chop (always melted in cheese) with rice and vegetables

Just so you know, the food on the very top was AWFUL!

But everything else was sublime. Especially the drink. It was a fruit tea with Apples, kumquat and honey. So, so, so good!

See?! Terri likes it too! Yummy!

Terri got Salmon, which was also sublime.

Next she took me to a smaller Night Market. It's so far my favorite.

Why you may ask?

This is why!

It's a mini roller coaster with a giant spongebob blow-up in the middle.

How is this not amazing!?

I also enjoyed seeing all the candy. There were tables and tables of this candy in these little bins.

These are sugar coated tomatoes.

I guess they really are fruit. Haha

Anyway, I'm glad I had the chance to meet Terri in Hawaii so we could meet together again in Taiwan. It is a blessing that I will never forget. I am so glad to know she's nearby for the remainder of my time in Taiwan. :)