Christmas Eve in Hualien--a true blessing.

Christmas wasn't the same this year, as you can probably already tell from my previous blogs. I was feeling pretty down in the dumps though on Christmas Eve as we were traveling to another city, and weren't surrounded by family. When we got off the train that night, this is what awaited us:

It was a blessing. I was so touched it was almost impossible for me to keep back the tears. In 1 Nephi 1: 20, Nephi, the prophet of the Lord proclaims:

Behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance.

At that time, I really felt like it was a tender mercy of the Lord for me to hear that song, and to feel something of the Christmas spirit.

The rest of the evening was perfect, complete with taro cakes, a Taiwanese Santa with a cotton mask, and a reading of Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

Sun.Moon.Lake

Now that I've been home for two and 1/2 weeks, and have fully adjusted to the American time zones, I figured it's about time that I fill everyone in on the rest of my travels, and final days in Taiwan. I miss it terribly, and it's a treat to go back in time and experience it all again.

Dec. 22nd-Day one of being jobless and homeless

Since we teachers were no longer teaching, we were without a home, and were sent packing to enjoy the wonderful beauties of that Taiwan could bestow upon us. First stop: Sun Moon Lake.

Sun Moon Lake is situated near the middle of the island, about 45 minutes south of Feng Yuan. Two hours after we began our journey, we finally made it to the small resort town on the banks of a beautiful lake. As we walked down the main street searching for a hostel to stay, the hostel owners were like cat-callers, luring us to their places of business. The seven of us decided to stay at the hostel of this incredibly cute, old--by that I mean wise--man. Four of us stayed in one room on floor three, and three of us stayed on the next floor up--floor five. Yup, you heard me correctly. There was no fourth floor. Traditionally the number 4 brings bad luck, so the Taiwanese try to avoid the number at all costs.

Dec. 23rd--Our first and only full day in Sun Moon Lake

We took this amazing boat tour around the lake, and had many amazing photo opportunities along the amazing journey, as seen below in the amazing photos. Destinations: a floating island, a temple, and an aboriginal village.

My favorite thing at the aboriginal village were these native women dressed in native clothes singing traditional songs with Santa hats. It was pretty cool. Oh, and finding a store that actually sold Mala Sun, the beverage of choice to anyone who has seen Cape No. 7 (but not me--I don't drink anything alcoholic).

That afternoon, Jake, Rachelle and I had the brilliant idea of riding bikes to the opposite side of the lake from where we were staying. The lake didn't appear to be that big, and we were up for something a little different. First up was Wenwu Temple. Watch the video!

After taking several pictures and buying bells, we added our own to our birth-stair.

(My computer sucks, and was taking forever to upload the other video. I'm a very impatient person, so I'll upload it later).

We hung out at the temple for quite a while afterward as well. Once we realized the sun was about to set, we decided that we should continue on our journey and actually get to our destination. We did see the sun set over the lake, and about an hour and a half later we made it to the pagoda. By the time we got there, we were exhausted--well, at least Rachelle and I were--and we still had to hike up a hill to get to the actual structure. The grounds were pitch black, and there was hardly enough light to see the stairs. When we reached the top, there was a lone man taking pictures in the dark. At first we thought he was a security guard, and Jake, in the Chinese he learned on his own, asked him if we could go up. The man responded that we could, and I think we said that he would light up the structure so we could see it. The three of us hike up even more stairs to the very top where we found a bell that when rung, can be heard on the opposite side of the lake. When we came back down, the guy was so nice and offered us a ride back to town. He seriously saved us! Needless to say, that night we slept very very well.

Dec. 24th--Christmas Eve

Early that morning, I decided to go off on my own, pick up some hot chocolate at Starbucks (hey I'm from Seattle), and take in the view. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect morning. As I was strolling along the waterfront I found a bench and sat down for some serious people watching. It was the perfect way to finish my perfect stay at Sun Moon Lake.

Christmas Berhan Style!

Last Day of School

December was a whirlwind, and I've finally been able to catch my breath, and reflect on it. December 19th was the last day of class, and our afternoon classes had a day of performances, games, and candy. My BR kids combined with Miss Erin's class to perform a play about Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer, written by Erin. It was adorable, and I was so proud of my kids for memorizing their lines.

Their hats were so cute! The boys especially would goof around and have them stand up straight on their heads. Jason didn't want me to take a picture of him, so he hid under his hat. They were all so well behaved during the performance, it was really funny. I felt like, why couldn't you be this good for me?

Some of the other classes did musical numbers, recited poetry, and Lindsey's class did a dance that she choreographed to Hillary Duff's "Santa Clause is Coming to Town." It was pretty awesome. Check out her blog for the video.

The 4:40pm and 6:40 pm classes were all combined that evening, and a humongous extravaganza of competitiveness ensued. The previous night my fourth graders were involved, and lost. As a result I had to join them on the stage as they were humiliated (in a good way) in front of the school.

Caroling

Frances, our boss, had the brilliant idea of having us, the Americans, carol as advertising for the school. When we first heard about it, we had no desire whatsoever to comply. You'd have to know our boss and how she treated her employees to really understand how we felt. It was hour last Saturday, and we had to packed up and out of the school by Monday morning. The last thing we wanted to do on Saturday was to spend the majority of the day advertising for the school.

In the end it was a ton of fun! I felt guilty for previously being against the idea. We met at Berhan at 8:30 on the morning of the 20th. Then us and the secretaries caravanned over to a community where some of our students lived. We were a sea of red. My student Cheryl lived in this development along with Dustin's student Anne. It was a lot of fun to be there and to meet her family.

Then the lot of us headed over to Sogo, the big department store in the center of Feng Yuan, where we were to put on another production. Oh, no. This was not just singing songs door to door like we do in the States. Nor did we sing traditional carols. It really was a production. Dustin was Santa Clause, we had the blow up snowmen as seen in the picture above, and along with our songs were elaborate dances. We were totally cool. I went with the secretaries to get Dustin into his outfit and it was quite a process:

When they were done dressing him he went around the children's department handing out candy. It was funny. Some kids liked him, others were scared of him. My favorite was the kid that was so involved in playing Nintendo that he took one glance at Dustin, and then continued playing.

Caroling at the store was awesome! So many of our students and their families came. It was like saying goodbye to them for the second time. It was a bit hard for me. Luke was so cute. He kept on taking pictures of me with his mom's cell phone. It was really cool to finally put siblings together and see who they belong to. Below are some pictures of me, Dustin, and our amazing kids:

My time abroad is coming to an end...

So, I'm not dead. I've just been travelling around Taiwan and Thailand for the last couple of weeks. I'll have some major blogging to do once I get back to the States on Thursday. It's been fabulous. I spent New Year's in Bangkok, spent the night with a hill tribe, river rafted, rode an elephant, and much much more. Till the time I can actually do a proper blog--Happy New Year!!