I've finally done it. All my pictures from Taiwan have, at long last, been uploaded to my computer. I know. Took me long enough, right? Next goal: print off hard copies. That'll probably set me back $100-$200 (there are literally thousands of pictures), but then I can scrapbook them and look at them every single day of my life and shed tears on them instead of on my computer.
So, my official last day in Taiwan was January 5th (we flew out early on the 6th). That night, Dad and I went into Taipei City to see Taipei 101. Even though I had been outside of the building before, I had never actually gone inside. Dad treated me to a trip up to the observatory; unfortunately, due to inclement weather, the outside part of the "tour" was closed, but it was still pretty amazing. Anyway, most of these pictures are either on the way to the tower or from, but there are a few that were taken inside.
These next few were taken inside Taipei 101:
Jade, guys. Amazing? I think yes.
The ginormous damper
The equally ginormous, golden cable that holds the damper
Learning from the Damper Babies
Gold orchid. TO DIE FOR! (And, trust me, the price on this thing would make me die.)
Dad with one of the Damper Babies and the Damper in the background
This Damper Baby was my favorite.
There were some really amazing jewelry and sculpture stores on the observation floors. The skill that went into creating these is incredible!
OK. The rest of these photos were taken on our way back to the MRT. We did stop at Star Bucks for a nutricious dinner of hot chocolate and cookies before hand, but that didn't really seem like it needed to be photographed. We were going to go to Chili's, but I couldn't remember exactly where it was. Oh, well.
I seriously love Taipei. I wish I could have spent a few more days there (and a few more months in Taiwan in general), but it just was not possible at the time. I hope that soon I can go back!
Finally, the flight home. Taoyuan Airport, as I have mentioned before, is amazing. Waiting for a flight was a few hours long, so I wandered around for a bit. I found these remarkable puppets that I would love to add to one of my collections.
Aren't they gorgeous?
Well, that completes the Taiwan series of posts. I cannot express in words how happy I am that I had the opportunity to go and live in Taiwan and to teach some of the children there. I made many life-long friends and learned so many different things about myself, others, and service. The Taiwanese are the most self-giving, kindest, hardest working people that I have ever met. I don't know how anyone could ever go to Taiwan and not love it! Taiwan truly will touch your heart!
In the meantime, for those of you who are unaware, about a month and a half ago I finally found myself a job! Actually, two jobs! I consider myself to be extremely blessed, especially when you consider the job market today. I am working as a part-time floral designer, which is great because I can use my skills in that field and improve upon them. The only true downside to working with flowers is allergies, but I guess that's what allergy medication is for. I am also working at one of the local elementary schools. I think that, legally, I cannot say much about this being that there is a lot more of the whole privacy thing involved in America than there ever was in Taiwan. Suffice it to say, though, that the 12 children I work with right now are at least helping to fill the void in my heart from when I left Berhan. In addition to this, I must add that I also appreciate ILP's/Berhan's method of teaching English to English Language Learners even more now. My contract at the school only goes until the end of this school year, which means I've got just barely over a month left. I am hoping to have my contract renewed, but no one is really too sure of what's going to happen right now because the school is soon to get a new principal. I have faith that whatever happens will be for the best, though, so I'm not really worried about it much. There are also rumors going around about a Chinese dual-language school starting up in the district. I need to do some more research on this, as well as find a way to become more fluent in the Chinese language! Wouldn't it be awesome to work there? I think yes!
So, between my two jobs I am working a few hours more than full-time and am being kept pretty busy. I've also been able to continue to enjoy my most expensive souvenir from Taiwan: an ear infection (and I'm pretty sure it's from Immy, because she was constantly complaining about her ears hurting and was quite sick that last week of the semester). Hopefully this antibiotic will kick it to the curb this time around, because I'm getting quite sick of being, well, sick, if you know what I mean. I suppose it serves me right, though, for waiting so long to see a doctor about it.
OK! Forever-long blog post complete! If you've read all the way to the end, reward yourself with a high-five or a cookie or something.
The Taoyuan Airport is adorable. Like, seriously, I didn't think airports could be beautiful, but I have since been proved deliciously wrong. Check it out. Hello Kitty.
Squee! Right? I think yes!
So, after catching our flight to the Hong Kong, Dad and I arrived, checked into our hotel (Sky City Marriott, if memory serves correctly), and then we caught the rail into the city for some dinner (Pizza Hut). We really did not spend very much time out that day, as we were both tired. And, hello, New Year Eve crowds to avoid. We did, however, wander around this one shopping center a little bit before heading back to the hotel.
Check us out; we're perfect 10s!
For those of you who do not remember, January 1, 2012 was a Sunday this year. Therefore, we really did not do much, but we decided to scout out the LDS Hong Kong temple (so as to be able to attend at a later date), and we also went to Victoria Peak in hopes of having a peaceful, somewhat spiritual experience there. That part of our little plan failed (we didn't really think about it being a tourist spot+holiday=chaos), but we still got to see a nice view of Hong Kong.
Das Temple
Das City
Oh, also, for my KyleandFelix, a picture of the cornerstone at the temple.
You're welcome. We also looked in at the chapel/Distribution Center/All-of-your-Church-Needs Building across the street, but we didn't go in. (I know, sinners.)
January 2 was awesome. I had found out about this place called Ocean Park by looking at the Hong Kong Lonely Planet Guide Book that we had in the lounge at the school. It sounded a lot like SeaWorld and it's also a more popular place to go in Hong Kong than Hong Kong Disney is. That, to me, translated in my brain as "WE HAVE TO GO HERE!) And I am so glad we did. Really, I think I probably could have spent one more day here and have been OK, but there was not time enough. So, sadly, we missed all of the animal shows, but I think that still we had a good time.
Panda Exhibit!!
I can now say I have seen live Pandas from China in China. Also, this is An An.
And, if we recall from my trip to the Hogle Zoo, I have this deep and abiding love for Red Pandas (which, sadly, do not make good pets). I still think they are super-duper adorable, though.
Ocean Park is really quite beautiful. Dad and I enjoyed walking around together and just seeing
real, live snake!
We had to ride some cable cars (I don't really know if this is the right term?) from one end of the park to the other because we had to go over this mountain that's right in the middle. Here is one of the views
California Sea Lions! I go all the way to Hong Kong to see California Sea Lions.
Jelly Fish!
This is at a giant aquarium. The glass was, like, 3 feet thick. It was amazing. The rays were ginormous! They were basically as big as the sharks.
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