Friday, July 16, 2010

Goodbye Taiwan :(

Hey everyone!

I'm so sorry...this post is WAY long overdue. I've been super, super busy these past three weeks in Shanghai. I've never done so much Chinese homework in my entire life....

Anyways here are pictures from my last two days in Taiwan! 

The very last day at school....I pretty much let the kids take pictures themselves. So here's what I found on my camera...

THURSDAY: Last Day of School


4th grade gym class


watching videos on my camera


looking at pictures


kickball!


4th grade class in the principal's office


silly kids :)


after school some of the kids were doing their homework so they could play later in the evening


some of the girls stayed with me to take some pictures!










:D







friends forever







so adorable!

I miss all these kids so much! Everyone should be on summer break now and relaxing :) I hope I see everyone next time I go back to visit!



FRIDAY: Leaving Nantou County


Principal Ma and Principal Hong treated me to a hot pot lunch! It was really good :)







yummm






everyone at lunch



 Nivu's face HAHA



Vox Nativa Family



Vox Nativa Family + Me :)


I had the most incredible month in June, and I owe it all to Principal Ma, Principal Hong, Ali, Nivu, Akuan, Vox Nativa.....and just about everyone I met on this trip. It truly was an experience I will never forget. I learned a lot about myself, a lot about Vox Nativa, a lot about the Bunun people....the most amazing experience of my life! I miss everyone so much. Next time I'm in Taiwan...I'm definitely visiting!


waiting at Taiwan's high speed railway train station



goodbye Nantou County!


Saturday: Last day in Taiwan


the cards Nivu and Ali made me! I displayed them in my dorm room!


last lunch with family in Taiwan


yummy Japanese food lunch!


Jennifer and I got our hair done later that night...we spent 5 hours in the salon highlighting, perming, and cutting our hair...


:)


So what am I up to now? Well I've lept from one amazing adventure to another....for the last three weeks I've been enjoying every moment of my time in Shanghai. It's an insane amount of Chinese work I am doing...but I've met some really amazing people on my study abroad trip already. 


Seriously....thank you for reading my blog everyone! I've had a lot of fun this summer, and I'm glad I got to share a little bit of my experience with everyone. 
Sa vì



p.s. Maybe it's time to start another blog for Shanghai?






Thursday, June 24, 2010

A whole day of fun and celebration

note: sorry everything is italicized....for some reason Blogger won't let me un-italicize everything :/




Wait...this is a joke right? It's been a month already, really! That can't be possible...I feel like I just unpacked everything yesterday!


Well to celebrate, Ali and Nivu took me a plum wine distillery, the famous Sun Moon Lake, Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village, an old train station, and then a dinner party! I have 111 pictures from Wednesday to put on this blog entry....ready? 


Plum Wine Distillery





one of their logo characters



this is a Bunun knife



this little piggy is relieving itself 

Sun Moon Lake

We had so much fun here!














ahead is the most expensive hotel in Taiwan


the view


engagement pictures being taken



Ali on the boardwalk



lots of jumping in the next few pictures!



Nivu and Ali









n











ow for some glamor shots of Ali




















Taiwan's next top  model?

















Nivu and I goofing around





Longfeng Temple and the Matchmaker God Shrine

On the way to our destination Ali asked if I wanted to see a temple, and I said why not...I could take a few cool pictures there anyways. I was confused because there were a lot of young people walking around, and usually you see  older people at temples praying. Then Ali told me people were here praying to the  Matchmaker God in hopes of finding a good love match in the future. 


entrance



Longfeng Temple



the entrance from the back



details



young people burning money for the Matchmaker God



stone dragon sculpture


Formosan Aboriginal Cultural Village 




This place is like half outdoor museum and half amusement park....it covers the history of aboriginal groups all over the world. You will see that the day goes from sunny to pouring rain...





























we're here!



entering the garden first



they shot a Taiwanese drama here













pretending to be a sculpture



Ali running towards us while managing to look cute



paparazzi time begins...now













cartwheeling..what else?






going up!






the view


being cutesy with Ali


silly with Nivu


this rock was tipping over a bit


always understand where your water comes from!


uh oh?


hehe



Ali, Nivu, and I watched people perform all types of dances and ceremonies from different Taiwanese Aboriginal groups.








the person in the middle throws up this wooden woven ball...


....and whoever catches it with their spear will have good luck for that year


swinging


this looks so much like PSIDE's tinikling!





except they use sticks that remind me of raas sticks!








this was insane....there were 8 poles to dodge!


imaginary tea party 


the pattern on the table


Bunun tribe!


they will keep the bones of the animals they kill


it's sort of blurry...but they cooked thin slices of pork on this stone slab


so yummy!


BUNUN!




lots of owls



even owls carved into other owls!



the stools were so cute!



making mochi!!


the mochi is so sticky...so it's really hard to make

after pounding some mochi...we get to eat mochi dipped in chopped up peanuts with sugar


yum :)


eating some rice cooked in bamboo...i've actually had this before!






taro cake...really good!


relaxing


modeling


off to our last stop...


...a water ride!



while we were on the ride...it started pouring! so we were soaked from the ride and the rain...


since it began to pour, we headed inside










this ride was scary!



on the monorail


Nivu in the back


Old Train Station

Around 4 we headed back to the mountains....but we wanted to stop at this pretty old train station...






where people used to wait


pretending to wait for a train





Dinner Party


this is Ali's reenactment of her trip to the doctors on our way back....hilarious! Her voice was hoarse, so she went in to get a shot. They gave her a shot in the butt, but for some odd reason the nurse forgot to close the curtain! Nivu and I could see her from outside! I laughed so hard......it was hilarious






two of the three Sav









ì




's that were at dinner






Principal Ma's two super good friends...they love to joke around with him


the other Savi's mother



























giving out chocolates I bagged







his daughter..so cute!





his wife and other daughter


E bu...the one I talked about in an earlier blog entry



this is E bu's cousin...also named E bu...they were both named after their aunt. The Bunun language teacher almost named me E bu!




sad goodbyes :(


I can't believe I'm leaving tomorrow!




Sa vì



p.s. I will be posting another entry hopefully tomorrow with today's pictures! I may not be in the mountains tomorrow, but it's not the very end quite yet!