A most wonderful day!

Saturday was a wonderful day!  Kristi and I got up early and went to the temple in Taipei, and that is always a wonderful thing.  The sad thing is, I wanted to buy an Asian scripture case, and the store was closed.  Pooh!  We did do a bit of souvenir shopping at Chang Kai-Shek Memorial.  We got home from Taipei at around 5:30pm.

After coming up the stairs, we passed the kitchen and Erin informed me that I had mail on my bed.  Could it be!?  Could it be!?  I hurried to my room to find a large envelope on my bed!  That was the most beautiful piece of mail have ever seen!  It was from the Church, of course.  I just had to admire it.  All of the sudden, I felt scared.  I wasn't ready to open it.  I had to feel ready.  Whatever it said in the envelope would change my life and I had to feel ready.  I cleaned my room and went to the lounge to say a private prayer.  The Spirit confirmed to me that whatever the call was, it would be the best for me.

I was driving my roommates nuts with the waiting, but I wanted all of my roommates to be here.  Whitney was absent.  She finally came home close to 6:30pm.  Then I skyped my family, so they could "be there."  I felt a little bad because it was in the middle of the night for them. I don't think they minded, especially for this reason. It had been one day short of seven weeks since I handed over my papers to the Stake President.  It felt like an eternity, but now it is finally here.  My family was on skype and all my roommates were in the room, plus Randy.  Lien filmed the joyous moment.  I openned the envelope and pulled out the letter.  I wanted to read the letter and not cheat and read ahead.  I quickly covered the letter with the other booklet in the envelope.  I read the letter line by line.  (This play-by-play is for those who can't get the video to work.)

"Dear Sister Yancey:
You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."  Me!  A missionary!  The tears started to flow and the Spirit enveloped me with its warmth.  "You are assigned to labor in the"....

New York New York North Mission!!!!!!


I couldn't believe it!  I still can't believe it.  New York!  Me a missionary in New York!  Everyone screamed when I read it.  The Spirit told me that that is the best place for me and that is where I am needed.  I continued reading:

"It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 18 months.  You should report to the Provo Missionary Training Center on Wednesday, February 16, 2011."  In two months!  That is just so perfect!  But wait, it gets better!  I wasn't expecting this next part.  "You will prepare to preach the gospel in the Mandarin Chinese language."  Are you kidding me!?  Everyone screamed again of course.  That was the cherry on top of the most delicious sundae!  I am so excited!  I am going to New York and I get to learn Chinese!!!

Narnia in 3D

We went to see Narnia in 3D a week before it came out in the States.  Might as well take some pictures.  Oh and don't break the glasses.  You will have to pay for those.

Kristi, Me, Aslan, Lien, Erin, Katy

Allison, Me, Katy, Lien, Kristi, Devin

Dig the glasses?
Me, Lien, Devin, Katy

I got in a fight...

...with a car. 

On Monday night, I was riding my bike with Allison.  I was actually on Lien's bike because I hate my bike.  Anyway, we were almost home, on a smaller dark street.  There were no street lights.  I was cruising and kind of daydreaming.  When I looked forward, I saw a car backing out right in front of me.  I didn't have enough reaction time and ran into the car's back right side.  I fell off my bike and stood there stunned.  I looked back at Allison, who was several feet behind me and said, "I was just hit by a car."  Call me Captain Obvious.  I pulled my bike out from behind the car.  The Taiwanese came out and started to ask me if I was okay, a man in his twenties and an older man, probably his father.  The younger man spoke okay English.  He apologized and apologized and asked if I needed to go to the hospital.  I just felt bad for their car and the scare.  There was a nasty scratch on their nice car.  As far as I was concerned, I was not hurt.  The man's father kept patting his arms and his legs as if to ask me if I was hurt.  So I checked.  My legs were fine, but when I pulled up my shirt sleeve, I noticed a bloody 4-inch scrape on my right forearm.  Then the stinging pain hit me.  And my shoulder started to kill.  I think that it is interesting that sometimes injuries don't hurt until you become aware of them.  When the Taiwanese saw my scrape, they freaked out a little bit and offered to take me to the hospital or help me bandage it up.  I told them it wasn't that bad, that I was almost home, and that I would clean it up when I got home.  They asked if we were English teachers at Berhan, and we eventually found out that I am one of the teachers of the man's cute 3 year-old son Curtis.  I soon went home, showed off my battle wounds to my roommates and went to the secretaries to bandage it.  They decided it would be better if it air-dried and put some smelly yellow powder on it.  When I asked what it was, they just said Chinese medicine.

A couple days later, Curtis' mom came in to see if I was okay.  How sweet!  She came bearing gifts and offered to pay for my nonexistant hospital bill.  She gave me expensive hand creams.  I love how thoughtful the Taiwanese people are. 

I know that I made this all sound very dramatic, but now I can say that I have been hit by a car in Taiwan, and I will have a scar to prove it.





Chinese Medicine

A couple days later...
Healing nicely.

Hand cream

Taipei

Another wonderful temple trip to the Taipei temple!  It was wonderful as usual.

Chang Kai-Shek Memorial Park



Kristi, Laura, Me





Falun Dafa Convention?



Thanksgiving in Taiwan

On Thanksgiving day, all of us teachers were busy with classes all day.  There was little time to think about pilgrims and Indians.  I made little ugly turkeys with my kindergartners, however.  It's true, they were very ugly, but my kids loved it. 

My cutie kindergartners Group B
Terrence, Rae, Bryson, Enya, Lori, Lilian, Celine

Group C
Katrina, Raya, Elean, Darren, Damon, Leo, Curtis, Kendra

Group A
Carol, Cooper, Eason, Kyan, Jenny, Olivia, Eason, Emily



My Crazy Afternoon Kindergartners
Me (really!), Sean, Jacky, Henry, Dino, Angel, Jake


We decided to postpone our festivities until November 30.  It was great.  Everyone made a dish and we had a glorious feast.  There is no turkey in Taiwan, but we many delicious options including: Candied Yams, Chicken, Rolls, Apple Pie, Cookies, Corn, Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes, Vegetables, and what meal in Taiwan would be complete without rice?!  Happy Thanksgiving Y'all!

Our Thanksgiving dinner centerpiece
We like to color!



My Taiwan Familiy
Katy, Allison, Whitney, Libby, Kristi, Meg, Laura, Devin and Lien

 

Yum!



A typical plate

We are thankful for...

Fun in November

My Crazy Roommates!
Whitney, Me, Allison, Kristi, Laura, Erin, Devin, Katy (Back row)
Libby and Lien

I caught a lizard!
Don't worry I let it go.



Harry Potter 7
This is how we do in Taiwan.
Laura, Erin, Libby, Kristi, and Me



This is how they do in Taiwan.
Very common image.

I like this picture.  Haha!

Me and Erin

Libby (too cool for school), Katy, Me, Erin
We are waiting in front of our Branch building.

We went to dinner at a French place owned by an Australian in Taichung, Taiwan.
They serve an American Thanksgiving dinner.

Me and Beautiful Emily (one of my primary kids)



Lien, Libby, Katy, Me



Elder Greene, Emily, Sister Greene, Sister Bishop, President Bishop
The Greenes are the senior missionary couple in my Branch.
President Bishop is the Mission President of the Taichung, Taiwan Mission.



President Baclayon, Emily, Melissa, and Bradley

Jana and Kevin Hogan are on the right.

Hualien 花蓮市 and Taroko 太魯閣國家公園

When Kristi and I got to Hualien, we walked to our hostel, Colorful Taiwan.  I was very impressed.  the interior decorating of the place was very cute.  The rooms were spacious and very clean.  There was even a fresh flower in a vase on the table in our room.  Sunny, the hostel owner, was very helpful as well.  She helped us get a tour booked to see Taroko Gorge.  We shared a taxi with two girls from Korea.  It was great.  The taxi driver picked us up at our hostel and knew all the key locations.  He also offered to take our pictures in several locations.  I also really enjoyed that we were touring with a small group.  We drove along the Central Cross Island Highway, and stopped at a few hiking trails, including Shakadong Trail, Eternal Spring (Changchun) Shrine, Swallow Grotto, and Tunnel of Nine Turns.

I can't even describe the beauty of Taroko Gorge to do it justice.  Taiwan has such lush vegetation.  The rock faces were of marble stone.  The rivers had crystal clear sparkling blue waters.  I wish my eyes were cameras so that I could capture the picture-perfect scenes as they were.

Here's a little history.  It took nearly 450 deaths before the Central Cross Island Highway was completed in 1960.  Most of the road is very narrow with hardly enough room for two cars to pass.  It is set on cliffs overlooking the Liwu River.

Entrance to Taroko Gorge

Liwu River

Shakadong Trail

We hiked up to the Eternal Spring (Changchun) Shrine.  The view from the road was similar to that of a Classical Chinese painting with a mountainous backdrop.  So pretty!  There is a 45 foot waterfall in front of the shrine with very pure waters.  Kristi and I drank from a pool of these eternal waters.  It tasted good, if you were wondering.

Refreshing!

Can you find the Indian chief?

There were two interesting humongous rocks.  The Yindianren Rock resembled the profile of a Native American chief.  Another very large rock looked like a sitting frog.  Our taxi driver was so great for pointing things out.

Where is he?

Frog rock

We went to the Tunnel of Nine Turns (Jiuqudong) where helmets were required to protect from falling rocks.  Only one turn was open due to hazardous conditions.

Wasn't supposed to do that!

Protective headgear

Our last stop before heading back was Tianxiang, Taroko's largest settlement.  (It wasn't very big.)  We walked to the Xiangde Temple and took pictures with a 36-foot Avalokitesvara bodhisattva (I don't even know what that means.)  We climbed to the top of the Heavenly Summit Pagoda (six levels of winding staircases.)  The countryside in Taiwan is spectacular.

Avalokitesvara bodhisattva

Heavenly Summit Pagoda

At the top

On the way back to Hualien, we stopped at the beach.  It was very rocky, with lots of pebbles.  We spent about 1/2 an hour looking for pebbles to keep.  I could have done that all day.  It was very therapeutic.  It reminds me of searching for agates on the Oregon coast on a Young Womens retreat.

Kristi found some cool rocks.

I forgot to mention, on one of the hiking trails, we saw a monkey about 5 feet in front of us.  Cool!  This was Friday.

Monkey!!!!!!

__________

On Saturday, the plan was to rent a scooter.  We went to about 5 different rental places before we found somewhere that would let us hire a scooter without an International License.  Once we got situated, we headed towards Highway 11 to drive along the East Coast National Scenic Area.  Most of the ride, we could see the Pacific Ocean.  We stopped a few places along the way to walk around and take pictures, lots and lots of pictures (2 GB the whole trip!).  The scootering made everything even better and it was a beautiful day for it.  Besides the dirt and grime that covered our faces and clothes.  Now I know why a car's windshield gets so dirty.  For some reason Kristi got a lot dirtier than I did.  Haha!

It was just perfect with the blue ocean waves on one side, and the green mountain peaks on the other.  I love the way water looks when it crashes against large rocks.  We drove about 3 hours out.

Scooter Madness!

I love this picture, because she is laughing.

Partners in crime.

Spent hours on this road.  Gorgeous.

On the way back, I convinced Kristi to drive the scooter.  She was just a little scared that we would fall over or something.  This was only her third time driving a scooter, and her first time with a passenger.  I am so proud of my little scooter student.  It was fun to relax and take more notice of the scenery around us.  When we got close to Hualien, I took over again for the city traffic, and got us very lost.  Not a proud moment.  We made it back in time for our dinner date with Randy, Whitney's boyfriend.

Kristi trying to look cool.

Looking cool.

Kristi's driving!  Ah!

My clean face.  Her dirty face.  Haha!

He took us to a place called Three Koalas.  A restaurant in Taiwan, owned by Australians, that serves Italian food.  Haha!  (Pizza and spaghetti.)  I had honey cheese pizza for the first time.  That was an interesting taste sensation.  Randy was very funny with some of his word choices when talking to us.  He wanted to look through some of our pictures and was surprised by some of the things we did, like stand in the middle of the road for pictures and drive at speeds upwards of 70 km/hour.  He called it "dangerous" and "naughty".  Haha!

__________

The time we weren't site-seeing we spent relaxing at the hostel.  It was really a glorious vacation.  I am just sad to see it end.  Maybe someday, I will be able to go back to Hualien.

Hostel Lobby

Bedroom

The hostel owner is on the far right.

Front of the hostel.

Sad to leave Hualien

Rainbow out the train window.