Only me...

I have always had situations in my life where after all is said and done I think, "This could only happen to me."  Not bad things, just weird, different, unusual.  After my most recent "only me" experience, I figured I needed to document some of the things that have occurred since I have been in Kaohsiung, more so I can remember, but hopefully someone will get a laugh out of them.

The first "only me" experience was after a LONG day of school.  I was waiting for Chinese class to start and walked with Lori to the 7-11 for a Snickers bar (yes they have Snickers here).  After unwrapping the chocolate candy I knew was going to make me feel better, and taking my first bit (which included me moaning and saying this is exactly what I wanted) some guy on the sidewalk ran up to me and tried to take my Snickers.  Seriously was grabbing at my already bit into bar of yummyness!  Lori was hitting him and trying to push him away and I was trying to protect the candy bar, we started running down the sidewalk to get away, but he was a persistant little booger.  Finally we escaped the villan and after the shock of the moment wore off, I enjoyed every last bite.

The second "only me" experience occurred at the IKEA here (yes, there is an IKEA in Kaohsiung).  Lori and I again were going to do a little shopping, got in a taxi, and to our surprise had an English speaking driver.  We politely chatted with the man on the way to IKEA.  Upon arriving, he drove to the parking garage, not the front door, which we both thought was really weird.  As we got out, he got out with us. Yet again weird!  Then he became our personal tour guide through the store and literally followed us around for 45 minutes.  After running to the bathroom to escape, and coming out to find him waiting outside, we had to say, we are a little creeped out, can you please leave.  He simply replied with a disheartened "O.K." and left the store.  We could not help looking over our shoulders the rest of our time at the store.

Recently while walking on the streets I have has 2 "only me" moments.  On the way home from the gym I not only saw an Asian midget, but the midget was peeing on the side of the road.  I was laughing too hard to take a picture but that would have been great.  Another time, a man on a scooter almost ran me over, upon looking at him, I noticed the live parakeet sitting on his handle bars.

On one of my last hikes up Monkey Mountain, I came across a cat lying on a bench on the hike up.  What really made me stop and stare was the cat was being groomed by t3 monkeys with a baby monkey petting its head.  REALLY, normal people are not exposed to these things!

The topper though occurred yesterday.  I was getting a foot massage with Erin after a great Indian dinner.  When walking out of the massage place, my underwear felt a little weird, like something was not right, but I readjusted and walked home.  Mind you this was the same underwear I had been wearing all day (not to gross anyone out).  When I got home and went to take a shower, I threw them in the dirty clothes hamper, but felt something as I was tossing them in.  To my surprise, I looked and found a sand spur stuck to my underwear.  HOW DID THAT GET THERE AND HOW DID I NOT FEEL IT ALL DAY?!?!

As I said, I really think some things can only happen to me.  I am not sure if I am being prepared to meet aliens, live on another planet or under the sea, but seriously...only me!

A little piece of paradise!

Boat to Boracay

Our welcome to the beach

This whole keeping up with a blog thing is getting kinda difficult.  There is just so much going on, writing about my life is the last thing I think of doing.  Soccer is now starting at school, and despite the amazing effort these kids put into the sport...lets just say I am surprised they can run and kick the ball at the same time.  They really do try, so at least I don't mind coaching.  I have always said you can improve skills, but only if the effort is there.

Enjoying the view!

As for the fun stuff, I recently got to spend Chinese New Year, yes it is different from the other New Year this is based on the lunar calendar, in the Philippines.  I can say this was as close to paradise as I have ever been.  I had two fun traveling partners to keep me company, John and Bruce.  The whole time we were there, people did not know what to make of us.  It is this blonde hair girl with a 60 year old man and a semi Asian boy.  It was a constant explanation of how we are just co-workers/friends traveling together, and even after that we still got the "I don't understand" look.

My favorite sunset

The first sunset

Our first stop was in Manila.  We had to stay there for a night before we caught a plane to Boracay.  Manila is a place I could live without visiting again.  To say it was a crap hole would be a nice way of putting it.  But, thankfully we were only there to sleep, then we got to visit the most amazing beach I have ever been before in my life, and you should know how I feel about the beach by now.  Upon arriving in Boracay we were greeted by one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen (the other ones would be the other nights we were in Boracay).  Sitting on the beach drinking a beer, we were all speechless and knew this was going to be a great trip.  We filled our time in Boracay with a lot of sun, food, boating and of course a little partying.  It was a place where I could see myself getting sucked into the lifestyle and living there forever.  While it was not a nice fancy resort, it included everything I need to be happy!

Island hopping

Watch out!

Cave walking in Boracay

The town of Donsol

After 4 days of paradise we got on a plane, then another plane, and arrived in Donsol.  Not really knowing what to expect, we just knew we were about to swim with whale sharks (Butanding)!  Yes, that is correct, whale sharks in the middle of the ocean I would willingly (paying money to do it) swim with.    On our hour taxi ride to the "resort" we were lucky enough to get a great driver who showed us around the "city" a bit.  This was one of the poorest places I have ever been in my life, but the people were all laughing and smiling.  It was a humbling experience.  There was only one instance I felt even a little apprehensive, we got stopped in traffic on our road, Jojo the taxi driver, got out of the car to see what was going on.  Turns out it was just a cock fight in the middle of the street, but as Jojo was telling us what was going on, he was also locking all of the doors in the car...

Rainbow on the walk

Donsol

A few of our friends we met

There was nothing in Donsol, at all, so we took a walk around the city and I have never felt like more of a celebrity.  Children followed us around, every wanted to talk to us, say hello.  It was a great experience.  The second day we were there was our whale shark experience.  I can say without a doubt this was the coolest thing I have ever done before.  We were on a boat in the middle of the ocean, our guide said "go" and we jumped off a moving boat into the ocean to be greeted by these massive creatures the size of a school bus.  We were then able to swim along with these gentle giants in the ocean.  Words can not do it justice.  This was the time of my life with incredible people.  The video clip below is just a glimpse into what we saw.

Without a doubt this was one of the best vacations I have ever taken.  I love having these experience.  They are things I will take with me forever.

John is always making friends

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFLNQPq-KSM

Everyone wanted their picture taken

Love

Traveling the world...literally

Over the past couple of weeks I have officially gone around the world.  No literally I have acquired over 18,000 frequent flyer miles (not counting all of my flying because I am an idiot and just signed up for miles), set foot in Hong Kong, Macau, Tokyo, Garner, Kaohsiung and Taipei.  Now I know what you are thinking, it must be really terrible to HAVE to travel to all these places, I REALLY have it hard.  Don't feel too much sympathy for me, I will let you in on a little secret, I kinda enjoyed it.  Here is a brief recap of all the adventures (I know I am going to leave something big out but there was just too much to remember).

Hiking Monkey Mountain

Leaving our mark on Kaohsiung

It all started with my dear, sweet, amazing friend Ana coming to visit.  We started out exploring Kaohsiung.  We had a great time walking around Lotus Lake, hiking up Monkey Mountain, getting a relaxing massage, going to a traditional fish market, getting lost on scooters and finding a ping pong/dance competition, and of course a true Kaohsiung Night Market experience.  After accomplishing more than any two people should ever be able to, we journeyed off to Hong Kong with John and Bruce as our protectors.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is my most favorite, ever in the world, city.  This place was truly incredible.  The people there were so international yet friendly.  There was great tourist activities, spectacular shopping and great night life.  Not to mention it is home to the worlds longest escalator (800m to be exact).  For the 4 days and 3 nights we were there we were on the go non stop, from visiting Victoria Peak, to stopping at H&M, to watching the light show across the harbor.  John and I even went to an Asian Game Convention (on Christmas Day).  It was an unforgettable trip.

While staying in Hong Kong we took a boat to Macau.  This is another country (you have to pass through immigration, thank goodness I am the genius of the group and made everyone take their passports) which is considered to be the Asian Vegas.  After getting off the boat, we hopped on a bus which took us to the Venetian.  There we gambled, caught a Cirque De Soleil show, ate a LOT, saw the Hard Rock Casino, all in one day.

View of the light show

Outside the Venetian

By the time we made it back to Kaohsiung we were all pooped!  Ana had 1 more day left on her journey so we took in a movie VIP style (think lay-z-boy, blanket, and wine at a regular movie theater).  Then sadly I had to bid Ana farewell.  I know I had one of the best times of my life with her here, I am sure she felt the same.  We were really living this great amazing life that a person could only dream of.  The experiences we had were once in a life time activities.

Macau

Love these girls

 I then had 1 day to pack and I was back on the plane heading to home sweet home.  I could hardly contain my excitement.  I was about to be able to cuddle up with my dear sweet Charlie, hug the rest of the family and just be able to relax in a place where I feel at home.  The 25+ hours of travel time were so worth in once I stepped off the last plane, saw mom jumping up and down, and was able to finally hug Mom, Dad, and Syd's necks.  The week I was at home flew by.  It seemed like I blinked and I was getting back on the plane to come to Kaohsiung.  I was so lucky to see so many wonderful friends, family, old students, and just realize how lucky I am to have so many people who I love and who love me in my life.  It was really hard to go back.  Seeing everything that I have back at home made me miss it even more.  This past couple of days here has been harder than any other time, but summer will be here before I know it and I will be back to the swing of things in N.C.  I mean where else can you set of fireworks right beside the house to a D.J. while sabering champaign bottles at midnight?  Or get a last meal of a chicken biscuit with green tomato and mac and cheese?

Who wouldn't miss him?!?!

Or fireworks like this?!?!

So after the time of my life, I am back, trying to get myself into the routine.  I am sleep deprived (or maybe just my sleep schedule is so far off from jet lag that I don't know what normal sleep is like).  I have flown around the world, had experiences of a lifetime, seen some amazing friends, family and loved ones (that would of course include Charlie) so getting back to the grind is going to be hard.  Good thing I have great people here to help me out with that.  It is the motivation for cleaning, laundry, exercise, planning for school and grad work that will have to come from somewhere deep inside, but isn't that always how it is when you travel around the world in less than 3 weeks?

Here is my first attempt at being normal.  I have to do something to loose the 10lbs I put on eating during this break!

One word to describe everything...AWESOME

New Teacher Family

This Thanksgiving started off really hard.  It was hard being away from family, hard not eating real turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, hard not sharing it with my friends from back home, hard being in a country where Thanksgiving is not something that is celebrated, and hard not being able to do some black Friday shopping.  Despite all of the hardships I encountered, this turned out to be an AWESOME weekend.

Since I teach at an American School, we get off for Thanksgiving, even if the rest of the island does not celebrate it.  This is said to be one of the best travel weekends in Taiwan for us Americans because of this.  People were making plans to go all over, but since I have been a busy bee lately I decided to lay low and see where the wind would take me.  I am so glad I did.  The only thing I committed to was a race (10k) in Taitung on Sunday.

Jennifer and Larissa cooking :) 

Wednesday night all of the "new teachers" had a Thanksgiving dinner together.  While we could not find turkey, we managed to find chicken and everyone else brought their version of Thanksgiving favorites.  It was not exactly the same as what I would have back in the states, but it was really close and was by far one of the best meals I have had here.  Not to mention, the feeling of family we created, made it all even better.  13 of us were crowded into a room sharing food, wine and friendship.  You could not ask for a better substitution for being home.

Thursday, being Thanksgiving was the toughest day.  I went to the gym, had brunch with Jennifer, then stayed at home catching up on my reading and sleep.  Not what I wanted to do for Thanksgiving but good all the same.

Outside of the hostel

Lobby of the hostel

Walk to the competition site

I got up Friday morning and headed to Taitung for a surf competition Lori's husband Keith was entering.  When I got to the train station I was told there were only standing room tickets.  I was silently cussing out the counter guy, but figured that is the best I could get so whatever.  I got on the train with about 20 students on a school trip.  After I had been standing for about 30 minutes, one of the little boys handed me a chocolate candy.  He could not speak English, I can't speak Chinese but we exchanged smiles and I said thank you.  Not long after a girl from the group offered me her seat.  Once I sat down, the awkward stares started, but I just smiled.  Then the girl took out a script for a play I think she was in.  It was in English and she wanted to show me.  She read me her parts, in English then motioned for me to read the whole thing.  As soon as I started, I had a crowd of 15 Taiwanese kids around me wanting to hear me read this play, laughing and having a great time.  After I was finished with the play, she handed me another book and we had story time for the rest of the ride.  When it was time for me to get off the train, we exchanged e-mail addresses, the kids took pictures with me and I said goodbye.  It was such a heartwarming experience and totally AWESOME!

Another image of the walk

The surf competition site

Lori and I 

Friday night I stayed in the small surfing town called Donghe with Lori and Keith.  There was literally a 7-11, 3 surf hostels, and a harbor there.  Nothing else.  When I arrived, Lori and I walked down to the competition site, which was breathtaking.  We headed back for dinner at the surf hostel we stayed in, then went to the hostel/bar down the road.  There we met some really cool people, namely Ry Craike, a pro Australian surfer Quicksilver flew in for the competition.  That was neat just hanging out and talking with him and his friends/entourage.  Saturday we got up, went to the competition site and stayed there most of the day.  The beach was beautiful and the people were so chill.   Keith ended up placing 12th in the competition so that was really AWESOME!

This is what the beach looked like

Beach on one side, mountains on the other!

Saturday night we headed into Taitung to another hostel we were staying in for the night to meet the 20 or so people from KAS who were running in the race.  We went out for pizza and headed back, hanging out and watching TV, making sure we got to bed early, after all we had to get up for the race at 6am.  The race Sunday was in this park located on the base of a mountain. Throughout the whole run there was a great view of the mountain line in the sky.  The weather was the prefect running weather, overcast with a little rain and slight chill in the air.  I was running the 10k, and not being thrilled about running or exercising, I was just wanting to finish.  I had dome a little training, but nothing extensive.  When the race started, I tried to find a good pace, listen to some tunes and get in the running zone.  To my surprise I ended up finishing 14th in my division with a time of 56.01.  Better than I ever thought I would do.  AWESOME.

This was the puppy at the hostel, too cute for words!

With hurting legs and sore muscles all over, I went to the train station to head home, this time with Jeff, a PE teacher at KAS.  My good luck at this point had run out because we got standing room only tickets yet again, (I think the train system here hates me) just what everyone wants after running a race, Jeff even did the half marathon.  To make the trip a little more bearable, we went to 7-11 got some wine and waited it out with pizza and the wine.  We ended up finding "seats" in between 2 train cars by the engine.  Due to the fumes coming up from the floor boards, we rode most of the way with the train doors open, looking out at the scenery in Taiwan.  I felt like a hobo, or someone in the circus.  2 bottles of wine and a couple drinking games later we were home.  Once again an AWESOME adventure.

This weekend was an experience.  Looking back I can not believe all the things I got to see and do, life is AWESOME!

America, with a little Taiwan thrown in!

Tonight was one of the first nights where I kinda, just a little bit, felt like I was back in the states (and yes I say the states now after living overseas for just a couple of months).  I have had the times where I am sitting in a bar watching football and thought it felt like home, then I look at my watch and see it is way too late for anyone to be out, or I am watching either the game that was on 2 days ago and I already know the score.  I also look down at my drink and realize I am drinking a Taiwan Beer or Bar Beer (the only two options) not an Amstel Light, Blue Moon, or even a Budweiser, and I am quickly reminded I am not in North Carolina anymore.  But tonight it was like I clicked my ruby red slippers 3 times repeating, "There is no place like home," and I was transported via tornado to Raleigh.

Movie Theater Meal...take special notice of
the doll that was a part of the package...I think it is supposed to be Bella. 

Being as big of a Twilight fan as I am, my first real true fictional love was Edward Cullen just ask anyone who knew me while I was reading the books they will tell you I was crazy for him, I had to see Breaking Dawn part 1.  After much talk, and even more of that convincing southern charm people here seem to not be able to turn down, I talked Erin into going to the movies with me (she had not even seen the 3rd movie so there really is something to be said for the sweet country accent).  We left work, got on the MRT and headed to the movie theater that happened to be on the 13th-17th floors of a mall.  It is one of two theaters which plays movies in English.  We waited in line, got the "oh crap here are some Americans" look from the man at the counter, pantomimed our way through buying 2 movie tickets, 2 popcorns, 2 hot dogs and 2 drinks for $800 NT (the equivalent of $26 US dollars).  Then we rode the escalators up 2 more stories and arrived at our movie theater.  While I know this does not sound very "American" the rest of the experience (besides the cute, everything here can be categorized as cute, cartoon band blobs that reminded everyone to turn off their phones) was exactly that.

We watched the movie, enjoying the the sights of both shirtless Jacob and Edward, swooned at the wedding and cringed through the birth of the baby (I hope I have not spoiled the movie for anyone. If so, really sorry, but you should see it, really great).  While sitting in the theater I forgot I was in another country.  Even when I felt like I was going to throw up because of the hot dogs and was looking for my popcorn bag to barf in since I was obviously not missing any of the action (It turns out I was fine, the blood and needles got to me.  Sorry again if I spoiled anything!) it felt like home.  The lights came on after the movie was over and I felt like I would be walking out into the cool North Carolina weather.  It was only when I realized everyone was staring at Erin and I as we were leaving that it hit me, I was in Taiwan.  But that feeling of home felt so nice if only for just a couple hours.

To make things even better tonight, I saw my first Christmas decorations.  Real, commercialized decorations outside the Hanshin mall on the walk home.  There was a Santa, gingerbread men, candy canes, lights and ornaments, with a big Merry Christmas sign above the winter wonderland.  These are the only Christmas decorations I have seen since I have been here.  Automatically I was singing Christmas Carols in my head, and maybe out loud a little bit.  "Oh the weather outside is fightful, but the fire is so delightful.  And since we've no place to go, let it snow, let is snow, let is snow."

This just goes to show, no matter where you are, you are never far away from home!

Just dance

Dance Practice

So in typical Whitney fashion I came up with a grand idea to hold a flash mob at the schools fun fair.  I knew I would be able to convince some of the staff to join in on this adventure, so I used my southern charm and had an overwhelmingly positive response.  Almost all of the staff were willing to participate so John, Larissa and I started to plan this fun moral booster which was a HUGE success. We preformed it this past weekend and all the kids, parents, and everyone else in attendance loved it.  I am so proud of what we accomplished, choreographing, executing and just having a fabulous time together.  We even managed to get together at Lori and Keith's the night before for a last practice/dinner/drinks.  As soon as I have a good video clip I will be sure to post it.  Until then I will keep you all in anticipation, or you can check it out one on my facebook page.

Flash Mob

Temple at the Lake

Also this week I was able to take a group of students to Lotus Lake near the school to film some footage for a project they were participating in called One Day on Earth (check out the link here http://www.onedayonearth.org/).  Basically it is a project that was started to show what one full day around earth looked like.  People from all different countries filmed what life was like for them on 11/11/11 to be placed into this documentary.  Our 9th graders split into groups, went around campus and places close to school to film their day, in hopes to be considered. I have not seen the video footage they came up with yet, but I am sure it is going to be amazing.  While I was chaperoning, I took the opportunity to play around on my phone camera and came up with some of the following shots.  These are things I get to see every day walking to and from school.  I am a really lucky person, not just because I walked into the Dragon mouth and out of the Tiger Mouth (it is supposed to bring people luck) but also because I get to see these sights on a daily basis.

View Looking up at the Dragon Temple

The Lion and Dragon from behind

The Ramp leading up to the Lion and Dragon Temples

Look down from inside the Dragon Temple