My Travels: Taiwan

Since moving to Korea I have been lucky to be able to visit a few other countries while living here.  I haven't written about these travels so I figured now is as good of a time to do so as any other time.  When I moved to Korea it was the first time I left the USA.  I have always wanted to travel, so moving here has made it easier to travel.  So even though it's been a while since I have been here I wanted to start with my first country I visited after moving here.  What country was it, well if you should know if you read the title of the post, it is Taiwan.

I have nothing but good things to say about Taiwan.  I loved everything about the country.  I was only there for a weekend but I sure loved my short time there.  I guess it helped that I got to see my old roommate while there.  I went to Taiwan December 16, 2011 and came back to Korea December 18th.  Like I said I want' there for a very long time.

I went to Taiwan to go to my old roommate Candice's wedding.

I was so excited because on my flight over to Taiwan I got to fly on an airplane full of Hello Kitty stuff.

It was all so cute!

 I arrived in Taiwan at 11 o'clock at night and missed the last train to Candice's area of Taichung.  I was lucky and found a bus that went there and found a way to get to the train stop there so Candice's family would know where to pick me up from.  The hard part was I didn't have a phone to call her and I only had big bills.  When I got to the train station I need to call her to tell her I arrived.  There where a lot of taxi drivers wanting to take me to my friends house, the only problem was I didn't know where she lived.  One of the taxi drivers took pity on me and game me small enough change so I could call Candice.  30 minutes later her brother and sister picked me up and took me to her parents house.

That night I spent the night at Candice's parents house.  I stayed shared a room with her sister Fanny.  In the morning we got up and got ready so we could go to the reception center.  Candice and her husband had the traditional wedding on Friday so Saturday and Sunday where their receptions.  Saturday it was for her husbands family and Sunday was for her family.

When we got to the reception center I was so amazed because it was so beautiful.

First thing that they had to do was get Candice ready!

She was such a beautiful bride.
Then it was time to take pictures.  This is Candice's friend Sophie.   

My turn with Candice.

 At the wedding they had a 7 course sea food buffet.  I know most of you think that sounds amazing and you would love it.  Here's the thing, I do not like seafood at all.  I tried many things there.  I tasted the shark fin soup, I had some of the octopus and squid.  I also tried many other things I have no idea what they where.  I didn't like any of it.  

 After about 20 minutes Candice's brother Chen took mercy on me.  He went to the kitchen and requested a salad for me.  This made me so happy.

During the dinner they had a show to celebrate Candice and her husband.  It required many dress changes for Candice, but they where all beautiful.

 I have no idea what was being said because it was all in Chinese.  It was fun sitting there and being the only foreigner.  Candice and her family where all so nice to me and tried to explain what was going on.

After the reception Candice was busy getting ready for the next day and she had a lot of family to see.  I felt bad because I didn't want to be in the way.  Her friend Sophie said she would show me around.  She asked me what I wanted to see, but I planned my trip 2 weeks before I left and I didn't know I would have time to look around so I had no idea what I wanted to see.  So Sophie said she would show me around her family farm.  It was December and in Korea that meant it was freezing and nothing could grow, so it made me excited to know things where growing in Taiwan.

We hopped on her families scooter and off we went.

 She offered to let me drive, but I told he no thanks because I didn't want to end up in the hospital. She asked me why I thought that would happen and I said because it is my luck that it would happen.  She laughed because everyone drives scooters even old people and they don't get hurt.  I had fun on the back and I am glad I didn't drive.

Sophie's family farm

 I was sooo happy to see pineapple growing.

This was the first time I have ever seen dragon fruit in real life.  I was so excited to taste it.

 Look how beautiful the fruit is.  After eating it my mouth turned hot pink.

 After checking out the farm and the beautiful country side we where thirsty.  What is Taiwan famous for you ask?  Well they are know for their bubble tea.  Sophie wanted me to try some.  I am not a fan of tea, but I thought why not.  So we went and got on.

These tea shops where everywhere.  I found  tea I thought I would like and we bought it.  Taiwan is very smart.  In the USA we have lids for all of our drinks.  These lids also always fall off and then they spill everywhere.  In Taiwan all their drinks are filled and then sealed.  Then you put your straw through the top and drink.  I thought it was so smart.

After looking around the country side we still had an hour to kill before meeting up with Candice again.  We went back to Sophie's house to watch some TV.  The funniest part was we ended up watching Korean TV shows with Chinese subtitles.  I had already seen the show so I knew what was going on in the show so I could still understand what was going on.

Later that night we went to meet up with Candice again.  We met up at a night market.  I had no idea what to expect when I heard them say night market.  It was AMAZING!!  When we got there we met up with Candice, her husband, her 2 brothers, her sister Fanny and her husbands brother.  They where all so excited to show me the market and to play a game I like to call "Feed the Foreigner".

The market was crazy!  This was what it felt like to me.

 This is what it was really like.  So many people everywhere I looked.  It took 15 minutes to walk one block.  We had to hold on to each others shoulders so we wouldn't get lost.

 Look I found Mexican food!

 My favorite thing they feed me is called stinky tofu.  They said no foreigners like it, but I proved them wrong.  I really liked it.

 Food, food and more food.

Candice's brother-in-law, her brother Chen and me.

 Candice's sister Fanny.  I love Fanny, she is so awesome.

 All of us together.

 Oh I am holding watermelon juice, it was my first time drinking fresh watermelon juice, and it was amazing!!

The next day was Sunday and I was heading back to Korea today.  They where having another reception this time with Candice's family.  It was also so beautiful, but saddly I didn't get to see much because I had to get to Taipei to catch my flight to Korea.

 They gave these as favors to everyone who came to the reception.

Candice getting read for this reception.

 Candice and her family.

 Candice walking in with her dad.

To get to the airport Candice's mom wanted to make sure it was uneventful unlike how I got there so she had an airport taxi pick me up and take me straight to the airport.

I am so glad that Candice invited me to her wedding.  It was so fun to see how weddings are in another country.  The best part was seeing Candice again on one of the happiest days of her life.

People Actually Read This......

Well hello there.  It has been such a long time since I posted anything on here.  I honestly didn't think anyone read this.  That is one of the reasons I stopped posting on here, that and I got busy.  Mostly though I didn't think anyone looked here.  So to my surprise today I randomly checked this and saw that I have had people come and check to see if I updated it.  I was so surprised!  I don't know who you are but you have made me realize I should keep up with this.  I have not been writing down stuff that happens to me, or funny stories and I know I will regret that a lot. 

Really, thank you who ever you are, you have inspired me to keep trying to update this so I have a record of what is going on with me here.  To start out with I have been here for a year and 8 months (what!!).  I cannot believe how fast time is flying here.  Since moving here I have converted to being as Korean as I can.

When I go to cafe's here I always see at least one person taking a picture called a selca (self + camera).  They always take it from above (to make you look like you have a smaller face) and they like to make their cheeks look big.  This is my cute pose.  Oh and  the glasses are fake, so fake they don't even put in lenses.  I have been trying to learn Korean, and it isn't going as well as I had hoped, but I am making some progress.  (I'll write more about it later).  I am loving living in Korea so much, so much so I am 90% positive I am staying for a 3rd year.

Like I said when I first got here I taught at a high school.  It was an all girls high school and I was so scared.  I have only ever taught elementary school and frankly high school girls scare me.  Lucky for me I had nothing to fear!  I had the best head co-teacher who also calls herself my Korean mom (and she really is my Korean mom).  The students at my school where so awesome!

See they loved me.  These students where the ones who would come to my class room on Wednesdays and eat lunch with me so we could all practice English. 

Here is one of my classes I taught.  On the right hand side in the blue shirt is my co-teacher/Korean mom.  Her English name is Jackie and I love her so much!  Plus look how amazing the students look.  It was a win-win situation for me, until they told me that they would no longer have native English teachers in middle or high school.  This made me so sad.  I didn't want to leave, but I had to.  I was moved to an elementary school, still in Seoul just another part.  I am still in my school and I love it as well.  I have been so lucky because I have ended up in the best schools.  I will tell you more about my elementary school later, because I am still here so I will have lots of time (that is if I remember to come back).

One of the goals I had when I came here was to travel.  Travel around Korea and other countries.  I have been fortunate and been to other countries a lot, but I haven't done a lot in Korea.  This is really sad I think, but I am going to change that now.  Here are some of the pictures of places I have been in Korea.

Spring time is beautiful in Korea.  There are a lot of cherry blossoms, that I always miss out on.  It is sad, I went down south to Gwang-ju to see them, and when we got there they had already fallen off the trees.  Oh well, at least I found a pretty place to take a picture, and it was a warm day.

I have gone to visit a few of the islands around Seoul in Incheon and to get there we have to ride a ferry.  They are usually a short 5-10 minute ride, but they don't provide entertainment.  My friend Jessica and I changed that and decided to make our own entertainment.

At N-Tower in Seoul they love to lock their love.  You buy two locks so you and your boyfriend/girlfriend can go and lock your love so that it will never open again.  I did this but with a friend and it was a lot of fun.  When ever I go back to the tower I look for our locks and it makes me happy they are still there.

Sporting events are also a lot of fun to see in Korea.  They make them so much more fun.  At the baseball game they have a cheer captain who leads the cheers and keeps the crowed entertained.  It is awesome.

You might ask what we do for fun here to keep ourselves entertained.  In America I would mostly go to the movies and dinner with my friends.  That hasn't really changed for me since moving here.  I still love going out to eat (mostly because I can't cook and I don't like to cook, plus less dishes for me to clean up later) and I go out most nights.  I would save a ton of money if I didn't do that, but I would also probably starve to death.  I go to movies still but not as much.  They do have movies from America here, just not as often.  They come for a week and then they are gone, so I usually wait till I can rent them on iTunes or Amazon.  So what else can you do to entertain yourself here?
Well you can try.......

going to a cake cafe.  I love these places.  The cakes are pre-made, you just choose the cake you want and the frosting you want on top and they give you a blank cake.  The cafe has tons of things to decorate with, so you can go crazy with your imagination.  At the end you take it to the cashier they add up all the things you put on it and pay.  This cake we made ended up costing about $20.  It was so much fun to make and then they gave us milk to drink while we ate it.

One of my favorite things to eat is BBQ.  They do it right here in Korea.  You pay for the meat and you grill it at your table.  All the extra food are the free side dishes you get.  When you eat all of one of your sides, don't worry ask for more and they will bring it to you.  This meal ended up costing about $15.  So worth it!

Sticker booths!!!  I love these.  You and your friends can take pictures and then add writing on them after.  Then they are printed out on sticky paper and you cut them out and have your own stickers.

Last but not least my favorite thing to do.....

noraebang!!!  Most of you know it as karaoke but that word is Japanese and in Korean they say noraebang, meaning singing room.  These rooms are so much fun, they have songs in English and Korean.  I love it because people have no shame (like me) and even if you can't sing, you do sing.  It is always so much fun with a big group.

Being a foreigner in Korea is fun, except when you go to a show and they need people from the audience.  When they spot you you end up here

on the stage to be made a fool of.  Oh this was fun, they made me dance.  Of course sometimes it is good.  For award shows they wanted to make it look more global so they needed foreigners to be in the audience.  I have been to 2 of these kinds of shows.  They are fun because then your Korean friends get mad because they can't get in but you can.

 

What is my favorite part of living in Korea you ask?  Well that is an easy question.  One of the reasons I love Korea is I love the k-pop music.  Now that I live here when I go walking in the streets, in the stores  or anywhere I here this music.  Plus I get to go to concerts and fan meetings to meet the artist.  I love it because like I said before, being a blonde foreigner makes me stand out. When I go to concerts or fan meetings I am hard to miss or forget.  My favorite singer I went to his concert and was pointed out and a few weeks later at a CD signing he remembered me and was surprised he had a blond fan.  Here are some of the concerts I have been to.

Fan meetings are better because you get to actually say 'Hi' to them and they always look excited to see a foreigner there.

All in all I am doing good.  Don't worry about what you hear on the news, life in South Korea is going good and we are not worried about the North. 

Thanks to you for reading and I hope to be back on here soon again with another update!