ni hao

My new blog name comes from what my Arabic teacher used to call me - mr ping.

I am going to taiwan. i wish i knew chinese. or anything about the culture over there.

I missed CJ's wedding. shame cuz i really wanted a sabre.

We had christmas eve at gussie and spencer's house. ete + sarah and danielle and vince came. It was fun. we were dancing to jonah's favorite music - pitbull. he loves "timber."

jonah's sourpuss face. its so funny how he curls up his mouth

maelo's first violin lesson

Jonah and Maelo got tons of toys. i got money to travel through mainland china (which i couldn't have afforded without christmas money thanks everyone!)

spoiled inc

ice palace in midway under construcion

after 2 car rides, 2 train rides, 3 plane rides it took 26 hours to get to my place

i threw up on the airplane. good thing i made it to the bathroom. it was either the sushi from seattle or delta's world's worst airplane food.

ete and sarah's present - an organic "earth bounty"

i finished the book of mormon in french. good thing cuz it's so useful in taiwan. 

time to start learning chinese. i hope to learn enough to get around town. and also how to read the remote for the heater cuz im freezing! o wait, just found out that's the air conditioner

ancient chinese. it's like hieroglyphics!

at immigration they asked me where i was staying, where i was going, and if i had a phone number for the person picking me up. i said i dont know, i dont know, and no. somehow they still let me in the country. just play dumb.

look at my awesome new shirt. it's a sloth! 

my apartment (aka room with a bathroom) is nicer than i expected. nothing to cook with tho

the shower is the bathroom and the bathroom is the shower

2 other girls came to teach at the same school. 2 freshman! spells trouble

the NAACP got a hold of buddha

I am so lost here! i just have no clue what's going on. it's great tho i love the place

Memorial square in Taipei

people here actually do wear masks. it's funny! it sucks i have a cough cuz of acid reflux. They're going to give me dirty looks for not wearing a mask.

taiwanese neon lights are strong enough give you seizures.


taiwanese schools are like a factory. tons of kids in a tiny space. they study all day. school's like 8 hours and then they either stay in school to do homework for like another four hours or go to another "cram" school for some special classes

i'm going to have to teach lots of kids. good thing they're numbered cuz they all look the same to me.



i eat out every meal. its sooo cheap to eat out. cheaper than panama. people eat out most of the time. also, there's a 7-11 on every block. it's a convenience store culture.

???

they recommend you scrub fruit with bleach or special soap. so much for my hippie diet. maybe i can find a whole foods type store somewhere.

i never know what anything is

the food has been way better than i expected. some really strange things tho that i haven't liked. i never have a clue what i'm eating

this is supposed to be a very americanized place. it's still really different to me.

the person in charge of us here is very nice. her name is teacher cindy. she is mormon

We stayed at a lady's house in Taiwan who's a convert and loves the missionaries. she was really really nice. i felt like an idiot not know what anyone was saying the whole time. really felt dumb.

her living room is filled with pictures of family and missionaries

we watched the fireworks from the rooftop of the church building in taipei

this is the 101. second tallest building in the world.  the whole fireworks show was from the building and it was awesome!