Pingtung, my new home

Hello Everyone!

Just to explain, I haven’t been ignoring you all and not posting. This past weekend we were in Taipei and we had internet where we were staying. Then Sunday my team left Taipei to come down to Pingtung and get ready to live here for the next 11 months.

When we got here we found out that the internet bill wasn’t paid so we don’t have internet. Right now we’re at the school using their internet.

Life here has been pretty crazy! I like it; my team is so great! I love each person on my team so much.

The People!

My team is great. There are 8 of us total, Kyle is the leader, Camellia is the assistant leader and the rest of us are the ducklings.

Aaron, Alex, Kyle, Jared
Julia, Andrea, Camellia, Amber

So far we get along really well and have a great time together. It’s going to be a good year!

The Food!

Grossest thing that I’ve ate so far was definitely the sesame seed covered anchovy, GROSS! For lunch one day we had bamboo shuts, I didn’t eat them though. Today for lunch we had this tofu stuff, I didn’t eat it either, weird! One of the weirdest most disturbing things that I’ve ate (yea, that’s right, I ate it!) BLOOD CAKE! It’s rice dipped in blood, it pretty much tastes like really sticky rice but just the thought of what you’re eating is gross.

Another thing that you guys would be impressed that I ate was an onion pancake (because I don’t like onions). I actually didn’t think that it was too bad, it was crispy and good. Today I also ate dumplings and these other really weird things. Favorite thing so far was tonight we had some really good fluffy crispy cake stuff. It was superb. Also we had this pastry thing that you could probably find in the US but it was SOO good!

We have bubble tea all the time; it’s a Taiwan specialty. I DO NOT like the boba though. Maybe I’ll have to get used to it :/ Today I had caramel milk tea with boba in it, I wasn’t a fan. I went to a night market and drank this really good strawberry slushy/smoothie thing, I was impressed with it.

Ohhh, at the night market some of my friends ate chicken butt and chicken heart. I was kinda disturbed. You should know that I’m surviving so it’s okay you don’t have to worry about my food situation. We went to Costco today; that was awesomeness! We bought cheerios, now I’m happy.

Weird thing I ate--yellow watermelon, it was the weirdest thing.

The Place!
I like where we live, it’s a nice quaint apartment. We actually have 3 apartments, all the girls are in one apartment and then Jared and Alex are in one and then Kyle and Aaron are in the other one. Our apartment is the “hangout.”

Our apartment is nice; we have 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. The bedrooms are kinda small though, but that’s nice cause it’s easier to clean.

The School

Where we work is SO COOL!! We went there today and it’s so amazing. I’m so impressed with it and so happy to get to teach there. What we teach is pretty chill, we get to make up a lot of it. For instance when the kids come into the EV (English Village) they get a “passport” we get to make them up! I’m so excited about teaching!! We went and visited the EV today and they have an airport, a bank, a fashion store, fruit market and kitchen. We also get to make up some random things we want to teach! 

This is the airport with the airplane

The bank

When we went to the school today all the Jr. Highers stood there and stared, it was really awkward. They didn’t even say anything or wave they just stared!

The Work Schedule

So we don’t start school for 3 weeks! The school in charge is really nice and really generous! But when we do start work we’ll have to work from like 8 to about 4. Apparently Wed-Fri mornings we’re gonna go to another EV to help them out.

In the EV we HAVE to go bare foot so that’s like the happiest thing ever!

I have to go now,

D2

THE ZOO!!!

Today because of our jet lag our leaders took us to the zoo! That was their way to make us stay awake. It was pretty awesome. I don't really have much to say about it and I'm really tired so I'll just post photos!

Their parking lots....

Coolest thing ever! I don't know what it is but it was outside the zoo and pretty cool!

Other trash.....fish?

Weirdest danger sign I've ever seen!

It's an elephant!!

Most awkward poster thing ever, this was outside the bathroom.

I was shocked at what sloths really do look like. They're huge and hairy

Coolest bush I've ever seen!

After the zoo we went to eat dinner and have our first "legit" Taiwanese meal! It was...yea. It actually ended up that we ate at a Japanese restaurant.

This is what I got for like 5 bucks. It was chicken and then it had tomato rice with an egg over it or something. It also had beans with soy sauce or something and a cabbage salad and seaweed soup, I tried most of it! haha!

Sorry I didn't write a lot, I'm really tired but I wanted to get this up! I'm enjoying my time here. Pray that I'll be able to enjoy the food!

D2

26 hours but we're here!

Wednesday morning at 6:00AM my family and I left my house to drive to the wonderful Newark airport. We arrived at the airport, checked my bags in, ate breakfast and then said good-bye, I then went through security and proceeded to board my 14 hour flight to Tokyo, Japan. I was so so blessed because it ended up my flight was not that full and I was able to have a whole row to myself. As soon as I got on the plane I slept for a good 7 hours! It was so awesome. The flight seemed to go by so fast!

Last time to see the city for a year!

First time to see Japan!

Then I got off in Tokyo and started to look for people I might know! I waited....and waited.....and waited! Finally I saw someone I knew and we met up, and went to look for other people. Anyway, soon we met up with everyone and boarded our flight to Taipei!!!! It ended up that I got to sit next to my friend Caitlin that I had met at TESOL!

Caitlin and I on the way to Taipei

All in all nothing that exciting happened on my way to Taiwan. I started to the airport at 6AM on Wednesday and arrived in Taipei at 8PM on Thursday. I completely missed part of my life, yep, thats weird.


My body is adjusting pretty well to the time change; at least I think it is. I was able to sleep all night last night without waking up.
If you have any questions I'll try and answer them!
D2

The backround story and more....

A year or so back my Dad heard about this opportunity that my homeschooling program (IBLP/ATI) had for student to go over to Taiwan and teach English to the natives over there. My Dad that I would love it over there and had his heart set on me going. He had mentioned the idea to me a couple times and I didn't want to go AT ALL, so I kept ignoring him. In March it came time for me to decide what I wanted to do in the fall and whether I wanted to go to college or go on a mission trip or what I wanted to do. Of course Dad had the guts to bring up me going over to Taiwan. He said that he was sure that's what God wanted me to do but it was my decision what I did. So, I prayed about college, and I prayed about Taiwan, and I prayed about some other things. In May I told my Dad that I agreed with him and I that I knew God wanted me to go to Taiwan. I wasn't that excited about it but I knew that's where God wanted me, so I filled out the 15 page application. One of the requirements was that you had to attend a TESOL course, so I signed up for the TESOL course that IBLP offered.
IBLP's course was 2 1/2 weeks long and ran at the same time that VOICE did. VOICE is this month long summer camp for students from Taiwan, China, and Hong Kong to come over to America and learn English, Character and more about God. It was awesome to see how their English improved in just those 2 1/2 weeks! TESOL was awesome though, we had classes in the morning and then we had some homework. We had a lot of time to hang out with VOICE students, it was always so much fun when we would try and learn Chinese. By the way, tones are really hard to speak! At the end of VOICE we put on a 1 1/2 long musical....in ENGLISH (That was an accomplishment for VOICE because some of them couldn't speak English that well)!!
TESOL was awesome because all the VOICE students loved to teach us things to say in Chinese, and since we were going over there a lot of loved to learn those things. I learned how to say this 金光閃閃, I have a feeling it's never going to help me but hey! it's fun to say. Also, they gave my a Chinese name,  安俐. Yep, pretty cool!! But anyway, all that to say that going to TESOL made me really excited to go over to Taiwan and teach there. The lady in charge of us has such a burden for Taiwan and it just over flows from her. 

Now TESOL is over and I'm waiting to go over there. I leave on Wednesday! I'm going to PingTung, which is south, very south. I'm going to work in the English Village! I'm sure there will be updates about that later (especially when I get there and see what it really is like).


Please pray for us and our ministry!!


Thanks,
D2

ONE WEEKK!!!!!

Today is the day. Today is the day that marks my last full week of being home. In exactly a week from right now I will be on a plane heading over to Taiwan to start my 11 month stay there! I'm so excited, every day I just can't wait to go more and more.

There are a lot of things I'm excited about but also a lot of things that really I'm not looking forward too.
I'm so excited about
~Meeting the Taiwanese people - I have learned the Taiwanese are SO amazing
~Teaching little kids - Ohh yes, such a joy
~Visiting Taiwan seeing what it’s like
~Seeing all my VOICE peoples again!!
~Spending a whole year with Amber and Camellia and Alex and Julia and Jared and Kyle and Aaron (even though I don't know half of them yet)
~The night market - I hear it’s a blast!

I'm not really excited about
~The weather - I hear it’s really humid and gross and hot
~Some of the food - I'm not a fan of food other than my Mom's
~Not being with my family

Yep, the excited definitely weighs out the un-excitement. Therefore I'm excited!!!

~D2

Creepy man guy

Here is my story for you...
I'm standing in the OKC airport waiting for my bags and waiting to be picked up by someone that i don't know. While I'm standing there I'm looking at my phone and being me when some old guy walks up to me and starts talking to me.

COG (Creepy Old Guy) - "Hi, Do you have relatives in Ohio?"
Me - "Uhh, yea??"
COG - "Where in Ohio?"
Me - "Toledo??..."
COG - "Are you related to someone name Tammy?"
Me - "No"
COG - "Ok, cause I had this one really really good friend named Tammy and you look a lot like her. I just thought you might be her Great-Grand-Daughter"
Me - "Umm, nope I'm not"
COG - "Yea, cause I've been standing over there observing you and your gestures and everything is so much like her."
Me - "Yea...I don't know her."
COG - "Okay, well my name is Doug" *puts his out to shake mine*
Me - *in a creeped out tone "My name is Andrea" *shakes his hand*
COG - "Goodbye"

Yea, It was really creepy.
That's my creepy old man story for you.
~D2

Q-tips and VOICE

First I want to post a video that some of people made for a contest at TESOL. The theme was "What VOICE means to you." This is the entry that my team put in....I thought it was pretty clever. My didn't win, but that is ok :) I'm okay with that now.

:)
D2

14 days with nothing posted :/

I know, I know, I haven't posted for 14 days. I'm sorry....life got busy. The 29th was a crazy day because it was the day before we put on our musical and we hadn't even gone through either of the acts completely. The next day was crazy because we put ont he musical. The next day was crazy cause we had church and went to the mall and i left TESOL/OKC. The next dayS were crazy cause I was in Lousiana with some of my friends that I met at Character Camp in the previous years! So that's what i've been doing the last 21 days.
Now for a more detailed description. We (TESOL and VOICE) spent Friday night (the 29th) going through Act 2 from start to finish. Then Saturday morning (the 30th) we had team devos and then breakfast and then dress rehersal. We were able to go through the whole entire musical so that was really nice. By the time we were done though its 5 o'clock and we were supposed to eat 5:30 and dinner still wasn't finished cooking yet. So all the VOICE students ran up stairs to get changed into their nice clothes for dinner while the TESOL students set up the room for the musical and helped to finish dinner. Next of course was time to eat so we a delicious Chinese meal! :) Then it was time for the TESOL graduation so all of TESOL got their certificates. 7:00 Time for the musical! We all left the dining and went and got changed and waited for the musical to begin. 10:30 We were all cleaned up from the musical and having our last team prayer :(
Sunday we got up for Church said goodbye to some TESOL people and went to church. After church we went to the mall for a couple hours. That was quite fun, but after that it was time to say goodbye :( I went to the airport to catch my flight to go to Lousiana for 10 days.


Yep, that was why I didn't post anything for 14 days. But now I get to post tons about those 14 days!!
Be happy,
D2