Breaking for Fall and Meeting New People

Hello all!

The weather in Kaohsiung has dipped into breezy with a bit of sun. Everyone keeps saying, "Wow, does it feel nice out!" The last two weeks since Dad flew back to the states have housed MAK's Fall Break as well as the last week of Quarter 1. In the words of Mr. Steve, "You're 25% done!"

Here's a recap:

For Monday and Tuesday of Fall Break, I cranked out grades, reading, and lesson planning for The Odyssey. On Tuesday night, McKenzie moved in with me! She's sleeping in my guest bedroom while James is in the military, and BOY has it been swell! To kick off our roommate-ship, we headed to THE BEACH WOOOOOOOO
... I mean, Kenting on the southern coast!

Wednesday:
We drove down to Kenting and marveled at the beautiful mountain highway which borders the sea for much of the stretch. After we dropped off our stuff, we met up with Caitlyn and Connie at the Yoho Resort to swim in the late afternoon. Christina offered to loan us her swim caps because, in Taiwan, you must wear swim caps in pools. No lie. Christine told us about this hole-in-the-Italian-cottage-wall restaurant that sits above a gelato (GELATO) shop, so you know where we ate! I've never tasted artisan ginger ale with star anise and pepper corn before.

Look at our darling hostel!

Thursday:

Beach day! McKenzie and I headed to Baisha Beach per the recommendations of Shelly, one of the MAK staff. I kept having to remind myself that I wasn't on the coast of the Mediterranean. While Dad was here, he kept saying that Kaohsiung reminded him of Madrid. Baisha Beach sure reminded me of Denia! The water was that blue (you know the one), and you could snorkel near the larger coral to see small fish! We met up with Ben and Kelly for lunch and then were invited to dinner with the Fuscas and the Scotts at this neat Thai restaurant.
Sorry, I forgot to take pictures at the beach- #liveinthemoment

I did, however, manage to get pictures from our excursion to the southernmost tip of Taiwan!

 

Small world time- we chatted up someone by this marker who turned out to be a prior principal of MAK! He took our picture for us! As for my hair and closed eyes, it was very windy.

Manna, you're lucky I didn't stop for a picture of the demon spider we saw. Big. As. My. Face.

I was *this* close to buying him.

Friday:

I woke up sizzling. Apparently, I am not 15 anymore and cannot go a whole day on one sunscreen application. Luckily, it wasn't a good beach day either as it started raining (a common thing around this time of year in Kenting).

The LaPianas, McKenzie, and I decided to check out the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium! 

Someone was enthused.

"Jack--I mean, Kelly! I'm flying!"

For dinner, McKenzie and I tried Bosa Nova Cafe. Wow. An utter delight! A treat well-enjoyed! We also got to chatting with a Danish college student filling his gap year with an odyssey (coming full circle) through Asia!

Pepijn speaks seven languages. SEVEN.

Saturday:

McKenzie woke up with a splitting migraine, so with that and the still-falling rain, we decided to head out of town. We tried to stop at the hot spring near Kenting, but the road we took had washed out apparently in the last typhoon/landslide. Later down the road, we realized there was another route to the spring, but we decided to save it for the next trip!

Now, onto last week!

That's Allen participating in an ice-breaker that required dancing!

I made some new friends at the English Club at I-Shou University this week! The club was started by Pastor David and Kathy Lin 7 or 8 years ago as a way to give university students practice with their English and share the Gospel. Each week, a native English-speaker shares vocabulary from the weekly worksheet's theme (this week's was travel). Then, small groups meet with one of the English speakers. There were about 20 students there! I had Jill, Brandon, Michael, and Aaron in my group. We worked through discussion questions about travel and then read a Bible verse from Psalms with prayer to finish. The group was most astonished to learn that, in the US, most people don't take off their shoes if they are guests in a house or apartment unless they are close friends with the host (in Taiwan, it's rude to leave on your shoes).

In the first quarter edition, each new teacher gets interviewed.
1.) They may have pulled my picture from Facebook. 2.) I did not come up with the title.

This is my Head Editor, Katherine! She excels in all that she does.

Lord, thank you for friends, sun, food, and laughter.

Now, on to Quarter 2! "加油!” (jiayou!)!