Sitou Forest, Floating Walkway!

A few days ago Karyn, Kailey, Liz and I were invited by Kitty's parents (one of Kailey's students) to go to Shitou Forest this morning! Bright and early this morning, George, Grace and Kitty came and picked us up from our apartment! It was about an hour and a half drive to Shitou Forest. It was beautiful! It was amazing and I loved it!

The rest of the pictures are in Shitou Forest! I love the bridges here!

Isn't it beautiful?!

The gorgeous mountains covered in fog!

As Karyn pointed out, I matched the orange moss on the rocks :)

My feet in the cold water pictured above!

So you see that tall tree in the background?! Of course you do... well that tree is 2800 years old!
It's called the Great Tree and it IS old!

I loved these flowers, which were all over the place and the Great Tree is looming above it :)

More fog covered mountains!

Posing by one of those cool orange flower trees! I think they are so beautiful! As Karyn pointed out again, I matched the flowers :)

See that floating walkway amongst the trees... well we got to walk on that floating walkway!

Here you can read about that floating walkway!

My feet on the floating walkway! I guess it's actually called the sky walk :)

Liz and I on the walkway! We just walked among the top of the trees today. We literally could reach out and touch the leaves and branches of the trees. Those were NOT short trees.

Look how far down the ground is! The walkway shook as we walked on it, but it was not scary!

The sky walk from below!

It almost looks like they're not walking on anything!

Beautifulness! The big leaves are Taro Plants. The leaves are poisonous to eat, but you can eat the root!

More beautifulness! I loved this trail we were on! The view, the squishiness of the trail, the company.
The trail was wet and muddy, but we didn't sink in the mud, we just squished on top (if that makes any sense.) It was pretty awesome!

Self-portrait!

A real live suspension bridge! Look how cool that thing is! It shook quite a bit while on it, but it was not scary at all :)

Liz, Kitty and I on the suspension bridge!

Karyn and I on the suspension bridge!

Another real live suspension bridge! Just in case you haven't noticed, I love suspension bridges :)

The view as we were driving into the park!

After we went to the park we went to this awesome factory where they make these mini pineapple cakes, which are amazing! (The factory is not in the park, but it was on the way home.) We all got a free sample and then we went and looked in the factory windows to watch them making the cakes fresh! This is the sign pointing the way to the factory!

Today was a marvelous day! The forest was beautiful beyond description, the company was entertaining and the food was delicious!

McDonald's Night and Super Students!

Every month at our school, each teacher chooses one or two students from each of their classes as Super Students. The Super Students and the teachers go to McDonald's as a treat for their good work and behavior. Of course other students are invited to come along too :) These are my four Super Students from my 2A class for the months of July and August! (I have a 5A class too, but they get a gift instead of coming to McDonald's if they are Super Students.)

Sean is on the left with the red shirt looking straight ahead. Peter is next to Sean looking the other direction. Joan is next to Peter with the glasses on. Angel is next to me. I love these kids! They're good kids!

Sean with a bag on his head :) He's the oldest in the class by a couple of years. He's a smart kid and has a good memory. Peter, cute little Peter. He loves to volunteer to answer questions and come up and speak in front of the class. Joan, one of two girls in that class of nine. She's super smart and does well on all of her assignments!

Emma and I. Emma was in my beginner class. Although she no longer comes, she was Super Student in July, so she came tonight. She's a cute girl! It was good to see her again :)
(Emily is in the picture to the left. She's one of the secretaries at the school and she is awesome!)

Penny is so cute! She does not like getting her picture taken. This is the best picture I could get of her tonight ;) She's in my beginner class. She actually speaks pretty well and can read a little bit, but she's quiet. She can be so much fun, when she opens up :) I love this girl!

Stanley, oh Stanley! What can I say about this kid?! Well he's in my beginner class also. He can be a little difficult. He doesn't like to listen to teacher sometimes, but he can also be very good when he wants to be!

I love this picture of Stanley! He put his hand up right after this because he didn't want his picture taken, but I got this awesome picture before he got his hand up :) I also love this kid!

Barbi is on the left and Eilleen is on the right. They're sisters. They are so cute (at least most of the time:) They're both in my beginner class, but Eilleen actually goes to a more advanced class too. They both learn quickly and remember well.

Here's an entry from my journal on Friday, August 27, 2010:

"We've been here a little over two months now! It's crazy! I love it here! I really look forward to the weekends and the adventures we'll go on. I'm starting to love my students. They're difficult at times, but I am definitely starting to be attached to them. :) Teaching is still hard. In a way lesson planning is getting easier as I get more into a routine, but it's still hard to actually get up in front of the class and stay enthusiastic and keep the kids quiet. As it is with any job, some days are better than others... I really do like [teaching] but it just is challenging."

Amusement Park, Facials, and Cinnamon Rolls!

On Thursday morning of last week, I got a call from one of my student's parents. She asked me if I would like to go to a park with them that evening. I didn't have anything else going on, so I said yes. When she said park, I thought she meant playground, but it was not just any regular park, it was an amusement park!
Tim, one of my students in my 2A class, his older brother, Danny, and their mom and I went to the amusement park. It was a ton of fun! It was fun to get to know Tim outside of class! He's a cute kid! He's 8 years old, just about the same age as my nephew, Adam.

This is the only picture I got that night from the amusement park! Tim and I.

On Saturday, Kailey and I explored the mountain behind our house! We got facials on top of the mountain. The facial consisted of the lady putting cream on our faces and using this sticky string thingy to pull all of the hair out of our faces. Then she plucked our eyebrows just a little bit! It was a special experience!

After our special facials, we went home and decided to make cinnamon rolls! Normally that wouldn't be a problem, but we don't have an oven. We have a toaster oven, but not an oven. We both really wanted to make them, so we decided to give it a try anyway. We used the recipe on the recipe blog and halved it. It turned out perfectly!

Look how beautiful they look! It was just the perfect amount for us four roommates that night and then for breakfast in the morning!

Kailey and I with our cinnamon rolls!

Sister Dalton and Lotus Lake!

On Sunday we went to church with Tricia in Kaohsiung. We happened to be in the same ward that Sister Elaine Dalton of the Young Women General Presidency was attending! Karyn, Kailey, Liz, Tricia and I got to meet and talk with her. We had a conversation with her and she told us some things that we all needed to hear. It was an amazing experience! I seriously could just feel the love emanating from her.

After church, Tricia dropped us off at Lotus Lake. It's a really cool lake with a bunch of temples and statues around it! Here are some pictures from there!

This was our first stop on our tour of the lake. We didn't go all of the way around, but we saw the main attractions! This is a Confucius Temple! It was beautiful!

I love red doors! This is at the Confucius Temple!

This is a big Buddha statue! I loved this shot with the people sitting on the beach with the big umbrella!

Almost to the big Buddha! It was pretty awesome!

An upclose of one of the statues on the bridge from the picture above!

Pagodas and dragon and tiger! We got to walk through the dragon and tiger!

Me in front of the pagodas!

We went to the top of the left pagoda! I love the view! I really like this walkway!

On top of the pagoda!


Overlooking the walkway!

Watch out, we're being eaten!

This is a carving inside of the dragon! There's a head coming out of his stomach ;)

Inside of the dragon!

I like this pond and bridge and the background!

I hope you notice the lovely dead pig and goat on the tables. Yes they are real. There was some sort of Buddhist celebration going on. We didn't know what at the time, but we heard it might have been a celebration because it's the middle of the year.

This is on the train ride back to Changhua. We bought standing room because there were no seats left and we didn't want to wait for the next train. We stood for quite a while and then some floor space opened up at the front of the car where we sat for a while and then we were able sit on some seats for the last part of the trip. It was a lovely way to end the trip :) Seriously! I enjoyed the train ride!

Once again this day was a lovely day! I am so grateful that we got to meet Sister Dalton and listen to her speak at her fireside that night. I am so grateful that we got to hang out with Tricia and that she was so willing to drive us around. I am so glad that we got to see Lotus Lake and walk through a dragon and tiger :) I am so glad that we got to see Foguanshan and all of its beautifulness!