Year 23: Just the beginning

My birthday
The day of my birthday was also the school fair. We all came to school early in the morning. All the Chinese teachers were in charge of preparing a game. Students and parents would go to the different classrooms playing games and earning tickets for their performance. Although I had to work on my birthday, which was a Saturday, the atmosphere was fun and laid back. The fair ended about 1 p.m. in which Kristen and Samantha took me out for my birthday. They treated me with bubble tea and then we picked up my friend Rosa from Fuzhong station. The rainy day, didn't stop us from celebrating. We were still able to go on the Gondola near the Taipei zoo. The Gondola takes about 30 minutes overlooking the city and the surrounding area. The Gondola stops at the top where there are many tea houses as well as hiking trails. We had traditional Chinese tea and dinner at a cute, scenic restaurant overlooking Taipei 101. After we took the Gondola down and gazed at the night view of the city. We went right to Sam's apartment and got ready to go out while playing drinking games. Rosa decided to leave as she needed to go back home. It was a fun night of drinking until 5 a.m. definitely a memorable birthday. The next morning wasn't very pleasant and I ended up sleeping almost the entire day until we needed to prepare for the pot luck at Sam's place. I made homemade reeces cups! It was an enjoyable birthday weekend and one I will surely remember.

Jade
The first Sunday in May, I reconnected with one of my Taiwanese friends, Jade. It was wonderful to see her again after so long. We first walked around the NTU campus and then she took me to a Middle Eastern restaurant, Sambaba, owned by a man from Tel Aviv.  Later that day, Jade took me to an art exhibition at the world trade center. The art work were from artists all around the world. Together we cashually strolled for a few hours then went back to where we began our day to enjoy a fruit drink and swam at a public indoor pool. A wonderful day : ) 

Hualien trip 
Jade invited me with her friend Ian to Hualien for the weekend. Ian, an American teacher in Tainan, recieved a scholarship to study Chinese at an University in Taiwan. One of his options was to study at the University in Hualien. Jade and Ian had visited Hualien just two weeks before, but Ian wanted to get a better feel for the area before he made the decision to move. The weekend was truly special. 

We left early Saturday morning and met Ian in Hualien. We went right to the hostel, put our things down and explored the city. We found a nice coffee/tea shop at the cultural park where we sat down and enjoyed the atmosphere. During the day, we took it easy, relaxing and enjoying each others company. 

The hostel we stayed at, sleeping boot, was perfect! It had a warm atmosphere and the co-founder was a lovely guy. We spent time relaxing on the couch and gazing at the peaceful scenery. That afternoon, we met a Swiss (Adrian) and an Israeli (Nadav) guy. Short story: I was at the sink washing my coffee cup while Jade went to go check on Ian. He decided to take a nap because he was so exhausted from the overnight bus ride. As I was standing at the sink, I heard a guy on the couch speaking on his cell phone in Hebrew! I tried to listen to make sure I was hearing Hebrew as he was talking very quietly. I sat across from him smiling and waited patiently for him to get off the phone. As soon as he got off the phone, I looked at him and said, "Where are you from in Israeli"? (In Hebrew of course). He looked at me and smiled. It was a nice surprise to meet him as I've only encountered Israelis once before in Taiwan. 

Once Ian woke up, we rented scooters and drove to the University Ian was thinking of going to in the Fall. We strolled the campus for a while then went to a free native dance performance. Every night there is a free native dance show for the public where both locals and travels come to enjoy a bit of aboriginal culture. Around the proximity of the dance space was a market filled with jewelry, nick-nacks and famous marble pieces from Hualien. We walked around after the show and then checked out the night market.

The next morning before we left the hostel, we sat down had some tea/coffee and a little snack at the table, while chatting with the young girl who was doing a work exchange at sleeping boot. While everyone was sitting and talking, I checked my e-mail. I saw I received a message from Benji. The subject said: I love you. The message read: "Dear Gabriela, I love you. There is nothing in this world I want more than to be with you." I was speechless. My heart was filled with pure happiness, a feeling unlike anything I received before. I stood there at the computer with a big smile on my face and unable to continue reading. The letter was full of emotion; everything I've waited to hear for 6 years. My friends said, my face was glowing all day. Suddenly, the rainy day didn't bother me. The feeling was so powerful nothing could let me down. The day was amazing! Ian, Jade, Nadav and I rode scooters all day wherever our hearts desired. We stopped at the ocean side to enjoy the sound of the tide hitting the pebble beach. Later we found, a winery in Hualien that we explored. For lunch, we had teppanyaki. Then, Ian had to leave to get back to Tainan and Nadav had to get back to Taipei. 

In the afternoon, Adrian joined Jade and I. We went to a secret place where not many people were. Kids, families, friends were playing in the stream and some were jumping from a big rock into the water. It was a very scenic area high in the mountains. We drove a bit more and found a B & B in the middle of the mountains, where you could view Hualien city. At the B & B there were many tables/chairs outside to sit, drinking tea and admiring the view. Lucky us, we saw a rainbow! That hardly ever happens in Taiwan. 

All weekend, we took our time smelling the fresh air and enjoying each others company. We weren't in a rush to see so many things, only discovering and spending time in a few places. After those two days, we all went back home feeling refreshed and a sense of peace. During that weekend, even though it was short it felt so special and inspiring, as if we spent the whole week traveling in Hualien and learning so much from the people we met and their life stories.  I believe, we all grew a special place for Hualien in our hearts. 

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 

In May, before the trip to Hualien, I also received a great e-mail from a Jewish girl named, Danielle. The message said, "The rabbi of chabad told me you were at the seder last month. I'm not sure what you thought of it (I was at the other one), but was wondering if you ever wanted to join me on a Friday for shabbat. I'm usually there every week and it would be awesome if another American girl showed up." 

Danielle and I met up one late afternoon before Jade and I swam together that night. In fact, two days before the trip to Hualien. Those few hours Danielle and I talked were so special. There was one moment, we were sitting on top of the steps of Chiang Kai-sheik memorial hall. We were gazing at the beautiful area and feeling so comfortable with each other. A feeling of bliss and peace; neither of us wanted to say goodbye. 

Later I got a message from her. "Gabriela! It was amazing meeting you today! I had the best afternoon with you! I'm looking forward to the next time I see you : ) I wrote her back and at the end of the e-mail I said, "I feel we will be good friends." She agreed : ) 

I feel so blessed the rabbi of Chabad reached out and connected us. Good friends are hard to come by.  

We met up a few more times for the dragon boat festival and to volunteer at an orphanage. Both really great days together. :) 

Four Day Weekend in April

~Four day weekend~

(I wrote this awhile ago, but never posted it) 

April 4th and 5th were a holiday in Taiwan. Thursday, April 4th was tomb sweeping day where family members visited their loves ones. They would clean the grave site and leave food and flowers as a sign of respect.  The following day, April 5th was children's day. Parents could honor their child by doing something special with them like going to the park or visiting an exhibit at a museum to name a few.  These two days we had off of school. For the four day weekend, Kristen, Sam and I traveled to the southeast coast of Taiwan. 

Wednesday evening ~

Immediately after our last class Wednesday night, we took the 7:30 p.m. train to Hualien. That night we stayed at Bottle Hostel, which was recommended by my friend Jesse. The owner of the hostel and Jesse are friends, so he gave us all a discount. He was a friendly guy and after we told him we were going to visit Jesse at work, he offered to drive us there. I haven't seen Jesse since my first CS experience in September and it was so nice to see her again.  The AllStar bar was full that evening, but we managed to talk with her a bit.  Jesse also was recently in the Philippines and it was fun to exchange stories of our trip.  

Thursday ~ 

The following morning, we rented scooters and started driving down highway 11 to Taitung, last county on the eastern coast of Taiwan.  On the way, we stopped frequently to take pictures of the beautiful scenery. I think, the east coast has some of the nicest scenic views in Taiwan. The entire eastern stretch has the stunning coastal mountain range and views of the Pacific Ocean.  About halfway to Taitung lies the tropic of cancer monument. Taiwan, along with 16 other countries are the only places in the world which the tropic of cancer pass through. It was exciting to see the diving line between tropical and subtropical and feel the change. The imaginary line helps researches in the field of astronomy, geography, biology and guides us to understand soil and climate conditions.  There were many Chinese tour buses there making it nearly impossible to take a photo without someone in the picture. 

The longest stop we took was for an hour at Sanxiantai, small island a few meters off the coast of Taitung county. The iconic landmark on the eastern coast, eight cross-sea arch bridge, connects Sanxiantai to Taiwan. The bridge, created in a wave pattern, resembles a prostrate sea dragon.  As we crossed the bridge, we saw many coral reefs surrounding the island. We would of snorkeled here had it been a bit warmer and had more time. 

We arrived into Taitung around 5 p.m. and called our former co-worker Dino. He invited us to his girlfriends, Lisa's parents home where he's been staying for the last two months. Kristen and I haven't seen Dino since last semester and it was nice to reconnect with him.  Lisa and Dino were very nice to us; they bought us fried chicken for dinner, allowed us to stay in Lisa's grandfathers home and even took us to a fabulous hot spring.  The hot spring was about 20 minutes away from their home and was unlike any hot spring I've seen before.  The place had a big cold water pool, a few warm ones and many water jets to relax under. The jets were anywhere from a a foot message to a full body message.  There were also separate steam rooms and sauna's for men and women. Dino and Lisa like to frequently go to this hot spring and I can understand why. I felt like I was at an amusement park; there were so many different things to do!  We all had a fun time as the two hours went by fast! Kristen and Sam had never been to any hot springs before and they loved it! 

Friday ~

Early in the morning, we drove our scooters to the pier in hopes of buying ferry tickets to Green Island.  Luckily, we were able to buy seats on one of the 6 ferry's that day.  Our ferry departed Taitung at 1:30 p.m., in which we had enough time to hang out with Dino and Lisa before heading to Green Island for two days. We met Dino and Lisa for breakfast at a local restaurant that served delicious french toast. Afterwards, they took us on a quick bike ride through forest park. A beautiful natural park within easy reach from the city center; I really wish they had something like forest park in Taipei. Unfortunately, we couldn't explore forest park for long as we had to make our ferry to Green Island. We thanked Dino and Lisa for the exceptional hospitality and wished them a safe trip to the U.S. to visit Dino's family in Florida. Since Dino came to Taiwan he hasn't been back to America or seen his family; he's really excited to finally visit after so long. 

The ferry to Green Island, known as the puke ferry, takes exactly 50 minutes.  Kristen previously read horror stories about the rockiness of the ferry. We both didn't want to take a chance in getting motion sickness, so we each took graval (Dramamine to Americans is Graval to Canadians). Thankfully, we did because that ferry did not stop going up and down. My eyes kept looking at the clock waiting for the ferry to dock.  I tried not to listen to the sounds of others puking in every direction of me.  Even the lady sitting beside me was throwing up.  Workers were moving up and down the aisle with a trash bag for people to dispose of their puke bags. It was absolutely crazy!  Luckily, neither Kristen nor I got sick. 

We immediately went to find scooters to get around Green Island. After every scooter shop refused to rent us a scooter, we scrambled to find another option as we were not expecting everyone to say no to us because we were foreigners. With the help of the foreigner hotline and the information desk, we got the last shuttle bus to take us wherever we wanted to go. Our plan was to camp on green island, so that's where the drive took us.  About half hour drive, we were dropped off at the campsite. We soon found out the campsite had temporarily closed due to the typhoon. With no other bus or any scooters and nothing to eat around the campsite, our only option was to walk until we found something.  About an hour of walking, we reached a hotel. It was worth a shot to see if they had any rooms available, which they didn't. However, the lady who owned the hotel was very helpful and found us both two scooters and a hotel located near the main strip.  We were all relieved and could finally enjoy the island without having to worry any longer.  It was already pretty late, so we dropped our stuff in the hotel and went for dinner. The nightlife on green island is basically none existed. There was not even a single bar. We decided to have a few 7-eleven beers by the ocean, take a shower and head to bed. 

Saturday ~ 

Sam and I woke up before Kristen and decided to take a lap with the scooters around the island. The island's very small, only an hour drive around.  The ride was extremely relaxing.  When we got back, Kristen was ready to go. We went for breakfast at the small community village, then got our suits on, rented snorkel gear and were ready to start snorkeling! Green Island's known for the fabulous snorkeling. We started at one diving spot, however, due to the current we didn't stay. So, we found another spot, a bit calmer, and put on our snorkel gear and headed in the water. We all saw many tropical fish of all sizes. Kristen even saw a stingray! I looked for one, but didn't find it : / We stayed for about an hour, then grabbed lunch back near our hotel. After we got food in our belly's, we went back out in the water this time at another dive spot. This spot was known for a specific type of coral, which was stunning.  As we were snorkeling, it started raining pretty hard and looked like a storm was coming in. We made our way back to shore and drove along the coast instead. We stopped and looked at a waterfall, the famous sleeping beauty rock and our last site was the salt water hot springs, one of three salt water springs in the world! As you were sitting, you could see both the Pacific ocean and the mountains! It was beautiful.  We didn't stay longer than an hour because we needed to return our scooters. That evening, we went for dinner at Monica's restaurant, a friendly owner with excellent seafood. Since theirs no nightlife on green island, we ended up playing cards in our hotel room.  

Sunday ~

Sunday morning, our ferry left at 10:30 a.m. From our experience on the ferry going to green island, we knew we needed to take gravel to keep us from any kind of  motion sickness. The ferry ride back wasn't any better. Not only was the boat going up and down, but from time to time would rock back and forth. The gravel saved us big time! The change of temperature on Sunday was drastic.  We weren't prepared for the cold weather and ended up buying a sweatshirt for the five hour drive back! We were absolutely miserable riding scooters back to Hualien. We would stop every hour to warm up by drinking hot chocolate/coffee. We took highway 9 on the ride back instead of highway 11 (only two highways on the east coast). Highway 9 runs through a wide valley rich in hot springs and aboriginal villages. It was hard to appreciate all that the area has to offer because how badly we wanted to get back. When we finally arrived in Hualien, we had a little over an hour to return our scooters and eat something.  Kristen and Sam immediately fell asleep on the three hour train that arrived into Taipei at 12:30 a.m.

Fun weekend on the east coast! :)