An Adventure to be remembered

Jen and Micah told me that I should post, so I will post about my adventure on Saturday. After the beautiful Yang Ming Mountain trip in the morning, Dr. C. said that he would be taking the MRT to the end of the line, to Danshui. Many nurses had mentioned that we should go there and it sounded like fun, so I jumped at the chance to join this adventure. Turns out that no one else was interested, so we headed out on our own. The town of Danshui is located along the Danshui River and stretches along the river until the river reaches the ocean. My first thought when arriving was that it reminded me of Seattle. We stopped at Starbucks for a quick drink before wandering along the wharf. The weather was cool and a little bit rainy. There were many shops to look in, and we were entertained by various people playing their instruments for a bit of cash. We managed to figure out that there was a ferry boat that went across the river and also up to the mouth of the river. We were hoping to cross the river, but instead ended up taking the ferry up to the mouth of the river, where it met the ocean. The ferry is much smaller than Seattle ferries, so it could go a lot faster. It was a fun ride. Then we decided to jump on a bus and stopped at the San Domingo fort (about halfway to the MRT station). We explored the fort which was most recently used as the British consulate. Lots of history, lots of interesting information. Besides the fort we saw a neat church and wandered up to see it. Turns out that it was on a university campus, so we wandered across the campus. Up to this point, I thoroughly enjoyed my adventure. I did not realize that I was about to get a lot more adventure than I had planned for. Instead of backtracking through the campus and back to the bus route, we made the choice to keep walking from where we were. Dr. C. made the logical assumption, that if we just headed downhill, we would make it back to the waterfront. So we turned left... down the hill... Not too long after that, we were suddenly going uphill again. At this point it was starting to get dark, so I lost any sense of direction that I had before. And it was still rainy. We wandered and made turns for quite a bit. Then, we found a large hill to trek down (hopefully leading us to water). Unfortunately, the path was through a construction area, so it was a bit dirty. About halfway down this long hill, we realized that we were getting further from civilization and decided that we really should head back up the hill. SO we did. Finally I noticed a sign pointing toward Danshui, so we headed that direction. And since we had been wandering for about an hour by now, we stopped at a real estate agency to ask for directions. We pulled out our map (for the first time, though this map had been with us the entire time). They were very kind to us and very helpful, though there English was not great, so their directions were lost on us. A lovely employee brought us out to the bus stop and told us that it would take us to MRT. Right before the bus came, she ran out again and said that we should be on the other side instead. Good thing she caught us in time! So we waited for the next bus (in the rain) and took it to the end of the line, hoping for the MRT station. Unfortunately, we ended up at the bus station instead. Our bus driver realized what had happened and helped us find a bus that would take us the other direction to the MRT. After a quick 5-10 minute ride we FINALLY ended back at the MRT station. We were probably closer than we thought, but just couldn't get it figured out. SO that's the end of my story. Though the adventure was more than I expected, and my jeans got a little muddy, and my feet got tired, I really had a fun time! A memory that I will never forget.

Well, it's been awhile....

I wandered into my bedroom tonight to change into my pajamas and sat down at the computer to check myspace and my e-mail and decided....it's been too long since i posted a real blog.

Things here in Taiwan are going well. Today we ventured into the Yangming National Park to do some hiking around Yang Ming Mountain. It was breathtaking up there. The park is located in northern Taipei and was about a 35 minute van trip from our dormitory. We were accompanied by several nurses from the 10th floor ( Med-Surg) and their families which is always a good time. Tamara and I ventured off with Tammie and Micah as well as two beuatiful young nurses, Marissa and Wynona. They were so cute. Wynona even got to show me here tattoo which was an experience we could bond over. The national park is quite expansive so we all went in different directions. Some of us scaled all the way to the top of one of the higher peaks up lots of almost vertical stairs, some of us climbed halfway and then veered off to get a look at some waterfalls. All in all it was a great trip. We got to spend time in a beautiful park which is known for it's flower festival. Sadly most of the flowers weren't blooming because the last few weeks have been the coldest in 10 years.

Along the pathway to the cherry blossom garden there were a multitude of venders. The primary treat being proffered? Stinky Tofu.....which smells.........really awful. Like......congealed blood or something horrible like that. If only I could share that scent with you. It was just such a conflict with all the fresh mountain air that it is almost as breathtaking as the scenery.

We are approaching our last days at the hospital and in Taiwan. It will be hard to leave this place. The people here are really amazing and Taipei is such a gorgeous world class city, with such a small town kinda feel sometimes.

As Tamara blogged we spent time at ORTV which was a blast. We even got to record for their radio broadcast. It was nice to spend time with people who are influencing some many lives, teaching English and spreading the gospel of Christ. We met a lot of great people who I'm sure we will try and keep in contact with.

I'll try and blog again before we leave but no promises. And I still haven't figured out the video blogging stuff. So if you really want my video blog, e-mail me. Loves.

Dr. C, get down with your bad self! :)

So, I imagine most of you might want an explanation for this picture, right? Well...the second group of us (Tiffany, Jenifer L, Ana, Daisy, & Tammie) went to ORTV yesterday and again today (2/20 & 2/21) and were invited to join in worship Taiwan Aboriginal-style. Here we have Dr. C really getting into it. Go, Dr. C!

paper and light

paper and light
Originally uploaded by micah.kubo

lantern festival on February 17

electric bunny blur
Originally uploaded by micah.kubo

kaffe

kaffe
Originally uploaded by micah.kubo

it was Austrian. Barbara treated.

ORTV booth

and we went to a large book convention.