It's Really Over

Oh my goodness. I can't handle it. I am really leaving Taiwan in the morning. I've got most everything packed (except what I need to get ready in the morning). I'm really scared about the weight limit, but there's nothing I can do now, it's not like I can just leave stuff behind. If it's over, I've just got to pay for it, and we all know how much I hate spending money, but I've got to do what I've got to do. And I did leave behind what I could, but my bags are still bulging. Yikes, it's going to be something lugging those on the train, on the bus, and in the airport.

Okay, first (I guess this is second by now) I should rewind back to last night. I waited for Evelyn to call me back, but I never heard from her. Since my plans to go sing karaoke fell through, I decided to go get a juice and head out to the beach one last time. I went to Ronald's juice stand and it was so crowded. The girl getting the fruits ready wouldn't help me and I was getting so frustrated. Ronald was so busy at the blenders that he didn't see me. Finally another girl came from the back and asked me (in English) what I wanted. I like the new girl! Oh shoot, back up even more. Before going to get juice I had to go to the fruit stand to pick up a mango for tonight's dinner. I walked in and the nice skinny girl from the juice stand ran up and said "hello." It'd been a while since I'd gotten juice, so I didn't recognize her at first. I said hi back, but I wasn't as excited as she was. After I realized who it was, I felt really bad for not being more happy to see her.

Alright, back to the other story. Ronald was really busy so I didn't have a chance to talk to him and so I just took my juice out to the beach. It was really crowded. It weirded me out, when I pulled up to the parking lot-ish area, there were lots of cars and scooters and bikes. Then I went down to the water and I saw lots of long poles with glow sticks on the end, that means that lots of people were night fishing. I chose a spot a little way away from all the fishers and just sat down. Off in the distance I saw fireworks going off so I turned my attention there. It was a pretty good show, so I wonder if I was watching the fireworks they were setting off at Carp Lake. I sat and watched those for a while, and also watched the waves crash on the shore. After 45 minutes or so a couple came to the exact spot where I was and the guy started fishing while the girl started eating dinner. I felt a little awkward but decided to stick it out anyway. I staid for 15-20 minutes and then decided that the beach just wasn't the same when there were glow sticks everywhere. But, I was able to see my very first firefly. It flew past me, and I had to check to make sure that there was no one around me so that I could be sure that it really was a firefly and not a fishing pole glow stick. But it was, it really was a firefly and it flew past me, and over the water, and then I lost it.

I walked up from the water and walked along the path that takes you to the volleyball courts and saw a water area and a ton of people playing volleyball. It made me kind of sad that I was there all by myself, but I was glad that it looked like everyone else was having fun. Next I got on my bike and biked to the other end of the beach where the night market is. That place was crowded too, so I just biked down the path and turned around and biked back. I wasn't in the mood to walk around the market, so I just left.

I biked back to our night market, but when I passed Ronald's stand, it was still really crowded. I had told him I would be back later tonight, so I decided to go home and come back later. I went home and did my scripture study and took a half hour nap. I figured that by midnight, things should be settling down for him. I was right. I went there and we had time to talk. He thought that I was leaving yesterday and he told me that he was wondering why I hadn't stopped by to say good bye. He asked me why I didn't come around any more and I told him it was because every time I did come he just told me to go away. We talked for a little while and then he said that maybe we could go out to breakfast today (seeing as it was past midnight, it was already Sunday). I told him that I don't buy things on Sunday. He said that was okay, because he would buy it and I would just eat. I told him that didn't work either because I don't go out on Sundays. He thought that I meant that I don't leave my house, but then was confused because I go to church. It was kind of difficult to try to get him to understand. Finally we decided that he would buy food and bring it to me. Okay, I know that that's still not allowed, but there was no deterring him, and it's not like I could make him breakfast because I don't have food in the kitchen and all the stores were already closed. We planned that he would come over at 7:30am and then I left.

I'm such a smuck. I did my laundry yesterday, and so my pants were hanging up to dry and I had to wear a skirt. I've gone four months without ruining a skirt as I ride my bike, but no my way back from the night market, my skirt somehow got caught in the brakes of my bike. When I got home, it was dark downstairs and I was tired and wanted to go to bed. So, instead of taking my time and getting my skirt out carefully, I had to be a little more aggressive. So now there is a hole in my brown skirt. There was also bike oil on it, but I washed it right away because bike oil is a terrible stainer. I'm pretty sure that I can just sew up the hole and since it's in the back at the bottom, it'll be fine. But I still felt so stupid for getting it caught and tearing it.

Okay, finally back to today. I got up early to take a shower and tidy up a little before Ronald came over. By tidy up, I mainly mean that I had to take my clothes down from the bamboo rod where they were drying. Well the punk didn't show up until 8:00am, and he hadn't brought breakfast. I wish that I would have had food in the kitchen so that I could have just made something and so he wouldn't have gone out and bought stuff, but I only had enough oatmeal for one person, because that's how I'd planned it. He wanted me to go out and get breakfast with him, but I told him no. I was just going to tell him to forget it, but then he left to go pick the food up. He took his time getting back. I wanted to leave the apartment at 8:45am, but he didn't get back until 8:30am. He brought up the food and also a funny little stuffed cupid that he had got from one of the claw machines. What a goon. There is no way that the toy will fit in my luggage, so I just took a picture of it and I'm going to have to leave it here. I guess that it was a nice thought, but what a weirdo! (I mean that in the nicest way, too.) We ate breakfast and talked and then I had to kick him out so that I could go to church.

I went to church and had a good time. I was in such a hurry to get to church and pedaled so hard because I thought I was going to be late, but when I got to Relief Society, I was the third one there: the teacher, the president, and me. Right after I got in, June came in. She told me that she had a great time in China and I told her that I had a great time in Hong Kong. That's pretty much all we got out before Yuling came in. I guess that she was released from her calling in Young Woman's so now she can come to Relief Society. She was shocked to see June and they chatted for a minute or two before the lesson started. After class ended I had Sister Wood go and give the Relief Society president the Afterglow CD. I wanted to give it to the Relief Society so they could use it for music appreciation or play it at activities or something. But since I couldn't tell them that, I had Sister Wood go give it to them. I really like giving presents, but I don't like being the one to hand it over, so I didn't go up with Sister Wood. But, Ariel's mom (the Relief Society President) came over and had me sign the front.

We had a tiny Sunday School class again. It was the teacher, the Branch President, the four missionaries, me, and two investigators. It was pretty sad. It was a really good lesson though. It was on honesty and the only reason I didn't like it was because now I'm accountable for more things after learning more today.

Sister Wood got no break today. She translated for me in Relief Society, Sunday School, and Sacrament meeting. She told me that one on one translations can be pretty awkward. "Normally they wouldn't be, but when you're a missionary, it's amazing how awkward things can get." I had to laugh at that, but I think that last time I sat beside Elder Pendelton when he was translating, I was the one that felt more awkward.

After church I stuck around so I could take some pictures with the Sister Missionaries. We snapped off a few shots and then they had to run to a meeting. I went home and was very surprised to find that Natalie and Beth had already returned. I thought that they were going to stay and go to the English Ward in Taipei, but I guess their plans changed. Natalie took off for the Hualien Branch shortly after I got back, but Beth was asleep. Okay, I have to be careful now because I know that Beth reads this, and I hope she's not offended by me saying so, but that girl can sleep. Natalie opened up Beth's window, stuck her face in, and honestly yelled Beth's name a minimum of 10 times and Beth didn't move a muscle. I told Natalie that she should give up and just head out to church, but she was determined. She started looking around for something to "throw lightly" at Beth and she kept yelling her name. It was kind of funny/ annoying. But writing about it now, I am definitely chuckling. And it turns out that Beth was not choosing to ignore Natalie, she honestly did not hear her calling.

Any who, after eating lunch I took a nap. I of course set my alarm, and I gave myself an hour to sleep. Yeah right, as soon as the alarm went off I turned it off and slept for another hour and a half (maybe two hours). It felt great at the time, but now (like always) I'm a little bit regretting it because I'm not super sleepy even though it's late.

After my nap, it was time to make dinner. I was really excited for this. I'd never made it before, but I thought about it the other day and thought that it would be really good to make chicken with mango salsa. Oh yeah, so right after church I took the skin off the chicken breasts and "marinated" them in fresh pineapple juice. After my nap I cut up tomatoes, green peppers, onions, garlic, and mixed that up with a little bit of salt and squeezed a little lemon on it. I set that in the fridge while I cut up the mango. When the mango was all cut up I added that to the salsa and put it back in the fridge. I of course tried some, and let me tell you, I made some REALLY good salsa. Next step was to cook the chicken and the asparagus. I put some oil in a pan and put in the asparagus. Then I added some salt and some pepper salt and cooked that. At the same time I put the chicken and pineapple juice in a frying pan and had that cooking over a low heat. When the chicken was just about done I drained the juice out and put some salsa on top of the chicken so that it could cook the flavor into the chicken. I forgot that I had gotten salad for dinner too, so while the chicken and salsa were cooking I rinsed the salad. It turns out that I didn't grab romaine lettuce like I thought I had, I actually grabbed some type of lettuce that reminds me of green onion. So the salad was a little funky, but everyone ate it and Beth went back for seconds, so I guess it wasn't that terrible. When it was all finished I put the fresh pineapple in a bowl, set out the salad, put the asparagus in a bowl and dished up the chicken onto every one's plate and put extra salsa on top. It looked so good and I was so proud of myself. Unfortunately, Amy and Natalie were way late. I had waited until 4pm to start cooking, and I took my time because I knew that Amy had a meeting after church and wouldn't get out until around 5pm. I had perfect timing because dinner was done just after 5pm. But, Amy and Natalie did not come home until 5:40pm. I'm sure that dinner would have tasted better if all the food had been hot, but I still think it turned out really well. I'm terrible at hiding how pleased I am when something I cooked turned out well. So I'm pretty sure that everyone was wondering why I kept on mentioning how pleased I was. But really, I totally made up the recipe and it turned out so well, I was pleased! I took pictures of the dinner, but my camera cord is already packed, so I can't put them up.

When Amy and Natalie came back, Amy gave me a birthday present. She had made me a picture frame and had printed me out some pictures. She was so worried that I wouldn't like it because it was hand made, but I absolutely loved it. It's really cute, and it's way precious that she would make it for me. She also made one for Adam (the teacher that was here a year ago and who I met because he came back to visit Taiwan for a little while) and so I'm taking that back to America to give to him for her. After dinner Amy and Natalie worked on their friendship bracelets while Beth wrote letters and I sat there and socialized with everyone (well, I tried, but I was kind of captivated by the bracelets).

Once Amy left I called June up to see if she wanted to come over and play cards or something because we didn't talk too much today. She said that she was eating dinner and probably wouldn't make it over. I made Beth play cards with me anyway because I was in the mood for some games, and definitely not in the mood to finish packing. While we were playing we heard someone come up the stairs. The sister missionaries had made me a birthday card but had forgotten to give it to me at church so they stopped by to drop it off.

While the missionaries were here, June called and said that she and her cousin were going to come over and play games. June and Dave came over and Beth and I played cards with them. I learned three new games tonight. I learned a new way of playing BS, where someone puts down cards (an eight for example) and everyone else has to lay down that same number (or lie if they don't have any). The same number needs to be laid down until someone finally calls BS. So you can have pretty big pile that are all supposedly eights. I also learned how to play Card Attack where you flip over cards and as you do you count: ace, two, three, ... if the card you turn is the card that you said, you slap the pile. The last person to slap the pile has to take it. The point of the game is to get rid of your cards fastest. That one is trippy, it messed with my head so much. It was weird to be saying "king" but then see a four played or whatever. The last game, Dave and June taught us. You deal out all the cards. Everyone looks at their hand. The 7 of clubs starts the game. You build up and down in order off of the seven. If you have another seven, you can play that also, but if you do not have a card to play, you have to lay one down. No one knows what card you lay down, so it might be a card that you need to be played, but because they laid it down, you can't play your card. I guess we played the game too nice, without laying too many traps for people, but I still thought it was a fun game.

I don't know how long we were playing cards, but it wasn't too terribly long because Beth needed to do her evaluations of the kids and I had to finish packing. Like I said, I've managed to get it packed into my suitcases, but they are bulging and possibly too heavy.

I can't believe that I'm really leaving tomorrow. It doesn't seem real. And although I have my bags packed and I have a train ticket and I know I have to get on a plane tomorrow, it still hasn't really clicked. This is weird.

Alright. This is the last post I'll be posting from Taiwan. I'll probably post one more to recap how my journey back went, but if might take me a few days to write it up.

Zaijian Taiwan.