Last night I wrote June an email with a list of activities that I'd be interested in doing and suggested that today we could go look at a Japanese temple and a Catholic church. She agreed that that would be fun but her swimming class doesn't finish until 11am and so we were planning on going at noon. I called her at 12:15pm and she hadn't left yet and told me that she needed more time to get ready and that she could come around 1pm. At 12:45pm she called and asked if we could wait to go until 3pm. Luckily Kristy wasn't at school today, so I didn't have to tutor at 4:30pm.
Surprisingly, I wasn't irritated that she put off the time so much, and I wasn't bored either. I filled my time prepping my table cloth for Saturday. Last night I drew the picture and started to sew, but today I got the whole picture done, and all I have left is the border. Ha, I know that's no small task, but because they are straight lines, it will go much faster and won't actually be too difficult.
A little after 3pm, June came to pick me up (she has a car) and we went to find the Japanese temple. She told me that she knew where it was, but when we headed down the road, she pulled over to double check where she was. The guys that she asked directions told her that she had just passed it. We flipped a u-ee and looked more closely at the signs. We found it and walked around. I wasn't sure if it was appropriate to take pictures and so I didn't. I really should have just asked. It was quite pretty there and I wish that I would have taken pictures of it. It was pretty small, and we weren't allowed in the prayer house, but we walked around the grounds and looked at the Buddha statues and the souvenir shop. For some reason they were passing out free guava juice and free guavas. I'm not the hugest fan of guavas so I tried the juice, but didn't take the fruit. I guess that the fruit came from farmers that suffered from the typhoon. I'm guessing that they'd rather put the fruit to use then have it get wasted?
After walking around the Japanese temple we stopped off at a tiny little stand so that I could try some type of black jelly drink. June bought it for me and wouldn't let me pay her back. It was okay, and I think that I actually might have had it before. And, writing about it right now reminds me that I have had it, and I had it at the preschool. I never actually finished it, but I promise that it wasn't terrible. We grabbed the drinks and got back into the car. I showed June where on the map the Catholic Church was and she thought she would be able to get us close enough to it that if she asked someone where it was, they would know. We headed out and drove for about 20-30 minutes. She made turns like she knew where she was going, but after we were driving through the homes of an aborigine tribe, she decided she would pull over and ask for directions. They said that we made a wrong turn and sent us back. June was so embarrassed that she didn't know how to get there. I told her it was my fault for wanting to go to a place I don't know where it is, and that it didn't matter to me anyway because we were having good conversation and the view was great (we were right up against the mountains). We kept driving and she got on the main road again. She started to second guess herself again and so we pulled off and asked people for directions. They told her that we were in Sincheng Village, but we wanted to be in Sincheng Township. Urg, all the cities, counties, townships, villages, all within the same area, with the same name are REALLY confusing. So we back tracked. Okay, I'll make this story short because it is actually quite lengthy. We drove around for an hour to an hour and a half looking for this church. We had to ask so many people, all of them thought they knew where it was, but when they pointed out the way, there was no church there. I told June that it was okay if
we abandoned our search, but I guess that she didn't want to have our driving time to be wasted for nothing. We both kept apologizing. She apologized for not knowing the way, and I apologized for asking her to take me somewhere that was too far and for causing her to waste her gas driving back and forth. I don't know how many times we drove the main road before reaching our destination, but we did, in fact, reach our destination. Once we got there, there wasn't much to see. We took a couple of pictures, but really there was not much there. We weren't even allowed to get close to the actual church building, the gate leading up to it was locked. We could go to the wall, and then there was a statue in the back garden. That was the whole thing.
I really didn't mind the drive time, because I really did enjoy talking with June, but it is slightly hilarious that it took us 2 hours to find a place 20 minutes away. We drove back and didn't get back to Hualien until 7pm. I had to get back for tutoring at 8pm so we decided to go grab a quick dinner. She pulled over to a food stand and picked up a chicken leg for her and duck for me. Again, she paid and wouldn't take my money. I told her that next time we eat I'm paying for her. She just told me it was good spending time with me so that she could get out of the house and so there was no need to pay. Um... I'm pretty sure spending time with her gets me out of the house too. We took the food back to her house and we ate dinner with her family (they had just finished cooking their dinner). June is the only member in her family, but the father asked if I wanted to pray over the food. And before I prayed he asked me if I would pray that June and I would still be friends when we go back to school and also that if I come back to Taiwan that I will remember them and know that I am welcome to come back. (All of that was in Chinese and I got the translation from June.) I thought that was really nice that he would first be so thoughtful in asking if I wanted to pray, and then to ask me to pray that June and I, and that the whole family and I would stay friends when we've only met a couple times. I really like that family, and don't worry, I definitely did pray that we would stay friends.
I thought that I was eating fast enough to be back in time, but June's mom suggested that we leave when it was 7:55pm. I didn't have a watch and didn't realize what time it was. I got up to leave, but the father saw that I hadn't eaten my soup (he had made the soup) and told me to sit down and finish it, that we would be able to make it in time (spoken through hand gestures and the phrase "okay," no translation needed :o) He put on his shirt so that he could drive me home. He's so cute. He doesn't speak English, but he's so helpful. Like on Monday when we went over for a movie, he kept offering us different snacks and drinks and things, and now he wanted to make sure he was the one to drive me home and he sent me home with a dragon fruit to share with Beth. I made it back right after my tutories. As we were pulling up, I saw them running up the stairs. In other words... it was perfect timing.
Sad news (and I had a feeling this was going to happen) June and I aren't actually going to Kenting tomorrow. The train ride is 6 hours long, which means that the total travel is 12 hours. That means that the trip isn't worth it unless you can spend the night. Also, she was talking with some friends that said that it's a necessity to rent some means of transportation to get around down there. June can't spend the night because she has swimming lessons in the mornings and can't miss them. I guess if I really really want to go, I can go by myself, but I'm worried about the part where I need to rent transportation. I've read the travel book, and it does seem like there's no easy way around unless you have a car or scooter. So maybe that won't work out after all. June's friend said that she thinks the snorkeling at Green Island was better then the snorkeling at Kenting so that helps ease the sting a little if it turns out that I absolutely can't go to Kenting.
And more sad news, the travel agency wrote back again and told me that my second hotel option is also full. They wanted me to put down a third option, but I asked if they would send me a list of hotels that they know have vacancies, that way I can pick one of those. I do have my ticket, but not a place to stay, same as yesterday. Hopefully they understood what I asked in the email and I will get a list of possible hotels and I can do a little bit of research on them and then hurry and book a room so I have a place to stay next week. I also need to hurry and buy a train ticket to Taipei. I think that's going to be difficult. Although, it's a ticket for a Wednesday, so maybe it won't be too hard after all. Okay, so the next thing I've got to do is try to book a hostel for Friday night so that I can spend Saturday in Taipei.
I have plans to hang out with June again tomorrow afternoon. We're supposed to go kareokeeing with some of her friends. I hope that it works out, seeing as last time I went it was too full. Possibly I should try to get some sleep now. I'm not super tired, but I'm tired enough, and it's late enough.
Oh, I almost forgot. So you know how I get random comliments from complete strangers? Well today I got the most random of them all. This old man who choose betel nut (as I can tell by the fact that his teeth are stained dark red) comes up to me while I'm buying pineapple comes up to me and points to his nose. He was telling me that he liked my nose. Okay, that's a first, usually all I hear about my nose comes from my sisters and they always tell me my nose is too big. I think I like my nose being complimented much more then I like what my sisters have to say about it :o)
Surprisingly, I wasn't irritated that she put off the time so much, and I wasn't bored either. I filled my time prepping my table cloth for Saturday. Last night I drew the picture and started to sew, but today I got the whole picture done, and all I have left is the border. Ha, I know that's no small task, but because they are straight lines, it will go much faster and won't actually be too difficult.
A little after 3pm, June came to pick me up (she has a car) and we went to find the Japanese temple. She told me that she knew where it was, but when we headed down the road, she pulled over to double check where she was. The guys that she asked directions told her that she had just passed it. We flipped a u-ee and looked more closely at the signs. We found it and walked around. I wasn't sure if it was appropriate to take pictures and so I didn't. I really should have just asked. It was quite pretty there and I wish that I would have taken pictures of it. It was pretty small, and we weren't allowed in the prayer house, but we walked around the grounds and looked at the Buddha statues and the souvenir shop. For some reason they were passing out free guava juice and free guavas. I'm not the hugest fan of guavas so I tried the juice, but didn't take the fruit. I guess that the fruit came from farmers that suffered from the typhoon. I'm guessing that they'd rather put the fruit to use then have it get wasted?
After walking around the Japanese temple we stopped off at a tiny little stand so that I could try some type of black jelly drink. June bought it for me and wouldn't let me pay her back. It was okay, and I think that I actually might have had it before. And, writing about it right now reminds me that I have had it, and I had it at the preschool. I never actually finished it, but I promise that it wasn't terrible. We grabbed the drinks and got back into the car. I showed June where on the map the Catholic Church was and she thought she would be able to get us close enough to it that if she asked someone where it was, they would know. We headed out and drove for about 20-30 minutes. She made turns like she knew where she was going, but after we were driving through the homes of an aborigine tribe, she decided she would pull over and ask for directions. They said that we made a wrong turn and sent us back. June was so embarrassed that she didn't know how to get there. I told her it was my fault for wanting to go to a place I don't know where it is, and that it didn't matter to me anyway because we were having good conversation and the view was great (we were right up against the mountains). We kept driving and she got on the main road again. She started to second guess herself again and so we pulled off and asked people for directions. They told her that we were in Sincheng Village, but we wanted to be in Sincheng Township. Urg, all the cities, counties, townships, villages, all within the same area, with the same name are REALLY confusing. So we back tracked. Okay, I'll make this story short because it is actually quite lengthy. We drove around for an hour to an hour and a half looking for this church. We had to ask so many people, all of them thought they knew where it was, but when they pointed out the way, there was no church there. I told June that it was okay if
we abandoned our search, but I guess that she didn't want to have our driving time to be wasted for nothing. We both kept apologizing. She apologized for not knowing the way, and I apologized for asking her to take me somewhere that was too far and for causing her to waste her gas driving back and forth. I don't know how many times we drove the main road before reaching our destination, but we did, in fact, reach our destination. Once we got there, there wasn't much to see. We took a couple of pictures, but really there was not much there. We weren't even allowed to get close to the actual church building, the gate leading up to it was locked. We could go to the wall, and then there was a statue in the back garden. That was the whole thing.I really didn't mind the drive time, because I really did enjoy talking with June, but it is slightly hilarious that it took us 2 hours to find a place 20 minutes away. We drove back and didn't get back to Hualien until 7pm. I had to get back for tutoring at 8pm so we decided to go grab a quick dinner. She pulled over to a food stand and picked up a chicken leg for her and duck for me. Again, she paid and wouldn't take my money. I told her that next time we eat I'm paying for her. She just told me it was good spending time with me so that she could get out of the house and so there was no need to pay. Um... I'm pretty sure spending time with her gets me out of the house too. We took the food back to her house and we ate dinner with her family (they had just finished cooking their dinner). June is the only member in her family, but the father asked if I wanted to pray over the food. And before I prayed he asked me if I would pray that June and I would still be friends when we go back to school and also that if I come back to Taiwan that I will remember them and know that I am welcome to come back. (All of that was in Chinese and I got the translation from June.) I thought that was really nice that he would first be so thoughtful in asking if I wanted to pray, and then to ask me to pray that June and I, and that the whole family and I would stay friends when we've only met a couple times. I really like that family, and don't worry, I definitely did pray that we would stay friends.
I thought that I was eating fast enough to be back in time, but June's mom suggested that we leave when it was 7:55pm. I didn't have a watch and didn't realize what time it was. I got up to leave, but the father saw that I hadn't eaten my soup (he had made the soup) and told me to sit down and finish it, that we would be able to make it in time (spoken through hand gestures and the phrase "okay," no translation needed :o) He put on his shirt so that he could drive me home. He's so cute. He doesn't speak English, but he's so helpful. Like on Monday when we went over for a movie, he kept offering us different snacks and drinks and things, and now he wanted to make sure he was the one to drive me home and he sent me home with a dragon fruit to share with Beth. I made it back right after my tutories. As we were pulling up, I saw them running up the stairs. In other words... it was perfect timing.
Sad news (and I had a feeling this was going to happen) June and I aren't actually going to Kenting tomorrow. The train ride is 6 hours long, which means that the total travel is 12 hours. That means that the trip isn't worth it unless you can spend the night. Also, she was talking with some friends that said that it's a necessity to rent some means of transportation to get around down there. June can't spend the night because she has swimming lessons in the mornings and can't miss them. I guess if I really really want to go, I can go by myself, but I'm worried about the part where I need to rent transportation. I've read the travel book, and it does seem like there's no easy way around unless you have a car or scooter. So maybe that won't work out after all. June's friend said that she thinks the snorkeling at Green Island was better then the snorkeling at Kenting so that helps ease the sting a little if it turns out that I absolutely can't go to Kenting.
And more sad news, the travel agency wrote back again and told me that my second hotel option is also full. They wanted me to put down a third option, but I asked if they would send me a list of hotels that they know have vacancies, that way I can pick one of those. I do have my ticket, but not a place to stay, same as yesterday. Hopefully they understood what I asked in the email and I will get a list of possible hotels and I can do a little bit of research on them and then hurry and book a room so I have a place to stay next week. I also need to hurry and buy a train ticket to Taipei. I think that's going to be difficult. Although, it's a ticket for a Wednesday, so maybe it won't be too hard after all. Okay, so the next thing I've got to do is try to book a hostel for Friday night so that I can spend Saturday in Taipei.
I have plans to hang out with June again tomorrow afternoon. We're supposed to go kareokeeing with some of her friends. I hope that it works out, seeing as last time I went it was too full. Possibly I should try to get some sleep now. I'm not super tired, but I'm tired enough, and it's late enough.
Oh, I almost forgot. So you know how I get random comliments from complete strangers? Well today I got the most random of them all. This old man who choose betel nut (as I can tell by the fact that his teeth are stained dark red) comes up to me while I'm buying pineapple comes up to me and points to his nose. He was telling me that he liked my nose. Okay, that's a first, usually all I hear about my nose comes from my sisters and they always tell me my nose is too big. I think I like my nose being complimented much more then I like what my sisters have to say about it :o)
1 comment:
u are doing such a great job of making friends!
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