Birthday 28

Birthday 28 came and went faster than a speeding bullet.  It was just a normal school day around here with not much going on - but that's ok!

I did attempt to take a "superhero" picture - but that turned out to be a failure 

(however the picture itself turned out pretty cool)-

I was wearing the cape I bought for my Halloween costume and I wanted it flying up in the air behind me on the scooter - but, alas, it wouldn't cooperate!

With Baby Ian.

(he's in "baby class" so his name is preceded with "baby")

In my older student class we made a "Coca-Cola/Sprite" birthday cake.  They always ask me to bring Coca-Cola to class (I don't know why) and I never would - but decided to for my birthday.  So in essence, I gave them a gift on my birthday!  What's up with that!?

(jk I didn't care at all, obviously)

And might I add that the Coca-Cola here is much different than in the USA - it's actually delicious.

These kids showed up out of nowhere and sang "Happy Birthday" to me at the end of the school day:

Shout-out and thanks to my friends in Utah who sent me this card!

Shout-out and thanks to my friend, Emily, who sent me a Jurassic Park shirt!

At night I invited some friends and co-workers to go to dinner at an Italian restaurant nearby.

After dinner they came to sing to me and brought the most juvenile Asian hat ever for me to wear.  As well, a gigantic candle to make a wish with and dessert.

Winnie, Charice, Riaan (or Ryan), Me, Kristi

I can't believe I've now had two birthdays in Taiwan.

Wow.

Thank you to everyone for all the texts, FaceTimes, gifts, FaceBook messages, instagrams, and emails.

On to the next year!

Scooter Sights #5

Went scootering up the backroads of some mountains this afternoon.

A prayer dock on a mini-lake.

Lots and lots of green.

Things

Helloooo.

I haven't posted much lately because I haven't really done much worth posting about.  Life here has gone far beyond being a tourist anymore that things just don't seem as exciting as they used to be.  I've been here almost sixteen months!  That's a long time, and enough time to go from a tourist seeking adventure to just a daily normal human being.

With that said, I did get my flight home - I'm coming home July 25!

But before I come home, I will be touring the island once again - including the east coast which I haven't seen yet.  Stoked.

* * * * *

My 7/11 friends took me to a restaurant where you have your own gas stove and cook your own food at the table.  It was kind of disgusting, but a neat experience.

I'm just not into things floating in liquid and just mixing a bunch of weird things together.

I think tofu was in there also which is a gigantic no-no.

 * * * * *

Headline News: Currently there are some pretty serious conflicts going on between Taiwan and the Philippines.  Apparently the Philippines shot at a Taiwanese fishing boat that was within their ocean borders and killed a fisherman without warning.  Drama.

Here's an article on it:

http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/17/world/asia/philippines-taiwan-dispute

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On Sunday, on the way home from church, my scooter broke down.  I was about 15 minutes from home, so not too bad.  It broke down at a pretty good location actually; right next to an OK-Mart (7/11 wanna-be) and a scooter shop which was closed because it was Sunday.  But thank goodness the OK-Mart was there so I could use their phone to call my church friends who were able to come to the rescue.  Thank you to the Breinholt family.

I'll be back scootering soon enough!

* * * * *

Some kid pictures.

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The other day a Chinese teacher asked me in English (obviously):

"What is a whore's house called?"

I said, semi-confused: "Umm, what?"

She said: "What is a whore's house called?"

So I said, not really knowing why she was asking: "A brothel."

Later that day I passed her classroom and I heard her saying the worth "brothel" in her classroom.

I thought: "Well this can't be right..."

So I looked in her class and she was talking about HORSES.

So I interrupted her class and said: "A stable!!  It's a stable!!!!"

Oops!

It seems so obvious, but I guess I haven't gotten used to strong accents yet.

* * * * *

A bird.