tamsui

on our last day, dad wanted to show us an area in taipei where he had served the last part of his mission and had always considered it the most beautiful area he served in. the city is about 20 minutes north of taipei and is well known for their fishing as the city is literally built on the shore of the bay that flows out to the taiwan strait. 

 

it was so neat to see him step foot in the city as it had been over 30 years since he was last there. 

it took him a few minutes to catch his barrings...

he quickly found his way and led us to the exact building he used to attend church in. ironically, it is now a tattoo parlor. don't fret, we later found out that the church has grown so much that they built a new chapel a few streets over. 

the best comes last. he was telling us about some of the people he served in this area and one family he mentioned owned a restaurant on the corner where all the elders would go to since the family would always treat them to free meals. without fully searching it out, we stumbled across the very restaurant! 

but wait, the story gets better. he decided to give it a shot and ask if the owners were still around. one of the workers dialed their home number and to our astonishment...

the owner's wife answered! within a few minutes they came down and were able to reconnect. it was such a neat experience to be a part of and see the love they had for dad. it was also so neat to hear that all 3 of their children are active in the church, their 2 daughters married members of the church and their son served a full time mission. what a wonderful church i am a part of and i am so happy to see others fully grasp the gospel and watch as the lord blesses them for their sacrifices.  

the rest of the day was not nearly as awesome as the beginning but it was a perfect day by the ocean. we took a small boat ride to the fisherman's warf with a beautiful scene

we were also able to visit an old dutch fort built around the 1400's to keep invaders from overtaking the dutch rule in taiwan. it was definitely european in it's looks and made mom and i antsy to visit europe again.

another perfect day!

bring in the parentals

i finished my program and i couldn't be more ready! but even though i was antsy to get back to the states, my trip was far from over. my parents had flown in to taipei 2 days before i finished in tainan so it worked out perfectly for me to take the high speed rail up to taipei and meet them at the hotel. and boy was it a hotel. my parents travel in style and we were lucky to stay in the westin for our first stop.

the next few days of our taiwan tour were quite entertaining. of course we ladies had to visit the jade market and purchase a few goodies. dad bought an anniversary gift for mom, dad bought me a jade bracelet, and i bought myself a coral bracelet. success!

we were quite the bargaining queens

later we stopped by a few places including chiang kai shek's memorial

and ended the day by visiting the grand hotel

complete with delicious food

and a beautiful vase

people i love

as rude as this may sound, there are few people i would deem as important enough in my life to be invited to my wedding. i have always felt very strongly that a wedding should only include those that are very near and dear to you, those that have made an impact on you. well taiwan might have just added 4 more people that my list. every day i am amazed at the genuine charity the people of taiwan exude. from the minute we landed we have been cared for, fed, amused, chaffeured, and pampered. and always with a willing heart. although there are many dear friends i have back at home who are the same way, i still cannot help but wonder why we as americans sometimes tend to forget charity. i include myself in this statement! we have become such a "me" society and although i have always advocated taking the necessary time to care for oneself, i was reminded this month of how important it is to lose yourself in service of others.
the following individuals are those whom i have felt so much gratitude towards as they have made my whole trip to taiwan that much more meaningful.

jane 
this is jane. sweet jane was there for us from the minute we arrived by train. she picked us up from the train station and brought us to our dorm rooms where we would stay for our stay. jane is 28 and full of life! this girl loves to have fun and will do just about anything to get you to party with her. i cannot even begin to list everything she has done for us. food is just the beginning! when we got in the bus to drive to our dorm rooms, there were water bottles for each of us ready and waiting. that night after we had finally gotten settled in our rooms, she ordered pizza hut for us so we could relax and prepare for the hospital the next day. the weeks following prove just as giving. from baseball game goodies (dumplings, soda, popcorn, kinder chocolate), to running after buses to get us on, to translating to help us bargain our way down on prices, to teaching us asian culture, to buying us tiramisu cake, the list goes on and will not stop! i will greatly miss her always happy and positive spirit.

thomas 
thomas was the next person we met once we arrived in tainan. thomas was our security guard for the rooms we were living in. just to give you an idea of his true loyalty, when we arrived he greeted us by bowing and sincerely saying, "i am thomas, your humble servant and security guard". from that moment on, i knew we had a trusted and loyal friend. in the days that passed, we would continue to see his concern to make our stay as easy as possible. as a fellow lds member, he told us that his one wish is to eventually come to america and live in salt lake city where he could be a baker for fellow church members. he then proceeded to tell us that he would try to arrange church members to pick us up from our complex and take us to church that sunday and that if he could not, he would gladly pay the bus ride for us. by this point i was in tears. everything about him was so pure and innocent. he only knew us for less than an hour but his dedication and love to us appeared like we were all life long friends. i was truly touched and am very grateful for his dedication to keeping us safe.

cathy
dear cathy. when this woman heard of the byu girls visiting her floor (she is the head nurse of the ortho floor), she took the time to make a whole powerpoint presentation to welcome us and prepare us for the floor. although she was super busy with work and rarely had spare time, she would check on us hourly and make sure we had chairs to sit down on and make sure we were finishing our homework. {side note: we never mentioned we had homework nor did we really ever have anything we were required to do while at clinicals aside from following our nurse around. we are still confused as to why cathy was so adamant we finish homework even after we assured her we had already finished our homework.} in addition to all her hard work, she wrote down food after food of all the things we had to eat at the night market. at the end of our rotation she was also the one to purchase us personalized stamps as a parting gift. she was such a comfort to see every day and her smile was contagious.

jenny
i love jenny. she was our first nurse assigned to us in taiwan and perhaps it was that alone that made me so attached to her but i cannot express how much i appreciated her humor and spastic personality. she always made me feel so comfortable and at home in the hospital. once we knew each other a bit better she took aubrey and i to the night market and on a separate occasion to a dutch fort for a cultural outing. i have to brag that jenny is probably the best english speaking nurse of any of the nurses we have had this trip. she even knew slang terms and perhaps a cuss word or two...
i will miss jenny so much but that is the joy of facebook. as friends on facebook, i plan to keep in touch with her and hopefully convince her to come visit me in california so i can return the favor of showing her around as she so graciously did for me.

and there you have it. i love these people and thank the lord every day for their kindness and caring nature to give me one of the best experiences of my life up this point. i pray they will be blessed for all they have done and continue to do. they have been wonderful examples to me of a christlike love and charity. i only wish to one day be able to emulate their examples.

mopeds

for the past month, i have been able to see just about every use there is for the moped. although they are a common topic of discussion in our clinical groups and usually in a negative way, i can't help but admit that i will be a bit sad when i return to america and their constant noise mixed with aggravation will not longer be a factor in my life any more.

i dedicate this blog post to all the possibilities a moped can be used for.

for the dry

for the wet

for the morning

for the night

for the young

for the old

for the new

for the old

for the single

for the many

for the mothers

for the pets

for the fashionable

for the family

for the crowded

for the organized

for me!

 

as one can clearly see, the possibilities are endless!

adieu mopeds, fair the well!

mcdonalds

i never thought i'd say the words, "i miss mcdonalds". not so much mcdonalds but just the typical american food i so foolishly took for granted. it had been over 2 weeks where we had gone without anything relatively close to normal food and we were dying. luckily, we caught a break and during our trip up to taipei, which is much more of a tourist area than tainan (where we are staying), we found our beloved safe haven. i swear this mcdonalds produced the most perfect chicken sandwhich and salad i have ever had... perhaps that was a bit exagerrated but as you can see,

i wasn't the only one who felt this way.

breakfast

breakfast in taiwan is very different from what the average american is used to. from our vast array of options all involving buttery, sugary, fattening goodness it's a no wonder adjusting to anything but a challenge. but try getting used to it with an unwanted visitor and things just get crazy.

we discovered a nice asian bakery just a block away from our dorm rooms and have pretty much gone every morning for a nice pastry and banana before clinicals. on one occasion, we happened to sit right next to this little guy... or rather, he decided to crash our breakfast party by smacking into the table.

needless to say, we finished breakfast quickly after that.

kenting

this weekend we took a trip out to the southern most city on the island. at first i was completely bias to hualien in all it's splendor but kenting took me by surprise. when we first arrived it was pouring rain. we were all expecting the worst and considering this was our big beach trip, we were pretty bummed. the next day we woke up and rented mo-peds for the day. for $6 american dollars a day, i considered it the best deal of the whole trip. due to my lack of skills when it comes to motorcycles, i decided to partner up with my friend jane. i was wise to pair up with her. this girl has skillz! 

as we lead our "hell's angels" posse around the island we were able to see both mountain and beach scenery. we stopped off at local eateries, beaches, bridges, historical sites, etc. all the while, i was able to snap a few action photos. 

to say the least, it was a blast!

byu nursing's "hells angels" taking over taiwan

 just fitting in with the "locals" 

byu taiwan 2012