A Little Bit of Home

Hello Everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and great time celebrating with your family & friends.

My Christmas this year, was definitely a different/unique one, as I wasn't with any of my family for the first time! But one thing definitely did make the holiday season a little bit better. That one thing is named Courtney! My friend Courtney ended up coming to visit me the week before Christmas. She was my first visitor....and I hope I will have many more. It made my time here so much more amazing and made me forget about missing home (as I am getting pretty homesick right about now).

But, since I had a visitor, I had to forget about being homesick and show her all around Taiwan. I am pretty sure we did everything people/visitors could do within a short amount of time (4 days!) Not enough time!! The first day she was here, we walked all around some trendy areas and shopped, shopped, shopped! (She had a good exchange rate!) After we were done shopping, we headed out to one of my favorite places and ate Pho. YUM. Then after that we headed to my school. Courtney really wanted to watch me teach the little Asian kiddies, so I asked my school manager ahead of time if she could come in and watch. This was a pretty cool experience for her, because watching Taiwanese children learn English is an amazing cultural experience in itself. So as she sat there watching all of the kids call me "Teacher Olivia" and be so "incredibly eager" to participate and learn, it was something that not many other visitors to Taiwan could ever see. Also during class, all of the kids kept turning around to look and stare at Courtney, it was very funny. It was probably because they thought she was so beautiful. Then after that long day of site seeing and teaching, we headed back home for the evening, and to also rest up for our next adventures!

In front of the sulfur pool in Xinbeitou

Tea before our massages

Since I had a couple pretty stressful and busy weeks before Courtney arrived, I wasn't feeling too well and just knew that I need some R&R (rest and relaxation); (Mom and Lorna- that one is for you)! ha. So, I thought although this would be incredibly beneficial for me, this was another perfect way to show my visitor the Taiwanese culture. So we both headed up north to Xinbeitou. Xinbeitou is one of the furthest stops going up north. Xinbeitou is known for its hot springs, public and private, and its natural beauty, having open sulfur pools and nature trails for the public to look at. So, we thought about going to the public hot springs, but then realized, NO, we want something really ridiculously cool and well somewhat expensive, ha! So we headed up the hill to where all of the hotels are located in Xinbeitou and just so happened to choose the 5 star hotel that is there! Wow, what a coincidence. So as we were browsing through the massage and hot spring brochure, we finally decided on a combination package of a 40 minute massage and a 30 minute private hot spring bath. I know you're curious, NO the baths were separate, ha!! As I and Courtney relaxed in our separate hot spring baths, all the stress of teaching screaming little Taiwanese children, taking Chinese class, taking tests, private tutoring and pretty much the little stressors of every day life over here went away. After prying myself out of the hot spring, I headed for my massage. Well, I must say, the words full body massage just got a WHOLE new meaning....You all can just think about that one yourselves. No explanation needed. But, it really was one of the best massages I had ever had and I have not felt that relaxed since I have been here. I truly did need it! But, Courtney and I had an amazing day and we walked around and saw the amazing sulfur pool and after that we headed home and had a low key evening, because we had a BIG DAY ahead of us!!!

SCOOTER TIME!

"OMG, its 5:45, why are we doing this?" This is the first thing I was thinking and Courtney and I dragged our butts out of bed to catch our 7:10 am train to Hualien! Hualien is a town that is located on the east coast of Taiwan and it is best known for this place called Toroko Gorge. I am almost positive that Toroko Gorge has either been named on the 7 Wonders of the World, or one of the top places in all of Asia to visit! So as Courtney would say, "there is NO WAY I am leaving Taiwan without seeing this place." So as we started our 3 hour train ride down to Hualien, it was definitely MORE than worth it to get up at 5:45. The train ride was fabulous and the views were even better. Not only, we Courtney and I the only ones in our car on the train ride down there, but there were stunning views of the ocean for almost the whole entire ride. If it wasn't the ocean we were looking at we were starting in the tree covered mountains or old dilapidated Taiwanese villages.

Entrance to Toroko

So as we arrived in Hualien, we couldn't wait to start our adventure. Oh also, I am not sure if I mentioned this, but the only REAL way to experience Toroko Gorge to its fullest it to go by SCOOTER!!!!!! Heck ya! So Courtney and I rented each of our own scooters and TRIED to head directly to Torko. We had some minor set-backs as we didn't really know where we were going....so thank heavens I could stop and ask someone Chinese. BUT DON'T WORRY.....they are SO easy to ride and it is probably the most fun thing that I have done here while being in Taiwan!!! I LOVE SCOOTERING! So we finally made it to the entrance of Toroko Gorge, and as we headed into the gorge on our scooters, I felt like I was Ashley and Ben was sweeping me off my feet into the mountains of Toroko Gorge. (That is a reference to the Bachelorette, for those of you who watched it!)

Temple in the mountains

But, honestly it was so jaw dropping. The stunning, magnificent views that Courtney and I got to see were so surreal. It was so amazing, because whenever we wanted to stop and take pictures we could just hop off of our scooters, point and shoot! Really, it is hard for me to describe what this place is like, because I won't do it justice. It just really is that beautiful, with waterfalls running in every direction down the mountain side and water running through the mountains that is so blue you think that it may even be fake. Also, it was so cool, because there were little temples that just seemed as though they were squeezed into the mountain side and they looked as though they fit like a glove right in the mountain side.  But, as the cold, damp wind was whipping through our faces, while scootering, I couldn't care even the slightest bit, because I was too focused on the natural beauty that was surrounding me. I guess I will just have to have A LOT more visitors to come here to not ONLY see me, but Toroko Gorge!! So as the day came to an end, I really had the best 4 days with Courntey since I have been here. Although I really enjoyed spending a lot of time with her, it really did make me miss home that much more and realize how easy and nice it is to have people who understand you and make you feel happy and comfortable.

Waterfalls everywhere

Toroko 

Hopefully I can make it home at some point during the year!

Well, that is all for now, but look for another blog coming SOON, about my Christmas holiday here in Taiwan.

Thanks again to all of you who are reading and PLEASE, PLEASE pass my blog on to any others you know who may be interested, because I trying to start an formal blog for any person to read!!

Happy Holidays,

Olivia!!