Neptune and Jupiter Classes

Here are some photos of my students...

Thomas from the Jupiter Class.


Showing off their kicks.


The Jupiter Class is full of super heros!


Jenna and I making a heart.


Jenna and Jason.



Ellen wanted to take a photo of Jenna, Jason, and I but she had the camera turned around...



Jenna.


Jason has a powerful fist. I think that's his super power.


Hugs.


The Jupiter class can be sweet. They are making a heart.



Edward with my sunglasses.


Raphael with his sunglasses.


The Neptune Class could be goofy.


Lilly at graduation.


Peeking over the seats.


The Neptune Class.



Raphael and I after graduation. He is the silliest students. He says that he is "R" because he is Raphael. That was how he signed his name on papers.

Solo Trip: The Beginning- Taiwan

Hello! I have finished 14 gruelling months of teaching English in South Korea. Free and last, free at last! I have decided to do some solo travelling before heading back to the states. I will be in Southeast Asia for about 3 months. It has taken a little getting used to, but now things seem to be going pretty smoothly.

The first stop I made was in Taipei, Taiwan.

I was didn't really know what to expect in Taipei. The weather forecast was not looking too great either. When I got to the airport I was all turned around. I was supposed to take a bus to my hostel. The woman selling tickets kept telling me to change to the free shuttle and pointing out the door. I didn't know what she was talking about, but I went the direction she was pointing. The bus driver asked my hotel name and everything was fine. He told me where to get off, showed me the transfer bus, and told the next driver where I was going. When we got to the backpackers hostel the driver got off the bus and showed me to the door. I have never encountered such friendly bus drivers! Taipei was off to a great start.

Once I got settled into my hostel, a very nice place indeed, I decided to have a walk around the area. I was in the cultural center of Taipei so there was a lot to see. I went to the film park, got a massage with some reflexology, and ate at the toilet restaurant. It was all fun and then it started raining. This was no ordinary rain. This was torrential down pour stuff. Luckily I was on the bookshop street by then and had a look around some shops. I came across the most boring bookstore ever. It was two floors of nothing but computer books. It was absolutely dreadful. I moved on quickly.

The people in the hostel were all really friendly. There was a model UN conference in town so there were students from all over the world. It was interesting to hear about it.

One of the hostel mates (Eric) and I went to the Shilan night market together. It was like a carnival. There were games and treats galore. We got some bubble tea, had a look around, and ate some delicious fruit. Taiwan has an amazing assortment of fruit that I have not encountered elsewhere. I wish I would have taken photos of some of it. Even the street vendors had fairly healthy food. There were lots of fruit and veggies fresh or grilled.

I met up with a fellow La Crosse graduate named Kristen who is teaching in Taiwan. We went to an area with hot springs south of Taipei. It was a beautiful area. There was a waterfalls and mountain river. It was really foggy that day, so it added to the mystic of the area. It was also interesting to hear how different teaching in Taiwan is compared with Korea.

There was a lot to see outside of Taipei. I would like to go back and see Sun Moon Lake.

Yes, I went to a toilet themed restaurant. Apparently they are also popular in Japan.


The seats are toilets and the tables are bathtubs.


Even the food is served in a toilet and made to look like it should be in a toilet. It actually tasted pretty good.


Dessert.



It rained. A lot.


This was a huge square. At one end was a memorial for the first president of Taiwan. The other buildings were for preforming arts.


A view from the president's memorial.


I don't know why everyone was sitting just looking at the statue. I don't know if anyone does that at Lincoln Memorial...


It really was huge.





This was in the city park near the memorial. It was kind of creepy, even during the day.



A chicken for sale in snake alley. There was no way I could eat here. Many of the restaurants had cages full of little snakes to eat.


These were the biggest snakes.


This was the floor in front of the big snakes. I don't know if there was a ceremony or what that was preformed.



Some of the smaller snakes with cages of rabbits and mice.



An alley way near snake alley. Notice how everyone is on a moped.




I found this thrown over some bags of cement near a construction site.



No need to play your video inside on nice days.


EVERYONE here drives a moped.



The is a picture of where our sky car landed us on the mountain top. It was like we were in the clouds.


A lake in the park on top the mountain.



Eric at the buddle tea stand. Yum!



This a food stall at the night market. Everything is cooked in front of you. Taiwan is very veggie friendly, but there is some scary meat products thrown in... Pigs blood is made into a jelly that is very popular to eat.



Love outside of Taipei 101.


A view ot Taipei 101 from the bottom.



I do miss Cadott. Good bye, Taiwan.

DMZ

Katie, Matt, and I were going to take the DMZ tour. Matt ended up getting kicked off the bus because his passport was at school. It was very sad. Matt arranged everything with us and then missed the tour. I hope he had as much fun the second time around. Katie and I had an enjoyable trip. We even got North Korean stamps in our passports. The military guards were funny. They told us about the wildlife in the DMZ including the liger. Hmmm…I liked the stories about how childish the DMZ seemed. The north would sneak into the negogation rooms and wipe their shoes with the American flag. I guess the troops from the north likes to flip off Americans and make throat-slitting motions. There didn’t really seem to be any threat while we were there. There were gift shops everywhere. There was even a theme park with rides and wine bar for people wishing to look into the north. One of the videos we watched ended by saying “DMZ FOREVER.” I thought that was a little strange. I’m not sure if it is a war or tourist dollars that are keeping the DMZ alive and well today.





Getting our North Korea passport stamps. They say that we took the train to Pyeongyang in the North. Nope. Hopefully we don't get stuck anywhere as a result.


A view of The North! This is as close as we could get before they start taking cameras away.


This was the closest we got to a North Korean guard.




This is one of the North Korean watch stations.




Peace and Love!


Katie and the scary ROK guard.



We loved the photo opts





We went to Dorsan Train station. There are no passenger trains running to the north, but in the future hopefully there will be. There was a train schedule that seemed a bit premature. We did get our passports stamped here.




The bridge of no return. On the North Korean side there were dead dogs. White dogs. I think it's a messages to the American dogs not to cross. The Chinese propaganda usually refered to Americans as dogs.
The brige of no return is where people were given a choice to move to the south or the north.



The ROK gaurds were great looking.


There were many fences. Rocks were placed inside the fences to see if anyone was trying to cross over.


We had a military escort through the joint security area.