It feels like a long time has passed since I posted last. Just a fair warning, this post is going to be relatively pic-heavy. I'm down to my last days in Hualien and people are clambering to get a piece of this American. I kid. A little.
Here is my favorite picture with Dr. Xu. He didn't believe that I could take a picture of the both of us. Never question the skills of a camera whore.
After going to Shoufeng on my last Friday, Pastor Chao, Dr. Xu, and I went to the hospital restaurant to get some lamb. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture before I devoured the whole thing. SO good. Mmm. I'm a little less fond of this picture because it proliferates the stereotype that all Asians only have one pose. That's why I chose to go with the less tradition "Gun Frame Face" pose. Also as a side note, the person who we grabbed to take this picture was a HEART SURGEON. So mad props to that random stranger. haha.
On Saturday, I went to lunch with Cai Hui Aiyi. I was a little apprehensive at first because she's been known to have a unstable temper. If she likes you, she REALLY likes you. For example, she keeps on giving me things on her desk. "You like this? You can have it. Is this pretty? You can have it." But if she doesn't like you...run. I've seen her face change. She was yelling at one of the other social workers, and I came around the corner and she was all smiles. Chills. Down the spine. (shudder) Still, she's a very nice person when you're on her good side. This is a picture of her family. Her husband is a pastor and their kid is only in middle school. He's quite the character. When Cai Hui Aiyi got her womb removed, he clutched her stomach and cried, "MY HOUSE. MY HOUSE. " WAHAHAHAHA.
I usually don't like pasta, but this bacon penne was DELICIOUS. The sauce was a little salty a little sweet. The bacon flavor was clearly absorbed by the cream. There was also little pieces of broccoli in it. Mmm. Not too cheesy, just the way I like it.
There was some OK tomato soup before this and some really good coffee after, but they weren't too special. Thus, no pictures. The dessert was milk pudding with mango sauce. The pudding was good both with or without the tangy mango.
Cai Hui Aiyi's son had to leave early for class (on a SATURDAY for Chrissakes). When we were finishing lunch, she asked me where I had gone on my trip. When I told her "Eating. Everywhere." she was pretty horrified. Her husband and her insisted on taking me to Li Yu Tan. It looked like a lake to me, but they insisted it was different. Anyways, the mountains around Li Yu Tan look like a specific type of fish ("Li Yu"), thus its name.
Pretty gorgeous, yeah? You can take one of those swan/dragon paddle boat things around. However, they warned me that the lake is so damn big that some people who paddle out can't summon up the energy to paddle back. hahaha. I don't think that would be a problem for Tatiana. She's strong....like bull. They also have water shows some time, similar to Bellagio.
May finished her finals last week, so as a reward, her Mom took her to the night market. There are two major nightmarkets near Ji An in Hualien and this particular one we went to is known more for its games than its food. I wasn't particularly hungry, so I was totally down with that.
May's pretty good with games. We went BB shooting, dart throwing, DDRing, pinball rolling, etc. etc. etc. I swear we threw down like...$10 for her to play games. haha
After shooting 50 pinballs, she won a bow and arrow set.
Victorious.Last night was my last night with Professor Liang because he has to attend a 3-day course in Taipei. We went to O Xiang, the steak place that I went to for Pastor Chao's birthday. Didn't take many pictures because I had pretty much the same stuff. A four-course meal for 5 people cost around $55. Gotta love Taiwan. Unfortunately, I did not get to treat. The Dentist glared me down. BUT, I am happy to report that the night previous, I did manage to wrangle the bill for Da Tu Dou dessert. All I had to do was take advantage of a small child. No biggie.
Oh, exciting things! I was supposed to practice drums on Saturday to accompany the children's choir on Sunday. However, they decided that the children would not be performing so we didn't practice. Come Sunday morning, they're like, "Oh, why not. Perform" so I had to pull last minute drumming skills out of my bum. It went all right, praise Jesus. haha. After that, I gave my testimony to the youth/children's section. I think it went pretty all right considering I condensed my life story into 5 minutes of awkward Chinese. hahahaha. Anyways, I can only pray, do my best, and give the rest to God. Some of the older children are struggling with stress issues. As I mentioned earlier, one of their members had recently committed suicide. I really hope that my testimony, however boring/awkward it was, really gives them some hope or helps them to turn to God with their problems. Still, it was good practice for the next three weeks. I also discovered that I take after my Dad. I was sweating like a BEAST up there. whoowee.
Today, the associate pastors want to take me out to lunch so I'll definitely be posting those pictures soon.
A few days ago, I was freaking out because I wanted to leave letters for people who have taken care of me over the past month but I had no paper. I didn't want to tear pages out of my notebook, which would just look atrocious. That night, I prayed and was like "I NEED STATIONARY." No joke. The next day, Dr. Liu decided she wanted to buy some new books and I managed to sneak upstairs and buy some + a fancy black pen. Praise the Lord. Now all I have to do is write them. hahaha. Whee!
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