Shao Liuchiu Pictures

Written report of my trip in the post below this one

Don't worry, Mom. I didn't get lost. How could I with this jacket?!

(currently my desktop background)

The bike I rode

Yvonne, my roommate

Early morning fish market in the town.

Happiness = spending time at the beach

DORIS! My new friend

Our tour guide who knew me because Doris got there before I did.

Baby.

(seriously, that's what they called him all weekend. And it's what he called himself) They told him to do the peace sign and say 'yeah'. This is the result. . . so close, just need that second finger to come up.

Check out that Mickey Mouse swimsuit! Yvonne said the ears make it look like a bikini.

Doris -- she finished a slurpee and then filled the cup with random sea life.

Yo-tze. Cute little guy. He randomly said my name every few minutes on the last outing. (it was okay because he can say it correctly)

Lee-mo. Brother of Yo-tze. He and Doris had the pillow fight with me. He was very clingy the last few hours we spent together.

Deer. She kept picking up animals and sticking them in the childrens' faces. This is a land crab (pretty sure it's dead)

Debbie (?) I've already forgotten her name! Curse my old-lady memory and it's momentary lapses. She spoke English with me all night at the BBQ. It was lovely.

Shao Liuchiu

Let me help you with the pronunciation of this.

Shao = as in 'shower'
liu = as in the zodiac sign 'leo'
chiu = cho as in 'choke'

Now, don't forget that! I'll admit it took me forever to figure out how to say it :)

This was our destination last Sat & Sun. It's a small island off the west coast of Taiwan. I went with Yvonne and her bike group. It was great! Oh, but the bike was small and the island was hilly. Oh well. "It's good for me" as they say.

We left Sat morning and arrived on the island around 11 pm. We dropped our stuff as the hotel then got lunch. Delicious fried rice and noodles. Yum. Then we rode to the famous landmark 'Vase Rock'.
(I heard 'face rock' the first five times Yvonne said it. Then she
chastised me and said I needed to pay attention. That's not quite
it my friend. Your English is good, but sometimes I can't quite
understand. It has happened before)

Our next stop was a beach area to explore sea life. The guide greeted me by name when I got there. Uh, do I know you? No, I didn't. My new friend Doris had just told him about me. And she also told him we were good friends :) She randomly walked up to me as we disembarked and asked my name and introduced herself (in English!) I was pretty excited. Then after lunch she practiced with Yvonne before asking "Can I be your friend?" It was cute.

That night we had a barbecue. Chinese sure now how to barbecue!!! Wow, I'll never look at an American BBQ with as much respect. Yvonne: "Now you see why the Chinese are disappointed in American BBQs. You just have hamburgers and hot dogs." They had five or so kinds of meat, vegetables, and other treats. I was well taken care of :) They kept bringing me food. Interesting foods: a big green pepper and rice in blood. (if you're ever offered the latter, just don't think about what it is and it's okay.)

We went back to our room and I went into the room with all the kids and . . . had a pillow fight! It was fun. (And probably the reason why they were so attached to me the next day. Yvonne figures they will always ask about me when they see her.)

Sun. morning started early at 6 am. We headed to a fresh fish market. They bought ingredients for our lunch. Then we went snorkeling. Yeah! A guide pulled us around clinging to life preservers on a rope. I did some exploring on my own after that. :) Yvonne's nose was acting up (imagine sneezing in a snorkel mask - wouldn't work so well, would it?) so she went with the grandmas and babies on a glass-bottomed boat. They saw a big turtle! Ah man. I love turtles.

We returned to the hotel for showers. The kids came knocking on my door demanding I play with them. We played a new tag game for a bit. The women were cooking lunch. It was very tasty. Fish and squid that were likely swimming the day before. Te he.

Then we went for another bike ride and did a smidge of climbing. This is where we encountered the hills. And with no warning! Which is no good since you need to change to a lower gear before you start your climb. We just made a right turn and *pow* there's a hill. Then it turns left and there is more of a hill. Then it turns right and there is more of a hill. Ugh! There were some people on scooters. It was so great to have them drive by and say "jiao". Well, yeah, you stinkers with electric motors. :P They even taught the baby to say it. That was cute.

Then we went back on a boat and explored a famous/popular fish market. I got some tasty swordfish balls and used the most disgusting bathroom I've ever seen. Ick. They nearly made Yvonne and I lose our appetites.

I think that's about all!

Flipped

I realized my eating today was totally flipped from America. I ate a ham & egg sandwich for breakfast and cereal for lunch. Ha ha!

I think I would have to eat ice cream for dinner in order to have every meal flipped. (Here’s my reasoning – I had lunch for breakfast and breakfast for lunch. I definitely can’t have dinner for dinner. So I’d better have a late night snack for dinner! And ice cream is the late night snack at my house. That and cereal, but I’ve already had cereal so it’s not a valid option.)

Ice Dessert

YOU: Amberlee, are those beans in your sweet ice dessert?
ME: Why yes, yes they are.
YOU: And you’re okay with that?
ME: Yes, yes I am. (But I wasn’t at first. It took some getting used to.)

These pictures are of a tasty ice dessert Steve bought for us on Tuesday. It was a really hot day and this was a fabulous treat. They put in syrup, chewy things, fruit, and beans then top it off with shaved ice. Yum, yum.

I was describing chili to my students and some of them made faces because they caught on to the fact that we eat beans in salty food. I told them they probably wouldn't like it. Just like I didn't like these desserts when I first came.

Painting Eggs

Ward Easter Activity -- Apr 18, 2009

We painted eggs, not just colored them! I'd never heard of such a thing. And they took the insides out first so now I can proudly display my beautiful eggs at my house :)

Yvonne: "You can keep them forever."
Me: "Nope. There's no way they'll make it back to America."
Yvonne: "Oh right. They would break."
Me: "YOU get to keep them forever! ha ha"


Our paints. They were too watered down, so we just used the paint directly from the containers. But Joy & I did a pretty good job of mixing colors!!

From this

A cute boy sitting next to me.

I liked him because he would say English phrases. Yeah!

To this

And this

They said my egg reminded them of the circus. Alright. It would have been better if I had stopped sooner :) I painted another egg but didn't take any pictures of it.

Sister missionaries! Sis Lin & Sis O'Rourke. Sis Lin has been in this area for a really long time - but she's awesome and we love her.

Lunch = dumplings. Yum!

Where Will I Go?

I met with the stake president today and he will sign my mission application papers and mail them off this week. Hurray!

I am happy he will do it since he's been threatening not too :) Since I first told him of my decision, he would randomly ask "Are you sure you want to go? You don't want to stay here for another year?" I was like - 'you're the stake president! You shouldn't try to stop me.'

If you haven't already submitted your guess on where I'll serve, do it! Although the call won't be here for another month....

An Evening with Elder Bednar

It was wonderful! I loved seeing a familiar face from BYU-Idaho. Yes, Grandma, I probably did stand out. But there were quite a few non-Chinese, non-Taiwanese people there.

(I'd say Americans but I have a Canadian co-worker and he's taught me that it bugs people of other nationalities when Americans think all white people are American.)

But I was in the 5th row surrounded by non-white people :) I really, really liked my seat so I didn't move to a different spot even though the new spot was where I could have gotten English translations. I mean, I don't need it, right? Elder and Sister Bednar speak English and that's who I'm here to listen to.

Mistake. They changed things up and didn't give talks. They opened it up as a question-and-answer session. Ah! Very neat, but I don't know what any of the questions were. I could sort of guess from his answers.

Because of the format, a lot of translations took place. An audience member got up and asked a question in Chinese ~ A gentleman translated it into English for Elder Bednar ~ Elder Bednar answered in English ~ A different gentleman translated it into Chinese. It was funny to me. (that sounds wrong. I think my English is getting worse!!)

I did not get to shake his hand. I was so close to them when they walked in and out. Just 2 people between me and the aisle!

He suggested we study the latest conference talks. He said they aren't just talks, they are the Lord's will revealed through His servants.

And he told how young single adults shouldn't write people off after only one date.
[His and Sis. Bednar's first date was un-extraordinary. They are very different. They still wonder how they ended up going on a second date. But they're very happily married.
He asked if Sis. Bednar wanted to add anything. She went to the pulpit and said: "If I had known he would be an apostle, I probably wouldn't have married him. I would've been scared to death."
I'd totally been wondering about that. She answered my question.]

It was a wonderful, rewarding evening. 4 tour buses of people came from other areas. The chapel and auditorium and stage were full. They also had chairs set up in rooms and foyers throughout the building. I wonder how many people were actually there....

PS - I arrived at 5:30 pm to get my 5th row seat. The fireside started at 7 pm.

Happy Easter!

It does not feel like Easter to me. I'm living in a foreign, non-Christian country with no family. (But they're awesome and sent me some candy.)

I did enjoy General Conference yesterday and today. And I had my final interview with my bishop. My mission papers are done! I just need to meet with my stake president (next Sunday) and then we'll send them off.

Yes, I'm counting down. Here are the things I'm excited for
--finishing this semester
--going back home
--serving my mission

And they'll all happen soon! The first two will occur on June 25th. The third, well we'll just have to wait and see.

Something exciting: Elder Bednar is coming to Kaohsiung!!! He'll be giving a devotional this Thursday night. I'm really excited. He holds a special place in my heart as the former president of BYU-I. I think it may even be possible to shake his hand. I planned to be there super early. But then I asked my stake president how early I should go. He said 6:30 for the 7 pm meeting. Say what?! It's an Apostle of the Lord! I'm probably going to leave soon after I get off work at 4:30. I want to be in the comfortable chapel seats. Oh and I want to be close to the podium.

Mission Picture

This is the picture I wanted to include with my missionary papers. But I decided I'd better go with the serious/hard-working/thoughtful/cute persona. *sigh* This picture is more fun :)

Little America

Where should I go for a taste of American life?

A) Costco
B) Morris' house
C) The mall

All of the above would work, but the best option is B! I have some new, adorable American friends. Here are pictures of the little kiddos. I work with their Dad and they live in the same apartment building. It's great. We even have "French Toast Sundays" together. It's a fabulous way to start the sabbath!!

Meili, Euan, Sophie

They all fit in Yvonne's big chair :)

Euan "kissing" Sophie. I'd say "attacking" is more accurate.