Taiwan: July 2011

Fourth of July came and went. They invented fireworks here, but they won't allow us to light them.

Soon thereafter, Tyson came out for a visit. We obviously made a party out of it. He showed up Friday night, the ninth. He's lucky that he works nights at home, otherwise I'd have dragged him around Taipei the next day while he was sleeping, and that would be uncomfortable for me. We saw most of Taipei's wonders that day. On Sunday, we went to a little town outside of Taipei called Wulai where two rivers met together. We followed the smaller river upstream to a spot where we met with several other teachers to go swimming and jumping off the rocks. It was mostly a good afternoon. And I saw my first big snake--probably about six feet long.

We were going to ride up the Maokong gondola on Monday, but it was closed for maintenance when we showed up, so we settled for a tour of the zoo. Always enlightening. Same animals as last time. Just on a hotter day. And this time I actually got to see the pandas, which were way overrated. No action.

Tyson did some research on hiking near Taipei and discovered a mountain just south of the city which would be a neat one to climb. When we arrived at the mountain, our tour guides (a couple of dogs) greeted us and led us toward the top. After the first five minutes, our guides lost their tempers at one another and got into a big fight. Instead of interfering, we felt it would be best to let this one play itself out. And sure enough, soon the smaller dog put just the right pressure on the larger one so that is fell off the bank and a long way down the trail. It scrambled back up, and all was soon forgotten.

The trail was unique, in that it had steep rock faces that needed to be climbed to make it to the top. Ropes were suspended in front of us as an aid to allow us safe passage up the mountain. Somehow, the dogs would consistently sort out their way beyond the rocks for the first half of the hike. You'd think that after so many years of service to hikers these dogs would be in good enough shape to make the round trip, but they tuckered out early and disappeared. Pansies. We continued our climb to the top, which afforded better than average views and sounds. It was a good hike, and left us pretty tired at the end.

The next day we began a three day adventure to Long Dong where Dragon Cave is located with its world-class rock climbing. When we arrived, we met with our friend, Sandy, who had been there a few times before and guided us around and provided fun company. The plan was to sleep out on the rocks, but it turned out to be super windy, we didn't have ground pads or blankets, and the bugs were terrible. Instead, we rented a room for two nights--also without beds. But we had AC, and blankets, and a nice hard wood floor to almost sleep on.

The climbing was fantastic, and we had some of the best views ever whenever we made it to the top of a route. Tyson and I each burned ourselves really bad. Tyson even grew blisters on his shoulder from too much sun. But we had a great time. And before we started climbing on Friday, we rented snorkel gear for a little under $2 for the afternoon. We did some diving and saw pretty fish, puffer fish, massive crabs and a lot of seaweed. Someone directed us to some cliffs eventually, and we were able to do some cliff jumping. Really a fantastic little trip.

That weekend, we finally made it to the top of the Taipei 101 with Ryan who finally met up with us. And on Sunday, we enjoyed a water park with several other teachers as we celebrated one of their birthdays. And then, on Sunday night, we brought Tyson out to the school with us so that he could be introduced to what we have been doing. He was able to perform some unicycle stunts for the students, and we did some magic shows for them during class. That was a lot of fun, and the students all missed Tyson when he left for Portland without any warning to them on Tuesday morning. It was nice to have him over. Just goes to show me who my real friends (maybe just friend) are.

Last week, we met with our Taiwanese staff for a dinner to say farewell, and I was able to meet Claire's kids. They were a ton of fun. The boy played on my iPhone throughout his meal, making it very greasy as he stole away some of my food. And I gave the little girl one of my french fries with some BBQ sauce, and her eyes went crazy and she will never ever touch that stuff again. At the end of the meal, we agreed that they should come to the school on Monday. The boy is a good little unicyclist, and it was a fun time unicycling around the campus with him while his little sister enjoyed taking pictures of us.

Last Sabbath was the last time that all the staff from the four schools had an opportunity to meet together at our school. We had a grand afternoon, and one of the Taiwanese staff from our school, Fish, asked me if he could cut my hair like his. I told him no. But he asked again, so I said yes. I look better than ever now, with shorter than ever hair.

Yesterday was my last day at the school, mostly as a support staff because there were already four teachers there and I needed to be there only for paperwork. So everything is mostly done for me now. Ryan and I are planning on doing a weekend trip to Kenting at the south end of the island with several of the Taiwanese staff from our school and one of the other schools. We are really looking forward to the last bit of bonding before good-byes that will last probably the rest of our lives. Those good-byes are the biggest downside of traveling in general. In the future I will not meet people while I travel to avoid those painful, tearful moments. I will shun those I come across. See how I am continuously improving?