I was very lucky because I was in Beijing while the typhoon hit taiwan and I flew to taiwan when the typhoon hit Beijing. The eye of the typhoon did not hit kaoushung, where I am staying, although it caused a TON of mudslides about a half hour from here in kaoshung county and over a hundred people died and a ton are missing. Its really sad. Everything is pretty wind blown here and there were trees down everywhere when I got back.
I felt extremely proud of myself coming back from China though. I found my way around the city without any help from the airport to Jennas apartment. This was amazing to me because I took the subway and did not remember to bring her address. I got a bit lost and it took me almost two hours of travel to get there (and so much walking!!!) but I did it.
That night the air conditioner broke. Being in 90 degree weather with no AC is NOT fun. We got a taxi and drove to one of the only 24 hour stores in the city, bought a fan, came home and realized that it did not work. It was already midnight so i just defeatedly decided not to pay tons of money and wast another hour of my life to take the fan back. Instead, we went to the 7-11 and ate ice cream. It was not a good nights sleep but I made it. Got a fan the next day but did not have AC for three days. It was miserable.
Yesterday, Jenna and I traveled to Kenting and stayed in a hostel there. Its a little beach city at the very bottom of Taiwan, about 3 1/3 hours south of here. The water is usually clear there and the mountains are beautiful. Going 4 days after a typhoon may not have been the best idea but it was fun and im glad I saw it. Our hostel did not have water yet because of the typhoon so the woman took us to her house so we could shower in her little taiwaneese shower. The shower is basically an open room with a toilet, sink and shower and its all tiled. There is no shower curtain and the whole bathroom fills up with water. its an interesting experience. The people here are so kind and trusting. the owner of the hostel has a three month old baby that she let Jenna and i play with for a while and she would just leave the room and leave her daughter with complete strangers for like 20 minutes! Its crazy to me! She was so sweet though and felt horrible about not having water. I cant believe she drove us to her house and let us use her own shower! Another awesome example of how great people here are is i was walking home in the rain the other night and this little old man walk up next to me and motions for me to share his umbrella with him! I love how kind the people here are.
Last night, in kenting, we went to the night market. I got fried sweet potato which was super yummy. I am so grossed out by the squid on a stick that I see EVERYWHERE though. We met two people staying at our hostel, clara and calvin, who are from hong kong and they walked around with us. They are English teachers and were excited to practice their english with us. they loved telling us what different foods were and what they are called in chinese. They were so sweet! they also had this stand set up where there were about 5 men giving messages to people. All five of them were blind! I thought it was so cool that these men were able to be independent and have real jobs even though they were blind. It was just so sweet to see them working so hard and using the gifts that they do have to serve others and make a living.
The water in kenting was also cold and murky from the typhoon and there was trash all over the first day. today it was cleaned up a lot more but there were hundreds of flys from all the trash. We would get up and walk down the beach and they would follow us. Jenna said she felt like we were smelly old men that had flys following them lol. We couldnt take it so we left early, but I got a little sun first which was nice.
I am thankful for the sovereignty of God and that nothing can harm me unless he allows it because that is the only thing that kept me from freaking out in the car on the way back. I have had crazy drivers in other countries before so its not a huge surprise to me to be weaving in and out of traffic but i never really feel safe. I can not comprehend how they dont get in an accident every time they drive. I took two dramamine and still though I was going to throw up. Jenna was pretty sick as well.
Well I'm exhausted from so much travel today! Goodnight!!!
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