Formosa= Beautiful Island

Hello, hello, hello, it's been too long... I have been staying (very) busy the last couple of weeks. The group trip was a success and I could type all night telling you about it but I'll just give you some highlights: we woke up at 4:00 am to take a little, old red train up the mountain side to see the sun rise over the mountain top...

These two shots are from the walk we took through Alishan , an incredible, peaceful, old national forest. It was so picturesque, I wanted to load all the photos I took! I couldn't do the place justice, but I have the walk in my mind and would love to return here some day.
We ate at THE most amazing buffet I have ever been to! It was on the top floor (~40th?) of this very nice building that was located right by the bay. We looked out over the water and saw all the glittering lights below us and gorged our faces with food, food, and more food! I'm not kidding you- there was everything: vegetable cream soup with a puff pastry draped over the top, sushi, big veggie filled salad, lots of meat dishes, any noodles, rice, bread, oh the bread! There were about 10 different fresh juices, all the fruit you could imagine.. the list goes on(can you tell i'm hungry hah) But that wasn't even the best part. there was a whole section dedicated to DESSERT. Chocolate mousse cake, homemade chocolate with nuts and seeds in it (delicious) AND there was a freezer of serve yourself ice cream... hagen daze ice cream.. Okay i was in food heaven. I'm not going to lie... I stuffed my coat pocket with the homemade chocolate. I'm not proud of it but it was SOO worth it! Okay I'll move on from the food :)

During this part of the trip I had an experience that was so different than a typical US visit... I developed a small red, rash on my arm and it wasn't going away and was bothering me so I had to go into the doctor while on the trip. We walked into the hospital (conveniently across the street from our hostel) and the doctor promptly came out to me in the waiting area, a women dressed in casual day clothes, looked at my arm and pretty immediately showed concern and that she couldn't help me. We were sent to a dermatologist office where I wait for about 10 minutes for the doctor to call me in. I walk through and right there in the room, layed out in a chair similar to one at the dentist, is a women getting what I presumed to be botox. I was a little shocked and worried they called me into the wrong area but then the doctor pointed back to a office through the room. We sat down, and he used a device to show my rash 100x larger on a plasma screen TV that was mounted on the wall. not a pretty sight! He looked at for a second, and within the next minute I had a prescription to cure my mild dermatitis. The prescription was filled in 2 minutes I'd say and the final cost? $6 US dollars! SUCH a different system, but a cool experience non-the-less.

The picture above is from the oldest Confucius temple in Taiwan. We all got a card to write down a wish, or prayer. We signed the card and dated it... leaving a little part of ourselves to fill the beautiful walls of the old temple. Across from the temple was a big park with little kids practicing some form of ti-che, and a women taking her bunny (yes bunny as in rabbit!) for a walk on a leash. don't worry i got a picture!

Our last stop was in Tainan, where we stayed at one of their Universities and were paired with a student to guide us around for the next 3 days. We went to a night market... it was SO crowded, at one point I was literally pressed up against people on all 4 sides trying to get around--- thats when we decided to get the heck out of there! This night market had the best food! I had fresh corn on the cob, baked sweet potato puffs, fried squid, and this incredible dessert where there is ice cold ice cream inside a hot, cooked little waffle pocket!

And finally, one of the many great signs we see here! Some other of my favorites are : (on a park sign) "while walking your dog, if nature calls, scoop it up" "no transcending while waiting" (at the bus station) "no hubbubble" (at the zoo!)

I'm off to prepare a presentation on the book I just read, The Hospital by the River... I don't actually recommend it but it is an incredible story of a couple who in the early 1950's moved to Ethiopia and established a hospital. They have cured 30,000 women of the terrible injury, a fistula, created in an obstructed childbirth. The poor women are basically ostracized from their community, left by their husbands to fend for themselves. Anyways, gotta go pull some quotes and get my facts straight!

Much Love from Taipei!

Oh I love Taiwan....

I can't believe it but we leave tomorrow early in the morning for our group trip~ the half way point of the trip! We are going to a couple different cities and visiting lots of famous, fun places in Taiwan. Last night I went up to the mountain side with all the girls and had a delicious meal looking out over the city lights. Taipei 101, the tallest building in the world, was shining brightly through the clouds and was quite the beautiful sight. The taxi ride up the mountain was terrifying to say the least, but in the end it was worth the nerves! As of right now I am in the works of planning a trip to Hong Kong for Nov. 5-9th~ meeting up with my best childhood friend Emily Isensee. Hong Kong is only an hour and half flight away from Taipei so not quiteee as long as my last flight, i think it is doable!
I have been running and swimming a lot here and that is when I really realize where I am. I am away from the group and alone to my thoughts. There is a track here on campus that I have been running on and it feels so great to get moving! I look out at the tall buildings the dark green mountains and realize that I am literally half way across the world from my only home I've known. I thought that at some point here it would be more like, oh yeah I'm in Taiwan no big deal, but truly I still get those excited giddy feelings of, 'OH my gosh I'm IN Taiwan!" It's a hard feeling to explain to someone who hasn't been abroad, and clearly I can't do it justice with that description but it's my feeble attempt to show you all my thoughts! Love you all lots!

it worked!

Finally has a camera!!

Hello!! I got a camera, and not just any camera- the camera I have been wanting for a year! The Cannon SD750, it's been out for awhile so it wasn't super expensive but it does everything I want and works so well, I love it! Here, when they sell cameras- they come with EVERYTHING- battery, 4 GB memory card (!), case, extra memory, extra battery... so I got an amazing deal, just over $200 US dollars.
So Over the past 4 days, I have lost my wallet (thinking it had been stolen while i was swimming at the pool on campus), been in a funk for an evening about it, then rose above it and realized #1 it was not the end of the world #2 that even having something to loose in the first place is a lot more than most people in our world have and #3 that it wasn't going to ruin me and I'd be okay. THEN tonight one of my Taiwanese friends, Jean, ran into my room yelling "they find your wallet!!!" we raced over to the pool and there it was tucked away in a drawer! I've been on a little high ever since and have been having such an amazing night full of good food and friends and really just loving where I am!

So i've now tried to load my pictures 5 times and the connection keeps timing out... oh the wonders of being abroad! But i'll keep trying and post some asap!

Can't think of a creative title: September 25

Well I've now been here close to three weeks, two weeks of classes, and about a lifetime of adventures! It is going to be hard to come back home and continue going to school after going out and experiencing so much abroad. But i'm preparing for that now by looking into volunteering for awhile when I am finished with school. There is just so much need in this world for me not to utilize my privilege and abilities for good.

I had my first exam today- 3 questions, essay/written format on the whole book we read in my World Poverty class. It went really well (I think) and the book has opened my mind to all the different economic statuses around the world, the corruption, stagnation of many countries, and the successful stories (go Taiwan!) It has given me a much more global understanding of history. The next book we are reading is about poverty in America, so that should be incredibly eye opening as well. With this economic crisis we are having now the class should be very interesting. I'm seriously considering just not coming home, why don't you all come live in Taiwan! There is less than 1% poverty rate here and it is beautiful!

Last weekend I went with Winnie (the girl on our group that is originally from Taiwan) and Camille (my new good friend!) to Winnie's home town- Taichung City, about a two hour bus ride. It was SO fun! We went to the (best) night markets and shopped, ate, walked around then home to sleep then to the day market then night market ... you get the picture! My idea of 'expensive' has changed so much! I'll see something that is 300 NT ($10 american dollars) and say NO way too much! I've been paying about 100 NT (~$3 US) for everything! Sunglasses, clothes, watch, alarm clock, belts, shoes! That will be SO hard to come back to the US and buy anything. While we were there we also went to a hot springs. When I think hot springs, I think nature, trees, little pond of hot water, sulfur-y smell.. OH NO! this was a classy spa with different floors (and clothing requirements!), workout area, massage area. We were in the clothed area, thank goodness, and experienced a little slice of heaven. The resort was outside, covered, and looking out into the lush hills and blue sky. There were all sorts of water-shooting-massage contraptions in the big pool, a HOT tub, (ice) cold tub, and sauna. The strangest/coolest place was this pool where you sit and put your feet into the water (it was only about a foot deep) and hundreds of fish come suck/eat the dead skin off your feet!!! It took awhile to get used to the feeling, but by the end me and camille were thinking about (a) taking some fish home to the hostel and (b) opening up our own spa in oregon with these crazy fish! anyone in?
The other really fun thing we did while there was went out to eat at this place where the center of the family style restaurant was a fishing pool and we would go catch our shrimp and they would cook them and serve us! I've now sucked the brains out of a fresh shrimp... yum. (Ann- you would have LOVED it! hah)

Unfortunately, my camera has decided to stop working (no flash!) so I won't be able to post pictures till I get my new camera. But I love you all and hope you are having a wonderful September!

My Address

Christy Anderson
Department of Child and Family Studies
FuJen Catholic University
520 Chun Cheng Road
HsinChuang
Taipei, Taiwan, ROC

209 ! My humble abode

Here is my glorious room, # 209! It feels cozy and open and personalized! I love the furniture they have provided. The mattress is another story. Sometimes when I wake up at night I feel like I'm sleeping on the floor. It is the hardest of hard mattress, I'm going to invest in a mattress pad VERY soon!