HUALIEN TOROKO GORGE AND PROMISELAND

January 22,2009 Spent the last three days in Hualien at the Promiseland resort for teacher training and to see the local sight of the Toroko Gorge. The interesting thing I did at the Promiseland Resort was to place my feet in water where these little fish nibble on my feet to get rid of the dry skin. First off it tickled and felt really strange with them nibbling between my toes and under my feet. We also had a tour of the Toroko Gorge which is very famous here. Unlike the Grand Canyon the Toroko Gorge is more like a valley which was cut through the mountains. An interesting fact is that prior to 1912 the aboriginal tribes were actually head hunters and would also tattoo their faces as to social status in the tribe. The Japanese band this type of killing during their occupation. The pictures are from the fish bath and the Toroko Gorge.

Early Birthday Gift

January 17,2009 Just finished putting in another Saturday of school. I was much surprised when the teachers starting singing Happy Birthday in English! My birthday is not until January 31 and it is during the Chinese New Years, so I was hoping for a low key birthday on Fraser Island in Australia. Well, not today because I received a beautiful boutique of flowers, a card and they are taking me out to dinner. Hope there are no other surprises in store for me tonight! You may wonder why not next week well it is the end of the semester and I will be in training at Hualien which is suppose to be beautiful and a must see here in Taiwan. After that I am headed Outback to Australia for Chinese New Years. Last time I checked the weather it was around 87 degrees in Australia. Of course it is not to bad here with temperature ranging from 58 in the morning to 74 during the day. Currently, it is Saturday 4:25 p.m., sunny and 75 degree! I guess I should not feel homesick with the bitter cold temperatures they are having back home!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wednesday January 7, 2008. It has been a while since I have posted anything on my blog. My family was here for Christmas and I worked the entire time except for Christmas day. So all of my free time was spent with my family. Taiwan does not celebrate Christmas like we do in the states. They all work and act as if it is another day. We did get January 1st and 2ND off but unfortunately we have to make up the days on Saturday January 10, and January 17Th which means it is just a regular school day. Since I had four days off I went to Keelung which is major harbor on the Northeast Coast of Taiwan. I also went to a small village just north east of Keelung named Jiufen which is on a mountain side and over looks the East China Sea. I strolled through the narrow street of Jishan St., which was very crowded and uphill. Stopped at one tea house for a quiet cup of tea at the very top of the tea house and had a magnificent view. The pictures are of Keelung and Jishan.