Mid-Semester Update

These past few weeks have been pretty uneventful, especially after such a fun few days in the Philippines.  Plus, the weather here has been ridiculous; when it's not disgustingly humid and hot, it's been pouring. And last week and this week we had midterm exams/papers due so I've actually had to buckle down and be a student haha. But nonetheless, we've found some time to relax on the weekends and hang out as a group since we were all over the place for Spring Break.

Last Friday night, we went to a pool hall and played for a few hours.  Then we came back to I-House where Kevin taught us how to play Euchre.  

Saturday was a lot of fun.  We actually went indoor ice skating at Taipei Arena about 40 minutes away from campus with one of my friend's buddies and her friends.  Since I didn't really get to experience a real Chicago winter this year, it was nice to be in the cold again.  We skated for about 2 hours then proceeded to this super-local restaurant that had dishes for only 100 NTD. And each dish was super delicious.  After we got back to I-House, we grabbed some dessert from McDonald's (of course) and hung out in the lobby for about 3 to 4 hours, listening to 90's hits and reminiscing about our childhoods on the other side of the world.  

Taipei Arena during the day.

Getting ready for some ice skating (and yes, we all had to wear those bright red helmets)

 The girls :] (Sarah and Melody)

 +Makra

 Oh, the boys...

 From left to right: Pamela, Ben, Brian, Melody, Madi, Huy, Sarah and Makra

 It's not a good shot but we found an Ikea!

Taipei Arena at night.

*Because the church meetinghouse is right next to the Taipei Temple, I get to see the temple every week. Pretty nice sight to see right after church :]*


Yesterday, (Wednesday) was a friend's birthday so we went out to dinner at an Indian restaurant to celebrate.  The food was surprisingly good, although a bit spicy for my taste.  We then went to the pool hall and hung out for a few hours before heading to a dance club downstairs where we danced the night away. It was definitely a memorable way to celebrate a birthday in Taipei :]. 

 Taj- an Indian restaurant

Hanging out at the pool hall.

With the birthday girl!

Fun news of the week: A small group of us will be going to the Philippines (Palawan, to be exact) for a few days in June! Supppppper duper excited :]
But until then, it's back to studying, paper-writing and hanging around Taipei for a while.  Tomorrow, we're going to go get massages and Stake Conference is on Sunday so it's going to be an interesting weekend! 

*Sidenote* It's pretty weird knowing that my time here in Taipei is more than halfway over.  I've met so many wonderful people from all across the world an a few who live in the US. A friend and I were just talking about how we've started to consider our room here in I-House "home", at least for this semester.  The classes I'm taking all have something to offer and we find that there is still so much we have to see in Taiwan. I feel that these next 8 weeks are going to fly by, which makes me happy and sad at the same time.  All in all though, I can already tell that this experience is one that will be hard to let go of.

Spring Break... Off to the Philippines!

Fair warning, this will be a long post. We did so much these past four days.

To start off, we left Taipei at around 2 AM on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning after a slight aircraft delay. We arrived in Manila at around 4 AM local time, were able to go through customs and immigration with very few issues, and then waited at the terminal to be picked up by my relatives. After chilling at the airport for about a half hour, I saw my Tita and Ate Loren and after a few introductions, we headed off to our van. After stopping off at the Pancake House along the expressway, where we had a delicious breakfast of pancakes and waffles, we proceeded to travel to Zambales, where a beautiful beach awaited us. After our first of many delicious Filipino meals, we decided to go out for a swim. While my cousins thought we were crazy for going out into the sun when it was at it's hottest, but we went swimming anyway and boy, was it refreshing. So worth burning the bottom of our feet on the scalding hot sand.

  

My wonderful Lola Sebring. Still as strong and smart as ever :]

 Some pretty awesome sights on the way to the beach.

 Yummy Filipino food; because it was Holy Week, we had quite a bit of fish, but since it was only Wednesday, we had chicken and grilled pork, too. Plus, some delicious Filipino mangoes :]

 We are a pretty fun, group :]

 The sunsets were do die for!

 Snails... funnily enough, they didn't taste as bad as I thought. And on another note, the French guy that was on the trip with me said that he never had snails before that night. #frenchstereotypes

 Yeah, we're pretty cool.

 Lechon (roast pork); say what you will, but it is a traditional Filipino food and we definitely enjoyed it :]

The resort/villas that we stayed in the first night. Super duper nice.

The next day, we woke up (somewhat early), had Jollibee for breakfast, and drove back up north past Manila into Batangas. On the way, we stopped at the shrine for the Philippine national hero, Jose Rizal.  We also went up along a mountain and took pictures at a nearby Boy Scouts of the Philippines camp; it was pretty cool and definitely made me think of my brothers. We went onto a family friend's beach/mountainside house which itself was gorgeous and had a spectacular view of the sunrise/sunset across the ocean and mountains.  That night we had some fun out on the patio; it gave my cousins and I a chance to catch up and re-bond after the last ten years. Words can't express how good it felt to be with them again; it felt like we were the same people we were 10 years ago, just with a few more experiences under our belts :]. We talked, played cards, drank (fun juice for them, plain pineapple juice for me :]) and just enjoyed one another's company. It also made me realize how well my friends got along with my cousins, making the night that much more memorable.

 House/muesum of Jose Rizal

 Boy Scouts of the Philippines

 Me with my beautiful cousins Lorna and Ate Loren.

 Fun group picture :]

 Exchange group.

 Just a few of my cousins :]

The next morning, we went to a beachside resort near the house and pretty much spent the day there, alternating between swimming in the ocean, the swimming pool, and resting in the shade. Quite a relaxing day. Later that afternoon, we headed into Manila to a Holiday Inn and rested our burnt/tanned selves for the night. *Now I might not have mentioned it yet, but we did a lot of driving while we were there. Like a lot. Well I guess we ourselves didn't drive, but still, sitting in the car for hours at a time got exhausting too. Although it was kinda nice because it gave us a chance to catch up on much needed sleep lol *

 Lunch with the cousins :]

 Beautiful blue water, hot and humid weather.

 Yet another group picture.

 Swimming pool area where we spent the majority of the day.

 Swimming with the guys... so cute :]

 Oh my goodness, my absolutely adorable nephews. So so sooo cute.

 Playing in the sand with Prime.

 And with Ton-Ton :]

 Sunset on the mountain- so gorgeous.

 And of course, a picture with my Roaming Redbirds shirt :]

On Saturday, our last day there, our schedule was packed. After grabbing breakfast, we toured around the universities in the Manila area; lucky for us, most of them were within a 10 minute drive of one another. After our tours, we headed to SM Mall of Asia, the biggest mall in the Philippines where we spent the remainder of our time shopping after lunch at Pizza Hut. We shopped for a few hours- the girls with Lorna and the guys with my Ate Loren, and we met up for a last dinner before heading to the airport. This was also our first of several goodbyes. Luckily, we arrived at the airport at around the same time so we were able to take pictures and say goodbye again. We checked in for our flight and talked to my Tita and Ate Loren for a few more minutes before finally saying goodbye. Luckily, our flight was running on time, giving us just enough time to explore the terminal and relax for a bit before heading back to good 'ole Taipei.

 University of Santo Tomas- the oldest university in the Philippines and my tito's alma mater

 Legend has it that walking under this arch before you graduate is bad luck and you won't graduate if you do. So on graduation day, graduates make a point to take pictures while walking/running under it :]

 More of UST's campus

 Far Eastern University's campus- my tita's alma mater

 Each platform represents a different department of the school.

 Far Eastern University

 Centro Escolar University- where my parents met and went to school and where my cousin graduated from as well

 Along this street are 4 universities; whenever there was a rally, the universities would be forced to cancel classes for the day.

 University of the Philippines- the most prestigious university in the Philippines

 Statue on UP's campus

 My Tita Glo :]

 I love seeing the temple, especially in other countries. This is the Manila Philippines Temple and is situated high above the city.  We just happened to drive past it and I did a double take after noticing the Angel Moroni :]

 My cousins, Lorna and Ate Loren

 Daryl

 Tito John

 Ate Lo

 Last dinner with (almost) all of the cousins :]

Words simply cannot express my gratitude to my family for all of their generosity and hospitality throughout our stay.  My friends and I had such a great time exploring the different aspects of Filipino culture. Our reunion was a much needed one- 10 years is way to long to go without seeing family. If they're reading this, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to my group of friends for opening their minds and hearts to my family and heritage and to my family for embracing us with love and kindness. This truly was a trip that I will never forget.