It Happens in 6 Days

...it started by ending with a GREAT week with AWESOME KIDS!!!

There was so much laughter that week.

singing random chinese songs.

dancing in the halls.

early morning classes that revolved around coffee.

lots of smiles.

amazing hugs.

basically, they were really precious children.

Kind of hard to say Goodbye to all of them a day early...

 

So, week [whatever number] was great. but i had a flight to catch at noon, so i had to leave early on friday morning. that meant i couldn't be there for the kids' graduating ceremony. dumb!

ah well... mmmm... where to start.

Almost cried when my alarm clock went off at 5am on friday morning...

walked through the down pouring rain to find a taxi.

got to the train station and waited for the first train for 30 min.

(1st cup of coffee inserted into my system at this point)

got on the *slow* train... (literally... it stopped at EVERY platform/train stop)

on which i traveled on for about an hr to TaiChung (or somewhere around there)

got to the HSR (high speed rail), for which i traveled on for 30 min to Taoyuan.

took a bus from the HSR station to the airport.

walked from terminal 1 (check in) over to terminal 2 (where my flight would take off)

I WAS 3HRS EARLY FOR MY FLIGHT.

lol.

the airport was literally empty and i was the first one to check into my flight.

nice :)

Thank the Lord for Wi-fi @ the Taoyuan airport!

That was a really long (and BEAUTIFUL) airplane ride!

I love the vroom of the jets right before the plane takes off... it's like, everything is going slow/quietly... then there's like this under pressure/deep growling noise and it instantly gets your heart racing cuz you KNOW what follows that... the airplane gets faster and faster and you wonder if it's EVER going to get off the ground... and then it does. and it's amazing. lol. couldn't help but relate it to when i was a "gamer" (on horses)... getting through those gates... waiting... waiting... and then taking off and feeling like the world was yours to own! lol... yeah. that might have been a stretch ;)

Anywho.. got to the Tokyo airport... waited for my luggage at the WRONG baggage claim... for 40 minutes. DUMB! but, in my defense, it TOTALLY said "from Taiwan to Tokyo"... i just didn't see that it was for a different airline... :P

And then the moment arrived... I GOT A HUG FROM APRIL!!! :D

::sigh::

Soo.... then we headed over to there college/dorm/place-where-we-would-sleep. however, we had to navigate through the millions and MILLIONS of trains. wow... I thought the MRT's in Taiwan were confusing, but we've only got about 6... Tokyo has about 60!! it's ridiculous! and so cool! ...and one thing you should know: no one (NO ONE!!) talks on the trains... which means someone should tell camille this stuff next time before camille starts rambling on and on  and on about absolute nothingness :P

Well, the next 2 days were a blur.... we walked EVERYWHERE... train-ed everywhere... ate lots of food... met some pretty awesome (and random) ppls, and basically LOVED it. It was very "Americanized", so... idk. I really wish i would've seen the more rural parts of Tokyo, but with only 3 days on my hands... and a curfew... there was only so much i could do ~ and it was really nice to see some other Americans/friends/APRIL as well <3 it was a much needed time away :)

Anywho... left Tokyo around 10am on sunday morning

got back to Taiwan around 5pm

Iris (Grandma) picked me up around 6-ish and we went out for dinner (hot pot = YUUMMM!!!)

then i took a train from Taoyuan ------> Taipei

met up with the rest of the crew (Jo, Yellow, Blanche, Joyce, and Jenny)

took the MRT over to Jenny's house

got to share a spot (and a blanket) on the floor w/ Jo (comfy nights right there!)

woke up at 7am to go to the flora expo

walked around ALL DAY

bought LARGE coffee's at 2 different starbucks coffee's... and one i had to wait in line for 15min for...

and then another 30 min before it was ready. SO WORTH IT!!

took lots of pictures

went back and fell asleep at 8:30pm... and woke up at 2am... and was WIDE AWAKE!

dumb.

(note to self: do NOT go to bed before midnight. ever!)

the next morning consisted of coffee.

the end.

lol.... wait. no...

it consisted of camille thinking she was absolutely STUPID for bringing a 40lbs of luggage for a 6 days trip! and then having to haul it ALL OVER ASIA.

dang, i've got one big right arm bicep now... ;)

[hehehehe]

Anywho... we woke up at 7am (again) and camile slept-walked to the MRT station... where we went to the OTHER side of Taipei... and then walked for 20 min over to our hotel.

(**yes, i have blisters on my hand... just fyi)

When we got to the hotel, i was instantly flooded with memories...

we TOTALLY had our TESOL retreat there back in 2008!!!

weird.

well, the rest of that day consisted of lectures (in 2 languages), getting to know the other ppls who we were "working with" (yet, on other ends of the country, so we never see them), food, COFFEE, and lots of laughter and good fellowship!

went swimming that night.

dang... i didn't know i could swim, but i did! And after doing several laps, i felt AMAZING!

(new goal: look for a pool that is close to my school!)

stayed up waaaaay too late that night... but i was chatting w/ my best friend, so it was all good ;)

woke up early.

sat through more lectures.

walked around more of Taipei w/ the rest of my teammates (and my bags).

and finally... got on the train back to Douliou.

i was so stinkin excited to go back to familiar ground/get unpacked...

it felt like i was going home :'-)

::sigh::

Soooo.... that was my last 6-ish days in a nutshell.

Can't wait to tell y'all what God's doing in my life...

but it's time for a team meeting and so that'll have to wait for later today ~

Keep me in your prayers. God's doing great things... which means the devil is totally working overtime to make my life a whole lot harder... o_O

Love y'all much <3

ps. below are some various/random pictures that were taken throughout the past week. I'm too lazy to put them in order, so enjoy :)