Cheers to the New Year

I started 2017 on a rooftop watching slightly obstructed views of six different firework shows. I didn't celebrate with champagne, but instead canned, sparkling wine from Family Mart. The evening started with Indian food, KTV, and a stroll through the night market with more fireworks. It was a pretty great way to ring in the new year. 

Test fireworks at the night market. 

So far my 2017 has been filled with exploration. I embarrassingly enough still feel like I have only seen a little of Taiwan. So I have been taking day trips to try to make the most of my time here. On New Year's Day, I Skyped with my family and our friends the Hogans to wish them a happy New Year. Then my friend Michael and I took a bus to Lukang. The city has one big, winding market. We wandered through the streets browsing and snacking on street foods. It was pretty busy and took some effort to shuffle through the crowds. 

Here is a picture of the crowded street in Lukang. 

The following day Michael and I took a bus to Sun Moon Lake. This is usually one of the first sights people see in Taiwan. While I had driven by it, I had never actually taken the time to explore. We got a packaged deal that included a roundtrip bus ticket, a boat ride to three different stops around the lake, a bus around the lake, and a gondola ride. All this was just a little of $20 USD. Michael was very impressed with this deal. We took the boat ride first, which was relaxing to be on the water. We got lunch at a couple different street vendors, including a Taiwanese hamburger place. Instead of an American hamburger, it had seasoned chicken with cabbage on a rice bun. We also got Bánh mì, a Vietnamese sandwich on French bread. I took a bite first. 
"How is it?" Micheal asked. 
"Well I only had a bite of bread, but the bread tastes so good!" I answered. It is hard to come by good French bread. 
The gondola lift provided a clear, picturesque view of the lake. There was an Aboriginal tourist village at the top, but we chose not to pay the extra admission to go inside. The rest of our time at the lake we spent just walking around. There was not a path all the way around the lake, but we were able to walk for a bit before heading back. It was a beautiful day to be at the lake. 

View of Sun Moon Lake

Gnomeo enjoying the sunshine. 

The following weekend I went on another day trip. Taiwan has lots of great hikes, of which I had been on 0. Dakeng is about an hour's scoot away. I finally felt comfortable enough to scoot up and down the winding mountain roads. Once Tyler, Michael, April, Hannah, and I reached Dakeng, there were several hikes to choose from. The path was a little intimidating. It was essentially a wooden plank bridge all the way up the mountain with a post and rope handrail. It went up, up, up. The trail was fairly crowded with us having to frequently stop and turn sideways to let others pass. Others would tell us "jia you," which literally translates to "put more gas in." On the trail it was meant as words of encouragement to not give up. There were even a couple of dogs that would run between our legs up the trail. There was not much of a view at the top, but there were decks with benches to take a little break. We chatted for a bit before heading back down. My calves were shaky by the time we reached our scooters. I certainly felt sore for the next week after. It was a nice hike and I want to go back to explore the other trails. 

Here we are on the trail of Dakeng. Picture by Tyler.

This past weekend on Saturday, I did English storytelling at the library. On Sunday, we were going to go to Sanyi (a woodcarving village). However, it was cold and rainy, so we decided it against it though. A wet and cold hour long scoot is no fun. Instead we went to the science musuem and I made friends with guide dogs in the park. 

So 2017 has been off to a great start. I don't really do resolutions for the New Year, because I have found that they are usually fleeting. However, almost every year Neil Gaiman posts a wish for others in the upcoming year. You can read some of his past ones here (http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2016/12/another-year.html). This year, his wish was in the form of Leonard Cohen's song "Democracy." I can get behind wishes, so here is my wish for all of you in 2017 with some help from people smarter than me.

In the upcoming year of great unknowns, I wish that you can hold onto your hopefulness. As Dumbledore said, “Happiness can be found in even the darkest of times if one only remembers to turn on the light.”

I wish that you be gentle and kind to yourself. You say things in your head you would never let another person say aloud to you. Don’t listen to this voice. No one is really thinking that much about you, so don’t worry what others might think about you. Do listen to the voice that says I don’t know what I do, but I know that it’s not this. Accept what you deserve, which is a boatload, at least. You are enough.

I wish for you to hold onto the friendships that make you a better person and let go of the ones that don’t.

I wish that you use your voice, in whatever form that takes, to stand up for something you believe in. We are going to need a lot of voices this year. It’s going to get loud.

Finally, I hope that you laugh and explore and spend more time doing things that make you happy. As John Lennon said, “When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy.’ They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.”