Erlin, Taiwan

We arrived late that night so instead of going to our host families we spend the night at a temple. It was so unreal to finally be in Taiwan and then having to sleep in a temple (it was amazing) (: ! There was a room for us girls and a room for the guys - the first thing a lot of us did was to take a nice long shower!! It's the best feeling ever after traveling for over a day. We had about 4 hours of sleep and then we had to get up again. That morning Leslie did a work out on the roof of the temple and OMG was that great! To see the sunrise, to be in Taiwan and just to be with this amazing group of people just made me realize how lucky I really am! After a questionable breakfast our Regional Learning day started!

 This was the temple we stayed at for the night! Pretty cool:)..

Regional learning day:

Our buses took us to the biggest buddha, to temples around the city and to the welcome we received with a dragon dance! It was such a cool and fun day and I was so happy to experience that! 

Nicole and me enjoying the day together!:)

Sarah Rini and me in front of the Buddha!:)

We are all very excited about Taiwan

Traditional te ceremony at our sponsors "Lions Club"

Nicole drinking some tee!:)

We stayed for two weeks in Erlin with the same host family and roommate and lucky me could not have asked for better! My roommate was Katie Baudler from Minnesota, USA and she was and still is such a wonderful girl and we had so much fun together!:) Our family was so amazing and a lot of fun. We had two host sister Lorna and Lea and they were the cutest, even though Lorna was 25 she seemed a lot like a teenager especially when she talked with her boyfriend on the phone:) I really felt that Katie and I became a part of this family and they really wanted us to experience the food and culture in Taiwan and so we did. We had squid and fish with fish eggs inside :( not my favorite but we tried it. We tried some bubble tee (it's cold tee with some slimy round balls on the bottom of the drink).. Very interesting.. One night we had a girls night were we painted or nails and just laughed with each other! It was such a great night and I will remember that forever!!:) 

On host family day we went to church and I of course did not understand a word they were saying but it was a experience Katie and I had together. That night we made banana bread with the family and it was so so so much fun - we all sat in the kitchen and made the banana bread and waited for the bread and while that was still in the oven we had beer and cookies :) weird mix I know.. The banana bread was so delicious and the family loved it so I will say that our last day with the family was a success !:D

our food one night!:) 

Papa, Ma, Katie, Lea, me and Lorna!:)

Lorna was very proud of our banana bread!

our banana bread!!

Beer and banana bread - what more could a girl ask for?:)

During the first week we had a culture fair event were we had to stand in different booths and represent our countries. It was so much fun and we all enjoyed a day together were we didn't have to worry about a show or a CI but had time to just relax and enjoy each others company. The mexicans started the culture fair with loud music and dancing in front of everyone - it was so much fun just to see them all singing and dancing and just being in there element! They love to party and they are very good at it too!!:) They were entertaining all day long and the students loved them. So next time we need to entertain a lot of people we know who to call!!

Salsa dancing with the students!:)

New and improved Canadian flag!

Kinsey was very excited that day!

It was such a good day for all of us. Just what we needed:)

In cast B 2012 we are all one big happy family but sometimes it's hard to find time just to sit down with a few people and just talk about how we are doing and what our highs and lows have been this week and that is why we have our home teams !! I'm in Home team 7 and I absolutely love it. We are 14 people; Isaiah, Leslie, Alicia, Will, Emmy, Meiri, Liz, Andrew, Katie B, Manuela, Raymundo, Caroline, Yazel and Nirite and they are so great! I love having home team time because that means talking to each other about our feelings and how we are doing so far in a new country without having a 100 people in front of you. Your home team is your "immediate family":) 

Our prom picture!:) love it..

It was very hard to say goodbye to the family because we have gotten pretty close to them especially Lorna (she cried when she said goodbye to us) :(

Now we go to Taipei for a week and then it's The Philippines turn to have UWP cast B 2012 to visit them!:)

Lots of love from here,

Sarah