Let Me Catch You Up: Part 2

Hey all! Well here it is, as promised, part 2! If you missed part 1, you can check it out here:

https://brandonsnodgrass.theworldrace.org/post/let-me-catch-you-up-part-1

So the goal today is to have you completely caught up on everything that has happened from Taiwan to now. How do I feel about that goal? Probably slightly ambitious, but I’m willing to take a shot at it (don’t hold me to this, a lot has happened, we may need 3 parts). My first move, stop stalling. My second move, to tell you that my wifi is not great, so this may be brief and may have errors (cut my some slack on this one). Let’s get this going. Time for us all to get on the same page!

So following our two weeks in Taipei, our squad separated into our teams and headed out to different cities within Taiwan. My team traveled out to the east coast of Taiwan, to the city of Toucheng, where we had a number of cool opportunities. A few highlights from our time in Toucheng included:

• Teaching English at an after school program. We got to share about our home states, our families, favorite foods, etc. (I told the kids that Indiana is covered in corn, they thought this was hilarious).
• We attended the Pingxi Lantern Festival. This is a very famous festival which takes place on the last day of the Chinese New Year. Thousands of people come to this small town to launch off lanterns covered in wishes for the coming year. We spent the day meeting people and making new friends. That night, we were given tickets to the ceremony where we launched our own lanterns which was cool.
• On one of our off days we went out to the beach and camped along the ocean. It was cold and rainy but we had fun. We ate stuffed peppers, read books around the fire, and told stories. In the morning, we went out with some friends and they taught us how to surf (this was my first time surfing, I was terrible but it was awesome).
• Finally, we had a ton of opportunities to meet guys playing basketball in the city. I was super pumped to find courts that were pretty busy. This gave us a cool chance to make new friends and hang out with guys from the area.

Toucheng was also an incredible time for us to grow closer as a team. We tried new food together, did a week where we tried a vegan diet (mostly vegan, I broke the rules a couple of times, including once on a stuffed drumstick that was 100% worth it), we shared our stories, and adventured out in the area together. I think our entire team fell in love with Taiwan and the people there, and we’re so thankful for the time we got to spend in Toucheng, Taiwan.

After our time in Taiwan, our squad came back together and headed off to Hong Kong for a week, while we waited for our visas to enter China. Hong Kong was such a unique and beautiful area. There were mountains, beaches, trails to hike, and nearby cities with awesome food and great people. Our squad had the opportunity to camp out on this little peninsula, which was a bit of a trek to get to, but was so fun. We stayed in our tents, made food over the fire, and explored; we survived the wild boars (public enemy #1) and the water buffaloes (public enemy #2), who continually scavenged a forgotten loaf of bread or ripped through our tents in search of the coveted bananas.

While camping, we also had the opportunity to make friends and meet new people. One group in particular that our group got to know pretty well was a man by the name of Jacko, and his friends Tommy and Kaman. As a group, they spend a lot of time out in that area camping and fishing throughtout the year. We got a chance to hang out with them most evenings and have dinner with them in their camp. It was cool to see the relationships we were able to build and the conversations we we able to have in such a short amount of time. We also had the opportunity to cook dinner for them the last night which was awesome. Though brief, our time in Hong Kong was refreshing and exciting. This was our first time camping and I honestly loved every bit of it, and left excited for similar adventures ahead. 

So looking at it now, I’ve written quite a bit (I’m actually writing this on my phone and can’t entirely tell how much it is, but it feels like a lot), so I think we’ll go ahead and stop here and plan on a part 3. I know it’s been a process, but I’m telling you, we’re close. Be on the lookout for part 3 on our time in China. I PROMISE, I will have you caught up soon.