The start of a new adventure! 

The flight over to Taiwan was spectacular!  14 hours, and I slept through 13 of those hours.  Not bad at all, if I do say so myself.  The one hour I was awake was very existential; if you ever want to be cured of feelings of significance, fly across the Pacific Ocean.  You will feel very tiny afterwards, I promise! 

Arriving in Taiwan was nothing short of awesome!  The country smells like Florida, but is overcast like Michigan.  It looks totally different, though!  During the bus ride from the airport (we flew into Taoyuan) to the speed rail station (where we would ride the speed rail from Taoyuan to Tainan), I began to notice differences in the buildings between here and America.  In addition to architectural differences, there are shrines EVERYWHERE here!  I don’t know what they all mean yet, but it was wonderful to see!  I think because we are around individuals who deal with tourists quite often, most everyone that we’ve met speaks English, but it will be interesting when that begins to change in Tainan! 

Something that has already captivated my wee heart is, you guessed it, the BABIES!!!  I cannot even express to you how beautiful these little Taiwanese toddlers are.  The parents seem to be very tolerant of the 12 crazy white girls they see gawking at their kids, and several individuals have brought their babies over for us to see, most of them asking their children to greet us in English with a “Hello”.  They seem thrilled whenever we greet them in return in their native tongue (Mandarin, Chinese) or thank them (also in Mandarin) for letting us look at their kids!  My desire to pack a little Asian baby in my luggage on the way home has, unfortunately, only been strengthened by these interactions. 

When we finally arrived in Tainan, we were greeted by the nursing manager for Chi Mei hospital,  “Joanne”, and the coolest ICU nurse ever (besides Aunt Jenni), Jane!  Jane was kind enough to give us a tour around the city.  Here are some pictures from the day along with descriptions! 

This is our group after arriving in Taoyuan! 

 On the bus

 My first time on Taiwanese soil!  (I found a patch of soil just for this picture)

This is in the speed rail station, which is kind of like a high-speed subway

This is our clinical group with Joanne (on the left) and Jane (Jim has his arm around her)

My first Taiwanese shrine!  It was gorgeous!

Still at the shrine

Jane and I inside the shrine!  She is so awesome.  Plus, she speaks fluent English, which is always a bonus!

More shrine pictures...

This was perhaps the most important part of the shrine.  The dragon has special meaning for both China and Taiwan, and this year is the year of the dragon!  Jane said that lots of women have tried to plan their pregnancies so that their babies are born during this special year. :)

Jane bought us cookies!  They're kind of like Ritz crackers with honey in the middle, but they taste almost exactly like a Bit-O-Honey candy.

My roommates, Paige (in front) and Marisa (behind.  My other roommate, Jane, was taking the picture)

The 7-11 food is way different than it is in America. But we ate it! :)