Hotel Sunshine Kaohsiung

... on it. What I will say is that I'm glad that it's over, and I'll not likely be entering into that kind of situation ever again.<br><br>So, in accordance with Woodenfish tradition, the evening of our last day of meditation retreat involves a pilgrimage. This involves making the trek to the "Great Buddha Land" shrine, about a mile away from our dorm (starting point). But, this is not just any trek. Our movement must be three steps, prostration, three steps, prostration, etc ...

... Whateverrrr.<br><br>Sitting meditation: terrible. Learned a new method, counting breaths. I couldn't get past 7 without moving on to some other thought.<br><br>FGS TV station: why did we go? It was a cool space, very photogenic (with I could share), but ultimately pointless. The monastery has its own TV show... more propaganda. However, I did appreciate the time spent in air conditioning.<br><br>Afterward, went to change for community service. Had to wear ...

... towering gold buddha, da4fo2cheng2 "Great Buddha Land" (literally big Buddha city), surrounded by thousands and rows of smaller buddhas and bodhisattvas, which reminded me of sharks teeths (rows). From this Buddha's platform, we could see out to the city lights. <br> After finding our room assignments, dropping our luggage, putting on uniforms, we were instructed to meet downstairs for dinner. Served buffet style, our meal consisted of vaiour ...

... top school, and Irene&#8217;s family has been going there for decades. Insert your favorite Asian school girl picture here. They do have uniforms and they are what you think they are. We snap a couple of pictures and move on before I get any ideas&#8230;<br><br>We head to a department store &#8211; which are all like Harrods in London &#8211; food and groceries in the basement and the rest of dedicated to whatever. We go to the food of course ...

... Pass the beer! The rest of the meal includes seafood noodles, lamb hotpot, lamb rice, and another lamb dish. It was tasty and I don't really like lamb. After dinner we head to Irene's uncle JoJo's house for coffee. Jojo is a coffee fanatic and he "cooks" coffee 3 or 4 different ways. French press, drip brew, café au lait, etc.. He also makes a cappuccino. Its all excellent. My mandarin is improving - I can now say ...

... man das im praktischen Unterricht so gut wie gar nicht, ausser dass die Direktorin bei grossen Veranstaltungen ein kleines Gebet spricht. Die Organisation steht letztlich aber fuer jederman offen. In meinem Pojekt ist auch der zentrale Sitz der Sozialarbeit, wobei der Schwerpunkt dieser Arbeit darin liegt, Kindern aus schwierigen und sozial schwachen Familien Hilfestellung zu geben. Ich selbst habe mit diesem Bereich nichts zu tun ...

... for the kids, clothing, leather goods, CDs, and shoes just to name a few. Patrick did a great job of keeping us together and interpreting when we needed a question answered. Melinda said she was hungry for cotton candy and Ted swore he smelled it, but we never did find any. Before we knew it we were out of our self-alotted time and we needed to return to the van to meet Shuying and Alan. We drove back to the hotel, said good bye to Alan and Patrick, and agreed to meet them tomorrow morning at 8:30p.

... den ganzen Tag drinnen (das Bu**o hat noch nicht mal Fenst**...) und da tut wenigstens einmal am Tag frische Luft und ein bisschen Sonne sehr gut. Um 13.30 geht es dann weit**. Bis um 16.00 habe ich **stmal Zeit, den Englischunt**richt vorzub**eiten. Das ist eine Menge Zeit, so dass es relative entspannt ist. Ich kann mir Aktivitaeten ausdenken, die Mat**ialien beschaffen und mit ein** taiwanesischen Lehr**in das alles besprechen. Es gibt ...

... zum Abend tot. Am Abend trifft sich dann moeglichst ganze Familie, bei manchen Bekannten sind das an die 20 Leute, zum gemeinsamen "NianYeFan" (Nejahrs-Vorabend-Essen). Da gibt es auch unbedingt Fisch und die Gaben von dem Goettertisch. Es wird sehr viel aufgetischt und es geht heiter und gesellig zu ... es muss aber auf jeden Fall etwas uebrig bleiben, als Zeichen dafuer, dass man's hat. Nach dem Essen wuenscht man sich "Gong xi, gong xi, fa ...

I'm partly home ;o) Woodsie's place feels so comfortable and she and her friends are great. If I'll find some random job now, that would be perfect. For now I found something different - a new book! It's been smiling at me the moment I took a closer look at this bookshelf. It's called "The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle. And I have the feeling this will give me something to think about, be prepared, it's deep. Following quotes: 11 "The word God has become empty of meaning ...