Hard to go back

As you may or may not know, I went to Taiwan for two weeks. We got back last week, but I've been very busy. I had the best time there and loved it so, so much! It was definitely very hard getting on the plane to come back to Uganda. At the same time, it was a little hard to be back in a first world country. There is so much waste from excess packaging. It was hard to go into very rich areas and see a pen selling for more than a Ugandan makes the entire year. It was a bit overwhelming to see how many more options and opportunities are available to people. I definitely saw the developed world differently than I did before I came to live here, but I'm grateful for it. I feel that I won't take as many things for granted or complain as much when my service ends. (I hope so anyway)

Anyway, Taiwan had many exciting adventures waiting for us! I went with a fellow volunteer whose family lives there. I met a lot of them which was so much fun because I got to really experience the real Taiwanese life. They had me at their home, drove us around, told us about Taiwan, and of course, we ate a ton of stuff!

I would say most of my time there consisted of eating... and I loved it! All the noodles, rice, veggies, meat, seafood, desserts, soup, sushi, and seafood were so amazing! Taiwan is a very snack friendly place and you would get a lot for very little money. It wasn't crazy to eat lunch then pick up a snack on your way to dinner and then go to the night market after ;)

The night market was one of my favorite things! Food, clothes, jewelry, arcades, even massages! I got my first massage and we even went to a hot spring. Some of these old people could really take the heat for a long time! I wasn't as good.... We hiked some hills which were beautiful. Taiwan is very mountainous. We went to the capital, saw the 101, attended a random anime convention, and walked the very extensive subway. We also went to Sun Moon Lake and took a ferry around. We visited temples, took back roads through the mountains to the "ancient" railroad (everything is so new in Taiwan that they consider 40 years to be old), went to a place to taste tea, and even ground up our own "tea" drink with nuts. We went to the village on the Tropic of Cancer where his dad grew up. It was a nice sleepy town that had a random guy from Missouri living there! So many rice fields. We also enjoyed 1st world luxuries like Cold Stone, McDonalds, Costco, Imax, rock climbing, air conditioning, washing machines, dryers (hair and clothes), and stairs that were actually equally spaced! We brought back so much food, we had to buy another bag XD

It was great to get away from Uganda for a bit. I wish it could have been for a bit longer, but I feel very refreshed now! I'll definitely be going back.