View from My Window

I spent another great (and busy!) weekend in Luodong. Friday Faith, Mary and I went to the National Symphony Orchestra String Ensemble concert in Yilan. It was a great performance, featuring Vivaldi's Four Seasons.

I taught my third class for the Talented English Program at Guo Hua Junior High School in the morning (we made pancakes and scallion pancakes), and in the afternoon Faith, Brittany and I went for a walk in the park. We joined Nell and Mandi for dinner at the Thai restaurant, and then went to Luodong Senior High School to see Adam's concert. He sang a beautiful solo in Chinese and Taiwanese, alongside elementary and junior high students currently studying piano, violin and pipa.

This morning, Faith, Nell, Brittany and I went to the orphanage for church and to help with the babies. We met Debbie for lunch at the vegetarian restaurant and had dou hua for dessert next door. And after a short nap, we struck up the festivities again to watch Home Alone, eat hot pot and make scallion pancakes.

Unfortunately, I don't have many pictures from this weekend, so instead I figured I would share this collection that I have taken over the past few months. My apartment building, Guan Tian Xia, is the tallest in Luodong. The name means "View of the world," and, in fact, our view of the world from the apartment is incredible. We are located on the corner of the building: one side overlooks the sports park (nicest park in Taiwan), while the other side looks out on ride fields. In all directions you can see the mountains in the distance, and, if you look carefully, you can also pick out other local landmarks like the temple with the giant golden land god on top of it. Additionally, the sky is so incredible -- sometimes very clear, othertimes with brooding clouds -- that I've just had to take pictures. So now, enjoy some of the sights that I get to see every day!

From the top: view of rice paddies from my bedroom window; clouds as the sun sets; the mountains on a clear day; looking down at the field across the street (note the foot prints from the farmer planting seeds); overlooking the park on a clear day; a view of the park on a rainy day; another view of the rice paddies.