Does It Need Saying?

The best part about my weekend? 

That. 

And this:

Kenting.

I swam there. 

It was amazing. As a Northern California girl born and raised, I'm used to frigid, greenish brown water on an overcast/sunny beach that you can only enjoy when you're good and numb. I love beaches. I love getting numb, I love spending hours in the temperamental sun getting frostbite and sunburned simultaneously. I've never been to any other beaches besides the ones in Northern California. 

Ohmygoodnessguys, the beaches in Kenting, Taiwan.

The water was clear and blue, the perfect temperature, and the waves were only slightly risky. I could see the coral below my feet as I was swimming. I didn't want to get out of the ocean, because I was warm in the water and the air around me was cold. I did somersaults, I floated above the rocks and coral, and I dived into the waves as they went crashing into the shore. Oh my goodness. If only the beach wasn't five-ish hours away. 

Unfortunately, we didn't spend all three days on the beach. We spent some time other places, like these ones:

Conclusion? Taiwan is amazing.

You should really just come here, you know.

For Sami

So, guys, funny story.

 

 

PRELUDE:  I love jewelry. I wear quite a few rings. (Four, in fact.) 

CHAPTER 1: My 9 year olds--the second graders--love to talk. About anything basically, but their favorite thing to talk about is kissing, and marriage, boyfriends, and girlfriends, and basically everything that they haven't the faintest clue about. It's cute. Mostly.

CHAPTER 2: My kids, for the longest time, didn't know the word for "marriage." When they were telling me funny story about crazy people getting married, they would stand their index and middle fingers on the table, both hands next to each other, and burst out The Bridal March: "dum DUM dah-dum, dum DUM da-dum!"

So, I taught them about about marriage. I taught them the word "married," I taught them how you can tell if someone is married, and I taught them what finger the ring goes on. Go me! I still get a little flutter of pride every time they use the term "get married" in their stories. I taught them that, I think, I'm so awesome.

 CHAPTER 3: Whenever they get bored with telling the stories, I become the story. This time, they noticed my rings. One of the girls had a stroke of brilliance, ran up to my desk, grabbed my hands, took off all my rings, and stuck EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM on my left hand ring finger. 

The response from the rest of the class? 

"MISS RAYNE'S MARRIED! MISS RAYNE'S MARRIED! MISS RAYNE'S MARRIED! MISS RAYNE, YOU'RE MARRIED!"

Then, another student, in a flash of genius, ran to my desk, and counted the rings on my left hand ring finger. One, two, three, four. The conclusion:

"EVERYBODY! MISS RAYNE HAS SIX BOYFRIENDS!" 

(They counted a couple rings twice in all the excitement.)

Today, they completed the ensemble by placing the lace scarf I was wearing around my head like a veil, braiding my hair, and telling me that the boy I marry will have yellow hair, green eyes, no glasses, and be very tall.

CONCLUSION: My kids are way too awesome.

Here There Be Dragons

This weekend we went to Lukang.

(Pronounced Loo-gong, guys. Loo-gong.)

Home of 2012's Taiwan Lantern Festival. (A different city hosts it every year.)

There were Spongebobs:

And Angry Birds, of course.

There were transformers:

 

Some Statue of Liberties:

This one's legit, actually. Not a lantern, a human. Who doesn't want to see an Asian Statue of Liberty, anyway? Go America!

 

Some famous Taiwan landmarks:

 

 

A bunch of random animals:

 

 

TONS OF DRAGONS:

(Happy year of the dragon, by the way. Have some children, everyone wants year-of-the-dragon children. They're awesome, so I'm told. I'm a snake, personally. What're you?)

 

A few other people had heard about this festival, as well.

 

There were some pears, too, because pears are awesome:

 

 

And, of course, no lantern festival is complete without Hello Kitty and Kung Fu Panda:

 

Lukang was packed, naturally, to the absolute brim. Streets had been blocked off from regular traffic just to make way for the thousands and thousands of people that were going to be shuffling about, obliviously snapping pictures. It was windy, it was freezing, I hadn't brought a coat, and Lukang was a train and bus ride away. 

But, man. Those LANTERNS. These LIGHTS. This COUNTRY. 

 

I think I'll have to go visit Lukang again, when it's not so infested with mindless, lantern gazing zombies. I think it deserves some in-depth exploring, especially in all the little corner shops that sell vintage wallets, and floral purses. Besides, there was an amazing pizza place. 

It was beautiful and fantastic. Best Daycation ever.

I Was In My Pajamas 'Til Noon, and I STILL Had a Productive Saturday

Guess what? I learned how to drive a scooter today! 

I'm only one scooter rental away from being bicycle-free! Hooray!

I walked everywhere today. My psychology on this subject is slightly skewed, I know; but bicycles are so fourth grade to me. As a mature, 22 year old degree holder, I feel I'm above such degradation.  Yet another reason why I should probably suck it up and just ride one. I can't keep spitting out my humble pie, I need to choke it down and swallow.

For a little bit, anyway.

More good news: nail polish has been DISCOVERED. 

Guess who's going back on Monday to buy out the store? I need top coat!