Friday we took a trip down south to my grandpa's, to the Yen's village, literally. I've never noticed the sign before but there's a stop called "Yen Village", and right next to it there is a temple built in the Yen Family's name. It has a little park in front of the temple, and there's a Statue of the artist "Yen Shua Long" (spelling may be incorrect) in the park with some art work next to it. Of course we sat right next to the smiling statue and my sister and I each took a picture with him, our... ancestor? The park's just a little nice quiet area for people to lounge at and the actual temple was closed, locked... I still took a picture of it hoping to capture the red latern that hang below the roof with "YEN" on them. I think all the ancestors' names are in the temple... and people go pay respect in the temple once a year. Outside the temple there was a memorial stating Yen's history, where Yen came from, what century, and a short explanation of who decided to build this temple/park and why. I think it also lists out few famous ancestors' names... including Yen-Huei. You can see how proud I am to be apart of this family but at the same time I keep thinking "well isn't there something else I could be proud of too, that belongs to the Cheng Family-- my mom's side?" I mean why is it that I only associate myself with one side but completely disregard the other side? It's not like I do it on purpose, but this is something I need to think about... I'm not just a Yen, I'm also a Cheng... even though it's not evident in my daily life. Still I wonder... I feel like I don't know anything about my mom's side and this shouldn't be acceptable.

Anyway the Tainan trip was awesome, mom, sis and I drove down representing my dad to spend some time with Grandpa for "88" Father's day. I think he was really happy to see us b/c even though he hates it when people nag at him thus chose to live alone, but he still gets really happy to see us whenever we visit. We went and said hi to him for a bit on Friday before we went and checked into the Hotel at Tainan (Grandpa is actually at Shia-ying). The hotel at Tainan was amazing, absolutely beautiful with a gorgeous view(took lots of pictures)... we ate at the buffet at the hotel (dinner for 2 (and breakfast) was included in the room price) and I have to say I've never ever ate this much before. I think I had about... hmmmm 5 plates maybe? I've never had such good buffet, I even dare to say it is better than the buffet at Vegas... but then again I think anything here in Taiwan is better than the food in the States... I'll miss it terribly so I should feed myself more before I go back. But yeah after that we met up with my aunt and her two kids, my two little (or not so little) cousins at KTV. Dunno I feel like everyone in the family can sing except me... my vocal range is pretty limited and I dont know if I believe in practice makes perfect, when it comes to singing that is. But apparently my sister has gotten way better since the last time we sang together... I guess practicing does work.

Saturday we woke up and drove back to Shia-ying, met my aunt there. We all went out to lunch with Grandpa and I am glad to see him eating that much. It worries me to see him so skinny now and it frustrates everyone to see him so stubborn about not seeing a doctor when he's supposed to. But overall he's doing well even though he recently slipped and fell into the rice field and cut himself at many places... but nothing major and I am glad to hear that many people are looking after him. People still nag at him, and I am glad they do, b/c nagging = caring. Even people unrelated to us nags at him... mainly those he buys food/things from. I am glad that everyone in the neighborhood whom he interacts with truly care for him. It's like having an extended family and since it is such a rural area, a small town like place, everyone knows one another and that makes me feel better to know he's still being taken care of, one way or another.

After Lunch we went back to the old house and they cleaned the room while sis and I went to the temple to take pictures. Afterwards we were just being silly, playing games, taking pictures, walking around aimlessly... the little cousins played Chinese Chess with grandpa and I think that made his day--- he loves to play Chinese chess and he used to have a friend who came often to play with him, but I'm not sure what happened to that grandpa.... but yeah it is especially interesting to observe them when they play b/c even though he's playing with 9, 10 year olds, he still refuse to go easier on them and he's actually quite sneaky... funny. He sings when he's about to win, just so many things about grandpa that makes it funny... he's stuck a simple, honest, very down to earth no harm to anyone type of guy, I think the only time his competitive nature comes out is when he plays Chinese Chess. :) I guess the Yen Family are all competitive in some way...

So finally we left Tainan around 7 pm, after the game, after bike riding (old school rusty bike) and being filmed on bike, after saying bye 10 times and getting caught by grandpa's older brother's wife.... after me trying extremely hard to carry a what seems like forever conversation in Taiwanese with her... we finally left and went to our next destination, Taichung.

I haven't been to Taichung for years... I think the last time I went was probably few years ago or maybe even longer... I used to go there a lot when I was young b/c Grace lived there. But anyway, we went to this restaurant that was pretty modern and trendy, I think the theme is "creativity". The serving came in small portion, European style, but it wasn't particularly French or any specific type of cuisine, it was a mixture of different kinds of food. The starter was French, the soup was like Italian, the main dish (the one I had) was Spanish, the one after that was Japanese, then you have Tiramisu and finishes with a vegetable drink. I liked everything except the drink... not too into the healthy beverage choice... but it was a good experience and I am actually craving those dishes right now. Dunno the restaurant's pretty much got all the necessities down -- good atmosphere, nice decor, great service, and delicious and pretty looking food. It wasn't too cheap but the overall experience made it all worth it. Afterwards sis met up with her friend and mom and I just went and explored the place by ourselves. We ended up walking through this pretty happening plaza, just window shopping... there were artists painting portraits and kids running around... it was crowded but in a good way. What stood out was this shaved ice store, we didn't know what it was so we went in and suddenly this waitress walked past by us caring the shaved ice in a container shaped like the Taiwanese Toilet, u know, the kind that's in the ground and you have to squad to pee... dunno it was pretty funny and I'm impressed by some of the marketing strategies these restaurants or companies think of.

Sunday we left for Taipei, but we didn't want to just go straight home so we decided to stop by Ing-ga (again spelling may be diff), it's a place known for products made out of clay. It's a pretty neat little place, we walked through the old town even though originally we planned to visit the museum first but i couldn't find parking (yup I drove a lot in the past few days, I can handle those Taiwanese drivers now!). So we walked through the famous town and we took our time to visit almost every single store... none of us have ever been there and I have to say that's a place everyone should visit, at least once. The place is really neat and I ended up buying this tiny little instrument called "tao di" made out of clay I suppose.... I've been practicing for the past two days and I think I've mastered "Happy Birthday"... heh I can play that for the next b-day girl :D J/K. We basically went around and bought whatever that stood out to me... bought a lucky charm too, I'm thinking I will need that for school, for the next chapter of my life. Before we went home we stopped by this famous restaurant, the architecture and the landscape design was just amazing, there is this ZEN feel to it. You have the koi pound that extends out to the edge with the water just falling off of the horizon, and you have little lamps hanging off of the walkway creating warm fuzzy reflections on the water... you order these drinks and they all come in a fat rounded clay/stone like cup on a wooden platter... dunno everything was just so perfect, and you just feel at peace with yourself and your surrounding when you sip your drinks there.

That was pretty much my trip down south... we really had fun just driving and stopping at places, eating all kinds of food and just talking about random things. Whether we were singing on the top of our lungs or we were just walking around on the street, I think everything felt right b/c we were spending time with the family. Sunday we are off to China to see my papa and this time my other aunt and her husband will be coming along with us. I wonder how things will turn out b/c I tend to get annoyed with her husband, but overall he's not a bad guy. I look forward to traveling with them, to seeing my dad, and of course to get few pairs of shoes for myself! :) I guess that's one good advantage about going to China... I hope I can go to Beijing too to visit an old neighbor. If not I'll be working out at the gym in the neighborhood... dunno I feel I really appreciate and treasure any kind of traveling opportunity, b/c each trip is diff and unique in its own way. After that dad will come back with us and then Grace will be visiting on her 1 week vaca from teaching. This is going to be fun... I think this is yet another great vacation that will be remembered and cherished forever. And this is how life should be, at least this is the life that I've been talking about forever and I am glad I've achieved, yet another dream of mine. However I'm also getting ready and preparing myself for the next step-- I cant be on vacation forever and it's about time for me to move forward again. I just hope I didn't make the wrong choice and took the wrong path... b/c if I did I wouldn't know what to do with myself. I just hope I'll enjoy whatever it is that comes next.


Dunno I feel a bit insecure b/c I am not sure how the future will turn out, but if my feeling is still somewhat accurate then I think I'll be okay. I'm just paranoid, like how I always get in the beginning... I hope there will be one day when I can be so damn cocky b/c that's the day I know how good I am at it and when I know my worth. I cannot tolerate mediocracy and I am determined to be the best Interior Designer there is in my generation. I hope to see success in the near future.

Oh yeah side note... and just random thoughts-- I think I will finally attend my first Soccer Game this Friday b/c I can no longer hold my curiosity... and no more spying on couples no matter how long they stay in the public bathroom late a night b/c quite frankly I don't care I rather go home and sleep... hmmmmm and no more weird fantasy like dreams even though the girl's hot. Don't think I should go into detail but I have to say I'm awesome in the dream... and she knows it. :D What else.... i should try sleeping earlier so I don't wake up at the crack of dawn anymore... so many bad habits and so little determination. sigh...