Aw. this concert was a repeat of friday night's. but that's ok, the whole point was to worship and the worship was even better this time because I knew the songs better. (I bought the CD friday night and listened to it 3 times while I was wasting time on my computer. I went to bed at 0430... haha. and then I got up at 0800)
I went exploring in the morning for awhile before I went to the concert. Since the 2 other kiddos went to Kenting, I got to borrow their bike. Even though I was able to travel very fast and I don't have to walk anymore (woohoo!), I had 3 problems:
1) the bike was TOO tall for me. I am glad I am not of the male gender. enough said
2) when I first came to TW, I already thought that their traffic was crazy. but after walking for a few weeks, I got quite used to it and figured everything out. heh heh. different story on bike. there was about 5 instances where a car/motorcycle almost crashed into me, and I was following traffic rules. they weren't.
3) I really a want bell. I don't want to have to say "excuse me" every 5 seconds
don't get me wrong, I really like riding a bike. walking takes ALOT of time. I suppose I could just take the MRT, but I can save $ this way and spend it elsewhere =)
and...
4) this is not a problem, but I think I now know how to walk as a pedestrian. it is annoying as a biker to have people in your way. I will make every effort I have to get out of bikers way. motorcyclist, however, is a different story. they should be getting out of MY way. jk jk.
inside the exterior of Dr. SYS MH... see? it's gonna rain
Dr. SYS
changing of the guard ceremony. yes. I still think that US military has better drill. ROTC ppl, know what I am trying to capture in this pic?
and here we go again
NJROTC has made me really critical and has up-ed my attention to detail towards drill and precision for drillyou can see the actual hall in this picture. I was hanging out by a pond inside the exterior of Dr. SYS MH
anyways, back to the concert. So I get to Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial hall about 1300 and proceed to find tickets. One of the staff members told me to just get in line and that tickets will be distributed later (they were waiting for people with extra tickets to return them. tickets were free, it was just about the number of seats inside the auditorium) about halfway through. About 1315, I ask the people around me if they had tickets, and they ALL did. uhhh. I ask the person behind me to save my spot so I could get tickets. They still didn't have any. I went back at 1330 to see if they had any and they did. This time, however, I didn't tell the people behind me, so on my way back to the line, they kind of looked at me to see ifi I wanted my spot back, I felt bad since I forgot to tell/ask them, so I just went to the end of the line. (the line was LONG). oh yea. in this orginal spot, the lady who was in front of me had cut in front of me earlier, so I was kinda annoyed by her and since I didn't want to go into worship in an annoyed state, it think goign to the end of the line made it better. I get in line and wait for Janna to arrive. She calls me 2 mins later and tells me that she needs 2 tickets, one for herself and one for her friends. AHHH. i just came back from getting 2 tickets, now I have to go back? urgh. ok. I tell the people behind me I needed to go to the bathroom. haha. yea I lied because I already had 2 tickets in my hand and they would have looked at me funny if I said I was gonna get more tickets. afterall, I did go to the bathroom, becauseI really did need to pee. I had bought a 700cc boba and drank it in like 10 mins. because they told us not drinks/food inside and I didn't know what time we were going in. so it wasnt a lie.The line begins moving and still no sign of Janna. I call her and she says she is coming and told me to wait for her when I get to the entrance. I get there and wait.... and wait.... and wait... and wait... and.... you get the point. I was kind of annoyed, I actually had a good spot in line and could have had good seats. I kinda felt used actaully, getting her ticket for her, holding a place in line,... only for that to all go down the drain. she FINALLY showed up and her friend, well um, never did. what a waste of a "lie"
the concert soon began. halfway though, at the beginning of one of the songs there was a blackout! 1 minute in, while SOP team members were debating on what to do, everyone in the crowd began praying and all the sudden, everybody was saying "不要放棄! 不要放棄! " (Do not give up!) (If you don't remember, this happens to be the theme for SOP this year =).) it was a very touching and moving experience. a few of the stage lights turn on by a back-up power supply. and Rev. Sandy Yu begins leading worship.... you guess it... by a MEGAPHONE! I haven't watched this yet, as I have no sound on my work computer, but here is a Youtube link of the instance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAmKzzz-ADE
worship was ON FIRE after that.
SOP team*
taken from backstage*
concert eneded at approx 1615. janna and I stayed inside the memorial hall because it was raining outside and we didn't want to get inline for the night concert. She bought me this seaweed wrap rice thing from 7-11 with shrimp and fish roe. it was really good. and then we also shared half a bagel. In TW, their bagels come with spread inside, not cream cheeese through. Since it was a blueberry bagel, it was blueberry jam inside. pretty decent for my "dislike" of bagels. (at one point, I had it everyday for lunch. I am not complaining though, I had food to eat and that's good enough)SOP concert #3 - Saturday 1900
the evening concert began at 1900 and this one was different that the other two (good!) haha. which means I didn't know the songs and couldnt sing along as well. that's ok, I got to see something different.
Janna and I before the concert
I biked home and then watched the first episode of Hell's Kitchen season 6! I tried to watch the 2nd episode but my internet was like a dying snail, so I went to bed instead =/Sunday
I went shopping around Taipei 101 (臺北101大樓). New York New York Dept. (纽约纽约) was by there, as well as Xinyi New Life Square (新光天地), Vieshow Cinemas (Xinyi) (信義威秀影城), eslite bookstore (XinYi). So many shops and so many food samples! Around 1400, Mr. Tseng calls me and tells me that he has a bicycle for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He comes by and let's me try it out. It ws perfort. short for a short person. I switch bikes me with him and he takes the bike I had been using home for me since it was too tall. I told him that I would buy a bicycle lock for the bike he gave me, but he insisted that he would buy it. So I took the lock on my borrowed bike and put it on the shorter bike and continue shoppping. I didn't buy anything though. except for a snack that was super on sale. easiest way to make money from me? sell me junk food.
Interior of Taipei 101 Shopping Mall. Why are Taiwanese shopping malls so grand and pretty?
New York New York!
An artistic cow I saw outside of Xinyi New Life Square
I liked the rainbow windows on this eslitle bookstore (Xinyi)
this dude is all gold! give him money and he will move (actually, he didn't stay as still as I thought he would) this totally reminds me of San Francisco. saw him outside of Vieshow Cinemas (Xinyi)
Hollywood in TW?.. wannabe is more like it! I think they should etch my name on it. hehe
I ordered a "bi bim bap" for dinner with LAMB meet. 130NT. Yea. it may have been more expensive than other places in TW, but it is really cheap in American sense. It was really, really good. I miss Korean food. there was no side dishes though. =(there were SO many shopping places/stores around Taipei 101. it was crazy. it would take me like 10 years to go through all the stores
SOP concert #5 - Sunday 1900 (I didn't go to concert #4 at 1430)
It was about 1830 when I left the food court, and since Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall was on the way back (sort of) I decided to go to SOP's last concert instead of going to a night market. on my way biking there, it began sprinkling. Since it was almost 1900, I decided not to stop and just bike fast to Dr. SYS MH. Except... there are these things called stop lights that stay red forever in the direction you don't want it to. while I was waiting for this particular stoplight, it began pouring... super super hard. I was soaked by the time I cross the street. In front of me wasw Taipei City Hall (臺北市政府), so I went under its overhang until it was a lighter rain, then I biked on. Needless to say, I was quite a sight when I walked in.
SOP staff directed me up to the 4th floor. When I got onto the elevator, one of the lady who was also attendign the concert asked me if I was a "外國人" (outsider- not from TW) I said yes and asked her if she could tell by the way I spoke Mandarin. She said I looked like it. I guess a girl wearing basketball shorts handed down from my brother who doesnt fit them anymore and a tank top soaking wet did not look like a sight you would see from a Taiwanese girl. HAHA. the other ladies in the elevator couldn't tell I was a "外國人" LoL.
There was so many people in the auditorium. They were also recording that night. I think I am goign to be on nathional TV on Aug 16th!. I had to sit on the stairs on the side. During one of the get to know your neighbor time, the guy next to me started talking to me. At one point, he asked me how old I was, and I told him to guess. He guessed that I was "15." LoL. ahha I told him older. then he guess "18." When I told him I was 20, he did not believe me. xD. I'ld rather look younger anyways. (Janna's initial guess of my age was 19). He told me I would look 20 by the time I am 40-50! yay. thats good. Anyways, he told me he would send me some CD's with other praise music from other Chinese bands like SOP and some of SOP's other CDs. I wonder if he will actually do it. He told me that he came from Taichung (台中), since he missed the concert there, otherwise he said we could meet up again. (ok. this guy is like a grandfather. not some dude trying to hit on me). He left me with this statement "This is all God's plan that we got to meet" yea I agree. Thank you Lord for letting me meet such wonderful Christian while I am in TW =)
another backstage view of the audience. so many people. around 2500~3000+ in attendance for each concert!*
yea, my eyes are closed. but I think this picture is a good representation of how I felt this weekend
I guess my mood really showed through. On saturday, Janna mentioned to me that I was so happy and joyful while waiting in line, while others had a bored, unhappy,and irritated expression. The grandfather dud I met also told me that he thought I was very happy also =)Concert ended, we said goodbye and then I bike home. When I got back, I proceeded to find the bike that Mr. Tseng brought home. I couldn't find it for the longest time and was very worried it was stolen (He bought a lock, put it on, but he hid the paper with the combo under the wheel) I called him and asked for its location again. I FINALLY find it (phew! I don't know what I would say to NCREE if it really was missing)... with no lock.... wait hold on, someone stole the lock and not the bike?!?!?!?! bizzarre! this was ALL by GOD'S GRACE (Mr. Tseng had called me early to tell em the combo/that the combo on the paper was left on the bike and I was super worried. I prayed the WHOLE day that nothing would happen to the bike) Once again, He took care of me and answered my prayer=)
*pictures are taken from SOP webpage. I was not allowed to take pictures during the concert
大聲唱 唱哈利路亞 (We're singing "Hallelujah!")
歡喜快樂吧 勇敢往前踏 (Come and celebrate! He will lead the way)
大聲唱 唱哈利路亞 (We're singing "Hallelujah!")
活出神放在 心中的藍圖和盼望 (He has made us glad. Live a life of hope and calling)
I am not of this world I belong to Jesus, the King
我不屬這世界
我高舉耶穌的名
>.<
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