This weekend I haven't done much, thanks to getting about a pint of blood drawn for testing and resulting in me becoming extremely giddy (dui, for some strange reason I get into a drunken-like state after losing blood) and then having to lie down for awhile. But I did manage to get some sightseeing in, and am I amazed. The hospital I went to is near the area where a lot of old government buildings, and all of a sudden my and my mom stumbled upon the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall.
And wow, is it amazing.
For those of you who don't know, Chiang Kai Shek was one of the men who helped build Taiwan and made it independent from China. (Note: Never assume that Taiwan is part of China. It's not, and the Taiwanese would like to be very clear about that.) There's mixed feelings about him on the island, but they still built a huge memorial for the guy, and it's
beautiful.The gateway actually reminds me of a place from my story. The picture to the left is the actual memorial (thanks, Wikipedia!) and even though it doesn't quite capture how big and grand the building is, it's a good shot. Within is a big statue of Kai Shek sitting on a chair - yes, similar to the Lincoln Memorial, except this has Asian style. :)
So I saw that, and also some other beautiful buildings in the area. Personally, I think it's the best looking part of Taiwan, save Yangmingshan, of
course.
On other notes, the weather here is definitely taking a turn for the...different. Apparently Taiwanese winters are foggy. Really foggy. And rainy. Basically, very damp. I'm not sure if it will snow or not, but since I live on a mountain, I'll probably be the first to know. Today we celebrated Thanksgiving at my church, and we get two days off from school this week.
Writing-wise, my story's going pretty well. I'm writing the end, and it's
quite exciting. It's not an action-packed ending, but it's really emotional, and definitely bittersweet. I don't like happy-happy endings. For me (and in my writing) everything comes with a price, and this time the price is big. NaNoWriMo's starting to wind down, so my heart goes out to all the novelists scrambling to get in their 50k quota.Also, time for some book recommendations! The library at my new school is much better than the one at my old school, so I've been checking out books like a mad woman. Right now I'm in the middle of Cybele's Secret, a book by Juliet Mariller. It's the second in the Wildwood series, but it's not so much a sequel as a a loosely-related book in the same universe, through a different character's eyes. If you like historical fantasy and rich Ottoman Empire-inspired cities, then this is for you. Of course, I recommend reading the first book, Wildwood Dancing, first. It's vaguely based off the fairytale of the Twelve Dancing Princesses, and it has the same magical feeling in it. The cover art is just as beautiful.
I think that's all for now. I'm really having fun with this blog, and I'm going to keep adding on more to it. Enjoy.
Sarn Progress: 111,000 words and going strong.
Cheers,
Ari
No comments:
Post a Comment