A carrot, an egg, and a cup of coffee... You will never look at a
cup of coffee the same way again.

A young woman went to her motherand told her about her life and
how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going
to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and
struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.
Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water
and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil.
In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs,
and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit
and boil; without saying a word. In about twenty minutes she turned
off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl.
She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled
the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter,
she asked, "Tell me what you see." "Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she
replied. Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots.
She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the
daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell,
she observed the hard boiled egg. Finally, the mother asked the daughter
to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma.
The daughter then asked, "What does it mean, mother?" Her mother
explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity:
boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong,
hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the
boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile.
Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after
sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened.
The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in
the boiling water, they had changed the water. “Which are you?"
she asked her daughter. "When adversity knocks on your door, how
do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean? Think of
this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong , but with pain
and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength? Am I
the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the
heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a
financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and
stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter
and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart? Or am I like the
coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very
circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it
releases the fragrance and flavour. If you are like the bean, when
things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation
around you. When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest,
do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity?
Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to
make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope to
make you happy.

When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling.

Live your life so at the end, you're the one who is smiling and
everyone around you is crying.

It's easier to build a child than repair an adult.

May we all be like COFFEE.

pushing through!!!

Well a letter was sent to stupid robert firing him and telling him how i felt! dont worry i dint truly tell him everything i felt, i wont do that untill i come home! but i did it and it felt great! and my school is behind me one hundred percent and tehy will help me out if i need it! but honestly i feel alot better knowin gi told robert i wanted nothing to do with him! and now i just have to push through these next couple months aug should go by fast becasue i have a week long vacation at the end of it.. and then i only have sept left which will prb go fast becasue me and Zoe and Becky the teo other foriegn teachers are planning girls nights! so we will be going to taipei and taichung to party it up which i am really excited about!! it will be fun!! hopefully i dont completly pass out on the bus ride home tho hahha! anyways have a good one guys and im doing ok feeling alot better like i said because hopefuly robert is out of the picture! and if he trys anything then i know i can come home! love you all

Just wanted to give a quick shout out to my grandparents I LOVE YOU LOTS AND LOTS AND THANX FOR THE SUPPORT!!! as for rubbing in the fact that your with tiarrah and i am not DONT WORRY ILL BE CALLING YOU FROM MY BEACH BUNGALOW WHILE IM SIPPING ON MARGARITAS HAHA WHAT DO YOU GOT TO SAY TO THAT??????????????????

hey everyone just wanted to say im doing good today AND I BOOKED FLIGHTS TO THE PHILIPPINES YEAH!!!!!! AND OUR HOTEL IS BOOKED AND PAID FOR yeah yeah yeah !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! love ya

eye of the tiger

so this trip has gone from extreme highs to extreme lows im hanging on and im being safe!! i love you all thank you for all your support and prayers !!! ill be home soon, when i feel like i have done and completed all i want to do!! dont worry i am being safe sorry i am not writing in this daily i just honestly have a million and one thigns going on buti love you all and ill try and make a better effort in letting you guys know whats going on!! as for my current mood i think this song dipics how im feeling!! and for all of you while you read the lyrics or possible listen to the song just invision me standing in my living room with a gimped foot hearing this song and all of a sudden having my shoulders move to the beat, then having me stand up and box to the beat right in my living room haha you laugh but I DID DO THAT !!! haha love you all




Risin' up, back on the street
Did my time, took my chances
Went the distance, now I'm back on my feet
Just a man and his will to survive

So many times, it happens too fast
You change your passion for glory
Don't lose your grip on the dreams of the past
You must fight just to keep them alive

Chorus:
It's the eye of the tiger, it's the cream of the fight
Risin' up to the challenge of our rival
And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night
And he's watchin' us all in the eye of the tiger

Face to face, out in the heat
Hangin' tough, stayin' hungry
They stack the odds 'til we take to the street
For we kill with the skill to survive

chorus

Risin' up, straight to the top
Have the guts, got the glory
Went the distance, now I'm not gonna stop
Just a man and his will to survive

chorus

The eye of the tiger (repeats out)...

i hate stupid taiwan and i want to come home !! thats all i have to say today

HEY everyone!!! its me the gimp!!! im doing alittle better today!! im getting my stiches out tomorrow so im supper scared about that the doctors here are so rough :( and you know im all a wimp!! im getting a new helmet this weekend im going for like one of those full helmets where the hard part covers your ears and and everything!! so it may be like a million degrees outside it was not fun having a smushed up fat fce!! i was and kinda still am a fat head haha!! anyways TAIWAN LAWS SUCK the whole accident was my fault in there eyes even if the guy ran a red light and i hit him its still my fault because who ever makes contact thats whos fault it is so i have to pay a pretty big fine which i am not to happy about!! on the other hand im giving my notice for the 1st of october!!! DONT WORRY its sooo good because im going to travel after that untill i run out of money im gonna be on the road going from contry to country and i am so excited about that!!! i really feel like i have found myself in taiwan who i am what i want!! and now its time to go explore and PARTY!! now i shouldnt get to reved up i still have a couple months to teach but its still exciting and while im still in taiwan im gong to be doing so much at teh end of august im going surfing!! yeah yeah white water rafting... scuba diving ahhh SO MUVH TO DO ANYWAYS love you everyone mwha

hey everyone thanx so much for the support !! i am in so much pain and i want to come home so badly but im not coming home untill i go on an indian safarie, untill i trek through the jungle in thailand on elephants... untill i walk on the great wall!! untill i scuba dive off the coast of the philippines, untll i go to cambodia, laos, vietnam and swim with the dolphins after ive done that ill be home untill then im hanging in there!!! and trying to push through the pain im feeling and just being happy that im alive!!! and hey haha its not like things could get worse riht??? anyways CARRIE CONGRATS ON THE BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i cant wait to see him im sure hes beautiful!! Giselle i hope you enjoyed your time with your grand baby!!! kim everyone thank you so much!!!and i hope all is well auntie cheryl i love you GRANDMA AND GRANDPA i miss you guys like crazy and ill see you all soon1!! and dont worry i took lots of pictures hahah jeez i get in a serious accident and i still cant help but pose for the camera hahaha love you
krystal

STUPID DRIVERS~!~~

as im sure most of you are aware of i was in a pretty bad car accidnet scooter accident whatever you want to call it!! an dim pretty banged up pretty home sick and extremly sore!! id ont think i have ever been as scared as i was waking up in an ambulance not knowing what happened and having noone speak english !! im sure all of you are wondering what ahppend!! well i was on my way home from lunch and theere was a mail man scooter driving beside me and next thing i new he was right in front of me and i tried to stop but i couldnt so i smashed rigth into the side of his scooter the next thing i new i was dreaming about coming here and having mike not come with me and packing with my auntie cheryl and then i heard a voice my own telling me i was here and to wake up .. you need to wake up now so i woke up and i was in the ambulance i tried to sit up but they didnt let me so i was saying english do you speak english and they just looked at me and started speaking chinese so in my loudest voice that i couled possible have i started saying the lords prayer you know our father who art in heaven.... theni passed out and woke up to them counting to three and lifting me onto another bed and taking me into another room to get stiched up!! i was screaming and crying and swearing alli could think was to keep saying i was from canada telling them my name and what school in taiwan i worked for etc i was so scared i dont think i have ever cried that hard in my life and i kept trying to get up tro make sure they were using clean needles AAAAHHH!! i guess before the ambluance came to the accident i used the mail mans phone to call robert my recruiter which i have no memory of and he called the school to let them know what was happeneing so bonny wendy and sharrno came to the hospital i got stiches right below my eyebrow on my right side i thought they stiched up my foot but no !! i have a big hole in my foot tho its about the size of a dime and is really deep and all they did was shuve gause in it so that was extremly fun taking that out and cleaning my foot the next day my legs are covered in bruises the only thing i can think of that happened was i smacked my head on the cemeent on my right side and rolled adn thats how i got all the scratches etc!! im really homesick adn i dont know what i am going to do i came here to have the experience of a life time not to get in a serious accident and to be injured THANK GOD IM ALIVE THO AND SAFW AND I CAN WALK!!!!! i dont know wha ti am doing but i am sooooo ahppy i am alive and im walking and talking thank you god and i love you all thank you for your prayers!!! im goig to lay down now!!!

hello

Hey everyone sorry i have not written in a while i have been soooooooo busy!! we had our graduation on the weekend and that was really fun i got to leave early hahah so i didnt hve to help clean up, after that we met up with about 10 other foriengers from south africa and canada which was really nice so we went to chiayie and hung out at a pub and got really drunk haha it was fun!! and then on sunday i hung out with becky and zoe and we went to taichung because theres a subway there!! THATS RIGHT A SUBWAY!!! HAHA mmm it was soo good and we stopped at the jade market it was really cool!! anyways other then that we went to the mall and it had 10 floors which was cool and weird because it will be like an open food court and then like a bunch of racks of bras and panties right in the food court hahah kinda weird!! anyways just wanted to catch up on how everyone was doing and sto see if carrie had her baby yet and if so what was it and whats the name??????? and to say hi to everyone else LOVE YOU LOTS MWHA

got stung in the boob twice

ok so as if mondays dont suck enough lol!! i got stung in the boob twice on the way home for lunch... soo im driving along and something hits me in the chest no big deal it happens all the time only this time i feel it go down my shirt and sting me OUCH... i move my shirt and my body around and oooh look it went into MY BRA and stung me on the side of my boob SOO I pulled over and opened up my shirt and out flys this bee:( it hurt soo bad and now my left boob is alittle swollen which i dont mind heheheheh anways thats all thats new with me love ya p.s protect those boobs!!