Dark and Moody Full Moon Forest 滿月圓

I came to Sanxia in back in October with Peter, who is one of the workers from my company I was working at. He works for the HR department. He is a translator and helps new teachers find an apartment, which he did for me! Peter wanted to take me and a few of the other teachers to this place near Sanxia for a while, but our work schedules conflicted. If I told him I wouldn't be able to make it that morning, I would regret it. This place blew my mind.

We drove about 30 minutes from Sanxia District, which is south of New Taipei City. Taipei’s air can get cloudy and muggy at times since the city is surrounded by mountains. The air feels trapped making it seem very polluted at times. So it was so refreshing to be out of the city and breath the clean air.

So much green!

An old cabin being restored

My soul needed to come here. We went here back in October 2018. This was a month and a half of living in Taiwan. I was having difficulty with my new life.

I was spending a lot of time at work. I became frustrated with my new lifestyle. Since I didn’t have a car, I was sometimes impatient with the bus. I would constantly compare my life in Taiwan to my life in America.

I would cancel plans with friends because I wanted to sleep. On Friday, I would be so exhausted that I would go to bed at 8:30 after dinner. I also felt that I needed to do well in my new job. I was having a difficult time adjusting to the work culture and my new way of living.

So many waterfalls in one place

Going to Sanxia that weekend, was the first weekend I did not think or stress about work. I was present at the moment absorbing all the lush greens.

After that weekend, I made traveling around Taiwan a priority. Work became easier. I became less stressed. My new life in Taiwan started to fall into place.