Busy

I'm into the third week of the Master's program. Really busy. Lot's of reading, message boarding, journal writing and projects. It's going fine though, just taking up most of my off time.

Last Sunday we did leave the house around 5 am and went stone hunting for a half a day. Nice. I brought the computer and books and got some studying in too. Not only that, we found, or Annie found around 90 stones with the metal in it. That's what we're looking for. About 17 of those were the size of a half-dollar or New Taiwan $10 coin. Nice. I found two. My eyes really haven't tuned into what to look for. Her's have.

I'm still not sure what the metal is in these stones or even know what type of stones they are. Some of the stones in the river also contain iron. Little nodules of iron are rusting through the stone. I'm told the shiny metal could be zinc or bronze.

More research is needed.

Polishing the Stones and Disaster...

Last Sunday we went to James' factory and worked at polishing the stones that we found during our two outings of rock hunting. The stones need to be polished to bring out the Taiwan jade and the metal. I'm not sure what the metal is but it could be zinc or brass.

After polishing we drill a hole in the stone so it can be worn around your neck.

There is one more step. We need to heat and wax the stone. This is where I made my big mistake. I heated the stone for too long. I put it in the oven for 15 minute and the Taiwan jade turned brown. the metal also dulled. I''m bummed. The stone you see sitting on the cardboard is so much more beautiful now than after I stuck it in the oven.

Apparently, I misunderstood and should have only put it in the oven for a few minutes. We'll polish it again this week and see what happens. Bummer.

Back to Bloggin

Well I miss blogging so after a break here I go again.

On April 5 we went rock hunting with some friends. It was a great way to spend the day. I really mean the day. We left our house at 5:30 AM and returned at 8:30 PM. Whew, and the only nap was in the van.

I only found one decent stone. Just getting an eye for it. However, the time slipped dreamily away. It was so peaceful to hear the river all day long.

By the way, the photo of the bridge shows women doing laundry the "old way" in the background, not rock hunting.

Vacation to Taroko National Park

This is Taroko Gorge National Park. What a place. We went there as part of our winter break \ Lunar New Year trip. Good fun!

Rain wasn't too bad especially if you're equiped with a plastic baggie rain coat (it came with the scooter). The flip flops or slippers weren't a probelem up to this point. I changed here because of the cold.

We took a scooter ride to Taroko Gorge National Park. It was really awesome to be on the scooter. Almost like riding on a "real" motorcycle. We rented the scooters so they were new and in good shape. Taroko is one of the most beautiful places in the world.

This shine was built to honor those who died building the road. I think there were 80 or so who died.This is one of the higher cliffs in Taroko.