The blog of randomness

Everything in Taiwan seems very random to James and I, so I am dedicating my blog of randomness to Taiwan.  These are a few things I've been meaning to post but have not had the chance, so here it goes!

• One of our friends here took us to the Costco since she is a member. It's exactly like a Costco in America with some Asian products thrown in the mix.  We were excited to see the place.  Guess what we found?  Coach's Oats!  For those of you who don't know, James and I were pretty obsessed with Coach's Oats for a while.  We used to mail order them from California since they were not sold anywhere in Atlanta.  Unfortunately, we decided not to buy them since we don't have a microwave or hot plate to cook them with. 
  
• My most advanced students were learning, "What have you done?" I had them ask each other and write the answers.  One of the very artistic students in my class drew the picture.  I love it!  I don't wear large bows to school though...I promise.  As a side note, the question, "What have you done?" was on the Final Exam.  One of my students wrote, "I done did my homework." I wanted to count it right just from the fact it gave me a good laugh while grading, but I done didn't do that!
  
• Our Taiwanese mother gave us this grapefruit pictured below. One of her friends grew it organically in their yard.  This is seriously the biggest grapefruit in the world!  That's James' iPhone in the picture.  Wow!
  
• My manager bought me chair to use at my work space since somehow my other one broke.  Do you think she knows I love green?
  
• Here's a picture one of the other teachers at my school posted on facebook of the Halloween decorations at our school.  The TA's made all of the decorations!  They are so talented.  On Halloween Day, I will be playing "pin the nose on the Jack-O-Lantern" with my students. 
  
  
  
  
• James' amazing sister (along with his sweet mom) sent us a package containing a bunch of ENGLISH DVDs and newspapers!  These should keep us entertained during typhoons :) Ohh...the cat picture was drawn by Tony, Rebecca's husband.  Apparently their nice kittie turned G.I.Joe style while we have been away. Our landlord must think we are some special people with all these packages and gifts from our Taiwanese mother!  
  
• Speaking of packages, we completely forgot to write about a wonderful package James received for his birthday.  His best friends, Ross and Katie, in Atlanta sent him a HUGE amount of homemade cookies!!!!  I suppose James ate them all too fast for us to take a picture or remember to write about them in the blog :)  James was one happy 32 year old when those arrived!

• We had our second friend coming through Taiwan from home that we were able to spend time with.  The younger brother of one of my best friends since middle school, Haley, has been teaching English in South Korea over the past three years.  He is taking an eastern hemisphere tour before heading home for good (thanks for the good idea on what we should do at the end of our journey Davey!).  He spent a few days in Taipei.  James and I enjoyed a tasty dinner with him in Hsinchu. It was really special to spend time with someone from home :) Unfortunately, we forgot to grab a photo to have proof!
• We met a fellow athletic friend soon after arriving to Taiwan.  She is a "real" teacher at an international school, so the lucky girl gets to head home to America for two months during the summer.  When she returned to Taiwan in September, she showed a lot of interest in getting together with me.  It turns out that not only do I enjoy her company (and we have a lot in common) but that James and I really enjoy spending time with her and her boyfriend.  I think they have been looking for a fellow Christian couple like us.  We are officially starting a "small group" with them on Sunday evenings!  They have already picked out the first book to study. James and I have also attended the original church we went to upon arriving in Taiwan (and that this couple attends) because now they have a 1:30 pm service that works nicely into weekend schedule most of the time.  The service is small and intimate.  We broke into groups to discuss questions from the sermon last week.  It amazes me how every once in a while God gives us an "easy" pass in life.   
• James got a little crazy buying things at the RT Mart.  This picture looks like its from one of those funny emails.  I am glad I was not there to ride the scooter home with him!  There's no more room. 
  
• To end the blog of randomness, I will post something not so random.  We went hiking to today in a new area with some new friends.  We were in Taoyuan County which is northeast of Hsinchu.  We enjoyed a long hike (6 hours) on a beautiful autumn day.  Speaking of autumn, it went from boiling hot to cool here overnight.  We are embarrassed to say we got quite chilled on the scooter ride home from the hike today in our shorts and jackets.  A thermometer on the way home read 21 degrees Celsius which is 70 degrees Fahrenheit.  I suppose it's time to go buy some sweatpants!
  
  That is a seriously large slug!
  
  
  
  Lots of ropes for climbing up and down on the trail. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Getting our weekly dose of the Taiwanese mountains!