New Year #2

Just in case you did not keep your new year's resolution in Taiwan the first time, you receive a second chance with Chinese New Year New! I personally made a resolution today to post a quick blog.  We have been busy so far during 2014.  We have started the process of applying for Universities and scholarships in Taiwan for Fall 2014.  I think someone in this department tried to find every way possible to make this a complicated and difficult process, most especially if you already live in Taiwan.  We will not know admission and scholarships results until May so don't expect to hear about that for quite some time.

2014 in Taiwan has been lovely!  The weather has been sunshiney and nice temps.  We have not taken any trips since we knew Chinese New Year was around the corner.  This is the biggest holiday in Taiwan.  We have four days off from teaching!  Also, both of our schools have had very nice Chinese New Year parties for the teachers (just like a company Christmas party in the US.  Kind of...).

The past two days have been quiet in Hsinchu to welcome the new year.  Many of the shops and restaurants are closed.  However, we have enjoyed the first couple of days thus far.  Everyone is always lighting fireworks during the new year celebrations.  It seriously sounds like we live in a war zone!  My friend from Atlanta, Michelle, arrives tonight (and she escapes the horrid ice storm).  That is when the real Chinese New Year vacation will begin for us!

I am going to do a "picture dump" of our adventures over the last few weeks!  Unfortunately, I did not get any pictures of one very special event for me.  My Taiwanese mother taught me how to make hand made dumplings at her home.  They were so delicious that James and I ate them too fast to take any pictures :)

We went back to Nanzhuang to complete the hike in terrain comparable to the Colorado Rockies.  It was incredible!

Bet you can't spot me in the woods with those camouflage clothes on.  

Amazing views from the top.  It was a 2.5 hour climb!

New friends at the top. The man with the dog actually had a special strap for the dog for the scramble sections where you had to climb with your hands and legs.  He strapped the dog around his neck.  I think that dog was a lot more scared than I was on those sections!

A new dog friend on another trail named PB.  

We FINALLY went to the coast in Hsinchu City to see the sunset.  We run along the bike path weekly but we are always busy at sunset time.  It was gorgeous on this clear day. You can even see the mountains from the coast.  

I've got the whole sun in my hand!

So many new dog friends!  We give the stray dogs that befriend us names.  This one hangs out at the coast where we park the scooter to go run.  We named him " wo chee" or "I eat." 

Happy Chinese New Year everyone!  This is the year of the horse.  Sounds good to the horse lover within me.    

We hope everyone is safe and warm after the ice storm in Atlanta!  

New Year's Friends

Xinnian kuaile!  Happy New Year!  

I had two friends come visit for a few days - Ross and Nathan.  Ross lives in Atlanta, GA and Nathan lives in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  Both were coming from the US as Nathan was back home visiting family over Christmas.  So they both got to experience some good jet lag upon arrival!  Unfortunately Rachel could not join for our adventures as she was not able to get the time off of work.    

They arrived on New Years Eve and we spent the evening in Taipei.  The main attraction in Taipei is the fireworks at the Taipei 101 building.  (It was the tallest building in the world up until 2010).  There was a very large crowd in attendance for the concerts / fireworks - est. 1 million people - but it was eerily quiet for the festivities.  Everyone was sitting patiently, calmly, and orderly in the streets awaiting the fireworks.  There was very little cheering during the countdown or during the fireworks, and once it was over, everyone very orderly got up and walked to / lined up at the nearest MRT (subway) entrances.  It was...interesting.  But I am glad we were able to experience it.     

On New Years Day we rented a car and headed down the east coast to Taroko Gorge.  This is one of the main attractions in Taiwan and supposedly one of the most beautiful places to visit on the island.  Now after being there, I agree.  It was pretty darn nice.  And we had great weather!  

on the E. coast, just before the entrance to Taroko National Park

We arrived to our hotel in the gorge around 4:00pm.  Driving in to the gorge was incredible.  High marble walls with huge drops to the river below.  And the road kept switching from two lanes to one, so you really had to keep an eye on what was coming from up ahead (lots of tour buses that barely can fit down the road).  It was starting to get dark so we grabbed dinner and made it an early night.

We had a tour guide planned for the next morning so we were up early and headed out to meet the guide.  Everything we had seen on the way in looked different as the sun was now shining from the other side.

our guide giving us the skinny

safety is our first concern!  notice the 2 bridges in the background? 

we were looking up at the hike we would be doing the next day.  

pretty sweet triple water fall in the background

we had crossed many suspension bridges

The next day (after our tour) we were up early again to tackle the Zhuilu Historic Trail in Taroko Gorge.  We had to apply for the hiking permit 3 weeks in advance as it is a very popular trail but they only allow a small number of people to hike it each day.  It is supposedly the best day hike in Taiwan and I now see why.  Just don't attempt the hike if you have a serious fear of heights.

the size of the boulders was incredible.  many were larger than houses

only way was through...then up and up we went 

once out of the woods the views were great.  we really lucked out with the weather!  

as you see, there is no safety rail or anything.  it was a 1000 ft. drop over the edge.  

yep, no safety rails.

looking over the edge (still no safety railings).  see the river and the road below? 

We completed the trail in about 5 hours than grabbed lunch and hit the road.  We decided to head further in to the mountains as to drive completely across the island.  There was a nice pull-off place with a short hike to a high point once in the middle of the island.  We are at approx 3200 meters (10,500 ft) in this picture

the west end of the national park.  now a long drive back down to sea level

We had read about a nice hot spring resort that was not far from Hsinchu so we decided to push on and drive there for the evening.  It was quite a looong drive and we were pretty beat from the early morning hike, but it was worth the trip.  We arrived and the hotel / b&b owner prepared us a feast of food that we thoroughly enjoyed.  An evening soak in the hot springs and we were all quick to bed.  The next morning we were up for an early morning run then another feast prepared by the hotel owner.

It was now Saturday morning and we drove to Hsinchu to grab Rachel and head back to Taipei for the day / evening.  Rachel was glad to join at least a little part of our trip ;-)  We returned the rental car (oh - it was GREAT driving a car again.  I didn't realize how much I missed driving.  Or maybe it was having a fully enclosed, climate controlled environment while going down the road?) and dropped our bags at the hotel.  We set out to climb Elephant Mtn and get the view of Taipei 101 from the south side.  

clouds rolled in so the visibility wasn't as good

We finished the evening at the Shilin Night Market where Ross drew a crowd winning all the carnival games and we walked through all the different shops.  Ross and Nathan left for the airport the next morning and Rachel and I went back to Hsinchu.  It was a great trip and I was very glad to hang out with my friends from back home.  

Taiwanese Style Christmas

There's no place like home for the holidays! Looking back on it now, I feel as though the Christmas season was more eventful than I give it credit for.  Christmas Day itself was just rather uneventful.

The Christmas season started by teaching my students Christmas songs.  They had to sing the songs with motions.  The songs were recorded for each class and posted to facebook.  The classes with the most "likes" would be the winners and receive a prize.  I decided to teach all of my classes the classic "Jingle Bells, Batman Smells."  It was not as big of a hit as I hoped among the students.  However, because of my facebook friends votes on my school's facebook page, three of my classes won prizes!  Thanks for the votes!

I really miss Buckhead Church.  In fact, I have been downloading the podcasts for each sermon.  I should let Andy know that from 8,000 miles away, I have not missed a single sermon over the past 7 months! Both the Christmas concert and Christmas service were broadcasted live.  Well, I could not miss those either!  We connected the computer to the TV and watched these on the big screen.   

The Buckhead Church Christmas Concert and our snowman Christmas decoration

My school uses a full school day to celebrate Christmas.  Each of the four English teachers is required to teach and play a Christmas game for 15 minutes in the classroom.  Throughout the day 15 classes come to your class. The other teachers told me how exhausting the day can be especially since you have students of all ages that you don't even know their names come to your classroom.  I wisely decided to pick a low key game.  I played "Santa Slap."  I created cards with Christmas pictures (i.e. Santa, a Christmas tree, an elf).  Then, the students sat in circles on the floor and played the classic card game of "Slap."  Although I did not win the "most fun classroom award," the students seemed to enjoy the game and most importantly the teacher was able to stay happy and energetic throughout the long day!

One of my favorite classes for the Christmas party day at school

James' school did not do the huge production for Christmas like my school.  However, they did a few activities for Christmas Eve.  His students are super cute like him!

An American couple at our church in their 60's are missionaries in Taiwan.  They work a lot with college students in Hsinchu. Every Sunday evening they hold a Bible study at their apartment.  They also hold an annual Christmas party.  James and I attended the party.  The party included people from around the world including America, South Africa, Iran, Nicaragua, France, Vietnam, Thailand, and Czechoslovakia. We sang Christmas carols in other languages. James and I kept singing the Nicaraguan song "Elu agago" long after the party ended.  You can watch the song here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY-kfDH9ros . We lit candles and sang "Silent Night."  The most moving part of the evening was the reading of the Christmas story from the Bible.  Each person read a few lines from a Bible in their native language.  How crazy is it that we were all brought together to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas in a small apartment in Taiwan?  It will give you goosebumps if you really think about it!  We also enjoyed a Christmas gift exchange.  Each person was asked to bring a "very" Taiwanese gift.  James and I brought Hello Kitty and the big yellow Luck Duck items. We received a box of famous Taiwanese pineapple cakes (these were really a present for James in the end) and a house decoration with Psalm 121:1-3 written in Chinese. 

The fun continued with a candlelit Christmas Eve service at our church.  Since we work later hours than the average population, the service started at the same time I was finishing class (with cancelling my one hour private class) and 30 minutes after James' classes ended.  I took a taxi to the church right after class!  It was quite the adventure.  James made it to the service about 45 minutes late.  It was well worth the effort though!

That's me in the back row with the purple coat.  

The church gospel choir even came to the service!

The weather has been downright cold here for the past couple of weeks.  The cold is much different than anything James and I have experienced though.  Because of the extreme humidity conditions, the cold gets deep into your bones.  The temperatures are not low but it does not matter for this wet, sunless cold!  Bleh! This is humidity to a new level.  Our towels will not dry in the apartment and the floor is slick in my classroom. Of course, riding the scooter does not help matters. In addition, no place has heat here.  Our schools are freezing (I teach in a coat now), our apartment is cold and damp (thank goodness for the nice couple at our church that lent us a space heater), and even restaurants and stores are cold.  There is no relief from this cold! 

All of this being said, we needed a change for our daily lifestyle to attempt to stay warm. We were overwhelmed with Christmas love from home to help us make that change.  James' mom sent us warm winter hats, my parents sent a package that included scarfs and sweatpants among other items, plus my parents and all of my grandparents gave us some money to use wisely.  Well, we did use it wisely!  We now own slippers and sweatshirts for the apartment.  It was so difficult to find a thick warm sweatshirt here and we don't know why.  I have boots and tights to wear at school.  But, the best purchase of all was a microwave!  We could not longer eat cold salads for dinner.  They had become unappetizing even for the veggie loving Rockwells.  James is a cooking machine with the microwave. 

James can make anything in the microwave.  He is a cooking genius!

We were overwhelmed with Christmas love from home in other ways, too.  Thanks for all the Christmas cards!!!!

Here are some Taiwanese Christmas cards. One of my students gave me the card with Santa hanging out in the tub with the Luck Ducks.  James' favorite students gave him the card with Santa paragliding with a rainbows.  It reads " I love you Teacher James.  Merry Christmas." Awww....So sweet!

Although the cold and rain is not fun, we are getting some cool views of the mountains from our apartment rooftop. 

These slippers were awesome but I went for the more practical ones instead. 

We were one of the only cram schools to receive Christmas Day off from school.  The weather was cold and rainy so we spent most of the day running errands and skyping with family.  However, we enjoyed a special Christmas dinner with a friend from New Zealand.  He took us to a wood-fired pizza restaurant on the coast.  They serve a vegan pizza. The pizza was delicious and a good change from the Taiwanese style food we eat daily.  However, the best part was sitting by the wood burning stove.  We were peeling off layers they entire meal!  The warmth felt incredible!

The cold weather really puts a damper on our weekend scooter adventures into the mountains.  However, we decided to try one anyway.  We drove to a hopping mountain town called Nanzhuang.  After stopping in town at the visitor's center, we continued into the mountains in search of hike we had read about in Lonely Planet.  The hike was a bit further out than expected and the weather began to turn extremely cloudy and much cooler.  The trail seemed awesome though!  We felt like we had been transported to Colorado.  We will definitely be going back to do the full hike on a warmer day.

We were absolutely FREEZING on the ride back into Nanzhuang.  We enjoyed a billion free samples of the local Hakka food and an outdoor show.  Thankfully we found a vegan restaurant (somehow we always do in Taiwan).  James ordered us boiled vegetables and hot noodle soup in Chinese!!!!!!!  His lessons are paying off.  We can also both count in Chinese now.  Wow!!!!!!

We are so cold!!!!!!!!!

Here are a few pictures from the Cirque de Solis that we did not realize were on the camera from the last blog:

Happy 2014 to all!!!!  James is with his college buddies who came to visit from America (so he will be writing the next blog about their trip).  The new year brought some incredible weather today (a sunny warm San Diego style day...what a relief from the wet cold) so 2014 has had a great start.  I apologize if there are more typos than normal in this blog since my editor is not here to proofread :)