好久不見! Long time no see!

I apologize to our loyal followers for this long period of time with no new updates!  Fortunately, most of you our on facebook, so you've seen James' albums of our most recent adventures.

No need to chit-chat!  We'll begin where we left off, life after Hong Kong.

Needless to say, the semester started off busy and non-stop.  Through sorting out Visa issues, studying, sore brains, and substitute teaching, we were finding ourselves rarely enjoying the beauty of Taiwan since the semester started.  Well, Mr. Fun decided to put an end to that.  He took advantage of the time right after midterms where you can catch a breath of fresh air and planned a hiking trip!

James planned a backpacking trip to do the Wuling Four Shows.  It's four mountain peaks that can be reached through a three day/two night hiking loop with cabins along the way.

The beginning of the hike was a bit rough, as I was no longer used to hiking with a big bag on my back. Well, except the days on campus where I needed a lot of books!  But anyway, we pressed on.  Throughout the three day hike, we were able to hit all four peaks! For two of the peaks, we had awesome clear, views!

The cabins were nice.  However, the temperature dramatically dropped around 4:30 pm each afternoon. We would go from hiking in shorts and T-shirts, to putting on all the clothes we brought and sitting in our sleeping bags (studying Chinese and Accounting).  In the mornings, we got to experience the crunching of ice under our feet!  It's been a while since we've seen ice!

First peak, but not such a great view

Freezing and studying in sleeping bags after dark

Cold, icy mornings

Perfect weather and views during the second day!

Final peak and a coconut water to celebrate!

Every semester our class takes a "Knowing Taiwan" trip.  In early December, we went to Wulai.  James and I went there last summer.  Since it was a bit cooler this time, we got to enjoy the famous outdoor hot springs.  We also discovered a fun ropes course at an amusement park area later in the day.  

Wulai Ropes Course with classmates

NCTU GMBA Crew

The most popular hike in Taiwan is the hike to highest mountain, Yushan (Jade Mountain), standing at 3,952 meters.  The problem is with it's popularity, it's near impossible to receive hiking permits for the trail and cabin.  However, Mr. In-the-know found out that if foreigners apply for the permit 35 days in advance for weekdays, they are guaranteed permits!  So, we invited our hiking buddies along with a few other students from our school to join the trip.  Well, James was right and we received our permits! We didn't need to skip classed but a couple of friends did...

Unfortunately, the day before leaving for the trip, we received an email from the National Park that the trail to the main peak had been closed due to a landslide.  EEK! There are several peaks within hiking distance of the cabin that were in safe condition, so we decided to carry-on with the adventure.  This time, I was more prepared for the cold.  I brought several of the hot hand warmers and stuck them in my socks, gloves, pockets, etc.  I think I had about five warmers in my sleeping bag that night.  Those things really work!!!!!

Our group included people from America, Honduras, Sweden and Austria!!

Sea of Clouds on the hike up to the cabin

Sunset from the cabin

Enjoying a round of the game Dominion in the cabin after dinner.  No studying this time!

Cold morning hike to the Yushan South Peak 

Yushan South Peak - We were freezing!  We did not take the time to enjoy a coconut water to celebrate this time!

Good views and good weather for the descent

Happy to finish the trail!

Christmas and New Year's Eve were nice.  We enjoyed Skype calls and lovely packages from family on Christmas before our 9 am class, as well as a nice dinner gathering at our Pastor's home.  For New Year's Eve, the weather was nice, so we hopped on a VERY crowded train after class to Taipei.  We enjoyed welcoming in the new year with the fireworks show at Taipei 101!!!!

An awkward Santa at our school library...weird.

Taipei 101 on New Year's Eve (The pictures online are much better than our pictures)

We joined some running buddies for a race in early January in Puli.  James did the marathon distance and I did the 9 Km (5.6 miles).  We both did well and enjoyed the quite warm winter weather in the central part of the island. Please note, there was some confusion before with this picture, I did not run in jeans.  I changed out of my sweaty clothes after the race into jeans!

Last but not least for our adventures was our celebration trip the day after finals ended!  Mr. Find-all-cool-hikes discovered a hike along the south east coast of Taiwan.  A shipwreck was still on the rocky coastline. The ship wrecked in September but the boat remains.  It was a windy, rocky, long walk along the coast with a few friends.  Well worth the unique experience, but I never want to walk that stretch of coast again! 

So random!

Now, we are enjoying our five week break between semesters which includes Chinese New Year.  My brain needs a big rest! We are currently working internships (required for our program) during the first two weeks, then substitute teaching at English schools for the next two weeks, then doing something to enjoy the Chinese New Year holiday (TBD) AND studying Chinese everyday to prepare for next semester (sigh...such a difficult language).  

The internship is with the global branch of the chain of English schools we worked at last year.  I am working with the Marketing Manager to assist in launching a new website and creating a commercial for the school (so neat!).  James is working with the Business Director (who of course is from Michigan) on the regulations required to open a Study English Abroad school in New York City (so boring...sorry James). 

Our first semester was good.  It's interesting going to school with such a diverse group of students from around the world!  Most of the time it's neat, but it can be frustrating when working together on group projects.  Just another lesson in patience. James and I were always the official proofreaders for our groups since we are the only two native English speakers in our program.  I find it quite impressive English is everyone else's second (or third and sometimes fourth) language! We both worked very hard this past semester and spent a great deal of time in the library. We thank God sooo much that our hard work is reflected in our grades.  

Sorry about the novel!  I'll try to be a bit better about posting next semester, but no promises.  It may be until the summer after our second semester until I find the chance to write another blog!  

We miss y'all!!! Thank you for everyone's love, prayers and continuous support for our crazy adventure abroad.  One down and three more semesters to go!

We Love HK!

The life of a student is no-doubt a busy one.  We've been adjusting to the change of pace while studying hard, making new friends and substitute teaching.  Also, did I mention before that James is the Vice President of our GMBA board?  He's a high achiever!  

Unfortunately or perhaps fortunately, we were forced to take an unexpected "vacation."  It's a long story but I will try to give a brief explanation.  We have been living in Taiwan with a work sponsored visa.  We thought we would be able to switch our work visa to a student visa when school started.  However, due to the rules, we were required to leave the country and apply for a resident visa to be switched to a student visa at a Taiwan Embassy.  The closest Taiwan embassy to Taiwan is located in Hong Kong.  Well, we quickly planned a trip, bought plane tickets, and headed to Hong Kong last weekend. 

We had heard mixed reviews about Hong Kong from friends.  Most westerners enjoy Hong Kong for the shopping.  They carry western brands and sell clothes that actually fit the western body shape (unlike Taiwan).  However, we aren't big shoppers and we just completed a shopping spree in the USA.  Despite the mixed reviews, travel agent James did some research and planned a fabulous trip for us in Hong Kong! 

We finally rode the High Speed Rail (HSR) in Taiwan.  We took the cheapest route to the airport which included an 11 minute ride on the HSR as well as a few buses. It was speedy!

The sign say "Taiwan High Speed Rail" and James is happy to have a 7 Eleven coffee in his hand!

It looks like a bullet!

This was our first time in the domestic terminal in Taiwan airport.  There is a gym!

There is also a library.  I don't know if you can check out the book but you can read them while you wait at the airport. 

The books are organized by language.  I looked at a "Harry Potter" book for a few minutes. 

After arriving in Hong Kong, we took a bus to get to our "apartment" for the weekend.  We hopped off the bus at Times Square.  It was exactly like New York City except a lot of the signs were in Chinese!

The next morning after dealing with our visa stuff, we went to Hong Kong Park.  I am hiding in the fountain!

From Hong Kong Park, we hiked up to "The Peak."  At the top there was a mall and some great views.  I can't imagine who thought it was a good idea to put a mall on the peak of a mountain but it worked out well in Hong Kong. 

We enjoyed the rest of Hong Kong Park on our way back to the Taiwan Embassy to pick up our new visa (which thankfully went smoothly).  Hong Kong Park had a large aviary among some other neat things.  

Hungry Bird

The Taiwan Embassy was in one of the matching towers. 

The sign reads "James Fish" so a picture was a necessity!

We enjoyed the Hong Kong light-show that evening.  We took a ferry to another island.  From the viewing spot, the light-show played music.  Participating skyscrapers would light up in sync with the music.  It was quite the impressive skyline especially with the reflections on the water!

The next day, Saturday, we hiked the Dragon Back's Trail.  It is a part of the Hong Kong Trail system which includes over 50 km (31 miles) of trail!  The views of the ocean, mountains and city were quite breathtaking!  James would have loved to play the golf course in the picture :-) 

The portion of the trail we completed ended at this beach with turquoise, clear water!  It was a fantastic way to end a hike.  We came prepared with our swimsuits.  Surprisingly, the beach was not crowded.  

On Sunday, we did the Mclaehose trail. We hiked 25 km (15 miles) of the trail!  The whole trail system includes 100 km (62 miles) of trails.  Hong Kong is truly a trail runners' and hikers' paradise.  All of the trails are VERY easily accessible by public transportation.  Also, the majority of people speak English in Hong Kong.  In fact, most of the time we were in Hong Kong, we forgot we were in China.  We were always surrounded by a variety of nationalities and heard many different languages.  It reminded me of being at Disney World :) And the picture above...for some reason the trail had cows on it. 

James and I are always making new friends!  This couple is training for a race in November which includes the full 100k of trails.  Eek!  

The views of the beaches on the hike never got old.  In fact, each beach looked more beautiful than the one before.  We felt like we were in the Caribbean or Hawaii.  Once again, none of the beaches were crowded in this city of 7 million people.  It's a mystery to us!  Our only theory is that there are so many beaches to choose from that everyone is well-spread out.  In fact only 7% of Hong Kong is urbanized.  The urbanized areas are some of the most densely populated spots in the world.  You would believe it if you ever travel to Hong Kong!!

The trail was LONG and SUNNY and HOT!  It was an intense day of hiking but enjoyable in the end.  The trail took us over 8 hours to hike.  I think we each put on about 10 layers of sunscreen and drank 4 liters of water.  

On our last morning in Hong Kong, we awoke for a quick jog to stretch our tired legs before our flight.  We were surprised to find the protesters had expanded to the Causeway Bay area (where we were staying).  The night before we heard one of the tear gas bomb explosions.  It was quite scary.  The explosion was followed by several fire trucks and sirens.  We quickly left the streets and went to our apartment in hopes of finding safety!  If you haven't seen the news about the protests, just go to the CNN website and it will be the headlines.  Praise God we went to Hong Kong the first weekend possible or else the protests would have prevented us from getting our visa.  The public transportation to the Taiwan Embassy building was closed starting on the Sunday we were in Hong Kong since the building was surrounded by protesters. Since leaving Hong Kong, we have been keeping up with news and we are concerned about the current situation.    

Many of the city parks had special areas for the dogs to use the bathroom.  So odd!

It's like the Incline Railway in Chattanooga but in Hong Kong!

An umbrella vending machine.  James is holding his invisible umbrella. 

So...the place we stayed.  James used an online room rental service called "AirBnB" which a few friends had recommended.  He found a place close to the Taiwan Embassy for a good price.  This place was seriously the size of most peoples' closets or bathrooms!  Literally, only one person could stand up at a time.  Wow!  That's city living!  We also found the food to be quite expensive (San Francisco prices).  The first grocery store we found, we loaded up on oatmeal, bananas, apples, peanut butter crackers, soy milk, ramen noodles and frozen vegetables.  That's all we ate for the rest of the trip.  I haven't been able to even look at ramen noodles since then...

The sink was literally in the shower!

I can't believe this place managed to squeeze a kitchenette in this room.  It served us well! 

Good-bye Hong Kong!  We hope to see you again! Our review of Hong Kong - INCREDIBLE!!!!!

Same City, New Life

First of all and most importantly, our visit to the good ole' USA was amazing!  It was wonderful to see everyone and complete our Tour De Babies.  Also, thanks to all of our dedicated fans!  Because of y'all, I promise to keep up the blog going even with school work.  However, I am going to try out a new style - more pictures and less words - to reduce the amount of time it takes to write each blog.

Our return to trip to Taiwan was thankfully uneventful.  Upon returning and readjusting to the time zone, we were able to set up our apartment, attend two campus orientations, cover teach and even squeeze in one Hsinchu County hike.

James running a race in America.  Yes, his shirt has cookie monster on it.  And yes, he was a cookie monster with Gammy's cookies on his birthday!

As with everything in Taiwan, it takes at least two tries to get things right.  You may remember how disappointed James was when we first arrived to not have someone holding up a sign with his name on it at the airport.  However, now our second time landing in Taiwan, things worked out in our favor.  Here's our taxi driver with a sign reading "Mr. James Rockwell." 

We are ready for action at the International Student Orientation!  The Global MBA (held a couple of days after the International Student Orientation) was exciting and scary together (as James' old student would say "good and bad together").  It's going to be a tough but exciting two years!

The day after I paid my college gym membership fee, I was in this Olympic sized pool swimming laps.  I had to wear a lot of sunscreen though! I'm going to have the tannest back at NCTU.  

We were greeted at the Student Activities Fair with this friend!  If I join the horse club, then James is going to join the archery club.  Well...we will join the clubs if we have any free time between studies, cover teaching and hiking. 

We also got to watch the cheerleaders perform! For those that know my friend Katy Vining, I texted her this picture immediately!

Now for the moment you've all been waiting for, our new apartment! It's a great little place.  We are about a 10 minute drive from campus and a 10 minute drive from downtown Hsinchu,  We aren't near any major roads so it's always quiet.  In addition, we have been enjoying the running routes on the "country" roads. 

The view outside of our residential area's gate. 

Our apartment building.  It's a two year old building and still feels very clean and new!  There is also a parking deck underneath the building.  We have our own car parking space which our scooters fit nicely in. 

Our studio apartment "bedroom" and desk. Please note the "new" sheets that our friend gave us (along with quite a few other things) before she moved back to GB.  Also, please note the little yellow rubber ducky in every picture.  That was James' idea.  The duck was a good-bye present from one of his students.  Where's Waldo and the Luck Duck? 

The nicest TV that we've ever had!  We think it's brand new as well as the mattress, refrigerator and washing machine. 

This sofa is VERY comfortable!  A bit too comfortable when you are recovering from jet lag...

The bathroom (obviously)

The rain shower head

Finally we have a kitchen and a washing machine! This place is perfect for us!

Do you want to see something really cute?!

Here's a picture of James' kindergarten class that he substitute taught for the week before we traveled to America.  They are just too cute!

I already miss everyone!  We will try to post another blog soon about the beginning of 17th grade :)