Colors of Taiwan

One day last week the rose that Justin planted bloomed! It is such a cute little thing that I wanted to take a picture of it. This time of year the weather has started to cool off slightly so it is a little more desirable to go outside during the day for a walk. After taking pictures of the yellow rose (and the two pepper plants and three cabbage plants). I looked around and decided I would take some pictures of the other blooming flowers around our neighborhood. There were so many colors and shapes I decided to walk around for about 15 minutes or so. This is just the flowers that are closest to our house. The ones we see everyday. I hope you enjoy the wonderful colors.

View down the sidewalk that leads to our house.

View Down the street that leads to the school.

Moon Festival BBQ Saturday Night

     

     On Saturday we were invited to go to a BBQ for the moon festival. In Taiwan it is there custom to have a BBQ for the Moon Festival every year. Family's will gather to spend they day eating, visiting and then shoot fireworks in the evening. So we went to the city of Guoxing to the mountains to spend the day with a family there. We had a great time playing with the kids and visiting with the adults. Almost all of the adults could speak a little English and they were very willing to help us with our Chinese. The Grandparents that own the farm grow coffee, lemons and vegetables. They made us fresh coffee and lemonade. Then the grandfather brought out a bottle of coffee wine. OMG! That stuff was so strong it was more like whiskey. I couldn't drink more than a couple of sips. Being that I am such a good wife anytime people insist that Justin drink something alcoholic, because it is rude to decline, he gives it to me and tells me that I need to try it. So on Saturday I was served 4 beers and a glass of coffee wine. My head was spinning just a little. So while I was drinking away Justin, Noah and several of the adults decided to go to the river to catch some shrimp and crabs. It looks like they had a great time. By the time that they got back we were starting to eat and eat and eat. We ate until we couldn't take another bite. Such a great evening.

    We got home around 7:30 pm and when we arrived our landlord was waiting on us so we could join her family for the moon festival. So we went to another BBQ but this time it was in Zhongxing (within walking distance from our house). When we got there the BBQ was just beginning. I didn't take any pictures at the second one and I am kicking myself for it. There was so many cute kids and the food was different. Justin had BBQ Squid on a stick! I am not as brave as him so I stuck with the basics. After eating with the second family the kids did more fireworks and they we sang a little karaoke!! Justin wasn't afraid at all he would just sing loud for all to hear. Noah was a little more shy but he eventually warmed up and I was to busy to sing because I had a little tiny baby to hold and rock. It was another great event.

  I find it amazing how someone we barely know will invite us to their family function. The whole family is so sweet and welcoming that by the time we leave we feel like part of the family. This has happened on more than one occasion and I just love the way it makes us feel. It makes me want to be a better person. I don't know if I would have been so willing to open my house to a stranger/foreigner without any notice before our trip to Taiwan. I know that I will try harder to be more open to helping others from now on. I think our trip to Taiwan has made all three of us better people, or at least I hope so.

Coffee, Coffee and more Coffee beans. I love all of the fresh coffee Taiwan has to offer.

Grandma and Rose collection the beans into baskets.

Coffee beans drying.

Coffee bean plant. You can tell when they are ripe because they will turn red.

View of the mountain from the patio. So close and beautiful.

Noah and Rose picking up the coffee beans so that the kids can play basketball.

Raw coffee beans. They shell the bean then lay them out to dry before they are roasted.

Lemons, grown on this farm.

Chillin'

Fresh coffee made from the beans grown on the farm and fresh
squeezed lemonade made from the lemons grown on the farm.

Coffee wine... It was very strong. I couldn't drink my entire glass.

Traditional Taiwan cake. The right half was red bean and the left half
was meat but the cake itself was very soft similar to an angel food cake.

Moon Cake with meat in the middle.

Louie getting a yummy moon cake.

Surprise! Turns out I had to drink 3 of the 6 because they kept giving them to Justin but he didn't want to be rude so when they were not looking we would switch cans so he would be holding an empty can. But then he would throw it away and if you do that they would give you another. I had to remind him to just hold the empty can because I can't drink anymore. I usually only drink one or two so I was feeling it after three Heineken, one Taiwan beer, one glass of coffee wine and several cups of coffee and lemonade.

This is the fist one, and no it is not cold outside. This is to protect my  arms from the mosquitos.

They call this a tangerine but it is most definitely an orange! Very good.

on the way to the river

The river/creek. When it rains this really turns into a river.

On the bridge above the river.

Noah playing in the river.

Justin playing in the river.

Shrimp! They are small but fun to catch in the river.

Justin catching critters

Crabs! They also live in the river.

Time to start the grill

beef and wild pork

Yum Yum corn on the cob

This was just the beginning. We had so much food I don't know how it will ever get eaten. 

Sausage dog! Reminds of us home.

Say cheese with a mouth full of food :)

Yum Yum

They don't grill the corn but it is still good. Oh and they don't butter it either.

This little boy LOVES the corn.

This is Dale, he is 12 years old, he had a great time playing with Noah at the river.

Louie and Grandpa. Corn everywhere.

More view of the mountains all around us.

view from the other side of the patio.

Steak and Kimchi (a traditional Korean dish made of cabbage) and wrapped in a lettuce leaf.  Low Carb!

Bamboo Soup

Goat meat soup. I didn't try it but Justin said it was good.

Squid (the white one), Fish (the golden one) and more wild pork (everything else)

This was the family we hung out with. They were great. There was a couple more
 (some teenage boys)  but they were too cool for a group picture.
Yes teenagers here act like teenagers in the U.S.!