Chinese New Year

This week was Chinese New Year, the year of the snake.  Chinese New Year is the longest and most important celebration in Taiwan. This is when the children get a three week break from school and most people will take a week off from work to travel home to spend time with family. On the first day of Chinese New Year the married children will return to the husbands family for celebrations. The next evening the couple will go to the wife's family for celebrations. We were invited to have a traditional dinner with some friends of ours this year. There was fish, chicken, pork, rice, vegetables, soup and wine. After dinner there were games, karaoke and passing out the red envelopes. Red envelopes are passed out to almost everyone. Parents give them to children and adult children give them to their parents. The red envelope always contain money in even numbers, except for four. Four is an unlucky number... Noah received two red envelopes this year, he was very excited! 

On the third day of Chinese New Year we joined one of Justin's co-workers in a family dinner. We found a greenhouse farm that was growing organic tomatoes. The owner was home and invited us inside the greenhouse. It was a nice setup. She had rows and rows of these tomatoes growing. They were delicious. She sent us home with a large bag of organic tomatoes.

Later in the day we visited the Craft museum in Catoun. We were short on time so we walked around outside. There were several animals, like the rabbit below, that were visting with the guests. Noah's Chinese Zodiac is the rabbit so he wanted a picture with it.

We also made some stamp pictures. These are supposed to be hung on either side of the door to protect our house. 

Happy Chinese New Year!

The next day we went with Adrian to see monkeys and the red bud trees blooming. The first stop was for some famous soup. It was ginger with sweet potatoes, lintels, taro and tapioca pearls. It was very interesting but not my favorite. 

 There were man made toys to keep the monkeys active but they were not tame. They were in their environment, no fences. It was nice to see them playing and going about their daily business.

 Cute little guys. They kept their distance from us and we didn't bother them. Monkeys are cool to watch but I wouldn't want to make one of these guys upset. 

Next we hiked 3 miles up a mountain to see the cherry trees blooming. They were very beautiful. 

 Yea.... for spring time! We are loving the weather right now. Not looking forward to the hot summer but right now it is perfect.

Our next stop was to a Thailand Buddhist temple. We haven't seen one of these here yet so this was neat. They use a lot of elephants for decorating.

 Noah is a Rabbit. Rabbits are gracious, kind and sensitive. They like to express themselves through art. They have strong memories and like to make other people laugh.They are good at creating fun and excitement in their lives and the lives of others. Does this sound like Noah?

 Justin and I are both horses. The horses are warmhearted and interested in improving themselves. A horse is the spotlight of his community and likes to help others. They like to stay active and are kind to most people they meet.  What do you think? Does it sound like us?

 Our friend Adrian is a tiger. Tigers are rebellious, passionate and generous. They are tolerant, staunch and vigilant. Yes, I think Adrian has those qualities.

 Lets Eat!