Sunday is our fun day

This past weekend was another very busy and fun weekend. First, we decided to celebrate Noah finishing his  Algebra 1 and Science courses, kind of a half way done party! We headed to Caotun to take Noah to McDonalds (his choice) and buy him a video game because he has done so well this year with his schooling.

 After lunch we did a little shopping and look what Justin found! He just HAD to buy it.

After shopping we decided to take a tea break and look what Noah found while we were there! 

On Sunday we headed to Taichung with our friend Adrian. It was another great adventure. Our first stop of the day was to a place called The Rainbow Village. This artwork was the product of one man. He is currently 87 years old and still paining. It started as a hobby and quickly grew into this. Practically every building in the village is covered in the paintings. It is definitely worth seeing.

 Justin found a painting of himself! 

After our trip to the village we headed to the jade market to do a little shopping. 

Later we went to a store that sells swords and practice weapons. Noah had a blast! He didn't want to leave.

And for our last stop of the day we head to a park that has a beautiful pond area that has row boats for rent. We spent at least an hour playing on the water. It's not the Buffalo River but it sure was fun!

Playing around

Good morning... I thought I would write a little about this past weekend. First, a student from Justin's school caught a snake for him!!! He was so happy to finally have a snake to play with and share with the students, even if it was only for a couple of days. He wasn't able to keep it for long because he couldn't get it to eat.

He enjoyed it so much that he thought about buying one, but we only have 7 weeks left so it wouldn't be a good idea.  If he got a snake he would have to find it a new home along with Noah's hamster, our fish and our crab. 

Also this weekend we had a surprise visitor! Sean came to visit us. We met Sean and his family this past November and this was our first time to see him since then. He is such a sweet little guy. We were able to have him come to our house to play for a few hours on Saturday and Sunday. Justin's grandparents also got to meet him through Skype.  After lunch we went to see Iron man 3 and had dinner with a friend and her family. It was a great weekend even without a great adventure.

P.S. I did see a picture of my sister and her boyfriend floating on the Buffalo river this weekend.... It made me so homesick! I can't wait to go canoeing on the Buffalo again. Here is a picture of a special piece of Arkansas!  

8 Weeks to go!

With only 8 weeks to go until we return to the states Noah and I decided to make a list of the the things we miss about our lives in Arkansas. After making the first list we thought we would also make a list of the things we will miss the most when we leave Taiwan.

Things we miss the most:

• People/pets: Obviously friends and family would be at the top of our list which includes Woody, our special fur ball.                                                 
• Food: Although we do love the food in Taiwan there are many things we miss.  Pie (any kind really although I think cherry is at the top of our list). Mexican food (I mean real Mexican food with lots of cheese and peppers. There is some Mexican   food in Taiwan but if you don't really like TexMex then you sure won't like Chinese Mexican food.)
• Transportation: I miss my car!!! I haven't been without my own transportation for seventeen years so this year has been extremely hard on me. I am an independent person so not being able to take care of my families needs was tough to adjust to. If we ever decide to leave the U.S. again we WILL buy transportation wherever we end up.
• Language: Being able to communicate with others!!! We have managed pretty well to communicate with our non-English speaking neighbors and shop keepers and Justin and Noah have both done pretty well in learning some basic Chinese. But to be able to walk into any store and know that any question you have can be answered without body language will be a welcome relief.
• Electronics: Although we do have a computer, we are Americans so we are used to excess! We miss having cell phones (Not Justin). We went from having four TV's  (one in every room) to having two broken TV's. We miss being able to listen to the radio whenever we want,(the houses are made of concrete so they don't pick up radio signals very well, and even if they did we wouldn't understand the songs because of the language barrier.
• We miss having an oven! As many of you know, I love to bake! It has been almost a year since I baked anything and even though my waistline is thankful my stomach and heart are sad.
• Personal space: Personal space is an afterthought in Taiwan. They just don't get it... I am used to having my own yard, car, house, office space and privacy. Not here ... everything is shared and forget privacy! Taiwan is an island with lots of people so space in often limited. Justin shares a small office with two other full time employees and three part time employees. His office is about the size of an American bathroom. Even though there isn't much space or privacy it seems to work out for the locals.

Things we will miss when we leave Taiwan:

* People: We have made many wonderful friends and I don't know if we'll ever see them again. We have invited a many of them to come visit us in America but we will miss them greatly.

*Riding our bikes:  Noah is going to miss the freedom that he has had this year. When we move home Noah will not be able to ride his bike to the 7-11 or the tea shop any longer.

*Dragon Dance: Noah has made many new friends at school and on the Dragon Dance team. He is going to miss those kids. He is also going to miss doing the dragon dance. He will have to find another way to stay active.

• *Food: Justin and I are going to miss the food here. The Chinese food in Arkansas is awful and I am not looking forward to it. 

 

*Friendliness: We are going to miss the friendliness of everyone we meet. Most of the people we have met have gone out of their way to be friendly and inviting to us.  It is not that way in America! Americans in general are selfish and rude to each other.  I do not look forward to dealing with that again.

*Weather: We will miss the mild winter but we won't miss the humid and hot summer!

These lists are not complete. They are just the beginning and the things that were on our minds that day. There will be many more things we will miss about Taiwan! One day we plan to return for a visit (not to stay) and I really hope we will be able to see many of our friends again.

Taipei once again!

This past weekend we had a nice relaxing weekend. Justin had to work on Saturday until 1:00 so we decided to take the remaining weekend to relax. We were able to visit with family and then we decided to go see the new Iron Man movie. The movie theater in Nantou city is older but it is still comfortable and inviting. It is neat because you only have to buy one ticket and you can stay all day. We wanted to see Iron Man 3, which we loved, and we also saw The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, we liked it also. 

OK so now everyone has been updated on our week I thought I would post some pictures of our last trip to Taipei. We went a couple of weeks ago just for the day. We decided to go with a tour group to see the flowers  We had no idea what flowers we were going to see but it didn't matter that much to us. Anytime we have an offer to go on an outing to trip we go. It really doesn't matter what it is we are going to see we just want to see as much as possible before we come home in a couple of months.

Our first stop was to a Buddhist temple to pray and then off to Taipei. There is always a stop at a temple with the tour group. I guess they want to make sure everyone is at peace before we get on the road. Below is a picture of Justin and Noah enjoying a small garden at the temple, it is so relaxing.

 We made it to our destination in the mountains in Taipei. It was so cloudy going up the mountain that day. I was glad that we made it up in one piece! I don't know how the bus driver could see anything. Anyway once we made it to the top we realized we were there to see the white Calla Lily flowers, they were everywhere. It was so beautiful to see.

Justin braving the mud to pick the perfect flower for me...He can be so sweet.

Noah picked one for me too. I am so lucky to have these two guys in my life.

Another beautiful view of the flowers, mountains and clouds! So different than our Arkansas home.

 After picking some flowers we walked around to see what we could find. Below are a couple of other plants we found.

 After being in the mountains our group headed to a market. We were surprised to see we had been here before! We came to this street when we first arrived in Taiwan! It was fun to look around and visit it again. After spending the last eight months in Taiwan we are starting to feel less like tourists and more like we belong here. But Gramby and Nana don't worry we are come home soon... We are not staying.