Frost and Snow in Taiwan

Ian's 7th Birthday

2010-08-10T11:21:00.000-07:00

We had a birthday party for Ian. He wanted a tank cake. He and Leah helped me decorate it. It was fun to make! The gun was a tootsie roll and started melting so we had to keep it up with an oreo. I had left over cake, so we made a small tank too.

Dragon Boat Race

2010-06-16T07:04:00.000-07:00

This week Taiwan celebrated Dragon Boat Festival. What is Dragon Boat Festival? You might ask. Well I have copied information from a link below that you can read if interested. After five years of living here, I finally had the opportunity to be in a dragon boat race! I raced with the Taipei European School staff team. We had a good showing of 2nd place in our heat. We had a good lead, but lost steam and another team caught us at the end. I think it was too much World Cup partying by members of the team the night before. Not too mention, we could have been in better condition. Anyway, we still won the mayor of the city of Taipei's team and we were in the China Post News! Here's the link:

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/2010/06/13/260535/Intl%2Dteams.htm

Here's the Dragon Boat Festival legend:

“…the most popular story revolves around the life and death of one of China's most famous citizens. Qu Yuan was both a statesman and China's first known poet. During his lifetime, he served as Minister of Law and Ordinance for his home state of Chu in southern China. Unfortunately, Qu Yuan lived during the Warring States period (481 - 221 B.C.), when larger, more powerful states were trying to consolidate their power. One of these states, Qin in the north, was determined to control the state of Chu. Qin leaders gave the King of Chu a peace treaty to sign, which they had no intention of honoring. Suspicious of their motives, Qu Yuan advised the king not to sign the treaty. Unfortunately, the king was threatened by Qu Yuan's stature, believing the poet was trying to gain greater political power in the government. Not only did he sign the treaty, but he banished Qu Yuan to a remote region in Hunan province. Eventually, Chu was defeated by the stronger Qin state.

It is thought that the news of Chu's defeat destroyed Qu Yuan's will to live. As a result, on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month in 278 B.C., he committed suicide by grasping a large rock and throwing himself into the Miluo River.

Local fisherman raced to their boats to recover his body, beating drums and splashing their paddles on the water to scare away the fish. But it was all to no avail. In one version of the legend, they began throwing rice on the water as a sacrifice to their dead hero, and to nourish his spirit. One night, the image of Qu Yuan appeared to one of the fisherman in a dream. In the dream, the poet revealed that the fish were eating the rice. He asked that the rice be wrapped in silk to protect it. Later, the silk was replaced with bamboo leaves.

In another version, the rice packets were meant for the fish, in an effort to keep them from devouring Qu Yuan's body. But whichever version you choose to believe, the death of Qu Yuan gave rise to both the dragon boat races and celebrating the day with zongzi - delicious dumplings made with glutinous rice that are stuffed in bamboo leaves.”

"Many a heavy sigh I heaved in my despair, Grieving that I was born in such an unlucky time...I yoked a team of jade dragons to a phoenix-figured car, And waited for the wind to come, to soar up on my journey."(Qu Yuan, ancient Chinese poet)

http://chinesefood.about.com/od/foodfestivals/a/dragonboat.htm

Honoring my Father

2010-05-30T03:39:00.000-07:00

My dear dad: February 2 1920-April 2 2010

Seeing Snow for the First Time

2010-05-30T03:20:00.001-07:00

This is the first time Ian and Leah had ever seen snow. We went home in April for Grandpa Don’s funeral and it snowed one morning! We also went up Provo Canyon by Sundance with cousin Sean and hiked through the snow in the mountains. Ian and Leah were totally psyched!

Top 10 warnings: Driving in Taiwan!

2010-03-30T21:01:00.001-07:00

I figure I'm some what of an authority on driving in Taiwan after 7 months worth. Especially since I drive to work everyday up Yang Ming Shan mountain on an incredibly windy road. So here is my list:

TOP TEN WARNINGS WHEN DRIVING IN TAIWAN: No sarcasm here. Just the plain truth. . .

10) If you take a wrong turn it takes at least 30 minutes on average to get yourself back on track!

9) Be aware of drivers who blatantly park smack dab in the middle of the right hand lane whilst they go into a nearby place of business to take care of matters. Eventually you will start to sympathize with them when you find that it takes you an hour to find a parking place just for an errand you need to run that should take less than 15 minutes.

8) Expect scooters to pass you on the right hand side especially when you have your blinker on to turn right!

7) Remember that left hand turners think they have the right of way.

6) Expect that someone will always park in front of your paid parking space and block you from getting in.

5) If someone is parked in your parking space, by all means block them in and leave your cell phone number in the dash to have to call you. But, don't be surprised if they don't call you to save face and they somehow magically jimmy their way out of the space without you moving your car!

4) Learn that there is no "personal car space" in Taiwan. Expect to drive about two feet closer to cars than you are used to. You will learn to skillfully negotiate up to an inch between cars with only an occasional ding to the body of your car!-Don't get the dings fixed, it's not worth it. You'll never be able to avoid them.

3) Expect bottle necks and don't expect cars to wait for you to get through the bottle neck before they jam it up more. Know, then they will expect you to get out of the way when they were they ones that jammed it up in the first place!

3) Expect cars and scooters to dart out in front of you at any moment. Be a defensive driver at all times! Remember there is No right of way in Taiwan streets. It is every man, woman, and child to themselves.

1) Lastly, when it comes down to it use the motto "When in Rome do as the Romans". Frighteningly enough you will find yourself adopting bad Taiwanese driving habits just to survive. Expect that it may ruin your driving skills for life when you return to the real world of driving in your country! If you live in the USA, when you return take care not to pull a Taiwan driving tactic on someone there or you may be the victim of road rage!

Terror of the Monkeys

2010-02-19T00:44:00.000-08:00

Have you ever been terrorized by monkeys? Well we have! Last Saturday afternoon we decided to go on a pleasant little hike on what is called the monkey trail on Yang Ming Shan Mountain, a mere 20 minute drive from our home. Naively hoping to see the pleasant and darling little macaque monkeys, we gaily strolled along when suddenly in front of us sat a monkey on the fence along the trail.

He was a poser and lured us in easily to his evil trap. After he sat for a while he jumped onto a tree branch in the distance. We got closer to examine. Soon more monkeys came to the scene behind us. We stopped to turn and look at them slowly backing up so as not to get too close. Unbeknownst to us, however, the poser had stealthily jumped back onto the trail, and we nearly backed right into him. He was less than a foot away as Ian turned to face him right smack dab in his personal space. The monkey growled at Ian. With Leah in arm, I quickly pulled Ian near me so that I was between the kids and the monkey. I stood with my back to the monkey to protect the kids. He tried to get around me to get Ian, but then Sean stepped forward which frightened the monkey and he scurried away. At the time it was a tenuous situation, but we were relieved when it all turned out.

The kids thought it an adventure although Maya the neighbor girl who was with us was a bit hysterical. After it was over though we all found it to be an adventure of sorts. Once I find my camera cord, I'll download the photos Sean took.

YEAR OF THE TIGER 2010

2010-02-17T10:04:00.000-08:00

Happy Chinese New Year to all our family and friends. We miss you! (Know that you are always welcome to visit us if it so possesses you to travel to Asia!) Who would have imagined that over four years ago when we came here, that we would still be here! Still a lot of changes occurred for us in the year of the Ox. Just when we were about to move home last summer to the good ole' USA, I got offered a job at Taipei European International School and Sean got offered a job at a Swedish Foreign Currency Exchange Company. So, we decided to stay! We moved on up to the "North" side of town, in Shilin District. We moved to an apartment twice the size of our old one. Not that our apartment is huge, just that our old apartment was super small! Living conditions are much more manageable here and life is easier than before. We even have a car now! Not to say that life isn't busy. Busy enough that I don't have time to keep up this blog except once or twice a year. I have an insane amount of preps as a teacher: Spanish 1, IB Spanish, English, 3 classes of EAL, Geography, and a Form Class (it's a British thing). But, I really can't complain considering I have unbelievably small classes. Which is one of the reasons I love this job, not to mention the students are really quite nice and enjoyable! I have students from all over including Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, India, New Zealand, South Africa, Swaziland Africa, Cheq Republic, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, and the USA! Sean has been enjoying his change of scenery as well moving from Kindergarten teacher to operations manager of Masarut FOREX Company. The kids also have experienced good changes and progress. Ian is attending kindergarten at Child's World and loving it. Leah is flourishing in the her Chinese preschool called Baby Bear. All in all our life here in Taiwan is going well and blessings have come our way. To top it off, this year is Sean's year; he is a tiger. So things can only keep getting better!

We are currently enjoying our week break. We meaning Wanda, Ian, and Leah. Sean, however has to work! Probably one of the few people in Taipei working this week. Meanwhile mom is going crazy at home with Ian and Leah, but also enjoying it!

Ian and Leah enjoyed seeing the tiger roaming around Sogo Department store by our house this week. Sticking with the "Tiger" theme, I included some of Ian's modeling photos dressed as a Tiger from the Why and a Half Clothing Catalog.

Below: Ian painting Chinese Calligraphy at school celebration.

Chinese decorations in the lobby of our apartment building.

Below are some photos of our Chinese New Year week including a trip to the Shilin Night Market to eat Tepanyaki style food and Taiwanese Shaved Ice. True to form, the weather during Chinese New Year was rainy and cold, but we braved it few times. Our car starter went out last Saturday, so we have been utilizing public transport (buses and MRT -mass rapid transit) all week.

The kids like to play the games at the night market. Ian won a detective telescope he was trying out on the metro. Kids with our friend Fion in Dazir.

Ximen Ding:

All week the Taiwanese light off fireworks. We added to the noise and celebration one night.

Also went to a Dinosaur exhibit by Taipei 101...Ian was beside himself with excitement when we got a lump of dirt to take home that he had to excavate with a chisel an brush until he found a dinosaur egg fossil with a baby dinosaur inside. He displayed it in his own little dinosaur exhibit that he created complete with "Don't touch the dinosaurs" sign.

The Year at a Glance 2009

2010-02-17T10:02:00.000-08:00

The Year of the Ox, or 2009 in Western terms, brought with it many new changes. In January, I got a good break getting my foot in the door to International teaching by getting a half year teaching Spanish position at Taipei American International School. Then Sean and I both got new job offers in June as mentioned earlier. In June we took the long awaited trip back home to see family and friends and experience American culture. We first flew into Salt Lake City and immediately packed up and went with Grandpa Don and Grandma Anne to Arizona to see Grandpa Jerry and Patricia and all the kids' aunts, uncles, and cousins on Sean's side down that way. Next we headed up to Idaho to see all the aunts, uncles, and cousins there. The rest of the trip we stayed with Grandma Anne and Grandpa Don in Provo, Utah. We had a great time with all our aunts and uncles and cousins.

Some highlights of our trip:

-Four wheeling on the Ranch in ShowLow, Arizona.

-Going to the water park with Uncle David and cousins Jerrymiah, Samuel, Sariah, and Baby Ruth.

-Swimming in Uncle Chris' swimming pool in Mesa.

-Playing in the wide open spaces in Shelley, Idaho at Uncle Matt and Aunt Marianne's house.

-Sean flying to Washington DC to take the oral for the foreign service exam.

-Taking swimming lessons at the Bussio's house and at Provo City Waterpark.

-Going to the Spanish Fork Rodeo with Stephanie, Aunt Eileen, and Uncle Ed.

-Going to the Sandy Aquarium with my friend Carla Alabudi and her son Joseph.

-Going to Lagoon with Aunt Eileen, cousins Stephanie, and Jefferson

-Running through the sprinklers at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

-Phonics lessons from mom.

-Enjoying playing in an actual yard! (Seeing the flowers bloom, watching the quail flit about, seeing the birds eat out of Grandma's bird house, watching the humming birds drink sugar water from Grandma's special humming bird bottle, and watching a humming bird get stuck in the house! Best of all was spending time with Grandma and Grandpa.)

Lowlights:

-Condensing from a big storage space to one half the size! Ugh! It was a royal pain. Thanks to my sister Cherie and her family who helped me move it all. I couldn't have done it without them!

RETURNING TO TAIPEI:

We shed many a tear as we bid farewell to family and returned to Taipei. We started out in Xindian with mom and the kids commuting to work and school for the first two weeks. It took over an hour to get to school, but finally we moved on the weekend to our new home. We bought a used Nissan Qwest for a great deal because it was bashed in on the side. I drive it to work up Yang Ming Shan Mountain every day, about a 25 minute commute. The kids have school buses that pick them up and take them to their respective schools: Ian to Child's World and Leah to Baby Bear.

Ian loves English Kindergarten. His teacher the first half of the year was Ms. Annie from Los Angeles. His teacher the second half of the year is now Mr. Jerrod from New Zealand. On Saturdays, Ian plays soccer at Taipei European Primary school right next to our house.

Leah chose to go to Chinese preschool and is coming along great in Chinese. Her teacher is PonPon from Taiwan. She is learning many wonderful things at Baby Bear. She took ballet classes there and loved it.

As a family we enjoy mealtimes together, having family home evening once a week, and swimming by our house every Thursday evening! After swimming we go to the open all day Taiwanese breakfast shop and have a traditional Chinese breakfast for dinner.

Mom, couldn't do it with out our great helper Vicki who works for us for 3 hours in the morning on weekdays getting the kids off to school and helping around the house.

The kids are growing so fast and we try to enjoy every minute with them.

2009 FUNNY FROST KIDS TRIVIA:

-KIDS FAVORITE TAIPEI HOTSPOTS:

1) "Old" McDonalds playground

2) Chiang Kai "Shrek" Memorial

3) The Dinosaur Exit. . . AKA-The Dinosaur Exhibit.

FAVORITE QUOTES OF 2009-

LEAH- When scared of something..."I'm scary!"

IAN: When watching a movie on DVD... "Is this number one or number two? Or is it number three? Does it have a number four? How about a number five? . . .Why doesn't it have a number two? Will it have a number two? How about a number three?" . . . and so forth and so on . .

LEAH: "Run faster Mommy! No not like that! Run faster a little slower!"

IAN: “Does Santa know Jesus?"

IAN (crying): “Why can’t Jesus come down to see me. I want to see him. I want to go to heaven. I want to see him. . . . Is Jesus blue? Can he fly like Superman? Does he have wings?” “If I go to bed can he visit me in my dreams? Why won’t he see me? Why won’t he come to visit me? I want to be good. I don’t want to be a bad guy.”

IAN: “Lucy is my girlfriend” LEAH: “No not like that! I want to be your girlfriend. I’m your girlfriend!” IAN: "Okay, Leah is my girlfriend." (Whispering in mommy’s ear) “Lucy is my girlfriend too, but don’t tell Leah.” (Lucy is a cute 24 year old Taiwanese girl that works with Sean.)

LEAH: "I will don't take off my swim 'soup' ."

LEAH (when watching movies or reading books) "I’m her, I’m Susan…Mommy I want to be her okay?…Ian is him… Mommy, you are her... Daddy you are him. . . "Mommy, I want to be her! . . .etc."

IAN: (Anticipating his playdate with TJ on Monday, comes to our bed at 5:30 AM Sunday morning.) "Mommy, you need call Darlene [school director] and tell her I'm going home on the bus with TJ tomorrow after school! You need to tell her I'm going on the bus with TJ to his house on Yang Min Shan Mountain right now!"

LEAH: On her fourth birthday..."Am I bigger now?" Mom says yes and she examines her hands to see if they are bigger than before.

IAN: (After being punished) "You think I'm a bad guy. You are angry to me! You're gonna to put me in jail and hurt me! Aren't you?!"

LEAH: (Mommy says, "You can't have too much." Leah says: "But, I want too much!"

LEAH: Insisting to do things on her own: "I can do it myself because I'm almost five!"

PHOTO HIGHTLIGHTS OF 2009:

SPRING BREAK: 2009 we went to the beach in Southern Taiwan. We stayed in a place called Kenting. We took the fast train down, then rented scooters and had a blast driving around and also enjoyed the beach! The kids loved seeing the baluga whale at the aquarium too. If we ever see you, remind us to tell you about Ian's story on the beach! It's a classic.

IAN AND LEAH AT LINCOLN SCHOOL 2009:

Sean teaching Ian.

FAREWELL LINCOLN SCHOOL:

IAN'S CHINESE KINDERGARTEN GRADUATION:

SUMMER VACATION IN THE USA 2009:

On the Ranch in Show Low, AZ.

Grandpa Don & Grandma Anne

Grandpa Jerry & Patricia

I will post more photos here from 2009 later...

SPRING 2009: Fairs, Basketball, Gymnastics, Waterpark, & Sharing Ice Cream. Xindian Bridge Demolition. Feeding the Elders. Leah & Ian Modeling.

2009-05-17T05:31:00.000-07:00

SPRING 2009: Below is a cool mosaic outside the Shilin MRT (Train) station. APRIL: Also some images from the TAS Spring Fair with Sasha and Coby Williams, Ian playing Saturday basketball, and Leah doing gymnastics. MAY: A trip to the water park and sharing ice cream.

ALSO IN THE SPRING THE OLD JING MEI BRIDGE BY OUR HOUSE WAS TORN DOWN IN ORDER TO BUILD A NEW ONE. A MAKESHIFT BRIDGE WAS CONSTRUCTED ON THE SIDE AS YOU CAN SEE. PICS ARE TAKEN FROM OUR APARTMENT WINDOW.

CRAZY LEAH:

FEEDING THE ELDERS: We loved these Elders. What spiritual and fine young men. Well maybe it isn't evident from the pics, but I'm being sincere. Two are from our English Ward and two from the Xindian (JingXin) area. Note that Elder Evans (the one on the far right) is the grandson of Elder Duchtdorf..or is that Duftdork? Thanks to Sean's story about his Dad, I can't ever same the name right! I even said it wrong in front of Elder Evans.

Leah modeling in Winter/Spring 2009 for Summer/Fall Catalogs:

IAN MODELING:

LEAH AT SCHOOL

2009-05-17T05:04:00.000-07:00

Family Photo January 2009

2009-03-01T05:20:00.000-08:00

Here is our family in Jingmei River Park. The kids rode their new bikes down the walkway. No, this isn't our dog, but the kids fell in love with it and would have loved to take it home. Its owner was nice enough to let us take a jiaopian (photo). We are now full swing into the New Year. I'm teaching at Taipei American School and Daddy, Ian, and Leah are all together at Lincoln American School. It is a busy but blessed time!

Chinese New Year 2009

2009-01-30T16:34:00.000-08:00

Happy Chinese New Year from Taiwan! This year we didn't travel anywhere exciting. We did do some fun things around Taipei. We hit the supermarket full of Chinese New Year excitement. We visited our friends the Parks, in Dazir and went to Taiwan's largest ferris wheel and had a fun HIGH ride. We went to Ximen Ding with Teacher Bryan and Danshui by the ocean with the Williams family. Below are some pics. We wish you all a great year of the Ox!

Here are photos of our local big supermarket Carrefore during Chinese New Year. You can see all the interesting candies, dried fruits, nuts, etc. that are sold during this time of year. It is a colorful and exciting atmosphere, buy also very crowded!

Here is lively Ximen Ding: Taiwan's version of Time Square.
We went out to eat with Teacher Bryan at a Sichuan Restaurant in Ximen Ding. It was one of the few restaurants we could find open at the beginning of Chinese New Year week. The kids enjoyed T. Bryan's company.

Below are Danshui pics. You can see how crowded it was on Chinese New Year week. (wall to wall people)

We bought some hermit crabs for the kids.

Boat ride to Fishermens Wharf Ian and Leah had fun playing on Fishermens wharf with Sasha and Coby. They also played with sparklers. You can buy all kinds of fireworks here.

We found this picture of Ian at Miramar Shopping Mall. He is the clown boy in the middle. The kids also had fun riding the merry-go-round.

Goodbye Lincoln (Mom leaves Lincoln to teach at TAS)

2009-01-28T16:22:00.001-08:00

Goodbye Lincoln School. I started teaching at Taipei American School in January. December was my last month at Lincoln School, ending 3.5 years teaching there. I will miss my precious little students and the teachers, but have many wonderful memories to look back on. It was nice to be there with Sean and Ian and we will always share that memory. Here are some photos of my last days at Lincoln with some students from Guava class (Enkai, Sarah, Bruce) and my phonics class with cute little Cherry class. We had a New Year's luncheon with the school and I have added some pics of the local teachers too: Teachers Nina, Renne, Sally, Sandy, Amy, Yoko, Hazel, and Annie. Also Anty and Rena from Indonesia.

Lincoln Christmas Show

2009-01-28T16:21:00.000-08:00

On December 27 we had the Christmas show. Yes it was a few days after Christmas, but it really didn’t matter here. We didn’t even have Christmas day off. So, it really wasn't a big deal here if the show was a few days late.

The Christmas Show was great! I added a lot of pics, because I figured they would be quite entertaining for all. Ian danced with Orange class for two numbers. The first dance he is seen in red, white, and blue sequin outfit. Look out Village People! The second dance he was a tiger. For the first he danced to a rap song with very questionable lyrics. The Chinese didn’t understand the fine subtleties of street slang, they just chose the song for the great beat! When we heard the lyrics we didn’t know whether to be quite concerned or quite amused.

Sean and I also had our day in the sun when we danced with Tomato class for two numbers. Sean dressed up as Santa Claus. We also took part in the Orange class skit. Sean was the evil businessman who bought all the animal’s houses. Ian and his classmate John were the tigers pounced on him and the animals got their houses back.

All the children were just absolutely adorable in their costumes. Leah was so upset she couldn’t come and had to go to the baby sitters. She really wanted to dance and put on a costume like Ian.

The kids and the teachers put a lot of work into it. You wouldn’t see a show quite like this in the states. There wouldn’t be the pressure on the little ones to have to learn detailed dances and be expected to perform.

We were glad Ian made it through the dances and remembered his moves and parts!

Good job Ian!

Teacher Hazel helps too.

Ian gets ready for big day with the help of his Teacher, Teacher Renee. He is not sure what to think about his getup.

Jing Mei Night Market

2009-01-28T16:18:00.000-08:00

We like to invite friends over to our corner of Taipei to visit the Jing Mei Night Market. It has been running for 175 years. It isn't one of the larger night markets in Taipei, must it is one of the most quaint and lively. The wet market in the morning is bustling with energy and the night market is full of interesting dishes, sights, sounds, and smells. Below you can see duck heads and other delectable delights (said with just a tinge of sarcasm). The sausages and such on sticks are for hot potting.

The Grimleys from church and the Parks joined us at different times to experience the Jing Mei night market.

Below are photos of bau zis. They are cheap and we like them for a snack. Also you can various duck parts (no I we don't like those as a snack-only Sean). A common food is also squid on a stick. Not bad if I say so myself.

Power Ranger & Ultraman mania! Each kid bought a power rangers or ultraman doll.

Below also see boiled Stinky Tofu (the most putrid kind). Come and visit us and you can try it!!! Then you can have some truly yummy fresh lemonade to wash it down.

The Park family joined us in the market this night. The kids had fun catching fish.

Chao Hu Shooting

2009-01-28T16:17:00.002-08:00

We were all on the Chao Hu show in October. He is kind of like a Taiwanese versio of Barney. They asked Sean and I to be the grandma and grandpa. I guess we are starting to show our age. Ian and Leah were mesmerized by the super tiger-Chao Hu.

Kids modeling pics

2009-01-28T16:17:00.001-08:00

Here are some photos I scanned from the Why and 1/2 catalog of Ian and Leah. I scanned them upside down, so some of them came out wrong. I don't have time to fix them but will fix later!

H

Summer Typhoon

2009-01-28T16:15:00.002-08:00

This is from a while ago, but here are photos of the day after the typhoon. You can see how much the river has gone down if you compare to the photos during the typhoon. I took these pics from our window and from the roof of our building. I added shots from different sides of our building so everyone can see what it looks like in our area of Taipei.

I stuck these photos in from the typhoon we had in the summer when we were "stuck" inside!. These ones are taken from our apartment windows. It can get crazy with two kids being stuck in your apartment for a couple of days. The TV show you see is Ultraman. The kids watched it among other things! I was happy to finally get them out of the house when it was over!

This typhoon was one of the worse ones because it rained so much. There was a lot of wind so it came in our windows and through our air conditioner and broke the air conditioner. As you can see the river almost overflowed but didn't quite make it. Two summers ago we had one that made the river overflow into the park walkway you see across the river. Ian had a ball afterwards going and playing in all the mud.

Early Christmas Decorations, A Mistake?

2008-11-15T08:45:00.000-08:00

Well this week, I got the bright idea that we should put up Christmas decorations for Family Home Evening. Sean said, "Don't you think it's a little to soon?" and I said "Of course not! Then we can enjoy them longer!" Well I ate my words, because I forgot to take into account a five and near three year old! Suddenly, the whole concept of Christmas has clicked for the five year old, and the precocious three year old is just a step behind in her understanding. When they saw the tree and the decorations, they were overjoyed beyond measure. They wanted to help with everything. Then the subject of Santa came up, so we talked about Santa and how he would bring toys if they were good. I was sure to add that 'the other reason we celebrate Christmas was because Jesus was born on this day." Then I quickly corrected my self and said, "The real reason we celebrate is because Jesus was born on this day." Well the Santa angle was already set in their minds, so when they went to sleep that night, all too soon visions of sugarplums danced in their heads.

Somewhere around 2 am they awoke and both came into our bedroom asking if Santa had come yet! Ian was anxious to know if he had showed up. We had already explained this, but obviously not quite well enough, and we had to reiterate that Santa wasn't coming for some time and that he would have to wait about 40 more days. Well, the concept of time for a five year old is a bit hazy and so he kept asking and wondering if Santa was still going to come sometime soon. I accompanied the two wide-eyed children to their rooms and lay down to discuss the topic. Ian asked "Is Santa in the moon?" I had already shown him on our globe earlier that evening where the North Pole was and where Santa lived. So, I explained that he wasn't in the moon, but that Santa was still in the North Pole. I explained that he was busy making a lot of toys that would take him a long time to finish before he could come. Ian disappointedly said "Then, I want to go to the North Pole to see Santa!" Then he insisted that Santa flew in a plane rather than a sleigh, so I said that maybe he had a plane and flew it, but on Christmas he usually drives his sleigh. Then he asked me where Santa will land when he comes. I said he would probably land on our balcony, then come through the kitchen door, or maybe land on the roof of our building and come down the elevator or stairs.

He kept talking for some time. Leah finally chimed in and said, "Santa has my toys for me and Ian!" Finally I told them both that Santa was watching to make sure that little boys and girls are good and go to sleep at night, or he can't bring them toys. That worked and they both went back to sleep.

Well, it wasn't over, because around 6:45 am Ian woke up and came in and asked if Santa had come. I was up at my usualy time, and explained that Santa was still far away then rolled over and went back to sleep. The next thing I heard was a faint little voice calling "Santa? Santa? Santa?" I jumped out of bed when I realized it was coming from the balcony. I rushed out to make sure Ian was safe (the balcony is off limits to the kids without mom and dad), only to find him longingly looking over the balcony calling for Santa. It was an amusing, a bit frightening, humorous, and precious moment all rolled into one. To see my little child's innocent eyes looking longingly for Santa was a memory I don't think I'll ever forget. What a wonderfully vivid imagination Ian has!

This is just one example of his world and the imagination he creates. In the Chinese world, his imagination isn't quite appreciated as it would be in American culture. I have a story from his school to illustrate this, that I will share another time. For now, sufficeth to say that the next month and a half is going to be full of fun and imagination in our home. I think I'll have to get an advent calendar, so my kids can have a visual of when Santa will actually be making an appearance in our humble little apartment in Taiwan half way around the world. We'll be sure Santa makes his stop here, no doubt!

Halloween 2008

2008-11-09T17:54:00.001-08:00

Ian also had a Halloween party the week before at his school. We had two power ranger costumes that Teacher Yvonne lent to us, so Leah insisted on being a power ranger that day with Ian! She said she didn't want to be a princess, but a girl power ranger. I think she is a bit of a tomboy, just like her mom was! Luckily, we talked her into the princess getup for the party at church! Ian played his part well as power ranger as he went about pretending to fight monsters and save the world. He has a vivid imagination, which sometimes I don't think his Chinese teacher can appreciate or understand.

Here are some Halloween photos of the kids at our church Halloween party. Ian was a power ranger and Leah was a princess. Someone asked her if she was a fairy, and she quickly replied "No! I'm a princess! Princess Leah!" Sean and I were pirates. We got there a bit late because we don't get out of work until 6:30 when the party started, and it took us an hour to get there on the metro. But, we made it in time for some photos and fun and trunk or treating in the parking lot.

Taiwan Weather Update

2008-11-09T15:55:00.000-08:00

Good morning from chilly Taiwan! Never thought I'd say that. It is November 10, and for the first time since last winter, it feels a bit chilly! Even up till last week we were dying in our apartment without an air conditioner, and to go outside was brutally humid and the sun was penetrating. I'm not sure the degrees but probably somewhere in the 90s in the last months, with worse humidity. September and October seemed hotter at times than the summer months. One plus about all the sun, is that I looked tan just from walking outside! But I must say that this Taiwan sun has been brutal on my skin over the years. I think it has aged me about 10 years. During the last part of September, we did experience one of our worst Typhoons here in Taiwan. It is what caused our air conditioner to break, because of the water that got in it from the wind and rain. We did save money on electricity, so again always something good comes from something bad. When I get my files put on here from my other computer I'll put some photos of the typhoon here.

Leah just woke up and came in wearing her pink long john pajamas for the first time and said in her adorable little voice, " I want to see the snow!" I guess since it is chilly, she figures it is about time for the snow to come. I asked Sean if we could ever go to the mountains somewhere to see snow here, and he said it would be difficult to find. My kids are fascinated with snow, but unfortunately they've never actually seen it or at least weren't old enough to remember as in Ian's case. Snow is so foreign to them, that sadly they call the white padding in one of our elevators, put there for movers, snow. They always prefer to go in the "snow elevator" as they say.

Ian just woke up and declared, "Winter is here!" Precocious little Leah after hearing my above conversation with Sean just retorted, "No! Winter is far away!" Ian said, "I want to play in the snow." Leah quickly replied in her crisp little speech, "No! The snow is far away!"

Month of Misfortune and Blessings

2008-11-09T06:53:00.000-08:00

Well it has been over two months since we wrote an entry. This is because we had the misfortune of having our computer die. In fact we had a month of Murphy's law in our household. They say bad things happen in threes, or in our case more like tens. Here are our TOP TEN misfortunes for the month of October:

#10: our airconditioner broke and there were some scorcher days this month!

#9: our vacuum broke

#8: our washer broke (our dryer broke a few months before)

#7: two of our chairs broke

#6: my bike tire got a hole in it and went flat and the handle bars sprayed oil out all over my white pants while I was trying to pump it up to get home. At about this point, I felt like the stars weren't aligned in my favor. I seriously felt like I was cursed!

#5: $2500 NT out of my wallet got stolen which is about $80 US dollars...what's worse we pretty much know who took it...which was sad. Not a Taiwanese person btw..

#4: Leah stuck a bunch of coins in our VCR which broke it. Significant, because VCRs are pretty much extinct in Taiwan. So all our video tapes are no good. Yes we do have a DVD player, but we had some fun videos for the kids on VCR and my workout videos too.

#3:Ian burned his fingers on the rice cooker when he touched the steam, pretending to be Godzilla. It was his first painful experience with a nasty burn!

#2: Sean got in an accident when a bicyclist rode right in front of him, he needed to get to a church meeting and didn't want to bother with the police because it was an old guy..so Sean settled with him and gave him $3000 NT for a bike worth less than $1000 NT! The old guy wasn't hurt, just his bike. However, Sean hurt his knee trying to stop his motocycle and avoid hitting the guy.

#1: And the number one mishap was that our computer died which put us out of contact with our friends and the rest of the world. We missed all the presidential coverage on the internet and other important things as you can imagine!

Mind you these were the top ten. There were others, but I won't exhaust the issue. I guess good things do come out of bad. We got a better computer which is an Apple. I also must say that not having a computer freed up my time to do other things. I noticed my house was cleaner, I spent more time with my kids, and my life was simpler. I even wrote in my journal. It is my goal to relegate myself to only a certain amount of time on this thing! But how do I do it? Trying to catch up on emails, this blog,organizing photos, and trying to learn a new computer system makes it difficult. I always pray that I can focus on the most important in a day that goes so quickly!

By the way, in this entry, I've included some family photos that my friend Kirsi took of us on the grounds of Chang Kai Shek Memorial in August. One is the same photo in the profile but bigger to see.

The Joseph Smith Van

2008-09-05T17:56:00.000-07:00

IFlashback to Hualien trip Last year:

Here is the famous van of Teacher Bess' family that we traveled all around Hualien in. Sean named it the Joseph Smith van, because it played the old Scottish bagpipe tune made into the hymn "Praise to the Man" everytime it started up.

Ian had a good time with Jim the nephew of Teacher Bess. The family of Teacher Bess was so hospitable and made our trip to the Hualien region a memorable experience.

Ian Get's Gored by a Goat 2007

2008-09-05T07:14:00.000-07:00

During our trip to Hualien we visited Wayne farm.
Ian was so excited to see all the animals, especially the little goat. Well, the goat was excited too, and they both got a little too frisky with one another and the little chap gored Ian smack dab in the ribs. He didn't cry, but it kind of knocked the wind out of him.

Here is a picture of the after math in the van.

Here you can see the marks of the goats horns on his tummy. Ole Ian!

Intro Hualien Trip 2007

2008-09-05T01:28:00.000-07:00

You might have noticed the year of the last two photos are 2007! Yes they are a bit old, but we have had requests from home to see photos of what Taiwan looks like. We wanted to give you an idea of how lush, green, and beautiful the rest of Taiwan is outside the metropolis. And, since we don't travel outside the city a whole lot (our school is year-round) we decided to show you some photos of our trip to Hualien in June 2007. Teacher Bess from our school invited us to go to her hometown during Dragonboat festival and stay with her family. Hualien is about a four hour train ride south of Taipei on the eastern coast. If you look on a topographical map, you would be amazed at all the mountains and tropical regions in Taiwan, especially in this area. Because of this, it reminds me a lot of Guatemala where I lived for a short while. Taiwan also has native peoples or aborigines as they call them. The natives are beautiful people and dress in very colorful traditional clothing. To me, their looks are similar to the American Indians or Polynesians. Thus another reason, this area around Hualien reminds so much of Guatemala. It is also another reason why I love this area so much!

This was a beautiful area around a house of a friend of Teacher Bess' family.

Ian and Leah were extatic to run on so much grass and open spaces after being cooped up in the van for so long, and the city for that matter.

Teacher Bess and Kids

2008-09-05T01:08:00.000-07:00

Here is Teacher Bess and the kids let loose!

Dragon Boat Festival June 2007

2008-09-03T01:30:00.000-07:00

Teacher Bess' dad and family rolled out the red carpet for us. They took us in their van to the moutains near Hualien to see the dragon boat races! This was a special dragon boat festival, because it was near an aboriginal village and all the natives were at the festival either selling their goods in booths, performing traditional dances, or watching the races! Above is a photo of a crew preparing to start the big race!

Dragon Boat Races

2008-09-03T01:19:00.000-07:00

Another photo of the race preparation along with photos of native girls and boy in traditional dress. At the bottom is a photo of the village Shaman blessing the waters before the race begins.

Toroco Gorge (Hualien Trip)

2008-09-01T05:57:00.001-07:00

Here is a photo of our family in Toroco Gorge. Teacher Bess' family took us to this beautiful canyon, which was reminiscent of Zion's canyon in Utah. It has beautiful rock canyons and cliffs. The big difference is that it is more tropical and peppered with Chinese pagodas, Chinese temples, statues of gods, and other such landmarks that remind us: This is Asia!

Ian trying to take an incense from the prayer pot.

Toroco Gorge 2

2008-09-01T05:56:00.001-07:00

Toroco Gorge 3

2008-09-01T05:55:00.003-07:00

Toroco Gorge 4

2008-09-01T05:55:00.001-07:00

Teacher Bess' dad on left. Other photos are of Rita and Jin Yi who are friends of Teacher Bess and joined us on the trip. They were so sweet and it was like having built in baby sitters everywhere we went. They treated Ian and Leah like a prince and princess and waited on them hand and foot. Ian was loving all the attention.

Toroco Gorge Museum and Old Village Visit

2008-09-01T05:54:00.003-07:00

Here is mom and kids with Bess, Rita, Teacher Bess' nephew Jim.

Teacher bess and Leah sleeping during van trip. Below we visit an old mining village in the mountains.

An extraorinarily beautiful tree in the village.

On the Road (Hualien Trip)

2008-09-01T05:53:00.003-07:00

Interesting site on the side of the road. Here is a street vendor selling some interesting foods.

Teacher Bess' mom is holding Leah standing with her grandkids.

We ran into these cute aboriginal kids on our trip in the mountains. They followed us around a bit and were fascinated by Ian and Leah!

Hualien trip - Ocean stop

2008-09-01T05:53:00.001-07:00

On one of our many trips in Bess' family van around Hualien, we stopped at this beach. Ian loved the waves, but Leah was a little scared.

Ian Feeds the Ostrich

2008-09-01T05:52:00.000-07:00

One of the places we stopped was on a farm with Ostriches. Ian enjoyed feeding grass to the ostrich.

Day Trip to Danshui

2008-08-31T21:56:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we went on a Saturday outing to Danshui. It takes about 45 minutes by metro to get there from our house in Xindian. It is North of us by the ocean. We took a ferry up the coast to Fisherman's Wharf. Ian and Leah loved the ride on the ocean!

Below are some street performers on the boardwalk.

Danshui Fisherman's Wharf & Ferry Ride

2008-08-31T06:20:00.000-07:00

Fulon Beach

2008-08-31T06:19:00.001-07:00

Train trip to Fulon Beach

Daddy and Leah

Eric and Sasha

Fulon Beach

2008-08-31T06:18:00.000-07:00

About a month ago we went on a Saturday outing to Fulong Beach by train. It took about an hour to get there. We met our friends Jess and Eric and kids Sasha and Coby. The kids loved playing in the waves which weren't too big that day. We got a kick out of the surfers all decked out in their gear to ride 3 and 4 foot waves. Buddihist temples nestled in the lush green hills surrounding the ocean was a striking sight.

Beijing Olympics Come to a Close

2008-08-31T06:07:00.000-07:00

Well the Beijing 2008 Olympics have come to a close. We weren't able to catch a lot of American coverage, but we did see Taiwan TV coverage and I was especially happy to see the women's track and field events. Probably the most exciting race we saw was in the swimming events when the American men won the 4X100 meter freestyle relay in the final seconds of the race. We saw it on the internet via an LA NBC station, so the American coverage added to the excitement. Michael Phelps was inspiring when he made history and won 8 Olympic Golds. Bolt's 100 meter men's world record was exciting, but notice there is no photo of him, as Sean felt he wasn't deserving enough to be on our blog due to his extreme arrogance and poor sportsmanship. The girl's gymnastics was exciting with Sean Johnson and Nastia Leukin winning golds for the USA. Some other sports we enjoyed were women's volleyball. Of course my favorite were the women's track and field events. Some of our favorites were the long jump, pole vault, and of course hurdles. I didn't get to see the women's 400 meter hurdle race final (my race in college), which was dissapointing, but I did see the final of the 100 meter race. I was dissapointed to see hurdler Lolo Jones in the lead with a near gold in her grasp only to hit the second to last hurdle and slow to only a 7th place finish. I was really pulling for her to win. We were dissapointed to see Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang pull out of the hurdle race but not half as dissapoined as the Chinese people. It was like a day of mourning for them. Of course it was all exciting, but not having the American coverage made it less gripping in some ways, as they always do such a good job of building up a race or event. We can only look forward to 2012 in London!

2008 Beijing Olympics come to a close

2008-08-31T06:06:00.001-07:00

Wanda's favorite: Track and Field

Dissapointments: Lolo stumbles, Liu Xiang pulls out.

Gymnastics gold: Sean Johnson, Nastia Liukin

Inspiration of the games: Michael Phelps makes history winning 8 golds.

Olympic Perspective from Taiwan

2008-08-15T08:33:00.000-07:00

We are excited about the Olympics! Especially since we are just a hop skip and a jump away from the action. We watched the local stations' coverage of the opening ceremonies and were blown away by the precision, beauty, culture, and history portrayed. We watch the local stations when we can to see the athletes competing from different countries. This is nice since NBC only really covers the American athletes. We were happy to see Taiwan athletes winning some medals, but sad that Taiwan lost a squeaker in baseball to China. We haven't had much luck getting NBC footage on the internet. We did just find a website for an NBC station out of LA and so have been able to see some footage in English and more on American athletes, which is fun! We got to see a replay of the 4x100 swimming freestyle relay and the amazing and exciting finish by the USA. It has been fun to see the coverage on Phelps and other athletes too.

We found the Western coverage on the fakery of the Olympics interesting. Neither Sean or I were surprised nor were we offended. After living in in an Asian country for 3 years (albeit on the margins of society), and Sean for a total of 9 years, we understood the cultural motivation and thinking behind it. Of course from a Western perspective, it is a bit sad and appalling. But understanding a little (mind you I don't claim to be an expert on Chinese culture) of the Chinese paradigm, it is all in line with the need to save face and make a good appearance. Believe me, I have made many a feaux pas because I didn't understand this complex paradigm of saving face!

It is interesting to find that our students, are not too interested in the Olympics. I would guess that kids in the USA are more aware, than here. Sports isn't emphasized as much as academics here. Plus the younger generation seems to be more into video games than sports. Too bad, because they miss out on the inspiration it can give! Oh well at least they don't get carried away with idol worship. Or maybe their idols are video game characters instead?

That aside...Go Olympians!!

Beijing Olympics Start! 8/8/2008

2008-08-10T10:29:00.000-07:00

Leah's a Star

2008-08-10T10:10:00.000-07:00

Daphne and Leah

Okay, you are probably going to be tired of all these modeling photos, but indulge mommy just a little if you will. This is one of the perks about living here! Our kids get a lot of modeling jobs with Asian kids' clothing companies. Here is Leah at a shoot arranged by cute, fun, and bubbly Daphne (one of the kid's modeling agents). Get a load of the red high heels!

Model Leah

2008-08-10T08:55:00.000-07:00

Here is Leah at a recent photo shoot for winter clothing.

The style was rather rather interesting: a mix of grundge and dressy. Leah is a model model! She follows their instructions well and enjoys all the fun clothes she gets to wear.

Leah models for Teddy Bear Company

2008-08-10T05:54:00.000-07:00

Leah did this shooting for Teddy Bear Company in May.

Ian's Recent Modeling Jobs

2008-08-09T04:20:00.001-07:00

Here are photos of Ian from a recent shoot:

I took the photos from the photographer's computer while shooting, so the quality is not good. I really liked the photographer's style
and was glad I took my camera to get some shots.

Ian liked the fake snow.

Before this shoot, Ian did a shoot for a company called New York City Boy. The style was a bit different than this one to say the least. They had our little four year old in gang banger wear. It was strangely hilarious. Unfortunately, I didn't take my camera to that one. For one take he was decked out in a bandana, and a silver chain around his neck with scorpion pendant with a skull head. Around his wrist he wore a leather sliver studded motorcycle bracelet. From there he had on baggy pants, with a wallet chain, and motorcycle boots. What a get up! What parent dresses their four year old like that? It will be interesting to see the catalog when it comes out.

Kids in Clothing Catalogs

2008-08-09T03:05:00.000-07:00

A while back we visited Sogo Department store and found Ian and Leah's photos in various clothing catalogs and one poster of Ian and one of Leah up in the store. We usually get the catalogs from the agents after they come out in the stores.

Babypowder Mayhem

2008-08-04T07:47:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning before the waterpark, I was scrambling to write a letter to Marianne Frost and get some photos ready to copy for a birthday present for our neigbhor Swei Pei's son Randall. (She is a famous Taiwanese actress here, who is our neighbor and has a son Ian's same age.) I was unwittingly letting the kids play on their own. Well it got quiet and just then Sean walked in the door from work and said, the kids got into something because I can smell it. We opened the bathroom door and found them covered in baby powder from head to toe and all the bathroom fixtures and floor covered in it too. They had completley dumped out all of a brand new tub of powder! It was powder heaven for them! I figured I'd let them continue on in their deviant ways, while I got my projects done and figured it was worth the 3 or so dollars, just for some peace and quiet and kid happiness. Of course it took some time to clean it up! But, all worth it in the scheme of things!

Best Friends Birthday Celebration at Home

2008-08-04T07:21:00.000-07:00

Ian had a small informal birthday celebration at home on Sunday with his best pals outside of school. Sasha came with her dad Eric (from work) and Brandon came with his dad Leland (from church). Both mom's were sick, couldn't make it and stayed home with their boy. Both mom's are Taiwanese and both mom's went to college in Utah! A lot of coincedances going on there! Tammy, Leland's wife, is expecting a baby girl in November.

Sean forgot to grease the pan, so we had to leave the cake in the pan. It is kind of a sorry looking cake, but the kids liked it anyway. But, hey I shouldn't complain. I spent all day Saturday at the waterpark with the kids and all morning working on my Gospel Doctrine lesson. So Sean took over domestic duties and helped clean and made the dinner (yummy lasagne) along with the cake! Thanks Daddy! We love you!

Taipei Waterpark Fun

2008-08-04T06:59:00.000-07:00

The Saturday after Ian's birthday we took him to the Taipei waterpark as a sort of extended birthday celebration. Ian loves to go down the slides and is very brave going down head first or around in a circle. Leah is also brave and went down alone, as you can see the lifeguard getting ready to send her down after daddy. I missed it because as usual my batteries died at the opportune moment.

Going to the waterpark is pretty much an all day afair. These kids are waterbugs in the worse way. They would stay until 9pm closing time, if I didn't make them get out!

Leah loves going down the little kid tube slide over and over and over. She must have gone down 100 times! Everytime she went down she came out squealing with delight saying surprise and doing the hand sign for surprise and excited. Ian is pretty much teaching himself how to swim. He can float and is starting to kick his legs. He can also do double somersaults in the water backward and forward! I never taught it to him. He figured it out on his own. I think he is ready to take swimming lessons!

Ju ni sheng er kwai le Ian!

2008-08-04T06:29:00.000-07:00

We have gotten a kick out of this clip. Ian and Dad laughed a lot when they watched it. Ian had a hard time blowing out the candles and needed a little help!

Ian turns five!

2008-08-04T05:54:00.000-07:00

July 31, 2008: Ian turned 5 years old! He had a party at Lincoln school with his class. They enjoyed a cake and treats and had fun singing happy birthday in English and Chinese. Ian was in seventh heaven. It was pure craziness and fun!

Reminiscing 2005 in Taiwan

2008-08-03T17:55:00.000-07:00

Reminiscing: It is hard to believe that we have been on this island for 3 years. We arrived on May 31 of July 2005. That July Ian turned 2 years old. Middle is a picture of his birthday party at Tom's Dragon that Oscar Momma put on for him. I remember the first day we showed up at Lincoln school, he ran around the play yard with a slew of little Taiwanese children who were excitedly chasing him, yelling "Baby Ian baby Ian!" We were amazed! He carried that name for a while, but it wore off once he started going to Lincoln school at age 3, and started growing taller than the children who had called him Baby Ian! Ian also met Sasha and they became special pals. Sasha's dad is Teacher Eric at Lincoln school. His wife is Jess and we instantly hit it off. They were so kind and generous and helped us adjust to Taiwan life. Left is a photo of all us in Danshui.

Ian's Birthday

2008-08-03T17:04:00.000-07:00

We had a great time on Ian's 5th birthday. We all went to eat at the outdoor teppan-yaki and then went through the Jing-Mei night market. The teppan-yaki is right in the middle of the night market. We love all the sights, sounds, and smells of the night market. The food is delicious and unique here. The good thing is that not only do you get what the guys cook for you, but all the bowls of rice and barley tea you want. Ian and Leah love eating here. When Dave visited me in Taiwan we ate at this place a few times. We took Dad there too in 2006.

Images from 2005

2008-08-03T08:14:00.000-07:00

Looking back: Leah was born in December of 2005. The summer was record hot and unbearable, but the cool came along with our Snow Frost angel.

Ian was excited and a bit unsure at the same time of this new little arrival.

Ian and Leah

2008-07-28T04:32:00.000-07:00

Ian and Leah are really growing up. There are many times when we are dressing Leah and we will say to each other "Wow, she's not a baby anymore". Ian grows taller every day, and at four is taller than many seven year olds here. Leah loves her brother Ian so much. She will play with him for hours on end and still come back for more even if she feels exhausted. She loves to sing and often walks around the house singing songs. She also loves play acting story books while Wanda reads them. Her favorite is the old story of the hat salesman who has his hats stolen by a tree full of monkeys. When almost any catchy tune is played Ian and Leah are taken over by forces beyond thier control and they begin dancing and writhing about. It's very entertaining.

Ian has been enjoying drawing pictures recently. His artistic skill has greatly improved from looking like Jackson Pollack to looking more like Piccaso. Ian also loves Missionaries. He can't stop talking about them or singing about them. He likes to sing "I hope they call me on a mission." He has even taken to wearing a little homeade name-tag around that he got at primary.

We went to Costco the other night and Ian and Leah were such a hit. They were sitting in our cart giggling and hugging the whole time. People would gather in sizeable crowds to watch them. It was really like something out of a Hallmark commercial. Wanda and I feel so lucky to have these two.

Ian and Willy's Rendition

2008-03-01T08:43:00.000-08:00

Here is Ian and his favorite classmate Willy doing their rendition of the Chinese New Year Chant. Willy 6 and Ian is 4, but Ian love's Willy and Willy really watches out for Ian. He is a good little friend to Ian.

Ian and classmates wish Happy New Year!

2008-03-01T08:30:00.000-08:00

Here is a cute chant that Ian's teacher taught the class for Chinese New Year.

Streets of Lu Gong Chinese New Year

2008-02-28T18:52:00.000-08:00

As mentioned before, we visited Lu Gong which is about an hour or so south of Taichung. There are some very old streets here from long ago. This is a main street and as you see it was bustling with crowds of people. There was also a lot of interesting food to see along the way.

Temple in Lu Kang

2008-02-24T16:42:00.000-08:00

Here are more images of temple in Lu Kang.

Chinese New Year Buddhist Temple Worship

2008-02-24T15:42:00.000-08:00

This is the temple in Taichung that we visitited during Chinese New Year. Many people came to light inscence and offer prayers. As you can see it was very crowded. The whole event was quite fascinating to observe. In some of the smaller areas, Ian and Leah started copying the people by putting their hands together and bowing a number of times. We had to stop them out of respect for the people as we tried to contain our snickering.

Family at Chinese Temple

2008-02-17T20:18:00.000-08:00

This is one of the interior courtyards. Everything was so interesting. There were thousands of people there.

Old Temple in Lu Gong

2008-02-17T20:00:00.000-08:00

This is taken at one of the oldest doors at a Temple in Lu Kang. This Temple was founded in 1590.

Typical Chinese New Year meal

2008-02-11T18:43:00.000-08:00

Here is the Zen family at their home in Taichung. Get a close up look at the food. It is all traditional fare for Chinese New Year. The bowl in the middle of the table has soup in it called "Buddha jumped over the wall soup". I guess it is so good that even Buddha can jump over the wall to eat it! All the food was new and interesting to try!
-Wanda

Small farm in Taiwan

2008-02-11T00:39:00.000-08:00

Here is the small farm of the Zen brother's uncle in Chaye county. They have chickens, ducks, a rice field, and grow vegetables like turnips, broccoli, cauliflower,garlic, bok choy, lettuce, mangos, guavas, lychees, dragon fruit, buddha's head fruit, and papaya as you can see in photo with Ian. Everything is organic!

The Zen Family

2008-02-11T00:07:00.000-08:00

These are the Zen brothers. thay are twins. Thier younger sister is on the far left. They were our hosts for this trip. They were so wonderful to us.

In the photo everyone is enjoying those famous Pork-n-strawberry sausages.

Taichung Strawberry Farm

2008-02-10T23:34:00.000-08:00

We went strawberry picking at a farm near Taichung. Wanda and Leah picked quite a few. Our friend Rebecca Zen helped Ian pick a some really nice ones. We all had fun and afterwards ate some of the unique pork and strawberry sausages on a stick that they sell there.

Buddhist Nun Temple

2008-02-10T23:16:00.000-08:00

We visited a Buddhist temple where the Buddhist nuns live. It was fascinating. The Abbess enjoyed Leah's hair. We enjoyed meeting her. It was a very nice experience.

Chinese Fireworks

2008-02-10T22:50:00.000-08:00

Ian and his friend Barnett playing with Sparklers on Chinese New Years Eve. Fireworks are readily available here, and people let them off 24/7. We hear them going off at all hours of the morning in the park near our house during festival time. Barnett's dad bought a lot of fireworks and lit them with the kids. Ian had a blast! (no pun intended)

Taichung Buddhist Temple

2008-02-10T21:58:00.000-08:00

We went with the Zen family to thier Buddhist Temple on Chinese New Years morning. It was very beautiful and was an interesting cultural experince. We met the nuns and the Abbess who is the spiritual leader.

Sean

Seven Eleven Taiwan Style

2008-02-10T21:39:00.000-08:00

Here is a typical 7-11 just around the corner from our house. There are more than 10,000 of them in Taiwan. Items you can't find in the states: chaye eggs, sushi rolls, Japanese comics, whiskey and other alcohol, every type of noodle under the sun, cured duck eggs, cured salted prunes, etc.

Hot Pot

2008-02-10T21:28:00.000-08:00

We went to hot pot again. It's our favorite thing to do in the winter. I (Wanda) was not akin to this food when first arriving on the island, but now I love it! Here we have various vegetables (taro root, tree mushroom), meat (lamb, beef), and other indescribable Chinese delights.

Crabs at Jingmei Market

2008-01-22T21:15:00.000-08:00

Here we have our crab hawker who is always trying to get us to buy the latest catch. I might have to take him up on a few crabs on of these days. Anybody know any good crab recipes?

The next guy sells nuts and spices. He's usually very friendly but is having a bad hair day I guess.

Jing-Mei Farmer's Market

2008-01-22T20:56:00.000-08:00

We love going to the Jing-mei Farmers Market. Farmers Markets are found all over Taiwan. There are probably 50 or more in the Taipei area alone. The Jing-mei Market is the closest one to our home (about 300 meters away). We go there a few times a week to pick up fresh foods. It's like something out of National Geographic. You can find just about every fruit, vegetable, meat, or spice under the sun being hawked there. The Market has been there since the Qing Dynasty and has many interesting things to see.

Leah turns 2 years old

2008-01-20T07:15:00.000-08:00

These two photos of Leah were both taken in December. The first one is of her 2nd birthday party here in Taipei. It was a special night. Here eyes really lit up when we sang Happy Birthday. We enjoyed a classic Taiwanese birthday cake. Angle-food cake with whipped cream icing and fruit between each layer. We lit and re-lit the candel many times so Leah and Ian could take turns blowing it out.

The second photo is of Christmas Eve 2008. We put on a Nativity play with some of our Chinese friends. Leah was the Angel, Ian was Joseph, I was the narrator, Wanda was the donkey, and thier families took up all the other parts. It was all a very wonderful experience.

Sean

Ian's stay at Buddhist Hospital

2008-01-17T19:49:00.000-08:00

Ian recently spent 4 days in the Tzi Chi Buddhist Hopital for surgery on a facial cyst. He was quite popular there. Wanda slept at the Hopital for those 3 nights and read a few Ensigns cover to cover. We ate many meals in the downstairs vegetarian cafeteria. Ian recovered so quickly they let him out a day early. He was such a brave boy.

Sean

Sweet Ian

2008-01-17T07:24:00.000-08:00

Ian is such a sweet boy. He loves Godzilla, Ultraman, and the Power Rangers. He loves dancing to almost any kind of music. Music really seems to take him to a whole other world. Here he is at school on Halloween 2007. He loves being a Superhero. He spent most of that night "flying" off the headboard of our bed onto a pile of pillows.

Sean

Art Projects

2008-01-17T03:22:00.000-08:00

We had some fun the recently. We often like to do little art projects with the kids. We made some mask with them a few weeks ago and this is the result. They seem to be rather happy with their creations. Both Ian and Leah are always getting their hands on markers and coloring up walls, books, or themselves. Leah somehow gave herself a goatee once.

Sean

Taipei at Night

2008-01-16T07:52:00.000-08:00

Hello again. Since we put a picture of Shanghai in our first blog, we thought we'd show a picture of Taipei in todays blog. This is about What it looks like today with all the rain and cool weather we have been experincing. Enjoy.

Sean

Chinese Hot Pot

2008-01-16T07:36:00.000-08:00

The weather has been cold and wet so we decided to go out for a very popular winter food here. We had some traditional hot pot. It fun to gather around the table with the kids and prepare your own food right there. It's a fun family sharing experience and quite exciting for the kids. We had the 'sea-crearures"Hot Pot tonight. We topped it of with lemon sugarcane gelatin and chestnut ice cream. Ian and Leah sang Jingle Bells as we walked throuh the alleys on the way home.

Sean

Our First Blog

2008-01-14T06:19:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone,

We are enjoying life here in Asia. Life isn't always easy but it is exciting and very fullfilling.

This is a picture of our neighbor Shanghai. I'll add a photo of Taipei soon. It's late and I've much to do before I sleep so ....adios for now.

Sean