Hi Everyone!

Please pray for Brian while he's on his biking trip this weekend- please pray for their safety while they are riding through the mountains and for their safe return on Sunday. Thanks and pictures of his trip to come soon! Rach

For the LOVE of Taiwanese food - by Brian

This post goes out to my favorite cook in Taiwan. Our "Auntie" at my DaHu Kindergarten.

I took a few photos of what we had this week.

Shredded Pork with Orange Flowers

Green Vegetables and Rice

I've never eaten flowers before... they taste great!

Sweet and Sour Pork with Scrabbled Eggs

Topped with Bean Sprouts and Rice...YUM!

Shredded Pork with Vegetables

Quail Eggs and Rice...Delicious!

Shredded Pork with Green Peppers

Pineapple and Breaded Shrimp which is supposed bring me some luck!

I LOVE TAIWANESE FOOD!

Thoughts on Leaving

Hello Everyone,

We've been trying to update our blog more often, and I'm actually starting to really enjoy it! Here's a plethora of thoughts right now:

- Today is my day off and I've been packing and packing. Something I really love about traveling/living overseas is that it keeps your possessions simple. When you move around a lot, you just can't have a lot of stuff, and it's a really good incentive to get rid of old clothes and things we don't really use. I've got a coworker who is my size and she is going to get lots of presents on Monday!

-Brian's work gave us free tickets to see Inception tomorrow, at the new theatre that opened in Taipei Main Station. We're going with all of his coworkers tomorrow night- can't wait I've heard its amazing

-Yesterday was our one year anniversary in Taiwan... and I celebrated by getting my foot ran over by a taxi! It was really painful, but thank goodness nothing was broken! Crazy. I was on my scooter at a stop light, and the taxi behind me (and to the right) just couldn't wait for the light to turn green. He drove up right beside me, and right over my four toes and half of my foot! AND, the entire time, he was beeping his horn at me, like I was in his way! Taipei taxi drivers are actually really dangerous, and when I told my friend Alex, he said the same thing happened to him awhile ago... guess it's pretty common around here!

- I only have 15 more official days at work... I'm actually really sad about it. This year, I've had just about the best team of co-workers that you can have. Hopefully, though, we can all visit each other sometime in the future- they are all from different, really cool places all around the world: Canada, New Zealand, London, and America.

- Brian is taking a weekend biking trip through the mountains of Taiwan next weekend, so get ready for some beautiful pictures pretty soon! And be sure to check out the video he put in the post below- it's really cool.

Rachel

This a great video I found that shows a lot of what we see here in Taiwan - Enjoy!

Hello everyone! Our time in Taiwan is going by quickly. We will be leaving our little island for a smaller island in the Pacific. In three weeks Rachel and I will start a new adventure in Saipan. I will be a Guidance Counselor for the island's Junior High School and Rachel will be going back to school for Nursing. We are both really excited about our new location but at the same time we are noticing all the little things we will miss in Taiwan. I saw this video the other day and thought it was a great take on Taiwan. Enjoy!

Brian

Do you read what i read?

Books we've read in Taiwan:

Brian's

Rachel's

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger: Amazing- one of the very best books I've ever read in my life. I cried for like an hour after finishing it :)

Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert: Good- inspires you to travel and eat really good food!

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte: Wonderful and so romantic. I wanted to start reading through some of the classics, and I started with this one. The classics definitely take longer to get through because of the (to me) difficult language, but they are well worth it.

Chasing Harry Winston by Lauren Weisburger: Good, for a girly beach-reading book :)

Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisburger: The same- a good girly-girl book

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak: So good- a WWII story told from the perspective of a little girl living in Germany. Tells about her life growing up, the Nazi party in her city, and how her family secretly hides a Jewish man. And it's written from "Death's" perspective- so it's narrated by "Death."

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austin: My second "classic"- I love this book so much

The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards: so- so

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger: Pretty good- kinda weird

Gone With the Wind by Margaret MItchell: I read this book because it's one of my Gram's favorite books, and I absolutely loved it. My Gram has excellent taste in lots of things :)

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink: Very good- I loved the movie and the book as well.

Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith by Gina B. Nahai: This book is amazing and strange and really cool. It's about a family's life in Iran, but it's written kind of like a fairy-tale.

Right now I'm reading The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst: Just started it. About a man ( a linguist professor) who tries to teach his dog to speak after she is the only witness to his wife's death.

I've really loved having all of this extra time in Taiwan to read. It's one of my very favorite things to do, but during college there was never any time to read novels. I wanted to read a book every month in Taiwan, and it's been really nice!

Feeling hot hot hot

Hello everyone!

It's hot hot hot here in Taipei during the summer- up in the high 90's to 100's every single day. We're spending a lot of time at the beach and in the pool cooling off.

Here are some pictures of our gorgeous city. Brian took these last week while hiking Nangang Mtn.

We have about a month left in Taiwan. In August, we will be moving to Saipan, where Brian will be a counselor for a Junior High School, and I will be taking prerequisites to enter a nursing program back in the States. We are really looking forward to our move, but will miss Taipei so much. We're spending the weekends trying to do everything we want to do and see in Taiwan before we leave!