Hiking club to the Old Man

I'm really proud of my husband for the hiking club he started at Hopwood Junior High, here on Saipan. Here's some pictures from the most recent hike they took to the Old Man by the Sea, a rock formation that we've documented on here before.

The whole group. Usually about 30-35 kids come, with about 10 sponsors (teachers at

Hopwood or parents of the students).

Before Brian started the club, Hopwood didn't have any kind of outdoor activity club. Brian loves to hike and wanted to share this interest with the kids at his school, which I think is so cool. The response has been huge, and the club has now taken 3 trips: Obyan Beach, Bird Island, and Old Man by the Sea. The students really enjoy the activities that are planned each time, like scavenger hunts, exploring Saipan's caves, and swimming in the ocean.

The next hiking club activity will be to hike the trail down from Suicide Cliff to the Last Command Post (both are very famous war sites here on Saipan).

I'm really proud of Brian and what he's doing at his school, and wanted to share. More pictures of the next hikes to come.

Old, old man

My husband loves to climb everything :)

Last Sunday, seven of us took a hike down to Old Man by the Sea...

Can you see his profile? We explored the area, lounged in the ocean... the best way to spend a Sunday afternoon in Saipan!

Happy week of Thanksgiving!

My girls Kara and Amy above Forbidden Island

Hello everyone,

Guess what we're excited about.....

THANKSGIVING FOOD!!

We have two Thanksgiving dinners this week- we feel very lucky! On Monday night, our small group Bible Study is having a big Thanksgiving dinner and we're bringing stuffing (yum!). On Thursday, we will have another wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at our friend's parents' house, and we're making Brian's favorite T-Giving food: sweet potato casserole (from his mom's awesome recipe).

It's always tough to spend the holidays away from our families that we love and miss so much, but we are thankful to be in Saipan. We feel like our friends here are truly our family away from home, and I'm so glad to spend this holiday with them.

The steep hike down to the island- at some points you need to use a rope.

Brian hiking pics

Brian isn't into blogging quite as much as I am, but he has some really great pictures of his hikes that I wanted to put on here.Here's some more from Forbidden Island- again, most were taken by Josh Franklin- thanks Josh!

Many of the caves and hikes in Saipan have ropes that you have to use to lower yourself down by. It's not difficult- a little slippery after it has rained- but really cool.

Weekend Update

Hello family and friends,

October has been a busy, busy month!

On Saturday, Brian lead his first Hiking Club excursion. It turned out great, and he did such a great job coordinating the hiking site, permission slips, all of the sponsors, and other details. 20 plus students came for the hike and about 8 sponsors, who were parents and other teachers at Hopwood Jr. High, and it was a great time. Because of the great interest and the support of the administrators at Hopwood, Brian's going to host one Hiking club hike per month... I'm really, really proud of him and the way that he created this all by himself.

This month has flown by with work and school. My tutoring job is going great, and the number of students that I tutor has been growing every couple of weeks, which is a bonus. I've joined a gym with some of my girl friends which has a dance class that I look forward to every week- it's so fun! I've also been looking at lots of medical programs in Oklahoma City (nursing and dental hygienist) trying to narrow down which ones I will apply to. I'm dreading taking Chemistry next semester as a prerequisite!

Love you all and we'll post some October pictures soon, Rachel

Hike to Forbidden Island

Last week 6 of us hiked down to Forbidden Island. Forbidden Island is a marine sanctuary that is protected from all fishing, boating, etc. I think it is one of the most beautiful places on the island. The hike starts out through the jungle then the steep banks to the water.

The tide was low enough for us to cross over to the island by foot.

It was a really steep and sweet climb to the top.

The view from the top was well worth the climb with Saipan on one side and miles of open ocean on the other.

This is the view from the top of the Forbidden Island

There are so many great places to hike on the island. I have started a hiking club at the Junior High that I work at. I have a ton of students who are very excited about our trips. Next weekend will be our first trip.

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!

The day we saw a cobra

This is an incense offering in Bishan temple. People who come to worship here will light their stick of incense and go through a ritual of bowing and praying.

Bishan temple

A super popular milk tea stand in the Nangang area- when we passed by, there were over 30 people lined up for one cup of milk tea!

Our pretty city- Neihu, Taiwan, as you drive by Dahu Park

Yum! fresh squeezed orange juice

Don't look down! This hiking trail was so fun- there were 4 mountain peaks with these stairs built into them, which let you climb all the way to the narrow peaks.

Brian climbing to the top of one

The view on the way up. These trails were in Pinxi, which is the same city that hosts the famous "Lantern Festival" every year.

Here are pictures from another hike that we took with some friends from work. The hike was in the mountains right behind our apartment, and the trail started in the park at the end of our street.

This was.... right after we saw a cobra. Yes, a real, live cobra blocking our path on the trail. We were all walking up the trail steps and heard a loud hissing noise, and saw Austin (our friend's golden retriever) freak out and jump out of the way. A giant "Chinese Cobra" was sitting there, like 4 feet away from us! He was hissing and had his hood all puffed up... but soon just slithered away into the woods. So crazy!

We made it to the top of the trail

The trail ends at Bishan Temple, and overlooks Taipei City

Chinese New Year

Happy Chinese New Year!

We just had a week off of work for Chinese New Year, and it was so nice! On Valentines Day, we took a scooter ride to the Pinglin area, which is about 2 hours South of our city, Neihu. We explored the city, took a little hike up a hill to see a cool statue, and ended up running into one of the Chinese staff at my school! She invited us to sit with her family at her house (this was the house she grew up in- she has her own apt in Taipei), and to drink some of the tea that her father grows as a living. The tea was great, and we had a good conversation in English with my friend, and a very broken and limited conversation in Chinese with her family. :)

We also took a trip to Yilan, an area on the Northeast coast of Taiwan. Below are some pictures of our trips, and a few old pictures too! Enjoy.

Buuuuuddha

A girls day out with my friends Ashleigh and Jenna

Hiking in the mountains behind our apartment. There's all these random little trails and things to see- it's really cool up there.

Playing on the train on our way to Yilan- we took a little day trip by train. It was supposed to be a 2 hour train ride, but we took the wrong train and it ended up being a 3 hour ride. Still really fun!

Gorgeous Chinese New Year lanterns in Yilan- lanterns like these are everywhere in Taiwan during the lunar holiday

A train stop along the way of our trip

our tickets

Our starting point- the Nangang train station by our house