Reflecting on Taipei, a year later

cheap and surprisingly delicious lattes at every 7-11 (mmm City Cafe)

riding our scooters fast through busy, vibrant downtown

every type of restaurant you could ever want at your fingertips... and the BEST Indian restaurants

the adventure of living in a big place.  Yes, i know that Taiwan isn't exactly a huge island, but it is much, much bigger than our island now.  

scooter day trips through the mountains and just seeing where we ended up 

our coworkers... couldn't have asked for better ones at Hsin Hu and Dahu!

20 minute exercise time every morning with the whole school before school started.  This was such a brilliant idea- it woke you up and got you energized for the day... especially needed on the days when we were drinking our coffee during exercise time.

"oh Taiwan... really?" moments

the excitement of learning and the accomplishment of speaking a new language.  I really miss hearing Mandarin Chinese in my ears everywhere I go.  It is such a beautiful language.

yoga classes in Taipei and carrying my mat on my scooter

the initial feeling of independence found in living overseas.  I still love this.

oh the shopping.  the cheap, wonderful shopping

our first few months in Taipei, everything was a curiosity and it was so fun!

cheap electricity

holing up inside of our apartment during most of the rainy week of Chinese New Year and watching 2 entire seasons of LOST

 all of the events that were constantly going on in Taiwan:  Lantern Festivals, Dragon Boat racing... there is never a dull moment

the enormous amount of gas money we saved while only riding scooters all year... although I would have given anything for a car when it was pouring rain on the way to work!

tall, misty, green, mysterious, breathtaking mountains

Taiwan is a gorgeous country and the people are incredibly kind and friendly.  We had the best experience there as English teachers for a little over a year.  If anyone is contemplating teaching there, we would love to answer any of your questions!

Samantha

i love this puppy face.

We've moved into our new little rental house up on Navy Hill. It's two small (very small) bedrooms, and is located on a compound that we share with about 6 other houses up on the hill. I love how shady the area is, allowing us to use less air conditioning! That is so important because electricity is much more expensive here in Saipan than what we are used to in the US or Taiwan.

My very favorite part of our new rental house is the view of the ocean from the porch. Our neighbors just recently cleared a lot of trees which was blocking most of the ocean view... now we can see the sea from our bedroom window!

Brian and I are both busy with all day summer camps right now, and getting the new house all organized. There were a lot of unfinished projects when we first moved in (no air-conditioning, leaking toilet and shower, broken water heater), but our landlady is finally ironing all of those out. Pictures to come soon.

Happy Anniversary! 3 years and 3 countries

Today we're celebrating three years together! 6 years ago I walked into Tulakes Church, where I was starting my freshman internship, and met Brian. I was attracted to his sincerity, kindness, the way that he always treated me with respect, and how he loved to have fun. He still has all of those wonderful qualities and as we've spent the last three years living and traveling together, I've discovered so many more that make me fall more in love with him each year. I love you, baby!

A snow day in Oklahoma City. I remember snuggling up in his apartment on campus and watching movies, cooking, and drinking red tea during this snow day my sophomore year of college.

A roadtrip to St. Louis the summer before my junior year. We took countless roadtrips back when we lived in the states- something I'm really excited to do again one day. When we moved to Taiwan, those roadtrips turned into scooter trips, where we'd spend all day on our scooter exploring the mountains and towns of Taiwan.

Hiking in Mt. Scott- one of my first and favorite pictures of the two of us.

My senior year at a banquet dinner for the church I interned at.

Senior year- getting coffee at the Red Cup with our friend Holly.

In the airport getting ready to move across the world for the first time. It was a scary and exciting feeling to pack most of our things in a storage unit and the rest into our suitcases, to move to a country where they didn't speak our language. Now, we both agree that we wouldn't have traded moving to Taiwan for anything. Traveling was a huge passion and so important to both of us, and I'm glad that I went right out of college.
Halloween at Hsin Hu Kindergarten, the school I worked at last year.

And finally... moving to Saipan. We're here to stay on this little tropical island until we find a job in the states.

Happy Anniversary Brian, and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you!

Lime green house

I've always enjoyed decorating the 4 apartments I've lived in (plus my dorm room in college with my BRE Whitney!), but this year in Saipan we've left our one bedroom apartment very, very bare. It's so crazy- there's no curtains (only blinds), no cute bedspread, no lamps, nothing even on the walls. Things are very, very expensive in Saipan because they all have to be shipped in, so one reason we choose to not buy these is that we just don't have the funds for it. Another reason is that it's just really nice to live in a simple, clutter-free house for a year.

I am looking forward to decorating our next place back in the States (I've even been bookmarking cool interior design ideas I've come across on blogs for future ideas), and I'm also really excited about the storage unit in Yukon, Oklahoma that is still holding all of our household appliances, bedding, and things that we didn't want to drag around overseas with us the past two years. I'm especially missing our crock pot, toaster oven, and blender back home (appliances are super expensive here; each of these is over 60 dollars!). It will be nice to come back to these things, but it's also really nice to live so simply right now, and to get by on just the basics.I love our kitchen. It's small, compact, and has everything we need. The concept of the stove is foreign to Taiwan, so this year in Saipan I'm loving ours. One thing that's not widely used in Saipan are microwaves. Apartments don't come with them, and they are extremely pricey to buy. You just get used to not ever using one, and make all your food on the stove or in the oven.

Dining room area (our kitchen, dining room and living room are all in one). Those big jugs are the water we use here. The tap water is really salty and contains too much chlorine to drink, so you buy these big containers for cooking and drinking. We spend about 2 dollars on this every week- not bad at all. When I visited home for Christmas, it was so weird to be able to drink a big glass of tap water!

Plus... isn't the wall color awesome?? It makes it feel like a true beach house!

Sayonara Taipei.... Hola Saipan!

Well hello....

We're here in the Taipei airport waiting for our flight to the Philippines. We said our last goodbyes yesterday :( (more difficult than I even expected!) and now it's time to move once again!

Here's what Brian's eating:

Here's what I'm drinking:

And here's our life in 6 bags... minus one that's under my feet right now

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

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!

Ni Hao!!

Brian waiting with our carry-on luggage in the airport (We had already checked our other 4 huge bags!)

Hanging out in the airport together


Our first night in Taiwan! This was in one of the famous "night markets," where Brian was picking out which bubble tea he wanted

Brian and I outside of the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, where we witnessed an amazing "changing of the guards."

Some of our friends in our group (fellow new teachers) - Lynn, Katie, me, Jenna, and Vanessa

Trying to order in Chinese :) So fun! Katherine (next to me) helps a lot- she is almost fluent in Mandarin. At this restaurat, they brought the food to us raw, and we dipped it into the boiling water in the middle of the table to cook it. Some of it was really good, and some was really.... interesting....

Our group outside of the restaurant. In all, there are about 60 new teachers in our training group.

Well, we have been in Taiwan for four days now and it is amazing! Some parts have been challenging, along with a little culture shock, but all in all it is going great. We have been so impressed by the training that our school is holding (we started training yesterday). The staff is really energetic and professional, and the training has been VERY interactive and really helpful.

Brian and I found out yesterday where we will be stationed in Taiwan after training. We will live in the Nei hu district of Tai Pei, which is about 45 minutes from the coast, and which is right near a big national park- wooo hooo! We also found out that we will both be teaching full time kindergarten, which is the age group that i was really hoping to get.

The best part of our trip so far has been getting to know the other new teachers and exploring the city with them. Most of the new English teachers are in their twenties, and the majority come from the States, the UK, New Zealand, or Scotland. Everyone is so friendly and eager to make new friends in Taiwan, and we are excited to visit eachother in all of the different parts of the island we will be stationed at. Many of them are really into outdoor activities- hiking, climbing, scuba diving.... so we are really excited to do some of that with our friends here.

More soon- Thanks for praying for us!!! Rachel and Brian

We've Got The Job!!!!

Hello friends and family! Rachel and I have just accepted a job offer from Hess Educational Organization in Taiwan. We are expected to arrive in Taiwan on July 25, 2009 and begin our new adventure together. Until then, we have a very exciting summer ahead of us.  Rachel will be graduating college tomorrow and I am so proud of her. We are excited to hear from you over this next year and hope to share our experiences with you. We love you all.