Taiwanese T-Giving

I think we've become accustomed to the traffic in Taipei by now, but it truly is like rush hour 24/7.  Busy streets filled with buses, taxis, cars, and especially scooters.

Steps on a hiking trail in Pinxi that Brian and his friend Tim hiked recently.

Extreme hiking

Pretty Taiwan from the view in Pinxi.

The bus we got super lost on one day and rode for about an hour till we came to the very end of the line.

Happy to see the sun after 2 weeks of clouds or rain. Taiwan has had really wierd weather lately... and lots of little earthquakes, too, that wake us up in the middle of the night and sometimes shake the books off of our shelves.

Brian cut his finger pretty bad while trying to make spagetti in...

our kitchen! yep, there it is...

We have a propane tank and hot plate on our back porch that we make all of our meals with. But we usually eat all of our meals out, since you can eat for so cheap in most restaurants.  It is usually more expensive to cook Western food at home than it is to eat local food at a nearby restauarant.

mini pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving

Our second mode of transportation of choice, the MRT.

Our Thanksgiving dinner was so good- all the food traditional Thanksgiving food from home that we were missing so much!

Brian, Alan, and Emlin at our Thanksgiving party

Ni Hao, ya'll

Bringing Texas to Taiwan

Gettin' a kiss from my little lady!

Here is a scary group of Hsin Hu teachers at Rachel's school.

Dodging traffic on Rachel's birthday!

Rachels HRT's surprised her with a birthday cake while she was teaching.

Checking out our neighborhood while waiting for a train.

Mucking around on the MR

Taking pictures of my wife on our street.

Here is a street just outside our apartment. Notice the 7-11. Life in Taiwan would stop if there were no 7-11's. We do everything at 7-11 even pay our bills and parking tickets. =)

Rachel and her friends at a cookout we went to last weekend in Taoyuan.

Rachel at her favorite shopping destination, Ximen

I was greeted by Buddha when I reached the top of one of the mountains I climbed this weekend.

our Taiwanese apartment

Hello everyone! Sorry we've been slacking w/ the blog- we've been super busy! We've been traveling around a bunch of different cities in Taiwan, acting in plays at each of our schools for Moon Festival, shopping in the night markets (i'm in love with the night markets), and teaching teaching teaching!

I've (Rachel) joined a yoga class which I take with 5 of my Taiwanese (and one Canadian) friends every Tuesday night. Brian's found a rock climbing gym near our home that he's really excited about. We've also been having cooking parties at our friend James' house to get our fix of familiar Western food- sometimes I can't take anymore rice! :) We made Mexican food the other day and it was heaven.

Brian is planning on climbing the tallest mountain in Taiwan, Jade Mountain, sometime this winter. The trip will take several days, so he has to wait until we have some time off work in January. We love and miss you all!

Our hiking group from Wulai a couple Sundays ago

At Fulong beach a few weeks ago

This is our living room- our TV has 10 channels in English- CNN, Discovery Channel, National Geographic, Animal Planet, and 5 channels that play movies in English 24/7.

The little room leading to our patio door

Our bedroom- everything is from Ikea :)

The Japanese style doors leading to our bedroom

Our hallway

10/10 is one of Taiwan's national holidays- the flag i made w/ my babies at school! we marched around the school shouting "Jiyoa Taiwan!" (spelling?) which means, "Go, Taiwan!"

our street in front of our apt and some of our neighbors

Me on our awesome porch- we LOVE our mountains!!!!!

Brian on our porch!

Our lovely neighbor- we love her! she lives below us and she speaks no English, so we get to practice our Mandarin with her

We saw Mr. Miyogi in Danshui!

Only in Taiwan... we see dogs EVERYWHERE dressed in tu-tu's, rain jackets, and shoes. oh and riding in purses and strollers. really???

A Sunday in Danshui- a cool little college town in Northern Taiwan

The night market in Danshui- crazy packed

Slippery bridges in Wulai

Brian at Fulong Beach, one of the more popular beaches in Northern Taiwan. We took a train, met some friends from training, and spent a lovely Sunday afternoon sunbathing and swimming.

Our friend Katannya (my coworker) invited us to go hiking with some of her friends. We got to try a new trail in Wulai, meet the author of Lonely Planet Taiwan, as well as some other Americans who had lived in Taiwan for a few years. Those are always the best people to ask for ideas on where to visit in Taiwan- they know the best places.

Evening scenes in a beautiful country

I love this picture of my husband. We went on a short evening hike with our friends Tim and Tom in Keelung.

The next day, Jenna joined us and we went hiking in Sandialing (which is perfect to sing to the Arabian Nights tune).

Some locals resting after a hard afternoon of surfing

Picture stop while driving on our scooter through the mountains. Notice Ipod in hand- the best way to spend a drive!

Though the idea is cute, it's really not the best choice to ride a scooter in a sun dress!