The Quadra-Thanksgiving

 #1. 5th Grade Class

#1 Thanksgiving

On Wednesday I celebrated Thanksgiving with my class by teaching them how to make crescent rolls, playing pin the hat on the turkey (very traditional, I know), and eating a surprisingly healthy meal.  These kids brought tons of fruit and veggies- so in essence, it didn't really taste (or feel afterwards) like a true Thanksgiving meal.  

#2 The Real Deal

2nd Thanksgiving

On Thanksgiving day we celebrated with fellow teachers at Stacy's house.  It was a rainy day, and it felt all the more comfortable to stay inside.   Half the day was spent (for me) making stuffing, crescent rolls, and berry pie.  It was a great feast!  The highlight for me was special K loaf, a rarity over here.   The evening was followed up with a blanket fort. 

#3 The Real Deal with turkey

We were invited by Ashley and Oliver, a couple who work for one of the English camps, to visit their camp and spend Thanksgiving with them.   The camp, which is located in Kuolai, is quite a ways outside of Taipei in the mountains.   Since it's quite removed from Taipei, it's beautiful there.   We spent the Sabbath together by gobbling down Thanksgiving food once again, having a more laid-back sermon and discussion time, and skipping rocks along the river.  These rocks were made soley to skip along the water, and it was the best rock skipping I've ever seen. 

#4 I think I'm getting tired of stuffing

On Sunday my principal and his wife had another Thanksgiving meal at their house.  Yes, by this time I was getting a little tired of stuffing my face.   It was good, but it also marked the end of our vacation and so the blanket fort had to come down.  It was a good run. 

Since then we've been quite busy planning our Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia trip, coaching basketball games (that was Zach), dealing with troublesome students, and planning-school, church stuff, etc..  You name it, we've been planning it, or so it feels at least. 

An evening of decorating cookies with the Webbs & Burketts

Knowing our lives would only get super busy, we spent an evening a week or so before Thanksgiving decorating cookies with the Webbs and the Burketts.   We've really enjoyed becoming friends with Ashley and Oliver as well as other people at the English camps. 

Cookies that Zach & I just made for the staff at both our schools.

The last few months...

So, it's been approximately a year since we've written on our blog. Oh well... Sometimes it's hard to get in the mood of writing about yourself. Today, however, is a rainy day which is perfect for writing in a blog.
My class is amazing this year! Of course I only have 9 students, but they are so well behaved. I find myself forgetting that they are even in my class sometimes when I am busy grading. It's a good change from last year, but I do miss those rowdy, rambunctious boys too.
I find that even though I have such an easy year, I still keep myself busy. With what I honestly don't know. Zach and I have both taken on more responsibilities at church and school. Zach is coaching the boy's basketball team at TAPA again this year. Things are going much smoother than last year. I am busy taking a class on autism from the States and have been planning our upcoming trips. During Thanksgiving we're planning on staying in Taiwan and exploring the southern part of the island. Even though this is going on 3 years, we've rarely gone south. For Christmas we are planning a trip to Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. I am eagerly anticipating this trip. We're still working on where to go and such, but we plan on seeing Angkor Wat and the killing fields in Cambodia, going through some old tunnels from the Vietnam War in Vietnam, visiting the Tiger Temple in Thailand (where we get to pet Tigers!), snorkeling where possible, stocking up on Thai food for Zach and Vietnamese food for both of us, and of course getting a plethora of Thai massages. Mmmmm.... I can't wait.

I've composed a list of other random things we've been up to. (I love making lists!)
*During 10/10/10 weekend, we went with Tell, Lacey, and Nic to the middle of the island to revisit Taroko Gorge. We also went rafting, similar to white water rafting but just not deserving of "white water." On this trip, we saw monkeys in Taiwan for the first time, and we stumbled across a cattle camping place which was quite eery on a rainy night.
*I've started my own cooking blog.
*I sent Zach on an Amazing Race birthday adventure. (Note picture at the end.)

*Zach visited the Taipei zoo for the first time, and I have lost count. (more than once is too many times in my mind).

*We have a scooter! We recently just got the tire fixed and now we're ready to do more exploring with it. A month and a half ago we biked over the mountains to the beach. I love the drive except for the bumpity bumps. The drop in heat as we climbed the mountains was refreshing.
*Swing dancing- even though the majority of it was in Chinese
*Hosted a birthday party at our house for Zach. The highlights of the evening (for me) were playing Family Feud and cream puffs. Zach enjoyed playing football.
*Hosted 2 separate couchsurfers
*Biked around the city 3 Sundays ago. Got completely drenched during a random thunderstorm.
*Zach preached at church again. It was said to be his best sermon by the pastor, and one of the better ones he has heard.
* Zach visited snake alley while I aimlessly wandered about. Zach, as well as multiple other teachers, were video-taped and aired on the news. Evidently, they videoed Zach and company at snake alley, because they were blaming foreigners for the reason they perform such cruel acts on the snakes and turtles. They claimed that these foreigners were "demanding" to see a snake being skinned. Of course, it didn't help when Zach and other teachers turned around, discovering they were on tv, gave a thumbs up. And the only reason we know they were on tv is because multiple students told us on Monday.
*Zach is avidly learning to play the guitar.
*Made berry strudel (apfel strudel didn't seem as exciting) and watched "The Sound of Music" reminiscing of all the places we had visited on our Europe trip this summer.
* Experienced a vegetarian barbeque for Moon Festival.

Well, I guess that's it as my mind is running out of new things to add. A few nights ago, Zach and I strolled out to the school's playground with a blanket and cups of apple cider (for Zach) and hot lemon water (for me) in hand. Fall is coming/here. It has been teasing us lately. It gets cool enough to pull out a sweater, but the next day we are scorched with heat. Even so, I appreciate those random cool days.