Bali 2011

Our trip to Bali was everything I wanted it to be....relaxing.  Well, it probably wouldn't have been considered relaxing by most people's definition but for us it was.  It was both relaxing during the vacation and prior to leaving.  We bought our tickets 3 months beforehand, found a place to take SCUBA classes, booked a dolphin adventure, and booked a few hotels.  That was it.  Now, last year's Let's-See-Everything-There-Is-To-See-In-Southeast-Asia trip was fun, but a lot of planning.  As much as I'd like to be one of those people who just flies by the seat of their pants for trips, I'm not.  I don't like not knowing where we'll be spending the night, or how we're going to get to a new location.  That just seems like a stressful trip.  Everytime we say, "Oh, we'll just book a hotel when we get there," things don't turn out all that great.  Things don't just magically fall into place.
Where was I going with this....oh, yes... it was relaxing.   After a tough semester of masters classes, teaching, and administrative duties at school, I was ready for a break!  Unfortunately, Zach and I just happened to get sick before leaving.  Unlike the Taiwanese, I pride myself in not going to the doctor for every little cough or runny nose.  However, the day before we left, I caved.  I had been suffering through some bronchitis for over a week, and I was fed up with it.  I left the doctor's office with probably 60 pills and a little container of brown liquid.  The pharmacist didn't speak any English, and I still don't really know what that liquid was.  Using my limited Chinese, I figured out how often I needed to take it.  I felt like that was the most important thing to remember at the time.
Ok, let's get back to Bali.  We started our trip with school, SCUBA school.  I was so used to studying and taking graduate level tests that studying for SCUBA stuff wasn't that bad.  Plus, I really didn't plan on going diving at all.  The night before we had our first class, I was determined NOT to go.  It wasn't until the morning that I felt I should just "watch" Zach take the course.  Once we got there, I was too shy to tell them that I was just going to observe, and suddenly I found myself in the middle of a SSI Open Water Course.  Once we got to the pool session, I thought I'd give it a whirl.  Immediately my mind was screaming, "GET ME OUT OF HERE!"   It wasn't fun, and I just wanted to be done.  By the end of the session, I had gotten some self-confidence and thought, "Well, maybe I'll come back tomorrow."
Well, tomorrow came and yet again, I found myself screaming inside my head to leave.  This time, however, we were in the ocean and the water tasted much worse than the pool.  I had gone down a meter when I started freaking out.  Even though we really couldn't understand our Dive Master in the classroom, he did a really great job at calming me down while under the water.

The next day we had our last 2 dives at Tulumben, an old WWII shipwreck.  Besides having difficulty equalizing, I began to love the dive.  And what did Zach think about diving this entire time?   He was perfectly fine.  Yeah, it took him a little while to get used to the pressure on the ears and how to "float", but his mind never screamed at his body to run away.

    When we finally finished diving (it felt like a week rather than 3 days), we headed over to the east side of the island to swim with some dolphins.  I felt so relieved that the diving part of our trip was over, and I could just "enjoy" the rest of the time we had.  The dolphin encounter was one thing that I was really looking forward to.  I was afraid that somehow either the dolphins would all run away, or they'd lose our booking and we wouldn't be able to go.  I kept pretending like it was a dream, and I wouldn't actually be able to do it.  So when we were actually in the water with the dolphins, it was surreal.
   It was fun watching Zach's face during the whole dolphin experience.  His was the face of pure delight.

   Besides the awesome experiences in the water, the best thing about Bali was the FOOD.  Most meals we ate were between $3-$5 USD, excluding a $0.80 meal.  So cheap and yet SO DELICIOUS! 

One day Zach and I decided to forego the touristy trips around the island.  The little tourist trap salesmen kept saying, "Oh, but this tour will take you to the most beautiful temples on Bali."  I loathe going to temples.  We really haven't seen that many, and I'm ok with that.  All temples look the same, for the most part.  I really don't think I need to see any more.  Instead of a touristy tour, Zach and I rented a scooter and went exploring the middle of the island - a mountainous land with rice paddies everywhere.  It was really beautiful.  We just watched the farmers out in their fields.  They even motioned for us to join them, but we had seen far too many Amazing Race episodes where Americans fell into the muddy fields.  Funny on TV.  Neither of us wanted to be those Americans.
    As we wondered along the road, many people either on scooters, motorbikes, or cute little vans would stop and say hello.  These people were SO friendly, and for once, they weren't asking us if we wanted a message, a taxi, a tattoo, or shrooms.  It felt peaceful just being among the real people in Bali.

   Even though we spent 3 days studying for our SCUBA certification, spent only 2 days "at the beach", and got up at 6:00 most mornings, it was one of the most relaxing trips we've gone on together. 

Christmas trip 2010

Thailand

Our trip started out here and ended here.  We couchsurfed with an Adventist living in Bangkok.  He and his roommate took us to an incredibly friendly Filipino church in Bangkok. We ended up meeting a Canadian, the only other white person in the church.  He was familiar with Minot and Metigoshe.  He had invited us to some ice-skating when we rolled back into town, but unfortunately, Zach was sick. 


Cambodia
First stop...Siem Reap. Ahh....I do believe this was my favorite place on our trip.  Nice hotel, check...friendly tuk tuk driver, check....bargaining and cheap prices, check....visiting Angkor Wat from sun up to sunset, check....free breakfast, check....visiting a silk farm and eating mullberries, check....good finds for food, check....what more could I need?

Phnom Penh on the other hand wasn't so special, but I can't complain about a hotel room costing $3 per person each night.  The room actually exceeded my expectations, but I don't think I could have had much lower expectations.  Within the first 20 min. of arriving in our room, Zach was already lounging on the bed.  I wanted to show him something on the map.  I was simply going to kneel down on the bed, but to my surprise I fell flat on my face.  That $3-a-night-bed was the softest bed on our whole trip, and dare I say, softer than our bed in Taiwan.

In Phnom Penh we spent a decent amount of time learning about the rule of the Khmer Rouge.  It was especially interesting to me since I had started reading "First They Killed My Father" before leaving on our trip.  This true story is written from the viewpoint of a 5 year old Cambodian girl who survives the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s.  Excellent book.  It made Cambodia much more interesting as we traveled through.  I realized that some of the faces I was greeting on the streets had either suffered at the hand of the Khmer Rouge or had lost loved ones to them.


Vietnam
Something about Vietnam has always captivated me.  It may be the pointed hats admist numerous rice paddies, the beautiful outfits worn by the women everywhere, the delicious food, the egg shell handicraft....   I was eager to return again to Vietnam.  We spent a good portion of our time in Saigon, but never happy being in a city, we made it a point to take as many day trips out of Saigon as possible.   Our first day trip consisted of visiting the Cu Chi Tunnels.  We both enjoyed getting separated from our group and exploring the tunnels by ourselves.
The next trip out of Saigon was set for Nha Trang, a 9-10 hr bus ride away.  I had heard of sleeper buses online before leaving, and I thought they were the coolest thing.  We left Saigon on Christmas Eve fully intending to get out of the city for Sabbath/Christmas and being able to spend the day on a beach.  Unfortunately, about 2-3 hours down the road our bus broke down.   They flagged a couple buses down, but they only let the Vietnamese on those.  So, we were stuck waiting from midnight to 6:30 am.  Finally, they flagged down a little market van that stopped everywhere!   Eye Yi Yi....It was the longest 10 hour trip.  Eventually we arrived in Nha Trang shortly before sunset.  Our dreams of spending Sabbath and Christmas day on the beach were gone.  Instead we arrived completely sore, exhausted from no sleep, and starving.  What a day, what a day....  We'll never book with the T.M. Brothers Cafe again, that's for sure.   Because we spent most of Sabbath in a rickety old van, we only had about 24 hours in Nha Trang until we took the train back to Saigon.   That train was wonderful.  We went to sleep and awoke in Saigon.  Now, if only our bus trip had been this good.
Nha Trang was a nice beach town.  We went snorkeling and experienced our first mud baths.  Unfortunately, it was a cold/windy day and both the ocean was cold to snorkel in and the mud was also cold.  We kept trying to fit our entire bodies under the mud to keep out of the cool wind, but unbeknownst to me, you float in mud.  The mud bath didn't last too long, but the hot mineral springs next to the mud baths were awesome.

 A Vietnamese lady making rice paper

Back to Saigon...We spent another day traveling along the Mekong Delta.  I really enjoyed seeing how rice paper was made.  They also showed us how coconut candy was made.   They made it just like Grandma's caramels only they also put coconut in it.  It sure made me miss eating carmels at the farm.   For some odd reason, at each place we stopped at along the delta, people had caged snakes-huge ones.  I was constantly running by the cages hoping not to catch a glimpse.  Eeek...I just didn't understand the need for having them around.

Thailand
Back in Bangkok again.  One of my favorite days on our trip was visiting the Safari Open Zoo in Kanchanaburi.  We got to pet and feed a baby tiger and a baby leopard.  Equally as cool was feeding the giraffes.  Those giraffes snuck their necks into our shuttle bus like crazy.  There was no place you could hide all the carrots we were saving for the zebras.  We were also on this bus with crazy Europeans, and these girls were freaking out when the giraffes were surrounding them.  Also, equally as fun to watch.
Bangkok ended with a couple highs and lows.  We found the Dairy Queen and A&Ws that we had been craving.  The low...Zach got sick for the last 2 days on the trip and into the first week of teaching.  I had been praying that his fever would subside for the trip back, and God answered our prayers.  Once we arrived home, his fever returned.
We really enjoyed our trip.  God blessed us enormously.  I had been praying for some opportunities to witness.  We met a homesick Wisconsin in the middle of Khao San Road in Bangkok.  We helped encourage him for a couple hours before parting ways.  We also met an Irishman on one of our tours, and he ended up on our horrible bus ride to Nha Trang.   We were able to have some good chats with him.

Thinking back on our trip, I realized that we traveled almost every possible way: train, bus, tuk tuk, taxi, ferry, plane, motortaxi, motorcycle, boat, car,mini-van, mrt, bicycle...  Now, my mind is already debating where to head next....We'll let you know when we decide.

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.

A few more pictures of our happenings. Zach turned 25, so it only seemed appropriate to have a pirate birthday party. We ate yummy food, played guesstures and four-square, and opened unexpected presents (yes, I wanted to open them too). - You know, the typical things a 25 year old would do at his/her birthday party.
About a month ago, we went paragliding. Incredibly exciting! We're waiting for more family to come so we can go again.
Zach also went for a 6-8 hour hike on a Sunday afternoon. I was busy party planning for his birthday (as was my excuse for not going).
Oh yes, the last picture is from a fellow teacher of ours who found it on his toothbrush that he bought at Costco here.
We're getting eager for Thanksgiving break (I actually get one this year) and for Christmas break- Jan is coming for a visit! Until then....

Pictures of the last few months

Here's a few pictures to capture what we've been up to the last few months.
I had my students give an oral book report in costume; hence the Chinese looking bandit to the left. This kid was so excited to tell about his story, and instead of telling it in 3-5 minutes; he took 20-25 minutes. It was very entertaining, though.
We also happily attended the 21st Summer Deaflympics. It's just like the Olympics, only it's for deaf people. We were able to see javelin, sprinters relay races, high jump, triple jump (like long jump), pole vaulting, basketball, and ping pong. It was awesome watching these events, and great finding thousands of foreigners. But, yet again, we couldn't communicate with them, because we don't know sign language. We did, however, see some signing from an American towards the Swedish team. Good thing we don't know sign language; it didn't look nice. It was a litle eery being in a huge auditorium or stadium, and not hearing many cheers. Sometimes when a person was up for their event, their team members in the audience would start cheering. Unfortunately, this cheering (to us) sounded more like booing. It was a very unique experience (being around so many hearing impaired people and experiencing Olympic events), and the best part about it...it was all FREE! Unlike other countries who have held the deaflympics, Taipei decided to make all the events free to the public. Once we found this out, we headed to every event we could make. One of the teachers at Zach's school even had a friend (from the US) competing in the pole vaulting, and he won the gold. It was quite amazing.
I also added a little video of 2 of my students playing with Chinese yo-yos. They're pretty good with them, and they've tried to teach me during recess, but I haven't had instant success. I'll try to write more again soon.

Typhoon Morakat

Oh yeah, I was going to say-we're alright from the typhoon. It hit the bottom of the island, and hardly affected us at all. It's the worst typhoon to hit Taiwan in 50 years, and it has
really done a lot of damage as well as taken quite a few lives with it. It has been encouraging seeing our students who have everything'd ever want, give up some of their clothes, food, or money to help these people. So, please keep the people in Southern Taiwan in your prayers. Here's a few images we've found online. We haven't gone to the South yet, but Zach is driving the van down to his school to drop off all that my school has collected for those people.