A Thousand Words - kristaintaichung

South Africa

Welcome to South Africa!
I got to see quite a bit of the countryside while I was there.

An African sunrise
.

African landscapes
.

Wecome to Pilanesberg Game Reserve!
.

Pilanesberg Game Reserve
Warthog

Pilanesberg Game Reserve
Wildebeest

Pilanesberg Game Reserve
Springbok

Pilanesberg Game Reserve
Birds

Pilanesberg Game Reserve
Birds, and giraffes...can you find them?

Pilanesberg Game Reserve
Giraffe...can you find it?

Pilanesberg Game Reserve
Giraffe

Pilanesberg Game Reserve
Watching the giraffes from a hide

Pilanesberg Game Reserve
Guinea fowl

Pilanesberg Game Reserve
Hippos

Pilanesberg Game Reserve
Blesbok

Pilanesberg Game Reserve
Rhino

Pilanesberg Game Reserve
Impala

Pilanesberg Game Reserve
Impala and an ostrich

Pilanesberg Game Reserve
Zebra

Hartbeespoort Dam
.

A black township
.

Thangami Safari Spa
.

Thangami Safari Spa
It was the dead of winter!

Thangami Safari Spa
.

Thangami Safari Spa
This is where the wedding took place.

Thangami Safari Spa
Raised walkways

Thangami Safari Spa
Our chalets

Thangami Safari Spa
Other chalets

Thangami Safari Spa
Restaurant

Thangami Safari Spa
Natural hot spring jacuzzis

Thangami Safari Spa
A BEAUTIFUL bougainvillea tree!

Thangami Safari Spa
Zipline!

Thangami Safari Spa
Crocodiles

Thangami Safari Spa
Crocodiles (I touched one!)

Thangami Safari Spa
Baby crocodile

Thangami Safari Spa
Almost all of the plants have HUGE thorns!

Thangami Safari Spa
Mud bath! They said it was a kilometer deep!

Thangami Safari Spa
Mud bath! Me and Almie

Thangami Safari Spa
Mud bath!

Thangami Safari Spa
Giraffes!

.
.

November 1, 2010

One of my favorite things about my apartment
is the view when the sun sets.

Typhoon clouds!
.

The only damage the typhoon did to my apartment
was shaking all my bathroom ceiling panels loose.

Dining with friends
at a Japanese restaurant

Dining with friends
ChingJu and Jason

Dining with friends
Me and ChingJu

Dining with friends
ChingJu and me and Jason

Dining with friends
at a retro Taiwanese restaurant!

Dining with friends
The core group from Relax

A retro Taiwanese restaurant!
.

A retro Taiwanese restaurant!
Ooh, ooh, teacher, pick me!

A retro Taiwanese restaurant!
Would you like to buy a ticket?

A retro Taiwanese restaurant!
Kevin was my only customer

A retro Taiwanese restaurant!
Me and the monkey

A retro Taiwanese restaurant!
Just sending some pre-dinner mail

A retro Taiwanese restaurant!
On an old Taiwanese train

A retro Taiwanese restaurant!
Jason, ChingJu, and me

A retro Taiwanese restaurant!
Me and Jason

A retro Taiwanese restaurant!
It was so fun!

A traditional Chinese dress
called a qipao (chee-pow)

Chinese food
A green tangerine!

Chinese food
A typical breakfast, kind of like an omelet. In a box.

Chinese food
A typical snack: green tea pop and a ham seaweed roll.

Chinese food
This candy is actually really good.

Chinese medicine
"Guasha" helps your body release toxins.

American medicine
A big hug from Jaime Jones!

A big hug from Jaime Jones!
It was super great.

The proudest moment of the month:
100% on my geography test! Try it...you'll see that it's a feat!

This is the only stop sign
I ever saw in Taichung, I think.

On the way to the airport
one last time. :(

Flying away
Mount Fugi

Flying away, on to new adventures...
Goodbye for now, Taiwan!

SYME 2010

Welcome to SYME, Year Two!
Orientation

Orientation
Name games

Orientation
Student life

We start every day off with a quiet time.
Mia

Breakfast time
I am the breakfast master

Family time
Meet Team Sparky! (Sparky was our mascot. Grace is holding him.)

Conversation class
.

Bible class
.

Writing journals to teachers
.

Chapel time!
.

Chapel time!
Lois and me

Chapel time!
MC Roy and his helper, "Googlepedia"

Chapel time!
Some MC's introduce people by drawing them, like they did Blake and Paul.

Chapel time!
Some MC's have the audience make up secret handshakes, like Lilian and I.

Chapel time!
Worship with Timothy and Tom

Chapel time!
Worship with David and Candy

Chapel time!
Worship with yours truly

Chapel time!
A skit on baptism, by Amos and Tom

Chapel time!
A skit on scripture memory, with Super Scripture Girl

Chapel time!
Roy's testimony, translated by Fay

Chapel time!
Alex's testimony, translated by Lilian

Chapel time!
Scripture memory (Phil. 4:8)

Chapel time!
Mnemonic device for memorizing Phil. 4:8

Chapel time!
Mr. Marc (assisted by Moses)

Chapel time!
Mr. Marc preaching with Candy translating

Lunch time!
A-chi is a GREAT cook!

Lunch time!
.

Lunch time!
Eggs and tomatoes...my favorite!

Lunch time!
Meatballs and green beans...so good!

Lunch time!
We taught the students how to make pizza.

Lunch time!
It was fun to teach the foreigners to use chopsticks.

Friend Day
We had about 70-100 people show up for each open house.

Tutoring
Miss Chris and Candy

Small groups
Me with Leah, Emilio, and David

Prayer
.

Games
.

Magic
David is a professional magician.

Fooseball
.

Fashion
.

Outings
Fancy World Amusement Park

Outings
Sun Moon Lake

Outings
FengJia Night Market

Outings
FengJia Night Market - wasabi hot dogs...yum!

Outings
FengJia Night Market - shaved ice...yum!

Outings
Fun day to the science museum

Outings
Fun day water balloon fight

Students and teachers
Me, Lilian, and Zoe

Students and teachers
Me and David

Students and teachers
Candy and Pete the Pig

Students and teachers
Blake, Miss Anne Marie, and David

Students and teachers
Roy, Alex, and David

Students and teachers
Grace, Zoe, and Lilian

Students and teachers
Grace and me

Students and teachers
Me and Susan

Students and teachers
Roy, Grace, Lilian, and Dora

Students and teachers
Blake and me

Students and teachers
Lilian, Candy, Linda, me, and Grace

Students and teachers
Team Sparky reunion!

Students and teachers
Timothy

Students and teachers
.

Students and teachers
The boys and Pete

Students and teachers
Service assignment for the girls to love on the guys

Students and teachers
Anne Marie, Blake, and me

Students and teachers
Grace

Students and teachers
Candy wearing "Harriet"

Students and teachers
Me

Students and teachers
Mr. Marc

Students and teachers
Fay, Anne Marie, Leah, Lilian, and Lois

Students and teachers
Grace and me

Students and teachers
Leah and "Harriet"

Students and teachers
David, Mr. Albert, Ivy, Fay, Lois, and Aurora

Students and teachers
Anne Marie and Lilian

Students and teachers
Me and Mona

Students and teachers
Mr. Josh

Students and teachers
Serena, Nikki, Amy, and Jacie

Students and teachers
Me, Alex, and Anne Marie

Students and teachers
Me with Alex's family

Students and teachers
Dora, Anne Marie, Alex, Lilian, and Grace

Students and teachers
Leah and Candy

Students and teachers
.

Students and teachers
Mr. Marc and I receiving awards at Friend Day

Students and teachers: Some of the 2009-2010 Alumni
...and the final picture we took at SYME. So long!

Lugang 2

Welcome back to Lugang!
This time I went with my friend Lilian!

First we went to Old Street.
.

A TV show was being filmed on one corner!
It had something to do with eating something.

A lantern shop!
.

A fan shop!
.

A qipao shop!
I really wanted to buy a qipao before I leave Asia.

And this is the one I found!
I love it!

A dragon boat!
.

Me, Lilian, Lilian's mom, Kathy, and Albert
.

This old house is now a museum.
.

The house's grounds
.

The house's pharmacy
.

The house's tree swing!
.

The layout of the property was pretty interesting!
.

Next we went to the glass museum!
Mirrors, mirrors, everywhere!

The glass museum
Mirrors, mirrors, everywhere!

The glass museum
One part of the display

The glass museum
Albert

The glass museum
Me

The glass museum
Another self portrait, haha.

The glass museum
My favorite color!

The glass museum
A Krista kaleidoscope!

The glass museum
An Albert kaleidoscope!

The glass museum
Orchestra

The glass museum
Ship in a bottle

The glass museum
Butterflies

The glass museum
Ants and bumble bees

The glass museum
Fish

The glass museum
Chinese dragon

The glass museum
Orchids

The glass museum
Sunflowers!

The glass museum
Water lilies

The glass museum
Lilian & me

The glass museum
Transparent bathrooms!

The glass museum
That's better.

The glass museum
"The Golden Tunnel"

"The Golden Tunnel"
It looked like we were really high up!

"The Golden Tunnel"
Lilian, Kathy, Albert, and Lilian's mom

"The Golden Tunnel"
It was really dark in there!

"The Golden Tunnel"
Hundreds of Lilians!

The glass museum
"Thanks for coming!"

After that, we went to the ocean to watch the sun set.
.

B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!
.

It was so refreshing.
.

A giant windmill
.

Lilian and me with ocean hair!
.

An Independance Day parade at a temple.
.

Dinner with Lilian
Lugang is famous for a lot of specialty cuisine.

We said goodbye to the family, and that was that.
Thank you, Lilian, for a great day in Lugang! I am going to miss you!

Korea 2010

Welcome back to Dynamic Korea!
.

After getting settled in for a week,
I hopped down to Jeju Island for the weekend!

Jeju is home to the newest
Word of Life Bible Institute.

Well...some of it.
It's not quite built yet.

For example, here are the classrooms.
.

Basketball court
.

Soccer field
.

But most importantly,
my friend Cheryl lives there! :)

We always have a good time together.
.

Hehe.
(I still feel bad about this.)

Cheryl is currently living in a penthouse in Jeju City.
It was the coolest apartment ever.

There are lots of caves on Jeju...
.

And beautiful scenery...
.

And fun diver women
.

And waterfalls!
.

And beautiful flowers
.

And...rocks. Funny ones.
.

And turtles!
(He covered his buddy's face...

And turtles!
...so I had to take another picture.)

Oh, and dragonflies!
.

This is the house that Cheryl's coworkers live in.
.

Okay! Meet the new WOLBI Prep class!
I only had 14 students this year.

But they sure were cute!
.

Some of the students took me to Seoul.
See that blue-roofed house? That's where the president lives!

This dude invented this crazy war ship.
It was cool.

A waterfall in the middle of the road.
I love it.

Myeongdong shopping district
.

We took a cable car up to Seoul Tower.
.

Seoul
.

Seoul Tower
.

This guy just flew up.
Cheater.

There are thousands of locks
on the fences around Seoul Tower.

Couples put them there to "lock" their love forever.
Aww.

Who cares about locks! Let's eat!
This is a King Porkchop. It was HUGE!

See how big they are?
(This is my student David, by the way.)

We had a lot of fun together...
.

...so prepare yourself for some random photos!
.

Jessica and I
.

This was a random branch of the subway.
.

At a coffee shop
.

Practicing my angry face
with lessons from Justin and Isaac

David's angry face
Haha! It's worse than mine!

It took him a long time to stop laughing enough
to even make an angry face.

Goofing around with David and Paul
.

Charles, the cutest student I have EVER met.
.

Jessica, Evelyn, and Cara
saying goodbye

Karaoke! Wahoo!
.

A surprise thank-you cake
from my students

Me squashing Aiden's head
.

My student Gene
He is flat out hilarious.

Statue shop
.

And last but not least...they have Dr. Pepper in Korea.
It was the cherry on top of a great summer. :)

Goodbye, Relax!

Welcome to Relax!
It has been four years, and finally the class is ending.

The original staff:
George, Ann, me, and Tesia

The original students!
They have been coming for four years!

Class time
.

Small groups
.

Kevin and Sherry
The two people who got saved through our ministry at Relax.

Kevin got baptized first.
His whole family has followed him to the cross.

Post-baptism
.

Potlucks!
.

Game night!
.

Movie night!
.

George taking it easy...
.

...like usual.
.

Friends
.

Friends
(Sharon's our translator...she's great!)

Friends
.

Goofy people
.

Goofy people
Ann and Jason

Goofy people
George

Goofy people
Sharon

Goofy people
Rose

Goofy people
Ann and Tesia

Goofy people
Ann

Going on roadtrips
A deaf basketball game!

Going on roadtrips
Jiufen

Even doing radio interviews!
(FYI: Mine is being aired on 8/8 at 1pm GMT+8 on Taiwan's 97.7!)

Group pictures
.

My goodbye party
.

Well, that
Goodbye, my Relax friends! I have enjoyed teaching you more than you know.

Best of Asia Year 4

Year four started off with a new friend.
Meet Amanda, a co-teacher at SYME!

We had a lot of fun together.
.

Maybe too much fun.
.

In August, I went to Korea
to teach a WOLBI prep school class.

Here are my WOLBI Prep students!
Despite what the background says, we are not a cult.

Korean countryside
So beautiful!

I had a great time with my students
and two of the other teachers.

Changdeokgung Palace
.

The Korean Folk Village
.

The Korean Folk Village
Traditional dancers

After five weeks, I sent my students off to New York
and returned to Taiwan.

My next adventure was to Jiufen, Taiwan.
It was gorgeous!

It is an old gold-mining town
on the side of a mountain.

After a three month respite in America,
I returned for year two of SYME.

I am the SYME Breakfast Master.
.

My family group with our mascot Sparky the Hedgehog.
"Go Team Sparky!"

Meet Mona!
She was my favorite student and is now a good friend of mine.

Night marketing with some students.
Mia, me, Grace, Angel, and a pretty dog that Angel just HAD to take a picture with.

Grace and I reusing Bible Club props...
.

Chinese New Year was here before I knew it.
My collection of red envelopes totaled about $90 USD!

Chinese New Year
with the Chu family

The Lantern Festival!
Welcome, year of the tiger!

Term two brought new teachers.
Josh and I "touring" at Sun Moon Lake

I love to go to the lake to see
the Thao people.

My mom came to Taiwan this year...
finally!

We went to a hot pot restaurant.
She didn't really like the whole baby octopi.

We rode around on Jade.
I think she liked that!

Hiking with the monkeys!
I liked that. Haha.

My travels for this year
took me to Malaysia.

The panoramic view to the northeast
of the Petronas Towers.

I bought a dress and spent an evening
at the orchestra!

The merlion of Singapore,
stop two in my three-part trip.

This statue was really cool.
It is about passing on knowledge.

And here is my favorite photo
from the whole trip. Cool, right?

East Coast Park
Goodbye, lovely Singapore!

Next was Hong Kong.
Superduper crowded, but better than I expected it to be.

Hong Kong
It was REALLY beautiful at night!

And finally, my last trip of the year,
to Yehliu Geopark in northeastern Taiwan.

Yehliu Geopark
.

I went to Sanxia
to see Mona and Timothy!

We played paintball.
It was fun.

And that's that!
I'm officially on the home stretch...

The Northern Tip

This weekend I toured
the northern tip of Taiwan!

The northernmost point
.

I stopped in the fishing village of Yehliu.
Here are some of the traps I saw.

Yehliu
.

Yehliu Geopark
.

Yehliu Geopark
"Bean Curd Rock"

Yehliu Geopark
.

Yehliu Geopark
Mushroom rocks

Yehliu Geopark
(You're not supposed to cross the red line.)

Yehliu Geopark
.

Yehliu Geopark
Mushroom rocks

Yehliu Geopark
.

Yehliu Geopark
Ginger rocks

Yehliu Geopark
.

Yehliu Geopark
Candle rocks

Yehliu Geopark
Candle rocks from above

Yehliu Geopark
"Marine Bird Rock"

Yehliu Geopark
.

Yehliu Geopark
"Pineapple Bun Rock"

Yehliu Geopark
"Queen's Head"

Yehliu Geopark
"Ice Cream Rock"

Yehliu Geopark
.

Yehliu Geopark
Tidepools

Yehliu Geopark
Fossils

Yehliu Geopark
.

I hate it when staircases
look like this...

Yehliu Geopark
Look to the right of the sign. Those are cockroaches...hundreds of them.

Yehliu Geopark
Mushroom rock catastrophe

After Yehliu, I went to Sanxia
to see my good friend Mona and Timothy!

Timothy and Mona
on Sanxia old street

Sanxia old street
.

Sanxia
.

Sanxia
These guys were THROWING tops onto poles!

Sanxia
.

Sanxia
This stuff is SO GOOD.

Sanxia
First time I've ever seen birds in bags...

We played paintball.
It was SO worth the pain!

Sanxia is such a beautiful city.
What a great weekend!

Southeast Asia

Welcome to my Southeast Asia expedition!
First stop: Malaysia!

Welcome to Kuala Lumpur!
.

Kuala Lumpur has a number of
famous landmarks, like the KL Tower.

But the most well known
are the Petronas Towers.

The Petronas Towers
.

My German travel buddy, Alexandria,
and I got free passes to go up to the skybridge!

The panoramic view to the northeast.
.

The view to the southwest.
.

While we were at the Towers, we found out that
there was a Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra concert that night, for only $3!

So I bought a $5 dress
and borrowed some heels and went!

Mostly I just wanted to see the inside of the theater.
It was BEAUTIFUL.

Malaysia is a very Islamic country,
so there were also beautiful mosques everywhere.

And little Islamic children!
.

One part of the city had the remnants of a cool fort.
.

This is a Malaysian shopping mall.
.

It was a bit overwhelming.
.

This is more my style:
the local Chow Kit Market.

Chow Kit Market
Just like my markets back home!

I love the fruit displays,
especially...

...RAMBUDAN!
The greatest fruit ever, only available in S.E. Asia.

There was lots of other tasty food too,
like laksa.

And SO MANY western stores!
A&W, California Pizza Kitchen, and more!

I went to an orchid garden,
and there were a lot of really beautiful flowers.

I love walking paths!
.

Here is my artistic shot of the day,
featuring the best-smelling flower in the world: plumeria.

Soon I said goodbye to Kuala Lumpur
and hopped on a bus to Singapore.

Malaysian countryside
.

Malaysian countryside.
.

This is my last memory of Malaysia:
Kickapoo Joy Juice!

Welcome to Singapore!
.

Singapore is a tiny island country
off the tip of peninsular Malaysia.

Little India
I ate dinner there the night I got in.

Chapati!
And real, honest-to-goodness Indian chai! Yum!

In the morning,
I walked around the city.

The Singapore Flyer
.

A koi pond under the flyer.
.

The Double Helix Bridge
and the Marina Bay Sands Resort

Downtown Singapore
.

The city
.

The merlion!
.

Baby merlion
.

I took this picture because of the trashcan.
Singaporeans are very serious about litter.

Here's another one.
.

Chinatown!
.

A temple in Chinatown
.

A shopping street
.

Okay, this is how they do ice cream in Singapore:
a brick of ice cream between two wafers. Yum!

Check out this McCafe.
Pretty snazzy for a McDonald's, huh?

Isn't this the prettiest tree
you've ever seen?

More plumerias...I love them!
.

The Singapore Botanic Gardens
.

I love waterfalls!
.

This statue was really cool.
It is about passing on knowledge.

I almost stepped on this giant lizard!
It was two feet long and CREEPY!

The Singapore River
.

I found this forest full of...
I have no idea what they are.

And here is my favorite photo
from the whole trip.

My favorite place in Singapore
was East Coast Park.

East Coast Park
.

East Coast Park
Goodbye, lovely Singapore!

I made a quick stop in Hong Kong for a day
to get some pictures of the city.

Hong Kong
.

Hong Kong
It was beautiful!

Then back home I went to Taiwan.
That's the tour! I hope you enjoyed it.

So here is my final map of travels in Asia.
Until next time...

My Mom Came to Taiwan!

My mom came to Taiwan!
These are the places that we went.

First, we went to Sun Moon Lake
with my student, Lilian.

Sun Moon Lake
The docks

Sun Moon Lake
.

Sun Moon Lake
Jungle, jungle, jungle!

Sun Moon Lake
My favorite pagoda

Sun Moon Lake
The Thao people

Sun Moon Lake
They made me do the Friendship Dance.

Sun Moon Lake
It wasn't pretty.

Sun Moon Lake
A floating garden

Sun Moon Lake
Me and my mom!

We went to a hot pot restaurant for my mom
She didn't really like the whole baby octopi.

We went to a hot pot restaurant for my mom
I was hopeful about my whole baby squid...

We went to a hot pot restaurant for my mom
...but that was before the ink got in my mouth. Yuck!

Next, we went to Taipei!
The Chiang Kai Shek Memorial

Taipei
The National Concert Hall

Taipei
.

Taipei
The view of the courtyard from the memorial

Taipei
It's so beautiful there!

Taipei 101
.

Taipei 101
It kind of got lost in the haze.

From there, we went to
Yang Ming Mountain.

I love this color!
.

Yep, that
.

Yang Ming Mountain is famous
because of the calla lilies that grow there.

Calla lily fields
.

Calla lily fields
and Mom!

We really enjoyed them.
.

We rode around on Jade.
.

And smelled fresia flowers.
.

And ate Korean food!
.

This is my good friend Chingju.
I was really happy my mom got to meet her.

Then we went to the science museum,
my favorite place in Taichung.

The science museum grounds
.

Bananas in the arboretum!
.

The arboretum
.

Last, we went to the mountains!
And saw monkeys...lots of monkeys!

Monkeys
.

Monkeys! Haha.
This is the hiking trail.

The suspension bridge to get to the trail.
.

My mom loves flowers!
These were for her birthday.

Flowers!
.

Flowers!
Thanks for coming to visit me, Mom! I love you!

April 19, 2010

Chinese New Year
with the Chu family

Chinese New Year
The Chu ladies

Chinese New Year
Extended family

Chinese New Year
feast!

Chinese New Year
walking off all that food!

Chinese New Year
Stretching

Chinese New Year
More stretching

Chinese New Year
Jamie and I with our red envelopes!

Chinese New Year
My collection of red envelopes, totaling about $90 USD!

An old train station
.

An old train station
Falling off a train

An old train station
The Chu family!

A temple broken by an earthquake!
.

The Lantern Festival!
Jan, Rachel, Zoe, Angel, and Tom

The Lantern Festival!
Josh and Ginny and my dinner

The Lantern Festival!
.

The Lantern Festival!
Tiger lanterns

Sun Moon Lake
George, Ginny, Jan, and Josh

Sun Moon Lake
Josh and I

Sun Moon Lake
George

Sun Moon Lake
.

Sun Moon Lake
The Thao people

Sun Moon Lake
George and Josh did the Friendship Dance! SO funny!

Sun Moon Lake
Hiking to the pagoda

Sun Moon Lake
My favorite pagoda

Sun Moon Lake
The drum jumper competition: Me

Sun Moon Lake
The drum jumper competition: George

Sun Moon Lake
The drum jumper competition: Josh! Clearly, he won.

Mona and me!
.

Bead head! Yikes!
No one should have to wake up to that.

But, give me a little gel
and things work out okay.

Korean seaweed dinner
with rice and starfruit and carrots!

Sweet potato dinner
with soybeans and pineapple!

Sweet and sour soup dinner
with dry tofu!

Jia yo!
Add oil...keep going!

February 8, 2010

My new apartment!
.

My new hair color!
.

My new toe ring!
.

My lucky fish!
(a.k.a. earthquake detectors)

Belgian chocolate!
I love getting gifts from endearing students!

Mint tea
.

SYME Orientation
January 18, 2010

SYME Orientation
The name game

SYME Orientation
Me, Ginny, Andy, and Josh

SYME Orientation
Student Life Class

SYME Orientation
Kitchen orientation

I am THE BREAKFAST MASTER.
.

My family group with our mascot Sparky the Hedgehog.
"Go Team Sparky!"

Chapel time!
The first day of school

Chapel time!
Mr. Josh teaching scripture memory

Lunchtime!
Josh, Aaron, Tom, and Timothy

English Bible Study
.

Meet this year's students!
.

Mona!
.

Angel!
.

Jeff!
.

Rachel!
.

Tom!
.

Nancy!
.

Lilian!
.

Aaron!
.

Mia!
.

Zoe!
.

Grace!
.

Timothy!
.

And Mr. Josh.
.

Josh wanted to see the monkeys.
So Josh got to see the monkeys!

The monkey park
Josh and Ginny

The monkey park
.

Then we went hiking in Dakeng.
.

Hiking in Dakeng
Ginny, Jan, and Josh

Hiking in Dakeng
.

Hiking in Dakeng
Josh and the dangerous monkey

Hiking in Dakeng
Josh

Hiking in Dakeng
Jan

At Feng Jia night market!
Mia, me, Grace, Angel, and a pretty dog that Angel just HAD to take a picture with.

At Feng Jia night market!
.

At Feng Jia night market!
Yes, those ARE wasabi hotdogs!

Grace and I reusing Bible Club props...
We have a good time here at SYME. Stay tuned!

Kansas '09

The garden was still green this year
when I got back from Taiwan.

There were lots of good things
growing in it!

I got to see my grandpa again!
He is doing much better than he was last winter!

And this is my friend Ken.
He lived in Taiwan for a lot of years, so we speak Chinese to each other.

This autumn, I went to an archery shoot!
.

I only shot a couple times.
.

I missed every single time.
.

Mostly we just watched,
and followed the archers around.

They were really good.
.

There was a cute little pond
on the property.

It was really beautiful!
.

But not as beautiful as my mountains!
.

I went to Colorado to spend Thanksgiving
with Michael and Kristin.

It was GREAT!
.

I spent a lot of time out on the deck.
.

Michael joined me,
and we Asianed it up.

And, of course, I got to hang out
with my new sister, Kristin!

Okay, check this out:
Daytime view from my bedroom.

Nighttime view from my bedroom.
.

And the shower!
The shower has a window in it!

This is the view from the shower!
Spectacular!

Thanksgiving Day!
.

Kristin (98%) and Michael (2%)
cooked up a regular Thanksgiving feast.

Michael really likes sparkling cider.
.

Yum!
.

We gave Michael the bird.
(haha)

Don't worry, he liked it!
.

We tag-teamed it,
because neither of us had ever carved a turkey before.

(In Kansas, our turkeys are a little more mobile!)
.

Dig in!
(Good work, Kristin!)

I drove up to my hometown
and it was SO refreshing!

Back to Kansas for two weeks,
then off to Dallas to see Sara and Aaron!

We rode some longhorns!
.

Oh, and I got gored.
.

I also got to ride Aaron's motorcycle.
.

It was supercool.
(Sorry, Jade...Aaron's bike was way more fun!)

And FINALLY the snow came to Kansas!
.

I love snow!
.

I am really serious.
.

Wait for it...
.

Good form!
I look like I'm part frog!

And the dismount!
.

I have also been enjoying the sunsets.
.

And finally, some Christmas pictures.
.

Our tree
.

I tried to make a New Year's angel
on a snowdrift...

...but the snow was a little hard.
.

Okay, really hard. It's ice snow.
.

So I made a stomp angel!
You just can't ruin this joy!

But the new year brought COLD weather...
I'm so going back to Taiwan!

East Coast Circuit

Welcome to the East Coast Circuit!
Fifteen days, eight states, twenty-one friends, and a whole lot of fun!

The first stop was to see my friend Cheryl.
She lived with me in Taiwan in the spring. She's great!

On our drive north of Albany,
we stopped at these people's house.

They have a GIANT rose garden
that they let the public come and see.

It was beautiful, even though most of the plants
had already been pruned for the spring.

There were still a few pretty roses, though.
.

Our destination was the Word of Life Bible Institute
in Schroon Lake, New York.

This is Schroon Lake.
.

There were some beautiful trees
on the WOLBI campus!

There were some beautiful trees
on the WOLBI campus.

And all my Korean students were there too!
May, Len, and Jenny

And all my Korean students were there too!
Steve, me, BJ, Garrett, and Julius

Steve and Cheryl and I
went for a hike.

Me and Cheryl
.

The view of Schroon Lake
from the top of Mt. Severance

It was so beautiful!
.

The view from the other side of the mountain
had a big highway in the middle...

...So we just covered it up with our hands
so we could enjoy the beauty of the lake.

It was a good hike!
.

And we ran over a traffic cone.
I miss you, Cheryl!

After my time at WOLBI,
I hopped a bus to New York City.

And I got to see my best Taiwanese friend, Fiona!
.

She moved to New York two years ago
to get her masters in photography.

I was a little nervous about going into the city at first,
but I ended up really enjoying it.

I even thought the subway looked cool!
.

We went to Central Park
to enjoy the fall colors.

An old bridge
.

Fall colors
.

Fall colors
and me!

We finally made it to the
Metropolitan Museum of Art.

It had cool multi-colored vines
growing up the side of it.

And inside it had mummies!
.

And cool statues!
.

And creepy cats!
.

And sarcophaguses!
.

And Egyptian writing!
.

And tall mythical creatures!
But then I had to leave. :(

I said goodbye and caught another bus,
this time to Washington, D.C.

I got to see Megos for the first time in four years!
I missed her so much!

We did the walking tour of the city.
This is the Washington Monument.

She MADE me do the peace sign
because I told her I'm addicted to it.

The monument was pretty light.
(Or my right bicep is a force to be reckoned with.)

Here is the view of the Lincoln Monument
from the Washington Monument.

And here is the view of the Washington Monument
from the Lincoln Monument.

The Lincoln Monument
.

Chillin' with Linc
.

The Jefferson Monument
.

Mr. Jefferson
.

The capital
.

The World War One Monument
.

The World War Two Monument
.

We both miss Colorado.
.

Megos made me stand by Kansas
AND flash the peace sign. Boo.

The Korean War Monument
.

The Vietnam Veteran's Memorial
.

The archives!
Inside are many important (and heavily guarded) documents.

Like the U.S. Constitution!
.

And the Declaration of Independence!
Cool.

There were also a lot of cool statues
around the city.

And so many pretty trees!
.

I like pretty trees!
.

And I like leaves!
.

And I like leaves!
Especially big ones!

I didn't really like this tree, though.
.

Megos is so happy
because she got free chili for her fries!

This is a disposable squirrel.
.

The last day I was there,
we went to Arlington National Cemetary.

We watched the changing of the guard
at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

They also changed the wreath
that hangs in front of the tomb.

It was a beautiful, peaceful place.
.

And there was a great view of the city
from the top of the hill. We had a good time.

From there, I flew to Parkersburg, West Virginia.
.

Amanda is another friend who worked in Taiwan
in the fall. She had JUST come back to the States!

She taught me how to play cornhole,
a purely West-Virginian game.

She taught me how to play cornhole.
.

Then I showed her how I play cornhole!
.

She decided we'd better go bowling instead.
.

But I stunned her with my score of 68
and my ability to create impossible splits.

So we decided to go hiking.
It seemed like something I could do without making a fool of myself.

It was pretty leafy.
.

We found a tree growing
THROUGH an old plow!

There were only a few colored trees
left in the forest.

The leaves looked like Fruit Rollups!
But they didn't taste like them.

This leaf looked like a tongue!
West Virginia makes me weird!

After a couple of days with Amanda,
I left Parkersburg and drove to Salisbury, North Carolina.

It was a beautiful drive!
.

And I got to see my friend Jaime,
my dorm-mate from sophomore year!

She has two supercute little kids now.
I am holing Eli and Cailyn is in the chair behind us.

Eli is SO cute!
.

He helped me rake the yard.
.

We ended up with a pretty good pile of leaves.
.

I played in the leaves...
.

...Then I threw Eli in
so he could play too.

He thought that was pretty fun.
.

See, C-U-T-E!
It was so good to finally meet Jaime's family.

After that, I flew back to Kansas,
home sweet home -- for now!

Only seven more states to go...
.

Michael & Kristin's Wedding II

Rehearsing for the big day
My mom and Michael...and me

Rehearsing for the big day
Krista and Kristin

Rehearsing for the big day
Michael and me

Get ready...
.

Get set...
.

Go!
.

The big reveal
.

The happy couple
.

The girls
Farrel, Kristin, me, Sarah

The girls
.

The guys
Bryson, David, Michael, Ryan

The guys
.

The whole party
.

Almost time for the wedding!
.

Kristin and her dad
.

The ceremony
.

The ceremony
Haha, look at our faces! What does that MEAN?

The Hankins/Selzer clan
.

The Hankins/Hamman clan
.

The new and improved Hankins family!
.

The new and improved Hankins family!
Yes, I am part of that family too.

The wedding party
A "look nice" picture

The wedding party
Our true colors...in black and white. Haha.

Michael and Kristin Hankins
.

The older siblings
in da house!

The older siblings
in da house.

The table of honor
.

My mom and dad
.

My uncle Don and aunt Mary
.

Uncle Ken, Mom, Grandma, Don
.

Let the dancing begin!
.

Look at Kristin's brother's face!
Ha!

Bryson caught the garter.
Apparently that was REALLY funny.

The get-away
.

Red dress bonus!
.

Happily ever after...
.

Michael & Kristin's Wedding I

Welcome to Los Angeles, California!
(I obviously did not take this picture.)

I flew in from Taiwan two days before everyone else,
so we basically just hung out and did a lot of swimming.

If my feet were together,
this would be a 10.0 for sure!

It was nice just to lounge around
and let my body adjust to the fact that I was in a different country.

On Thursday night, after everyone had come in,
we had a beach party!

The old people watched.
(I am NOT an old person...I had just come out of the water!)

And the young people boogie boarded.
It was so fun!

Michael and my dad
.

Michael and Kristin
.

After the sun set, we built a bonfire
and had hamburgers and s'mores!

(Behind this little wall,
there were seals playing in the water!)

On Friday, two of us bridesmaids went to Kristin's house
for facials and manicures and pedicures before the rehearsal.

Kristin and her mom, Ann
.

This is what I ended up looking like.
.

Oh, and my toes were painted RED.
.

This is the church.
.

Kristin wanted an Asian-themed wedding,
so she used orchids and other tropical flowers.

Me, Farrel, and Sarah
.

Pastor Dave, Michael, Bryson, and Ryan
.

I walked down the aisle with David,
Kristin's older brother.

Kristin and her dad, Don
.

The rehearsal dinner was a picnic at the park!
.

Michael and Kristin
and Kristin's grandma, Gramsie

Me and Michael
.

Wedding Day!
Kristin did all of our makeup and hair, including hers.

Here is my red dress!
.

I've never looked or felt this beautiful before!
.

After we were ready, we stuffed Kristin into the car
and headed to the beach to meet the boys for pictures.

The boys were waiting around the corner,
so I checked to make sure they weren't peeking.

We walked down to the water,
and it was beautiful!

The photographer shot individual pictures
and pictures with the whole wedding party first.

Then we just goofed around
while she took lots of pictures with Kristin and Michael.

The bridesmaids
.

The groomsmen just held our parasols
and watched.

Then I decided to spy on the photography session!
.

Kristin and Michael
and the photographer, Rene

Michael and Kristin
.

By the time we got back to the church for the wedding,
Kristin's dress was pretty sandy.

But we got her cleaned up
(and properly accessorized...)

And she was ready for the wedding!
.

Then the men came and crashed our party.
.

And ate all our food.
(Okay, it wasn't our food, and we ate a lot of it too, but still...)

And we took lots of random photos!
Michael and me

Me and Michael
.

The ceremony
.

Please let me introduce
Michael and Kristin Hankins!

Waiting for post-wedding pictures
.

The happy couple
.

The new and improved Hankins family!
.

The Hamman-Hankins clan
.

The wedding party
.

After I signed on the line
that I actually witnessed them get married...

it was time for the reception!
.

Staring each other down
before their first dance as a married couple.

Let the dancing begin!
.

The first dance
.

After the dance, Michael and Kristin were seated
at the sweetheart's table, and it was time to eat!

The men's side of the head table
.

And the ladies' side
.

The other immediate family members were seated
in front of the head table, right next to the dance floor.

Father-daughter dance
Kristin and Don

Father-daughter dance
Me and my dad

Kristin and my dad
.

Michael and my mom
.

Most of the Hankins...
I was the odd man out!

Even Grandma got out on the dance floor!
Grandma and Ken

Grandma and Michael
.

It was quite the party.
.

The honeymoon dance
Don't the girls in line for Michael look happy?

Kristin's line was a little more lively.
.

The boquet toss
.

And the expedition for the garter
.

Throwing the garter
.

Michael was a happy man.
.

Cutting the cake
.

The cake was perfect
...and delicious!

An old friend of mine from college was there too.
Me and Clint

One last photo, and they were off to Maui.
Congratulations, Kristin and Michael! :)

September 27, 2009

Road trip!
And this time I wasn't the guide! Some students from Relax took Ann, George and I to Jiufen.

We were a van full!
.

First we went to the Deaflympics in Taipei
and watched Ukraine beat Taiwan.

Then we watched half of the game
between Venezuela and Spain.

This is my friend Jason.
He's been going to Relax longer than I have.

Okay, on to Jiufen.
Jiufen is an old gold mining town on the side of a mountain.

This is the neighborhood temple.
.

And its dragon.
.

The view was beautiful.
.

I enjoyed it very much.
(I did not, however, enjoy my frizzy hair.)

Then a rainstorm blew in
and it got even more beautiful!

These are the mountains
on the northern tip of Taiwan.

Here is one of the mountains that Jiufen is built on.
.

This is the town of Jiufen.
.

Believe it or not, these people are all lined up for...
wild boar sausage. On a stick.

Random staircases jut up and down
out of the main walking road in Jiufen.

They are famous for several foods.
Here is Tesia and some of the students eating fresh oy yi.

Ann and George and Jason and I did the same.
.

Jiufen was pretty in the daytime,
but at night it was gorgeous!

They lit the staircases with lanterns.
.

The shops were really beautiful.
.

Here is most of the town of Jiufen.
.

So beautiful!
.

The last news of the month
was that my coworkers had a baby.

He is just three days old in this picture.
.

Next, meet Amanda!
She is one of the other teachers at SYME.

This is Amanda's whiteboard.
She is incredibly talented at explaining English through drawing and acting.

She is also incredibly talented at taking supercool pics
then tripping them out on Picnik.

Take this one for example.
Those fish sticks are at least ten feet behind me.

Haha those fish were so random!
.

So I decided to give it a try.
This is the original.

But I wanted people to notice
my pink nails. Do you?

Amanda basically did a photo shoot of me.
Dorky, yes. But oh so fun!

P-I-N-K
.

So cool...and such a great way
to waste hours and hours!

Cute AND thoughtful!
.

Contemplating other poses.
.

Here was the first round of nail painting.
But my baby pink polish didn't really show up.

Here was the first round of nail painting.
But my baby pink polish didn't really show up. Oh, well.

And this is me driving the van. Not so cool looking,
but definitely more fun than painting my nails.

SYME 2009

Welcome to SYME!
This is our very first class of students.

Building the school
Mr. Hong and Jason did most of the work.

Building the school
Mr. Hong

Building the school
.

Reading class
Kenny and me

Conversation class
.

Bible class
.

Chapel
.

Bible club
.

Bible club
"Christian Worldview"

Breakfast time!
Mr. Marshall making bacon

Breakfast time!
Marshall, Dick, and Jane

Breakfast time!
Mrs. Mary

Breakfast time!
Pancake feast!

Breakfast time!
The students loved it!

Lunch time on our first day of school
.

Students and teachers
Chief Marshall and the aborigines

Students and teachers
Jamie and Mrs. Mary

Students and teachers
.

Students and teachers
Mrs. Jane and Jasmine

Students and teachers
Me and Mrs. Jane

Students and teachers
.

Students and teachers
Outing to DongHai church

Students and teachers
Connie, Jasmine, Jessica's sister, Jessica

Students and teachers
Mr. Dick and Jasmine

Students and teachers
Jessica, Jane, Mary, Marshall, and Dick

Students and teachers
Dick and Jane (Yes, really.)

Students and teachers
.

Students and teachers
Connie

Students and teachers
Me and Jasmine

Students and teachers
Nancy

Students and teachers
Jasmine and me (again)

Students and teachers
Mr. Marshall with Jessica and Christine

Students and teachers
Jasmine, Kimmy, Jessica, me, Nancy, and Amanda

Students and teachers
Jamie, Sophia, me, Jessica, and Hakka food! Yum!

Students and teachers
.

Students and teachers
Jessica, me, and Nancy

Students and teachers
Jessica, me, and Amanda

Students and teachers
Me, with a goodbye puzzle from the girls

Students and teachers
Me and the girls

Students and teachers
Betsy, Jasmine, me, Connie, and Grace

Students and teachers
Connie, Jessica, Jamie, and Jasmine

Students and teachers
Jessica and me

Students and teachers
.

Students and teachers
Jamie

Students and teachers
Grace

Students and teachers: Jasmine and me
This year was too much fun! See you next year!

Korea 2009

Welcome to Dynamic Korea!
(Each city in Korea has its own nickname: Super Pyongtaek, Happy Suwon, Hi Seoul, etc.)

25% of Koreans claim to be Christian
.

Here are my WOLBI Prep students!
Despite what the background says, we are not a cult.

Here are the SYME Korea teachers:
John, Joy, me, Joyanna, and Grace. (Rachel is missing.)

They all "fell asleep" on the subway.
.

This is my little apartment!
.

Welcome to Seoul!
.

This is downtown Seoul.
It is so open and uncrowded feeling, and you can almost always see mountains, even if there are tall buildings around.

A fruit market
.

The second weekend I was in Korea,
one of our students, Emily, took us to her school: Ewha Women's University.

The campus was absolutely gorgeous.
Whoever designed it was brilliant.

There was this really cool artistic wall
made of metal shingles, which were reflected over water.

Don
Even I forget how I took it. I just think it's supercool. :)

Rachel, me, Joyanna, John, and Grace
.

Echinacea flowers!
(Mom, this one is for you!)

The third weekend,
we went to Mongsanpo Beach!

This was the view to the left...
.

And this was the view to the right.
Turns out it was a baptism service that 700 people were attending!

Rachel observing the baptisms
.

Here is the whole beach,
which we got to enjoy after the baptisms.

Here is some Korean countryside
on the way home from the beach. So beautiful!

Here is some Korean countryside.
Note the ubiquitous identical white apartment buildings.

Here is some Korean countryside.
There were rows and rows of greenhouses, everywhere!

I ALWAYS have time to slow down
to look at the sunflowers! :)

The fourth weekend, I went to Seoul again,
with Garrett, Jay, and Chad.

...And Rachel.
Garrett, me, Chad, and Rachel

First, we went to a super cool shopping place
called Insadong.

Then, we went to Changdeokgung Palace.
Our tour was an hour and a half long!

Changdeokgung Palace
.

Changdeokgung Palace
Rachel and I

Changdeokgung Palace
Beautiful colors!

Changdeokgung Palace
.

Changdeokgung Palace
Our cute little tour guide lady

Changdeokgung Palace
.

Changdeokgung Palace
This is the queen's quarters. The Chinese says "Grand Creation." Get it? They wanted a new prince to come!

Changdeokgung Palace
.

Changdeokgung Palace
The secret garden

Changdeokgung Palace
The king's throne

Changdeokgung Palace
The king's quarters

Changdeokgung Palace
.

Garrett and Chad and Jay
.

Garrett has supercool movie star glasses.
Do you see my reflection in them?

Rachel, me, Garrett, Chad, and Jay
.

Haha! Rachel, Jay, Chad, and I
accidentally recreated Abbey Road!

Don
Rachel and I really weren't lost, and Heidi (who had recently joined the group) wasn't really angry or left out.

After touring the palace, we went to a tea house.
We ordered tea, and this is what we got!

After we went to the tea house,
we went to the riverside! (You can see Seoul Tower in the background.)

Han River
.

There were cute little swan boats there.
.

We ate dinner in Building 63,
the tallest building in Korea.

Jamie also joined us.
He's supercool, one of my favorite students!

After dinner, we went on a river boat!
.

It was beautiful!
.

Garrett and I hung out
and enjoyed the scenery.

The last weekend I was in Korea,
Garrett took me to Seoul Forest, a GIANT park.

We rented a tandem bike!
That is something I've ALWAYS wanted to do! It was so, so fun!

We had a good time.
.

There was a little hill COVERED
with flowers and pinwheels.

On Sunday night,
Amanda (a teacher from Taiwan) came to visit Korea too!

On Monday, for one last bonus trip,
twelve of my students took me to the Korean Folk Village.

The Korean Folk Village
.

The Korean Folk Village
Jenny and May fake eating fake food.

The Korean Folk Village
I'm waiting for Rachel to join me in the hut!

The Korean Folk Village
The first time, we crossed the river on this tiny bridge.

The Korean Folk Village
This house had its own waterwheel!

The Korean Folk Village
They are always drying out red peppers in Korea, everywhere!

The Korean Folk Village
A stone pig pen

The Korean Folk Village
.

The Korean Folk Village
The second time, we crossed the river on these sketchy stepping stones.

The Korean Folk Village
They did a supercool traditional folk dance!

The Korean Folk Village
Traditional dancers

The Korean Folk Village
And they taught us traditional games!

The Korean Folk Village
(Len and Garrett got the hang of it a little bit better than Rachel and Jenny.)

The Korean Folk Village
For this game, you just try to throw the stick into the cylinder.

The Korean Folk Village
Giant swings that you stand on!

The Korean Folk Village
.

The Korean Folk Village
Apparently, they film a lot of movies here. May is wasting away in jail.

The sunshine hitting the mist made a rainbow!
I love rainbows!

Jay and me
.

Me and Jenny, my favorite girl student
.

Me and Rachel
.

I love waterfalls!
.

And sunflowers!
.

After the Folk Village,
we went out to eat spicy boiling food (like usual). Garrett and I both had on white shirts, so he ordered us some bibs.

Then we walked up a mountain
overlooking the city of Suwon. So pretty!

At the top is the statue of a famous king.
.

Here he is from behind,
through the cut-out in the wall.

On Wednesday, Garrett and Jay and Doug
took me to the airport. They are so sweet! I am going to miss those guys, and Korea in general.

July 27, 2009

End of the semester fun!
Nancy and I hiking in Dakeng

End of the semester fun!
Me in mid escape

End of the semester fun!
We lost the water balloon toss. My bad.

End of the semester fun!
I took the teachers on one last field trip before they left.

End of the semester fun!
Big gong = big fun!

End of the semester fun!
Big gong = big fun! (But Cheryl's was way better.)

End of the semester fun!
The Furious Five (from Kung Fu Panda)

End of the semester fun!
The girls caught me cleaning the bathroom in style.

End of the semester fun!
Cheryl was more impressed than I was, I think.

Then I had to say goodbye to Cheryl! :(
She's off to start her own life as a missionary.

And Michael and Kristin graduated!
.

Here's Michael with my parents
.

Since we didn't have school in June,
I studied kendo for a month.

But kendo is not without its dangers.
.

In July, I went to adventure camp again
in the mountains of Wulai.

It's so beautiful there!
.

The camp started with a nighthike to the camp,
which was in an undisclosed location.

We also did a lot of team building activities,
like putting our whole team through this web without touching the ropes.

And like balancing our whole team
on a giant teeter totter.

And some people repelled off a tightrope
into the river. I just kayaked below them and watched them suffer.

Then we played some awesome river frisbee.
Here is Jason jumping off the cliff to make the catch.

Here is my team: Team Amazing!
Our coach, Aros, is the guy with the hat on sitting to the right behind me.

And now...random picture time!
What kind of celery to YOU drive??

Why yes, that is chocolate blueberry cake.
Yum, yum!

This is why I don't brush my hair out.
.

Kristin took a picture of Pike's Peak
that makes me want to go back to America!

Nice outfit.
(Identities have been concealed.)

One of two rainstorms
during our non-existent rainy season this year.

This is one of my roommates, Terry.
Sometimes you have to sleep NOW!

The building next door is so thin
that you can see right through it.

I love this little brain teaser ball.
.

And finally, congratulations once more
to Michael and Kristin on their engagement.

And finally, congratulations once more
to Michael and Kristin on their engagement. I can't wait for the big day!

Best of Asia Year 3

My third year in Taiwan
was a year of beauty in pain.

In August, I said goodbye to the Maple kids...
.

Goodbye to Tr. Alan...
.

Goodbye to Relax class...
.

Goodbye to the Relax core group...
.

Goodbye to Fiona...
.

Goodbye to ChingJu...
.

And goodbye to Sally the dog.
.

And after a million
bouquets and Ferrero Rochers...

And many other reminders
of life in Taiwan...

After two years and two months,
I returned to America.

It was so nice to see my family.
.

My grandpa was recovering from a terrible accident,
so it was great to be able to see him again too.

Also, I got to meet Kristin,
my brother's girlfriend and soon-to-be fiancee.

But God had other plans for me!
Big plans!

At the end of January,
I returned to Taiwan to help open SYME.

We learned English and Bible...
.

...But we also had a lot of fun.
.

But the best part of SYME was meeting Cheryl!
(Even though we lost the water balloon game.)

Cheryl was my roommate and coworker
for four months.

I love her,
even more than I love fried rice!

And I'm not the only one
who loves Cheryl.

I like her because
she's crazier than I am!

(Okay, maybe not.)
.

We went to a lot of different places together.
The National Palace Museum

We went to a lot of different places together.
Yang Ming Mountain

We went to a lot of different places together.
Sun Moon Lake

We went to a lot of different places together.
Kenting

We went to a lot of different places together.
Bead making in Sandimen

We went to a lot of different places together.
Hualien

We went to a lot of different places together.
Taroko Gorge

We went to a lot of different places together.
Hualien

She even agreed to be my Valentine.
.

We lived with the girl students,
which was also a lot of fun.

They helped us to enjoy the Taiwanese culture.
.

Soon summer came, so I said goodbye to Cheryl
and headed off to summer camp.

It was great to be in the mountains
and to try my hand at river trekking.

Oh, and did I mention that there were
hot springs in the river? N-I-C-E.

One day I rode my scooter to
Lugang with Jasmine and Jamie.

Lugang
Prayer requests at a temple.

Lugang
A supernarrow alley!

A lot of the roads in Lugang
are very narrow.

For my last adventure of the year,
I decided to take kendo classes.

It was really fun, and now I am dangerous.
More next year!

Lugang 1

Last weekend I went to Lugang,
an old port city southwest of Taichung.

There were lots of people there
because it was the weekend of the Dragon Boat Festival.

There were lots of lanterns hanging everywhere,
but I took this picture because of the moon. (Can you see it?)

There is a really big, famous temple in Lugang.
.

Here are some musicians
getting ready to play some traditional Chinese instruments.

These kids were there to pray for good grades
because a lot of them had finals coming up.

This is where they hang their prayers.
.

Jamie and Jasmine were my tour guides.
.

I love the dragons on the temples!
.

This is an old bridal cart.
(Don't worry, Mom...there's nothing I need to tell you!)

I have no idea what a dormer is.
.

Okay, this little alley is called "touch breast alley"
because two people can barely pass each other.

You bet we had a lot of fun with that!
.

There are little cubbies to jump into once in a while
to avoid those awkward situations.

It was so narrow!
.

You go into the alley just friends
but you come out GOOD friends, if you know what I mean.

Here's a good shot of the three of us.
.

This is Nine Turns Street.
It winds through the middle of the town.

Can you imagine living in a little place like this?
.

There were lots of signs everywhere
with some pretty amazing English translations.

This half well is famous because the wealthy family
that lives here wanted to share their clean water.

I just love all the little gates and alleys!
.

And did I mention that I like the dragons?
We had a great time, and I hope to go back very soon!

May 25, 2009

Cheryl and I went to Taroko Gorge
on the eastern coast of Taiwan!

It was rainy, and it hurt my eyes.
.

But I drove on in determination!
.

And we got to see beautiful things!
.

(And scary things.)
.

We had a great time!
.

I even found a new friend.
(I know, I know...the hair...)

The next day, we drove down the coast.
.

I like the ocean!
.

Hi, Mom and Dad!
.

I took some time to ponder my life...
.

And Cheryl embraced a new chapter in hers.
.

Home to Taichung...
.

And let the random pictures begin!
These are pictures mostly that I have stolen from the teachers that have come and gone. This is Taichung City.

A typical courtyard.
.

A scenic view from a local university.
.

The view from one of our teacher's apartments.
.

A bush under my classroom window!
.

Tepanyaki men!
(Tepanyaki is when you sit at the counter that is a giant griddle and they cook your food then kind of shovel it over to

A walking path.
.

Grace International Church
.

A funny sign in a night market
.

A display in an old museum, I think.
.

I got my visa renewed
so I don't have to leave the country until July.

And I got new swimming goggles!
.

A candle that Fiona gave me a long time ago.
.

Cheryl bought me flowers!
(Sunflowers are my favorite!)

A note from our student Jasmine.
It was hanging on our bathroom door one morning.

I liked the piggy planter!
.

Cheryl and I lost the water balloon toss.
Cheryl really lost. (Hehe.)

Cheryl with Jasmine and Jessica
There's a lot of love in our house!

A typical Taiwanese bakery
.

Evelyn, a visitor to SYME for two weeks
.

One of many displays at the art museum
(It IS the year of the ox, after all!)

Also at the art museum
.

Cheryl went back to the States on Saturday.
I miss you, my friend...

The Southern Tip

This time we got to travel to the southern tip
of Taiwan: the tribal village of Mudan, the beach resort town of Kenting, and the mountian hideaway of Sandimen.

I drove the van!
.

Here is the whole group:
the Chu family and the SYME family.

We hiked up to the top of a dam.
.

Mary and Cheryl and I
practiced our dismounts on the way down. I scored a 7.4, because the Polish judge hates me.

A nice group picture.
.

A famous battle happened here,
between the Taiwanese and the Japanese (I think).

Marshall and Mary
discovered some CRAZY hats at an aboriginal store.

Then they found one for Jane.
.

We got the once-in-a-lifetime chance
to hear some really famous aboriginal singers do an exclusive concert!

I have never seen so many onions in my life!
They were EVERYWHERE!

Typical Taiwanese construction.
.

I love my squid!
.

Our hotel was Medeterrainian themed,
with bright colors everywhere!

It was really cool.
.

And there were lots of fun nooks to sit in!
.

Here we are at the hotel.
.

And at the ocean!
.

Since Taiwanese people are afraid of swimming,
they pay people to take them out on jet skis or intertubes.

Here is Cheryl taking a picture of the ocean.
.

Here is what Cheryl was taking a picture of!
.

I like this picture!
.

The ocean has it's beauty,
but I'm still definitely a mountain girl!

Ah. Bead Making 101.
.

1) Choose a teacher.
.

2) Choose the type of bead you want to make,
then choose the colors of glass you want to use.

3) Concentrate really hard
trying to get the thin glass to melt into the thick glass bead.

4) Be happy with your bead
even though it looks nothing like it's supposed to.

5) Flaunt the finished product!
.

Jane beading
.

Cheryl beading
.

Mary beading
.

Dick beading
.

Marshall beading
.

Ducks that want to be beading
.

This little girl was following Cheryl
around the whole time we were in Sandimen. So we took a picture! :)

One of hundreds of pineapple fields
.

Here is the Chu family!
Jamie (in black) is one of our students, and her family has been super kind to take us to various places on the island.

Jaime and me!
We had a great time!

YangMing Mountain

I recently led a group of teachers
to the northern part of Taiwan, to a mountain that is famous for its flowers in the spring. Welcome to YangMing Mountai

Here we all are!
Bianca and Bethany (they were just visiting for a few days), me, Mary, Cheryl, Dick, and Marshall.

A beautiful garden!
.

Hiking
.

And here we are again!
.

A cool bamboo path
.

A clock made from flowers!
It was super cool!

Here is Mary standing closer to it.
.

And again!
.

There were so many calla lilies!
.

We brought some lilies home!
I got 11 of them for 50 NT ($1.50 USD)!

I thought this worker looked cool
so I snapped a picture before he disappeared.

Dick and Jane were so sweet
standing on the bridge together.

Here they are from the front.
.

Cheryl really likes ice cream.
A lot.

For some reason,
my food always disappears really quickly when Cheryl's around...

But we always have a good time anyway.
.

Flowers make me happy!
.

March 16, 2009

Just before I left the States,
my brother proposed to his girlfriend!

They will get married in October.
Yay!

Then I moved back to Taichung,
to an apartment just down the street from my old one!

This is the courtyard.
.

Look at all these beautiful flowers!
And in February, no less!

This plant has pure purple AND pure white flowers
growing on it. I've never seen anything like it.

And the plant next to it isn't too bad either!
.

The foyer outside our apartment
.

Our living room!
.

Our dining room!
(And my lunch!)

Our kitchen!
.

The infamous flooding laundry room
.

The sleeping wing (that's really all the students do here)
There are two students in each room on the left, four students in the second room on the right, and then Cheryl and I li

Our bedroom!
.

Look at the cute plants we have on our porch!
.

Then if you go back out to the courtyard
and look south (instead of west towards our apartment) and into the long windows on the second floor...that's my classro

Welcome to SYME Taiwan!
.

Here we are...
the very first wave of students and staff EVER!

Sometimes we do silly things.
(We taught a youth group on Christian worldview.)

Here is Mrs. Jane
and the original students.

Here is Mr. Marshall and Jessica and Christine.
.

This is Kenny.
His English is really good. I teach him reading, and he is planning to study in the States soon.

This is the classroom side of the school.
The other side is similar but has offices and a big room for chapel and such.

Here is my desk!
I LOVE that view!

Eating lunch!
.

Besides working at school everyday,
I have been able to go visit my maple kids a couple of times!

J.B., Leo, and Daphne
They made this card for me when I was sick.

Roy, Jarvis, and Ron
They made this card for me when I was sick.

Joanne, Angela, Kathy, and Yvonne
They made this card for me when I was sick.

We have also been to see
the National Palace Museum in Taipei, where they keep all of the treasures from the Forbidden City in Beijing.

This is Cheryl, my roomate and good friend!
.

Then we all went to Taipei 101...
the second tallest inhabited building in the world. (Go ahead, you can say it...Jason is a dork.)

101 at night
.

Inside 101 there is a HUGE mall
filled with rediculously expensive stores.

On Valentine's Day,
we went to the flower market!

I love to stop and smell the roses!
.

I was going to get this for Cheryl,
but I didn't have my moving van with me to get it home.

Marshall and Mary came with us.
They are super fun to have around!

Then we went to see...bananas!
Which meant we got to see...

Monkeys!
.

We love monkeys.
.

Who knows where the road will go from here?
As long as I am walking in faith and staying away from the mean monkeys, it's bound to be good!

August 19, 2008

Beautiful flowers in Taichung City.
Thing is...they were surrounded by barbed wire. Shame.

Beautiful flowers in a typical Taiwanese boquet.
boquet 0.JPG 2008-08-14

Thing is...
if you can get all that paper off, this is all that's left!

Yummy...
pineapple and lychees.

Some pineapples even have two heads!
pineapple.JPG 2008-06-30

Fish tea
(Just kidding...this is one of those lost in translation moments.)

WuLai Adventure Camp!
Taiwanese mountains

WuLai Adventure Camp!
Our swimming/kayaking/splashing hole

WuLai Adventure Camp!
A more hard-core camping view of our tents

WuLai Adventure Camp!
The real view of our tents

WuLai Adventure Camp!
River trekking

WuLai Adventure Camp!
Rock climbing!

WuLai Adventure Camp!
And even hot springing

Goodbye Maple Class!
Goodbye Daphne

Goodbye Maple Class!
Goodbye Leo

Goodbye Maple Class!
Goodbye Roy

Goodbye Maple Class!
Goodbye Sunny

Goodbye Maple Class!
Goodbye Teacher Alan

Goodbye Fiona!
Goodbye Sally the dog

Goodbye Fiona!
Goodbye gansta

Goodbye Fiona!
Goodbye Futurama robot

Goodbye Fiona!
Goodbye cute gummy looking robot

Goodbye Fiona!
Goodbye posing

Goodbye Fiona!
Goodbye sitting

Goodbye Fiona!
Goodbye modeling

Goodbye Fiona!
Goodbye looking chic

Goodbye Relax!
Goodbye Ann and Tesia teaching

Goodbye Relax!
Goodbye students

Goodbye Relax!
Goodbye Asian peace sign

Goodbye Relax!
Goodbye Jason who sang me a goodbye song

Goodbye Relax!
Goodbye group shot

Goodbye Relax friends!
.

Goodbye Relax friends!

Goodbye Relax friends
who bought me new fuschia flower flip flops!

Goodbye tasty rabbit-eared salad!
.

Goodbye GIC!
Goodbye bald Canadian Jon

Goodbye GIC!
Goodbye ChingJu

Goodbye GIC!
Goodbye Christina

Goodbye GIC!
Goodbye Jonathan

Goodbye GIC!
Goodbye Jonathan and ChingJu

Goodbye small funny telephone booth!
I can't wait to come back...

Best of Asia Year 2

Tasty Taiwanese summer produce!
.

In June, Fiona got baptized!
Yay!

In July, I had LASIK surgery!
That is maybe the best-spent $890 ever.

I love my raincoat!
.

My most favorite market snack:
Barbequed squid on a stick!

Footprints in the sand
.

In August, I travelled to the Philippines.
This is Mount Mayon, an active volcano.

Overnight ferry to Cebu Island
.

Homestay on Mactan Island
The water came all the way up to the back porch every day at high tide.

At low tide, it went far, far away
and lots of people came out to dig for clams.

I even saw my first cock fight!
(Not with this rooster...other ones.)

Then I stayed in a four-star hotel...
because I could. (They're cheap in Manila.)

The pool was AMAZING.
.

The new and improved Maple Class!
.

And Relax continues to grow.
.

Ann and me!
.

I made some new friends at JuiceUp,
the juice shop under my apartment.

They were more than willing to let me help,
but I couldn't figure out how to operate the coffee maker. (Silly Chinese labels.)

Maple Halloween
.

And I was Sponge Bob!
I made every bit of it myself, besides the sandals, socks, and t-shirt. And underwear.

In December, I wrecked my scooter
and got pretty banged up.

Some of the bruises turned out to be art!
.

For New Years, Michael came to visit me!
We liked this cute pagoda in Taroko Gorge.

We tore it up on Jade, my scooter.
.

Michael LOVES stinky dofu!
.

The Chiang Kai Shek Memorial
took our breaths away.

Finally, I can share my love for pearl milk tea
with someone from home!

We went to the ocean in Hualien.
Even in January, the weather was nice enough to play in the water a little bit.

Domo arigato...
.

Michael "waiting for the train."
(Haha...sorry, that's bad.)

And we ate frogs.
.

For Chinese New Year, I toured eastern China.
It was so cold there that I had to wear shoes for the first time in 606 days! :(

BUT it was worth it to see the snow again! :)
.

Harbin, China, is famous for its annual
snow and ice world display. Here is an ice Acropolis.

Missie and I had a great time...
when we had feeling in our extremities, at least. (Not so much in this picture.)

When the sun set...
.

All of the ice buildings lit up!
There were supercomplex light systems in all of the ice blocks!

Russian Street in Harbin
.

Look at these ice sculptures!
Wow!

Then we went to Beijing
to see the Great Wall of China...my first wonder of the world. (Six more to go!)

And I shot down some Huns.
.

We went to a tiger park
and drove right through where the tigers live. Look how close he is to me!

It is kind of a rush to be so close to a giant tiger.
.

At the tiger park we saw a...
LIGER! I'm not even joking.

Help me. I'm getting eaten.
.

Look! I'm standing in Tianamen Square!
Lots of famous things have happened here.

Missie even got to pick Chairman Mao's nose!
.

Tom's family came to visit in March,
to sort through some of his things and to see the places he loved to go. We all were able to heal a little from just be

Okay so I ate a chicken foot.
.

Later in March, Karen came to visit me!
We had such a good time!

We went to this super cute museum,
where they happened to have an UV-glowing squid! (You know how I like squid!)

I need to stop eating so much spinach...
I was a little too healthy on this health walk!

Karen inspired me while she was here,
especially in the area of lithoaquestrianism.

We went shopping for tea pots at the Jade Market.
.

Karen and I went all the way culinarily.
(Haha, I guess in this case it was colonarily, because that is definitely a chicken butt she is about to eat!)

The Maple kids were SUPER interested
in the Easter story! They literally begged me to tell it to them every day.

I like to smell the flowers.
.

In April, I drove my scooter 50 miles
toward the middle of the island. On the way there were a lot of tombs, which people were cleaning up in honor of Tomb S

Eventually, I got to Sun Moon Lake.
.

I went up into the top of this pagoda.
.

And there was a huge gong up there,
which I gonged, of course.

This is the way up and down.
I hope this is not a forshadowing of how year three is going to go...

June 9, 2008

When Karen came,
she brought me an Arby's sandwich.

It was SO delicious.
(I look wasted because this was at like one in the morning after Karen flew in.)

Yum...durian.
(Check out my blog about this sucker.)

Really,
could there be anything better? I think not.

Look how big this radish is!
It was one of Karen's favorite parts of Taichung, I think.

Refreshing AND educational!

An ad in the elevator
for this weekend. (I just like it because the little dumpling in the middle is saying, "Eat me!")

Elly, Jack, and JiaRu
at the juice shop downstairs

Jack let me wear the boss' apron

Too bad
I can't read any of the machinery.

So I just took up posing instead

A beautiful picture
of my favorite teapot, taken by Aaron B. Franzen himself.

Ah, midterms...

The beach

This is my friend Alan.
He is kiteboarding...on the sand.

So there's this red bridge
that always looks so beautiful when the sun is shining on it on my drive home.

But of course
when I photograph it, it doesn't look too spectacular. So you'll just have to take my word for it.

Here is a close-up.

R-A-I-N

A sunset over a rice paddy

This is Tr. Krista,
through the eyes of my student Candy.

One last style before
I cut my hair off.

Okay...really the last style.
I had to join in on the side-pony fad while I could!

Short hair

All my flops...
well, most of them.

These are my newest ones,
courtesy of Megos. Thanks, friend! I love them!

Sun Moon Lake

This weekend, I drove out
to Sun Moon Lake, in central Taiwan. This water wheel was on the way.

A typical country lane

Palm forests

Overlooking a valley

I spotted this mountain
covered with tombs on the way. It was actually Tomb Sweeping Holiday...that's why I was taking a road trip.

You can see the men
on the left side. Usually the men go to the tombs and the women stay home and cook for the deceased.

They look neat, don't they?

These women were burning
a LOT of incense and sacrifices.

The yellow paper is ghost money.
They put it on the tombs or burn it, so their ancestors have enough money in the afterlife.

Okay! This is at the lake.

Around the lake

Around the lake
(Of course I checked it out!)

Around the lake
(The doors were locked, but there were some fun stairs there.)

Around the lake
(A rare species call electroficus treeiminus.)

Around the lake

Around the lake
(bamboo)

Around the lake

Around the lake
(Look quick, Mom! This is the only shot you're going to get of me on this trip. Sorry.)

Around the lake

Around the lake
(I don't know what these flags were for, but I thought they looked cool.)

Around the lake
(See that girl off in the distance? She had on a thick sweater AND was using an umbrella so she didn't get sunburned.)

Around the lake

A funny hotel!

And another one.
I don't know why they build them like that!

I like the sign in the middle.
Good try with the grammar. Close, but not quite.

I nearly got hit by a car
because I wanted to take a picture of these flowers, so you'd better like it.

Then I went for a drive
around the whole lake, and saw beautiful scenery like this.

This little guy
jumped on my foot while I was watching his buddy. I definitely yelped.

The view

I stopped halfway up a mountain
and walked up this path to see a famous pagoda that Chiang Kai Shek built for his mother.

I liked this gazebo.

Here's the pagoda
as I saw it from below while walking up the path.

Here it is at full height.

The view from the top

There's a huge gong up there
that people can...well, gong.

The staircase

On the way to the lake and back,
I saw tons of these mysterious unfinished bridges out in the fog.

And I saw lots of
strawberry fields, with lots of families out picking strawberries together.

I also saw a pumpkin patch.
To my current knowledge, it's the first one I've ever seen!

So that means I only have
one more place that I want to go in Taiwan...then I'm ready to come home!

Karen's Take on Taiwan

Ah, yes. This is me being
shocked, because we managed to see someone wearing a sweatsuit within Karen's first waking hour in Taiwan.

Danbing:
A great way to start the day!

Karen's very first true milktea.
(Don't let the tomatoes on the top fool you...it was perfectly normal milk tea.)

Karen walking on a health walk.
These are all over the city. They're incredibly painful to walk on, but are thought to make you healthier.

I'm a little too healthy.

Then we went
to the flower market! Check out this heart tree!

Custard fruits:
Awesome on the outside; awesomer on the inside!

A local temple

I thought I'd throw Karen
right into the culture of Taiwan with a karaoke session. Obviously she wasn't too culture shocked.

Okay, neither was I.
(Don't ask...I don't know.)

Then we went grocery shopping!
Oh yes, that's my staple brand of butter.

We bought some cool
tropical fruits. This is a dragon fruit, but you better believe we bought some custard fruit too!

The next day, we took a stroll
through Little Europe. These chickens are waiting to...um, cross the road. (There might be kids reading this!)

There were lots of clams there.

Also some kelp bowties!
(They're a really common sidedish here.)

Karen was impressed
by the size of the carrots.

Until, that is, she saw
this radish. You can't tell how big it truly is, but it was as big as a baseball.

Then, we went
to the Jade Market, just two blocks from my apartment.

They sell TONS of stuff there.

They sell TONS of stuff there.
Like teapots.

They sell TONS of stuff there.
And beads.

My church just happens to be
on the edge of one of the biggest parks in Taichung.

This boathouse is really famous
for some reason. It's what everyone knows the park for.

There are also pretty bridges,
which Karen was fond of.

Especially this red one.

I was more fond
of the giant trees.

Oh, and the stone horses.

This is a ginormous
goat statue. It's left over from the year of the goat. It is currently the year of the rat.

After THAT, we went
to the night market near the church.

This is a fried food stand.

Steamed dumplings!
Aren't they pretty?

Karen appreciated the fact
that you can get your hair cut late at night...in view of the whole night market.

Ohhh, glazed fruit sticks!
I had only seen these things in mainland China, so of course I had to buy one.

Karen did too.
She chose strawberries.

Ewww! It was so sticky!

But it was so worth it.

The next day, we ate a
conservative breakfast, because it was...all-you-can-eat hotpot day!

Karen enjoying some rice
congealed in pig's blood.

She was proud of eating
her corn on the cob with chopsticks. I commend her on her dexterity.

I enjoyed a baby octopus.
(This one's for you, Michael!)

That night, after school,
after we had digested our hotpots a little, we stopped by the stinky dofu stand!

It is seriously stinky.
But it's so tasty!

After we demolished the dofu,
we dug into our barbequed goods.

Let's see, from back to front
we have: pork-wrapped greens, chicken, chicken hearts, dry dofu, and...chicken butts! I'm so serious!

Karen wasn't too bothered
by the idea of eating an animal's butt.

I was a little more skeptical.
Turns out, it didn't taste bad, but it was basically all fat with a little grissle.

I preferred my green beans.

The next day,
we took the bus to Taipei. Our first stop was the Chiang Kai Shek memorial.

Me dancing in the rain
in the GIGANTIC courtyard.

This is the
National Concert Hall, on the north side of Memorial Square. Karen's standing on the steps.

Chinese architecture
is really intricate and beautiful.

The view across the square
from the concert hall. That's the National Theater, on the south side of Memorial Square.

That's the west side
of the square, the actual Chaing Kai Shek Memorial.

(It was a rainy day.)
(It always seems to be rainy in Taipei.)

This photo, believe it or not,
was taken by the sister of the man who designed those steps behind us.

Chiang Kai Shek:
the guy who all the fuss is about. He was actually a pretty bad guy!

The front gate,
from the memorial.

The beautiful grounds designs
could only be truly appreciated from above.

There's a beautiful garden
surrounding the whole memorial. It was huge!

Karen beside the pond.

A Super Mario tree!

Okay, I badmouth pink a lot,
but I LOVE pink flowers. There, I said it.

Baby pineapples!

Taiwanese people are big
on benches. There are benches all over this island.

I'm big on big earthworms!
Yum, yum!

Okay, look very carefully...
you can just barely make out Taipei 101 in the foggy background.

Then we made a mistake
and went to the wrong museum. But this one was a blast, because it had a baseball exhibit!

They gave us a cardboard token
when we came in, and we were supposed to put it in the container holding our first baseball.

Karen was stoked!

Interesting Taiwan fact:
Taiwan is allowed to participate in international competitions, but they have to call themselves "Chinese Taipei."

I don't know if it was
having Karen around or what, but some people told me I was glowing!

That evening, we went in search
of the illusive "Snake Alley" night market, supposedly the biggest and baddest in town.

These lanterns were much cooler
than anything we saw in Snake Alley.

Aren't they pretty?

Oh, and it didn't help
that it was pouring rain.

They had every kind of meat
and animal parts you could ever want to eat.

We chose a nice entree
of pig's feet, pig's knees, chicken rice, and turnip soup. The rice was good!

The next day, we went
to my favorite place in Taichung: the National Museum of Natural History.

There always seem to be
cute kindergarteners there who are always on the buddy system in their little school uniforms.

There was this tree that
was packed with HUGE, HEAVY flowers, and they would fall down every so often.

See how big the flowers are?

You gotta be careful
not to poke your eye out with one of those things, if one falls on you!

On our way home,
we stopped by the noodle shop and they whipped us up some lunch.

Since Wednesday is a short day
at school, we went to a Thai restaurant for an early dinner.

Dinner lasted like ten minutes,
because it was SO good! I'm not even sure if I chewed!

Late night snack:
A fruit-laden icey, and dou hua (kind of like sweet tofu soup) with stewed peanuts.

The next morning we went
for one last walk around the neighborhood. This is a slide, in the yard of a temple.

Pots to burn ghost money,
so your ancestors have enough dough in the afterlife.

Karen reading with a deer!

He was just too cute to pass up.

A view of my neighborhood.

Then we got some tepanyaki
before school. Left to right: bean sprouts, cabbage, goat, mushrooms, cabbage, bean sprouts.

IT'S A MIRACLE!
I am eating this mushroom willingly. But the kicker is...I had already eaten a couple! AHHH!!!

Then off to school.
Since it was Maundy Thursday, I thought I'd tell the Easter story. The kids paid rapt attention.

Kathy, Leo, and Daphne
soaking it all up.

Daphne was especially
interested.

Kathy at one point said to me,
with her little hands over her heart, "I want to love Jesus forever!"

After kid class, off to Relax!
Time to share the gospel again!

Relax is up to
about 40 people a week now.

Okay! Sign time!
Karen really liked the English on the signs here. So here is a sign montage:

Hooray for fun signs!

Hooray for fun signs!
(Any suggestions for what this one means?)

Hooray for fun signs!

Hooray for fun signs!
(This is a casino.)

Hooray for fun signs!

Hooray for fun signs!
(This phone booth comes with instructions!)

Hooray for fun signs!
(My personal favorite.)

On her way back to the airport,
Karen snapped some photos of Taiwan landscape from the bus.

Too bad I can't rub
one of these Buddha's bellies and zap her back here. I miss you, Ren! Thanks for coming to visit me!

March 24, 2008

A couple of weeks ago,
Kathy was in town with Tom's dad Joe, sister Cyndi, and niece Angel. We all had dinner.

Then we drove to the mountains!
Cyndi rode with me.

See, I am a good driver!

We stopped at a little teahouse
to eat lunch.

In the yard of the teahouse,
there was a cute little fountain that we took a cute little picture by.

Okay, we took lots of pictures.
Kathy, Katie Jo, Cyndi, Joe, Me, and Angel

Okay, we took lots of pictures.
Me, Cyndi, Katie Jo, Joe, Kathy, and Angel

Then we decided to jump off
the fountain and try to catch it on a photo. Attempt #1 was clearly a failure.

Attempt #2
Good work, Angel! I didn't even make it off the ground.

Attempt #3
Oooh, almost!

Attempt #4
Kathy and I felt as if we had had an unfair chance, so we tried again. Still no luck.

Attempt #5
(Everyone else had quit by now.) Yay! Got it! But it just looks like I jumped off the ground. Bummer.

Then we went to the monkey park.
Believe it or not, we were not the only monkies there!

We ate popsicles.

But the best part was
our first dinner together. It looks like I'm telling Angel a secret.

We ate a chicken foot!

Then I played with
a chicken foot.

All in all, the experience
was four thumbs up!

We also ate stinky tofu.
It's really pretty good!

Don't worry,
they got to eat good things too. This is my friend Katie Jo with some tasty fruit ices.

And this is Ching Ju
eating something called dou hua, like sweet tofu soup. Dou hua is really good.

My parents sent me this
for Valentines Day, I think. I had no idea something so delicious existed. I wish I had more... (Hint, hint!)

I also discovered cherry M&M's!
They are so good!

I don't have a sweetheart,
but I do have a teaheart!

Okay, random picture time.
I got this in the mail from the bank. I'm pretty sure they meant HANKINS KRISTA EILEEN.

And this is the cat
that lives and cries and whines outside my window. A lot.

When we went to the mountains,
I got eaten up my tiny, tiny, nasty mosquitos. It was unbelievable.

Sunflakes!

Day 600
My final count was 606. I had to wear shoes when I went to China. Boo.

China Travels

For Chinese New Year,
I flew from Taipei to Hong Kong to Shanghai.

There the inevitible happened,
after 606 glorious days of foot freedom.

But it was worth it!

I LOVE SNOW!

Shanghai Old Street

The Bund
(where the foriegners were confined to, back in the day)

The craziest tunnel ever!
"Meteor Shower"

The craziest tunnel ever!
"Magma"

The craziest tunnel ever!
"Sea Cadence"

The craziest tunnel ever!
(You have to call me so I can say these titles like they did...that was most of the entertainment!)

From Shanghai
we went north, to snowy Harbin.

In case you didn't notice,
Harbin is very close to Russia. Hence, there is a lot of Russian influence.

Like Saint Sophia,
a retired Russian orthodox church.

It had beautiful architecture.

And at night it looked like
heaven! (Okay, maybe it was just my camera setting.)

There are some funny things
in Harbin. Like you aren't allowed to play the trumpet.

And they have
the best chocolate on the internet!

Their taxis are spelled
forward on one side and backward on the other, in case you pass them in reverse.

Oh, and the food!
SO good and SO cheap! (Usually less than a dollar a plate.)

This restaurant was literally
ALL over the city. We're talking five within a 2 minute walk from our hotel!

Vendors on Russian Street

This is Missie,
my travelling companion. We had a run-in with a pickpocket.

But we didn't let him damper
our fun in the ice!

(Here's the side view.)
The ice was super clear!

And bubbly!

This was just a random ice wall
on a big, frozen river.

Then we did what we
went there to do!

Wew er eex cit edt ogo the re!
Haha.

Ice World!
Entrance gate

Ice World!
Paris

Ice World!
Castle

Ice World!
Crazy tower

Ice World!
Buddha

Ice World!
Pagodas

Ice World!
Missie and me...so cold we can't even smile properly!

Ice World!
The Acropolis

Ice World!
The Great Wall of China ice slide. Don't worry, it was very safe...

Ice World!
Let the lights begin...

Ice World!
Crazy tower and Acropolis

Ice World!
Westminster Abbey

Ice World!
Tienanmen Square gate

Ice World!
Another castle

Ice World!
One of many igloos

Ice World!
London's Tower Bridge, and mini-Stonehenge

I did a little climbing...
(actually, anyone who climbs with me knows I hate downclimbing, and here...iwasstuckandwhining...)

I felt more confident here.
:)

Missie just went around
licking things, Saint Sophia in this case.

Oh, all the trees were lit up
too.

We liked it so much
that we went back next year! (Haha, don't ask. We don't know either.)

The next day
we went to the Siberian Tiger Park!

It was dangerous!

Tiger Park

Tiger Park
They got superclose to our little busvanthing

Tiger Park
Aww...

Tiger Park
This guy was eating and eating...snowcones!

Tiger Park
An angry leopard

Tiger Park
A black panther

Tiger Park
And...LIGERS!

Tiger Park
She looked so cute and fuzzy, but she was shy.

Tiger Park
This guy was just plain cool looking!

Tiger Park
Behind the scenes liger-in-the-making.

You could even buy
live animals to feed to them! (7 RMB = 1 USD)

That night we went to...
another ice park!

Zhaolin Park
Missie

Zhaolin Park
CinderMissieElla

Zhaolin Park
A butterflyce cube!

Zhaolin Park
These were definitely real fish at one point, I think.

Zhaolin Park
An igloo made out of marshmallow creme! (No, not really.)

Zhaolin Park
That's Missie way up there!

Zhaolin Park
Noah's Ark

Zhaolin Park
This slide was cool, yes, but mostly funny because EVERY person that came down wrecked into the wall hard core!

They had an ice sculpture
contest here. These are phoenix.

Ice Sculpture
"Peace Angel on a Horse" from Japan

Ice Sculptures
"Innocent" from Russia

Ice Sculptures
"Dumping Dream" from China (be nice...they meant "Jumping.")

Ice Sculptures
"Graceful" from America (woo hoo, frist prize!)

Ice Sculptures
"Flying Snow Flake" from China

Ice Sculptures
"The Mask" from Malaysia

Ice Sculptures
"Night Sky" from America (I think)

Ice Sculptures
"Autumn Harvest" from China

Then we took a night train
to Beijing.

Okay, Beijing is CONSUMED
by the Olympics. (This is counting it down to the second.)

Here is the Bubble Building
where the swimming events will take place. The walls are soft, like bubbles!

This is the bird's nest stadium.

Then we went to heaven.
The Temple of Heaven, that is.

The Temple of Heaven
It was beautiful.

The Temple of Heaven
That little button is the middle of the earth! (Or so they thought.)

The Temple of Heaven
We love stairs! And good thing too, because the next day we went to...

The Great Wall of China!

We went to see it
at Mutianyu (bottom right).

Look!
I'm standing on the Great Wall!

The Great Wall of China!
This is my most favorite picture, taken by Missie! Beautiful, right?

The Great Wall of China!

The Great Wall of China!
I like this one too. (I think I took it.)

The Great Wall of China!
Just hanging out

The Great Wall of China!
Shooting down the Huns (That one's for you, Col!)

The next day we wrapped up
with a visit to Tiananmen Square.

Missie picked Mao's nose.

Then we snuck into
the Forbidden City.

Everything there was really big.

They had magic fungi there.
No wonder it's forbidden!

This guy must have eaten
the magic fungi.

The city was indeed perilous.
(See how perilized I look?)

Perilous, perhaps,
but oh-so-cool.

Despite the rampant danger,
we had a great time!

We trained back to Shanghai
then I flew back home. Hooray for China.

Here is my updated
Asian Adventure map!

Michael's Take on Taiwan

The fish market:
Normal Saturday afternoon fare.

The fish market:
Bowls and bowls of tiny dried fish. Yum!

The fish market:
Baby octopi!

The fish market:
We ate a sample of whatever those yellow things in the middle are. Deflated sea slugs, perhaps?

The fish market:
Waste not, want not!

The fish market:
The infamous squid on a stick!

The fish market:
Daddy octopi!

The harbor:
An artsy picture.

The harbor:
The desert before the straight (the body of water between Taiwan and China).

The harbor:
It was unimaginably windy that day, so we didn't brave the desert.

The harbor:
Who WOULDN'T want to join them?

The harbor:
See, Michael, I told you it was good!

Sushi night:
A whole line of $1/plate goodness! The girls next to us ate like 20 plates...each.

Sushi night:
Michael ate a whole fish, just because he wanted to be able to say he did.

Sushi night:
They were cut in half, but they were still definitely whole fish.

Pearl milk tea!

It is soooo good!

Michael especially liked
the pearls.

Dragon fruit

Custard fruit

Michael got coerced
into substitute teaching a class of 12-year olds the very first day he came to my school!

The view from our hostel
in Taipei for New Year's Eve.

The Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial
in Taipei

We must have seen
about a million Chinese flags.

Camera hog.
Reminds me of Aaron Franzen.

There was an art display
underground in the subway!

Look! Cotton candy trees!

Taipei 101:
The usedtobe tallest building in the world.

Taipei 101:
Do NOT try this at home!

The damper
(It keeps the building balanced during earthquakes and typhoons by counterswinging.)

They even have a profile for it.
(Straaaange!)

Taipei from the top of 101

Ms. Roboto!

Breakfast time!
A phoenix burger, dan bing, thortening bread, and milk tea.

Rice bowls
with ginger chicken, spinach, eel, edamame, and mushrooms.

Thai night:
Pineapple fried rice, coconut beef, cashew chili chicken, and...

Spicy frogs!

Whole ones!

T-A-S-T-Y!

Check this out -
They have Black Man and White Man brand toothpastes here! I'm not even joking!

The train station:
If the shoe fits...

The train station:
Ever wish you had a magazine?

Taroko National Park:
My most Taiwanese pose.

Taroko National Park:
I'm the pretty one. ;)

Taroko National Park:
The mountains there are literally vertical.

Taroko National Park:
It's made of granite, marble, and flora.

Taroko National Park:
What a stud!

Taroko National Park:
Lots and lots of caves to walk/ride through!

Taroko National Park:
You really can never be too safe in these kind of places.

Taroko National Park:
Sketchy suspension bridge!

Taroko National Park:
Whew...made it.

Taroko National Park:
The waterfalls literally pour out onto the street.

Taroko National Park:
A hotel a few km into the park.

Taroko National Park:
I can't think of anything this could be referring to...

Taroko National Park:
About as traditionally Chinese as you can get, Buddhist monk and all.

Taroko National Park:
Another beautiful pagoda.

Amigos Hostel in Hualien:
They totally have my picture on the wall from last year!

Hualien:
The west side...of the Pacific.

Hualien:
Michael may look like this on the outside...

Hualien:
But inside, he's doing this!

Hualien:
I definitely got soaked immediately after this was taken.

Hualien:
The most beautiful part of the island, as far as I'm concerned.

Hualien:
Just a little bonding time.

Hualien:
Don't laugh. These are serious problems in the world today.

Stinky tofu night:
This stuff reeks!

Stinky tofu night:
We got BBQ as backup.

The science museum:
The arboretum.

The science museum:
The giant butterfly/mosquito!

The science museum:
Beautiful garden in the city.

The science museum:
Beautiful fountains.

The science museum:
Beautiful walkways.

The science museum:
Beautiful waterfalls.

The science museum:
Fig trees!

The science museum:
Mikey likes figs.

The science museum:
A tiger catfish.

The science museum:
A regular catfish.

The science museum:
The biggest, ugliest fish in the world!

The science museum:
See how appalled I am?

The science museum:
After we pried the kindergartener off the frog's face, it made for a cute picture!

Sharing Jade was fun.

Monkey sighting!
Real Asian jungle monkeys!

Monkey sighting!
Tree monkeys.

Monkey sighting!
Grooming monkeys.

The coolest restaurant ever!
Behold: now it's green...

The coolest restaurant ever!
And now it's purple!

The coolest restaurant ever!
My friend Ching Ju treated us to a "tea" extravaganza.

The coolest restaurant ever!
Two words: YUMMY...

The coolest restaurant ever!
and FULL.

Well, Michael...
I sure enjoyed your company. I hope you liked Asia as much as I do. I love you, and I can't wait to see you again!

January 12, 2008

Despite all my dreaming

this was as white
as my Christmas got this year.

The youth from PCCC
sent me 41 snowflakes!

Jump Start Christmas Concert:
Maple Class waiting in the wings

Jump Start Christmas Concert:
Maple's performance

Jump Start Christmas Concert:
Frosty and Cactus Class

Jump Start Christmas Concert:
Olive Class Santapalooza

Jump Start Christmas Concert:
little kindy lineup

Jump Start Christmas Concert:
little kindy Elvises

Jump Start Christmas Concert:
little kindy dance

Christmas morning:
Christmas tree hunt!

Christmas morning:
this department store wrapped itself for Christmas!

Christmas morning:
my little lobby

Christmas morning:
I got real stocking stuffers from Karen!

Christmas morning:
yessssssssss!

Christmas morning:
fun Christmas foods

Christmas morning:
Christmas Chinese Santa milk

Christmas morning:
Dan bing and orange juice, the Christmas breakfast of champions!

Christmas morning:
present time!

Christmas morning:
yay!

Christmas morning:
I asked my parents for a pony. Meet BJ.

Christmas morning:
The greatest white elephant gift EVER!

Christmas morning:
my neighborhood

Happy New Year!
at Taipei 101

Random things I like:
Adobe Starbucks

Random things I like:
mini pearl milk tea

Random things I like:
my friend's new baby, Jonathan

Random things I like:
this shirt!

Random things I like:
a sunset from my roof

Random things I like:
a waterfall on a building

I wrecked my scooter.

I landed on my face
so it was a good thing I was wearing a good helmet.

Jade got pretty scraped up too
but she's recovering well.

My left foot got smooshed
under my scooter, so it got the most damage.

I was just bruised and scraped
and overall sore.

It's fun to watch bruises morph
over a week or two's time!

And oh, what pretty bruises
they were.

December 1, 2007

Coconut Class
(12 year olds)

Maple class working
(7-8-9 year olds)

Maple Class
realizing Tr. Felisa is taking pictures of them.

Maple Class
letting their little personalities shine through.

Maple Halloween

The making of SpongeBob

The world's biggest tissue box!

Just joking...
it's SpongeBob's square pants.

The final product.
I came...I impressed (and/or frightened)...I conquered.

Retired SpongeBob
(The kids call him Teacher SpongeBob. Really.)

Relax English class

George teaching the vocab

We do fun activities
like putting together the lyrics of a song that's playing.

Ann and me
at Relax

A Taiwanese baseball game!

This is how close we were
to the field.

South Africa vs. Team USA

The stands were packed.

Here is the cameraman
recording live onto the television!

Thomas, me, Alan, and Rhein
(aka Canada, USA, S. Africa)

A sunny November day

Birthday loot
(half of it)

HONEY
from Karen

I'm dreaming...

of a white Christmas!

My winter wonderland

Yolanda Turkey
from Megos

Hand turkeys

My favorite one
(Yvonne asks me SO many questions about Jesus! It's fantastic.)

The whole collection

Other work
(Sunny is quite...ambitious.)

Other work
(Coconut Cherry wrote this story. She's super cute.)

Shoeless Day 500!
Wa-hoo!

It's a hard knock life.
This is really how it is after a typhoon.

My hair collection.
Don't ask.

My hair collection.
Don't ask. I'm serious. I don't know what I was thinking.

September 30, 2007

A photographic tour
of a typical Taiwanese grocery store: lots of fresh seafood...

tons of canned meat...
(we're talking squid and tuna and herring and sardines, plus a million other things)

dried meat...
(the ones with shapes really help me out!)

pomelos...
(these are only around during the moon festival)

pomelos in gift boxes...

instant noodles...
(more than I have ever seen in my life!)

mass quantities of soy sauce...

carbonated beverages...

inside shoes...
(you NEVER wear outside shoes into someone's house, or a school, or sometimes churches)

toilet paper...
(sheets, not rolls)

whitening products...
(not only do they hide from the sun here, but they go to great measures to bleach their skin white)

sun killer...
(at the bottom, can you see that it says "kiss me"?)

and some trickier products...
(what could this be??)

here's another one...
(the orange bottles are called SOPP II)

the travelator...

the travelator...
(you must not goof around on the travelator because it's dangerous)

and toothpaste.
Clearly, if you use Night and Day Toothpaste, you can be incredibly happy like this nice white man and his friend.

Mooncakes!
These are typical Taiwanese style.

Mooncakes!
These are Japanese style.

Mooncakes!
These came with pineapple cakes! Yum!

Yesssss.....

Longyan fruit.
Long = dragon and yan = eye. An appropriate name.

Just stocking up on my
anthocyanins and polyphenols...aka mixed berry juice.

Hooray for fun looking fruit!

A HUGE Asian pear!

Welcome to Jump Start.
This is my desk. Notice all of the phonics books that I have to grade.

This is Teacher Alan.
We're friends, even though he's South African. Haha.

This is the kindergarten,
which is on the first floor.

This is the elementary school,
where I work, on the second floor.

Again, no outside shoes
allowed in the school. You swap them for inside shoes here, just as this little boy is so properly doing.

The coolest sink ever!
It has a false plexiglas bottom!

The zoo.
I mean Maple Class.

Okay, this is my student Dill
and her little sister Winnie. The first time I saw Winnie, I thought she was Dill. Sometimes I still do.

The Relax core group.
(My co-teachers are George and Tesia, 2nd and 3rd from the left sitting on the floor.)

Me!

I dyed my hair
"deep auborn."

And this is what it looks like
straight off the pillow. Yowza!

The notebooks say
"People in the long grass look above them. Only they can see where the clouds are going...

...only to discover
dust and sunlight every make the sky so blue." Wow. That's deep.

I am so prepared!

Some people get email...
I get tea mail.

Right now it is dragonfly season
so they are just about as common as birds. This one flew into my apartment lobby.

The Philippines

This time my travels took me to
the Philippines.

Welcome to Manila,
home to 10+ million people.

It is also home to
terrific transportation: tricycles (the bike/car) and jeepneys (old decked-out army jeeps).

Here is a postcard
of a jeepney. This is really what they look like, literally covered with anything and everything you can imagine.

The Philippines is also home to
it's very own food chain, Jollibee. This is a Yum-burger with cheese. It was actually REALLY good!

There was also duku fruit,
which I had never seen before. They taste sort of like grapefruit. They're good too.

The day after I arrived,
I got on a bus for ten hours, traveling south through the countryside of the island.

Interior Philippines

I got off in a little town
called Naga. I stayed there for only one night...

...in the greatest hotel
room ever! It only cost $9 US, and the bed was SO comfy!

The next day I traveled
by bus again, two hours to the city of Legaspi.

Legaspi is famous
because it is located right next to an active volcano, Mt. Mayon.

I was really excited to be there
because I had never seen an actual volcano before.

The downside of living
by a volcano, however, is the eruptions. Here you can see the lava front from the last eruption.

So much lava came out
of the volcano that it completely buried this huge church.

Now you can only see
the belltower, which is at ground level.

Here is a close-up
of that sign.

I hung out with Jesus
on this trip...not this Jesus persay, but the Son of Man Himself.

Near Mt. Mayon
there is a smaller mountain that you can climb up and look over the city.

The next day, I took
a jeepney to the coast, to the little town of Pilar.

There I boarded a boat
and sailed to the island city of Masbate.

In Masbate, I immediately
boarded a ship for a 12-hour voyage to the island of Cebu.

This was my first overnight
ship ride, and it was kind of like summer camp! (Mine is the bottom bunk.)

Philippine coasts

Finally I arrived at Cebu City,
but I didn't stay there for long. I took a variety of vehicles to a tiny inn on nearby Lapu-Lapu Island.

It wasn't quite like Thailand,
but it was a safe refuge for me to relax for a few days.

The house
(Notice the TV is attached directly to a karaoke machine!)

The house

This is Nanay and Tatay.
The adopted me into their family for a week, and took very good care of me.

The view from my window

When I got to the house
in the afternoon, the beach looked like this.

But later that evening,
the tide went out. Really far out.

During low tide,
people go out to dig up clams or to fish in the shallow water for dinner.

Low tide

Low tide
(You can see the more expensive resort farther down the beach.)

Low tide
But the next morning when I woke up...

...it was high tide.
REALLY high tide!

High tide
is perfect for a morning swim!

And in the evening
the tide goes out again.

Low tide

They really like to fight
roosters in the Philippines. This is one of Tatay's champions.

After six days
of catching up on my sleep, being lazy, listening to karaoke, and playing Mah-jong, I flew back to Manila.

I splurged and spent
my last night in the Philippines in a 5-star hotel...for $97 US.

The best part about the room?
It had real, honest-to-goodness carpet. It was fantastic. Also, they had cheese at breakfast. For free.

Oh, and the swimming pool
was maybe the coolest pool I have ever been in. And I was the ONLY one in it. Ahhh...

Here is a more dramatic picture.
It was pretty great. It had a waterfall and a huge hottub and a poolside bar.

I made it home safely,
and here is my updated Asia map. Only a few dozen more places to go!

August 18, 2007

One day the weather was nice,
so I drove out to Taichung Harbor, about 45 minutes from my house.

There I found
the biggest beach I've ever seen!

At first the sand
looked like the desert.

But then it got all beady,
and I can't figure out why. It was really strange.

The seashore

Hello, China!
It is only 180 km (112 miles) from where I took this!

And on this gigantic beach,
I was almost the only one there.

Really --
there was one other family there.

I ate my favorite harbor snack:
squid!

I bought it from these guys.

Taiwanese people
pride themselves on making very tall icecream cones...for only 30 American cents!

Taiwanese Construction
Day 1: ugly grey building

Taiwanese Construction
Day 2: lots of racket, and suddenly bamboo scaffolding has been built

Taiwanese Construction
Day 26: fill in the cracks

Taiwanese Construction
Day 42: paint tan

Taiwanese Construction
Day 74: remove scaffolding

Taiwanese Construction
Day 75: much brighter scenery for me!

This is one of the best
ideas ever: mist. They put it in walkways and sitting areas all over the place.

Not only that,
but they also decorate the underside of the interstate.

With things like parks!
(One time Bethany and I saw one with a rock climbing wall! It was sweet!)

A view from DongHai mountain
near my house.

My first indoor visitor!

My friend Emma and me

Goodbye, friends!
This week I have to say goodbye to Fiona, Emma, and Teacher Candy.

My picture mobile!

Now you see them...

Now you don't!
Hooray for LASIK!

The smallest butter knife
EVER

Well, it's not milk
but it did come in a bag! (It's actually winter melon tea. Yum!)

Ah, the essence of Taiwan:
apartmenttempleapartment

Super typhoon clouds!
(It hit the rest of the island pretty hard, but we're surrounded by mountains, so it was pretty anticlimactic.)

July 7, 2007

My best Taiwanese friend
Fiona got baptized this month!

So did my other friend Ariel.

(Elvis got baptized too,
but he was leaving the building so fast that he's blurry.)

This is the canal
that goes past my house!

The storm's a-comin'!

Dusk...my favorite time of day.

H-O-T!

I'm not even joking.
It's that hot.

It's so hot
that the only things that sound appetizing are fruit and vegetables and ice.

Well, or octopus...yum!

Flat Me
(decorated by my girls)

My very first hong bao
(red envelope). Bosses and parents give these out on holidays sometimes.

A whole year without shoes!

400 days without shoes!
I'm almost halfway to my goal!

No shoes = happy feet

My favorite picture
of myself.

Hooray for HCP structures!
(shout out to Team Rxn!)

Jumping in the rain,
just jumping in the rain! (Okay, you have to pretend a little.)

The last supper
before Bethany, Erich, and Kelley moved back to the U.S. this week.

Just relaxing
and using some tea.

Where's Ann in the church?
(Hint: she has blond hair.)

Ah, the abundance
of oddly labeled scooters. Some are charming...

some are fashionable...

some are for riding...

some have other purposes...
("We reach for the sky, neither does civilization.")

some are friendly...

some are happy...
("Happy to be away from home then safe and sound go home.")

some are refined...
("The 'Hold Me' let us fall in love with bravo.")

some are windy...

some are good roommates...
("A scooter you can live with.")

some are dominant...
("The Duke team so speeding and dominant.") *Note that the brand name is misspelled.

some are a good time...

some are hypnotizing...
("Whenever you see it, you get happy.")

and some are fascinating.
And that, my friends, is a small taste of my life here.

Best of Asia Year 1

East Taichung 2
2006-06-27

nighttime
2006-07-09

The stairway to heaven
2006-08-11

My reward
2006-08-12

Rice paddy
2006-08-16

Parking lot
2006-08-16

Taroko National Park
2006-08-28

Love it.
2006-08-28

The eastern coast
2006-08-30

Is that a postcard?
2006-08-30

We chill.
2006-09-19

My pink kitty fridge!
2006-08-31

One of Taichung's night markets
2006-09-22

Meet Maple Class!
Leo, Johnny, Wendy, Tr. Krista, Jenny, Kevin, Nica, Dill, Tim, and Sunny

Ocean of a million blues
2006-10-08

Just hangin' out
2006-10-08

Swim caps are SO hot!!
2006-10-08

There were lots of other things
to climb on as well

Halloween!
Maple class

Missionary retreat in Kenting
SANDY BEACHES!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!
Dill, Sunny, Kevin, and Leo

My favorite friend Fiona!

Around Taichung
My friends Jimmy and Joy at my favorite tea shop!

Around Taichung
Mr. Yu, the cutest 76-year old security guard ever.

My white Christmas

Relax Christmas
Our white elephant presents!

Taipei 101

I have ever

sunset.

for this.

and rode elephants!

Yumm...breakfast!
(sorry, Kathy made me laugh)

Another sunset view
(you really can't have too many)

Perhaps the best sunset
shot of all

This is Pearcy,
my pet starfish.

An open ocean sunset

"Freedom"

Me and Almie
one last picture :(

Heading off to church

Bethany and me cooking
(hey, we don't really EVER get to cook here, and we were really enjoying it)

Thursday morning Bible study
Almie, Kathy, Winnie, Marlize, Kim, and Emi

Yeah, yeah...
I'm the coolest ever!

My practice driving test.

So there are three main modes
of transportation in Japan: bikes...

This is Tokyo Tower.

It was really beautiful.
(sorry, I know these are blurry)

This is what the crosswalk
looks like literally every time the little man turns green! It was unbelievable!

I knew this was it!!

Tokyo, Japan

This weekend I went to Tokyo
to see my teammate Mirna!

The bus ride to Soka
(just East of Tokyo) was beautiful.

I expected Tokyo to be
big and ugly

but Soka City was so cute!

There were even trees
and a river with a bike path!

Mirna has the greatest
commute to work ever!

I even got my own
little Japanese house to live in!

There was only a little problem.
(haha no pun intended)

So there are three main modes
of transportation in Japan: bikes...

...trains...
(This is not an amusement park ride, but it felt/looked like a posh roller coaster!)

...and the subway.

Take a look how many people
are on the subway at 11:30 at night!

Check out the subway map!
Yikes! Good thing I had Mirna and Nancy to show me around!

The cool thing was that
Japanese uses a lot of Chinese characters, so I could read some of it!

A cooler thing was
that there were archers in the subway station.

The first place we went
was Tokyo Tower. This is a temple nearby.

This is Tokyo Tower.

Then we hit the town.

The next stop was Odeiba.
This is Rainbow Bridge.

Look at the little party boats!

It was really beautiful.
(sorry, I know these are blurry)

But there were SO many
couples there that it made us single ladies sick. This was the drink for us.

Then we went to see
a HUGE ferris wheel.

Did I mention it was HUGE?!

Then we stopped in New York.
(Haha...I don't know why it's there either.)

On Monday we went to Asakusa,
home of a famous Japanese temple.

This is the first gate.

These are the shops
on the way in.

Here is the actual temple.

Cultural Corner:
People worship here by shaking a stick out of a box...

then they choose the drawer
designated on the stick and take a piece of paper out of the drawer. That is their fortune.

If it is good, they keep it.
If it is bad, they tie it onto this wire rack, in hopes that it won't come true.

They also burn
a lot of incense.

If you need luck, wealth,
or good grades, you can splash water from this fountain onto yourself.

Here is another part
of the temple.

(Notice the little kids
on the left-hand side. Whenever they are not in school, they have to wear bright yellow caps!)

Mirna and Nancy
spent some time looking at the Japanese garden near the temple.

Then we went off in search of...
the busiest crosswalk in the world! (But first I saw this skywalk and I liked it.)

This is the beginning
of the rush of people.

This is what the crosswalk
looks like literally every time the little man turns green! It was unbelievable!

And this is my accidental
artistic shot.

This is a cool building,
a theater, I think.

Crepes, crepes, everywhere!
Yum, yum!

Finally, we went shopping on
Harajuku Street. Hooray for 100 yen stores!

The temples really are big.
I'm not even joking.

And the train really was like
a rollercoaster.

We even met
a real sumo wrestler!

Yum!
A fresh juice bar in the subway!

I taught them the Taiwan
"I'm cute" pose...and things got a little out of hand.

Some other things
got out of hand too, but you don't need any more details about that!

May 28, 2007

Taipei 101
(the tallest building in the world!)

Taipei 101
entrance

This is the Damper Baby.

It is in the top of Taipei 101
to counteract the swaying when there is an earthquake or typhoon.

Except it's not really
baby sized.

In fact, it's five stories tall!

I mean, take a look
at one of the cables that's holding it up!

The view from the top
of Taipei 101. (North)

The view from the top
of Taipei 101. (East)

The view from the top
of Taipei 101. (South)

The view from the top
of Taipei 101. (West)

The view from the top
of Taipei 101.

Center for Performing Arts

The view from the top
of Taipei 101.

The view OF the top
of Taipei 101!

The lunatic-proof
outdoor observation deck on floor 91 of Taipei 101.

Yeah, yeah...
I'm the coolest ever!

Cool sign...

...and they're serious.
It goes all the way down to the very bottom of 101, but you can only see to the 30th floor.

A creative picture:
Precipitation on top of 101.

The fastest elevator
in the world! Guiness World Records says so! 84 levels in 37 seconds!

Flags.
I like them. I think they look regal.

Taipei

If I squint real hard
it looks like I-70

Rice paddy town

The flow of Taipei

XinBeiTou:
a hotspring resort town

Me and Candy

Nasty! Oysters are so gross!

...But they sure are pretty!

An apple a day...
this one should cover two days.

A panoramic of West Taichung
(I did it myself!)

Here's one of the five pictures
that make up the panoramic.

A mango tree!
(I think.)

My personalized bus seat!

Freezer Burn 101:
Cardboard takeout box does not equal quality freezer storage.

Here's a closeup of those cukes.

I cut my hair!

I cut my hair!
(And apparently I'm becoming incredibly vain because I have been taking a lot of pictures of myself...)

I got my driver's license!

My practice driving test.

A GIGANTIC mouji!
(If you don't know what a mouji is, ask Michael. He loves them.)

I got my eyes dilated...
creepy.

My friend Bethany drew me!
I'm impressed!

April 28, 2007

Me and Almie
one last picture :(

Praying over Almie
before she leaves for home

Almie's goodbye party
(I'm right in the very center)

Meet Jade:
my new (Almie's old) scooter

Nutrition Biscuits:
adult animal crackers...I love 'em!

Heading off to church

Bethany and me cooking
(hey, we don't really EVER get to cook here, and we were really enjoying it)

My hair is getting so long!

Thursday morning Bible study
Almie, Kathy, Winnie, Marlize, Kim, and Emi

These really are my feet.
In my shoes. Names have not been changed.

This is what my feet look like
99.9 percent of the time.

My tenneys: Day 300
(March 29)

Because the humidity
makes them even stickier, okay?

Johnny likes UFOs.

Goodbye, kitty fridge.
"Nice doing business with you."

So sad to go

Tasty Kristaese delicasies:
sweet potato nickels!

Tasty Kristaese delicasies:
PBJ, pi-pas, and a waterapple!

Tasty Kristaese delicasies:
soybean pasta salad!

Notice anything wrong
with these number crackers?

Hot noodle soup in a bag
(I always burn myself.)

The most enormous
sweet potato and carrot I have ever seen

A good reminder.

Relax
Emma, me, Fiona

Relax
Me and Fiona

Relax
Me and Fiona: we love vocabulary!

Relax
Emma, and me in teaching mode

Same picture, different angle,
with the church in the background

A pig delivery

A pretty tree
in the middle of the road

Koh Chang, Thailand

For winter break,
I traded this

for this.

Welcome to
Koh Chang, Thailand...

land of islands

jungles

and cute kids

but most importantly,
amazing beaches

on which I relaxed

saw many interesting activities

got some good photos

and played in
the clear blue water.

My favorite thing, however,
was the

sunset

sunset.

We stayed at
a backpacker's resort

for $15 USD a night
(but with 2 or 3 people staying together, maybe $5/night)

in a tiny bungalow

(It's small, but who cares?
It's not like we spent a lot of time in it!)

with a view one way to the ocean

and the other into the jungle.

The resort had
a restaurant on the beach

that sold CHEAP and TASTY food.
(1 USD = 33 Thai baht)

The massages were cheap too.
(And oh yes, I got one almost every day.)

We saw a lot of fire shows

went snorkeling

and saw LOTS of fish

kayaked
out to this beach

ate yummy fruit
(it's a rombutan)

and rode elephants!

and rode elephants!
(that's my friend Jon)

Oh, and did I mention
that I got a tan?

This is the airport
that I flew into from the island.

It has cute elephant bushes
and one runway.

This is Bankok Airport.

This year is
the king's 60th anniversary of being on the throne.

His picture was pasted
EVERYWHERE, along with encouraging quotes like...

"He will reign
with righteousness for the benefit and happiness of the Siamese people."

Oh yeah, and look out
for the beagles. I hear they're pretty nasty.

Three of my travel buddies:
Kathy, Tom, and Jenny (Jon came later)

Kathy and me

On our snorkeling trip!

Yumm...breakfast!
(sorry, Kathy made me laugh)

A typical dinner spread

They put orchid flowers
on every drink!

Another ocean view

Another sunset view
(you really can't have too many)

and another

Perhaps the best sunset
shot of all

On the ferry
from Trat to Koh Chang

This is what I look like
when I'm in the ocean.

Kathy and me

This is Pearcy,
my pet starfish.

Sea cucumbers
are not too nice to kiss

Picture perfect:
Kathy, Tom and me

Kayaking

Sandaking

A cool picure of me
trying to dig invisible clams.

So I finally found a clam
but we killed it trying to get its shell open. So I gave it a nice service.

An open ocean sunset

"Freedom"

Fire show

Bathing the elephants
before our trek

Trekking it up

Ahhh...hammock time.

A random beach dog
wanted some of Kathy's ice cream

The gang
(Tom, Kathy, Jon, me)

February 13, 2007

Welcome to Taipei

home of 7 million people

and the world's tallest building

Taipei 101

and one of the biggest

New Year's crowds

and fireworks displays

I have ever

ever

EVER seen!

My snowflake collection

Sunflakes!

Train station seat art!

This makes my job worth it!

My lonely shoes.
(You two better get used to it!)

Me
wearing makeup!

Me
letting my hair down...er, out

Me
(I do still wear glasses...I just think I look prettier without them on.)

Me on an elephant
(why not?)

Bethany and me
after a makeup session

Bethany and me
on an impromptu picnic

Return to the science museum!

Return to the science museum!
This flower smelled SO good!

Return to the science museum!
With my friend Bethany!

Return to the science museum!

HUGE, UGLY fish!

The killer mosquito!
No trip to the science museum is complete without fake attacks!

But don't worry...
I tamed it.

December 26, 2006

Christmas lights!
At my house!

Around Taichung
Fun shiny buildings!

Around Taichung
(no explanation needed)

Around Taichung
A piece of candy, anyone?

Around Taichung
How about shoes or a shirt?

Around Taichung
Dou hua: more or less tofu soup. Yum, yum!

Around Taichung
These really are pasted all over.

Around Taichung
It's just that low.

Around Taichung
Even the fire station is cute!

Around Taichung
*The other day I realized that gas stations don't look the same here as at home.

Around Taichung
A ginormous goat statue!

Around Taichung
Make that 3-goat statue!

Around Taichung
Okay, look carefully...my bank is behind a Hagen Daaz, which is below a gym!

Around Taichung
A common intersection.

Around Taichung
Nicomart! I get dinner, snack, tea, and popcorn here, as well as pay my bills!

Around Taichung
The glorious ONE Building: my favorite landmark!

Around Taichung
Not joking.

Around Taichung
At the water conservation building...just a friendly reminder!

Around Taichung
A pretty sky view out my window.

Around Taichung
Taichung Park

Around Taichung
My friends Jimmy and Joy at my favorite tea shop!

Around Taichung
Mr. Yu, the cutest 76-year old security guard ever.

Around Taichung
Everyone here gets parking tickets, as there are no meters, and we pay at 7-11.

Around Taichung
This dove was a beacon for me for the first few months of figuring out the city.

Christmas decorations!
Cheng You Department Store

Christmas decorations!
A nice Taiwanenglish shirt.

Christmas decorations!
Sogo Department Store

Christmas decorations!
There are thousands of these red globe lanterns strung up all over the city.

Christmas lights!

My little tree

My white Christmas

The girl's house

Thursday morning Bible study
Kim, Almie, Emi, and Kathy

Jump Start Christmas
Our little snowmen

Jump Start Christmas
The stage for our program...notice the 5 disco balls!

Relax Christmas

Relax Christmas
Wendy and Sasania

Relax Christmas
Emma and me

Relax Christmas
Our white elephant presents!

Mashed potatoes
(A foreign delicacy here)

And the best for last...

November 24, 2006

Halloween!
Maple class

Halloween!
(These are the other afternoon classes at my school.)

Yes I really was a fairy.
Here's the whole shebang.

Yes I really was a fairy.
Here's my angelic pose.

Yes I really was a fairy.
I'm just pondering fairy-like things.

Yes I really was a fairy.
An uberglitterhappy fairy.

Yes I really was a fairy.
(One of the teachers at school asked me if I was wearing a wig!)

Missionary retreat in Kenting
We stayed in the South Africa room!

Missionary retreat in Kenting
SANDY BEACHES!!!

Missionary retreat in Kenting
And if you get hungry at the beach, just pick a pineapple!

Missionary retreat in Kenting
I still love tropical flowers.

Happy birthday to me!
My student Sunny made me a card.

Happy birthday to me!
Birthday treats: a tiny cake and a caramel milktea.

Happy birthday to me!
A 20 x 29 cm rice crispy bar from my dad!

Happy birthday to me!
Proof that I turned 35!

Happy Thanksgiving!
Maple class turkeys

Happy Thanksgiving!
Dill, Sunny, Kevin, and Leo

Happy Thanksgiving!
Some of my other students work got published!

Happy Thanksgiving!
RELAX (English ministry) potluck

Happy Thanksgiving!
RELAX potluck

Happy Thanksgiving!
Tesia, George, and Ann...the other missionaries at RELAX

Happy Thanksgiving!
Time for Thanksgiving vocab!

Happy Thanksgiving!
"Gratitude List" small groups

These things really happen here!
(this is from Vietnam, though)

Fun with Taiwanese food!
Close, but not quite...

Fun with Taiwanese food!
A greenorange, an applepear, and soybeans!

Fun with Taiwanese food!
Egg pudding! Yum!

Fun with Taiwanese food!
Squid chips!

Fun with Taiwanese food!
Uni-cherry, jellocube yogurt!

Fun with Taiwanese food!
This juice is a little bit expired...

My favorite friend Fiona!

KTV party
from a while ago

Representin' Crusade
(worldwide love, man!)

The places I have been
so far.

Green Island

Green, green island
2006-10-08

Breathtaking views
2006-10-08

Picturesque scenery
2006-10-08

Ocean of a million blues
2006-10-08

Dramatic lava rock coastline
2006-10-08

Shots from the back of Judd
(our podunk scooter)

The (only) beach!
2006-10-08

A Taiwanese beach
2006-10-08

Amazing saltwater hot springs
(one of only three in the world!)

Hiking to a view
2006-11-16

I am the queen of the island!
2006-10-08

The girls
2006-10-08

Just hangin' out
2006-10-08

Taiwanese BBQ!
2006-10-07

Tom, me, Katie Jo, Kathy
2006-10-08

Swim caps are SO hot!!
2006-10-08

Beach bonfire
2006-11-16

There were lots of other things
to climb on as well

My friend Tom
likes to climb too

Bonus photo!
(If you can believe it, there was actually a 4th grown man on this scooter too!)

September 22, 2006

Meet Morris, my scooter!
2006-09-19

We pose.
2006-09-19

We zoom.
2006-09-19

We chill.
2006-09-19

My pink kitty fridge!
2006-08-31

Hooray! I'm legal!
2006-09-02

Taiwanese people LOVE karaoke!
2006-09-09

My marvellous mountains
(thank you, Megos and Stacy!)

One of Taichung's night markets
2006-09-22

Decorative toilets
at the train station.

My teammates in Taipei!
Erich, Bethany, Jacob (he lives in Taichung), and Kelly

Jacob eats Japanese BBQ
2006-09-22

Squid on a stick!
(It was actually really good!)

Taiwanese pizza
2006-09-14

Pyramid suprise
2006-09-12

Amerinese bachlorette stew!
2006-09-06

My little school
(that is my classroom)

My little school
2006-09-21

Meet Maple Class!
Leo, Johnny, Wendy, Tr. Krista, Jenny, Kevin, Nica, Dill, Tim, and Sunny

Can you tell
what I make my students say any time they want something?

Conversational English Outreach
2006-09-14

The CEO team
George, Ann, me, Tesia

The arboretum
at the science museum.

Mosquito attack!
2006-09-21

Mr. Ray
at the Science Museum.

The HUGE, UGLY elephant fish
at the Science Museum.

Assorted fish
at the Science Museum.

A tiger catfish
at the Science Museum.

Neon tetra fish
at the Science Museum.

Pirhanas
at the Science Museum.

The mob boss of the pirhanas
at the Science Museum.

An artsy pirhana picture
at the Science Museum.

Almie in the rainforest
at the Science Museum.

The rainforest
at the Science Museum.

Flora in the rainforest
at the Science Museum.

I only saw two dinosaurs
at the Science Museum.

The science museum grounds
in the middle of the city!

The view from my roof
2006-09-22

Hualien City

Chugga chugga...
2006-08-30

East coast mountains
2006-08-28

First glimpse of the ocean
2006-08-28

The eastern coast
2006-08-28

The dichromatic depths
2006-08-28

Hualien City
2006-08-30

Taroko National Park
2006-08-28

Marble canyons
Taroko National Park

Way sketchy tunnels
Taroko National Park

I knew this was it!!

Beautiful waterfalls!
Taroko National Park

Gorgeous architecture
Taroko National Park

Fun bridges
Taroko National Park

Love it.
2006-08-28

Beautiful temple
2006-08-30

Oceanside pagoda
2006-08-30

Mysterious mountain in the sea
2006-08-30

The eastern coast
2006-08-30

Is that a postcard?
2006-08-30

Translation makes me smile.
2006-08-30

August 27, 2006

My apartment building
2006-08-16

My penthouse view
2006-08-16

Mountain night
2006-08-14

Rice paddy
2006-08-16

Burning ghost money
2006-08-22

Parking lot
2006-08-16

A typical intersection
2006-08-16

Helmet head
2006-08-16

A highway into Taichung
2006-08-16

DSC00402.JPG
DSC00402.JPG 2006-08-26

DSC00403.JPG
DSC00403.JPG 2006-08-27

DSC00405.JPG
DSC00405.JPG 2006-08-27

DSC00406.JPG
DSC00406.JPG 2006-08-27

DSC00407.JPG
DSC00407.JPG 2006-08-27

A toaster oven feast!
2006-08-14

Yummy turnip cakes!
2006-08-20

Rollin' in the dough
2006-08-16

My lonely mailbox...
2006-08-16

August 13, 2006

East Taichung 1
2006-06-27

East Taichung 2
2006-06-27

on bus 1
2006-08-06

on bus 2
2006-08-06

on bus 3
2006-08-06

on bus 4
2006-08-06

on bus 5
2006-08-06

on bus 6
2006-08-06

on bus 7
2006-08-06

fun with lights 1
2006-07-09

fun with lights 2
2006-07-09

fun with lights 3
2006-07-09

the moon
2006-07-09

nighttime
2006-07-09

parking lot and temple
2006-07-05

my room 1
2006-08-09

my room 2
2006-08-09

my room 3
2006-08-09

my shower
2006-08-09

my fifth graders
Jean, Alice, me, Sandy, David, Jason

my first graders
Dill, Justin, me, Angel, Jenny, Danny, Leo, Kevin, Nica

my classroom
2006-07-31

a lunchbox
2006-08-09

bubble tea
2006-08-09

naicha (milk tea)
2006-08-09

Dakeng Scenic Area

Ahh...mountains.
2006-08-11

So green and lush
2006-08-11

Mountain living?
2006-08-11

Just call this number!
2006-08-11

Palm trees in the forest
2006-08-11

A ferris wheel on a mountain?
2006-08-11

An entire amusement park!
2006-08-11

Beautiful temples
2006-08-11

More palm trees in the forest
2006-08-11

A panda bear park!
2006-08-11

Beautiful views
2006-08-11

Taiwanese camp site
2006-08-11

A bouncy suspension bridge!
2006-08-11

A resting pagoda...so good.
2006-08-11

The hiking trail (the easy part)
2006-08-11

The stairway to heaven
2006-08-11

I wish it wasn't so hazy.
2006-08-11

I thought I was at the top.
2006-08-11

Phew! I made it!
2006-08-11

My reward
2006-08-12

Hooray for mountains.
2006-08-12

Down wasn't easy either.
2006-08-12

But it was definitely worth it.
2006-08-12

Suspension bridge
2006-08-02

We're gonna walk up that?!?
2006-08-02

My teammates Jacob and Mandy
2006-08-02

Going down
2006-08-02

I love monkeys!
2006-08-02

Monkeys
2006-08-02

Random Travels

Bangalore, India 2000
Polka-dot girl

Bangalore, India 2000
Preaching through drama

Bangalore, India 2000
The cutest little boy I've ever seen!

Dharmapura, India 2000
Sticker distribution

Bahamas 1999
Me and Mandie

Juarez, Mexico 2004
Juliet, Jaime, and me in front of the house we built!

Juarez, Mexico 2004
The whole team

Buenos Aires, Argentina 2004
My host family, roommate, and friends

Buenos Aires, Argentina 2004
Lunch after church

British Columbia, Canada 2004
Beautiful glaciers

British Columbia, Canada 2004
Mountain goats and glaciers...could a girl be any happier?

Colombo, Sri Lanka 2005
The tsunami relief team from Bailey, Colorado: Jason, Megan, Andy, Alyssa, me, and Jay

Colombo, Sri Lanka 2005
Alyssa, Megan, and me

Colombo, Sri Lanka 2005
My baby turtle, Rhubarb!

Colombo, Sri Lanka 2005
Goodbye, Rhubarb!

Colombo, Sri Lanka 2005
Such beauty, amidst so much destruction

Belgrade, Serbia 2006
Walking street

Belgrade, Serbia 2006
Kalamegdan

Venice, Italy 2006
The Grand Canal

Venice, Italy 2006
A lesser canal

Venice, Italy 2006
A market boat!

Swiss Alps 2006
The perfect town

Zurich, Switzerland 2006
.

Dublin, Ireland 2006
.

London, England 2006
London Bridge

London, England 2006
Palace guard

London, England 2006
Parliament and Big Ben

A Thousand Words - kristaintaichung

Featured pictures

Welcome

Newest Album

South Africa

November 1, 2010

SYME 2010

Lugang 2

Korea 2010

Goodbye, Relax!

Best of Asia Year 4

The Northern Tip

Southeast Asia

My Mom Came to Taiwan!

April 19, 2010

February 8, 2010

Kansas '09

East Coast Circuit

Michael & Kristin's Wedding II

Michael & Kristin's Wedding I

September 27, 2009

SYME 2009

Korea 2009

July 27, 2009

Best of Asia Year 3

Lugang 1

May 25, 2009

The Southern Tip

YangMing Mountain

March 16, 2009

August 19, 2008

Best of Asia Year 2

June 9, 2008

Sun Moon Lake

Karen's Take on Taiwan

March 24, 2008

China Travels

Michael's Take on Taiwan

January 12, 2008

December 1, 2007

September 30, 2007

The Philippines

August 18, 2007

July 7, 2007

Best of Asia Year 1

Tokyo, Japan

May 28, 2007

April 28, 2007

Koh Chang, Thailand

February 13, 2007

December 26, 2006

November 24, 2006

Green Island

September 22, 2006

Hualien City

August 27, 2006

August 13, 2006

Dakeng Scenic Area

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