There's No Place Like Taiwan for the Holidays

The holidays have come and gone. I was pleasantly surprised by the experience here. We had a Christmas party at school which was a chore at first but turned out to be pretty fun. I was dumb enough to volunteer to be in charge of decorations so I spent a lot of time on a chair with scissors and tape in my mouth trying to hang snowflakes from the ceiling. Then I was in charge or carving 2 of the turkeys, a task I've never been trusted to do before. Now I know why. Then I got to eat the turkey dinner with 60 kids at about 10:30 am. I even got to put my catering skills to the test by teaching all the kids how to fold their napkins into little fans. "Teacherrrr show me..." x a million.

Turkey carving/ butchering with Brent and Lisa

some of my kids

One of my favorite things leading up to Christmas has been to look at the outrageous Ch-English cards. Some of my favorites:

"Happy Beer" featuring Santa holding a bottle of beer with that label

"There are flowers. I want to live in with you" with a Santa hat wearing cat

.... really words don't begin to do them justice but i thought I'd have a go.

Christmas turned out to be a beautiful little adventure. I went to a teacher-friendly mass on Christmas Eve and was found myself a little overwhelmed to be away from the people i love most. I was distracted from my sorrows by a HUGE Christmas cockroach that literally came right down the aisle and then went under my chair. Nothing can bring you back to the present like a killer bug that could survive nuclear war if put to the test. Unfortunately, this one didn't survive somebody's shoe.
The next morning I travelled to this island between Taiwan and Chinia called Punghu. It's supposed to be one of the windiest places in the hemisphere and I'd definitely believe it. At times I felt like the scooter was going to fly off to never never land (or maybe into a ditch). There were 9 of us who completely took over a big house. We went to the beach on Christmas, explored the island, exchanged gifts, got acupuncture while sitting around drinking wine... just another day. One of the best feelings was being able to take a deep breath and not feel like you've inhaled just as much fossil fuels as oxygen. I really miss blue (non smoggy) skies and trees.

Christmas Nap on the Beach

Battling the elements

Pretty bench on a pretty beach

To all those at home : I hope you had a wonderful Christmas full of love and laughter and I can't wait to see you in 2010!



If you're not jealous of my Christmas on the beach, then I have one more little note to add:
I'm going to THAILAND/ Cambodia in Feburary
.... and BORNEO in March

~~~Love and Chopsticks~~~
Han, Li Ya