My Parents Visit

PICTURES FOLLOW... really, trust me!

My parents came on an amazing trip to Taiwan in December to visit me. They stayed for 3 weeks. We travelled around Taiwan, but were not able to see everything, so I took them to my favourite places and we even went exploring to some new places I've never been before. Even got ourselves into a bit of trouble with a taxi driver and sales lady... scary...

Some of the places we went to: Taitung(my home), Jhirben (hotsprings), Shunyuan Beach, Kenting (Beach, Night Market, hiking, most southern tip of Taiwan, Rebecca surprised us and came to meet up with us), Alishan (a tall mountain range, we got up at 430am to catch a van to see the sunrise.. it was about 4 degrees and I was freezin'... , took a 3 hour switch track train ride up), and Guanzaling (hotsprings and terrible breakfasts... black ink squid... ewww...).

A welcoming sign awaiting when we walked in the door after just getting off a 5 hour train ride from Taipei! HOME!! My parents' are seeing my apartment and meeting my roomy for the first time. 

There are many rice farms around Taitung. Here the farmer is flooding his field to get it ready to plant the seedlings in about 1 inch of standing water. 

Hmm... rice... I love rice. This crop is almost ready to harvest. 

The farmer is cutting the rice stalks down to bale them. 

Chattin it up on the second floor of C&S's house-in-the-works. 

Chris and Sherilyn are building a house on the ocean- such a great house with a beautiful view of the coast. My parents spent an afternoon with them. 

Hanging out in my office at my messy desk! 

My parents came to visit my classroom, while I was teaching. Here my students wrote a description of the man in the picture, then came up and read it to the class. DO YOU KNOW THIS MAN?, let me know, because I pulled the picture off the internet. 

Christmas Day! My parents' brought me my favorite christmas chocolate- BRANDY BEANS. Wonderful dark chocolate filled with Brandy syrup. Rebecca is enjoying them too! hmmmm good.

Taiwan is a beautiful country! 

Beautiful View 

Making Perogies Christmas Eve. Rebecca, Dad, Mom, Alysha, and Me. 

It was REALLY REALLY COLD! 

Hmm 

As we make our way down the mountain, the monkeys came out to play.. or eat  

My mom could not get over how there were 7-11s EVERYWHERE! 

My Dad likes rocks too... ;) 

The most southern tip of Taiwan 

Trying not to get a sunburn.. haha 

He's brave- the only one of us who would go in. 

Hanging out on the best beach in Taiwan (but I'm not telling you where it is...) 

My Dad is obsessed with fish! 

Kenting Harbour 

Hanging with Mom and Dad in Kenting! 

Okay...

So finally a month and a bit later I am updating my blog. I know, I know (Carolyn) that it has been too long coming. And I do promise pictures. But I am going to post them like this. Over the past few months I've finished my first year contract with my school, took a Chinese new year trip to Cambodia, headed home to Canada for a month, and finally I am now back working at school (after a nice long vacation). So I will start posting pics and comments as I go chronologically through them. I PROMISE!!

Last weekend I painted my bedroom. It's great- I love it. I will post pictures of before and after. A completely different room now, with a different feel to it. Colour before: pasty white. Colours after: coffee, dark vibrant purple, and pastel purple. hmmmm...

Until the next time... when I post my journey's over the past few months.... take care.