Winter Holiday 2009

Finally! I got more than a day or two off work! My school has a limited number of holidays, so we get 3 weeks off for Chinese New Year. By the time Jan 21st rolled around, I was ready to leave life behind and head off to Indonesia for a much deserved holiday.

Obviously, visiting with friends was the most important part of my holiday. Hanging with the Comries, visiting students and teachers at SPH, and spending time with Caroline and her children made it feel like I was back home.

There's Ella and Ezra...we were hanging out in their room, reading books, painting (which got quite messy for Ezra), and just having a good time. Ella calls me "Auntie" now without being prompted! Ezra didn't say much besides "no" but then again, he's still just a little guy.

Catching up with Siusan and her family was great as well. (Remember the family who visited me in the hospital last year when I had knee surgery?) We had dinner at an American style buffet in a mall in Jakarta after church one night.

I was also lucky enough to be able to be at SPH when the 6th graders (my students from last year) were having their annual grade level swimming competition. These are some of the Bromo boys waiting for the girls to finish their heats so they could have a turn.

Of course, if you spend the money to travel to Indonesia, you have to visit Bali!

These photos were taken just before sunset as I sat at a restaurant called SeaSide, just off the beach. As you can see it wasn't the sunniest of days, but I managed to get a bit of a sunburn while vacationing in Bali during the rainy season.

I sat at SeaSide until well after the sun had set. One of my favorite time's of day is that moment when the sun is just about to slip below the horizon. Unfortunately, there were clouds in the way, but this shot was taken only a few minutes before that magical moment...

Overall, my holiday was much like that sunset...beautiful! I didn't do anything terribly exciting, but I thoroughly enjoyed just being.

There was one thing though...I set up camp at the Comrie's house so I was able to spend quite a few evenings with them. The weekend before I took off for Bali, Bruce & Judy bought their kids a Wii. Ben was all about the Wii! Though I had watched people play before, I had never participated. It was fun to spend time with Sophie and Ben as we learned how to use those crazy controllers for the different games. I must have been doing something right though because I set a new world record for the javelin throw! Haha! I do have to say though that I fully expect that Sophie and/or Ben won't take long beating any records I set! Back in Taiwan now, I miss those times spent with the kids "Wii-ing"...

As with all holidays, time was too short. Before I knew it the time had come to head back to Taiwan. I wasn't ready to go back to work, but I had a heart full of new memories and I felt fully relaxed and refreshed.

So just like the sunset that slipped beneath the horizon (you can see it reflected here on the shoreline because a cloud was covering the real thing), I slipped off to the airport and returned to life in Kaohsiung. Now, as my friend Suz said in her first e-mail after a recent week off work, I find myself thinking, "When is the next holiday?"....

Christmas 2008 - Taiwan Style

I wasn't very excited about staying in Taiwan for Christmas, but I really didn't have a choice since the Taiwanese people really don't celebrate it. I took the day off of work, and spent it getting a really amazing 40 minute hair wash/scalp massage followed by a late lunch with some friends. We had a great time. The real celebration didn't happen until the Saturday after Christmas when a bunch of friends got together at Denise's house.

That's Denise and I as we toast the holiday. She is originally from Scotland but has done a lot of traveling. She's married to a Taiwanese man named James and they have a beautiful little girl named Tiana. Christmas dinner is something Denise loves to host. Every year she orders 3 turkeys, 3 hams and all the fixings...including dessert!

Our day was rather typical in terms of Christmas. Good friends, good laughs, Christmas music, and tons of food. Even though most of the people in attendance were from work, there was no shop talk. In fact, we didn't act like teachers at all!

That's Mark, carving up the turkey. The good ol' Texas boy was right at home with a knife in hand!

And that's Reid, enjoying his share of one of the turkeys. As is the norm, everyone had their favorite part of the bird that they wanted.

After dinner, we all sat around outside and watched Tiana open her Christmas presents. Each was her favorite, at least for a moment. One of those gifts was a badminton set. We didn't set up the net, but we sure had fun with the birdies!

Christina was the first to give herself a 'birdie-nose' but many others quickly joined in as soon as they could get their hands on a birdie. Jeff and Craig were real hams about it!

They weren't the only boys who were having a ton of fun that day though! Jayden, who doesn't work with us, loves to juggle. His specialty seems to be torches on chains. He decided to 'warm up' after dinner with tennis balls, and he was very serious about what he was doing!

Of course, the real entertainment didn't start until we all decided to head to the park. Trying to play frisbee in an alley that is about 12 feet wide is not fun! We basically took over the soccerfield across the street and threw the frisbee around until dark. That's when Jayden and Lisa pulled out the torches and really got going! Using the night function on my camera, I was able to get some pretty cool shots.

I love the way it looks like continuous loops of flames! Jayden and Lisa are both very good at this particular style of juggling. Personally, I'll stick to small objects that can be tossed one by one!

It was a great day, but the week had been an exhausting one and I called it a day at around 9:30pm. Sure, it wasn't what I've grown to consider a traditional Christmas celebration, but it was far more fun than I expected! Besides, living overseas means you get to see how other people around the world do things. Since Taiwan doesn't do Christmas, we expatriates have created our own Christmas...Taiwan style!