And Now We're Back...

I apologize for the amount of time that it has taken me to post this. We have been back in the US for over a month now (almost two? wow!) and I feel like this is the first day I could totally relax and do things that I needed to do. Rob is currently cleaning our apartment that has only been really cleaned once before when I took a sick half day. It's been a little busy. I will also apologize because most of the pictures here are of me. We used Rob's camera a lot and he is great at catching pictures of me. Most of them are not so pretty but I will spare you those. So without further ado, here is our journey through the Philippines via picture demonstration.

In Bohol, where we stayed with Rob's parents, we visited the Chocolate Hills.
There are over a thousand of these little hills that just pop right up. It was so beautiful and we
rode the motorcycles we rented there so we got to take in the whole area. 

I did say that we rode motorcycles. It started pouring on his like it only can do in island areas.
Rob was kind enough to ride back to the nearest tindahow (Tagalog word) and grab us some rain gear while
the rest of us stood under some sort of garage thing. As you can see the rain gear is super attractive.

While trying to get out of Bohol, which was an excellent visit and I would go again, our flight got cancelled.
Apparently they can only have one plane on the runway and there was a broken down one already. Nothing could fly
in or out. Rich and Kathy needed to be on an airplane in Manilla at 7 am the next morning and we couldn't
book another flight before that time at this airport. Yikes! We took a 1 hour taxi ride to a ferry that took us to another island, also 1 hour, and then we got on a plane to Manilla. We made it there by 2 am just in time to get a few hours of sleep before they had to be back at the airport. It was wild and I'm glad it worked out. By the way, we missed
our flight out of Manilla. 

We were about 4 minutes late to check in for our flight. I was really frustrated with the whole thing
because Philippine flights never leave on time and often get cancelled all together in my experience and Rob's.
They wanted to charge us double what we paid for the original tickets to reschedule a flight. I think it was the
first time Rob saw me yell at someone. This little sign still gave me a chuckle while we were there though. 

I loved the little markets that they had in the Philippines. Rob was in heaven because it is like a big DI. I
was in heaven because there was really good food in the market as well. 

This was the craziest hike that I hope to ever go on. Rob says, "oh, it's just a hike up to some waterfalls."
Wrong. It was walking on a nonexistent path through thick jungle with thorns, bugs and a 20 foot drop to
the boulders below if you slipped. We were both wearing sandals which I eventually took off for safety. I did
 fall about ten feet and was caught by a banana tree. The waterfalls were totally worth it though. If you can think
of the perfect secluded waterfall in the jungle this was it. We had a beautiful view of the valley below and the
water was fresh and clear. I will never forget Bambang. 

This is one of the way the people in Banaue dry their rice, and it was all over the place. They also just lay the
kernels out on a blanket in the street, and buses just drive around them.

This is the best picture I have of a tricie. It is a motorcycle with a sidecar on it and they use them as taxis.
I think they are fantastic. On long trips they can pack seven or eight people into those. 

Oh Batad. What a beautiful place, but so hard to get to. We took a Jeepnie (picture later) up a winding
canyon road that is not yet complete and they just pull to the end of the road and say get off. Then we hiked down
the valley on the other side of the mountain and eventually we got to Batad. The whole thing was a lovely trip.  

The people in Batad like you to have a tour guide if you are coming through there city. It is very isolated and some
people have never left their village. I think they also like to charge the money that tourists bring in, but it is kind of a fragile place. Our tour guide was opposed to smiling for the camera. 

It's hard to capture the beauty of Batad. I don't think any pictures do it justice. The rice terraces there
are just magnificent and beyond description. I think my husband is pretty magnificent too though. 

Isn't this just the cutest little boy? We walked by his home and he just ran right up to me and gave me a
hug. I wanted to pick him up and take him home but I thought his parents wouldn't like that very much. 

This is the view from the sort of hostel that we ate at. The food was great and the company
was better. We met two couples from France, and a couple from Germany. They were speaking to
each other in English and we were all able to have a wonderful conversation. One of the
girls was getting a masters in nutrition so I really enjoyed speaking with her. 

Right where those two mountains meet, in that little dip is where we are headed. It was quite a trip
to get out of Batad once you have hiked down to it. 

Rob is a wonderful pack horse :) we did switch off but I think he carried it most of the way.

This is the Jeepney. I was a fan of riding on top because the inside got really hot and muggy. If
you were on top you could see everything you drove past and there was lots to see. There is a nice
burn on the inside of my leg from when we were riding motorcycles in Bohol. 

While we were in Banaue, I kept thinking about the people that lived there and if they knew they lived
in on of the most spectacular, beautiful places on earth. We met an old lady who said that it wasn't even
pretty this time of year and that we should come back later. She was walking at a ninety degree angle
from all the work that she had done in the rice fields. She was still carrying a rice bag on her head
that looked to be at least 30 pounds. 

The beautiful Banaue Rice Terraces. 

This is the Ballatan family from Santiago City.  Rob taught them when he was a missionary, and now Marlon (in the yellow shirt) is the bishop of the Santiago Third Ward.   

Tuguegarao was the largest city that we stayed in. It had a wonderful market and some great people.
The tricies are behind me. 

This is how they serve ice cream in the Philippines, and the flavor is taro. I hear it's actually really good.
I was going to take a picture of just the ice cream, but the man wanted his picture taken too.

After the man had his picture taken the women behind us wanted there's taken too.  I was loving being the
photographer, and I'm really happy I have this because the fruit is wonderful. The corn that the sell there
(bottom left corner) is out of this world. 

We visited Callao Caves which was right outside of Tuguegarao. In the fenced off area behind Rob
is where they are doing some excavating. Apparently they found a body there a few years ago that
was really ancient and they think this might have been a site for a really old civilization. 

Handsome Rob.

I kept saying it was a goblin cave so Rob said make a goblin face. I feel like
I did a great job. 

This is Rob's goblin. 

I couldn't help it. 

We had to cross a river to get to the caves and these wonderful people were just taking a swim. 

The sky just seemed so beautiful in the Philippines. It might have been because we came
from a place where you can never see the sky, but we loved every bit of it. 

We took a sleeper bus from Tuguegarao to Manilla. It was the way to go for nine hour bus ride. We did
not come prepared like everyone else on the bus though. They packed in two blankets at least and we had nothing. I swear they keep those buses at 60 degrees. It was freezing. They also were playing a movie that Rob said should be rated NC-17. I was happy that we didn't have a TV in front of us. There were children on the bus too. 

This is Marvin Tavares, an old house mate of Rob's from the mission, and his wife and child.

Rob taught and baptized this young man, Jhoey Cubangbang, who met us at the Manila Temple.

The food! I think it is very rare for someone to come out of the Philippines and rave about the food, but I loved
every meal I had. I have weird taste in food anyways and the Philippines nailed it for me. I could eat Pancit Bihon
everyday. I have to hand it to Rob though for finding food that I could eat. I know it wasn't the easiest thing. 

Can you tell I'm a little tired? This is 2am before our flight out of Manilla. That bowl in front of me
is congee and I could also eat it everyday. It is like a rice porridge. They also have it in Taiwan, but it
is so much better in the Philippines. 

Preschool in Taiwan

I just had to post a picture to show how cute these kids are.  I loved
teaching them every week. 

These were the ladies that worked in the preschool office. The middle one is
Fran and I became good friends with her. She is a wonderful person and
introduced me to some cultural things. 

This is my other class and they are all characters. The girl in the very front
with the scrunched face is one of my favorites. One day while we were playing
duck, duck, goose she slipped and ran right into a desk at full speed. We were all sure that she had hurt
herself pretty bad and the class went quite. When she got up she had a huge smile on her
face and shouted something in Chinese. I like to think it was, "I"m going to get you."

National Donut Day

This does not sound like a thing I would normally celebrate or care about at all, but being in Taiwan has made me appreciate anything that I can celebrate. Of course we went out and got a donut and ate it at a little cafe. It was a nice treat for Saturday morning. Last night we bought some sunglasses at the night market and had to show them off today. I look ridiculous in all forms of sunglasses so Rob gave me the excellent advice of buying sunglasses that are ridiculous themselves. This is what I ended up with. Willy Wonka! I actually really like them. Very effective for blocking sun. My grandma has always worn sunglasses like these and I always liked them on her. Rob, as always, looks fantastic even with half a donut eye.  

Student/Teacher Date

Weird. I know.

A couple of my students wanted to take me to a vegetarian restaurant they had discovered. These students, Vivian, Alice, and Sophie (who couldn't make it) are very sweet in class and I have gotten along with them well. I am not really familiar with or particularly comfortable with students going anywhere with teachers outside of class. I have had a bunch of students ask, and I usually say no. I am so close to being done (single digits now) though that I felt it was ok to go on this one little adventure.

The students ordered for me. This was pretty interesting. Can you have tofu? No. Can you have egg? No. Can you have noodles? No. "I thought you were just vegetarian. What can you have?" They finally figured it all out and ordered. There was so much food!! I was able to try some really fun new things. The fried carrot cake with sauce was particularly good. Not at all the carrot cake I am used to. Here's a picture that shows just how much food there was.

We each had our own tray that included rice, soup, salad and a pumpkin sauce for our rice.
Alice on the left Vivian on the right. 

Vivian ordered a pizza too. To the right of them is the fried carrot cake with seaweed. So good. 

Going to the Dentist

Last week Rob and I finally made a dentist appointment. Sadly, this has been the first dentist appointment we've had since we got married. Yikes! I know. Anyways, we knew that the process here would be easier/less expensive than it would be America. We have the national insurance so it's just a flat rate when you go in. We knew this and we were still pleasantly surprised with just how simple, and inexpensive it was. We were in and out in about a half hour. We only paid $10 for the cleaning. Rob had a tiny cavity filled even. I will really miss the national insurance system they have here. Only a few more weeks.

Cupping

I love the idea of alternative medicine. Rob thinks I'm a little wacky. I probably am, but there is just something wonderful about acupuncture being able to numb a person's body for open heart surgery and them being awake the entire time. You can't tell me that is not cool. Anyways, Asia is very popular for practicing alternative medicine and I decided that I would take advantage of that while living in Taiwan. Cupping is very interesting and I don't really know all of the benefits. I know it is a very old practice that reaches to ancient Chinese, Egyptians and Greeks (1550 BC). That was good enough for me to try it. This is what it looks like

They put little suction cups to your back, legs, arms, stomach, neck, and head. It doesn't hurt and it is actually quite relaxing. At least it was for me. I shouldn't say that's how all experiences are. There is also wet cupping(small puncture wounds that bleed when the suction cup is on) and fire cupping (the suction is created by heating the inside of the cup with fire).

I was happy to hear that they said I was very healthy but that I probably wasn't sleeping very well. They were right. The darker the circle is after the cup is removed the worse it is. The ones on my head and neck were darker than the rest. I am sporting some serious hicky marks all the way down my back and I will spare you a picture of that and just show you this one as an example.

EDA World

When I ask my students what should a foreigner do when they come to Taiwan they will always say go to a department store. They love their malls here. The biggest mall in Asia is actually right in Kaohsiung and we have been there a couple of times, but this weekend we decided to visit an outlet mall called EDA World. It is kind of in the middle of the mountains and surrounded by jungle. By the mall however, there is a University, a performing arts theater, and lots of hotels. It's a like a little luxury city built in the middle of the jungle. It reminded us of a mini Las Vegas. Pretty cool. We wandered around for a little bit and we found an ice skating rink. It was a lot of fun to see the kids play hockey.

The Good Samaritan Gets Crushed

While transferring trains at the MRT station the lady in front of me dropped some money from her purse. She was getting on the train that we thought we were supposed to be on so I caught up with her on the train and handed her money back. If you've traveled by train or subway you know there is a little warning sound before the doors close. Right as the sound goes off, Rob realizes we're on the wrong train and jumps off. Well I wasn't going to let us get separated so I had to push someone out of the way and just as the doors were closing I got slammed in them. Those doors are no joke. I think everyone around was panicked because the Taiwanese are a very careful people and they really watch out for foreigners too. I was alright and I was just happy my skirt didn't get caught in the door. That would be embarrassing.

What's the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to you?

We've all had this questioned asked of us before. I've never had a really good answer. You want the answer to be some funny story that will make everyone laugh. It can't be too embarrassing and it can't be too common place. I feel I now have the perfect response to this question.

On Friday I was working with Emma. I tutor her for the first hour every morning. We have had our ups and downs together but lately it has been really good. She actually plays with me most days. I can't really remember what happened but I had to reprimand her for trying to hit me. This upset her and she started her fake, whine, cry. She has started really wanting to be held by me.  I was across the room so I went over to pick her up. Now, most days I wear a skirt or flowy pants so I am not used to restrictions. Today I was wearing real pants. My squatting to pick up Emma was a little too much for them to handle. Sure enough they split from the top of my pants all the way down my leg.

I had to walk all the way across campus to get back to my office and students stare at me anyways so it was a long walk. Rob had a good laugh and we were able to walk home and get a change of clothes. I guess that's one more pare of pants I don't have to worry about packing home :)

Photo Time

One of the things I love most in Taiwan is our scooter rides. I see so many awesome things that I hope I can remember in the future. It's really hard to take pictures while on the scooter mainly because I want to take pictures of people and that's kind of not really kosher with everyone. Although, we do have people that take pictures of us because we're the freaky white people :) I did manage to be super sneaky and snap this photo of a family of four on a scooter. This is pretty normal and I've really wanted a picture of it to show everyone.

Just in case you can't tell in the next picture that there is boy in the front. 

No big deal.