First of all, I want to apologize to all of my faithful subscribers for the lack of blog postings. It's been a crazy couple of months without much computer access, but I promise there will be more blogs in the future. You can especially look forward to July and August when I will be traveling around Asia :) So, I have been living in Taiwan for 8 months now, which means I will be leaving in about 4 more months. This has truly been a life-changing year. Living in another country combined with a physically limiting back problem has helped me [View Full Entry]

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The two weeks before Christmas brought with them great sadness. I felt so homesick and spent much of my time longing for the comforts of home - my family, friends, American food, hot chocolate on a cold winter day, peppermint candy canes, Christmas trees, lights adorning the houses, etc. It was a depressing time for me and many other foreigners in Taiwan. The Christmas music plays here in every store, and decorations are everywhere....yet, it doesn't seem the same. I don't think people in Taiwan really understand the meaning of Christmas. But, how many of us in America really understand? [View Full Entry]

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First of all, let me apologize for my lack of communication! The computer I had broke, and I must send it back to America, where it will have a better home :) Therefore, my internet time is very limited, especially because my back won't let me sit for more than half an hour :( I also lost a lot of the pictures (saved on the computer) that I had planned to use to publish a blog in November. I have been thinking about all of you though, and there are so many things I wish I could share with you. This [View Full Entry]

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First of all, Happy Halloween to everyone! It seems that most of the world partied last weekend, as I have seen many costumed pictures floating around on the internet :) As for me, I was told that there would be mostly Western people at my friend's party because Taiwanese people do not celebrate Halloween. At about midnight, I looked around and realized that I was the only white girl there! I guess I've been living in Taiwan long enough that it's normal to me now. My night of laughter began when I opened the door to Brent's apartment and saw quite [View Full Entry]

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Yes, it felt like Christmas when Caleb arrived in Tainan. Not only was I seeing my boyfriend for the first time in almost 3 months, but he came bearing gifts! Now, I have a computer, which will allow me to e-mail more often (hopefully:)) Plus, I got some exciting American goodies from Caleb & my parents. Needless to say, I was extremely happy on September 28th. But, the 2 1/2 weeks flew by faster than I had imagined, and Caleb is now back in New England :( During his time here, I had to work for the first week, so Caleb [View Full Entry]

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This blog is definitely way overdue! Caleb has already been here for a week and a half, and I have tons to write about our time together. But, I thought I would still post up these pics from my trip to Kenting. My friends Craig & Helena offered to bring us with them for the weekend because they have a big truck. So, John, Nicole, and I joined the couple and their little baby Susanna for a relaxing weekend. Kenting is very beautiful, and there are many places to explore. The five of us wanted a simple escape from the city [View Full Entry]

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Although I technically live in Anping (a part of Tainan,) I didn't explore the old Anping until my friend Christine showed me around & took a lot of pictures of me. I didn't have my camera, so you'll have to see a lot of pics of me instead. I apologize in advance :) Christine is a teacher at Share Fun and has been living in Tainan for a few years with her husband. It was fun to ride around on the back of her scooter while she showed me the sights. First, we went to this old oyster ash mill, where [View Full Entry]

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Hello friends, It has been awhile, so I wanted to give all of you an update. I haven't taken any pictures yet, but I wanted to let all of you know that I finally bought a scooter! So, now I can zip around the city. Actually, I am confining myself to the area of the city I live in (Anping) for now. Once I get my scooter license and have more practice, I will begin to drive in the more crowded parts of the city. Driving a scooter is so fun for me! It's like driving a bike that goes fast [View Full Entry]

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I am very excited to have a new roommate! Her name is Nicole, and she is from New York City. Since May, she has been teaching in China but decided to transition to Taiwan. She arrived last Thursday, and we had a welcome dinner for her. My friend Tammy came over after the dinner, and the three of us had some "girl talk" for a few hours. I am very happy that I have met so many nice women here to keep me company :) On Friday night we just hung out watching movies and talking again. Actually, my back problem [View Full Entry]

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Some of you have heard; others maybe have not. Three typhoons whipped through Taiwan last week, with a big one expected on Saturday. Fortunately, people in Tainan were not affected much by the typhoon. The only thing we had to deal with was a lot of screeching wind shaking our windows and a lot of rain. Oh yeah, and we were told to "stay indoors," which was a bit of an inconvenience. For me, it meant stocking up on food & water then watching a lot of TV & movies with my roommate. I must admit that I was a little [View Full Entry]

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