Janae and I spent New Years on Kaohsiung going to the new "Dream Mall." Yes, that is the actual name. Yes, the mall is quite dreamy. The place was packed with people for the free New Years concert and it took us a long time riding home on Janae's little scooter (called motorcycles in Taiwan even though it's only 50cc). It was nice to be stationed at her parent's place, meet up with friends, and eat lots of good food with her extended family!
Taidong is one of Mom's favorite places on earth. It's a beautiful place uniquely situated between the pacific ocean and the Central mountain range where both are easily accessible. It's home to 7 of the 14-15 aboriginal races in Taiwan, one of which gave birth to Taiwanese baseball in the village of Hongye.
Mom traveled to Taidong in her early 20's to teach at a middle school and fell in love with the small fishing town. Her aunt lived there with their five boys and her uncle, always wanting a girl, welcomed her with open arms. Her uncle was a fisherman and his sons too. One of them runs the family fishing supply store there and hosted us during our stay. He summed up Taidong best when speaking of the schools there. They're not top ranked schools and may not teach all the test taking tricks and tactics at other schools, but they teach kids how to be happy. They do a fantastic job of that! Mom's aunt and all her sons are of the happiest people I know. They're easing going people who are always smiling and joking around.
The beauty of Hualian lies in Taroko Gorge. Granite canyons laced with greenery only Taiwan can produce. Our vacation style turned very relaxing and we ended up taking our time - much more than the guide planned on us taking at each spot. I guess this is why we had a private guide and not a tour group so we could talk, enjoy time together as a family, and catch up!
One of the sites in Hualian worth a specific mention was Water Curtain Cave, part of Baiyang trail that we hiked.
Our first vacation out of Singapore was to Taiwan for Christmas and New Years. Janae left at the beginning of December to be with her parents and I joined her two weeks later for Christmas and New Years. Mom, Mary and Debbie were going to Taiwan as well - I was excited to be able to see everyone again!
This would also be the first time Verene sees her great grandmother, great uncles and aunts as well.
We're finally reunited in Singapore! Our house and both cars sold in the US without too much more difficulty. I do have to say it's a huge stress reliever to be here in Singapore and not have to worry about a home in in another country. I don't know how else to describe how good it feels to be together again but to say families are meant to be together. I'm so used to having Janae by my side in everything I do and not having that was like being apart from a good friend. Of course I missed Verene terribly but thanks to Janae's efforts I missed out on as little as possible.
Our beautiful house may have finally sold! We finally received a contract from an interested couple to buy our home. It's only a contract but we are hopeful as the buyers seem serious and the agent representing them experienced and solid.
Last month has been a real estate disaster for Janae and I. After we didn't sell the house by ourselves, we hired a realtor to help finish the job when I left the country. Smooth talking agents were a plenty.
It's amazing to think how many people you become close to and attached to through the years. Janae and I have been in Virginia most of our married life. It's really home for us now. Utah's the only place I've lived longer and though I have great friends still there, all my family has left.
All of our friends were so generous to want to and actually follow through with little parties and farewells for us. Thanks to Betty for getting all our neighbors together, Leonards, Palmers, Van Horns, Hsu, and Cheng-yu for having people gather in your homes. I truly do miss all of you!
I regret not having a camera with me at every one of these occasions but have put up the ones I did get below.
Don't you want to buy our beautiful home?
Moving is so hard. For people that move every couple years, I certainly hope it becomes easier each time. I certainly hope it's easier the next time I move. We have a house to sell in the worst housing market the US has seen. This is definitely what's most stressful.
Finally internet! I've been here already for a week and living out of a suitcase haven't had good access to internet! I'm sitting outside some condo building and just finished skyping with Janae and Verene. I miss them too much! Hopefully I can keep coming back or finding another good spot to blog and surf. Below is what I wrote on the plane over...
I've left home for good - at least for the foreseable future. I'm sitting in business class on the way to San Francisco to visit Dad and Michelle prior to moving to Singapore. Preparing for the move has kept my emotions occupied that it has not really hit me all the people I'm leaving behind.
I already miss Verene dearly and it has only been a couple hours. It's not the time apart but rather the fact that I'm not going to see her for another six weeks or so. The same goes for Janae. This will be the longest I have been apart from both of them. Verene in the short 10 months she's been a part of our lives has me wrapped around her finger. I find it hard to believe my feelings for her run as deep as they do. It's the look she gives me when I walk away. Her eyes make me feel like I'm deserting her and her world will fall apart because I'm leaving her side, they tear up as she starts with her crying, and both arms extend toward me for me to pick her up. I just melt.
Everything leading up to me leaving for Singapore happened so very quickly...
Janae and I have been blessed with a lot of family around us. First of all, my Mom lives nearby, Janae's parents came here just before Verene was born, Autumn and Christian live nearby with Celeste. Nice at times...
Janae was good enough to surprise me on my 30th birthday with a visit from Jerin and Wami, who happened to be in town for work and visiting other friends. We had planned on getting together later in the week, but Janae re-arranged the time for my birthday. Given Janae hasn't been feeling well at all, I was planning on a very low key birthday and perhaps do something with friends at a later date and just spend the evening with her. The last thing I wanted to do was to leave her while going out with friends or family, which she had proposed earlier. She went ahead with the plans without me knowing.
Jerin was kind enough to bring a cake. Mom was kind enough to take Jerin, Wami, and Beverly out to dinner at Bonefish. It was my first time to eat there and was happy to find a good seafood restaurant in our area. It was a great unexpected birthday gift.
I've been lucky enough to substitute teach early morning seminary this year. It's been quite the challenge to not only wake up and show up at the church building at 6am, but to be prepared to teach a sleepy group of high school students. I've taught both Sophomore and Junior classes now and have been surprised how much I've enjoyed it. True they are sleepy at times but so am I. The best part is when they respond in ways that show they really get it. One day after teaching the Junior class, a Lindsey, a quieter girl, came up and asked me for an extra copy of an Ensign article I handed out that day and started talking to me. She wanted to share what we discussed in class that day! Another anecdote from teaching: Kevin runs track and shared a story once where he and a friend were running in practice and his friend asked if Mormons believed in Jesus. His friend tripped and fell on his face immediately after asking and said, "I guess they do." Kevin just smiled. Pretty funny.
The kids are amazing and a testament to me of the quality of young people today. This is refreshing given everything you hear in the media about the youth of today. They wake up and attend seminary every day of the school year. This they do on top of their school work and the time they spend in their sports and other extra curricular activities. Their beliefs in Christ, good nature, and positive attitudes are inspiring. The picture below is of the sophomore class.
So I've been very bad about keeping up this blog. It's now the end of the first quarter in 2007, I figure it's a good time to get current.
To top off the celebration, Janae and I brought over a birthday pumpkin pie to celebrate Mom's birthday is on the 22nd. It was perfect since everyone was already gathered together.
We were lucky enough to see Mary as she traveled around for law school interviews. She arranged a schedule where she flew to North Carolina to interview at Duke, come up here tovisit us and interview at GW before finishing off the tour at Case Western in Ohio. What an ordeal! She has been accepted now to U of Utah and Case Western. Case Western is not too far away. GW and Duke are close too, but she hasn't heard from them yet.
November 9th is a popular day for birthdays. Kevin Palmer and Megan Getz both have the same birthday as Janae. I called to enlist the help of Kasey and others to throw a little surprise for everyone that Sunday. We got together casually for a little cake and good time together. Cash and Amy, Kyle and Kristyn (who made a delicious cake!), and the Leonards also showed. When the cake came, Janae innocently asked who's birthday it was before she realized that it was a little birthday celebration for all three of them.
Brodi was good enough to tell Kevin that someone was going to throw him a surprise birthday party that weekend when they carpooled home that night. I had called him previously to see if his home would be a good place to host. He was leaving for the weekend and had to decline, but was good enough to tell Kevin. Classic Brodi.
It's all about the food. Mom took us, Christian, Autumn, and Celeste to a delicious Korean restaurant that's open 24 hours for good eats. I heard it's the pride of Korean businesses to be able to open 24 hours. It's a sign of achieving a certain level of business success - the level where the business finally takes over the last couple hours a day you had away from your business. Even if I don't understand, I know it's good eats. We followed dinner with desserts at Shila, a Korean bakery for more good eats.
Everyone came in for Christmas at Mom's place. Debbie came in with Charles and Mary came without Mike. It's always fun to get together and have a low key holiday watching 'Arrested Development' and doing little else.
Mary was kind enough to offer her hair cutting services as a bonus gift to me. I did need my hair cut and thought it was convenient. She provided many self-acclaimed accolades and the lazy part of me bought it. The result was not too bad considering it was free. Saving grace is my hair grows really fast and I can always say I had a Mary Huang haircut.
Crazy Halloween party at the Getz household. Janae and I went as 'IT' from the eBay commercial and thought we were pretty creative but quickly learned how creative everyone was. Casey was king and host as Mer-man / King Triton and my personal favorite - Ariel's Dad, the kids were big fans! I have to say he was looking pretty good in that dress-fin thing. Too bad he was already spoken for by Megan the Tin-man. Peter on the other hand was more gross than sexy with his shocking diaper and brownie-poop act. Brett took the award for most offensive with his Steve Irwin costume WITH Stingray (very creative on the stingray Mireille). John surprised everyone when ate the brownie as the gorilla. We definitely learned more about John that night. I didn't know we had to come prepared with a dance until Kevin and Kasey whipped out one of Criag and Arianna's cheer from SNL in the costume walk-off. If one was not enough, they had 2 different cheers! Kevin could be the next Will Ferrell. We were impressed with Amy's splits as the hot Dallas cheerleader but it was Cash pulling out the splits as a rock star that won the walk-off. Needless to say, everyone had a great time. Thanks Getz for letting us hang until the wee hours playing Mafia. I think you got Janae hooked.
Debbie came for her birthday with her boyfriend, Andy. Ethiopian eating has all of my favorites - eating with hands and a lot of yummy bread! Yummy!!! (Debbie's b-day was last September. I found this great picture on Mom's camera along with others just today).
Another stupid food stunt at work. Sacha came in with habanero pepper peppers touting how hot they were trying to get Alan to eat one of them.
The crowd grew as the chatter built. Out of curiosity, I asked to try one and sliced a sliver off of the bottom and started chewing. It was HOT! .
The pot was up to $200. I made sure the money was real and asked for the rules. No water, no swallowing, must be completely chewed and swallowed and off I went.
Enjoyed a wonderful weekend with Brian and Yasmin Beers in Philly. Never been. A day was about the right amount of time to see all the good sites from "National Treasure." Janae and I rented the DVD the night before going just to enjoy the trip more :). Of course we tried some famous cheese-steak sandwiches there (I'm pretty sure we didn't go to the right place as the one we went to, run by the Omish, was a little on the bland side).
Philadelphia...check. Don't need to go back.
On a slow Thursday afternoon about two weeks ago, people at work started talking about stupid ‘food bets’ that have been attempted before like 4 sticks of butter in 15 minutes, a can of dog food, one of everything in the vending machine, or 50 chicken nuggets in an hour. “50 chicken nuggets from McDonalds in an hour sounds doable,” I stated. The last guy that attempted this puked at 47. Before I could back out, bets were taking place and money was coming down on me eating 50 chicken nuggets in an hour.
Hello world!
Kevin Lawver was kind enough to set me up on a blog. Hopefully I can figure out how to use this and start posting regularly!
Ciao