My Birthday!!!

December 1st is the most magical day of the year!  It was definitely a different kind of magic here...I've never had a blue sky, sunny 70 degree birthday before, but I sure enjoyed it!  I CANNOT believe it's December!  I honestly have no idea how time has flown by so quickly; it seems like I just barely jumped on a plane.  Two more weeks teaching my kiddos, two weeks to travel, 14 hours on a plane, and I'll be back in America.  I have very mixed emotions about leaving this beautiful place, but either way - I'm excited to live it up my last month in Taiwan!

Birthday pic for you Mom: 23 years old!

Birthday magic from my awesome roommates :-)

We have a tradition of decorating each other's fridge on birthdays...Libby made this rockin Robert puppet that greeted me for breakfast.

Birthday/Christmas love from my wonderful family!  All of the above actually fit in the box...good work, Mom!

Birthdays spent in a foreign land are great, in that you get lots of MAIL!  Thanks everybody!

Best part of my day: My morning kindergarteners greeted me with birthday wishes, a birthday song, and then mobbed me with rubber duck stickers! Cutest. Thing. Ever.

I LOVE THESE KIDS!!!

Another best part of my day:  My roommates have become quite good friends with Reggie, and they know how much I like the lil' guy.  They made him this birthday hat and sign, and Allison surprised me with the following pictures of Reggie and my students!  I laughed so hard I cried.  Love it!

Eason

Alen

Damon

Cherry

Aila

Gigi

Jaelyn

Wade

Arvin

Birthday Bingshas!  One pineapple and one chocolate banana...delish.

 

Yet another best part of my day: SNOW!  Thanks for the Blizzard in a Bucket, Daniel!

One more best part: amazing surprise birthday cake!  Thanks Libby-dear!

Taipei Getaway!

Yesterday I used my remaining sub hours and took off for a weekend adventure with Laura!  We took the bus to Taipei, had dinner at a fantastic restaurant, strolled the city streets, browsed some great gift shops, wandered around the National Theatre before attending a dance performance, slept in soft beds, woke up to a beautiful morning, attended the temple, did a little souvenir shopping, enjoyed delicious Coldstone ice cream, and napped on the way home!  Wonderfully relaxing weekend...check!      

Dinner at DingTaiFeng!

Whitney talked this place up, and we were not disappointed!  Best. Dumplings. EVER.

 

Name that beverage...

Laura and I enjoyed every last bite of our wontons, dumplings, and fried rice...YUM!

They've got this dumpling-making down to an art!  These guys are all behind the big glass window near the entrance.

 

Chaing Kai Shek at night!

 

The National Theatre

 

This building is incredible!  I'm glad we finally got to go inside; they don't let tourists in unless you have tickets for a performance. 

 

This giant painting was beautiful! 

This picture should not have been taken.  I was against it from the start.  However, since Laura still felt the need to break the rules and snap this before the guarding employees rushed over, you get to see the auditorium!  :-)

Coolest wall ever...three stories high, these plants are real!  If you stand close enough to smell the purple orchids,you'll feel water dripping on you. Love it!

 

 

Good Morning Taipei! We stayed at temple housing right across the street, so the first thing we saw when we came outside was the temple against the perfectly blue sky.  I'd be ok waking up to that every morning!

After we went to the temple we walked through the Chiang Kai Shek square again.  We've done this almost every time we've been to Taipei, and I still get a kick out of it!  Amazing Asian buildings, beautiful gardens, wide open space in the middle of the city, and bright blue skies...what's not to love? 

 

me, Laura, Meg

 

There was something going on in the square today with a religious group.  There were TONS of people sitting in these formations, and a giant crane was there for someone to take pictures from above.  No idea what the characters or designs mean, but it sure looked cool!