Thanksgiving in Taiwan!

Well here we are, almost 4 months down in Taiwan and deep in holiday season! I still can't believe we'll be entering our 3rd season soon of being here, since we came in Summer and now it's the end of Fall. Weather-wise, it's felt...the same. Slightly cooler than when we came in August and at night it will dip to a chilly high 70's now. I still get by in the daytime wearing shorts and a t-shirt, and now when it's anywhere close to 70's, I throw on a jacket. Ah, island life. Even with us coming from a non-seasonal climate (Los Angeles), it's still pretty weird that it's almost December and we have not changed our wardrobe. Though Taiwanese people have. Shopping malls are putting out sweaters, down-jackets, long pants and other thermal clothing that leaves me scratching my head. Who are these stores selling to? Do they know their demographic? Do they know they're a store on a tropical island? I feel like if we moved here straight from a more seasonal climate like the east coast, we would be a lot more bewildered. Thankfully Los Angeles was a pretty good transition buffer to our current 80 degree winter. 

Last week was my birthday, and I am now solidly in my 30s (yes I consider 30-33 as fake 30s). In America my birthday always meant a Friendsgiving party, since Thanksgiving is usually right around the corner. I love that my birthday meal is usually meat and carb overload. I didn't think it would happen this year due to Taiwanese people not really celebrating Pilgrims in America. However, serendipitously our church said they over-ordered turkeys from a turkey vendor up north, and could sell us an extra one! So with a large, whole turkey secured, we went off to Costco to get ingredients for all the holiday sides. Also surprisingly, we were able to get all the ingredients to make Brussel sprouts, Mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, stuffing, corn, salad, bread rolls, and pumpkin pie! I spent my entire birthday with Dan in the church kitchen (one of the few places that actually have a large oven--most houses in Taiwan don't have full-size ovens!), cooking for about 7 hours. We finally finished and brought the meal over to my grandma's house where we shared a Thanksgiving feast with my relatives for dinner 💕 Everything was super yummy and it was everything I could have ever wish for. Aside from Trump not running for re-election, but that didn't come true. God bless America.

More updates about how we're doing:

Gemma is officially in school full day! She goes in from 9-3:30pm everyday, and loves it! She likes it so much she has several boyfriends! She did start out with a female friend she would go everywhere with, but then one day she came home and said the girl was not good at taking turns so she's not nice anymore. The next day she said she had a new boyfriend and he was nice and good at taking turns. So there you go. Friendship in the eyes of Gemma Benson. They've gone on one field trip which Gemma was very delighted to report that she rode on a bus that day at school. I am honestly amazed at her progress and hope things continue to go well for her 😌

School field trip! Gemma off to the side holding hands with her boyfriend

Dan has started attending basically a Chinese language bootcamp, where he is in class everyday Monday-Friday 8:30-11:30am with a Chinese teacher, and I am as astonished as you probably are about this. Dan is on a mission to master the language, and I am so proud of him for even wanting to do this on his own volition. I literally never in my wildest dreams thought Dan's new hobby would be learning Chinese, but he is picking up the language at a really impressive rate. Gemma can also sing a lot of songs in Chinese, but her Chinese is mostly used for singing songs they probably learned in school. Which she does sing, often and loudly. 

I have enrolled in online classes through UCSD for college counseling! 10 years in K-12 school counseling and I'm ready to explore focusing on either the college admissions side of counseling or counseling at the college level. I would love to increase my skill set while we have the time and energy to do so here in Taiwan. 

All in all, we're doing well and have our first road trip up to the mountains coming up in several weeks! We'll be going to a mountainside known for having lots and lots of sheep, so hopefully Gemma will like that. Stay tuned for more adventures! 

Cart-riding in Cijing Island!

Taipei Chiang Kai Shek Memorial!

Taipei 101!