Tiger Head Mountain

On a random Sunday off, Rick and I decided to go to Tiger Head Mountain. We had already been before but to a different part of it. Funny thing is, we actually thought we were at a completely different mountain but it was all Tiger Head. This area of Tiger Head had a bunch of different walking trails, some vendors, and a beautiful fountain. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

The first of many stairs that we would climb that day.

Dog in a box. Rickie obviously took this picture.

Taking a break on one of the many swings that are throughout the mountain trails. 

 Rickie enjoying the beautiful views of Taoyuan while I lazily sit on a bench.

Street vendors, trying to find something to eat!

Beautiful fountain. Rickie was literally in love with it. So detailed.

View of Taoyuan. and a sleeping Asian lady.

Some shots of some of the types of vendors that were there. Turtles anyone?

Updates

It has been awhile since our last post but it feels like not a lot has happened and yet we have been so busy. Rick and I are both at full schedules now, so we have a lot of busy days. I'm actually at 23 hours while Rick is at 20.5. Our Wednesdays are both so full and my Saturday is exhausting but it is definitely worth the money. Starting this week I got from 10AM to 7:30 PM on Saturdays, four different classes, it will definitely be a tiring day.

The heat is getting to be a lot. I'm told it is going to get hotter so that makes me super nervous. We're pretty cheap with our air conditioning but we recently bought a fan and it makes a huge difference. The fan is a lifesaver!

My parents come to visit in less than two weeks so we are super excited about that! We have lots of fun days planned for when they get here. We're going to go to Green Island for a few days, a day trip to Sun Moon Lake, some day trips to Taipei and who knows what else. So there will be lots of blog posts then.

Lately we are just in a routine of teaching and relaxing. Trying to save money to pay off my student loan back home. But we have had a couple of really fun days. We spent one day at Tiger Head Mountain. Its located in the town we live in but it was a super fun day. Also we went to Shihmen Reservoir in Longtan and Hsinchu on another day.

Blog posts coming soon!

Chinese New Year's Eve

What started out as just another day turned into a pretty fun night for us. First, I tried out riding a scooter for the first time. We borrowed Monica's keys for the week while they were away so I could practice and it went really well! It is only a 50cc (so it is a smaller scooter) but I had fun. I feel like I was building it up so big in my head and then when I actually tried it out, it wasn't as big of a deal as I thought. It also helped that as I was leaving the parking lot where I practiced, an old Taiwanese man shot his fist in the air with a big smile on his face.

After that, Rick decided to head out on his own on Sam's scooter to perfect his skills. He had already tried out different scooters a few times and wanted to ride a little bit more on his own before he tried with me on the back of the scooter. He had an amazing time and he loved how free he felt to be on a scooter. It really does open up so much more of Taiwan. He checked out Tiger Head Mountain on his own and loved every minute of it.

At night, we decided to take it easy and play our new Drinking Jenga that we had just bought the other day. Darren was playing with us when we started to hear fireworks, more and more frequently. We decided it'd be a great idea to go on the roof to watch them only to find that Gloria had locked the doors on the roof for the holiday. To the streets we went. 

We walked down to the park and ended up in the middle of a firework war zone. It was so surreal and unlike back home. There were different groups of people setting off their own personal fireworks and these fireworks were similar but also so much better than the kind of fireworks we can buy back home. It reminded me of when I was a kid back home and my dad would light fireworks in our backyard. The only difference was that my dad would light the firework and run away quickly to ensure he wasn't going to get hit. While the Taiwanese like to light the firework and either casually stand beside the display or walk away at a snail's pace. They seem to not be concerned whatsoever with getting hit by a firework. We hung out in the park for over an hour. As some families would run out of their firework displays, more would arrive and start their own. 

P.S. A big thank you to Monica and Sam for letting us borrow their scooters while they are away!

Until next time!