Trip to San Francisco: 1

We got to spend a few days with our good friends from Thailand when they were coming through Portland...it was a great time and great to see them. We also made a weekend trip down to San Francisco with them, it was a really good trip full of good conversation and laughs. I still can't believe that we drove that far in two days! It was a great experience.

The trolly from back in the day, still works with cables, I'm pretty sure. Cool to see.

Our day in SF was amazing, the weather was awesome.

We went to the Saturday market and got some amazing food, fresh oyster shooters being some of that food.

Trip to San Francisco: 2 - Ma'velous Coffee

This was a really cool coffee shop called Ma'velous in San Francisco. Great coffee, the guy cares a lot about coffee and carries coffee from some of the best roasters in the world. Very cool, we had some espressos and caps which were superb. Cool atmosphere too. Having coffee here put the icing on the cake for our trip to SF.

http://maveloussf.com/

A great hike in the gorge

I got to take a great hike with my best friend Aaron, he took the day off work and we had a great time, after we finished up eating at a Chinese Bistro, which was pretty good and, thanks to groupon, got a $30 meal for $5.

Prior to the hike...Aaron helped me get all outfitted with Mountain Hard Wear gear...so nice! There was nearly no body hiking that day. I think we only saw one group of people and another guy. It was filled with good conversation and a years worth of catching up.



It was beautiful at the top and we couldn't have asked for nicer weather!

Snow...snow...snow!!!

It snowed while I was back and that was awesome to see. I was really hoping for snow since it doesn't snow in Taiwan.

Grandpa and Grandma

It's always good to see grandpa and grandma. This trip I got to spend almost an entire day with both, it was a really neat and I got to pick their brains and ask them about the past. Really interesting.




Grandma made one of our favorite dishes for the two of us, basically a pot roast (potatoes, carrots, kielbasaand sour kraut)...mmmmm...so good! Thanks grandma.

Babies Galore

I got to see many good friends and their babies for the first time. It was great.

Back for Christmas

It was really nice to be back in the US for Christmas (and a couple months after), spending time with family, good friends.

We ate really good food.

Opened some presents.

...and played a lot of wii.

MIA, but back and ready to update!

Hey everybody!

I just want to apologize for the lack of attention and updates to my blog over the recent months. I intend to keep it updated and will begin updating soon. Thank you for your patience and I hope you continue learning and enjoying the pictures and the things I experience in Taiwan and on other travels.

A couple things before I post....I have a friend who goes to church with us here, his name is Clyde, he was in a bad car accident recently and has been in the hospital unable to move anything below his neck. Also, Nolan is doing well, but he still has cancer in his body. Please keep these two in your prayers.

Thank you for all your love and support.

Phil

Birthday Party

Sandra's cousin had a birthday party so we hung out in a town called Linkou all day a few Sundays ago. It was pretty fun, we went to a steak house with an all you can eat salad bar, then went back to Sandra's cousin's house and let the dogs attack each other. We then went to a walk in a temple/park area, it was pretty nice and relaxing and Yuan Yuan (Sandra's dog) jumped on us and got us all muddy, that little rat. I call Yuan Yuan 醜小老鼠 (chou xiao lao shu), which translates to something like "Stinkin' little rat". Then we had dinner at Sandra's aunts house and then were on our way....a fun and relaxing Sunday.

Halloween in Taiwan

Here are a couple of my classes dressed up for Halloween week, kind of fun, we went trick-or-treating to other classrooms....the funny thing is, we sing all sorts of Halloween songs that I have never heard of before

...I remember one of my co-teachers asked me to sing a Halloween song and I thought for a second...and was really confused because I don't ever remember singing songs...I only remember saying "trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat". I'm pretty sure they are just made up for the kinds in an ESL program.

Modeling, it's official.

Funny story because I was walking down the street with my girlfriend and two women pulled their scooter and started asking Sandra questions in Chinese...I had no idea what they were talking about until Sandra told me that they wanted to me to model the next day. I agreed, so I became a model overnight...the story has much more detail and gets even funnier, but that is a story for another time...you can ask me in person.

Sandra didn't take too many behind-the-scenes shots, so I only have a few to share...not my best, but, you know, they will do. Haha.  Apparently, this makes me an official model.  Wow, never expected that to happen!

Camping in Yilan 1/2

We are in the mountains on our way to Yilan, a very beautiful place on the north eastern side of Taiwan.

Camping in Yilan 2/2

...well, it wasn't really camping because we stayed in a lodge, but many Taiwanese people consider this camping because it is high up in the mountains. And it was high, we were basically in a cloud. It was a little cool because it felt like we were in mist for half the time due to the cloud...I wish it would have been sunny. It was still awesome regardless. We went with the same family that we have done many things with (Edward, Grace, Tom and Jerry).

This is me wearing a fruit peel hat.  This is us in our lodge room.  It was basically one large room, with a bathroom, a TV, Two beds and a loft above with more beds.

We stopped by this trout farm on the way up and got trout cooked about 6 different ways including trout sashimi and trout inners, which were surprisingly very good, mainly due to the tasty sauce they were saturated in.

Looking down at where the action happens...the fish farming!

They had some massive fish...I don't even know what these are, but they are about 4 or 5 feet in length and they had about 10 or 12 of them.

Sandra got baptized!

Sandra got baptized on her birthday, August 29th, it was pretty unique to her to be baptized on her birthday and fun to watch.This is her speaking in front of the church, giving her testimony.