Ladies and Gentlemen: We present Lucy

*Disclaimer: The subject of this blog focuses almost entirely on the issues surrounding a new canine in nuestra casa, so if dogs aren't your thing, skipping this installment is recommended. Thank you for your patronage.

-Mgmt

We've heard several times in the last few weeks that it was merely a matter of time. Exactly three weeks ago, Sara came upon an apparently feral puppy while on the way to a hiking trail just a short way outside of our city. However, as countless feral dogs roam freely all over Taiwan, the girls continued on their way. Nearly an hour or more later, leaving the trail, they came upon the puppy again, sitting in the exact same position. The pooch was sitting along the side of a road, surrounded by her own poop, looking as if she had be dropped off of a scooter quite some time ago and was simply waiting for someone to come back for her. Having a bad case of Bleeding Heart Syndrome, Sara naturally stopped to give the dog some always handy vegetarian dog treats. The then unnamed puppy was not a fan of the treats, but soaked up the attention. Since she was clearly not a feral dog, Sara and the girls decided they couldn't in good conscience leave her there. A few short hours after, the puppy was being smothered with affection as well as flea and tick shampoo in our bathtub.

So here we are, another active weekend in the bag, winding down on a Sunday night. I can certainly tell you I didn't have a lot of expectations for our time in Asia, but had someone told me that we'd be playing the role of puppy trainers, I would've scoffed. That's right, I don't use that word frequently, but I feel as if it's appropriate. As much as I love dogs, the thought of all the added responsibility of providing for another living, breathing, and excessively sniffing creature is not one that had crossed my mind. That being said, it has been quite the learning process. I imagine it's on par with suddenly having a baby born without the nine month warning. Overnight we went from very busy but relatively comfortable in our schedules to scrambling to get supplies and any dog training tips the internet had to offer. We're just now getting to the point where things are beginning to settle down.

Among the myriad of exciting new concerns brought home with the puppy were the little friends that accompanied Lucy into 我们的家 (our house): fleas, worms, a fungal infection in her fur, and quite the case of scabies. The latter of which was unbeknownst to us until we finally had enough spare time to get her to vet to figure out why she was spending all of her waking hours scratching incessantly. Four rounds of trips to the vet for shots to fight the infection and scabies later, as well as twice-a-day cocktails of pills hidden in her food (luckily she's the canine equivalent of a undiscriminating vacuum cleaner) and she's nearly 100% healthy. For those of you who haven't dealt with scabies (human or canine) previously, they're nasty little f%@#ers. Upon hearing the diagnosis, we returned home with our itchy pup and scoured the internet for info on dealing with the issue. Just about everything we read said that you have to clean all fabric in the household with boiling water, then wash it. Anything non-washable should be sealed in airtight bags and put away for two weeks in a cool, dark place. In addition, you have to be exceedingly careful about what comes in contact with the infected monster, and treat anything that hasn't been cleaned as a carrier. As a cherry on top, it is required to mop with boiling water at least once a day for two weeks. And so the cleaning frenzy began. Please note that this little smelly poo-nugget of realization was dropped in our laps during our Tuesday break, during which we usually prepare for another round of classes. After much grumbling, resentful mutterings, and many loads of clothing having boiling water dumped on them, we got back to focusing our attention on the little typhoon of energy who was making an effort to chew on everything in sight.

(This stuffed rabbit didn't stand a chance against the Cookie Faced Guillotine)

It's pretty apparent due to Lucy's already existing affinity for human attention that she had spent some time with a family, although her almost complete lack of discipline or training leads us to think she spent that time locked up before eventually being discarded. Thus, she was a bit of a blank slate in terms of training. Shit, we don't even know if she speaks English! Language barriers aside, we are getting to the point where our xiao pengyou (little friend) is quite obedient. In order to help stave off any destruction due to unspent energy, common to puppies with working parents, Sara and I have been taking turns running her in the mornings and evenings. This Saturday Sara and I strapped on our Vibram Five-Fingers and got our newly scooter trained beast on our Taiwanese minivan and headed out to hit the trails. About an hour and several hundred winding steps later, we were all pretty beat. We've taken turns teaching her tricks, and so far we've got Sit, Lay down, Come (unless something smells too good to abandon), Shake, and Go to your home (an idea borrowed from Sam, Shel, and Rock). Earlier today I gave 'Bang' a shot (literally) and within 15 minutes, she was giving Oscar worthy flops.

(our chariot)

As many of you know, I spent over two years working intensively with children on the Autism spectrum, which in case you are unaware of, tends to take a lot of patience and consistency. I can honestly say that dealing with this new addition to our little family has been one of the most frustrating experiences of my life. And despite all of that frustration, every day has been better than the last. I suppose when you start at the bottom, it really can only go up. We're still not sure what we'll do with our Oreo Faced Fiend, but at the moment, we're enjoying making at least one stray puppy's life a little more full of love.

Six Months In

Happy Chinese New Year!

We can't really say that we have ever been excited for this time of year before (or even been aware of it's existence, for that matter). However, this year, we have nearly a week off work, which aside from one three day weekend, is the first time off we've enjoyed since we arrived back in September. Needless to say, we needed it. Sara and I have been quite busy with our jobs and getting into the swing of a new year and with it slightly revamped class schedules. Although my schedule remained mostly unchanged (apart from an extra half an hour each day in the AM), Sara has been give two more evening classes, which really stretch her days out significantly. She's been a trooper, but we both desperately needed some decompression time.

Due to the holiday, Chinese schools have been out of class for a few weeks and many of our kids parents can't afford (or simply don't want) to take time off to watch their little joyous bundles of energy. Because of this, our school holds an annual Winter Sports Camp, which I was asked to run. It is two hours a day for ten days (9-11 am) spread out over last week and next week. The class consists of 26 kids varying from Level 1 to Level 10 (basically 3rd graders to junior high) with a big range of English capabilities. I was given the task of teaching them a variety of sports, including basic vocabulary, rules, and simple skills. So far we've covered bowling, soccer, basketball, and baseball. The kids seem to enjoy it and a lot of them have quickly picked up on a lot of the terms that span across many of the sports (out of bounds, jersey, pass, shoot, dribble, etc). If it wasn't for it being such a long day for me, I would consider offering to do something like this again. We have a University campus within walking distance of our school so we've taken a few trips over there to use their big soccer field and basketball hoops. For a few of the braver kids, after we finished playing basketball, I offered to help them climb on a platform by the hoop to take a picture. A few very brave souls even let me pick them up. There is definitely something extremely gratifying about seeing someone really pick up something you've taught them and hit the ground running, so to speak. Smell what I'm stepping in. Catch what I'm throwing out. Pick up what I'm putting down. You get the point.

We continue to slowly expand our social circles outside of our work environment. It seems as if it takes several months to really begin to even meet other foreigners, but once you meet a few fun ones, they provide a platform from which you may really establish some fun relationships. Sara and I have been fortunate to meet some really great people so far, and in doing so have been given some great insights into awesome things to do near where we live. For instance, we got to check out one of the myriad hot springs outside of our city a few weekends ago. It was quite invigorating to sit and soak in all of the clean air up in the mountains. We've also been introduced so some absolutely stunning hiking trails within 30 minutes of our apartment, almost completely free of other people. It's shocking to think just how densely populated this part of the world is (as seen in top picture, something we got to experience this week due to Chinese New Year and everyone being out at once), and how easily you can lose yourself if you simply step off the beaten trail.

We were offered the chance to do a bit more adventuring this week by a couple we met recently. The girl is from California and the man is from England, although he's traveled all over the world. They've been fascinating to get to know, and he has a vast collection of experiences from all over to share. He studied Chinese in University and knows several languages aside from it. He has also studied many different forms of meditation and enlightenment and in his travels to find peaceful places to get away to, he came upon a waterfall near a Buddhist temple up in the mountains of Taiwan. Yesterday, we got to make the trip along with the couple and one of our our friends. Sara and I managed to buy a one-time used tent and some sleeping bags and we packed up for our first camping trip together (and my first one since I was a young boy). The drive up the mountain was worth it in itself. It took us about half an hour to get out of the hustle and bustle of the throngs of people paying homage at every temple in sight and into the rural areas. Through a few small pockets of civilization and we were suddenly going up and around steep snakelike turns. On one side of our campgear-laden scooter was an impossibly steep wall of trees and rock and on the other, a nice sheer drop off with huge mountains just beyond. Green, flourishing plants everywhere you can see, and the sun painting smiles on our faces.

After about 20 minutes of upwards winding roads, we reached the point where we parked our scooters and called via cell down to the temple, from which the man who takes care of the temple drove his 4X4 up to pick us up. We packed all our supplies into the little Suzuki and clenched our teeth and the handholds all the way down the 45 degree hills, while he laughed and joked away in Chinese with our friend. We found out later that he himself had help lay the concrete for what seemed like quite the deathtrap. Fortunately, his car seemed quite familiar and confident with the route and we didn't have a problem getting down.

At this point, I almost have to stop myself and simply let the pictures and videos do the talking, as words can't really describe how incredible this experience was. We set up camp on a large concrete surface a long staircase down from the little temple and began to explore the mostly dry riverbed and waterfall.

I worked up a bit of courage and climbed up the waterfall, and was later joined by Sara. Aside from a few small shifting rocks giving us a little adrenaline rush, we were quite safe (that last bit was just for you, Mama). Like I said, I'll let the pictures and videos do most of the talking. We have every intention of returning soon, although next time with some better padding to place under our sleeping bags and perhaps some warmer clothes for the nighttime. The generosity of the people here continues to astonish me. We were given two huge completely vegetarian meals by the man and his wife, along with an opportunity to try our best to use some of the little Chinese we've learned so far. I have to say, as someone who despised tofu back in the States, I realize now that it wasn't the tofu itself, it was merely the manner of preparation. These people know how to make some absolutely incredible tofu dishes. Sadly, Sara can't enjoy them due to her soy allergy. I don't know how else to put it: that shit is delicious!

It is not without some sadness that I write about all these incredible things. I wish that I could truly do these experiences justice through my writing and pictures but unfortunately words and pixels just don't convey the absolute beauty of this country. If my finances allowed, I would fly anyone willing to experience these things out to show them what we've seen so far. You all are in my thoughts each time I get to immerse myself further in this incredible place. I'm somewhat sorry to say it, but it's getting harder and harder to imagine coming home in just a short time. There is simply too much left to explore. Please check out the video attached at the bottom

YouTube Video: Waterfall Camping

新年快乐!!!

新年快乐!

(Xin nian kuai le = Happy New Year!)

And so we begin yet another year. Once again, I must apologize for our absence from the

blogosphere. As I believe too many of us know, it is exceedingly easy to become caught up in the

day to day patterns we establish for ourselves, and lose sight of even the best set intentions (aka

writing frequently). The last two months have been, as we expected, thrilling, exhausting, and

incredibly fast-moving. We were sad to watch the messages pop up without end on Facebook

talking of the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year activities carrying on despite our absence.

Regardless of how egocentric you are (such as myself), once you've removed yourself from the

middle of things I've found that things continue to move along in quite the same manner as they

did before you left. Perhaps it is this that keeps me wanting to be in the thick of it all, in order to

not miss a thing. Nonetheless, I find myself quite grateful for the advances in global connectivity

in recent years. Without Skype and nearly daily updates to everyones' whereabouts and various

goings on, I very much doubt I would've handled the holidays

quite as well as I did.

In the last two months, we've continued to cultivate the eager young, spongy minds of the

children we teach. For anyone who has had the *cough cough* pleasure of teaching elementary

and junior high students, I hope you picked up on the sarcasm there. For those of you who

haven't, please know I'm kidding. Both Sara and I have truly enjoyed many of the connections

we've established with our students. Sara has developed a very fun and now disciplined

environment for her youngest class, and in doing so has been able to enjoy the teaching part

a lot more. As many of you also heard, she had quite the heroic episode just before Christmas as

well! For all of the details you'll have to schedule a personal retelling by Sara "Superteacher"

Ness herself, but I will summarize as best as I can.

One of the little boys (the boy in the yellow striped shirt) in Sara's Elephant class seemed to

be unresponsive and choking not long after their morning snack. Sara proceeded to try the

Heimlich and finger swipe to clear his airway, both of which were unsuccessful. She sent the

Chinese teacher to get help and began doing mouth to mouth with the little boy. On the third or

fourth attempt, she managed to get some air through (he was clenching his teeth, which will be

explained shortly), and he began to come around and threw up the remainder of the contents of

his stomach and begin to cry. Soon after, the ambulance arrived and he was carted off the

hospital. To make a semi-long story short, the doctors determined that his brain functions differently

than most people and he may be prone to seizures. Anyway you look at it, everyone is very grateful

to Sara, who in turn is very happy to have taken a Safe Sitter course when she was a young girl

quite some time ago.

One of the things that has helped significantly with our homesickness this holiday season

has been the fact that our school really loves to celebrate all of the various holidays that we

would back home. Thanksgiving was a blast, where Sara got to read the Thanksgiving story to all

of the kids and their parents (with a translator), and I got to cut the turkey(s) for the big feast. It was

quite a spread, including everything from turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, to sushi rolls and

traditional Taiwanese soups. We also celebrated again the following day with a more traditional

a thanksgiving with our fellow foreign coworkers. It seems like no time passed before it was again

time for another celebration, this time Christmas. We spent the month following Thanksgiving

practicing routines with each of our classes (the younger classes had to wear costumes and sing

songs, while the older classes got to do skits). The day finally came around and everything went

smoothly, and this time I got be Santa (see Facebook for documentation!). It was a lot of fun, and it

was great to see how much fun these kids got to have while experiencing something Sara and I

remember so fondly. It was something else being swarmed by children while trying my best to

sound like good ol' Saint Nick. It took a few weeks for kids to stop telling me that they knew I was

Santa and have me deny it. I insist that I was in the bathroom the whole time.

Our actual Christmas day was a pleasant one, made particularly special by the arrival of a

care package from Sara's mom the night before. The package contained essentials that we had

requested such as deodorant (they take it off the shelves after the weather cools down here...

crazy, I know), feminine products, etc. However, Sara's mama had been thoughtful enough to

wrap them all into separate gift boxes, allowing us to have a fairly substantial looking stash under

our tree Christmas morning! Along with that unexpected surprise, we had the pleasure of talking

face-to-face with our families throughout the day, which I once again have to emphasize, makes

the distance between us seem much smaller. New Years Eve was also another adventure for us.

Instead of spending $100+ a person to get into a bar in the big city, as we have the last few years

(I'm not knocking it, just stating the fact that it was much different this year), we bought a bottle of

champagne and rode our scooter to a sports arena in Chiayi with a few coworkers to see the NYE

show and fireworks. The fireworks were among the best, if not the best, either of us have ever seen.

I suppose you would expect something special considering this is pretty much where fireworks

are produced. I don't know if I've mentioned this in previous posts, but these people friggin' LOVE

fireworks. For the first few months we were here, there were fireworks literally every day. And I

mean every day. They love it! Apparently no reason is necessary! They don't even wait for it to get

dark. I suppose there must just be an overabundance of fireworks here, and they feel the need to

do away with some. Anywho, I digress. New Years Eve was a blast, and we had a chance to hang

out with a few Taiwanese coworkers for the first time. It's a lot of fun getting a chance to communicate

with them, especially considering they are as excited to reciprocate and practice their English as

we are to practice our Chinese. After the fireworks were done and people started clearing the stadium,

I had probably four groups of young Taiwanese people ask to take pictures with me. It was a bit

strange but hey, why not let the public get what the public wants, right? I'm still looking into

purchasing some basketball jerseys and pretending to be an NBA star.

Unfortunately our New Year started out on a bit of a down note. Boo boo woke up feeling pretty

craptastic, and it quickly spiraled down into fricking terrible town. She had a nasty tummy ache, body

aches, the chills, and fatigue. The worst part was that neither of us had more than three drinks the

night before. It got bad enough that I insisted we see a doctor, and as we don't know much Chinese

(or any doctors here), we packed up and headed to the hospital. Once we got there, we were fortunate

yet again that a little English is known by a majority of people we encounter, and got Sara hooked up

to an IV drip and seen by a doctor quickly. After several hours, some broken communication with the

staff, a pee test, some blood work, and x-rays, we were told Sara had a case of the stomach flu (along

with an unpleasant case of shingles). We got a handful of medications and headed home. Today (all

that fun stuff occurred yesterday), Sara woke up feeling much better, and we've been resting up all

day. Looking to kick of the New Year officially tomorrow (hopefully on the right foot) with the start of a

new semester at school!

So, feeling the need to end on an inspirational or fun note, given that this in my first blog of a new year,

let's see what I can do:

After having made it to the hospital and successfully communicated what was going on with her,

we were waiting to be sent to see a doctor. It wasn't until we were about to go that Sara finally ralphed.

And as I crouched next to her, rubbing her back and trying to get the nurses attention, I couldn't help

but smile. All Sara had eaten that day was apple cinnamon oatmeal. It was the most pleasant smelling

vomit I had ever had the chance to enjoy!

It is with this that will leave you, oh our faithful readers. And a stern reminder to always remember on

your rough days:

The vomit could always smell worse.

Happy New Years. We miss you all!

2 Months In!

I will kick off the blog with an apology for not having written in a while. It's been nearly a month since my last post, and I had certainly intended on keeping more up to date than that. The last two months have blown by Sara and I, leaving behind two heads full of more great memories and hard drive overflowing with pictures. I think part of the reason I haven't been chomping at the bit to get another post up is due to not being able to put up any new pictures. Apparently the overabundance of photo opportunities has been too much for my ancient (lol... not really, but computer technology sure does leave us in the dust these days) Macbook. We're planning on buying an external hard drive to help out with our upcoming paycheck. Along with that exciting purchase, we're looking to buy a relatively inexpensive scooter, which we're thrilled about. We've gotten the chance to see how they are both in Kenting (the beach town we went to for my birthday) and when our coworker left for two weeks and left us hers to use. Despite the ridicule many scooter riders receive in the States, I am quite unashamed in saying that they are a lot of fun to ride. It's hard to beat the sensation of driving down a palm tree lined road, skirting the coast of the ocean, with the salty air whipping your hair and clothes. I want to erase that last sentence for sounding like something out of a romance novel, but it's hard to describe the feeling in a way that doesn't sound corny. So I suppose I will happily accept the teasing that comes along with being a proud owner of a scooter.

We celebrated Sara's 26th birthday last weekend and took yet another adventure outside of Chia-yi. Sara has long been dropping hints that I've needed to take her horseback riding. Apparently I have little in the way of hint-picking-up abilities, as I was quite oblivious. However, she finally made it obvious enough that she wanted to do it for her birthday so with the help of our ever helpful Chinese teachers at school, I found a horse ranch in a nearby county. We hopped on a train the Saturday after Sara's birthday and got off where we were told to, only to find the scooter/bike rental shop closed and not a whole lot in the way of friendly strangers willing to point us in the right direction. Fortunately, one of the train station employees spoke enough English to get us on a local train (basically like a train in Chicago) to the next closest stop. As is our habit, once we arrived, we depended on patient strangers with any English at all, and ended up in a taxi of a guy who spoke a small amount and he drove us about five minutes to the ranch.

After a few more uncomfortable communication attempts, we eventually found the area where we got to ride horses in a large circular area. Despite our disappointment that we didn't get to do a bit more riding out in the open, it was still a very fun experience to feel like we had even a little control over these powerful and very intelligent animals (emphasis on little control... both of our horses kept stopping to munch on stray leaves and grass whenever they wanted). It helped that the country scenery was made that much more beautiful by the crisp fall air and the sun shining through all of the trees around us (I promise to post all of the pictures as soon as possible). After our ride we explored the ranch a bit more, and got to see the big area where the horses got to romp around. A few even started rolling around on their backs like gigantic dogs in the dirt, reminding me very much of a particular canine nephew of mine. It was definitely something I've never seen before. Later on, we tried out some archery, which was (for anyone who hasn't done it) a lot of fun. On our walk back through the little town to the train station (we had accidentally misplaced the taxi drivers card), a woman on a scooter with her two young children pulled up next to us and started speaking rapidly in Chinese. We were friendly but tried to convey that we didn't understand. After a few moments, we heard the word for teacher, and told her in Chinese that we were English teachers living in Chia-yi. She was very excited about our use of Chinese and went on to say in very broken English that I was handsome and Sara was very beautiful (remember: picture us walking along a rural road and this woman on a scooter with a child in front of her and a child behind her on the seat, riding along next to us). We both laughed (in a friendly way) and she drove off smiling. Just another example of how friendly people are everywhere we go on this beautiful island, I suppose.

Sara and I are both really enjoying slowly building our Chinese repertoires via our Chinese lessons once a week, and it really is exciting to use something we've learned and watch it actually sink in to the person we're communicating with. To the same effect, we are also picking up a lot more of what people say around us, generally being simple phrases between people, but occasionally we'll overhear a child say the word for American or tall. I successfully communicated how tall I was in centimeters to a man the other day in the elevator of our building (195 cm), and was quite proud of myself. The kids get quite a kick out of our Chinese as well, although I don't use it very often, seeing as a lot of the time I am trying to get them to stop using Chinese and I don't want to encourage them to by doing so myself.

The job is still going fine, and both of us have gotten in a good routine with most of our classes. Classes that were a challenge for me at first have become much more manageable and the time I have to spend making lessons plans is less and less. Sara and I have our three year anniversary coming up on Nov. 11th and we are planning a trip to Taipei (the capital of Taiwan) the following weekend. We're both really looking forward to experiencing what we have heard is an incredible city. As always, I guarantee more pictures to come soon. As a last note, I think that all of the longings for the Fall colors and weather back in the Midwest that Sara and I have had lately have brought a little Fall weather here. In the last week and a half or two weeks, the temperature has dropped dramatically. I even had to wear long pants and shoes to work instead of shorts and sandals! What a change! Regardless of my wishes to see the fall colors, every day when I check the weather back home and see that it's a few degrees colder, I am a little less upset that I am not walking to the bus stop or waiting for the train back in chilly Chicago. I suppose I'll have the rest of my life to make it through Midwest winters, and I have every intention of loving this "very cold" Taiwanese Fall/Winter to it's fullest extent. Till next time, our best to you!