Riding Time!

Spring Break has finally started [sweet glory!], and there was no better way to spend my first day of freedom than at the barn. Heike [the new German trainer at Connie's stable who is super nice] offered to give me a jumping lesson!! I convinced Jordan to come be the official horse photographer again with promises that jumping is much more exciting to watch than dressage. It also happened to be a super nice day, so he acquiesced.

I haven't ridden outside much at the barn because they seem to want to do lessons in the indoor, and I had forgotten how nice it is to be outside! Lara [the horse I ride, not a person] was also pretty pumped about the fresh air - she had her ears perked and was motoring along quite smoothly. And as soon as we started to jump, she was PSYCHED! Apparently she is an ex-show jumping horse, and it totally showed. Luckily I didn't give Jordan any heart-attacks, and he managed to get a few good pics of me over fences [please ignore the small height of the jumps...it's been awhile since I've jumped!].

Lara wasn't sure what to make of Jordan and his camera. Look at those perky ears!

So much more fun to ride outside!

Here we go! Time to start jumping!

How can you resist that face??

Taking a breather after a couple of fences...more for me than for Lara.

Yay! I haven't forgotten how to do it!

All in all, a pretty great day :)

Spirit Week 2013!

What an exhausting week. Between history tests, MUN meetings, finding Spirit Week costumes, working on the bulletin board, and daily assemblies, I've had a lot on my plate! But we all survived! Spirit Week is an exciting time in the Middle School, but it definitely involves a lot of work.

On Thursday the lightbulb seemed to go off for most of the 6th graders, and they jumped whole-heartedly into the cheers and Spirit Week games. It's always nice to end the week with a bang! Here's a photo week-in-review:

Ready to start the games in the Upper Gym!

Multiples Day! 

The Grade 6 Team is always good at matching :)

Oh hey, Seneca Crane, President Snow and Effie Trinket. Hunger Games for the win!

Apparently a child decided that the Kung Fu Panda head was just too much to handle...

The 6th graders eagerly awaiting the next game!

History Teachers win the best costume award on Character Day! (In my opinion)

How preciously cute is this costume?? A brilliant Food Day costume!

Food Day: Black-eyed Peas! Brilliant!

6th grade bulletin board: Deep Sea theme. Sadly we only got 3rd place :(

7th grade bulletin board: 2nd place finishers.

8th grade bulletin board: great art, but I thought ours was cuter!

Yay! One whole year till the next time! My favorite quote about Spirit Week from Tom, the English teacher I worked with last year who retired: "The best part about Spirit Week is Friday at 4 o'clock." Touche.

Elephant Mountain

Last weekend was one of the most gorgeous I have yet to experience in Taipei. Clear skies, 80 degrees, pleasant breeze, low humidity...in other words, perfection. To utilize such beautiful weather [and to get off the couch] Jordan and I decided to head out on a day trek across the city to Elephant Mountain, near Taipei 101. It's been awhile since I have hiked despite my determination to do more of it this school year since there are lots of great trails super close to the city.

Our first stop on our way down from Tienmu was, of course, some food. Jordan and I have been wanting to try a new salad place that opened up down in the Daan district, a bit of a trek from our suburb. The place is called Dressed, and it felt like walking into America! Great salads and REAL avocado - a total novelty in Taiwan. It was a great healthy start to an outdoor day!

Massive cobb salad with an almost caterpillar-like pile of avocado. Yum!

Delicious prosciutto sandwich with arugula. Both of which I can't resist!

After our refreshing lunch, we decided to walk over towards 101 and explore the back alleys of Daan. Much to Jordan's chagrin, we happened upon the pet store street, and I had to stop and look at every single kitty and puppy along the windows. A fluffy animal is definitely on my birthday list this year...

Random Taipei street market in the back alleys.

KUNG FU INTERNET!

Pet store street. Le sigh.

Yet another bad Taiwanese store sign. What in the world does the name even mean??

Attack of the koi fish!

The hike ended up being a perfect excursion for those of us who haven't walked up a mountain in a while [cough, cough...me]. The beginning of it was super steep with lots of stairs, but then it leveled out and offered up some pretty incredible views of the city and Taipei 101. We wandered around up on the mountain for about an hour, but there are trails that you could wander down for an entire day if you had the time. Despite the nice weather, there weren't too many people so we totally lucked out. After the hike we treated ourselves to a cold brew at Gordon Biersch...a perfect end to a Taipei city adventure!

Cute elephants to start us out on our hike!

Either that's one giant plant or we're pretty high up!

Artistic view courtesy of Jordan the photographer. 

Yay! We made it to the top!

A perfect treat after a successful hike :)

CNY 2k13 - Philippines!

One of my favorite parts about living in Taiwan is that only a month or so after Christmas break, we have another holiday - Chinese New Year! Because Christmas was a little hectic, Jordan and I decided that what we needed was a relaxing beach vacation rather than a crazy adventure, so we set out for Bantayan Island in the Philippines. I left the planning of this trip up to him, and [per usual] it was perfectly executed. Getting there took a bit of time since the island is off the beaten path, but it was well worth the two flights, 2.5 hour taxi ride, and ferry ride to get there. Not to mention the midnight flight!

The hotel we stayed at was pretty sweet - made entirely out of bamboo! Unfortunately the management was a little disorganized, so we had to bounce around rooms, but we made it work. And when all you're doing is laying on the beach all day, it's not that big of a deal!

6 am arrival in Cebu after leaving Taipei at midnight - I was tired!

Cool bamboo room!

View from our balcony. Hard to believe the color of the water!

Already lounging and perfecting the tan [don't worry Dad - I wore sunscreen!]

Day 2 at Coral Blue Oriental!

The water on our island and the surrounding ones was some of the clearest and bluest I have ever seen. You could see straight down to the bottom! We did one day trip out to Virgin Island, and took about 100 photos because we couldn't get over the colors.

Land ho! After a little shaky boat ride, we spotted Virgin Island.

Unfortunately the snorkel gear they provided was ancient, and also really small...lol.

We made it!

I still can't believe how gorgeous the water was!

And one of my favorite parts of the trip was the fact that the manager of the hotel had an awesome pug named Max. I spent lots of time playing with him...and tried to convince Jordan to steal him for me, but he refused. Sigh.

How cute is he??

Plastic water bottles are always fun to play with, right?

This was my only exercise for the week, but it was fun!

And now it's back to reality. But luckily there are only 6 weeks till Spring Break!!!

Bruno Mars Road Trip

When it's 70 degrees and sunny in the middle of January, what's better than going on a road trip to the beach? Last weekend I took advantage of the unusually gorgeous winter weather and hopped in the car with Jordan, Evelyn, and Lori to hit up Baishawan Beach. We started out with a delicious brunch at a new restaurant nearby. Hellloooooo Eggs Benedict and fresh squeezed OJ! The only way to start out on a road trip is with a full tummy, right?

Absolutely delish! Perfectly poached eggs, too!

 We rocked out to the sound of Bruno Mars's new album (thanks mom!) and enjoyed cruisin' along with the windows down. We left Evelyn in charge of the driving while I sang along and Jordan snapped pics out the window. Lori was the trusty navigator in the front seat!

Back seat drivers.

Mission complete! We have arrived at Baishawan!

The beach was splendidly empty of people (minus some chubby and entertaining kids who kept rolling down the sand dunes) so we were able to spread out our blanket in the prime spot on the beach. It was a bit breezy, but getting the chance to feel some sun on my skin was priceless! I will take sunny and 70 any day over the typical rainy gloom.

Gorgeous colors!

I spy white man feet...

We were loving our personal photographer!

As I recall, something was rather funny...teehee.

After the beach, we decided to stroll along the nearby boardwalk to snag some eats. We stumbled upon a perfect little pizza place overlooking the ocean. With a few Taiwan beers and yummy snacks, it was a perfect end to a fabulous day!

Lori and Evelyn on the boardwalk.

Look at those sweat pants!

We convinced Jordan that he was feeling the love :)

We were feeling the love, too!

Enjoying beers and snacks on the patio.

 Ahh, the beauty of living on an island in Asia :)