Abbie's first birthday in Taiwan

It was a happy day indeed :)

(And we're learning that the Taiwanese

present things - flowers, cakes, etc. -

very well!)

One of Abbie's teachers is a year younger than Abbie

and her birthday is only four days after Abbie's

so they celebrated together in class!

The south of the island

We headed back down to the south of the island for

a few days holiday

 We went to the southernmost point...

Us at the southernmost point of Taiwan!

We went in search of a beach with some decent

waves so that Paul could catch a few after months

(or years!) of not being able to go

surfing/bodyboarding...

...and discovered that the Taiwanese like to surf

too! :) 

We also discovered this waterfall which was

actually one of seven that cascaded into seven pools

And enjoyed some time on our favourite beach :)

Lantern Festival

Lantern Festival marks the end of the Chinese New

Year celebrations. Traditional Chinese lanterns are

often seen hanging up. They are red because red is

the lucky colour

We went to the Taiwan Lantern Festival - a lantern

display where we saw lanterns of all shapes and sizes.

These were the closest designs to the traditional

Chinese lanterns

This was one of my favourites :)

There were so many different designs, all contributed

by universities, businesses etc.

Some of them were very impressive!

There was an area particularly aimed at children

This was the centrepiece of the display - a giant horse

lantern - because this year is the year of the horse

We had never seen so many lanterns in our lives!

Our first Chinese New Year

We learnt how to make Chinese stuffed dumplings

(one of the foods traditionally eaten at Chinese New

Year) at the home of a couple of our colleagues

It was a bit fiddly!

The finished dumplings ready to be boiled

Chinese New Year is a time for meeting up with family

and friends, so over the holiday we met up with one of

our colleagues and two of our teachers and visited the

Taichung National Museum of Natural Science and the

Taichung Botanical Gardens

Our first Christmas in Taiwan

 Our language school's Christmas party - bring and

share meal with teachers and students...

...followed by a talent show in which Paul accompanied

two of the teachers who sang a duet

 Our organisation's Christmas party - another bring
and share meal with colleagues...

 ...followed by games, carols, and a visit from Santa!

 Our church's Christmas event - the children's slot

Christmas Day - at the home of some

colleagues for Christmas dinner

 Our Christmas tree surrounded by cards
and gifts - thank you to all of you who
made our Christmas so special! :)

Beyond the city...

DaJia, north of Taichung. Taiwan is well know for its
megacities, so it was refreshing to discover the more
rural side of Taiwan!

We spent a week here attending a conference with
our organisation 

 We also spent a week in Kenting, in the south of the

island, for a holiday

Kenting National Park

The old city walls of Hengchun

 

Baisha (where the film 'Life of Pi' was filmed!)

Our local church

 The local church that we attend (not sure
of its English name!)

The congregation is fairly small - between twenty and

thirty people regularly attend the Sunday morning service,
and the service is fairly (western) traditional in style

Out for lunch with the pastor, Pearl