We thought we should select some pictures of the two of us to put around the apartment. I was reviewing all the pictures in my computer when I realized it was more than two years ago that Bill and I met. It was in a neighborhood bar on a November night in 2o04. I saw Bill staring attentively at the Chinese news program on TV, but it was on mute! As a linguistic major, I was fascinated by the mastery of the Chinese language this man must have possessed in order to read and understand the scrolling subtitles. I soon found out that he was just spacin' out.
Anyway, I put together a small photo log of our life in Taiwan in the past 2 years. Enjoy!
This picture was taken in Feb 2005, and it's the first picture of us. I remember Bill brought food to have a picnic by the Xindian River.
We went to the Lantern Exhibition at Sun Yet-Sen Memorial Hall. It was an outdoor event, and it was pouring that night.
Bill came to my birthday dinner with my mom and cousin.
We went for a bike ride in northern Taipei. The front tire of my rental bike went flat, we saw bunnies on the side of the bike route (odd, I know), and a bird decided to go home with Bill at the end of the day.
We went back to North America separately. To make it more fun, before leaving Taiwan, we had arranged a date and time to meet on the top of the Space Needle. Both of us kept our words and we successfully found each other that day.
We took a trip to Jinmen, a small island near Mainland China, with a group of friends to see Ben's wife, Jing Jing, perform. Jing Jing dances for Taiwan's world renowned dance group, Cloud Gate.
Double Ten Day (Oct 10th) is the July 4th of Taiwan. We hiked to see a 5-layer waterfall northwest of Taipei.
Bill and I went to a national park in northern Taipei to see some strange rock formation. I was having some local delicacy (dried fish sticks), and Bill.... well, I guess he wanted to have a taste of the rock.
Christmas in Thailand.
Must. Go. Back. To. Thailand.
2006 Chinese New Year's Eve.Dinner at mom's. We followed the tradition and gambled for fun. I won a whopping one hundred and twenty NT dollars in coins (it's about $4 bucks).
According to a Chinese tradition, if your Chinese horoscope sign coincides with the sign of the year, you must go to the temple to "make peace" with the Gods. Last year Roberto had to go to Xintien Temple to "bai bai" (pray).
We took the train to Pingxi for Sky Lantern Festival. The train ride back to Taipei was so crowded and chaotic that we swore never to do that again.
One weekend we covered ourselves in chocolate syrup and acted in a zombie movie.
Another weekend we went out to see Christienne act in a play.
This is Christienne. This California girl has taught English in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. She's finally going home in a few weeks to go back to school.
June 27th, 2006We took a trip to Cambodia, a country that has so much sorrow yet the people remain hopeful.
Soon after we returned from Cambodia, we went to Fu-shan, a small village deep in the mountains of Wu-Lai, and found a swimming hole. Bill couldn't wait to jump in as soon as he saw the rope.
I can't remember why we drove into the mountains in Xinchu with Ben.... just going for a drive, I guess?! Once again, we found a place to go swimming.
This is when we went snorkelling in Longdong.The name literally means Dragon Hole in Chinese.
We threw a surprise farewell party for our beloved supervisor, Dawn (the woman in black). After being in Taiwan for two decades, Dawn is heading back to the States..... well, after spending a couple of months on the beach in Thailand, that is.
Instead of going to a different country, we took a trip to Orchid Island, a small island off the coast of Taiwan, and did lots of swimming.
A week before Halloween, we went up to the observatory of Taipei 101 just because we had never been up there in the 3 years we'd been here.
Halloween.As a group, we attracted so much attention with our outfits and makeup. It was fun.
Two weeks after Halloween was the surgery. You know the rest of the story.
Kate, this was soooo fun!! I loved all the photos and it was great to see the journey your relationship has taken. It's just awesome that you get to experience so much together, from all the trips you take, to just having dinner with family and friends. The idea to meet at the Space Needle was really cute! That's cool that it actually worked. ;-) I loved the picture of Billy swinging on the rope, I actually laughed out loud. I don't know how many times we've told you, but the whole family LOVES the way you write. You're really a neat girl and we can't wait to meet you! ;-D
ReplyDeleteXOXOXO to you and Billy Boy!
. . . the poor boy has the Martin eyebrows . . .
ReplyDeleteKate - i think it's been a good two years, no? You guys have done a lot. The pics were fun to see.
ReplyDeleteI Just looked at the picture of the Lanturn exhibition....and no dis intended but it sure looks like a Christmas tree to me!!
ReplyDeleteI ditto Shellee's remarks but don't let that scare you. We are just a bunch of regular folks. Yeah....r i g h t.
And Bill (ii's dad) said...."the poor boy has the Martin eyebrows"...
if you remember yer Soparanos dialog (except martins ii's never watched that kind of trash)it's been a long time since "Billy's been a poor boy", except maybe to his Mama for which he will always be her boy.