The Year of the Rat!

No folks I'm not speaking about Melanie. 2008 is the year of the rat! It doesn't technically begin until February 6th but I figured that it is close enough. So we've been here for a while and things are getting a little easier. We now have a microwave, making our noodle creations far easier to generate. We are cruising the MRT like it were the beautiful highways of Colorado. And we are teaching children the best Spanish that money can buy. Well okay, we don't have it all together but we're getting there.
I think that some of the wide-eyed amazement is beginning to wear off, and slowly but surely Mel and I are becoming a part of the bustling city, not so much two honkeys with our jaws dropped. The jobs are getting easier, and more challenging at the same time. Teaching, as some of you well know, is a wonderful experience that is truly rewarding, that is if you're not pulling your hair out (as long as its not the kid's hair, right?). But we are both enjoying the challenge of it all and taking it one day at a time. It has been consuming more time than we'd planned on, but so far we don't seem to mind it much. Just yesterday I played the role of Dr. English that consisted of giving free English level tests to Taiwanese kids on the street in a labcoat! One little girl had never spoken to a Westerner before! It was cool, but she must have been scared silly. Some crazy white dude smiling and speaking in some strange jibberish, dressed in a long white coat with "monkeys jumping on the bed" playing sadistically in the background. Sorry, bit of a tangent there.
Anyway, we went to a place called Dansui that is right at the river mouth that opens to the East China Sea. We had a great time walking by the river, experiencing a little fresh sea air and, of course, eating very strange and delicious foods. We heard a man playing a saw, very Appalachian, saw a freak museum with a dog fetus in a bowl of water, and went into our first Buddhist shrine. Su has been really great and has been showing us around, ordering good food for us, and explaining what many things mean. We have been blessed to have found good people so quickly.
We miss you all and love you lots! Hope that your New Year brings you the best of luck and boatloads of money!