Sunday morning we woke up to new snow, and as an added bonus: a layer of ice! It literally looked as if a giant had sneezed on the car and then it had frozen overnight. Nevertheless, we left home to get to our 9AM church block.
45 minutes later...
We were lost and a little frustrated that the roads had been so poorly cleared. But still, they weren't that bad- after all, I grew up in Utah! I've seen worse.
Apparently though, it's different in Germany. When we finally found the building around 9:15 we were surprised to see only 6 cars in the parking lot. Upon walking in, we were informed church had been cancelled due to the icy roads... : | Oh.
Fortunately, the German branch met at 11, so we were able to hang around until that time so we could at least participate in the sacrament. Bonus: we got our number on the calling tree list so we know the next time church is cancelled due to poor road conditions.
The German sacrament meeting was great, a sweet woman translated for us. Ray and I have been doing a bit of German each day. We're really determined to learn this language since we failed miserably at Mandarin. That being said, we've learned the alphabet and the sounds so we felt fairly confident when hymns came around that we could at least try and sing along.
Oh how wrong we were.
In the middle of the first hymn, singing loudly and confidently (my excellent choir teacher in high school always told us to sing loud and if you make a mistake, make it confidently), I could hear Ray snickering. He elbowed me discreetly and motioned for me to look a few pews ahead of us. There sat a little German boy, head fully turned around, staring at us with mouth wide open, and eyebrows raised in a look of what I can really only describe as: disdain mixed with confusion.
Apparently my two weeks of studying German haven't been enough to mask my OBVIOUSLY obnoxious American accent. You could tell this child was picking up on our off-key tones of German, and was clearly annoyed, appalled, alarmed and disgruntled at our inability to sing in his native tongue perfectly. He just kept staring.
The best part? I swear this child was no more than six. We giggled through the rest of the hymn and toned down our bravado so as not to offend him anymore.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Liebster Blog Award
Woo-hoo! A blog award nomination! Best. Day. Ever. ; )
Truly though, thanks Lauren, {Miller Memoires} for the nomination. You are too kind, and your blogging is a fun inspiration to me to keep up on my own.
Some Rules:
List 11 random facts about yourself
Answer the 11 questions
Nominate 11 bloggers with less than 200 followers
Comment on their page to let them know
Tag the person who nominated you in your post
List 11 random facts about yourself
Answer the 11 questions
Nominate 11 bloggers with less than 200 followers
Comment on their page to let them know
Tag the person who nominated you in your post
Of course, I'm going to have to modify slightly. I'm not that snazzy of a blogger yet. I (embarrassingly) can't even nominate 11 people because I don't even know that many people with blogs. The shame. I know.
11 Random Facts About Us
1. I grew up visiting family every summer in the same SD city that Ray grew up in. My aunt was even one of his seminary teachers. We just had to wait beyond those close encounters to actually meet.
2. Since moving to Europe, I've gotten Ray hooked on mineral water (carbonated water). Love it!
3. I can't sleep unless the covers are perfectly straight and preferably tucked in.
4. Ray can't sleep unless his covers are un-tucked; the state of the covers has no effect on him whatsoever.
5. The first thing Ray ever said to me was, "Wanna see what I have in my pocket?" (Be still my beating heart, right?) Haha, it was right after we'd gone through security at SLC Int'l Airport and he'd somehow managed to get a pocket knife through.
6. Ray proposed on New Years Eve at midnight with his grandma's ring. It was perfect.
7. I am a Disney movie quoting fiend. Ray usually rolls his eyes at my endless movie references.
8. Ray has the quickest wit I have ever encountered. Usually my head is left spinning in any quips we exchange.
9. Out of all climates, our favorite that we think we could live the rest our lives in is the desert.
10. Ray was captain of the tennis team, I was captain of the swim team. We're cool.
11. I could eat dessert all day, and Ray is always the one who suggests a salad. Go figure, huh?
Lauren's Questions:
1. What is a Special Talent you have or Stupid Human Trick you can do?
I can pinch people or pick things up with my toes- Ray can blow legitimate spit bubbles. Do we sound like hillbillies or what?
2. What motivates you to keep blogging?
We like cataloging our stories here to share with family, look back on for a laugh, and hopefully someday share with our kids.
3. What are you most passionate about?
We both agree: the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It has changed our lives and made us better people and continues to help us and encourage us to improve.
4. If you could meet anyone dead or alive, who would it be?
Kailin: Queen Victoria
Ray: My grandchildren
5. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Who knows? But maybe back in the states with a family on our minds.
6. Dream travel destination?
Kailin: an African Safari
Ray: an Inhabited Alien World
7. Favourite foreign food?
Kailin: Italian pasta or Japanese curry.
Ray: Sushi
8. What are you inspired by?
Kailin: People.
Ray: The future.
9. What's your favourite hobby?
Kailin: Not that I'm good at it or have money/time for it, but when I do, I really enjoy crocheting.
Ray: Board games.
10. Favourite beverage?
Kailin: Water or Dongua Cha
Ray: Root Beer
11. If money was no object, what would you do everyday?
Kailin: I would get a massage every morning, then wash my hair with the best shampoo/conditioner ever, and then have someone else do my hair and makeup for me. Because I'm that lazy.
Ray: Eat out at fancy restaurants each and every meal!
So there you have it! That was informative, wasn't it? :) Aside- I just looked up 'Liebster' which actually means 'Dearest' in German. I like that I'm in Germany writing for a German blog nomination, kind of fun.
10. Ray was captain of the tennis team, I was captain of the swim team. We're cool.
11. I could eat dessert all day, and Ray is always the one who suggests a salad. Go figure, huh?
Lauren's Questions:
1. What is a Special Talent you have or Stupid Human Trick you can do?
I can pinch people or pick things up with my toes- Ray can blow legitimate spit bubbles. Do we sound like hillbillies or what?
2. What motivates you to keep blogging?
We like cataloging our stories here to share with family, look back on for a laugh, and hopefully someday share with our kids.
3. What are you most passionate about?
We both agree: the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It has changed our lives and made us better people and continues to help us and encourage us to improve.
4. If you could meet anyone dead or alive, who would it be?
Kailin: Queen Victoria
Ray: My grandchildren
5. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Who knows? But maybe back in the states with a family on our minds.
6. Dream travel destination?
Kailin: an African Safari
Ray: an Inhabited Alien World
7. Favourite foreign food?
Kailin: Italian pasta or Japanese curry.
Ray: Sushi
8. What are you inspired by?
Kailin: People.
Ray: The future.
9. What's your favourite hobby?
Kailin: Not that I'm good at it or have money/time for it, but when I do, I really enjoy crocheting.
Ray: Board games.
10. Favourite beverage?
Kailin: Water or Dongua Cha
Ray: Root Beer
11. If money was no object, what would you do everyday?
Kailin: I would get a massage every morning, then wash my hair with the best shampoo/conditioner ever, and then have someone else do my hair and makeup for me. Because I'm that lazy.
Ray: Eat out at fancy restaurants each and every meal!
So there you have it! That was informative, wasn't it? :) Aside- I just looked up 'Liebster' which actually means 'Dearest' in German. I like that I'm in Germany writing for a German blog nomination, kind of fun.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Well, That's a First!
Day 10 in Germany... These 10 days have been full of our very own firsts.
We visited our first castle. High on the hill that overlooks our valley, is Landstuhl Castle, circa 12th century. There are walking paths all around it that we explored, but mostly we oggled that the structure was still so much intact; even with ancient cannon balls lodged into its walls.
We explored our first village hometown. It literally took us between 20-30 minutes to walk the one main road from one end of the village to the other. On either of those ends are expansive fields that in the summer will be full of wildflowers, corn, and other crops. When the skies clear at night, the star gazing is absolutely incredible.
We watched it snow together for the first time since we left Russia. Fortunately temperatures have held out and it hasn't dipped below low 20's yet. Here's hoping that will continue!
We had our first Roman baths experience. Not too far from home is the city of Baden Baden, home of the ancient Roman baths, and current setting of Caracalla Therm. We got to spend four hours relaxing in numerous different pools, aroma-saunas and brine rooms. The spa resort is 'bathing suit friendly' thankfully, but the upstairs with its endless arrays of saunas, is the real Roman experience. We managed to be brave and kind of cringe our way through a half hour upstairs, just to say we did it. Yet another first. Public nudity... Joy.
We ate our first schnitzel! After months of eating out of necessity and rarely out of enjoyment, we've really indulged here and splurged on some good eats. Schnitzel was remarkably delicious, and even though we were warned the portions were huge, we each managed to devour our own plates, leaving my mom and step-dad slack jawed with awe and a little fear.
Lastly, I drove stick for the first time! Since pretty much everything in Europe is stick, I was going to have to learn sooner or later. This week we get to volunteer at my mom's work so we definitely had to practice with the car. Even though I was [needlessly] terrified, Ray guided me through the steps and patiently explained through my shrieks how to start, stop, slow down and speed up again. I only stalled twice, no big deal. And not even on my first try, thank you very much!
With all of these firsts, beginnings, starts, etc... Germany is building up to be a fantastic, character building, life changing adventure. Though still a little shaky (like my stick driving skills) we can't wait for what is in store.
We visited our first castle. High on the hill that overlooks our valley, is Landstuhl Castle, circa 12th century. There are walking paths all around it that we explored, but mostly we oggled that the structure was still so much intact; even with ancient cannon balls lodged into its walls.
We explored our first village hometown. It literally took us between 20-30 minutes to walk the one main road from one end of the village to the other. On either of those ends are expansive fields that in the summer will be full of wildflowers, corn, and other crops. When the skies clear at night, the star gazing is absolutely incredible.
We watched it snow together for the first time since we left Russia. Fortunately temperatures have held out and it hasn't dipped below low 20's yet. Here's hoping that will continue!
We had our first Roman baths experience. Not too far from home is the city of Baden Baden, home of the ancient Roman baths, and current setting of Caracalla Therm. We got to spend four hours relaxing in numerous different pools, aroma-saunas and brine rooms. The spa resort is 'bathing suit friendly' thankfully, but the upstairs with its endless arrays of saunas, is the real Roman experience. We managed to be brave and kind of cringe our way through a half hour upstairs, just to say we did it. Yet another first. Public nudity... Joy.
We ate our first schnitzel! After months of eating out of necessity and rarely out of enjoyment, we've really indulged here and splurged on some good eats. Schnitzel was remarkably delicious, and even though we were warned the portions were huge, we each managed to devour our own plates, leaving my mom and step-dad slack jawed with awe and a little fear.
Lastly, I drove stick for the first time! Since pretty much everything in Europe is stick, I was going to have to learn sooner or later. This week we get to volunteer at my mom's work so we definitely had to practice with the car. Even though I was [needlessly] terrified, Ray guided me through the steps and patiently explained through my shrieks how to start, stop, slow down and speed up again. I only stalled twice, no big deal. And not even on my first try, thank you very much!
With all of these firsts, beginnings, starts, etc... Germany is building up to be a fantastic, character building, life changing adventure. Though still a little shaky (like my stick driving skills) we can't wait for what is in store.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Until Next Time, Taiwan
Currently, we are sitting at the Taipei International Airport, awaiting our 3PM flight to Shanghai. From there we will transfer planes and at 11:55PM tonight, we will be off to Frankfurt, Germany! Do you know what that means?
Ray and I have officially flown around the world together.
Just a fun thought I had : )
The last week in Taiwan has been so much fun and a bit unsettling too. Ray put it best when he said: "It makes me happy that I'm sad to be leaving Taiwan. It means I did something right." While we're so excited to see family (and have second Christmas!) leaving a place you called home is never easy.
As we've prepared, we have shared with each other the things we'll miss about Taiwan. Now we share them with you.
1. Our students- there couldn't be a cuter bunch of kids anywhere (except for our nieces and nephews who will only ever be trumped by our own children. We're planning on raising super model, Olympic swimmers, you know).
2. Select Food Items- Things like: fried curry dumplings, banana milk, fresh mango smoothies, rice triangles, and dongua cha are just a few of our favorites that are unique to Taiwan. With some luck, maybe we'll find fried curry dumplings in the states somewhere. We managed to find a brick of dongua cha (a fruit tea~ in English either Wax Gourd, or Wintermelon) so we're excited to try that out soon!
3. Flora and Fauna- Living in a tropical climate has been unbelievably rewarding in terms of the foliage. You can't go anywhere without being floored by the amount of greenery, the size of the greenery, and the vast varieties of it too!
4. People We've Met & Friends We've Made- Taiwan has some of the sweetest people in the world, they've been kind and helpful to us and even with a language barrier sometimes, we've made some lasting memories. Through church too we've met great people and created friendships that we look forward to tending for years to come.
5. Night Markets- Although Ray may beg to differ, they were one of the coolest things Taiwan had to offer. I never got tired of perusing the streets and checking out all the fun and quirky things for sale.
Inevitably, we also developed a list of things we probably won't be yearning for any time soon...
1. BUGS- From cockroaches, to mosquitoes and biting midges, the bugs have been overwhelming and a rather unwelcome part of Taiwan. Of course as the weather cooled, things got better. The cockroaches especially though were a never ending battle we're happy to see the end of.
2. Humidity- In the summer you melt from it, in the winter you freeze from it. Who knew you could be shivering and shaking when it's only 62 degrees out! That's apparently what a wet cold will do to you though. We made it through alive, but humidity is something we could deal with less of in our lives. : )
3. Traffic- I don't think you ever quite fully adjust to being on a bike with 20 scooters around you, trying to get through an intersection with no stop lights or signs, and a tour bus eeking between you and oncoming traffic.
4. Smells- It scares us how accustomed to the smells of Taiwan we have become. When we first got here they were almost unbearable, now they're tolerable and sometimes even nice. Have we destroyed our noses forever?! Will we ever smell things the same?! We got some solace when we finally tried stinky tofu last week. Although we made it through the smell, it still did not taste good. Phew! We haven't lost all our senses yet!
Ray ends now with some more reflective and mature writing.
It was a few weeks ago while walking to the store at night that I realized: I've grown accustom to this place. I've grown accustom to the old buildings, the abundant green foliage covering the mountains and popping out wherever it it can, the bright neon signs that line storefronts on the roadsides. I've grown accustom to the sound of hundreds of scooters bustling through the streets, the sound of people speaking in a kind of melodic warble all around us and not understanding what they're saying, the sound of children's laughter, and yelling and giggling. I've grown accustom to the smiles of helpful strangers and the "Hellow!"s of passersby; accustom to the feeling of being a foreigner at home in a foreign land, surrounding by everything I don't understand but feeling comfortable nonetheless. And this realization made me wonder; have I grown to love Taiwan? Do I love this place with all of its smells and foods and quarks and confusion? I know I'll miss it and that I'll look back at my time here fondly and often. Yes, Taiwan has truly "touched my heart."
Ray and I have officially flown around the world together.
Just a fun thought I had : )
The last week in Taiwan has been so much fun and a bit unsettling too. Ray put it best when he said: "It makes me happy that I'm sad to be leaving Taiwan. It means I did something right." While we're so excited to see family (and have second Christmas!) leaving a place you called home is never easy.
As we've prepared, we have shared with each other the things we'll miss about Taiwan. Now we share them with you.
1. Our students- there couldn't be a cuter bunch of kids anywhere (except for our nieces and nephews who will only ever be trumped by our own children. We're planning on raising super model, Olympic swimmers, you know).
2. Select Food Items- Things like: fried curry dumplings, banana milk, fresh mango smoothies, rice triangles, and dongua cha are just a few of our favorites that are unique to Taiwan. With some luck, maybe we'll find fried curry dumplings in the states somewhere. We managed to find a brick of dongua cha (a fruit tea~ in English either Wax Gourd, or Wintermelon) so we're excited to try that out soon!
3. Flora and Fauna- Living in a tropical climate has been unbelievably rewarding in terms of the foliage. You can't go anywhere without being floored by the amount of greenery, the size of the greenery, and the vast varieties of it too!
4. People We've Met & Friends We've Made- Taiwan has some of the sweetest people in the world, they've been kind and helpful to us and even with a language barrier sometimes, we've made some lasting memories. Through church too we've met great people and created friendships that we look forward to tending for years to come.
5. Night Markets- Although Ray may beg to differ, they were one of the coolest things Taiwan had to offer. I never got tired of perusing the streets and checking out all the fun and quirky things for sale.
Inevitably, we also developed a list of things we probably won't be yearning for any time soon...
1. BUGS- From cockroaches, to mosquitoes and biting midges, the bugs have been overwhelming and a rather unwelcome part of Taiwan. Of course as the weather cooled, things got better. The cockroaches especially though were a never ending battle we're happy to see the end of.
2. Humidity- In the summer you melt from it, in the winter you freeze from it. Who knew you could be shivering and shaking when it's only 62 degrees out! That's apparently what a wet cold will do to you though. We made it through alive, but humidity is something we could deal with less of in our lives. : )
3. Traffic- I don't think you ever quite fully adjust to being on a bike with 20 scooters around you, trying to get through an intersection with no stop lights or signs, and a tour bus eeking between you and oncoming traffic.
4. Smells- It scares us how accustomed to the smells of Taiwan we have become. When we first got here they were almost unbearable, now they're tolerable and sometimes even nice. Have we destroyed our noses forever?! Will we ever smell things the same?! We got some solace when we finally tried stinky tofu last week. Although we made it through the smell, it still did not taste good. Phew! We haven't lost all our senses yet!
 | |||||||||||
| "Stinky Tofu" by Ray It tastes like eating a deep fried scab. |
Ray ends now with some more reflective and mature writing.
It was a few weeks ago while walking to the store at night that I realized: I've grown accustom to this place. I've grown accustom to the old buildings, the abundant green foliage covering the mountains and popping out wherever it it can, the bright neon signs that line storefronts on the roadsides. I've grown accustom to the sound of hundreds of scooters bustling through the streets, the sound of people speaking in a kind of melodic warble all around us and not understanding what they're saying, the sound of children's laughter, and yelling and giggling. I've grown accustom to the smiles of helpful strangers and the "Hellow!"s of passersby; accustom to the feeling of being a foreigner at home in a foreign land, surrounding by everything I don't understand but feeling comfortable nonetheless. And this realization made me wonder; have I grown to love Taiwan? Do I love this place with all of its smells and foods and quarks and confusion? I know I'll miss it and that I'll look back at my time here fondly and often. Yes, Taiwan has truly "touched my heart."
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