3 Months!

Yesterday was my 3 month anniversary of moving to Taiwan. In some ways it feels like I've been here longer but mostly I can't believe it's already been three months. I had a busy weekend, which was really good, and I'm over the little funk I was in last weekend. It can be lonely moving to a new place without any friends or family so last week I reached out to several people and I now have a few things planned for the next few weeks.

Saturday I was one of the chaperones for a trip to the volleyball tournament.  We took a bus up to Taichung, which is about 2 1/2 hours away, and the middle school students played 3 matches against other international school teams. I've done plenty of field trips with students but this was one of the most comfortable ones because we were on a really nice bus that fit all 40+ very nicely. We left KAS at 6:30 a.m. and didn't return until 8:00 p.m. so I'm glad we weren't on one of those yellow school busses.

 This is what bus travel looks like in Taiwan.

 The host school did a great job and it was the first time since I landed in Taiwan that I saw a larger number of caucasian people in one place. I guess the closer you get to Taipei, the more diversity there is in the population.

 Here are my girls! What an awesome bunch of 6th graders!

Each of our 6th and 7th grade teams won a match so they were happy about that at the end of the day.

Yesterday, Linda (a fellow math teacher) and her husband Les invited me to return to Cijin Island. I got to see a whole other side of this big island that resides in Kaohsiung harbor. We took a different bike trail that I hadn't been on before and we made our way to the ferry that takes us across the harbor. It's still pretty warm here and it was well into the 80's yesterday but there was a nice breeze off of the ocean.

On my way to meet them I passed by my first glimpse of fall here. Look! A red leaf!

 Just kidding! Here is the rest of the tree. No major color change here.

The bike path along the ocean side of Cijin Island goes on for miles! I didn't realize how large this island was because I had only ventured in a little bit from the ferry terminal. This is the wind park along the trail.

 This is across from the windmills.

 At the base of the windmills are all of these shell sculptures that kids climb on. Like I've said before, there is always some amount of cute and art everywhere you go.

 A glimpse of the path that goes along the entire length of the ocean and faces the Taiwan Strait.

 Some typhoons have destroyed parts of the island so there has been a huge effort to rebuild the beaches and the land on this side of the island. There are rock jetties jutting out every few hundred meters.

 That is a HUGE cargo ship coming into port.

 Kaohsiung harbor is one of the busiest harbors in Asia and top ten busiest shipping ports in the world. When you look out at the ocean, you can see dozens of ships and when you fly into Kaohsiung, you see hundreds of them entering or leaving port.

 It's not easy to see but there were at least a dozen cranes waiting to load and unload cargo.

 Tis the season of smog in the area. I'm told it's not too bad right now but it will get worse. I'm sure I'll be wearing one of the medical masks at some point as I bike around the city. Pretty much everyone wears them here since there is a constant haze over the city now.

 More cranes in the distance.

 That's a big ship!

 Beautiful little flowers line the path as you bike along. It's strange to think it's almost November and things are still so lush and green.

 Behind this ivy covered fence are stacks of cargo containers. Les told me that there weren't very many right now and that they are often stacked high above the fence.

 It was several kilometers to the end of the trail so at the end we turned around to return to the ferry terminal. We had a strong headwind the entire way so I burned off every calorie of lunch. Phew!

 This is the view from the ferry. Dramatic building! Again, you can see that smog just hovering over everything. I admit, not a fan.

 It's a beautiful harbor with dramatic mountains framing the area.

 The gateway to Taiwan Strait.

 A lighthouse guides the way into the harbor.

The bike path home is beautiful! Kaohsiung has done such an amazing job of making biking and walking paths around the entire city and there are many more being added. I wish every city would do the same.

All in all I biked at least 30 kilometers yesterday and I felt it this morning as I biked to work. It was a very busy weekend but that's a good thing. I loved my bike ride along Cijin Island. Being by the ocean is so rejuvenating! Now I'm ready to face the busy week ahead!