A few of my favorite things

We've been in Taiwan a year now.  Looking back I'm so impressed at how much we've learned, experienced and seen.  We certainly made the right choice in coming to Taiwan for our first international teaching jobs.  When we set out on this journey we got so many questions about why we were leaving our families, friends, jobs, house, and the known behind.  It certainly was hard to say good-bye to many of those things, but it was the unknown that excited us.  We wanted to actively seek out situations that would be totally different from what I was used to; we wanted to be uncomfortable.  Crazy?  We certainly don't think so.

I look forward to things being more familiar this year and being able to appreciate the things I was too overwhelmed to appreciate last year and seek out the things I know I love.  And what are those things you ask?  Here they are - my favorite things about Taiwan thus far:

1.  Food.  Sure, I get tired of the same things over and over, and I miss food from home, but there is some fabulous food here and it has been very easy for me to eat vegetarian.  At the top of my list is lo bo gao, the tofu from Thai Yun, and pineapple cake.

2.  Chopsticks.  There are so many different kinds, colors, designs.  And they are small so you can collect a lot of them!

3.  HSR - High speed rail.  Trains are one of my favorite ways to travel.  Taiwan's HSR is pretty great as far as trains go; it's so fast, clean and efficient!

4.  Exploring new towns.  This is harder because often english is in short supply but that's part of the adventure.  I can't wait to find more this year!

5.  And last but not least, the people!  Everyone, and I feel pretty safe in saying literally everyone, has gone above and beyond to help us out when we need it (case in point: the phone company lady).

This is not a complete list, but some of the things that I looked forward to while we were traveling over the summer.  What are your favorite things about where you live?