My Advent Calendar 2021: Day 9 ⛄🎅🎄

#MyAdventCalendar2021 #Day9: This is Shiao-Chien 澤倩 with the regular members of our Advent Church Community English Class, meeting today for our ‘Happy Ending’ Christmas Gathering, along with their families and friends. 🥳 Although I plan the classes, Shiao-Chien is our real leader ~ she’s also the one who gave me this Advent Calendar, it’s a rare find in Taiwan! 🥳 Spot the 3 members of the Tan family standing at the back, they kindly hosted the party, and we also visited their 7 beautiful mini horses 🐴 who live together with a flock of very noisy geese! Our classes last … Continue reading My Advent Calendar 2021: Day 9 ⛄🎅🎄

Farewell Sanzhi & Hello Taipei!

Yes, said a fond farewell to Sanzhi 三芝 this week – the town / district where I’ve been living for the past 3 years ~ and of course said a sad (!) farewell to all the termites who had seriously taken over my house – and my life!   This photo below shows where I was living in Sanzhi – in this vast housing estate of flats / apartments  ~ and it was great!  I was on the ground floor facing into the central area of the estate.  Lovely neighbours ~ and very safe, central and convenient for buses and shopping.  … Continue reading Farewell Sanzhi & Hello Taipei!

The day the ceiling fell down…

Otherwise subtitled, never underestimate the power of termites.  Those horrible, terrible, awful, nightmarish creatures are eating their way through this country, ceiling by ceiling, house by house. So tiny, yet so powerful.  Gobsmacking what they can do. So yes, finally the ceiling fell down.  Yesterday.  At 12 noon exactly.  The living room ceiling, no less.  This was the scene… The whole ceiling was put in 4 years ago – obviously and sadly by a cowboy builder who used cheap wood.  And yes, the landlord deeply regrets asking him to do it.  In those 4 years, the termites have managed to … Continue reading The day the ceiling fell down…

Now’s the Time! Cherry Blossom Season in Full Swing @ Sanzhi 三芝!

Yes, it’s peak time for the Cherry Blossom (Sakura) Season here in northern Taiwan, and Sanzhi is THE place to come!  It’s warm and sunny too – so get here quick!  Lots of people are here every day walking along the mountain roads or along the San-Sheng Trail 三生步道 by the river to enjoy all the variations of pink blooms on offer, and not just cherry blossom but also tons of flowering azaleas. The local government has planted 15,000 cherry blossom trees in recent years, and they are all in flower now.  In fact, the dark pink cherry blossom are nearly over, … Continue reading Now’s the Time! Cherry Blossom Season in Full Swing @ Sanzhi 三芝!

YIPPEE, SNOW!

Yes, finally, at long last, after 10 days of non-stop rain and more rain, and getting colder by the hour, today the rain has finally stopped, people’s moods have lifted, the skies have sort of cleared and in the far distance on Yang-Ming Shan Mountains 陽明山, just above Taipei City, there is SNOW!  YIPPEE!  The grey snow-laden sky is kinda merged with the white snow, but hey, check it out.  Ha ha, it’s there, honest. And just in case you’re still not sure what you’re supposed to be looking at – check out the arrows below! There’s no snow down … Continue reading YIPPEE, SNOW!

Sanzhi 三芝 Matzu Temple Centenary Celebrations, 1917-2017

Today is THE day, the climax of 5 days of celebrations, and as I write this, events are ongoing, with firecrackers and drums and trumpets and singing and offerings and all sorts of activity, and being attended by nearly everyone in the whole town. And all in the rain and cold!  It’s been like this all weekend, but hey, when there’s a festival in town, a bit of rain and cold won’t stop anyone. But this was the scene on Thursday, the last time that the sun appeared in Sanzhi! Two weeks ago, I wrote here about the preparations for the … Continue reading Sanzhi 三芝 Matzu Temple Centenary Celebrations, 1917-2017