A quick update... of my past 6 years

I guess we left LA for Taichung and I haven't updated since... so here's a quick rundown of my life for the past 6 years since we left in bullet points (so that I can be grammatically wrong EVERYWHERE and it's ok)...

  • July, 2015 - moved to Taichung and started working at Morrison Academy, lived in a traditional Taiwan-styled house 透天厝 that was 4 floors + a basement 
  • August, 2015 - got our welcome Typhoon, huge winds, lots of rain, power outage for more than 16 hours
  • October, 2015 - after walking everywhere for the first 3 months, I finally had time to get my Taiwan driver's license, got a Toyota Wish (it's a beast, drives like a corolla but 3rd row seats!)
  • November, 2015 - first family trip out of Taichung to Cingjing Farm. Taiwan is beautiful!
  • March/April, 2016 - finally found our Taiwan spiritual home at Taichung International Fellowship, Easter break at Tainan - the food was ridiculously good, Kenting - the beach is beautiful on par with Cali's 
  • May, 2016 - found out that the wife's pregnant again!
  • August, 2016 - new school year! Janelle's in K
  • November, 2016 - moved to a brand new just completed apartment on campus
  • December 13th, 2016 - Nathanael 得糧 is born - John 1:47-51 "47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50 Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
    • Adele got a Taiwanese newborn mom experience - staying at a maternity hotel for a month. It was overrated and underwhelming for her, but she picked up a new hobby - KDRAMA!!!!
  • August, 2017 - spent the summer in Taiwan instead of flying back home, decided to use the ticket for Lonny's wedding in December, started Janelle going into 1st grade!
  • December, 2017 - Flew back to US as a family of 6 for Lonny & Jasper's wedding! Super blessed that we were able to housesit at friend's place and saved us a ton of money! Even had 2 cats and a dog for pets for the first time in our lives (probably never again)!
  • June, 2018 - Flew to Nagoya for a week to visit Amy. Went to a bunch of museums, Nagoya Castle (the castle itself was under renovations BOO!!!), Legoland, and too many subway rides. 
  • August, 2018 - started 4th year @ Morrison, Janelle is in 2nd, decided to hold Asher back one year, so he can continue his full time job playing legos before doing school for reals, so Adele is still 1v3 at home
  • October, 2018 - did a half loop trip with the family - Taichung - Taitung - Hualien - through Taroko Gorge - Cingjing - 911 Earthquake Museum - Taichung. Taitung is so beautiful!
  • June, 2019 - flew back to US for the summer. Super thankful for the Tangs hosting us for the month. Took a crazy road trip looping California LA - Sequoia - Yosemitie - Lake Tahoe - Carson City - route 395 back to LA, Legoland for days (3 days), meeting up with our dear friends
  • August, 2019 - started 5th year @ Morrison, Janelle is in 3rd, Asher starting K, Adele 1v2 at home 
  • October, 2019 - was able to take the family with me to the Freshmen experiential learning trip, spent a night at the aquarium next to the penguin tank, Asher couldn't get enough of the beluga whales
  • February, 2020 - was able to visit Adele's parents for Chinese New Year. Covid hit world! Finished CNY holidays with online school! Covid didn't really hit Taiwan yay! 
  • March, 2020 - online school round #2, Covid avoided an outbreak again yay!
  • Spring, 2020 - things pretty much went back to normal at school, thanks to Covid, spring break at Kenting at a super nice hotel thanks to Covid discount, seniors able to have a graduation
  • Summer 2020 - went to a couple places Yilan, Taipei, Sun Link Sea - if we have known that Covid would eventually breakout in Taiwan, we would've travelled... at least to Peng Hu or something further 
  • August, 2020 - started my 6th year @ Morrison, Janelle is in 4th, Asher is in 1st, Levi is in K, Adele is 1v1 with Nate at home
  • May 18th, 2021 - the school year went on pretty smoothly, decided not to go back to the US this summer because of the 2-week quarantine, then on this day, Taiwan jumped to level 3 with hundreds of cases, school ended abruptly with the seniors just a week away from graduation. Thankful for last minute goodbyes as the school day ended with my last advisory period, had seen this group of boys grew into men in their 4 years in high school
  • Summer, 2021 - uneventful eventful summer - spent playing legos, building Tamiya cars, re-subscribing to Netflix, getting a video projector, introducing our kids to Studio Gihbli movies, played Stardew Valley, Ubereats became my dining table
  • August 11, 2021 - started 7th year @ Morrison, Janelle is in 5th (last year in elementary and is showing signs of a pre-teen ahh!!!), Asher is in 2nd, Levi is in 1st (and out of ELL after 1st day of school!), Nate is still at home with mom talking nonstop to her everyday 
  • Today, August 14, 2021 - inspired by a coworker, I've decided to to start blogging again. The past 6 years here in Taichung flew by so quickly and I found the need to capture moments big and small in my life. Not just quick facebook/instagram posts, but something that might take more than a sentence to describe, and maybe an audience who would care enough to read through it rather than scroll through and double tap (if you know what I mean).  I missed the mindless day of high school and college where I could spend hours updating my xanga (which is now wiped off from the face of the earth... oh wait wow... just did a search and they are not). Maybe in this restart, now on it's 4th restart, I can update more often, write things the are more profound, random, and personal.  
  • Stay tune (hopefully not for too long this time round

Random photo of the day - photo of the main street where my school/home is on (yes I live where I work), photo taken while I was waiting for my ubereats to arrived

Location: Taichung City, Taiwan

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