Update

I know I know, I’ve been realllly slacking. I think all my energy for the last two months has been spent just soaking up Taiwan living, and adjusting. To be 100% honest, I expected for it to be a fairly smooth transition for me (being born here and having spent a lot of time here)…but in the
end, it’s still moving to a foreign country, and it was a big adjustment for me.

I think also because I had this image in my head of just a ton of time to hang out with Colton and my family and friends – well, breaking news Jamie: everyone works! So basically it was just me, sitting in my aunt’s apartment trying not to be homesick. I explored some, but nobody had time yet to show me around, tell me which buses to take, or how to navigate the MRT (subway system). Plus, I had no phone to use, and everybody back home was asleep (being the middle of the night during the day here).

So the first couple weeks, I was on a rollercoaster of emotions, some were great, don’t get me wrong, but let’s just say that Colt deserves an award for putting up with some of the lows haha.

But when we found our own place and eventually got into some sort of rhythm, I felt more comfortable. And now I go off and find things to do on my own, I know where to go for all my supplies and food. I can explore, meet people and just live it up. I’m so grateful for the apartment we found, it feels like a home.

It’s definitely been a growing experience, I’ve learned a lot about myself. One is that I like routine, or at least something to look forward to. I mean, I kind of knew this before, but man, not knowing if I was going to have anything to do the next day and thinking about just being stuck at home all alone – it was awful. But now I’ve got a great routine: wake up late, chillax with the hubs, he goes to work and I go to tutor for a couple hours, I go home and clean or watch some tv, when he gets home we hit the gym, and then find some sort of delicious street food for dinner and then we usually have hubby/wifey time like movie night or something, or we go to bed early and I edit pics in bed while he reads (I usually stay up until the wee hours of the morning haha). And repeat. But scattered in there is exploring Taipei, planning weekend trips, hanging out with the best cousins in the world, trying new things, moped adventures, etc.

But ok, enough about me, myself and I. Here are some highlight pics that hopefully capture a little of what we’ve had the joy of experiencing in our time here so far as well as some of my favorite things about Taiwan (note – to see all our Taiwan adventure pics, go to my Facebook page):

Exploring Chang Kei Shek Memorial in the middle of the night with some cool people.

Very nice buffet with some fam.

Taiwanese circus-type show.

At Shi-Lin night market.

Colt placing fourth in the shot put in a huge church track event.

Visiting some family a hour or so from Taipei.

In the grand music hall after a modern dance performance.

Torture aka chinese massage/chiropractic care (just kidding, it didn't hurt) - helps with blood flow and pain.

Our cute home.

Exploring around Taipei 101 at night.

House warming party! Question: how many Asians can fit into a teeny living room?

Wii fun with family.

Hiking up a mountain in a monsoon = hardcore

Dodging softball-sized spiders the entire way = nerves of steel

At the top after battling the storm and giant spiders.

Celebrating Taiwan.

Girls days with ms. angela.

Moped exploring and the Grand Hotel.

Reuniting with old friends.

Taipei Zoo!

Photoshoot day with Angela.

The streets of Taipei.

Night of beautiful a cappella.

Making new friends at KTV (karaoke).

Biking from Guandu to Dan Shui, then shopping Old Street.

Girly day at the hot springs.

The World Design Expo in Taipei - inspirational.

You can take the Husky fan out of Seattle, but you can't take the Seattle out of the Husky fan!

Being related to some seriously adorable kiddos.

Birthday bowling fun with some amazing people.

Just a couple of mature 26 year olds!

Moped adventures at 2 am.

Representin'.

Temples everywhere.

In the mountains of Central Taiwan.

Event dedicated to the natives of Taiwan.

Visiting a beautiful reservoir in central Taiwan.

Colt turns 26 with some of the best cousins ever!

These are just snippits of what we've had going on the last two months. See my facebook for four albums of pictures (yes that's right, four albums in two months...at this rate, they might cancel my profile haha).

We miss everyone very much, but are so grateful for this experience. We hope to see some of you very soon! If you miss our adorable faces - join Skype and we can talk for free!! Yay technology.

Love you all - hope you feel it on the other side of the world!

Jamie (and Colton)

~ special shout out to our baby Finny...we miss you every single moment! :o)

Taiwan life officially starts.

That's right, I'm here! Finally - it's been a long time coming.

The internet connection is kind of up and down here, so I'll do my best to make posts. Hopefully when we get our own place we'll get wireless set up (we are currently staying at my second aunt's house - her and her family have so generously opened up their home to us as we get settled). As of right now - the image uploader is having difficulties, so unfortunately, no pictures this time (sad).

So day one (yesterday) was a success. I'll start at the beginning...

It was SOOO hard to say goodbye to my bestie Evan, and to our sweet furballs, Koda and Finny. (Colton was convinced that I wouldn’t get on the plane because it was going to be too hard to say bye to Finny’s sweet face.)

But somehow, I managed, sorta. I may or may not have had some anxiety issues that required some texting and calls (in the middle of the night) to people I knew I could talk my “crazies” to and who prayed over me. It was amazing – God soothed my soul as soon as I got on the plane. Thank you to all who have been our prayer warriors!

EVA air rocks my socks. Period. (If you want more details - guess you'll just have to book a flight and see for yourself - I know of some people currently in Taiwan who would love family and friends to visit haha).

We even got to Taiwan an hour early – I don’t think that’s ever happened before! I got through customs and such just fine, and waited at the airport to be picked up at 5:30 am (Taiwan time of course) by my auntie and Colton. It was SO good to finally hug my hubby, a month+ is waaay too long.

After some maneuvering we got my extremely heavy luggage to fit, and we went straight to second aunt’s house. Once at the apartment, I successfully received my first Taiwan injury – the strap on my camera bag somehow came undone and whipped the end (a big clunky metal thing) straight into my forehead and now I have a nice welt and bruise on my face – looovely haha.

Anyhow, we got breakfast (dan bing – my favorite), and then just sat around and chatted. Then my aunt went to work (most of second aunt’s family were all still zonked – they are late nighters and late risers haha).

The weather is nice and muggy this time of year, and I immediately had to change shirts because I was all sweaty and gross and still felt “travel yucky”. (Thank you Lord for AC in our room – oof.) Colt then had to leave around 11:30, so I proceeded to enjoy some yummy delivered noodle and soup lunch with my second aunt (a total of about $5 for both of our meals combined), and then took a little siesta - I was OUT until I was woken up by the bedroom lights turning on. Couldn’t believe it was already 6:30 pm and colt was off work.

We went to dinner with Thomas and it was delicious – and CHEAP! I loooove Taiwan food. We walked around – went to the night market, my favorite thing! Had one of my fave snacks (tomatoes with hard sugar coating), and found a stand with some delightful milk tea. (As a side note, I need to RE-learn how to dodge traffic and crazy moped drivers - pretty sure Thomas lost some of his toes and he's just too proud to admit it haha.)

We hung out at the house for a bit longer until Pablo got there, and we decided to take a moped adventure and pick up Angela from work. So at 10 pm – we were off. Colton on his “new” moped (aka Duke – thank you Pablo for letting Colton borrow your old scooter), me riding with Thomas, and Pabz on his fancy new motorcycle. We picked up Angela and went off exploring the streets (I was afraid I was going to fly off the back a couple times, but it was a blast) and we stopped at the Chang Kai Shek Memorial and it was SOOO beautiful at night. We walked around and just enjoyed the night – gotta love middle of the night adventures with my cousins – sigh, wonderful.

Then it was home to bed.

Today (day 2) has been way chill (definitely not in regards to temperature though!). I just lounged around and worked on projects for Lindelof Photography, which was quite difficult with the internet connection being spotty (grrr). Had lunch with my aunt again, yummers. When colt got home, we went and got some delightful "bbq on a stick" from a vendor which was of course amazing. Watched some TV and then went and wandered the night market - so fun!

My body and mind are still all sorts of confused - so I'm trying to take it easy. I'm excited to see what's to come - but for now, it's just one day at a time and becoming accustomed to life in Taiwan. I hope that tomorrow night (Saturday) a bunch of the family will be able to go out to dinner so I can see everyone and pass out long overdue hugs and kisses! Then the most important decision: do we stay up until 3:30 am Sunday to watch the Huskies game, or try to go to bed early on Saturday night and set our alarms for 3:30 am (at this moment, anything with 3:30 am in it sounds bonkers, but no way am i gonna miss the Husky game!)

I'm pooped - Grey's Anatomy is going into my laptop and i'm gonna lay here in front of the fan and AC and think about how blessed I am :o).

Miss you all.
Until next time...

The Lindelof's Taiwan Bucket List

Oh my goodness, I cannot believe that in ONE WEEK I will be in Taiwan!! (pinch pinch)

The moving process has been long and at times stressful, but I'm almost done. My to-do list is slowly getting shorter and shorter. I couldn't have done all of this without some very special people - my parents, who are generously letting us store my car and all our "treasures" with them, and have brought up their vans to haul my stuff around; evan, who has been amazing in helping me pack and been the muscle behind the whole moving operation, and having my best friend around to keep me positive while Colt is on the other side of the world; AK and Kevin for being amazing, strong men who helped move the dreaded piano; photography clients, who have been so patient in my editing process as I squeeze it in while preparing for the big move; all our friends and family who have supported us and helped us with love and prayers; and Colton, for his support from overseas and his love, and how brave he is for going over before me, and his daily emails that encourage me and get me excited for what’s to come!

I was trying to think of what I wanted to blog about, and I decided to share part of my (our) bucket list for Taiwan:
1. See a sunrise from the top of a mountain
2. Drive our own mopeds
3. Karaoke - Chinese style
4. Travel to different parts of Asia including (but not limited to): Japan, Thailand, Philippines, China
5. Try foods that we wouldn't normally try (ie - duck tongue, quail eggs, etc.)
6. Learn to read and write it (more)
7. Travel the whole island
8. Be in a Taiwan-style photo shoot
9. Book a wedding to photograph
10. Teach someone English
11. Go to a baseball game
12. Learn how to cook from Amma
13. Find a sweet apartment
14. Have a Just Dance marathon with my cousins
15. Go fishing
16. Enjoy the natural hot springs
17. Picture-a-day blog posts

I'm sure there's tons more, but that's it for now.

My prayer requests are for a safe trip to Taiwan, a smooth transition, great opportunities for Colton and I, wonderful new relationships, adventure, and above all - for God's will to be done. I'm soooo excited for this journey and am grateful for the opportunity.

Until next time...

Jamie's Favorites: Night Markets

Something about being up at all hours of the night shopping for bargains is just so appealing to me. What's amazing is, I'm not the only one that feels that way - Taiwan night markets are bustling all through the night.

Let me paint you a picture...

Small street or alleyway, so crowded you're getting to know the people you're squeezing by a little too well, noisy, cheap goods, hawkers shouting out deals and trying to get your attention, loud dance music blairing on giant speakers, the smell of all kinds of fried delights is overwhelming...and it's 3 a.m.

Imagine being in the middle of a purchase and in a blink of an eye, your vendor is packed up and outta there - all that's left is the wheel marks from their little cart. The cause of this fun part of night markets? Rumor of cops roaming around. Don't worry, they come back and unpack within a couple minutes and you can continue your bartering. This applies only to the little illegal "booths" in the middle of the night market strips.

Imagine getting full on some delicious Taiwanese treats - spending MAYBE about $3 (U.S.)! (I've posted pictures of food options below - this is just a taste of what's available.)

Yep...I love every bit of it.

I vividly remember multiple times growing up when our aunts would be gabbing through the night, laughing, shouting over each other, the usual - all wanting to be heard. My cousins and I would be woken up by their chatter (that's a nice way of putting it) and we'd want to be up too - so we'd hit the night markets. What a blast!

You can get some cheap clothes, cds, blankets, sneakers, jewelry (lots of jewelry), souvenirs, whatever your heart desires!

Here are some pictures I've found that help me to flash back to the fun - though I'm sure you'll be seeing my first-hand pictures not long after I arrive in Taiwan hehe.

One of my favorites - delish fried chicken (usually it's cut up into little chunks).

You can get almost anything on a stick - read the signs.

Another favorite of mine - candied fruit (on a stick of course) - YUM!

Fresh fruit galore - heck yeah!

Stinky tofu - it's on our bucket list this year haha.

ANOTHER favorite - mango shaved ice! There are a TON of topping options for this yummy late night dessert.

Beautiful Taiwan

Taiwan is completely under-rated. Trust me (i'm not biased at all haha).

Here are some images of my beautiful home land -

You want to visit right??