The Naming of an Angel

When naming our baby girl, we knew we wanted something unique and a blending of western and eastern cultures. Xian or 西安 in Chinese is translated as western peace. The pronunciation is similar to "she-an," while in English her name is pronounced "sigh-anne" or like the color, cyan.

Xian is the historic capital of China and the first place where I began to appreciate and fall in love with Asian culture. With Anne being my mother's name, we quickly became set on naming our angel, Xian.


Xian's middle name, Odile, is French and is shared by Frank's mother. 
So, Xian Odile it is-a blend of American, Chinese and French.

Xian Odile McGowan enters our life

All eyes were on us as we made our way down the long hall, through the packed waiting room and out of the medical clinic door. In our arms were boxes of diapers, a baby bath tub, a small care package and the amazing, beautiful, adorable... Xian.

Several hours earlier our evening followed the path of many others. I finished soccer practice and in the spirit of avoiding the need to cook, we rode our scooter to our favorite pizza restaurant. Breaking tradition, the order of a slightly different pizza had just been ordered when my phone began ringing. Unknown caller. No one ever calls me so I ignored the call. Krista, thinking it odd that I would receive a call, checked her phone. Missed call after missed call after missed call. Something important - baby was available but we needed to go immediately!

Throwing the pizza into a box, we raced home to let Audrey out, grabbed the already packed baby bag and headed out the door. We've been waiting for a baby since our return from France and have weathered a few disappointments. Would this be the one?

Driving to the clinic was nerve-wracking. Trying to balance building excitement with the reality that we may return home empty-handed was difficult. At the clinic, we first met Xian. Wow! She is so tiny!

From Xian

For the number people: 17 inches / 5.5 lbs

After seeing Xian, we met and talked with her birth mother before leaving the clinic. Unbelievable - hours before we had no idea that our lives would change that night. The feeling was amazing - an instantaneous growth in my heart unlike I've ever experienced. Love blossomed as I held this precious little girl.

Xian Odile McGowan
Born 10.4.11
Joined us on 10.5.11

E. Hehuan Shan

Our Saturday began by grabbing various items and hoping the camping bins were stocked for a get-away in eastern Taiwan. For some reason, we have recently stagnated since returning to Taichung with few weekend trips. The first stop was a local park for Audrey to get a quick run-about and we "discovered" the first forgotten item - leash and collar. How could we forget this? She's more fun off-leash anyways...

Stop number 2 seems to have become an essential part of Saturday mornings. Maybe it's our need for some western indulgence but we often find ourselves heading down Jinhua Road for the Early Bird Diner on most Saturdays. Bottomless cups of coffee, blueberry pancakes (with whipped cream!), and Krista's essential starter - bacon - are all served up. Needless to say, we were on the slow path out of town but eventually got rolling and found light traffic on the freeways all the way to Puli.

From Puli, the route necks down to a narrow lane in each direction heavily traveled by tour buses and big trucks. Today, cabbages seemed to be a popular item of transport. We then passed the craziness that is Cingjing Farm. At some point, a government official decided that it would be great to have farms in various districts for the Taiwanese to visit. This one was crowded with lots of people who appeared to be looking at sheep.

The road got narrower as we neared the mountain - entering Taroko Gorge National Park and crossing the altitude mark of 3000m. The hot, sunny weather of Taichung was replaced by clouds, rain and wind. Opening the car door in the parking lot was a risk as it almost became unhinged due to the strong wind. After a quick lunch inside the Freeca, we let out our over-excited pooch and began heading up towards Hehuan Shan (shan means mountain).

Taiwan does not receive much snow but if one wanted to find it in the winter time, Hehuan would be a good bet. At some point there was even skiing!

Enjoying the open spaces and lack of concrete, we seemed immune to the conditions. At first...Nearing the peak, we realized the extent of our lackadaisical packing job. Our clothes were completely soaked through! The light raincoats we brought as an afterthought did little for the constant rain and Krista did not have a change of clothes in the car.

Krista's and Audrey's first Taiwan peak - E. Hehuan Shan - 3,422 m (11,227 ft)

"the view"

The return leg was quick as we scurried down in the hopes of warming up. Several large Taiwanese groups were climbing up and made us wonder how busy the mountain would be on a sunny day. The shift cloud banks offered few glimpses of the beauty to be found in the high mountains of Taiwan.

Satisfied with a fun hike, we toweled off our wet dog and began the trek back home. Next time, a change of clothes and a bit better weather gear will accompany us into the mountains.

Whip Scorpion

Our house has lots of stairs and two consecutive stairs are rarely the same size. Each morning as my alarm jolts me out of bed and I work my way down four flights of stairs as Audrey excitedly bounces around, I feel success if I make it to the bottom without a slip, trip or fall. Recently, I arrived at the bottom and turned on the light to find a whip scorpion hanging out in the kitchen. Happy to have made it down the stairs, I'm relieved though often still half-asleep. Scorpions are not the first thing I want to see in the early hours.

The first one was large and after a short conversation mediated by a broom, it disappeared. The next morning, a much smaller one turned up...in Audrey's water bowl!

From Random Taichung

From what we've read, these scorpions are not dangerous to people. Instead of a menacing stinger, a thin whip-like appendage extends from its rear. They are supposed to be able to squirt acid out of the whip which can be irritating though painful for an animal if received in the eyes. 

Grasshoppers on the afternoon walk

One of the perks of living where we do is that we can entirely avoid the city on most days. When we finally leave work after school, we scooter with our back to the city as we wind up the hill to our home. Excitedly waiting for her afternoon walk, Audrey is ready to pounce as soon as the door opens. We quickly head back out the door to walk on the roads near our house. With the "jungle" encroaching at every possible point, it is rare that we finish a walk without some encounter with other life forms. The scariest so far was the cobra on the trail last June. One of the coolest, was a few weeks ago when we came across a moth larger than the width of my hand. Where, oh where was the camera?

Recently, large grasshoppers flutter everywhere and Audrey seems to enjoy interacting with them (I'm not so sure what the grasshoppers think...)

The encounter

From Random Taichung

The grasshopper

From Random Taichung

Playtime

From Random Taichung

Another creepy-crawly encounter

From Random Taichung

What about my summer?

Audrey here. Today, Mom and Dad left the computer plugged in so I finally have a chance to let you all know what my summer was like (I haven't figured out how to turn this silly machine on - any tips?) If you've been reading along, you probably know about the glorious trip my "rents" took through the Greek islands. Ruins, olives and beaches...How many of you have wondered what happened to me as they gallivanted around the world?

I was dropped of at Honey's Friends.  Mom and Dad call this place camp and it's great. There are other dogs. I get to play all day and the people are so nice. I guess if I have to be stowed away for six weeks, this is the place to go.

I got dropped off with this huge bag of food

Do you have a dog? This bag represents a form of torture. Yeah, I know that some of my four-legged friends gulp it down like crazy but every day? Twice a day? Come on - could you eat the same thing day in and day out? The food is awful. Crunch, crunch, crunch. No flavor and oh so dry. Plus it turns my stomach into knots.

So here I am, abandoned with a Costco-sized bag of kibble. Yay! It's summer time. Then my problems started. My body just couldn't do it anymore.

Quick! Let's go to the vet (one of my least favorite places) so that I could get poked and prodded. The test results came back and my liver was shutting down. Is that a good thing? It seems like it because the big bag of food disappeared and I was given yummy bones to eat.

Life has been better since then. Mom and Dad returned and the bag of food stayed far away. I wonder who ate it? Each day I now get raw bones to munch on. Oh, it took some getting used to. Mom kept giving me the bone until the whole thing disappeared. Am I supposed to crunch the bone up? Something urges me to and when I finish with the bone I get a bowl of rice and raw, ground meat.

I love it! The boys say that my breath doesn't stink anymore. My beautiful fur doesn't shed like it used to, liver function is back to normal and my stomach isn't upset 24-7.

What's that noise? Gecko - gotta run n catch one of those wall climbers!

Year 2 up and running

It's amazing how one year of experience in a place can mean so much. When Krista and I returned from Greece to the Dakeng area of Taichung, it felt like we were coming home. We moved to this house just a month before school ended in June. When we needed to go into town, we didn't have to rely on the blue dot of our phone's mapping system to show us the way. Some faces were familiar. We visited favorite restaurants.  Our puppy was waiting for pick-up.

From Random Taichung

This photo is from the small walking trail where we live.

After a whirl-wind week, we returned to AST for the school year. We've just finished the first week and it was a good one for both of us. We were excited about seeing the students from last year and to welcome new ones. Here's to a great year!

Delos

We toured the town, we rented a scooter and drove all over the island, we spent a day on the beach in the sun and there was still one more day left.  Why in the world is Mykonos such a popular island?  With high tourist season upon us, the cruise ships dominated the two small harbors.  Shuttle boats ferried back and forth bringing more and more people into the tiny town.

From Greek Trip - Mykonos

Krista decided to take one for the team and board yet another boat.  The ride was only advertised to be a quick 30 minute jaunt, but the seas around Mykonos are consistently choppy due to the high winds. The ride was a rough one - we jolted left, swooped right, bopped up and slammed down - but eventually made it to solid ground. Our destination?  Delos

Potentially the birthplace of the famous Greek twins, Apollo and Artemis, this island has amazing ruins. The famous Naxian lions line up on one of the major thorough-fares as a possible source of intimidation (?)

From Greek Ruins

Recovered mosaics and statues are hosted inside a museum built on the island:

From Greek Ruins

and columns are everywhere.

From Greek Ruins

  

Greek tout / aka Kamaki

Literally everywhere, these guys (and sometimes gals) made their presence known.  The anti-kamaki sign says it all.  The funny thing is that the street where the sign was posted was full of these people.

From Greek Trip - Kos

a few waiting to pounce

From Greek Trip - Kos

Recipe for a Greek Salad

1 humongous block of Feta

1 tomato, quartered then halved

3 bell pepper slices

lots and lots of red onion

1/2 cucumber

4 olives (seriously! these things are everywhere and there are only 4!)

olive oil

balsamic vinegar

Mediterranean spices

From Greek Trip - Rhodes