October 17, 2010 - It's really been since Chinese new year that I've posted here.  Crazy.  Many of you I have been keeping in touch with through other means, so I often forget to update this site, but I guess it's time.

A lot to tell.  First, we are pregnant.  Finally, a healthy baby is on its way, due in late March.  Mommy is tired a lot, but fine.  Next year will no doubt be a super busy one.

I am also now a Master's student at Boise State University.  I'm doing an online degree in Educational Technology for a variety of reasons.  I'm going to take it slow, but I start class in January.

We took some vacations this year.  Sabrina and I went to Nebraska for June.  It was a ton of fun.  My brother got married and Sabrina was the flower girl and I the best man.  It was fun seeing old friends and the family again.  Sabrina had tons of fun and learned the beginnings of swimming ( her favorite pastime now.)  I loved getting to do some fishing with my friend Nate.  It was great and something I can't do here in Taipei.  

The 3 of us took a couple of small trips this summer.  We went to Yilan on the North coast and to central Taiwan with Hsin-yi's colleagues.  Both were relaxing, and refreshing.  You forget how beautiful Taiwan is when you live in the city.  Once you get outside of Taipei, it is immaculate.  It was great being reminded of that this summer.

Work remains unchanged for all of us.  I still teach the same classes at Happy Kids and Hsin-yi is working hard to.  Though she is now an Associate Professor.  Sabrina is in Preschool now.  Hard to believe she will be in Kindergarten next year.  Halloween is soon and Sabrina is itching to dress up as a princess in her flower girl dress from this summer.  I know she's excited.  Unfortunately, I have to find a costume too. 

Hope everyone is wonderful.  Send us a message.  We;d love to hear from you all.

February  3, 2010 - The holiday season is finally here!  I know that that sounds weird for some of you, but Chinese New Year is but a week away.  Chinese New Year is THE biggest holiday of all in the Chinese-speaking world.   It is a time when ancestral Chinese eat and drink away untold fortunes and revel in the company of family they may see only this one time of the year.  Seeing family once a year, that’s something my family has had to deal with.  It is not always fun being apart from your family for so long, but that makes the reunion that much sweeter.  For this year, that reunion will happen in May.  No, no visit from my parents over the holidays.  Sabrina and I will be flying back to Nebraska at the end of May, just in time to attend my brother Justin’s wedding.  Yeah!  I know Sabrina is already excited, and me too, save for the grueling day-long journey that it is. 

How have we been?  Overall, very well.  So far, 2010 has been cruel and kind.  WE were hoping this would have been a very special year.  We found out in November we were expecting our second child.  We were very excited, but only to find that it was not a viable pregnancy and it had to be terminated.  That was a period of up and down for us.  Stay tuned for that part of our story.   

We also found out this year that Hsin-Yi would be getting her promotion (effective late February) to Associate Professor.  She had been working extremely hard the last couple years to build up a worthy portfolio, and it has paid off.  Though the raise isn’t much, she will be receiving better benefits, and unmatched job security.  

I am still at the same job where I plan to stay for awhile.  Things at school are going well for me.  I enjoy the opportunity to be creative in my class planning.  The kids at this school are great and eager to learn.  I also enjoy my coworkers a great deal.  It would be hard to find a job that is as rewarding and stress-free as this one for the same kind of money. 

Sabrina has had her 4^th Christmas and birthday recently. See the videos page and pictures page for some media of those occasions.  We spoiled her a little at Christmas this year.  She got a new doll (with hair accessories), new “big-girl” Legos, and a cool “save the princess” logic puzzle game (I think that one is her favorite).  From Grandma and Grandpa she got a Sleeping Beauty doll and accessories, a book, clothes, and a small wagon.  She also received a bounty of other small things from others.  She is wealthy beyond reason.  She had a great time over Christmas.  Though we didn’t do much with family (my parents stayed in Nebraska), we had a small party with some friends, and then did some special activities as a family.  Sabrina and I made some cookies!  For her birthday, we celebrated at her Taiwanese grandma and grandpa’s house with all of Hsin-yi’s family (see the video and picture pages for media).  She had a great time.  This last Sunday we took her shopping for her birthday.  WE got her some swimming goggles (which she has been asking for like crazy,) a pretty hair band, and a cute bag to carry her lunchbox to school in (she had been using old plastic bags before.  We’re cheap.)  We have yet to measure her, so I’m not sure exactly how tall she is now, but she’s getting close to 110cm.  I wouldn’t be surprised if she grows to be taller than me.  She is such a happy kid too.  She is always talking and laughing, and still (knock on wood) healthy and strong.  Aside from a from a flu that we all got in December, she hasn’t been sick at all.  Only one missed day of school during flu season, not bad. 

Well, again sorry I forgot to update last month.  I blame it on Civilization 4 this time.  It eats my free time, which, according to Hsin-yi, I have too much of.  Oh well, life is good, we are well and happy.  Enjoy the pictures and video of our girl.  I’ll try to write back again soon.

November 15, 2009 - The cold weather has finally start to creep in here.  Not cold by many people's standards, but it is a relief from the heat of summer. Unfortunately, here the humidity never leaves, making the cold seem much colder.  Here's a little update on what has been going on.

Sabrina is a good place to start.  She is doing really well.  She is learning fast, doing much independtly (dressing herself, brushing her teeth, cleaning up after herself, etc.).  I have been amazed with how fast she is learning and picking things up.  Her preschool has't done much more that having the kids practice reading the individual letters of the alphabet, and Sabrina can read them all, knows some of the sounds, can write most of them with a free hand, and can do the same with the numbers.  I don't know where she's learning this stuff.  She can even write her name, albeit sloppily.  She has been healthy and strong.  She is the just the vutest thing too.  If I were to write all the cute things she does and says, I would need much more time and room.  She is the greatest joy and test of our lives.  She isn't cute and cuddly all the time.  She has developed a bossy and demanding personality.  She enjoys testing the limits of authority.  We can't complain though, she's really just amazing.  I've posted some recent pics so you all can check those out.  We recently gave her her first bike.  Well, some friends of ours gave us their kid's old one.  It is a bit big for Sabrina, but hse doesn't care, she loves riding that thing.  She does alright too.  It won't be long till she is tearing around on that thing.

Hsin-yi and I have ben just fine as well.  Everyone is healthy.  Hsin-Yi is putting in for promotion again, and so she is wamped with work.  I am no more busy than I have been the past years, maybe less.  I love my job, kids and school.  Hsin-Yi enjoys what she does too, so we are all quite happy right now with where we are.  If our roof would stop leaking we might have nothing to complain about.  That's an exaggeration, but there is no need to worry about us.  We are doing well.

Anything else new?  My brother, Justin, is finally getting married to his long-time girlfriend.  I'm not sure if I mentioned that. He will be getting married at the end of May, so, at least Sabrina and I will be back in the States then and for about 3-4 weeks afterwards too.  We are looking forward to the trip.  I know Sabrina is dying to see grandma and grandpa again.  She always talks about going to Nebraska again. She is a born Nebraskan, and I'm trying my best to teach her some things.  We get the Nebraska football games via Slingbox here, so I am doing what I can to brainwash her into being a Husker fan.  After the Huskers beat Kansas today I asked her "Who's going to win?" referring to next week and she said "Nebraska!"  

No big local news either.  The world continues its love affair with China, and Taiwan is worse off for it.  Even our own President is trying to get cozy with the oligarchs across the strait.  There is talk of a free trade agreement between Taiwan and China which theoretically is supposed to pavce the way for a peace agreement.  I find it hard to believe at this point that China would allow peace on anyone's terms but their own.  Only time will tell.  Things seem stable enough, as it appears no one wants war at least.

Well, that's about it for now.  I need to get around to posting more.  We will see if I succeed.  Most of all though, I need to take that camera out more and snap some more pics of us.  Until next time.

October 18, 2009 - Well, I've been super lazy and totally spaced off this site.  There hasn't been any major news over the summer.  No big vacations, events of any kind.  I guess that's why I never bothered.  Life as usual pretty much.  We havne't even snapped many pictures or videos.  So there hasn't been much to post.  

Over the next week I will post some pictures and some information about what's been happening the last few months.  In the meantime I've posted six videos.  Enjoy!

June 16, 2009 - Summer summer summer is here!  Though, I am working all summer, I will still enjoy.  Thankfully it has been cooler than normal so far this summer.  We haven't even turned on the AC yet (but that doesn't say much, we are quite frugal.)  

Most everything is still moving along about the same.  We are not planning any big vacations this summer.  Maybe a small trip somewhere, but nothing is for sure.  I have signed a new contract at my school, meaning I signed my life away for another year and for the whole summer.  I'm gonna be welcoming my two weeks off in August when it comes.  

No major news from Hsin-yi either.  Her dad was ill a few months back ,but he had some surgery and now he is much better.  She is enjoying her job and doing well.  She has had a couple of her papers published in good journals recently, too.  We are also still waiting for news about her promotion.

Sabrina of course is doing very well.  No major problems, all good news.  She is still at Happy Kids with the same teacher and students.  She has learned so much.  She knows her ABCs, can almost count to 20, still very bilingual, she can write a few letters, is starting to independently draw pictures, can color in the lines, do 30 piece puzzles, and more and more.  We bought her some new clothes so she is well outfitted for the summer.  She enjoys going to the park most, playing on the bars and hanging upsidedown.  Her current favorite things to eat are ice cream, fried rice, and guava with plum powder.  FAvorite colors, not surprisingly, pink and purple. 

Really no major news to report this month.  Even Taiwan is pretty peaceful so far.  Our president is still trying to cuddle up to China which is starting to make people wary of his actions.  There was a major opposition parade and rally a month ago that was well attended.  The opposition parties are starting to get some traction against the president and his party.  The next election should be interesting.

April 26, 2009 - So, I guess I was wrong in my last post.  Winter still lingers.  The weather has been changing around like crazy. Hot cold, cold hot, rainy, dry.  It has been nothing like the last few years.  Oh well, it is almost May and we haven't even turned on a fan yet, so I can't complain there.

Sorry, I haven't posted in awhile.  I have been reading heavily.  I have just finish reading the Lord of the Rings, far quicker than I expected to at least.  It is nice having access to my school's library.   A lot of stuff there I haven't read there before. 

Since my last post, Easter has been here.  Though we don't adhere to the religious part of Easter, Sabrina loves the Easter egg part.  So I filled some eggs with candy and hid them in the local park.  She had tons of fun and wanted to find them again and again, and then when we came home she started hiding them and asking me to find them.  She loved the candy too.  Thanks to my mom, we also had a good Easter basket for her and lots of candy, so she was happy about her Easter basket and the fun activities of the day.  She's had her eggs out and playing with them since.

School is going well for Sabrina.  She enjoys it so much.  She has many friends, and enjoys all the things they do there.  Sabrina can now sing her ABCs perfectly, can recognize many of the letters and all the numbers (1-12), she knows all her colors in both languages, she can sing many songs, makes up her own songs, and can do 25 piece puzzles by herself.  There is more of course, but she is just learning more all the time and it is just amazing how smart she is.  She loves books, will look through books by herself even though she can't read, she will tell the story to herself as she remembers it.  She loves art stuff.  She can cut (on the lines) and paste independently, colors in the lines, and can even draw some recognizable pictures.  She amazes us each day.  She is still polite as ever, but has her insolent moments.  We love her, and, for those wondering, we are thinking about number two.

Life is good.  I think we have a cold going through our house.  Hsin-Yi was sniffling last week, and I find myself doing the same today.  Hopefully SAbrina doesn't get it.  She's been so healthy these last couple years.   All our jobs are going well, the economy hasn't crapped on us.  Though, many have been having hard times, so far Taiwan is weathering the storm fairly well.

March 14, 2009 - Well, it has been  about 2 and a half months since my last entry.  Man, have I been lazy. I'll try to recap what's gone on recently.  There isn't much news or media this time.  Thisngs have been pretty slow around here.

Chinese New Year was back in January, and was pretty ordinary.  Good food, lots of food, time with family, and...cold.  It was really cold here those few weeks (well by cold I mean about 9 degrees C.)  We didn't do much, though.

Shortly thereafter, my parents came for a 2 week visit.  We took them around to some places and spent lots of time together.  Most of all they got a lot of Sabrina time.  As a Christmas/New Year present we gave them a photo album of some professionally done photos of Sabrina and us  I'll see if I can post one or two of the pictures here.  They loved them and are currently showing them off to all their friends back home.  Sabrina didn't get sick this year while they were here, and she was old enough to be able to tag along everywhere we went.  She did great, and my folks had a wonderful time.  We celebrated Sabrina's 3rd birthday while they were here.  She keeps reminding us that she's "grown up now.  I'm 3 years old."  It is her excuse for everything.  How she doesn't realize how much she still has left to grow. 

After they left, it was back to life as normal.  Sabrina has been doing very well at school.  She has ben learning about careers, and now wants to be a firefighter, or maybe a teacher, when she grows up. 

Work goes smoothly for both Hsin-Yi and me.  The economy that is shrinking all over the world, is affecting Taiwan without exception.  AS people have less disposable income, Taiwan's laregely export based ecnomy is struggling as sales lag.  Our president is placing his hopes that closer economic ties with China will help, but most people remain skeptical.   Unemployment is way up, GDP is shirinking, and people are worries.  We, however, remain safe and, aside from our mutual fund investments, unaffected by the times.  Hsin-Yi is a public university professor.  A job that, as long as there is a Taiwanese government will be safe.  My school, unlike many other English schools aorund the island, is doing very good business, and our enrollment is acutally increasing.  So, as long as we odn't experience a shard decline in students, my job is safe as well.  So, things are good for us.  We recently put most of our savings into our mortgage rather than investing it.  Still waiting for things to settle down, as I'm sure many others are too.

Overall, things are going very well for us.  We are grateful to those who send word to us about their lives. 

January 1, 2009 - Happy New Year!  What a weird year it was, too.  Anyway, it is behind us and now time to start anew.  Life these last couple weeks here have been good.  Hsin-Yi is at her busiest with funding applications, final exams, and a promotion packet to set up.  I on the other hand have very little to due.  I've had the last week off, and half of this one off, and in 3 weeks Chinese New Year will be here and I'll have another 2 and a half weeks off.  Needless to say, Sabrina and I have been spending a lot of time together, with mommy so busy and me so free.

Christmeas at our house was small, but we celebrated.  We had a small Christmas party with friends on night.  Lots of food and socializing, and we did gifts too.  It was a good time.  On Christmas, we opened presents.  WE all bought eachother gifts this year, so our little tree was full.  Santa came two and brought Sabrina a book of princess puzzles, and she also got a Cinderella doll, new pink shoes, stockings, candy, and a Sleeping Beauty DVD.  She was quite happy.  See some of the pictures on the picture page.

For New Years we didn't do anyhting.  Hsin-Yi had some work to do and it was quite cold (though not as cold it was back in the States) so I didn't feel like going out.  There was a great party downtown as always, and 101 blew up with fireworks again, and it was pretty spectacular, even though I only saw it on TV.  It was our anniversary that night, but we haven't gotten around to celebrating yet.  

Sabrina is growing fast.  Her 3rd birthday is a week away.  Grandma and GRandpa from Nebraska are coming to help her celebrate this year.  She knows and is excited.  We are looking forward to the visit and all the fun we will have over our long winter vacation.  She had her Happy Kids Christmas Show a couple of weeks ago.  Go to the videos page to watch.  IT was very cute, and a fun evening for everyone.  

We wish everyone the best in the holiday season (which is yet to come for those of you in Taiwan) and wish you the best in 2009.  PLease write and let us know how you are if you have time. 

December 11, 2008 - Happy holidays!  In case I don't get around to posting again before Christmas.  Happy Thanksgiving anyway.  Things are relatively boring around the Brunken house in Taiwan.  We are working.  We are running through the routine of life.  It should be noted that some kind of illness swept through our house this last week.  Nothing serious, but we were all coughing and laying around for a few days.  No one had to see a doctor.

Thanksgiving was a few weeks ago.  Happy Kids had their traditional feast for the kids and staff.  SAbrina and I partaked in some very good old fashioned Thanksgiving food, but there weren't many leftovers, so Hsin-yi couldn't have some.  I don't think she missed it as much as I would have.  Sabrina has been singing Christmas songs now, and believe it or not, there are Christmas sales at all the stores.  Times are rough, and businesses are hurting, they are trying whatever they can to get people to spend money.  Sabrina will be performing with her class in a Christmas pagent for Happy Kids next Tuesday.  I will be sure to get some video so yo uall can see some of it.  She seems to know her songs well.

She still loves Happy Kids and is getting more and more used to the routine.  She is growing up fast, and overall she is still a very good girl.  She makes us swoon and shout almost everyday.  We have set up the Christmas tree, and she loves looking at it and talking about each of the ornaments.  Thankfully she isn't rearranging the tree like she did last year.  We won't have any family in town for Christmas this year, so it will be a small Christmas for us.  We still aren't sure what we will do.

The end of the year and school semesters are upon us.  This is the busiest time of the year for Hsin-yi.  She is applying for funding and finishing up classes.  I just have some progress reports to do for my kids, so I can't complain to much.  Hsin-yi's job is going very well.  She just published an article on her research in a major trade journal, so she is well on her way for a promotion.  Me?  Who knows what I'll be doing in 5 years.  I'm happy enough just teaching and living comfortably as we are.  We have much to be thankful for this year and look forward to a new one with our hearts heavy for all of those who are struggling through the tough times that are upon us.

November 20, 2008 - What a month!  History with Barack smashing McCain in the election.  That was the big news, but I didn't want to put much here.  I was pretty close in my prediction, but don't care too much.  My biggest surprise?  Obama won Nebraska's 2nd congressional district, pulling an extra Electoral Vote.  I thought Missouri would go to Barack too ,but today that hope floundered.  So much for Bellweather State Missouri.  365-173, I'll take that anyday.  Dems built solid majorities in both houses.  I thought they's get 59 senators, looks like I'll be close (if you count Lieberman).  Anyway, the future is set.  Now let's just hope Obama diesn't suck, and gets to work on bringing about greener energy, a more peaceful foreign policy, an education system that works for all, and universal health care to the US.  I think we are all looking forward to the future of our world with a little more hope now.  Hope won over fear.

Winter has hit too.  For some reason we didn't get much of a fall.  NO, it isn't snowing, but it has cooled down.  I'm wearing 3 layers today!  We haven't broken out the thick blankets yet, as it might warm up again, but summer is gone for sure now.  I'm sad, as the winters in Taipei are cold, damp, rainy, and cloudy.  I need to prepare myself for no sunshine for a few months.

I went to the dentist this week for the first time since I got here.  Interesting expreience.  I went to the dentist closest to our house.  No English at all, and a very retro-looking office.  He did the job.  Cleaned my teeth, I had two small cavities (not watiting this long to go again), and he fixed them up.  THe best part...both ckeckups together only cost me about $6US.  Compare that to $20US in the States.  Be hopeful that Mr. Obama can bring healthcare costs down for Americans.

We are looking forward now to Thanksgiving and Christmas, both of which we will celebrate alone this year.  Sabrina and I will have some Thanksgiving food at Happy Kids, and hopefully there will bel eftovers I can take home for a fmaily dinner.  Otherwise, that kind of food is to price to justify eating.  We'll set up the tree next week I'm sure.  Sabrina will love it.  We'll also have to go get some presents.  Not sure what Sabrina wants though.  I'm sure something small, pink, and pretty will make her happy.  Other than that, no plans.  I am looking forward to my week off at that time.

We are of course, looking forward to my parents' visit coming in January.  We will have fun celebrating Chinese New Year and Sabrina's birthday with them.  They'll be here for 2 weeks and we'll be doing plenty I'm sure.

 

October 29, 2008 - It has been awhile since I have updated this thing.  One reason is because a bunch of pictures we took were lost when I was about to update when Hsin-Yi was pushing buttons on our camera.  The other reason, laziness and election obsession.

I'm a bit excited about election day coming up in under a week.  It is ridiculous.  I'm obsessed with the strategy of this whole thing.  The campaign, the media cycle wars, the polls, it's all interesting in a wonky kind of way.  So I've been reading a lot and following the race closely.  My analysis: Barack Obama wins in a landslide 55%-45% popular vote, 375 electoral votes.  We'll see soon enough if I am right.  It will be a historic night no matter what, and the AMericans I work with (and maybe some Canadians too) will be heading out to celebrate (or mourn) that night.  YOu may be surprised, but there is an Obama movement among Americans in Taiwan too.  They organize, fundraise, and try to get out the vote.  That tells you just how far Obama's ground game reaches.  I mailed in my ballot about 3 weeks ago, I hope all of you remember to vote.

 Sabrina is ok.  She is enjoying school and singing all the time now.  Home is boring for her as it lacks all the toys from Happy Kids.  She still likes being home with mommy and daddy htough.  Her favorite book is now Cinderella.  I am renting the movie for her this weekend.  We will watch a movie as a whole family for the first time.  Should be fun.  Halloween was this week and Happy Kids did their Halloween show for the parents.  Sabrina's class was cute.  I imagine these 3 yearold were great until a bunch of mommies and daddies piled into their room and started pointing cameras at them while they tried to sing.  It was interesting.  The kids were all cute in their costumes.  You can see the performance on the Videos page.

Everyone else here is just fine.  Life is rolling along, the weather is getting a bit cooler, but it is still t-shirt and shorts weather here.  Aside from toxic food products from China to worry about, a spiraling out of control economy, and chance, albeit an extremely slim one, of a Jahn McCain presidency, things are great and we couldn't be happier.  Feel free to write.

September 12, 2008 - Well as I write this a super typhoon (category 4 hurricane) is poised to make landfall.  Texas has its Ike we have Sunlaku.  It is moving very slowly, so it has the potential to do some damage and flood.  It will worsen tomorrow, but it won't be for another day that the eye will be closest.  This stormwill be affecting us for the next 60 hours at least.  It will be interesting to seewhat happens as it gets cloer.  I'll keep you all posted on that.  Check back in a day or so to get some details.

Sabrina is loving Happy Kids.  Her teachers love her and her classmates love her too.  She is being sociable, making friends, obeys her teachers, and is learning a lot.  She can't read or nothing of course, but she is learning nursery rhymes and practicing daily skills like how to wash her hands and other things by herself.  She has really taken to the school and her teacher.  We couldn't be happier.  The only drawback she is quite tired at the end of everyday and it is tough to get her in bed early enough to rest up for the next day.  She needs to be up about 7:15 to be at school by 9, and ten she is there until 6:30 with only an hour nap in the middle.  It is a long day, but she is enjoying it.

 All else is good.  Our new tenant upstairs has moved in now, a slight change, but he is quiet and friendly.  We're just waiting to see how we fair the storm.

August 29, 2008 - Before I get into what's been happening this last month here, I just want to take a moment to salute the historic moment I witnessed yesterday.  Barack Obama has officially become the first non-white person to be nominated for the highest office in his country by a major political party in any of the Western Democracies.  What a historic moment!  Even I was welling up with tears as Hillary Clinton called for a vote of acclimation to nominate Barack.  Now, win or lose, a page has been turned and the world is a better place for it.  Thank you Barack Obama.

Now, what a month!  I guess 3 bug things have happened.  First, in mid August, we had a break in at our apartment.  Someone made a daring climb out our stairwell window, into our living room window (remember we live onthe 5th floor) took our computers and then went back out again.  It was shocking coming home and seeing that all our stuff had been gone through by a stranger. Not a good feeling.  Thankfully, it was only our computers that were taken and nothing else, though the cost of replacing the machines is not cheap and all the data we lost on those were irreplacable.  I was most pissed about our data lost.  Lots of family pictures are now gone and I was only able to recover what I put up here on this website.  Thankfully I do this.  We are fine, started locking our windows and have barred the window the person used, so hopefully we are now more safe.

The next big news, is Sabrina has started "school".  It isn't really school, more like day care, but it is a much more enriching environment for her than her babysitter's house was.  She now goes to Happy Kids with me everyday.  Though now I have to be here at 9am, so I am cutrrently at work doing this update, rather than at home.  I guess that's an upside to the loss of sleep.  Anyway, she has lots of other children to play with here, great teachers, a bilingual environment, and many enriching activities to help her develop emotionaly, mentally, physicaly and socially.  She is happy, and rarely wants to go home at the end of the day.

Finally, school for Hsin-Yi and I is starting in a week, well I start tomorrow I guess.  the laziness of summer is gone, and now the steady constant business is coming.  Thus is life in Taiwan, hard work and long days.  I'm excited to see my new students and get teaching again, but I'm sure I'll be singing a different tune come October when I am too busy to do whatever I want.  Anyway, that's life.

Oh, we did replace our computers (with cheaper ones), so all is back to normal I guess.  Take care.

July 29, 2008 - Hello, it has been a while since I've posted any news.  We returned from our trip to Nebraska on July 7th.  Since then Hsin-Yi and I have been very busy working.  Go figure, it's summer, but we remain busy.  Well, my school has a summer session that runs all day, so I was teaching that.  Anyway, school is done for me know until August 18th, so I have some time now to get caught up on some things.

    Our trip to Nebraska was fun.  We had a lot of fun seeing all of our friends and family.  The Nebraska weather was unseasonably cool while we were there, too.  So we had a complete escape from the Taiwan heat (not that it bothers me much.)  The plane rides were of course the most bothersome part of the trip, but we weathered them all ok.  Sabrina rode well on the flights, but got a little sick toward the end of the trip going to Nebraska.  She was fine coming back, but got a bit sick a couple of days after we got home.  WE had a chance to see almost everyone we still know in Lincoln, and some we didn't plan on seeing.  We got some needed shopping done too.  That is one thing we miss from the US, second had clothes.  It is very hard to find second hand clothes in Taiwan, so we took advantage of cheap kids clothes while we were in Lincoln.  We did a lot of sitting around and visiting.  Had lots of good food with family.  Took SAbrina to the giant Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha.  Celebrated the 4th of July in style with family and friends, and managed to stay for the family reunion too.  Everyone was happy to see us and Sabrina.  Apparently it's not just Taiwanese who stop and tell us how cute she is, it happened quite often in the States too.  I think we may have to start worrying about her vainity.  I caught her admiring herself in the mirror the other day.  Anyway, it was hard leaving, as it always is.  We are so far away from everyone in Nebraska, it makes it difficult sometimes.  Sabrina loved Grandma and Grandpa's house best of all, and since we've been back she keeps saying how she wants to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house.  Hopefully we will be able to get back again sometime soon.

    In other news, 2 typhoons have already blown through Taiwan in the past month.  The typhoon season has just started and we're already getting hit.  What luck.  Well, they weren't too strong, but have caused a lot of devastating flooding.  Driving food prices and other prices even higher.  Hopefully we don't get too many more typhoons this year.  Or ata least not until I can get some days off of school at least.  

    Our tenant upstairs has told us he will be moving out in August.  Luckily we have already got the place rented (well, we haven't signed the lease yet, but we have someone who has said he'll take it.)   Our current tenant has been wonderful, we hope we continue to have good tenants like him in the future. 

    Not much more I can add.  We are happy to be back home and settled.  Things remain ok for us.  We are all in good health and working.  SAbrina will probably be starting preschool in September at my school, so that will be another step we will have to weather.  Until then, we hope we continue to have good fortune.

June 15, 2008 - In a week we will be in Nebraska on vacation.  We are excited, though not, of course, for the really long flight.  Things are all well here though.  Everyone is healthy, safe, and happy.  While it seems major earthquakes and floods are rocking the rest of the world, things are quite calm and relaxed here.  In fact the only strong winds blowing here have been winds of change.  For the first time the Taiwanese and Chinese governments have sat down for negotiations, something that hasn't happened in years.  Though this time it was only to negotiate building closer business ties, everyone is hopeful a lasting peace will result.   No one ever thinks of it, but China and Taiwan are still in the middle of a civil war, though no shots have been fired in 30 years.  A peace treaty officially ending hostilities would be a major breakthrough.  So far, our new president is doing what he has promised to do.  People are optimistic here.

    I am optimistic too.  With Obama winning the nomination and running circles around McCain, I am confident real change will sweep the US and consequently, the world.  People in Taiwan all know who Barack Obama is despite the fact that he emerged onto the stage only 4 years ago, and John McCain, though he's been in polics for years and years is practically unknown.  Should Obama lose in November, much of the world will be thinking" WTF?"  For the world the choice is a no-brainer, yet for many Americans, it seems hard.  I can only say we can't continue the way we've been going, and the best way to fix that is to switch parties.  Also, I havne't been inspired by a politician in my entire life, and I am hungry for someone who can do that. 

    Well, for anyone wanting to visit us in Taiwan I have found a great place to take you on your first day here.  IT is called the Jurassic Restaurant.  Inside it is dressed up in dino skeletons and Native American regalia (mostly the former) and the menu is loaded with exotic stuff.  I had crickets.  No, you read that right.  This is the only place I have been to where I could order insects and I did.  They were good, but crunchy.  With the cheap beer it was easy enough to wash them down.  Other dishes included rabbit, crocodile, ostrich, betel nut shoots, duck tongue, frog, and more.  Don't worry they have plenty of traditional dishes and they are all prepared very well and are very good.  It is quite the experience.

    We are just getting ready to head back, and enjoy our time.  Nothing major going on.  I have a friend from Japan coming to visit the island on Tuesday, but I'm just takling her to the night market as she booked a tour.  Sabrina is healthy and growing.  I think we will send her to preschool in the fall.  MY school has a class for kids like her and she'll be able to play with more children, learn more, and we can save money (maybe).  

Our best to you all.  I will post again after our trip with a summary of how things went.  I just hope Sabrina doesn't get sick this time.  Here's hoping for no delays or flight problems.

May 20, 2008 - Everything continues to go well in the lives of the Brunkens here in Taipei.  Sabrina continues to do well potty training.  She has been in a good routine recently.  She has done well going to bed at night, not getting up out of bed or crying out in the middle of the night, and napping without protest during the day.  Her memory is getting better, so she knows the routine herself.  She knows what is expected of her and she is starting to remind mommy and daddy when we forget stuff.  Her language development is going very well.  She moves from Chinese to English depending on who she is talking to and learns new stuff everyday.  We are amazed at how fast she learns things.  She has also been very healthy.  NO illnesses since the one at Christmastime.  All things are good, andshe is a very happy toddler.

    Today was an eventful day.  Ma Ying-Jeou was sworn is as Taiwan's 12th president today (3rd democratically elected one) marking a changing of the guard in Taiwanese politics.  After the unsuccessful, and unpopular presidency of Chen Shui-bian, Ma is viewed as someone who will bring prosperity to the economy again and a lasting peace with China.  He enters office with many promises he needs to fulfill.  If he fails, he may not last long in office.  Nonetheless, the majority of Taiwanese view today with great optimism, but others with a darkened mood.  As the election back in March put the KMT (Chinese Nationalist Party) back into complete control over all branches of government for the first time in 8 years.  Ma has an absolute majority in the legislature to work with and will have little difficulty passing his mandates.  Let's hope they are for the good of this young Democracy.

    In some ways, the Taiwanese political landscape resembles that of the US's.  An unpopular president is in his final year of office, and his party is fearing what may happen when the polls close on November 5th.  Also, a young, good-looking man with fresh ideas and international popularity has risen to challenge the status quo.  Barack Obama (though not officially yet) is the nominee for the Democratic Party who will run against John McCain in November.  Though I do not know the result of the votes in Oregon and Kentucky as I write this, those results will no doubt put Barack over the 50% mark of pledged delegates.  Hillary will not be able to catch them, and then her argument will be for the superdelegates to overturn that decision.  They won't.  After this happenes, the race will be over, and though Hillary may stay in for another 2 weeks, it really won't matter.  The DEmocratic party is coming together, and the table will be set for an Obama landslide in November.  It is my darkest fear right now though, that the only thing (save a major scandal or misstep by Obama) that will sink Obama's chances of winning the White House in November will be outright racism.  I have thought long and hard about this.  I am optimistic that my countrymen will not let skin color blind their decision, but I know the history of my country all too well.  I am confident Obama will be America's next president, but there is that chance, that America will not be ready for a black president and then he will lose.  Should racism cause the demise of this great leader, I will cry.  Cry for my country, for the world.

That all said, I am excited for the coming battle, being on the Democratic side for the first time in my life.  It is interesting, but I am excited.  Funny how a guy wit ha funny name can get you all excited about politics again.

May 17, 2008 - Hello!  Yes we are still alive and kicking here.  Things are going well.  The highlight of our life now: potty training.  It isn't as hard as we thought it would be, but accidents always happen.  SAbrina is doing a good job.  She goes days without accidents already, and we have only been working on this for about 2 or 3 weeks now.  After a few months I can only imagine how far she'll be.  If potty training goes well, she will probably go to preschool in the fall.  Then she can interact with more children and learn a little more throughout the day.

    I just signed a new contract for next year, so it looks like there will be no alterations from our current routine next year.  Our plans have been finalized for our trip back to the states.  We will be flying into to Omaha on June 20th and will stay through July 5th.  It will be nice to be nack with family.

April 8, 2008 - Hello!  Long time, I know.  Things have been well.  Easter came and passed.  Though we didn't really celebrate it, we did hide some Easter eggs for Sabrina to go around and find.  She loved the candy and ate way too much that day.   Also, the Taiwanese holiday of Tomb Sweeping Day (a day to venerate your ancestors by cleaning weeds, rodents, and garbage off of their burial sites) just passed and we had a long weekend.  Though we didn't partake in any of the rituals, we did do a lot of relaxing.  The weather was quite nice and we spent a lot of time outside enjoying it.

    The big news here was the election.  Election DAy came and passed without a hitch.  No protests or violence (not that that is usually a problem) and surprisingly, few incidents of irregularities.  We have been bummed out because of the result of Ma Ying-Jeou, the former inept mayor of Taipei winning (Frank Hsieh was our guy), but we weren't too surprised.  Frank Hsieh, much like John McCain in the US, has the misfortune of being associated with the party of an unpopular president.  We were surprised just how badly Ma Ying-Jeou beat him.  It seemed everyone, even DPP supporters (Frank Hsieh's party) wanted a change.  Oh well, a new administration takes power here on May 20th and they'll have a lot of promises to fulfill.  

    Everything is fine here.  Summer has arrived.  We are getting 80 degree days and it is reminding us of the fun of summer (though Hsin-Yi doesn't like the heat at all.)  The heat, the humidity, and the delicious fruit, I love it all.  It is also vacation time too.  We will be making the trek back to the US again this summer, albeit a short one.  We are planning on being in Lincoln, NE on June 20th until July 6th.  In time for the 4th of July.  I can't wait for the party.  Though the plane ride will be interesting with a 2 year-old, it will no doubt be a good time for all of us.  It will be first time in a long time that my whole family (cousins, aunts and uncles) will all be together in one place.  It will be wonderful showing them all my new family.

    Sabrina is developing well.  No major illnesses or problems so far (knock on wood.)  We were reminded how lucky we are to have a healthy child when Hsin-Yi's brother's daughter was hospitalized for a urinary tract infection a few weeks ago.  I can't imagine that hell.  We are very fortunate.  In fact, she hasn't had more than a cold since my parents were in town in December.  Hopefully that doesn't happen again on our trip in June.  She is talking like crazy in both Mandarin and English, but is mute around new people.  Her Mandarin is better because she gets more practice with it, but her English is great to.  She code shifts and even translates.  We are very proud of her.

February 28, 2008 - Things have been great.  No better way to start an entry than that.  Chinese New Year was a lot of fun.  We went to the folks house and ate obscene amounts of food (Sabrina especially) for 3 days.  We had 2 solid weeks off.  The best part of all was that Sabrina actually slept in most of the month, so we could sleep in until 9.  Doesn't sound like a lot to some of you, but when you have a baby, that is a luxury.  Actually there was one drawback to the holidays, the weather.  The weather was unbelievably (and uncharacteristically) awful.  It was not only very cold (for Taiwan) it was also cloudy and rainy every day.  It was a small miracle when the sun finally peeked out for half a day last week.  We have only had one full day of sun this year, and that was on a school day.  Ah, how I miss Kaohsiung, where the sunlight doesn't seem like such a miracle.

    Yes, things are going well for us.  Sabrina is now 2.  No major illnesses or problems since that horrible one back in December when my parents were here.  She is now stringing sentences together in both languages (though her grammar needs work) and can hold little conversations.  She has her terrible two moments, but she is also a sweetheart who we love to death.  She now has some Legos which she can use and has started creating with them.  She loves books, and will open them up and pretend to read.  We read to her daily, sometimes as many as 6 books a day.  She is problem solving, too.  Grandma Brunken got her a set of Higgly Town Heroes...what do you call them...Russian stacking dolls.  She can take them apart and put them together all by herself.  It only took a week or so to figure it out.  She's getting close to wanting to potty train, so we have that ahead of us.  I guess we'll shoot for her being potty trained to perfection by 3.  We'll see how that works out.  She is just doing great, and apart from the times she is not being super fussy, crazy Sabrina, we are so proud of her.  It is just amazing how much they grow up and change.

    Life in general is good.  Aside from the weather we are content with life.  Taiwan's presidential election is coming up in under a month.  So, the ad wars have started here.  Odds are Taipei's former inept mayor Ma ying-Jieou will win, but we're hoping Frank Hsieh will beat him out at the end of the campaign.  Unfortunately for Hsieh, the current president has made some bad choices and some arrogant moves that have made a lot of people mad and brought his popularity down to the neighborhood of George Bush's.  So, Hsieh, being from that party has a fight ahead of him.  We can only hope that people will vote for the man and not the party next month.

    We are of course up to date on Barack Obama's successes this month.  I was happy I was able to cast my vote for Barack in the Democrats Abroad Global Primary online from my laptop while sitting on my bed.  It was the greatest thing, and possibly the voting of the future.  Obama won that contest and 10 others this month and we couldn't be more excited that after he wins on March 4th he'll have locked up this nomination.  Inagine Barack Oabam as president of the United States of America.  As an American living abroad, let me tell you that it wil do wonders for the US's reputation.  YOu wouldn't believe how many people follow the election here and what they think about Obama.  They love the guy and I know a lot of Taiwanese who are rooting for him.  Gobama!

    Anyway, I know I saw this all the time, but I'll try to get another post in sooner next time.  Thanks for reading and stay tuned.  Also, check the pictures and videos pages for updates.

February 5, 2008 - Yikes!  It's been awhile.  It is so easy to put off updating this website.  I am truly getting lazy.  Well, we're on vacation now.  Chinese New Year's Eve is tomorrow.  Taipei has emptied out as thousands head south back to their hometowns.  Shops are closing, people are celebrating, and all the time it is raining.  Since my vacation started about a week ago, it has been cloudy, rainy, and cold the whole time.  It is getting depressing.  Of all the days of the year, it has to be like this now.  We are coping.

    For the holidays we will be spending time with Hsin-Yi's family.  We will eat the big New Year's dinner there tomorrow, and hang out until really late.  Not sure what we will do after that, on New Years, but we will probably be there for the next 3 days or so.  I have one week left until I have to go back to work.  I plan on doing as little as possible.  Sabrina gets bored though, having to sit around the house all day.  WE just want to relax, but she wants to play.  We took her to the park the other day, and to McDonald's today.  She's been having fun.

    Sabrina is now 2, but the terrible twos started awhile ago.  We had cake with Hsin-Yi's family, but we were bad parents and didn't get her a present.  We figured she is too little to know, and plus we are cheap.  There is always next year.  I will try to get the pictures and video from that even online this week.

    Well, I voted.  I voted in the 2008 Democratic Presidential Global Primary.  Because Nebraska was holding a caucus this year, I couldn't participate, but fortunately Democrats Abroad (a branch of the Democratic Party representing US citizens living overseas) held its first-ever Global Primary for citizens like myself.  So, from the comfort of my bed, I cast my ballot online for Barack Obama before any of the polls opened in the US for Super Tuesday.  I will be glued to my TV set tomorrow watching the returns.  Hoping for an Obama victory.

January 10, 2008 -  Well my parents have left, and things have returned to semi-normal.  After all, in only a few weeks we have another long break for Chinese New Year (Taiwan's holiday season.)  

    It was great seeing my parents again, and Sabrina having some grandma and grandpa time again.  They said they had a great time, but Sabrina got sick halfway through their stay and stayed that way till about the day they left.  It was hard to get out and do anything while she was down with whatever bug had gotten her.  Nonetheless, we took them to Hualien, and they had a chance to see some of the most beautiful mountain sights in Taiwan.  They enjoyed it.  I took them around Taipei a little again, and we made sure they ate well.  They seemed more comfortable this time around.  They even trekked out on their own for awhile.  We had a nice Christmas dinner, opened presents and listened to Christmas music.  Our New Year was a little boring, but I took my dad to see the 101 fireworks (albeit from far away.)  Aside from Sabrina getting sick, it was a wonderful time.

    Sabrina has since gotten much better, and is back to her old rambunctious self.  Talking, crying, yelling "No!", repeating everything we say, getting into trouble, and always wanting things her way.  I guess she could be worse, but she could be much better.  She's learning though.  She knows what makes us mad, and she'll get that look on her face right before she does it, like she's testing you.  Seeing what you will do.  So we have another year of this?  I hear they get better after 3 or so, but I'm not holding my breath.  It's a long way away.

Warning Election Thoughts Below

So the big political news since the break is Barack wins Iowa, and Clinton takes New Hampshire (though it is more accurate to say "tied" in NH because her and Barack each took 9 delegates.)  I was so looking forward to Barack sailing to a win after Iowa and the momentum, but apparently establishment, out-of-touch Democrats haven't learned their lessons from 2000 and 2004.  A candidate like Kerry, Gore and Clinton are the wrong kind of candidate for the times.  Kerry and Gore would win this year, but Clinton could not.  Her candidacy would mobilize and unify the Republican Party and its voters in a way no other event could.  The Republican Party is fractured now.  They don't know what they want, but they don't want Hillary.  Obama could peel some Republicans and loads of Independents away from the GOP in the general, crushing any candidate they put up.  Hillary would get zero Republican voters and very few Indies, while a candidate like McCain would attract them by the thousands.  NH has once again picked a loser, and let's just hope they don't ruin it for the whole country.  Obama, raised learning both Islam and Christianity, international upbringing, black, educated, passionate, and inspirational, is the right candidate for where America is at right now.  A candidate who would not only bring change but represents real change in America (Hillary being a woman may be called change, but in the end she is still a Clinton.  Another Clinton, like another Bush, is just continuing the dynasty.)  Everyone I know here is hoping Obama will pull this out, Taiwanese, Canadians, Americans, everyone, because in Obama they see a new America, and a stark contrast to the garbage Bush has been feeding us post-9/11.  Let's hope Nevada, South Carolina, and the 22 states on Super Tuesday are thinking more clearly than the "whiter, colder" voters of NH did on Tuesday.

    A note to my fellow Nebraskans.  The Nebraska Democratic Party has moved the Democratic Primary to February 9th and changed it to a caucus.  Meaning you have to show up to caucus to vote.  So, I am shut out of this nomination process by yet another idiocy of the Nebraska Democratic Party.  Caucusing is a backward, undemocratic way to select a candidate.  It is not inclusive and it puts peer pressure in to the mix.  Anyway, you must be a registered Democrat to participate in the caucuses, even if you are an independent.  You can switch your registration at any time before the caucus starts, even when you arrive at your caucus location.  So show up in force and support an Obama presidency on February 9th.  And for my California friends out there.  Don't let Huillary win your state.  You have an independent streak too (look at Arnold), so let's bring the big state home for Obama.

    To learn more about Obama, visit his website here and donate to help build the movement.  We have.

December 19, 2007 - Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!  I doubt I'll get a chance to post before the holidays so I 'll send my blessings early.No, I'm not doing Christmas cards either.  I guess I'm just not into that.  Not that I don't care, but I think I'm just too lazy to do all that work on top of all the work I already do.

    Anyway, life is going well.  I was attacked by a caterpillar this week, but that was about all.  I know to some of you that might sound odd, trust me, it did to me too.  I was walking along in the park to take Sabrina home, when this furry little guy dropped on my neck.  Startled of course I quickly brushed it off with my hand.  In doing so I must of pissed it off or activated some ancient defense mechanism, but shortly afterwards I started feeling a stinging sensation where it had been.  It only proceeded to get worse, eventually turning into intense itching.  After it was all said and done I had these massive red, itchy bumps on my neck, pec, and shoulder from this tiny caterpillar.  Itched like crazy for 3 days, too.  I'm just not used to dangerous insects, coming from Nebraska and all.

    That has been about all of the excitement, so far.  My mom and dad just took off from Lincoln on their way here.  They will land in about 24 hours for their 2nd trip to Taiwan.  We plan to head to the East Coast to see the awesome sights there.  Then we will hit up some spots in the city and Taipei County.  Mostly, just some good ole family time around the holidays.  We'll try our best to bring Christmas to this little apartment in Asia.  

    Though we have nothing at all planned, and probably will end up doing nothing special, our anniversary is coming up also.  The 31st is our anniversary, as most people know.  I have yet to find the romantic in Hsin-Yi though, and I'm afraid any attempt to do something special will be hailed a waste of money.  She is as practical as they come, beautiful, smart, industrious, and resourceful and that's why I love her. 

    Sabrina will be in heaven these next 2 weeks, being the center of attention all the time.  My parents will be in heaven too, though.  I'll make sure I get lots of pictures these next couple of weeks.

December 10, 2007 - What a busy 3 weeks!  I spent the last week filling out progress reports for work.  I did nothing but eat, sleep, and work.  I have more students than last year so, it took much younger.  They're done, and now I have planning to do, and then my week off for Christmas.  The best part of that is my parents are coming.  So it will be festive occasion.  I even bought a Christmas tree and it is set up in the living room, lighted and everything.  It will be fin to watch Sabrina play with grandma and grandpa again.  We are excited.

    So much has happened in the last 3 weeks.  The Nebraska Cornhuskers have fired Coach Callahan and hired Bo Pelini.  Those I've been talking to know that I would have liked to see Turner Gill get the nod, but a lot of people smarter than me are saying Bo is the guy.  I hope he can drag the Huskers out of their graves after this seasons stomping from everybody.  Only time will tell with that one.

    I think the big news is about our man, Barack Obama.  I am glued to the news in this race, checking it morning and night.  I have supported this man from the time I first heard him speak.  You look at him on paper and you don't think him anything special, but when you listen to one of his speeches, he can make you believe anything.  He has been shooting around all the early states the last month and speaking to lots of people, and steadily his poll numbers are on the rise.  He is now tied with Hillary in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.    He is single-handedly bringing down the Clinton dynasty and I'm loving it.  Oprah has been stumping for him this weekend, too.  Now I have never watched an Oprah show in my life, but I had to see this.  She was awesome!  She brought about 60,000 people to listen to Obama's message and her speech was great too.  When I first started supporting Obama, I knew it was a long-shot that he might win, but now, now it's looking like he can really do it.  Now, I'm believing it can happen.  Now, unfortunately, if he loses, it will hurt more.  I don't think I would care so much about this race if I didn't despise Hillary so much.  Whereas Obama can inspire when he talks, Hillary just makes me ill.  She is not her husband, and she is not presidential material.  She belongs in the Senate, not in the White House.  But even that wouldn't bother me if she were elected.  It's the fact that she's a Clinton, she's pro-CCP, she's uninspiring, and just a more liberal and smarter version of George Bush.  With her in office, it's more of the dishonesty.  More of the White House telling us what to do, and not listening.  All I can do is wait the 3 and half weeks for this thing to start., but I'm hoping.  I'm hoping for a President Obama.

    Sorry about that, I just had to get it off my chest.  Some of you are thinking, "Wasn't this guy a Republican?"  I am a moderate, as most of you know, and Bush gave of being a moderate in 2001.  Now the government is so conservative we need Democrats in power.  So I'm only looking at that side.  None of the Republicans look any good.  Huckabee is just another theocrat like Bush.  Romney is another John Kerry (unelectable).  Guiliani is a joke.  Tancredo I'd support because he is hardcore pro-Taiwan.  I'd vote for him over Hillary in a heartbeat.  Ron Paul is pretty awesome too, but his message of change is pretty extreme.  The country is definitely not ready for a Liberarian president yet.  

    I know I need to post some pictures soon.  I'll try to get that done soon.  We really haven't been snapping too many.  Just the routine stuff goiung on around here.  Guess we never remember to take the camera out.  But Sabrina is doing well.  Totally in the terrible twos now.  Everything is "No".  She's talking more and getting bigger.  Her tummy is getting bigger two.  She looks so funny.  Baby fat, we all had it.  Anyway, I'll get those up soon.  Hsin-Yi just went on a trip with her family for 3 days, so most of the pictures on the camera are hers.  Maybe I can post some of those...

November 19, 2007 - Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in the US.  Though I miss the food and the sales on Black Friday, I don't miss the weather.  My parents are talking about snow, and I'm just glad I never have to mess with that stuff here.  though, I'm sure, Sabrina would love it.

    Things are well here.  No none is sick and the jobs are going well.  We are saving and buying some little things that we needed around the house.  Life has basically been pretty boring for us.  Our weekends have been turning out to be dedicated to running errands rather than having fun.  We get to be around Sabrina all day though, so we like them.  We did get out with some friends this last Saturday.  We went to Alleycat's (best pizza in Taipei) for a night out.  It was nice to be able to go out without Sabrina for a change.

    Sabrina is doing well.  My parents just asked me how tall and how heavy she is, and I realized I didn't know.  All I know is she is growing and getting smarter.  She is!  Her vocabulary is expanding daily.  She will do simple tasks when you ask her.  She can jump now.  She is starting to climb, and her new favorite word is "No."  I guess all parents go through this stage, but Sabrina is in the one where she likes to say "No" all the time.  Only Sabrina says it in 2 different languages, so it isn't quite as monotonous.  We are looking at potty training soon, but I guess hse is still a little young, but we swear she is getting ready.  She can be quite funny too, now.  Just the other day we were sitting at the dinner table and Sabrina and Mommy were talking about the "Guei Nu".  I had forgotten what it meant and asked Hsin-Yi, "What's 'Guei nu'?"  Before she could answer though, Sabrina chimed in with "Moon."  We couldn't believe it.  She actually translated for me at the age of 22 months.  Granted it was Taiwanese, but I need to improve my Chinese skills soon.  Funny part is we repeated it a couple times to make sure it wasn't a fluke, and she didn't again and we laughed and laughed.  Then for about an hour after that, she would say "Moon" and then laugh giddily.  She is a lot of fun, and a terror too all at the same time.

    I am watching the news closely for details on the presidential race in the US.  Mostly the Democrats of course, as the only Republican I can stand is Ron Paul (maybe Tancredo too as he is a staunch supporter of Taiwan and ending the "One China Policy").  The more I read though, the more flabbergasted I am at how many people support Hillary.  As if people don't understand that dynastic leadership is never good for democracy.  That all of these scandals around her (shady Chinese donations, planted questions, controlling the media,etc.) don't all point to a bigger picture.  Hillary will be just another mediocre president when what we need is a great one.  On the Democratic ticket I support almost all of them except Hillary, but, as you all know, we are pulling for Obama.  The changes he could make by just being a person of color.  The face he would give America would go a long way to easing tensions toward the US around the world.  The beacon of hope he would serve for so many disenfranchised blacks and Hispanics in the US would guide the next generation.  Maybe I'm being too idealistic, optimistic, or quixotic, but after the deceit and arrogance of the Bush administration (which I foolishly supported in 2000), we need a little of that.

November 2, 2007 - Yikes!  It has been about a month.  This month has been hectic, for me at least.  With classes, planning, and parent-teacher conferences, I had little spare time in the evenings to post here.  It was an exhausting month.  IT is in the clear now, so I'm a bit freer for awhile.  Though my new schedule with my private classes is getting tiring.  It's a lot of hours, but I don't complain about the money.  We are saving well now.  We can finally start that college fund.

    Happy Halloween to those who got to celebrate.  WE had a little trick-or-treating at school and a few costumes, but nothing big.  It is not a holiday or cultural tradition here, but with the increasing American influence (and the prevalence of English schools around the island) it is gaining popularity.  In fact, I discovered that a few of my students' neighborhoods had trick-or-treating for the kids.  I had no idea.  Our neighborhood certainly did nothing.  It is as Taiwanese as you can get.  It will be difficult to teach Sabrina about the traditions of Halloween as she grows up. 

    Sabrina is well.  She is 22 months old now, closing in on 2, but already at those terrible 2's.  She tells us "No!", she jumps and screams before bedtime, gets into trouble, and cries for weird reasons.  She is a terror, but sometimes a handful.  She is speaking in 2-3 word sentences now, in both languages, and is understanding much of what we say.  She is in full mimic mode as she copies nearly everything we say and do.  That's a good sign that she's learning well.  She is still incredibly cute and growing fast.  I can't believe how much she eats sometimes.  We wonder where she puts it all.  Healthy appetite and sleeping through the night are all good signs that she is very healthy.  We are very lucky.  She is even playing well with other kids.  Soon we'll have to be thinking about potty training though.  Hopefully that won't be to hard.

    For those who think we live in the sticks of a Third World country, you'd be pleased to know that we ate at a Chili's last weekend.  Taipei has one, which goes to show you that you can find nearly anything you want in this town.  The food was just like any Chili's I've ever been to, and the atmosphere (aside from everyone speaking Chinese) was just like a Chili's back home.  It was a good itme, and a nice change from the everyday cuisine.  Now if only Taipei can get a Taco Bell.  

    I plan to stay up and watch the Husker game tomorrow night.  Even though we will most definitely lose, I'm idiotically clinging to hope.  Hope that Joe Ganz will lead the Huskers much better than Keller did,  Hopefully my Sunday sleep deprivation will not have been in vain.  I love my SLingbox though.  Just being able to watch the games at all is a blessing.  You have to love the Internet.  

    Speaking of Slingbox, I caught most of the MSNBC Democratic Presidential Debate on Wednesday.  That was fun, as it turned out to be a good one.  Hillary looked ridiculous dancing around every tough issue.  She seriously nausiates me.  Refusing to approve or disapprove of anything other than GW and then criticising people for calling her out on it.  Her campaign came up with the most ridiculous excuses after the debate trying to control the damage their candidate did.  Not that Obama needed it to beat her, but her terrible performance sure helped.  I'm crossing my fingers that this friend of the CCP doesn't win the nomination.

October 14, 2007 - Well the typhoon blew through something vicious.  It racked up NT$4.6 billion  in damages ($141 million), sent fruit and vegetable prices through the roof (cilantro is now selling over $10 pound), and killed about 10 people.  It was a doozy, but the Brunken household remained intact with no damage.  We lost power for about 20 minutes, but that was about it.  Thankfully Hsin-Yi's leak fix worked.  

    It has been a depressing week for me though, as a Husker football fan.  After getting destroyed by Missouri last weekend we again got stomped this weekend by a much worse Oklahoma State team.  The worst loss in Lincoln since 1958.  Hell, this piece of crap game even made The Drudge Report, and he rarely puts sports news on his site.  I can't think of a better sign of how bad this loss is and the disaster it spells for the program.  After all the hype, now the Huskers are at risk of losing the rest of their games, producing the worst season since before Bob Devaney.  JFK was the president then.  Husker football is in trouble, and so is Coach Callahan.  I wonder who our coach will be next year.  I really doubt it will be this group.

    It is a busy month for me with parent-teacher conferences coming up.  It is added paperwork on top of the planning books and things I need to turn in to administration.  It makes for less free time at home.  Sabrina has also been starting to get up every morning at about 6:15 for some reason.  The lack of sleep is starting to catch up.  It's almost midnight now, and she'll be up in 6 hours.  I just can't bring myself to go to bed early for some reason.  She's a cutie though.  She is repeating everything she hears now.  We got to watch our mouths now, haha.  She says things sometimes that makes wonder where she heard it, but we are nonetheless amazed at her progress in her languages.  She's almost ready to start communicating in full sentences.  Next up, potty training.  We can't wait to get her out of diapers, but that is a ways off yet.

    Not much more to tell.  All is well with us.  Just busy as always.  Stay tuned for more pictures (hopefully video too) which I'll post in a couple days.

October 6, 2007 - As I write this entry Typhoon Krosa is lashing Taipei.  You can check it's progress and info here on the Central Weather Bureau's website.  It looks like it will hang around all day and night as it makes a turn toward Northern China.  So far the wind hasn't been too bad, but there has been immense amounts of rain.  I feel sorry for those near the hills and mountains.  I think they are projecting about a meter and a half of rain in some places, so the flooding and resulting landslides and rockslides will be devastating.  Stay tuned to the Taipei Times for reports.  The upside ot the storm is I got out of work today.  I was afraid I'd go all season without getting a typhoon day, but it looks like a got a half of one.  Good enough I guess, though I really love my Saturday class.  It'll be a long weekend inside all the time.  I just hope the power stays on.  It should, as it doesn't look like it will be a direct hit.

    Now that I have actually started to like a candidate that is running for president for the first time since I've been able to vote, I'm excited.  A little scared too.  I really like Barack Obama, but I don't think I could stand it if Robot Hillary won the nomination.  Given her hyper-partisianism, lack of personality, and Republican-like and pro-China stance on foreign policy, I don't think I could bring myself to vote for her.  As I was telling a friend of mine, I might actually have to vote Republican again in the next election.  MY hopes still ride on Obama (or Ron Paul, that's a Republican America could be proud of) so I hope he pulls it out.  Despite trailing Robot Hillary by 33 points in the latest national polls, he is still drawing huge crowds wherever he goes, and is attracting many more donors than Clinton is (though they may not be as rich as Clinton's elitist supporters.)  Please visit Obama's website and read about his message and experience.  Don't beleieve Robot Hillary's lies that he is too inexperienced.  He has just as much Washington experience as Hillary (can we really count her years as first-lady?) and besides, many of our best presidents had little to no Washington experience before being elected.  FDR's only Washington job before being elected was as Assistant Secretary of the Navy for 6 years.  Lincoln and Washington both had no years of Federal leadership under their belts before becoming president.  Even Bill Clinton had only state level political experience before being elected president.  Don't buy into the hype and misinformation disseminated by the major media.  Get online and do your own research.  Obama is the guy who can bring the most change and good back to the US.  Tell your friends and family about Obama, so we can finally have a president we can be proud of.

September 30, 2007 -  As always we have been busy around here.  It was a holiday weekend last weekend, so we both had a little time off.  It was Moon Festival, so we partook in the ritual BBQing on the roof.  It was a good time, and Sabrina had a good time as well.  It was a clear night, too.  So we were able to see the beautiful full moon clearly.  Sabrina was pointing up at the sky all night saying "Moon!  Moon!"  

    Sabrina has been doing just fine.  No bouts with illness in awhile.  She is happy and playful all the time.  Her languages are coming along very well.  She plays with others, she listens to her parents (most of the time), and she is sleeping well through the night and making her parents very happy.  We just gave her her second "haircut" today.  We took about an inch off of her bangs.  She looks really cute.  I didn't snap a picture though, but it should show up in the later pics.  Sabrina had fun today playing with the 6 month old son of a good friend of ours.  They paid us a visit with their young one and Sabrina had a fun time playing with him, well, what little she could do with him anyway.  

    What has been on my mind a lot recently has been politics.  Those that know me, know that I have always been interested in politics, and the 2008 elections in both the US and Taiwan are both very important, and I actually have candidates that I support, rather than having to side with the lesser of 2 evils, as was the case in 2004 and 2000.  In regards to the US election, as the campaign drags on and gets closer to the first primaries, my desire NOT to see Hillary Clinton elected gets stronger and stronger.  Barack Obama is the guy for America.  He needs to win the nomination.  He is different, a breath of fresh air, and black.  The US needs a black president for so many reasons.  Imagine the role model he would be for so many kids out there.  Imagine how his election would inspire so many to get active in the system again.  What will Hillary do for the system?  Bush, Clinton, Bush, and then Clinton again?  I'm already gagging at the prospect of that.  Barack is the orginal candidate for peace.  Hillary is a late-comer on almost every issue, waiting to see what the people want and then declaring her position.  All she is is a good politician and nothing more.  She even lies about how experienced she is.  Can we really count her years as first-lady as "political experience"?  I don't want another political robot running the country.  We've had 8 years of that, it's time for something more.  However, Hillary still continues to lead in almost all of the polls.  Obama needs some help.  All of those talking head need to see how America is behind Obama, and won't stand for Robot Hillary in the White House.  Support Barack Obama 2008.

    As for the election in Taiwan, I don't have near as much to say.  Hell, I didn't say all I had to say about the US race.  I'm not Taiwanese, but I live here, so I like to have an opinion on the politics, though I can't do much about it.  For those who don't follow Taiwanese politics, they are quite divisive.  In fact, the topic is almost taboo in social conversation because the division is so strong.  In one corner you have the old guard trying to look new, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).  These are the guys who got beat by Mao and ran away to Taiwan.  They ruled Taiwan with an iron fist until the 1980's, and aren't famous for treating the locals well.  They are still viewed by many as the party of the Chinese on Taiwan, rather than a Taiwanese party.  Allied with this group are a lot of the businessmen in Taiwan and those who support closer ties with China.  In the other corner you have the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).  The DPP was the first opposition political party in Taiwan founded illegally 1986 (opposition parties to the KMT weren't legalized until 1991.)  The current president is a member of this party.  They are largely popular with the middle and lower classes in Taiwan, and especially popular in Southern Taiwan.  This election pits Ma ying-Jeou for the KMT against Frank Hsieh of the DPP.  Ma is the former mayor of Taipei, and an inept one at that.  He did little good for the city, and in fact his management of natural disasters during his tenure was abismal.  Frank is the former mayor of Kaohsiung and Premier.  Both candidates are well-liked and it will be very close when these two go head to head in March.  The Brunkens support Frank Hsieh.  It will be a sad day in this house if Ma wins next year.

    Now that that long winded poltiical speil is over, I think I should wrap up.  I'm still trying to stay up on the football games.  The Nebraska defence is looking pretty bad.  We beat Iowa State well enough, but Missouri will crush us next week if our defense doesn't get it together.  NOw that almost all of the top ten teams lost this weak, NEbraska still has a shot at the top.  We have to turn our game around though.  For once our offense looks great, but our defense looks horrendous.  I'll be watching that game next week though.  Go Huskers!

September 17, 2007 - Yeah, another typhoon day and it's my day off.  I am 2 for 2 this year.  The last typhoon hit on a Saturday and I didn't have class, now this one hits on a Tuesday, when I don't work anyway.  What a rip off, it's like a snow storm on the weekend.  To top it off, USC trounced the Huskers so there's nothing to celebrate there.  I can't believe the stupid pollsters dropped the Huskers 10 places.  We lose to a number one team and we drop to #24, Louisville loses to an unranked team and they stay at #14.  What the hell?  

    The good thing is that Sabrina is now used to her bed and will willingly climb in at bedtime and stay down all night until about 7 or 7:30 in the morning.  That hell is over now.  She's back to being a little angel at bedtime, let's hope it lasts.  She is really playful these days, and really likes physical play.  Running, chasing, falling down, tackling.  She's such a cutie when she's laughing and running around the house.  She's starting to use simple 2 or 3 word sentences now too.  She's developing all the languages at the same time, it is fun to watch.  She's such a smartie.  

    Well, this typhoon doesn't look like it'll be to bad, and won't hit us directly, so I'm not sure what to expect.  I just hope that leak is fixed, I don't want to be mopping up water through this one again.  Stay tuned for that.

September 11, 2007 - No, we didn't do anything for our birthdays.  We're pretty boring.  I stayed up and watched the Husker game this weekend with the Slingbox my dad bought for me.  It was wonderful.  Nebraska barely pulled it out, but I was happy to just watch it.  I also caught South Florida upsetting Auburn.  That was a great game.   I love technology.  The USC game is next weekend, and thank God it's a night game.  It'll be on at 8am for me, so I"ll be totally rested when it's on.  I'm sure we'll get creamed, but like many Husker fans, I can close my eyes and see the goal posts coming down in Memorial Stadium after one of the greatest upsets in Husker history.  It's only a fantasy of course.  I just hope our boys play their best.

    That was my weekend, football and recuperating from the lost sleep.  Hsin-Yi went shopping with her sister on Sunday.  They had a good time.  I was with Sabrina, but she was wonderful.  Played herself exhausted at the park, then went down for a nap.  Hsin-Yi hadn't been shopping in a while, so she was happy to get some new clothes, and of course she bragged about how little money she spent.

    Everything seems to be going well with the renter upstairs.  He is very quiet, and a terribly nice person.  We were quite lucky to find him.  Let's see anything else.....oh, we finally bought a toaster.  That's right.  After over a year in Taipei, we finally got a toaster.  Now instead of hitting the bakery every day we are eating cinnamon sugar toast.  I never realized how much I missed it.  It is quite refreshing.

    Work is work.  I'm surviving.  Hsin-Yi is waiting for classes to start next week, so she's still on vacation.  Not true, she still has lots to do at school.  Life is never lazy in this metropolis.

September 5, 2007 - Happy birthday to me!  For those who don't know it is birthday week in the Brunken house.  My birthday is today and Hsin-Yi's tomorrow.   All the celebrating I did though was a simple cupcake from work.  Hsin-Yi once again made me promise not to get her anything to save money or something.  Oh well, I guess birthdays matter little as you get older anyway.

    Things are going well for us here.  Our new tenant upstairs has moved in and seems to like things, though the airplanes surprised him his first night.  It is nice to have it rented, and with my new private student we are making nearly an extra $1000 US a month.  It certainly helps. 

    The Huskers won their their first game by 42 points, looks like it will be a good year.  The game started at 3:30 am here, so I didn't watch any of it except the 4th quarter.  We looked pretty good.  I'm excited to watch the Wake Forest and USC games coming up soon.  I will watch those for sure.

    Sabrina is getting more used to her bed, and is sleeping through the night again, though she has some fits at night after we put her down.  She'll cry and cry to try to get us to sleep with her.  Hopefully she's break out of that soon.  Her language is expanding quickly.  she is learning a,most everything in 2 languages and is using them interchangeably.  It is fun to watch.  She is picking up language quickly, and I think she knows much more that we think she does.  Things are going very well with her, and we are now being rewarded as she is getting more and more able to express her feelings.  It is so sweet when she says "Love you".

    Things are well here.  Our roof is still leaking and needs to be fixed.  We will finally have a few days without rain, so hopefully that will get done soon.  I will tell you, the weather here in Taipei is probably the worst thing about living here.  It is almost always raining.

August 26, 2007 - Quite a lot has happened since I last wrote, so this might be a longer entry.  First the typhoon blew through, flooding parts of the country, damaging agricultural products, and landslides wiping out some roads, but no one was killed.  Now here's the difference between Taiwan and China.  After the full force of the storm hit Taiwan, it broke up and went into China.  The weakened storm then killed 13 people in China.  Zero dead in Taiwan, and 13 in China, keep in mind that population densities are almost the same in most places. We weathered the storm fine, even went out to do a little shopping toward the end of it.  A lot of places stayed open in Taipei, so it wasn't too bad for us.  We still have a leak in our apartment, so I was mopping up a lot of water.  Hope we get that fixed soon.  We are still in negotiations with the previous owner who is contractually bound to repair leaks for the first year.  It's driving us nuts.

    Sabrina caught a little stomach bug this week.  She's been sick the last few days.  She's had a fever, diarrhea, and she threw up once.  It seems to be clearing up, now a new problem has emerged.  We decided to get rid of her crib (certain family members were saying it was too small for her) and move her to a bed.  Afraid she'd fall off, we decided to get a single matress (she started with our old queen for a couple days) and put it on the floor.  Now, it is 11:30pm when I am writing this and she still hasn't fallen asleep.  The last couple nights (the first few were fine with the queen sized matress) she has gotten up and refused to go to bed.  She hasn't acted like this in ages, and we aren't sure if it is because of her being sick or if she hates her bed.  Either way, we aren't too happy, and it is getting very annoying.  Maybe it is just a phase and she'll get used to it like everything else.  I hope so, because much more of this and I'm going to buy a new crib (her old one is now with Hsin-Yi's brother) and put her in it until she graduates from high school.  I kid of course, but this is something we never dreamed of having to deal with, after she'd been so wonderful at bedtime since she was 4 months old.  Stay tuned for this update.

    We rented our apartment upstairs also.  We ended up coming down a lot from where we wanted to rent it, but as we found out, it is a buyers market for apartments now in Taipei.  Lots of places available, not to many people renting.  Well we ended up renting to a Canadian guy who will be going to school At National Taiwan University.  We gave it to him for $14,000 NTD/month and we agreed to supply a bed, desk, washer/dryer, wardrobe and table.  I guess after the investment we'll make our money back in a few months, but we were hoping to rent it for more.  Maybe it was a mistake, but now it is rented and we will have the extra income each month.  

    So with all of this going on we have been quite busy.  My classes have started as well.   So all of the initial planning and prep was there to do as well.  It's my second year now at Happy Kids, so I am not nearly as nervous as I was last year.  I'm actually excited for tomorrow to come.  I hope my students are as great as they were last year.  Lots of stuff going on now, we are just waiting for it all to be out of the way so we can just focus on all the regular routine stuff.  Now it is almost done, we just have that infernal leak to take care of.  

August 17, 2007 - Same old, same old going on here.  I'm back at work and planning for next year.  We are still trying to rent the apartment.  Have had a few lookers, but no takers.  Hopefully we get it rented before September.  Typhoon Septa is bearing down on Taiwan tonight.  It shouldn't affect Taipei too much, it is hitting the south.  But we will get a lot of rain and some strong wind, but it shouldn't be dangerous up here.  Tragically, people will die in the South.  The south is already flooded and there will be landslides and more flooding.  I hope they stay safe down there.  Life won't change much for us though.  Though we still have a leak in the house, and we might get more water in the apartment.  You can follow the storm here: http://www.cwb.gov.tw/V5e/index.htm.

August 12, 2007 - Well, my summer vacation is finally over, and the daily grind finally starts for all of us again tomorrow.  I will be going back to work, and the long school year will start.  I'm excited to get back, but not for the work and the pressure.  Oh, well, it was a wonderful summer.  My favorite time of the year.

    We have been spending the last week getting the 6th floor ready to rent.  I've posted some ads online, we've put in an A/C, and a water heater.  We've had a couple people come and look at it already, one almost took it, but backed out at the last minute.  She didn't want to pay what we asked.  Hopefully we get more replies soon.  We are excited to get it rented.

    Sabrina has been doing well.  Her vocabulary is ever-expanding.  She has become quite the mimic, repeating everything she hears (almost.)  We went to Yang-Ming Mountain National Park today, for a little bit, and Sabrina got to play in a mountain stream.  It was incredibly beautiful there, it had been awhile since I'd been to the mountains in Taiwan, and I had almost forgotten how gorgeous it is.  When Sabrina gets older, we'll have to go a lot more.  Sabrina enjoyed playing in the water.  She got to play with her cousin too, while we were at grandma's house.  It is amazing how babies can be so different.  Sabrina and her cousin are almost completely opposite. 

    We had our first tropical storm this week.  It blew through and flooded the southern half of the island, but it was just a little wind and rain for us.  I'm still waiting for a big one that cancels school and rattles the windows.  True, it might be scary, but I'd like to experience  it.  We;ll see what this typhoon season brings.  On average about 3-5  of these storms hit Taiwan a year.  

    No pictures this update, sorry.  We actually didn't take any this week.  I'll try to get better.

August 3, 2007 - Well, we have returned after a long vacation in Nebraska.  We tried not to travel around so much so it was very relaxing.  We met with many of our old friends and lots of family.  Sabrina handled the flights pretty well, and all of that travel wasn't too rough.  We weren't jet lagged too bad after we arrived in the US, but coming back, at least for me, we were really jet lagged.  We are back now, and it is hot and humid.  Can't say I missed this weather, but being away from Taiwan really let's you appreciate all of its fantastic aspects.  The food, we especially missed, b ut also our normal, simple routine life.

    Sabrina had a wonderful time with grandma and grandpa and Uncle Justin.  She warmed up to them all very quickly and spent most of our time there clinging to Grandma.  My familyloved every second except for when we had to leave.  Sabrina was pretty jet lagged when we got to the US, but nothing too terrible.  She had the opportunity to do so much while there.  She rode a horse for the first time at our family reunion.  She rode on a boat, played in a swimming pool, went for walks at the lake, went to the zoo, experienced the 4th of July, met nearly all of my family, rode a train, fed some goats, and made many new friends.  She was rather spoiled.  The one thing that surprised me was that she didn't like much of the food in Nebraska.  Hamburger, pizza, hot dogs, and the like she wouldn't eat.  It became so hard we (including myself) had to fix Taiwanese style meals for her, so she would eat.  She turned out ok, but it surprised me.  Sabrina is adjusting well to being back, but I think she is a bit bored.  I also think she was used to central air conditioning, because now she isn't sleeping as much at night.  Grandma and Grandpa sure do miss her though.

    Hsin-Yi and I spent a lot of our vacation with family and friends.  It was wonderful seeing them all again.  We all had so much to talk about.  Hsin-Yi took a trip to Washington, D.C to take part in a Falun Gong rally there.  They were working to increase awareness of the persecution in China, where hundreds of people are put into prison and tortured, beaten and oftentimes killed (sometimes for their organs) simply because of their spiritual beliefs.  While she was away at that, I went fishing with my good friend Nate and my parents got a lot of alone time with Sabrina.

    Now we are back, and settled back in.  Hsin-Yi is back at work.  I have about another week to relax before I need to start going in to school.  Our house was in one piece when we got back, just really dirty.  We are working now on getting the top floor ready to rent out.  Hopefully we can get it rented by September.  The weather here has been quite strange.  We have had thunderstorms everyday for a week.  Rain is not unusual for Taipei, but thunder and lighting are.  These storms all come in the after noon after what have been pristine mornings.  I guess the heat just pushes all of that humid air up into the sky where it cools and forms clouds, and eventually, by late in the dat they are so big, the T-storms start. 

    My only definite plans before school starts is to see the Simpson's Movie.  I can't wait.  I down to counting the days. 

July 1, 2007 - In exactly 48 hours from now, we will be taking off for the US.  Our long-awaited trip back to the US is upon us.  It will be our first time back since we left last May, and will be Sabrina's first conscious experience of her birthplace.  We are, of course, excited to be able to take this time to relax with family and friends, and to get away from the hussle, bussle, smog, and heat of Taipei.  It will be nice to get away from work too.  We haven't started packing yet, but there isn't much to pack this time.  We are basically all set to go, just killing time now, and doing what we can to get the house ready for out month long absence. 

    Sabrina is doing wonderfully.  She is getting these red bumps on her because of the heat and humidity (she is a polar bear, doesn't take the heat well), but they don't seem to bother her.  Hopefully the stay in dry Nebraska will help.  She is really into going through books with us these days.  We read about 6 or 7 books to her a day, and oftentimes she wants more.  She is remembering a lot of words from the books, though she still can't say a lot of them, she is associating the words we say with the pictures.  It is exhilarating to watch.  Her memory is improving also.  Tonight when we took her to the doctor's to get another immunization, she started crying when the doctor was getting out his tools, because she knew what was coming.  She hadn't cried that much from shots since she was 4 months old.  She is changing so fast.  She has most of her teeth coming in now.  She is only missing her last molars.  She is such a cutie, be sure to check the pictures.

    We had some light construction done on the house today as well.  We had some overhangs (I think that's what you call them) put in over some of our windows that hadn't had them.  We were getting annoyed by the water that always came in when we left the windows open and it rained.   The gutters on the roof were also bent and not draining properly, so we had them fixed too.  We are planning on renting the top floor out when we get back, so we thought we'd better get it ready to rent.  It still needs to be cleaned and a hot water unit put in, but for the most part iti s ready to go.

    Well that's about all.  We will be in Lincoln until the 28th, so I doubt I will update the site during July.  After all, it is my vacation.  Anyone wishing to contact us during July can still email or phone us at my parent's place in the US. 

June 18, 2007 - In exactly 2 weeks from the time I'm writing this we will be boarding a plane to the US.  Hard to believe that this time is almost upon us.  None of us are looking forward to the trip.  Not that I don't like the long flight.  It is interesting. I actually don't mind it too much, but this time it will be with a toddler.  We've traveled with Sabrina before, short distances, and have had mixed results.  Sometimes she is an angel, sometimes she kicks and screams because she wants to run around or can't fall asleep.  I'm preparing myself for the worst trip ever, but hoping for a smooth ride.  Once we get to Nebraska, though, things will be fine.  It will be great as long as we aren't too jet lagged.  Much of my family will be there, and it will be a lot of good times.  I'm getting excited.  It will be a good vacation before the school year starts.  

    We took Sabrina to the Taipei Zoo this weekend.  Sabrina and I had never been there, and Hsin-Yi hadn't since college.  Honetly, it was a nice zoo.  Though the it kind of felt like all the animals were circus animals, because the zoo keepers had them al trained to do stuff when they went in the pens.  The flamingos for example were herded out by a zoo keeper.  All of the birds got in a lne and walked out wihtout the zoo keeper having to do much of anything.  The monkeys caught bananas in the air.  Nonetheless, the variety of animals there was impressive, the environment was relaxing, and the price was low.  We all got in for less than $4US, add transportation there and the trip cost us about $5.  Not bad for a trip to large entertaining zoo in a major metropolitan area.  Actually, I don't even think we could go to the Children's Zoo in Lincoln for that, and that zoo is rather pathetic.  Sabrina had a lot of fun running around and looking at the animals.  She especially enjoyed the monkeys.  She would laugh and laugh every time they moved or did something.  We were all tired when we got back, but it proved to be a fun day.  We also took her to the mall this weekend, where she played and played on the toy floor.  On a hot day, there isn't a better place to take your little one to play.  She loved it, and we only had to pay for transportation to get there.

    Dragon Boat Festival is tomorrow.  We still have no plans yet, but we will probably head to Hsin-Yi's parents house for some food and chatting.  The weather has held out this weekend and it has proved so we have managed to get out a lot.  Sabrina is getting spoiled, but not so much as she will in Lincoln when she gets there.  The leak in our roof seems to be fixed, so I won't be worried about a flooded house when we get back from the States.  We are all ready to go as far as immigration stuff, we just need to pack.  The hassles of vacation.

June 13, 2007 - So after about a solid week of non-stop rain, it is only relatively cloudy now, and cooler which is nice.  During the downpour, we were lucky enough to discover that there is a leak in the roof of our building, and we had water coming out from under the cupboards in the living room.  I say we were lucky because any later, and it wouldn't have been free for us to fix it.  When we bought this place, our contract stated that our home was leak free and would be fixed if we found any leaks.  We found some and so the guy came to look at them tonight.  Apparently the leak is way at the very top of the building.  Hopefully he can get is all fixed by this weekend.

    I'm not sure if I've mentioned it, but things develop extremely fast here in Taipei.  Now, I'm from Lincoln, Nebraska where it takes like a year or more for a business to transform.  By this I mean, be sold, torn apart, remodeled into a completely different business, staff itself, and open.  Well since we've moved in 6 months ago, several businesses have gone through this process.  The average time for them to complete the above process: 1-2 months.  One month, sometimes a little more, to buy a business, tear it out, remodel it and open up again as a completely different business with new owners and everything.  It's amazing!  I have seen it several times and I still can't believe how fast this happens.  The funny thing is, two of these have been realtors, giving us now 4 realtors on the same block.  We don't have that big of a neighborhood.  Hard to believe there is that much of a demand for housing in this area.  

    My summer classes are now in swing.  It is more stressful than the rest of the school year, because I have to do all original plans.  I can't borrow from our text books and that curriculum.  So I am always making materials or tracking them down.  It's fun though.  Today in my science class my kids and I made no-bake cookies to learn about how heat changes matter.  They said they were "yummy".  I'm almost half-way though the month now, so 2 more weeks and than vacation time!  I'm excited.  Well, except for the plane trips.  

    Sabrina is doing well.  She is having some allergic reactions to dust mites though (a common problem here.)  Apparently, 90% of all allergic reactions in Taiwan are caused by dust mites.  Must have something to do with the warm, humid climate.  So, tragically, Hsin-Yi put all her stuffed animals into the freezer.  Her nose has stopped running, but she still coughs and sneezes sometimes at night.  Maybe that was my problem too.  I find myself sneezing all the time, especially at work.  Must be the mites, or the mold.  Both are quite prominent here.  Sabrina is getting more interesting each day.  She actively tries to make us laugh by making funny sounds or doing some thing silly.  She is such a happy baby, making it hard not to do what she wants the few times she gets upset or begs for something.  She has her different moods, and her general temperament.  She's finally becoming a real person, and not an inexpressive little baby any more.  They change so fast.  She has gotten two more teeth, so she is chewing better.  Nothing real interesting to tell I guess, she has just been herself and we couldn't be happier.  We are trying to ween her to a cup (maybe a little late, but oh well), and she is doing alright.  Still spilling a lot of water, but at least she will go get a rag and clean it up herself (no joke.)  We haven't been taking many pictures either.  I guess the rain kind of dampened our motivation.  I'll try to get more on of Sabrina soon.

    We have a 4 day weekend ahead of us.  Dragon Boat Festival (literally named because of the Dragon Boat races), a holiday that commemorates the suicide of an ancient Chinese poet, but also has a practical history of warding off "evil spirits" or disease, as summer is a disease ridden time in the tropics.  So, many of the festivities are related to one of the above.  The signature event of course are the dragon boat races.  These are very competitive and fun to watch.  It's like crew, but with a drummer and a cooler looking boat.  The races symbolize the villagers rushing to save the drowning poet.  Then, the traditional gift to children, little fragrant pouches, are to ward of evil spirits, keeping them healthy through the summer.  You can read more about the festival here.  

   

June 4, 2007 - We had a rough weekend.  We were both sick (food poisoning maybe) on Sunday.  Sabrina was very energetic, which made it hard.  Thankfully she seems ok...so far.  Saturday, may school had a little carnival for the kids.  I idiotically volunteered to help.  I set up bowling pins for little kids to knock down for 3 hours.  It was exhausting.  Hsin-Yi brought Sabrina in though and my colleagues all got to meet her.  It was fun.  Sabrina loved playing with all the toys we have there.  

    All of the other foreign teachers except one are leaving this week.  Soon, I will be the most senior teacher at the school (scary, huh?)  But I guess that was destined, as I will be here for a long time, it is only natural for me to reign in a position that most foreign teachers stay in for an average of only 2 years.  Foreign teachers here come and go very quickly.  Turn over is so high, that there are openings year-round, and the pay is much higher than the skill level required to do the job demands.  As I've mentioned before, I make nearly as much as my wife, the PhD, and I could easily make more than her, if I were a workaholic.  

    I saw my good friends and colleagues, Rubing and Ellen, off yesterday.  We had a little get together, and they will be leaving the country tomorrow to travel and then head back home.  They are good people and it was fun working with them.  I'll miss them.  They will be getting married in August, so congrats to them.

    As I was mentioning to a friend in an email a few days ago, life here is busy and it is raining a lot, but I am consoled by the fact that lychee are now in season.  For those of you have have never had this fruit fresh, I pity you.  It is one of the most divine tasting foods on this planet.  They are only in season here for 2 or 3 months in the summer and then you can't get them the rest of the year.  I eat them everyday to get my fill.  They grow in bunches, like grapes, but are about the size of a large cherry tomato.  They are white with a red/green, rough peel on the outside.  They are incredibly juicy and tasty.  They are by far one of my favorite things about this country.  I miss them more than anything when I'm away.  I will miss them in July when we visit Nebraska.  So, if you don't fear the heat.  I recommend you visit during the summer so you can enjoy this fruit.

May 27, 2007 - Busy, busy, busy.  Those are the words to describe life in Taipei.  If you are raising a family here you work all the time.  It's not just us.  All of my students parents (well, mostly the dads, working moms are still not that common here) are super busy and barely see their kids at home.  That's the main reason domestic help is so cheap here.  Honestly, we could afford a "nanny" (usually Filipino around here) if we wanted to.  Most of my students have one because mom and/or dad are too busy working the insane working hours of East Asia to do the necessities around the house.  We get them all done, but we are usually busy working (either at work or house chores) from 7:30am till 9pm.  It makes for a long tiring day.  Things are even busier for me now that it is near the end of the school year.  More to do.  I was at work on Saturday from 7:30am-2pm because of a graduation ceremony my school had.  Now I'm in the throes of planning for next month, but after that, I should be free up until August.  Because July is vacation time.  

    The rain came for about 4 days then stopped.  It's been mostly hot, sunny and humid the last week with some sporradic downpours at night.  We aren't in the clear, and I hope (because I don't want water shortages) the rains come soon.

    We remark to ourselves everyday how cute Sabrina is.  She is communicable now.  She understands much of the basic things we say to her and she can often communicate her wants and needs to us.  It is a good time and we are learning a lot.  Sabrina is learning more and more too.  She learned "jump" yesterday, and looks really cute trying to jump around.  My favorite thing though is how she is starting to show affection now.  If you get angry at her, though she can't say she's sorry, she will cry and come over to you looking sorry.  When you hurt your self and she can see you are in pain, she will give you a hug.  And when she sees you after you've been away for a long time, she will run over and hug you.  She kisses goodnight and goodbye, too.

    Things are good here, but we are really looking forward to vacation.  Some time off will help relax us.  Life in Taipei can be stressful, we are looking forward to some time in the small town and the dry weather.

 May 17, 2007 - As requested by some loyal blog readers, there has been requests that I post some of my "artistic musings".  Being an English teacher I assign a lot of writing to my students.  It isn't fair if I don't write with them, so I often come up with short things during class.  I rarely type any of it out, but I have a lot of short musings, mostly poems, laying around my classroom and home.  I'll try and post some every now and then.  This piece below is not yet titled, so I will call it "Words" for now. 

I’ve always loved words                                                                                                        Words are my friend                                                                                                                 Strung together like a pearl necklace                                                                           Or left alone like a prize cow                                                                                            They are always beautiful                                                                                                  And when companied with music                                                                                      It was like watching a couple dance                                                                               The music and words moving flawlessly                                                                        All the page their dance floor                                                                                               Their meaning clear                                                                                                                  Their purpose obvious                                                                                                             Their beauty understood                                                                                                        Yet I find myself here                                                                                                 Shocked                                                                                                                              Stunned by what I hear                                                                                                Those words that I love                                                                                                    Have become water in the desert                                                                                Buried or too far away to find                                                                                          My ear is now bombarded                                                                              Surrounded                                                                                                                        Forced to surrender to                                                                                                 Words that are empty                                                                                         Meaningless, monosyllabic mumblings                                                                           I fight with them                                                                                                                          I wrestle and struggle                                                                                                          Only to find myself defeated…                                                                                       Tired…                                                                                                                                Crying

Then it happens

One word at a time                                                                                                              The meaning returns                                                                                                                 But how long can I keep up this                                                                                     Epic battle                                                                                                                             How long will it take me                                                                                                       To love.                                                                                                                                       To learn                                                                                                                              Chinese. 

If you have any comments, feel free to email me.

May 16, 2007 - Well the rain didn't come today, but now they saw tonight.  We'll see.  Our good friend, Wang Mei-Hui, had her baby yesterday.  A girl at 7 lbs and 9 oz, I'm sure she's adorable.  Sorry no pictures yet, of course, she is still in the hospital, but congratulations to her and her husband on this wonderful, yet extremely trying, time of their lives.

I finished an excellent book today per recommendation of a co-worker of mine.  The book is called Jacob Have I Loved.  It is a delightful read, with a captivating plot line, wonderfully portrayed characters, and azzling descriptions and emotions throughout.  I highly recommend it to all reders out there.  IT is a book for young adults, and some of you may have read it in school.  Well, I didn't.  Lincoln Public Schools in their infinite wisdom did not track me with advanced readers because I was a slow reader, so I never was able to take the classes that read a lot of these great books.  At least I have the opportunity to read them all now out of my school's library.

May 15, 2007 - Wow, it's really been 2 weeks since I posted anything?  I guess time flies when you're busy.  Which it has been for me with progress reports (aka report cards) due this week.  I'm done now, but with 4 classes, I have more than any other teacher to do.  Anyway this week marked the one year anniversary of our move to Taipei.  Unbelievable, huh?  We've been here a whole year now.  True, we have many more to go, but this first one is done.  Not that I'm counting down, but now that I think back, it didn't seem like that long.  Well, things are pretty much all set up for the next year.  We have a vacation back to Lincoln in July then it's back to the old routine.  I signed up for another year at Happy Kids (aside from all of the paper work and planning, I really like the school.)  I've been happy at the school so, I couldn't see a reason why I should switch.  Plus, this will be the first job since I worked since I've graduated that I have stayed at  longer than one year.   Who knows, maybe I'll make a career of this place.  They gave me a 2% raise, and more days off this next year.  I can't argue with that.  The benefits aren't bad either for a language school in Taiwan.  So I'm all signed up, Hsin-Yi of course is set for next year.  Things are good.

Mother's Day came and went here.  It was hard being away from Lincoln and my mom on this day, as it was last year.  More so because I know it isn't easy for her.  For us here, we spent Mother's Day with Hsin-yi's family.  It was a bit of an ordeal.  We went to her folks place around 11am on Sunday expecting to just eat cake, drink tea and then go home.  Apparently, her father wanted to go all the way to Keelung (pronounced Gee-Lung, a city on the northern tip of Taiwan) to eat a seafood restaurant as a family.  That's all fine and good, but we didn't know about this plan, and hadn't adaquately prepared stuff for Sabrina for a long trip like that.  On top of that, what is normally a 20 min drive took over 45min because everyone in Taipei had the same idea.   The food was fine, the weather was awful, but at least Sabrina was on good behavior.  She did well, played, and behaved herself at the table.  Sabrina is table trained pretty well now, though she is very interested in feeding herself, and if we don't let her she gets hysterical (no kidding).  

 Not much more Sabrina news to tell.  She has had a cold for the past week, but she is getting better and it only caused her a bit of discomfort.   I have a strong suspicion she got the cold from me.  It is hard to pin down new words she is saying.  She is understanding more and more what we say (in both Chinese and English), but only a few new words.  She is saying "don't know" (which comes with the hand gestures too, mommy taught her) and "no no no" now.  She will repeat what we say sometimes, only once though and then she'll pretend like she didn't say it.  Needless to say, her language skills are coming along.  I also mentioned earlier that she really likes feeding herself.  She isn't good at it at all, but she likes it, and if we don't let her, she starts crying like it's the end of the world.  I guess it's good.  It means her motor skills are developing well.  She is a strong, intellegent, healthy baby.  We couldn't be more proud.

The rains haven't come yet, as I thought they would 2 weeks ago, but I just read in the newspaper that they are due on Wednesday.  We'll see.  Actually, as much as I hate the rains, if they don't come and bring a lot of rain, there will be water shortages during the summer and fall.  So I guess we need them, but I won't be happy when they come.  In other Taiwan news, the next presidential election (due in March 2008) is heating up.  The final contestants seem to be already picked.  The ruling party, the Democratic Progressive PArty, is fielding the former premier and mayor of Kaohsiung, Frank Hsieh, against the former mayor of Taipei and chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (those are the guys who got their but kicked by Mao and then ruled Taiwan with an iron fist until the 80's) Ma Ying-Jieo of the KMT.  Ma is on trial for corruption and Frank is under suspicion of corruption so it will be interesting how this all pans out.  MA is very pro China, so of course we are hoping the DPP prevails again.  No doubt it will be close.   I nother news Taiwan has been screwed over by the international community once again, because no one wants to stand up to China.  Taiwan has been denied entry into the UN and the WHO (even as an observer) simply because China doesn't want it to.  Write your congressman and tell them how you feel about that.  It would help us, if only a little.  There was a great letter to the editor in the Taipei Times today about this issue.  Check it out here.

Well, I've said enough.  Hope everyone had a nice Mom Day and is looking forward to the summer.  I know I do every year. 

May 1, 2007 - Well it's Labor Day in Taiwan and May Day in the US and it is still just a regular day for us here.  No day off, just another day.  At least the sun is shining, something that is going to be a luxury soon as the rains are coming.  For those of you unfamiliar with East Asian geography, during the early summer a frontal system builds up in the souther parts of the region.  The warming oceans bring warm moist air up to collide with the cooler air to the north.  This creates lots and lots and lots and lots (did I mention lots?) of rain.  The rain usually lasts from early May to late June (when the temperature finally gets warm enough to push that front further north.)  Imagine a nice hard downpour that lasts for 2 months straight (literally, with almost no breaks except in strength), and you'll have an idea of how much rain I'm talking about.  It is one thing to talk about, but another thing entirely to live through it.  Last time I was here for the rain season (called via literal translation The Plum Rain Season) I suffered from mild depression as the combination of the constant drumming sound of the rain, the perpetual wetness, and the lack of sunshine just does me in.  I'm hoping that I handle it better this time around.  Stay tuned for that.

    We finally purchased an air conditioner.  It is getting installed by two guys right now as I write this.  They are rather quite and very polite.  I only hope they are finished in time so I can get to work.  I think they know more about my house than I do.  Right now they are lifting the massive unit outside and putting it on the railing that lines our window.  AS central air conditioning is almost unheard of in Taiwan in residential settings, all A/C's are either window ones or...how do you call them....a quieter version where the big unit is separated from the fan and cooling apparatus.  Well, it's supposed to be quieter, we shall see, as the until will sit right outside our living room because of how our place is designed.  Nonetheless, the summers here can be pretty horrid without A/C.  We might have to buy one or two more.

    Hsin-Yi had a friend from Okinawa come and visit us.  Her name is Masako.  It was fun having someone over for a change.  Sabrina was especially cute for the occasion.  Speaking of Sabrina, she is turning into a little roamer.  She never stops moving when she is at our place.  However when we take her out sometimes, she is reluctant to move at all.  IT is quite strange.  But, I suppose she is at that age where she understands the familiar people and who strangers are.  She also has her "mood swings" where she goes from indiscriminently playful and clingy and shy on other days.  I guess that just means she is human.  Something that, for some reason, is hard to accept.  

    Well, I finally booked our flights for the trip back to Lincoln this year.  We will be flying into Omaha, Nebraska at 8:15am on July 3rd after 2 overnight flights (we leave at midnight from Taipei, land at 9pm in LA, and then take off for the Twin Cities at midnight again.)  I only hope we all aren't seriously jet lagged for the 4th.  WE have some reservations about making this trip with Sabrina, but she has always surprised us when taking trips like this so, I can only hope it won't be as bad as we fear.  Once we land it will be fine, and a nice leisurely vacation.  Hsin-Yi will stay for 2 weeks leaving on the 17th (as she can't stay away from work for too long), and Sabrina and I will remain until the 26th.  Anyone who can make to Lincoln, Nebraska for the 4th of July is welcome to the annual Brunken 4th of July Party at my parent's house.  We are in for a treat, as my uncle who I haven't seen for a very long time will be joining the family for the celebrations as well as my aunt and uncle from Miami.  It will be wonderful time, and (as long as she isn't too cranky from the time change) Sabrina is sure to be the star of the party.

April 26, 2007 - I think the prospect of always having to deal with uploading pictures is deterring me from posting as much, so I think I'll update more frequently now, with just entries here.  

    Life is busy but good.  It is coming to the last month of the semester for me, and my contract.   I will definitely sign back on with this school.  I think just one other teacher and me are returning next year.  Everyone else is heading back home.  IT will be sad seeing some of my new friends go, but it is the nature of the beast here in Taiwan.  Foreigners rarely stay for more than a year or two before heading back.  I am an exception now.  The good thing about coming back will be finally having the opportunity to teach the same classes again and thus saving time on planning and then being able to improve on what I did this year.  First time I've had the chance to do this.  I'm excited.  

    New words for Sabrina have been "fish", "fishy", and "no more".  She is also fascinated with opening and closing doors now, and always insists on doing it when we go in and out of anywhere.  Se is getting shyer, I think.  Now when we take her out she is a little hesitant about wandering around unless you take her hand.  And she kind of freezes and stares at anyone she doesn't know for awhile before even trying to interact with them.  I'm sure this is normal, but it is frustrating to see a kid who was so friendly from 6 mo to a year, who is now getting shyer.  Oh well, I'm sure we'l see even bigger changes as the years go on.

    We are looking into the trip back and the reality of how hard it will be to actually get there is sinking in.  Sabrina was a little baby who just ate and slept when we came here, now she likes to run around and gets bored and whines.  I think it will be one tough trip this time.  Tickets are pricey too, and it is proving to be difficult to find anything affordable, but we will be back in Lincoln for the 4th (maybe, just barely though.)  I am looking forward to that party, I jsut hope Hsin-Yi and Sabrina aren't too jet lagged.  

    In other ramblings, I've been reading some good books recently (what I like about teaching, it forces you to read).  Anyone looking for a hell of a read, check out Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech.  There are plenty more, but that's the one I'm almost finished with.  Maybe I'll create another page to include my artistic musings.  It's a thought.  Expect a ntoher update soon with some photos.

April 16, 2007 -  Today I am red faced.  Not figuratively, but literally.  We spent Sunday in Hsinchu, a city an hour and a half south of Taipei, to take part in a demonstration there.  The demonstration, which was a 3 hour march, was held to support the 20 million people who have withdrawn from the Chinese Communist Party since the publication of the Nine Commentaries on the Chinese Communist Party.  If you are not familiar with the CCP and the Nine Commentaries, it is a provocative read.  It really sheds new light on a rising power that will host the world's most prestigous sporting event in a year.  There were quite a few people there.  I haven't heard any official numbers, but I would say it was at least a few thousand, maybe close to ten thousand.  The weather was sunny for the first couple hours and then it remained cloudy the rest of the day, but I still got burned, only on my forearms and face though, and not too badly.  Sabrina got a little sun, too.   Her face was a little rosy afterwards, but it doesn't seem to bother her at all, so it wasn't too much I guess.  We set out toward Hsinchu at about 8am, and didn't get back until 6pm.  So it was a long day, but Sabrina did wonderfully.  She never complained, except on the bus a little when she was bored.  She even slept for about an hour during the parade.  We were so proud of her.

    We are starting to look into plane tickets now, as the date approaches.  We are still planning on being in Lincoln before the 4th of July.   The big challenge now is trying to find affordable tickets as that would be the "peak season" for travel.  Not like we have a choice, but it isn't exactly the best time to fly.  Life pretty much continues on as usual here.   Even though the government just conducted a readiness drill in case of an attack by China, it didn't even disturb life as usual here.  

    A funny piece of political information here is that one of the leading presidential  candidates, one who many thought was a shoe in for the presidency less than a year ago, is now on trial for corruption.  That's not very surprising, but the funny part is, that he says even if he loses, he will still run.  Only in Taiwan.

    One last quick note, my school redid their website, so it looks much nicer now.  They are also adding more and more pictures to it.  They just launched the new site today, and guess who is on it?  Me!  Ha, I shown in one of the picture galleries taking my science class to the park.  Check it out, here on the website.

   

April 8, 2007 - Happy Easter!  Things got pretty busy toward the end of March.  I didn't have time to get around to posting here.  The end of the month is always pretty hectic for me because I have to plan out the next month for my classes and submit them to administration.  It isn't so bad, but it can eat up a lot of time.  It's also been pretty miserable here, weather wise.  It has been cloudy, rainy, cold now for over a week.  IT isn't even the rainy season and we have to pt up with this.  Before this rainy, cold stuff it was sunny and warm like it should be here in April.   But, I guess a lot of places are having some ugly weather this time of year.  My parents told me it's below freezing in Lincoln.  From the news, I can see it's icy everywhere in the US.  Even in south Texas it was in the 30's.  

Enough about weather though.  Happy Easter!  It's not really celebrated here by anyone but Christians, but it's a holiday nonetheless.  There was a national holiday that fell close to Easter here.  It's called Tomb Sweeping Day, a day that is literally set aside for people to head to their ancestral burial grounds and clear the dirt and weeds from their ancestors' tombs.  Traffic was in fact backed up for over 30 miles on the highway at times with people heading south from Taipei.  The government gave us all Friday off (Thursday was the holiday) so we had a 4 day weekend, however the joke's on us.  We have to work next Saturday to make it up.  Some holiday, I'd rather have the Saturday.

That being the case, we didn't do much of anything for Easter here.  Grandma and Grandpa sent some plastic Easter eggs, a book and treats for Sabrina and some candy for us.  I put some treats in the eggs and scattered the eggs around the room for Sabrina to find and play with while Grandma and Grandpa watched online.  She had fun, they had fun, it was good time.  Unfortunately, Hsin-Yi was not feeling too well today, so she wasn't there for the fun.  She's feeling a little better though.

Sabrina is now pretty good and getting around on her two legs.  So, it's much easier for us to take her out to places.  We've taken to the park a few times, where she always has lots of fun.  We've taken her shopping, which she absolutely loves.  She loves shopping, which for her means taking all the things she can off the shelf and putting them on the floor and then picking them up and walking around with them.  She loves doing it with a basket even more.  We're certain she will be a shopper when she gros up.  She already has an unhealthy fascination with shoes.  She also is taking an interest in feeding herself, though we rarely let her.  We are all about letting her explore and learn for herself by doing things, but that all stops short of mopping the floor everyday.  Sabrina does well with fruit, she gets almost where all of it where it is supposed to go.  However, when comes to almost everything else that requires utensils she gets about 98% on the floor, table and herself.  Maybe when it gets warmer and she can eat without clothes on, then we will let her try more.  She's only 14 months old, not behind yet, specially for this country.  I have seen on multiple occasions parents feeding (that's right, feeding) their 10 year old children.  I had to look twice when I saw it, but there it was.  I am almost certain there is nothing cultural behind that, but there could be.  That won't be Sabrina, she's too bright and adventurous to ever let us do that anyway.

The forecast says it will warm up this week and I hope it does.  I often tell Hsin-Yi that I'm solar powered.  That sunshine and heat really gives me more energy and makes me happier.  I'm looking forward to a little sun and playtime outside before the rain comes and stays for a month.  I'll keep you all posted.

March 18, 2007 -  Not much new to report.  Sabrina has been "walking" for a week now, but I think it is more official to say that she has been walking for about 4 days now.  She took some steps last Saturday, but then refused to walk on her own until Thursday night when all of a sudden she just started walking around like she'd been practicing all week.  So, since Thursday she's been walking around all over the house.  I've uploaded 2 videos of her walking around, so you can see.  Our best one was too big to upload, maybe I'll try for another soon.  So, she is still proving to be a fast learner.  She has started picking up Chinese words now, too.  She can say "pick me up", "orange", and "ok" in Chinese now.  Her English vocabulary is expanding too.  She is saying some new words like "banana" and her listening comprehension is amazing.  She understands such phrases as "put it back", "come here", "give it to _____", and "where is _____".  I've said it before and I'll say it again, it is simply amazing them watching them learn as they grow.  Her cold has seemed to go away, and seems to be in the clear for right now.  Though, as I write this she is crying her eyes out (at 10:30 pm) because she can't get to sleep because of gas or something.  

    All is well with everything else.  Hsin-Yi's sister, Hsin-Chien, has found a job ofter months of searching.  We went over to the folks place this weekend to congratulate her on that.  Strangely enough to me, she didn't seem as happy about it as I though she would.  She could be stressed about her first day coming up soon, I guess.  I feel for Hsin-Yi's mom now.  She is all alone in taking care of Zhi-Song now.  

    As for Hsin-Yi and me, life moves along as usual.  Hsin-Yi is close to starting her research in her new lab.  I have parent teacher conferences on Thursday and Friday.  I find conferences  easy, but the end of the month is always busy with submitting plans and other things the school requires us to turn in.  The summer is only a few months away, and the birds are starting to sing in the morning again.  Summertime is coming and therefore each new day is always a better day (for me anyway).

March 11, 2007 - Well it's official, Sabrina can walk (sorry, no pictures yet)!  She took her first series of unassisted steps at her grandma and grandpa's house yesterday, and everyone there was watching.  It was pretty cool, unfortunately we didn't get it on camera.  We know she can do it now, but today she was back to her old self, only making her bipedal excursions while holding our hand.  It won't be long though and she'll be walking around everywhere.  She is talking too.  On top of "ball" she can express her desire for water, milk, bananas, and various toys.  So far she has said "nei nei" for milk, "wa wa" for water, "bao bao" when she wants to be picked up (that's Chinese), "bee bee" for stuffed animals and some real animals, and of course the usual "mama", "mom", "ba ba", and "daddy".  She understands a lot too.  It is so exciting watching her learn new things so fast and so quickly.  Well, that's the big news, I guess.  She is 13 months old now, and still drawing coos, awe, and getting free stuff whenever we go out.  Sabrina and I had a cold this past week (Sabrina is still a little stuffed up though.)  Otherwise, she has been eating well, sleeping well, and her normal happy self. 

    Chinese New Year officially ended last Saturday with Lantern Festival.  It went out with a bang, lots of fireworks everywhere.  I had the pleasure of watching a local shrine by Hsin-Yi's parent's house light off a 30 minute display.  It kind of puts the Forth of July to shame.   We spent the holiday eating and hanging at the folks house.  Pretty mild other than the fireworks. 

    The tragic thing about the past couple weeks was that my trusty old laptop died on me on Feb 28th along with my cell phone.  I think my hard drive stopped working along with all of the old problems.  So, I have been phoneless since, but I went out and bought me a brand new computer on the 3rd.  It's a Vista -ready Toshiba Satellite A-100.  It is pretty sweet, but expensive.  Good thing we can save money easily here otherwise life would have been difficult without a computer at home for me to use.

    Work and routine life are back in full swing.  Taiwan is holidayless now until Tomb Sweeping Day in April.  Hsin-Yi has started her new semester at school.  She is teaching a chmesitry, biology, and biomaterials seminar this time.  She is also getting close to starting her research as her new lab is finished has nearly finished buying all of the equipment for it.  My classes are going well.  I have parent-teacher conferences for this semester next week.  I enjoy the conferences, but the school makes write forms for each of our students during this time which adds a of extra work.  So, I'll be working on those for the next week, and then I'll have to work on my plans for April, and thenmaybe I'll be able to relax a bit more.  July is looking pretty good about now.

    Weather wise in Taiwan it is getting a bit nicer.  We had 80 degree weather for awhile here, but then it dropped back down ot the 50's.  It basically rained all of last week.  Spring is close though, and soon it will be nice, and then soon after that the rainy season begins and it will be wet for 2 months.  Then it'll be summer.  Summer will be when we take our vacation in the States.  We will be in Lincoln by the 4th, and both of us are counting the days.  Only 3 and a half months left. 

   

February 25, 2007 -  Happy Chinese New Year!  The holiday season in Taiwan has come and gone, and we had quite a wonderful time.  My parents (Grandma and Grandpa Brunken) made the long journey to Taiwan to visit us and Sabrina.  We had a magnificent time.  They enjoyed playing with Sabrina, seeing the sites, eating the food, and paying with Sabrina.  They bought her some new toys (a toy car, a push car, and a stuffed monkey) that Sabrina is really enjoying.  She especially loves being pushed around in her push car, though the purpose of getting it was for her to push it around.  I took my parents to see some of the sites around Taipei, and Hsin-Yi's parents took us all to Yeliou (a natural park on the northern coast with some eroded rocks, one of which is in the shape of a queen's head, creatively called the Queen's Head.  They loved it, especially the sea food we ate.  I think overall they loved it here, though it was really different, they were surprised by the friendliness of most Taiwanese, the moderness of Taipei, and all of the delicious food.  Thye are back safely now in Lincoln, Nebraska where it just started snowing heavily.  They are expected to get 8 inches.  We're not jealous at all.

    It has been about a month since I've written anything here.  I truly apologize, but February turned out to be an extremely busy month.  I had to finish up with all of my plans for school through March by February 9th, and then it was vacation and the folks arrived.  Though I haven't written much a lot has happened.

    Sabrina is almost 13 months, and she is a completely different baby than she was a month ago.  She is eating even more now it seems.  She plays more like a child than a baby now.  She is beginning to talk now.  Her favorite word is "ball", it was one of her first too.  She like to play with balls quite a bit, though she can't quite catch, she has a surprisingly good arm when she throws.  She knows "baby" which she calls all of her stuffed animals.  She knows "boom", which she calls blocks because that's what she does when I start building them up, she just knocks them down.  She also knows that all the firecrackers she heard over New Years said "boom".  Now when she hears a pop, even in the distance, she will say "boom".  She keeps saying more everyday.  She is even developing some Chinese vocabulary too.  She calls herself "mei mei" which means "little sister" in Chinese.  We think this is because that is what her Grandma and babysitter call her when she is around.

    As far as walking goes, she is making a lot of progress.  She has now almost mastered standing up on her own.  She can do it, but not very easily yet.  She did take one ot two tiny steps a couple times when she stood, but she is still not there yet.  She walks well with assistance or something to hold on to, but not walking on her own yet.  It is just amazing watching her grow so quickly and watching her develop in front of our eyes.  We can't wait to see what the next month brings.

    Chinese New Year was pretty fun for us.  We did what most Taiwanese do over the holidays: ate an obscene amount of food, played cards, lit off some fireworks, saw some sights,  and spent time with family.  We spent most of the holidays at our house.  For the big New Years dinner on New Years Eve we made Taiwanese hot pot, which my parents enjoyed.  On Homecoming Day (which is the day after New Years Day where the hsband is supposed to bring his wife back to her family's home) we went over to Hsin-Yi's parent's home with my parents.  We ate more food and drank tea.  Everyone enjoyed it.  For the rest of the holiday week, we took it easily and struggled to find food as most places are closed that week.  It was wonderful though.  Of course, one downfall of the holidays are those crazy people who are lighting off fireworks until 5am.  Sabrina managed to sleep through it all.

    It is back to to work for us all tomorrow.  The holidays are over and the new semester is beginning.  Though I have the same classes, Hsin-Yi has a new class to prepare for so she is a little stressed for next week.  Her new lab is all finished though, whe took us all there to show us a couple weeks ago.  It looks very nice.  So, she will be starting her research soon, ehich she is very excited for.

    Oh yeah, by the way we got a special present from my parents when they came: a new camera.  Since our old one died we haven't been able to snap a lit of pictures, but now with this new one (a Cannon, which is very small and fast) we will be able to snap many, many more pictures.

January 29, 2007 -  Happy First Birthday, Sabrina.  Yep it's been a whole year since she's been in our lives.  It's funny how, as a parent, you always feel they grow up to fast.  I remember the first 2 months we thought we wouldn't be able to survive this long, but here we are.  Tragically, Sabrina got sick on Sunday, so she was not feeling to well for her little birthday party at the grandparent's house.  She started to get a fever around lunchtime on Sunday, but so far nothing else.  She's been uncomfortable, but thankfully she has been eating and drinking and no vomiting.  Poor Sabrina, sick on her birthday.  Nonetheless, we did get her a cake, two actually.  One was a tiramisu, and the other was vanilla caramel.  They were both delicious.  Sabrina ate a little, but we didn't want her to have too much because of her condition.  We were pretty bad, in that we haven't got Sabrina a birthday present yet, but grandma didn't forget.  She got 2 new toys to play with, which her and her cousin got into right away.  Still, her condition got in the way of her having a lot of fun.  hopefully it will clear up soon, and she'll be A-okay again. 

    Sabrina had her first family wedding on Saturday (which was probably where she caught whatever she has now).  Hsin-Yi's younger brother, Wei-Ju, finally married his girlfriend.  The event was nice.  Lots of people I didn't know, but everyone seemed to have had a good time.  Sabrina was pretty popular.  Everyone wanted a piece of her.  She may have even taken more pictures and attracted more attention than the bride and groom.  She looked adorable in her new red dress from Grandma Brunken.  See the pictures page for a look.  I couldn't take toom any shots because she was moving around the whole time.  We also saw her go up stairs for the first time (mostly because we don't have any carpeted stairs where we live.)  It was cute, I got a video of it, so check out the videos page.  I had the pleasure of meeting tons of relatives that Hsin-Yi barely knew, but Taiwanese weddings are always pretty nice.  They differ from American weddings in that they lack the religious ceremony and the reception is much more formal, no dancing unfortunately.  

    Schools out for Hsin-Yi, so she is enjoying the time to sleep in each morning.  A lot of the pressure is also lifted when you don't have classes.  My classes will be over in 2 weeks, just in time for my mom and dad to arrive.  We are looking forward to their arrival, and can't wait to watch them with Sabrina.  

    Not much else new here.  The weather has been a bit erratic for Taipei standards.  It was in the 70's earlier this last week, but tonight it has dropped to below 50.  Quite cold for this part of the world.  Hopefully it will warm up some more next week. 

January 19, 2007 -  The last 2 weeks have been about as routine as one can imagine.  We went shopping on the weekend, only bought the usual supplies, an end table for the living room and a wall clock (finally.)  We had been without a clock since we moved in, except for my ancient alarm clock in our bedroom and our cell phones.  We finally found one we liked, who would have thought it'd be so hard.  

    There really isn't any big news to report.  Hsin-Yi's younger brother got married last week, but the reception isn't until next weekend.  Chinese weddings are like that.  The legal aspect of getting married (taking the oath and signing the certificate) is rarely associated with the actual celebration, and they can be weeks apart.  I look forward to that party.  We'll be sure to take some pictures.  Thought that may be difficult as our camera broke this week.  We don't know how or why (Sabrina didn't even drop it), it just started taken pictures of nothing except total darkness.  Strange huh?  Well, perhaps when the new year comes (Chinese New Year, that is) we will shop for a new one or something.For now we are borrowing Hsin-Chien's (Hsin-Yi's sister).

    In news, the last day of the Taiwanese legislative session was today.  There were many bills that needed to get passed, and what did the illustrious legislators do?  They got into verbal arguments, threw things, kicked, pushed, shoved, and hit each other and got nothing accomplished.  It is very sad when so-called mature and responsible adults who are in a leadership position behave like toddlers in front of the whole nation.  It is hard to believe that these "officials" think they serving their country.  They do nothing but embarrass themselves, their party, and their country.  Perhaps the greatest mystery is why the people keep electing these children to office.  It is still a young democracy indeed.

    Students across the nation are taking their semester finals as the first half of the school year draws to a close.  Hsin-Yi's classes are finished.  Mine will be done in3 weeks, just in time for my parents' arrival.  They arrive on February 9th I believe.  We arecounting the days looking forward to the company.

January 7, 2007 -  It's the end of Sunday, and since I'm on putting up some pictures, I thought I should write a bit.  We are slowly but surely getting this place the way we want it.  I finally installed the cutain rod and curtains for Sabrina's room.  Perhaps I should explain that.  Sabrina's room is a small square room that is closed off from the rest of the house by 3 sliding doors which have clouded glass on them.  Lots of light and moving figures can be seen and she has had trouble sleeping while we are in the living room watching TV or whatever.  So we decided to get some curtains to hang in front of the glass to solve this problem.  I finally got them hung and they seem to be working well, and don't look too bad either.  I post a video tour of the house now that we are moved in just as soon as I can shoot it.  there are still a lot of little things we'd like to do and get for this place, but time is something we don't have a lot of during the week.

    Back to boring posts again.  We are back at work and the daily drag so not much time for fun.  We did get a chance to sit down and watch some of the DVD's Justin brought for us on his visit.  He brought Hsin-Yi some Law & Order and me the complete set of The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. We watched Law & Order.  

    I think I forgot to mention what we did for New Year's Eve (our 2nd anniversary.)  Here's something not everyone can say, we went down to the Taipei 101 area for the big fireworks show they do off of the building.  We were there with literally millions of other people.  It was madness.  We knew it would be busy, but not nearly that busy.  There were people crammed downtown in a one or two square mile area shoulder to shoulder.  The public transportation system was running many more trains and buses and it was still basically shut down due to all of the people.    The show was pretty amazing, but definitely not worth the hassle. It was fun to do once, and Justin and Megan wanted to see it.  I think next year though we will stay home.  Here is a YouTube video of the show if you haven't seen it.

January 5, 2007 -      Happy New Year and Merry Christmas to all.  We neglected everybody this year as the holidays fell during an insane;y busy time of the year for us.  Well, everybody but my brother and his girlfriend, Megan, who visited us these last 2 weeks.  I guess that and moving are my excuses for not posting in a month.

     Well, to start, moving went great.  We got all of our stuff packed up and moved in one extremely long day.  The actual moving took about 30 minutes, but the packing and unpacking took hours.  We were unpacking for a couple days and still have one 2 boxes of books that need to be unpacked yet.  Our new furniture has all been moved in, but we are still in the process of getting more.  I think we've decided we still have 2 end tables, a bookcase, and maybe some bathroom furniture yet to get.  Eventually, we'll also have to get a bed and dresser set for Sabrina too.  AS my brother can attest to, for the most part the place is working out wonderfully.  We would like more storage space, but it was the trade of for the wonderful area, low price, and an upstairs.  We are finding having our own place has it's downfalls too.  Now, every time there is a nick or smudge on the walls we get stressed out.  I sigh when I think about what lies ahead with Sabrina.

    Justin and Megan arrived on the evening of December 22nd and left the morning of January 4th.  My the things we did.  Since I had most of the time off, due to the generous Christmas break my school gives us, I showed those two around Taipei.  We went to all the tourist hot spots in town (Taipei 101, CKS Memorial Hall, SYS Memorial Hall, Longshan Temple, The National Palace Museum, etc.) and they were blessed with a quite diverse culinary tour of Taiwan during their visit as well.  though overwhelmed at first, Justin declared he enjoyed his time here and was reluctant to leave.  Once I get the link to his blog about the experience I'll post it here.  Megan also appeared to enjoy her time here.  I ran them around till they were drop dead tired most of the time, but we got to see a lot.  They bought a lot of stuff too.  A warning to anyone who would like to visit Taiwan.  Bring money, because there is so much you want to take back with you.  I for sure enjoyed having Justin here.  We tried to be the best hosts we could in our new home.  It was our first time in a home of our own after all.  But, they unfortunately had to leave, and we are falling back into routine again, hardest for Sabrina.  

    Sabrina has been changing rapidly.  Since I posted last she has hit the 11month-old mark. She hasn't made a lot of progress in the mobility area, but she is quickly picking more and more language.  she isn't talking a lot but she is understanding and responding more and more.  If you ask her "Where's Mommy?" she will look around for her, and if she's in the room, point at her.  If you say, "Sabrina, do you want a banana?" she will get very excited.  She sometimes claps her hands on command, stops when told no, and has even started shaking her head "NO".  It is impossible to describe how it feels watching her grow up.  All I can say, is it is fascinating and wonderful.  

    While her Uncle Justin was here, Sabrina took to him and Megan famously.  She enjoyed playing with them, and was barely nervous around them at first.  In fact, she was so excited while they were here, she rarely wanted to sleep.  She went to bed very late on many occasions and would wake up in the middle of the night.  She got way off schedule and it has been difficult getting her back into routine.  While Justin was here, she didn't have set bedtime (and she was still getting used to her new room, whic hisn't exactly separated from the rest of the house well.)  Now we have to remind her that she has one and it is a time for sleeping.  

    Justin and I were able to watch the Cotton Bowl thanks to my father getting a Slingbox for Hsin-Yi and I.  A Slingbox is a device that place-shifts your TV.  Basically it takes my fathers cable and streams over the internet on a secure line that I can access from my computer here.  It worked very well.  Aside from the resolution quality, after I put it through to my 37" flat screen it was hard to tell the difference between that and regular TV.  We got to watched the game, which started at 12:30am here, but the result was certainly not what we would have liked.  So close again, but still no victory against a top ten team for the Huskers in so many seasons I can't remember.  

    As I mentioned before, now we are just getting back into routine.  Cleaning and trying to finish settling into our new home now that Justin and Megan have flown back to the States.  We will probably go shopping for more things this weekend, but hopefully soon, before my parents get here in February, we will be all settled and comfortable here.  The adjustment hasn't been that hard at all.  We love this area of town much better than where we were before and I for one feel very comfortable in this place.  Now we are thinking of new things to do to it everyday, but we lack the things we need to make t happen, mostly time and money.  We'll see how much we can get done in the next month, when we will be hosting again. 

December 4, 2006 -  The weekend is over and it is back to work.  It's been a miserable week here weather wise.  It has been cloudy and quite cool, this weekend especially.  The sun is supposed to come out tomorrow, so I have my fingers crossed.  Winter in Taipei is of course never as cool as a winter back in Nebraska, but it does drop into the 50's and 60's which with the humidity and or insulation from the heat in your home gets to feel quite cold.  Also, if you are sued to a Taiwanese summer, the winter is quite a contrast.  So we have been dressing up warm at home, and putting layers on Sabrina at night.  Hopefully it will warm up soon.  It is not unusual to have temps between 60 and 80 degrees in December and January.  

    Because of the cool weather, we didn't get out and do much this weekend.  We did buy our TV.  I finally decided to go up to a 37 inch, I just hope it isn't too big.  It is a Phillips 37PF1600T, a model that is only sold in Taiwan.  It has good image quality, HD  ready, surround sound capability, ultra-thin, a 3 year warranty, and Phillips threw in a DVD player and surround sound speaker set with it, so I said "What the hell."  We spent more than we intended to, about $55,000 NTD or about $1700 USD, but the plus is, we can pay it off over the next 12 months without interest. So that part is done.  We have nearly gotten everything for the new place, we are just waiting for all the paperwork to go through so we can start (it's taking longer because I'm not Taiwanese, and I wanted my name on the title.)   

    Nothing else new, really.  We are just making through another week.  Getting ready for my brother to come later this month, and waiting to move in.  If anybody has some request for things from Taiwan, no is the time to put in your orders, haha, so we can send them back with Justin.

November 29, 2006 -  Sabrina is 10 months old today.  It's amazing to think of her that old.  Before we know it she'll be one and walking.  I guess we are excited she is finally getting big enough to be able to do things by herself, but we do miss the good old days too.  We are busy as usual, and yet not much to report.  We are still waiting for the final paperwork to come through on the house, so we can begin the long process of moving out and moving in.  We've been TV shopping, trying to decide on a flat screen TV for the new house.  I think I've settled on an LG 32LC2D,but I'm going to head to another store this weekend to see what they have.  Strangely, LCD TV's here on LCD island are more expensive then I see them in the US.  Well, some models are, the local brands are quite cheap too, but I really want to make sure I get a good one, so I'm not pissed off for the next 5 years before I buy a new TV.      We also hung out with some old friends of mine from Southern Taiwan this weekend, it was a lot of fun.  They came over and we ate lunch and drank tea.  They got a chance to meet Sabrina.  It was a lot of fun.

    Almost poetically, as the weekend ended a large dark cloud drifted over Taipei bringing lots of rain and brought temps down into the mid-60's.  It has been a chilly week so far, but the sun is expected to crack out today and warm up a bit.  It's an all-to0 familiar sign that winter is breathing down our necks.  Yuck.  That's all for now.  A little more next time, I promise.

November 19, 2006 -  Apparently it's been 10 days since I've written anything here.  Sometimes there just aren't enough hours in the day.  We've both been quite tired the last few days.  Getting to bed late, problems sleeping (mostly me due to a recent mosquito incursion), and Sabrina not really sleeping during the day are all combining to wear us out these days.  Thankfully Sunday morning, Sabina didn't wake us up until 7:30, so we managed to get some sleep.  Of course, then we decided to head out to the warehouse stores to do some shopping for the new place, and we are tired again.  It was a fairly successful trip though.  After heading to our place again on Saturday to take some measurements, we headed out to find some furniture.  We walked away with a nice sofa fpr the living room and a fold-out bed for the guest bedroom/office.  We still need to procure a large wardrobe and some office furniture, but we had a good look at what we might like to put in there.  This is fun, shopping for our new place.  We just hope we have enough money for all of the things we want to get.  Check the video site for video footage of our new place. 

    Sabrina, is growing up fast.  She has been sighted standing on her own, without holding onto anything, for a short period of time.  She is crawling like a pro, and recently has stopped napping.  Her appetite only seems to get bigger, and she appears to be starting to talk.  We know she can understand some words now, but we only hear her say "Mom Mom" "MaMa" "BaBa" "DaDa" "Ya"and some other incomprehensible utterances. She really enjoys playing with others, especially babies, which we can only see as a good thing.  She enjoys going to the sitter's to play with the babies, and she loves playing with her cousin, though sometimes he doesn't reciprocate because the only person his age he gets to play with is Sabrina, and that's only once a week.  

    Thanksgiving is this week.  It is pretty much meaningless in Taiwan, but fortunately I work at an American school, so I will get turkey lunch and dinner on Thanksgiving.  I'm quite excited.  Not only is it free, but it will be a good reminder of home on a day you should spend with your family.  We are sad we can't be in Lincoln over Thanksgiving, but unfortunately as teachers our vacations are limited to 2 times of the year: summer break and winter break.  Christmas will be the same, but my brother and his girlfriend will be here for Christmas and New Years, so we will be with at least some of my family.  Strangely, when shopping today one of the stores was having a "Christmas Sale" from 11-16 to 12-9.  Some Christmas sale huh?  Ther ewas Christmas music playing and everything inside.  Well, we enjoyed the discounts that's for sure.

    The house is coming a long.  We singed all the bank papers this last week, so we now officially owe $5.6 million NTD (approx $170,000 USD).  Thankfully we got a nice low interest rate of 2.08% and the management fee waived because the bank manager was a personal friend of Hsin-Yi's dad.  Nice guy, he really helped us a lot.  In about 2 weeks everything should be final and we can begin the long process of installing things, cleaning, packing, moving, and making it livable and the way we like it.  We hope to be all in before Justin gets here on the 19th of December, but I guess if we are not, he can always help us move.  We are still planning on using our top floor to rent out and have classes.  We will probably rent out the bedroom up there (which would bring in a surprising amount of money) and then use the other room to have classes, to bring in more money.  Maybe this place will pay for itself (Ha, yeah right!)  

    That's about it for now.  The weather remains fluctuating between sunny and nice, and cloudy and cool.  Winter is coming, but for now it is still a tropical paradise.  the political situation remains interesting.  The President is sitting back while he waits for his wife to go to trial, and now the mayor of Taipei (the favorite to be president in 2008) is being investigated for almost identical corruption charges.  He has vowed to resign if indicted, that would be interesting to see.  The Taipei mayoral and city council elections are in 20 days and the campaigns are heating up.  Of course, here that means more trucks with loudspeakers and banners, more parades, more rallies in parks, more firecrackers, and more advertisements on the buses, but, surprisingly, there are hardly any commercials on TV.  I think it has something to do with the high population density making it more cost effective to buy or rent some trucks and soup them up into to campaign wagons.  Oh well, it makes for interesting times.

November 9, 2006 -  It's been a big week in politics, but not much else.  In the US, of course, the Democrats stampeded in to power taking both the House and the Senate (still pending recounts I think.)  I was monitoring the results on Election Day from my classroom.  I was quite happy that day.  Not that I'm a staunch Democrat or anything (I only recently registered as a Democrat) but because the US has moved to far right politically in the last  6 years, and change was needed to move it back toward center.  I think I'm not alone when I say that I'm anxiously waiting to see what January brings.  As for Taiwanese politics, President Chen refused to resign, and has pledged to fight the charges against him.  He spent an hour on TV defending his position, but it sounded a little sketchy to me.  I'm not saying he's guilty, but it isn't obvious he is NOT guilty, so now there will be more protests and calls for his resignation than before.  I only hope things remain peaceful.  We, after all, are quite attached to this place now.  

    This weekend we took Sabrina out for a walk in Da-An Forest Park.  The park is one of the largest and most beautiful public parks in the city.  It's near where I work, but I've never been there.  It was quite a pretty place.  there was a gardening expo there when we went, so there were thousands of flowers.  Sabrina, however, was a bit tired and cranky the whole time.  She didn't seem to have a lot of fun, but we,or at least I,  did.  She is doing quite well these days.  She is crawling like a pro now.  She plays very well the other babies at her daycare.  She eats about anything we give her (sometimes we worry she is eating too much.)  She is spitting out syllables and looks like she might be talking soon.  She is eager to discover new things and explore.  So much change from her in only a month, I'm anxious to see her in another month, or when Uncle Justin comes, or when Grandma and Grandpa Brunken come to see her.  

    We are still waiting on the house.  The loan paperwork is in and we are waiting for the bank to get back to us.  Hopefully in a couple of weeks the place will be all ours.  We are very excited to move, and can hardly wait to start moving.  It's like waiting to open the presents under the Christmas Tree. We can see it, but we just can't open it and make it ours yet.  

    The Huskers easily handled Missouri last week, putting them one win away from a date with Texas in the Big 12 Championship Game in KC.  I'll be up early at 4am listening to the Huskers play Texas A&M.  I'm missing the ability to just turn on the TV and watch a game.  I'll have to figure out what I can do about that.

November 4, 2006 - I've been doing some house cleaning on the website, and have been quite busy recently, hence the delay in updating the site recently.  The big news, of course, is that we are in the middle of purchasing a "house" in Taipei, see the post below for more information on that.  We have submitted our loan application and it seems, because of some connections through Hsin-Yi's dad, everything there will be in order.  This whole process might take until after Thanksgiving, but hopefully by early December we will be all moved into OUR home.  it is hard to imagine at this point how that will feel, but we are very excited, and this process couldn't go too fast for us.  

   Sabrina is now 9 months old (they grow up so fast.)  She is crawling like a pro now, but not nearly as fast as her cousin.  she is more of a thinker than a crawler, which we don't mind at all.  She can pull herself up to a sit, stand, and can even take a few steps on her own while holding onto something.  She'll be walking before we know I'm sure.  We haven't been able to get a hold o the video camera, so no videos yet.  Hopefully, I can get some soon.  I know I'm planning on making a video tour of our new place, once we get in.  There isn't a lot more to tell about Sabrina.  She's pretty much get along fine.  She is learning that with more movement comes more accidents, and has fallen a few times, but she keeps at it.  She is eating everything we feed her too, almost like a one-year-old.  How she loves to eat too!  She wants to eat all the time.  I, of course, don't let her, but Hsin-Yi always seems to cave.  I'm kidding, but mommy is certainly turning out to be the softy.  Oh, I should mention how much we love her new-found mobility.  We love the luxury of being able to put her on the floor and being able to move around the house freely, not having to worry about her too much.  She usually follows us anyway.  

    News from the island for those of you who are somewhere far away.  The President's wife has been indicted for forgery and graft and the President will have charges brought against him after he leaves office because he is now immune from prosecution.  This is huge.  The indictment was announced last night, and so far there has been no statement from the President's Office.  He has been under fire a lot recently and this will only fan the flames.  The opposition has sworn to bring him down for sure this time, will they succeed?  Who knows, but many suspect that the President Chen will resign now.  Visit the Taipei Times to keep yourself posted on the recent developments.  This is the first time something like this has happened in Taiwan, and it says a lot about the democracy in Taiwan.  Thailand threw aside rule of law when the military ousted the controversial president.  Taiwan has chosen the more democratic path, and there are many in China who are looking enviously at what is happening here.  This is quite a historic moment.  I only hope thinkgs remain peaceful, even if Chen refuses to resign.

    Halloween came at my school.  I got to dress up in costume for 2 days and tell scary stories to my kids.  IT was great.  I was a zombie teacher one day and a zombie slayer the next.  Both were homeade costumes of course.  They were good, but not that good.  My young students all dressed up.  It was quite cute, but my older students should have cared less.  I guess no none has taught them how fun Halloween can be.  I tried, haha.

    The big mid-term election in the US is just days away.  My absentee ballot is in, and am anxiously awaiting the results.  Everybody is guessing on this one.  My good friend Adam Potratz swears the Republicans will maintain control, osme say Dems take House and the GOP keeps the Senate, I think the Dems will pull it all out.  We'll see.  I only hope Pete Ricketts gets his butt kicked in the Nebraska Senate race. 

    Everything is going just fine for us here.  Thank you to Grandma Brunken and Great-Aunt Pat for sending us some care packages for Sabrina.  She has plenty of toys and clothes now. 

October 26, 2006 -  Nothing is final yet, so I'll be very cautious in this post.  We decided to make a go for that place we looked at on Saturday.  We went to the owner with an offer of $8 million NTD ($240,000 USD) and after a few rounds of negotiating, our offer was accpeted.  Now that the seller has accepted our offer, we have to sign a contract between us and the seller, then get our loan fro mthe bank, and then pay the final money and transfer the titles.  Nothing is final until the title and keys are in our hands, but we are close.  

    We don't have any pictures of the place, we didn't think to take the camera when we went to take a look at it.  I'll post them next time we get in, which will probably after we officially own the place.  I mentioned a little about it in my last post, but I'll give a little more detail this time.  This was teh second place we looked at, and it really caught our eye.  We decided we couldn't pass it up.  We would own the 5th and 6th floors in a 6 floor apartment building.  Not that we want to own apartments, but that's about all you can own in Taipei.  Any free-standing house you want in Taiwan is going to be way out in the suburbs, and we work in the city.  We ant to live in the city.  The building is located in a fairly quiet part of town.  There is very little traffic noise (rare in the city), but some noise from the planes landing at the domestic airport that is close by.  Near the building is one of the larger public parks in the city (great when you have a kid), our babysitter, a post office, the largest tradition market in Taipei, bus stops, an MRT (Mass Rail Transit system, Taipei's subway) stop, and some shopping.  It is a very convenient location, places in this area of similar size are selling for $10 million or more NTD.  Though still expensive, we think we got a pretty good deal.  

    Inside, the place has been newly refurbished (so we won't have to put hours of work into the place before we move in) with pearly white walls and a dark, almost walnut, colored wood trim and furniture.  It is well lit both during the day with plenty of sunlight, and at night with it's lighting scheme.  The design of the place has a neo-classic Japanese feel to it, very popular now in Taipei.  Each floor is about 20 ping (720 sq feet) in area.  The 5th floor (where we would live) has a living/dining room, a kitchen, a little "balcony" outside for a washer and to hang clothes, a master bedroom with full bath, a second bedroom, another full bathroom attached to the living room, and then a small, Japanese style room near the end of the living room that could be used as either an office or a bedroom.  The 6th floor is much simpler.  There is a large living room and one bedroom with a full bathroom attached.  There is no kitchen.  We are still deciding what to do with the 6th floor.  We might rent it out, we might use it as a classroom for some private students to make a little extra cash, or we might just use it for ourselves.  From the 6th floor there is a nice view of the moutains, the Grand Palace hotel, and the Miramar Ferris Wheel, all Taipei landmarks.  The place has a great feel to it and we are anxious for everything to go through and get started making it ours.  

    There are some things we will need toget before we can move in.  It needs a refridgerator, water heater, and maybe some furniture.  There is some furniture in there already, be we aren't sure how muc hthe seller will leave behind for us.  our realtor promises we will have it all.  We'll see.  it needs air conditioners too, but we won't need those until next May probably.  Then ofcourse the few things here and there that we might need.  And anything we might want for the 6th floor (it is completely empty. )  

    Like I said, the deal isn't final yet, but it looks like we will be homeowners soon.  Hopefully I can get some pictures soon.  Guess we have to think about tlaking to our landlady soon about breaking our lease.  Oh well, we will soon have a place of our own.

October 22, 2006 -  Lots to say, so I guess I'll just say as quickly as I can.  First, I'm pretty tired this weekend.  Stayed up till almost 4am listening (I should have been able to watch the game but the stupid West Coast ABC affiliates don't show any football games unless USC is playing) to the Husker game.  What a heartbreaker!  I mean, we had it won, Husker football history.  Beating the Longhorns, a top ten team, in our own house.  Man, I had the fever there until Nunn coughed it up, and in a flash, along with millions of husker fans around the world, my heart went from an insurmountable high to a dire state of despair.  Maybe it's for the best.  Our boys know we can beat them, so come December, after we rout the Big 12 North, we'll get our shot again, and we won't make any mistakes.  See what December brings I guess.  The boys played their hearts out though.  Who would have thought we would have even came so close.

    Other news this week, my best friend, Nate Abel, got married in the States yesterday.  I was really homesick this weekend wishing I could be there with him and his family to celebrate that occasion.  It's times like these living here is difficult.

    Other than football, there is plent y of news.  So we decided to start looking for a place to buy.  Just out of the blue, Hsin-Yi brings it up.  Our original plan was to rent for a year or two then buy, but since we are going to buy anyway, we are thinking now is more ecnomical than waiting.  We went out browing this weekend for a larf and wouldn't you know it, the second place we look at is a gem.  It is in a pretty good location.  It's near a great public park, bus stops, our babysitter, schools, the subway (kind of), and shopping.  It's in a quiet neighborhood too.  One of the majot downfalls is that it is very close to the airport so there is some plane noise.  We haven't decided if it is a huge problem.  The major selling point is that it is 2 floors for the price of one.  We buy a relatively small apartment on the 5th floor, and the 6th floor above comes at a bargain price.  We are pretty sure we would rent it out for the extra cash.  The place has just been refurbished and refurnished, it is pretty darn nice.  We are seriously considering it, but the proce is a bit steep.  It would cost us about $8 million NTD (about $242,000 American).  We shudder to think what we could get for that much back in Lincoln.  For Taipei though, that's not too bad though.  We;ll keep you all posted about this one, and maybe get some pics too.  

    Sabrina is completely over her little illness from a couple weeks ago and has recovered beautifully.  her appetite is back with a vengence.  She's often hungry and is very playful.  We are noticing major changes these days.  She is begning to really explore the things she touches.  She is a curious baby.  We are starting to notice her language skills developing.  She is already saying "Ma Ma" and "Ba Ba" quite often.  I think she knows what "Ma Ma" means, but we aren't too sure how much she comprehends yet.  I can't wait to see how she at a year old when my parents get here.  Her mobility is increasing.  She's starting to crawl on her hands and knees, and can now get her self into a sitting position.  Because of that I had to finally lower the matress in her crib.  She is becoming a handful, but also more and more cute and amazing each day. 

    Work is work for both of us.  I have Parent-Teacher Conferences next week.  After that, it's just a long haul of work pretty much up until Chinese New Year in February (except for me, I have a week off at Christmas.)

October 17, 2006 -  Hello, I was thinking the other day,"You know what I haven't done in awhile?  I haven't updated the website."  Yeah, I've been a bit lazy in doing it, but I wouldn't call myself lazy though.  It's just been a bit hectic.  Nothing special, just normal life I guess, but any parent who works will tell you how hectic life is. 

    Parenting is something special, I got to tell you.  You look into the eyes of that little person that you brought in to the world, and you can't help but feel proud.  The tiniest little things that they do just blow your mind.  Then again, it is also one of them ost exahausting things anyone can do, if you are a good parent that is.  As far as I can gather so far, the hardest hting about parenting is the loss of sleep.  I mean, we are just starting to drop as soon as we get inside these days.  We have work to do at night, get bed at a normal time usually between 11 and midnight, but then Sabrina will get us up every morning around 6:45.  Not so bad if it's every now and then, but this has been going on since May.  We haven't been able to sleep in in months and it is catching up to us.  That kind of tired is pretty nasty too.  It hits you at the the most random of times and when it does, you are almost incapasitated.  Yet, we still have to do our jobs and do them well so we can provide for the baby that's putting us in the situation.  A vicious cycle indeed.

    Sabrina is all better now and all smiles.  The illness has brought on a new face for her.  She scrunches up her face like she has eaten something super sour and then she breathes rapidly through her nose.  We aren't quite sure what it means yet, but it is funny.  We'll try to get a pic of it one of these days.  Since she's feeling better, our worries are mostly gone.  However, just today when I went to check on her during her nap and found her sitting up in her crib smiling at me.  Time to drop the matress.  She was a bit hesitant to sleep in it at first, but seems all is good (had to retain the Pooh bumper though, maybe that's it.)  

    No pictures this time, sorry.  Not much time.  We want to get to bed.  I'll post some this weekend.  Seems the Texas game is on ABC national, I should be a ble to watch the whole thing (12am to whenever here).  I hope we win, that would be amazing.  Huskers in the top ten. 

October 9, 2006 -  Following up from my last post, North Korea went nuclear today, making all of the idiotic consessitons the US made to China all for naught.  The next few weeks will bei nteresting to see how the world handles this one.

    We are down to the last day of our long weekend.  Tuesday is a holiday.  Here they call it "Double Ten Day" because it is on October 10th, but it is actually the day marking the foundation of the Republic of China on October 10, 1911.  You can't really call it Taiwan's birthday because of the sordid history of the island, but it is, nonetheless, the naitonal holiday.  There will be fireworks and such tomorrow, but I doubt we will go.  Why?  Keep reading.

    So our long weekend would have been fanstastic, but Sabrina fell ill.  We think she got it on Thursday, but she didn't really start showing that she was sick till late on Friday, and then she vomited on Saturday morning, and again that night.  She pucked twice on Sunday, and then again once tonight.  We are almost certain it one of the Rota viruses going around.  At least that's what the doctor told us.  Other than the vomiting and a bit of diarreah, she seems to be ok.  She still palys and laughs, but she is a bit more tired than normal.  We hope it will all be over by tomorrow.  We took her to the doctor Sunday night and he gave us some stuff to help her stomach and calm her diarreah, so far it has worked really well, but she vomitted again tonight, so maybe it doesn't help all that much.  All we can do is wait this one out.  I'll try to write again to let everyone know she is feeling ok.

    To make things worse, Hsin-Yi has also been feeling sick with something.  She isn't sure what it could be, but she has been having some aches and pains and has been feeling unusually tired.  So, I have been stuck between 2 sick girls this weekend, and I myself and pretty tired too.  Who knows, maybe I have ti too, but it just isn't affecting me.  I really hope things start getting tomorrow, because we have to go back to work on Wednesday.  

    The Moon Festival was on Friday.  We had off of work, and did a whole lot of nothing until the evening when we went over to Hsin-Yi's parents place.  For some reason, on Moon Festival Taiwanese grill.  Taiwanese don't even know why, it is just what they do.  They break out these tiny little grills about once a year and grill anything and everything, in the true style of Taiwanese cuisine.  On the menu for us was sausage, pork, beef rib, squid, peppers, corn, fish paste sausages, mushrooms, onions, sweet potato, clams, oysters, and bamboo.  It was quite a variety.  We grilled on the roof of Hsin-yi's parent's building (which they own.)  Her aunt and uncle and their family joined us too.  The party lasted from about 8 till midnight, and was a lot of fun.  Also, it was a very clear night, so the full moon (the symbol of mon festival) was is good form.  Other traditions of Moon Festival are eating a special dessert called Moon Cake (which are delicious, but for some reason a lot of Taiwanese don't like them so much.   May be they consider them too traditional.  We got some moon cakes from Hsin-Yi's mom.  I love them.  They are a sweet dough with a dried egg yolk in the middle.  They taste a lot like sugar cookie dough, delicious.  Unfortunately, I had to work the next morning so I couldn't stay out too late.  I took Sabrina home at about 10 to get to bed a little earlier and to prepare a bit for my class.  Pictures of our celebration can be found on the pictures page.  Enjoy!

    Congratulations to the Huskers for a game well played.  I got to listen to most of it online, and was happy to see us handle Iowa State a bit better this year.  I look forward to the Texas and Missouri games, those should be good.

October 5, 2006 -  I was just reading through the Taipei Times and learned that the illustrious US Congress was unable to pass a single bill to benefit Taiwan this session.  This is very uncharacteristic, and can only be chalked up to mounting tensions with North Korea (so we need to kiss China's ass a little more) and too many close election races (I ghuess taking a chance looks bad to voters these days).  Even the amendment ending the archaic regulations limiting communicaiton between US and Taiwanese officials was immediately scrapped by the Senate.  It has just not been Taiwan's year.  With the massive protests and everything.  New year is only 3 months off now, so maybe things will look up next year.  You can read the article here.

October 4, 2006 -  Rare treat, huh?  A new blog entry only a few days after my last one.  I recieved a request for a video of Sabrina crawling, and since I was on here I thought I'd throw in an update.  Seems the Red Horde (mass of people protesting the Taiwanese president demanding he step down) have finally, in their third week of protesting, made a difference.  Of course, it wasn't the difference they were looking for, but affected all of Taiwan.  Due to the Reds' calls for a labor strike on Monday (the only work day that straddles the Moon Festival on Friday and National Day on Tuesday) as a sign of protest against the President, the naitonal governemnt, hoping to avoid the embarrassment of a strike, decided to give employees and students the day off on Monday and instead make them come in on Saturday the 14th.  True, it's no extra days at work or off, but it is a bit on inconvenient for everybody.  Nobody plans on working on SAturday, and students certainly don't plan on going to school, well...regular school,  on Saturday, so now, all of the plans and classes they had previously scheduled now have to be cancelled and made up.  Like me, for example.  I have a class on Saturday mornings normally, but now, my kids will have to be at their regular Monday classes on Saturday, so of course they won't be able to come.  Now, the school has to give the parents what they paid for, so now I have to work an extra half-hour ot an hour on Saturdays to make of the time this month.  Talk about onconvenience.  Well, I guess I should be happy for a 5-day weekend, but in all honesty, I think I, and most pople, would be much happier without the change. 

    That's the big news everyone is talking about these last couple days.  My 6th graders are pissing me off because they didn't do the reading they were supposed to do this month.  Guess I'll have to give them quizzes next time to make sure they are doing it at home.  That's all I have, go to the videos page and check out sabrina crawling.

October 1, 2006 -  Well another month is gone, fall is here, and winter is rapidly approaching.  Thankfully, here, it won't come quite as fast.  The weather here has been wonderful these last few days, sunny skies and comfortable temperatures.  I've hated every second of worl since the weather has been like this.  I would love to be out oding something, but that's life.  

    I woke up today just in time to catch the kick-off for the Husker-Kansas game on the (internet) radio.  I was glued to my computer the whole time.  What a game!  I wish I had been in the stands for that one.  Really makes me miss my old job.  Go Huskers!  1-0 in conference play, with Iowa State coming next week.  They had a close one today.  If they play like that next week it iwll be one hell of a blowout.

    Life is moving along vey normally.  I had "Meet the Parents Night" at school which was a breeze.  School is going well, and I'm definitely continuing to feel more comfortable with my students and my school with each passing week.  Hsin-Yi is getting through her teaching alright.  She's starting to understand how much work it can be, and is frustrated with all of the planning.  I try to tell her not to try so hard and borrow some things from other professors, but she wants to do as much as she can herself.  I remember when I used to feel the same way.

    Sabrina is beginning to crawl now.  So the new era of headaches has begun for us.  She is a lazy crawler though.  Meaning she only crawls to get at things she wants, and not just for the fun of crawling.  She is still a little rusty, but she'll be a pro soon.  She shocked us both the other night when she pulled herself up to a stand while she was in her bathtub.  It was just that one time though.  She still can't get into a sit by herself, or pull herself up in most places, but we know this is a sign of what is to come real soon.  She is such a cute baby.  We marvel at her cuteness everyday, and can't believe how lucky we are.

September 23, 2006 - Well it's been 2 weeks since I posted anything.  I guess we could tell you that a ton has happened since then, but not really.  We were able to watch the Husker/USC game here (well, i should say I got to watch it), so that was good, but of course a Husker victory would have been even better.  Oh, and a little less of the ESPN announcers worshiping USC.  I got a little tired of hearing "Oh, USC is so great."  We were a few mistakes away from winning that game.  Oh well, there's always Texas.  

    First, I have been a bot sick the last week or so.  Some virus, no idea what.  Of course, I didn't miss any work, but I've been tired and have had a killer sore throat.  Early this week was the worst.  It's almost gone now.  That is most of the reason why I haven't updated the site for awhile.  I haven't really felt up to it recently.  I managed it give it to Hsin-Yi too, so she's been a bit under the weather too.  Classes seem to be going well for me.  I'm getting a better feel for my kids and am starting to enjoy it.  I'm moving into teaching the Holocaust next month to two of my classes.  My first time.  I'm excited.  There is a "Meet the Teacher" gig for the parents coming up this week.  It's pretty informal and a good warm up to parent teacher conferences (go figure, a school in Taiwan with PTC's) in a month.

    Hsin-Yi taught her first calsses these last 2 weeks.  She assures me that they are going well.  Seems the most that bothers her is the fact that she has an 8am class and the fact that she has to spend time prepping for them.  I think she'll get used to it quick and just take it easy like most professors do.  Shes been really tired these days because she has been a little sick from whatever I gave her.  All in all it's really just been really normal weeks for us.  Getting up, going to work, coming home, going to bed.  Haha, life.

    Sabrina, on the other hand, has had an interesting last 2 weeks.  She's been getting contipated a lot and we can't really figure out why.  The book says we chould give her more water and more fibrous foods.  That doesn't help a lot.  Taiwanese say feed her X, Y, and Z, but Z the APA book says don't feed her.  We finally took her to the doctor (only costs 3 bucks in Taiwan and the office is open till 9) and he said that it might be because she has a tiny tear by her anus as is trying to keep in in.  So, we put some ointment there everytime we change her now.  he also mentioned that it might be because her digestive system has developed really well and so all of the milk and friut we giver her is mostly absorbed by her body and there isn't a loit leftover to be sent out.  Hence it stays in and looses it's water content too.  So, we are trying to substitute one meal a day with solid food instead of milk.  So far it seems to be moderately working.  We, of course, hope it isn't a major problem.  She hasn't been in terrible discomfort, but you can tell when she has to pass them she struggles.  Developmentally she is doing alright.  She isn't crawling yet.  It's quite funny.  She will lean forward on all fours, and when she tries to go she falls on her tummy.  Then, if she has her sights set on a target, she will try to reach for it.  If she can't reach it, she will extend her body as far as possible and try again.  When she still can't get it, instead of trying to move forward, she will roll over again and again.  Then if she still can't get it, she will start to get upset, looking at us with a face saying, "Why don't you just give it to me?"  Her cousin is already crawling and can pull himself up to a stand.  He can't, however, like Sabrina, so I guess the little girl has that on him.  

    She now weight 18 and a half pounds and still looks like a little "Chubina".  I've uploaded 2 more videos.  I hope you watch them.  they are of her eating.  She is such a cutie.  We get stopped constantly, and I'm not exsaggerating, while out in public by random people (men and women) saying how cute she is wanting to play with her.  Sabrina loves the attention.  On the bus, she will flirt with anyone who looks at her.  I think we are in toruble when she gets older.  

    I'll try to put another entry up before the week is out.  Thank you for your patience, and please check out our Fotki photo albums.  I've taken a lot of time to upload nearly all of the pics I have of her.

 September 10, 2006 - Go Huskers!  Another sweeping victory in Lincoln today as the Huskers destroyed Nichols State at home.  The USC game is next week.  I'm really excited.  I found a way to watch ABC online, so I'm 90% sure I'll be able to watch the game live.  I hope we show up like we did at the Alamo Bowl.  It's going to be a long week wating for kickoff. 

    It's been raining as if it were April again.  It hasn't stopped raining for over a day now, and it has been raining on and off for about 5 days.  It's ridiculous and very depressing for me.  The rain makes everything a pain, and it adds to the already humid weather.  There are times where I feel I nevery totally dry out.  Just have to endure I guess.  The worst part about it is we put our laundry out to dry when it stopped for awhile, but then it started up again and hasn't quit yet.  Guess, we'll just have to cave and use our old dryer.  

    The week was pretty mundane, just working away.  Our weekend wasn't anything special either.  We pretty much just sat around.  We tried to go out for a walk when the rain let up yesterday, but we ended up getting cuaght in a downpour on the way home.  So all in all, it was just a normal lazy week.  We recieved a pakage from home with some new toys for Sabrina from Grandma and Grandpa, and some of my brother's band's apparel.  It was a nice suprise.  

    Hsin-Yi will teach her very first class ever this week.  So it is a monumentous occasion.  Now both of us will officially be teachers.  I guess I always new I'd end up married to one.  She has the preclass jitters and worries, but I assure her that lecturing at a university is the easiest teaching there is.  After all, the worst university students do is sleep in class.  She's been busy planning for classes.  I'll post later about how they go and her reactions.  

    The one good thing about the rain here is that it is pouring on a major protest organized to oust the president of Taiwan.  They vowed a 24 hour sit-in protest over the next week, and so far it's rained for almost all of it.  Poor bastards, I'd almost pity them (tens of thousands gathered ourside the Predidential Palace) if they didn't threaten the rule of law in Taiwan.  So far the president is rightly ignoring them and going about his business. I won't get into the reasons behind all the protests against President Chen.  If you do a quick Google search you can find plenty of information on it.  My prediciton is this will all blow over in a couple of weeks and it will all be long forgotten.  The big paradox of the protest is that its leader is a former chairman of the President's political party.  Many Taiwanese are suspicious of his motives for organizing this protest.  I'll keep you posted if there are any major developments in this. 

September 5, 2006 - Today is my birthday, so if you forgot, it's not to late to send me a "Happy Birthday" email.  Hsin-Yi has a birthday tomorrow, so you can kill 2 birds with one stone and wish us both a happy birthday.  We didn't do anything special.  Hsin-Yi doesn't really beleive in celebrating birthdays, so it they were pretty much like any other day.  I got Hsin-Yi some flowers for hers though.  They'll be delivered otmorrow.  I hope she likes them.  We celebrated with the folks on the weekend.  The babies got together again, so that was neat.  Ate some cake with ridiculously small plastic forks again.  Not a bad time at all.  Not a lot to tell about it either.  We went out again, to the same restaurant that hsin-Yi's dad likes to go to.  Good food, good beer, good fun, a good time.  Then I had Chinese class.

    Sabrina is wanting to crawl still, but can't get past leaning forward.  She always stops like she is afraid of falling.  Of course, she will fall, but we hope that changes soon.  We found out that Sabrina can sit through a whole meal at a restaurant and entertain herself.  We put her in a high-chair, which she handled well, and she didn't fuss at all and just played and played.  Toward the end she was a little fussy as she got tired, but compared to her cousin, who was fussing the whole way through, she was great.  We got some floor pads for our tile floor so she can play on the floor now without us having to worry about her falling over and cracking her skull.  She's 7 months old now and has 2 teeth coming in on the bottom.  Still waiting for the top two.  She already loves eating.  Maybe that's good.  It's easy for us when we feed her things, but she'll try to take bites out of things, like pears, that she can't chew.  She already thinks she has a full set of teeth.  She's a cutie.  Check out the pics on the picture page.

    Work for me has been going well.  I like my students, my older ones especially.  I thought, from when I taught in Kaohsiung, that the younger students would be my favorite, but the older students at the school are really fun to teach.  Administration has been a bit annying.  They made me move one of my classes to a classroom upstairs, and now I have to share "my" classroom with another teacher after they kept saying I would have my own classroom (which I did for 3 weeks.)  The other teacher wanted different funiture for his 3rd graders so it was a lot of moving tables and chairs all during my preptime.  Not fun, but it's over now, and I'm making due.  

    Hsin-Yi says life is a little hctic at work.  Classes start for her next week.  Her first time teaching.  Now she'll get a little taste of what I do all the time.  We learned this week that Hsin-yi's slaray is about twice what we thought it would be, so that was a huge surprise.  Needless to say, once we start getting paychecks, we will not have to worry too mcuh about money.  We're saving to buy a place here, so it's good.

    The political situation in Taiwan is heating up again.  The President, Chen Shuei-Bian, has been under heavy criticism for months now because of corruption allegtions surrounding his wife, and insider training charges against his son-in-law and some of his administration.  To many, his integrity is gone and they are demanding his resignation.  He asserts he has done nothing wrong, which legally of course he hasn't.  A large 24 hour sit-in protest has been scheduled to start next Monday outside of the Presidential Palace that is supposed to last until the end of the week.  An attempt to impeach the President failed in June, but the sentiment remains.  There is a lot of discussion about this all over the internet, but the debate largely falls down party lines in Taiwan.  So his supporters and opponnents are about 50/50.  I waiting to see if the protest makes internaitonal headlines.  I think it will be a miracle if it remains competely peaceful for the whole week.  I'll keep you posted.

    Oh, I almost forgot.  The Huskers won on Saturday 49-10.  We certainly look much better.  I couldn't watch the game here, didn't even get up at 3 am to listen to it on the radio.  I think I've found a way to watch a few of the games.  I'll have to wait and see.  USC game is a couple weeks away.  Can't wait.

August 26, 2006 - Apologies for not posting in a long time.  Times have been busy here.  With both of us working, well, it's like we  have lives finally.  There is good and bad to that I suppose.  On one hand we are enjoying our jobs and making money, but on the other hand we are missing being home with Sabrina.  Not necessarily an even trade, but a necessary one.

    Let's see, on the Sabrina front, there has been quite a bit going on.  A couple of days ago we awake to find that Sabrina's first 2 teeth have popped through on the bottom.  I guess if we had been watching out for the signs we should have seen this coming.  She'd been salivating a lot and rubbing on her bottom gums.  We just didn't expect it though, so the surprise was nice.  Hsin-Yi went crazy.  We tried to snap some pics, but Sabrina wouldn't let us get a clear shot.  So we didn't press the issue.,  Next week she will be 7 months old.  She is growing so fast, it's hard to believe.  She is sitting with ease now and rarely falls over.  She is trying to crawl, but isn't strong enough yet.  She's at that stage where she wants to move, but realy can't yet, so she gets frustrated easily.  She is enjoying the babysitter's now.  She likes playing with the other babues and all of the toys.  Guess we should get some more toys for her to play with here.  We made a toy for her out of old plastic bottles that she kind of enjoys, but her most recent favorite is an old CD.  Quite funny watching her naw on that thing.  Today was fun.  We decided to take Sabrina out in her stroller (we hadn't done that since she was 4 months old because she didn't like the stroller so much and it was kind of hot in there.)  We tried it today and she enjoyed it.  We took her down the road to a big park and then to an ancient house/museum called Lin An Tai.  It was a beautiful place, we had fun and so did Sabrina.

    I taught my first class today.  It is a junior high class of 8 students on Saturday morning for 2 and a half hours.  It went well, I didn't get through everything I wanted too, but the kids were pretty good, so I think this will be an easy weekend gig.  My loaded week starts on Monday.  I'll have 3 classes on Monday, Thursday and Friday, one class on Tuesday and two on Wednesday.  There will be 4 preps in total each week, which is pretty loaded.  This school, as I've mentioned before, isn't like your average language school in Taiwan.  It's a top-tier private Kintergarten with after school prgrams for elementary students.  Lots of rich parents that demand quality, so I need to draw up plans, creative activities, just like I were teaching in a school in the US.  It certainly more fun than any other job I could have gotten here, but the work is still there.  I'm hanging in there.  I feel about 89% ready for next week, but I'm 100% certain it will go just fine.  Prepare yourself mentally for the worse, and you'll never be disappointed.  That's what I always say.  I'll post later next week about my classes and how they went.

    Hsin-Yi didn't want to add anyhting, so I'll just leave it at this.  Life is rolling along just fine.  Oh, we have new neighbors downstairs, not sure if I mentioned that last time.  I'd liketo tell you about them, but in the ten days since they've moved in I haven't seen them once.  They are two women, i'm told.  They teach Japanese, I beleive.  Hsin-Yi says they are nice.  Any way.  I'll try and post again soon.  Bye bye for now.

August 15, 2006 - Well, the weekend went fast and full drone of life has finally hit our family.  I'm now back at work, thrown into the hectic chaos that is the planning weeks before school starts, more on that al ittle later.  Hsin-Yi of course is still at work, and Sabrina is going to her babysitter's now.   The weekend was pretty hectic for us because Sabrina was sick for the first time.  She caught some minor virus which gave her a fever and a slight sore throat.  She was a little sleepy and feverish for a couple of days, but then it went away.  We were worried on the second night as her temp neared 104 and she vomited, but her fever was all but gone the next day so nothign came of it.  She's completed one day at her babysitter's place, and we can't say with any certainty that she enjoyed it.  Seems she is having a hard time adjusting, but we are confident as she gets used to it there things will get better.  Babies never handle new places well, especially when their parents aren't there.  We gave some tips to the babysitter to help make life a little more bareable for Sabrina there, but all we can do is wait it out.

    First 2 days of work for me have been really busy.  I have 4 classes I teach this year (which is a lot compared to the 1 or 2 other teachers have.)  I have to submit weekly and monthly plans to the director, assess student learning, record and submit observations of student progress, attend parent-teacher conferences, and fill out bi-annual report cards.  Sounds like normal teacher stuff, but in Taiwan this is very unusal for foreign English teachers to do.  It has been a very long time since I've had to do any of this, so I'm a little rattled at the moment, but as I begin to sift through al of the material for my classes, iron out plans and ideas, and get it all on paper I'm sure I'll be flying through everything.  The tough part is that this is my first year at the school.  As any teacher knows, the first year you teach anything, it is a lot more work.  Hopefully I will have the same calsses next year so my planning time will be cut in half.  I have 2 weeks to get all of my stuff together before classes start.  This one is going to be close.  Wish me luck.

    Hsin-Yi has got most of her lab all set up at school, and hopes to start an experiement soon.  Her classes don't start for about a month, so she is just focusing on her lab and research now.   

    Sorry about the limited post, but I have planning to do now so I'll have to add more later.  Thanks to all of you who have been visiting the website and emailing us.  Hope to hear from each of you soon. 

   

August 11, 2006 - In case some of you have been watching the news, a super typhoon hit Eastern China yesterday.  Yes, the same typhoon blew by us, but it wasn't that strong when it passed Taiwan, and the most dangerous part of the typhoon missed us, so all we got was a lot of rain.  I wanted to alleviate any fears and let everyone know that so far, Taipei is unscaved by this years crazy typhoon activity.  Normally, about 5-6 typhoon directly affect Taiwan during the typhoon season (July-October).  So far, 4 have already hit Taiwan, thankfully they haven't been too strong.  Don't worry, we are quite safe in the city.  There are rarely deaths or major property damage in the main cities in Taiwan, it is usually the mountain communities that are most affected.  Flooding, power outages, and water shortages are the main concern where we are.  

    In other news, our landlady was nice neough to do a little remodling to our place.  We got a  new A/C for Sabrina's room, a broken lock our patio door was fixed, and we finally have our own buzzer for the outside gate.  She is a very nice person.  During all of the installation yesterday she hung around with me (as Hsin-Yi was at work) and spoke to me with my broken Chinese and held Sabrina.  We will be getting new downstairs neighbors (our landlady also owns that apartment) next Tuesday.  It will be interesting to see what they are like. 

August 9, 2006 - This is some kind of record I think.  I've updated the website three times in a week.  Well, this entry will be short.  If you have been using the link for typhoon information I have provided, then you know that two storms will be bearing down on Taiwan in the next 2 days.  A tropical t storm made landfall in the South today and will blow through tomorrow.  There is also a typhoon looking to hit the North late tomorrow or early Thursday.  This is quite unusual, 2 storm hitting so close together.  When they first formed, none of them looked like they would hit Taiwan, but now they both are.  The funniest thing is that this is the "Ghost Month" on the lunar calendar (traditional calendar used in ancient China based on the rotation of the Moon rather than the Sun.)  Tradition says that this is the time when all of the lost souls that haven't been reincarnated yet are set lose upon the Earth to wander, and they are very hungry.  So, at this time, many Taiwanese get very superstitious and offer up food, money, and drink to the wandering spirits in a practice called "bai bai".  There was an interesting article in the Taiei Times about this practice in the modern era, you can read it here.  Maybe this and the typhoons are all connected, I don't know. 

August 7, 2006 - Well, tomorrow is officially Father's Day here, but we already celebrated on Sunday.  We went to the folks house and enjoyed a wonderful lunch consisting of rice sausage (sticky rice stuffed inside a pig's intestine like sausage, very good), steamed shrimp, goose, shark, some veggie, I think there were actual pig intestine, and a clam soup.  Very good stuff.  There was Taiwan Beer at the table for all who wanted some, and after lunch we had some cake.  You can listen to my gripe about cake in Taiwan on the Random Silliness page, but I'll just say this, cold cake and toothpicks mistakenly called forks do not make for a good cake eating experience.  Don't get me wrong, the cake was good, but it would have been much better if it were warm, fluffy and served with a good old fashioned fork.  Other than the culinary aspect of the day, the rest of the time was spent talking and playing (well, mostly it was just the babies playing.)  Sabrina and Zhi-Song were having a great time.  Sabrina didn't get tired until the very end, she went 5 hours without napping.  The two played with eachother and anyone else willing.  Hsin-Yi's brother had made a homemade toy for Zhi-Song (3 little plastic bottles tied together on an elastic string) and the two were having fun with it.  Zhi-Song more though because he loves to make noise and Sabrina, well, she usually just likes to put stuff in her mouth.  It was a lot of fun, but we had to leave when Sabrina was demanding to sleep.  

August 5, 2006 - Hello again, it's the end of the week.  Hsin-Yi has completed her first week at work, though because she'd been going in 3-5 times a week anyway for the past couple weeks it didn't really feel like it should.  The school, I should say the government, is making her jump through yet another hoop to become "official".  Aparently, the Dept. of Education here needs to "certify" her to teach (something all teachers have to go through).  I don't know much about it, neither does she, but it required her to present her transcripts for the umpteenth time, and go to a police station to get her a document certifying her entries and exits to the country.  On top of that, mostly she has been working on getting her lab up and running, filling out hire paper work, and writing a grant proposal to get a little cash for her research.  Me?  I've been a stay-at-home dad this week.  For the first 3 months Hsin-Yi was home with her while I was at work, the next two we were both home to care for her, and now for these 2 weeks until I start work I'm at home with her.  I'm liking it I guess, but the day gets pretty routine and there is only so much you can play with a baby until you both get bored.  Nonetheless I'm enjoying my time because I'll miss her when I go to work, as Hsin-Yi misses her now.

    Not much more to tell.  I picked up a student who I am seeing 5 days a week in the mornings at our place until the end of August.  He is a little 7 year old boy named Jung (no idea where he got the name.)  His mom is a friend of hsin-Yi's cousin which is how I got the gig.  He's a nice boy and I'm enjoying a little practice before I start teaching all day at the end of August.

    We've been shopping a lot, mostly for Sabrina.  We got her a new carrier, as the one Hsin-Yi got before we left (second-hand for $7) is getting too small.  So we bought a nice one to last her till she's trotting around on her own 2 legs.  We got her 2 more Dr. Seuss books, Green Eggs and Ham and Dr. Seuss' ABC's.  Both are classics, and Hsin-Yi swears I get them for myself rather than her, but I'm the one who reads to her, and I love it.  they say it's never to young to start, so I don't plan on stopping.  We are also kicking up the solid food thing as she is totally on formula now.  She has been eating all kinds of fruit, rice, carrots, some green veggies, and rice cookies.  It's a lot of fun, but the mess, haha.  I guess we can only expect a lot more of that.  

    No typhoons on the horizon now, so that's good.  It means sunny days ahead.  Kep checking the site, I'll write again soon because Father's Day is only a few days away.  We are celebrating tomorrow.  Father's Day is on August 8th here (though Mother's Day is the same as in the US).  the difference is because the Chinese word for father is "ba ba", and the Chinese word for eight is also "ba" (different tone, though).  So, 8-8 is "ba ba", hence why it is Father's Day.  I'll be back to tell you about it.  Till then...

July 30, 2006 - Not much new to till, obviously since I just posted yesterday.  However today was a busy day.  We first went to visit our babysitter and introduced Sabrina to her.  Sabrina enjoyed her place because of all the new toys, and didn't react badly to the sitter, so we are happy.  She is feeling much better ince the shots.  Such a cutie.

    We also, with Hsin-Yi's sister and a friend, Richard, went to a restaurant that shows traditional Taiwanese puppet theater.  This is a treat as the art is dying out in Taiwan.  You can still see the shows on TV from time to time, but to see one live is difficult.  This restaurant is one-of-a-kind in Taiwan, and lucky for us it is very close to where we live.  In fact, we wouldn't have even known about it had we not walked by it one day while on one of our walks.  The food was great, the atmosphere wonderful and entertaining, and the puppet show was unforgettable.  The owner is a nice guy who loves what he does.  He and his place have been on numerous TV shows, in fact, the Discovery Channel is coming to film the place next week.  He gave us some good background info on the puppets and their history before the crowds arrived.  The shows include a lot of participation.  The puppeteers come out to show the audience the moves and teach everyone how to do them (with their own puppets of course.)  Even the big ones from TV can be used by the audience.  Hsin-Yi and I took ours up on stage.  This is a must stop for all travellers to Taipei.  Any guests of ours will be sure to stop here.  Check out the pictures on the "Touring Taiwan" page.

July 29, 2006 - Sabrina turns 6 months old today.  We aren't planning on doing anything special for her for the half-year anniversary, but we plan on heading out with some friends to a Taiwanese puppet theater restaurant.  I'll give you the skinny on that after we get back.  The restaurant is located rather close to where we live and is a tourist attraction in Taipei.  The funny thing is that it is a dinky hole-in-the-wall place, that always seems dead.  It's draw is a traditional Taiwanese hand puppet show.  I've never seen one, myself, so it should be a cool experience.  I won't be able to take pictures there, owner's policy, but you can learn about the restaurant and Taiwanese hand puppets at their website here.  We did, however, mark her 6 month with another round of her immunizations.  She loved us for that.  We took her to the doctor's on Thursday.  She checked out just fine, weighing in at about 17 lbs. 11 oz. and is now about 26 in tall.  Looking at the charts, that puts her right at the 50th percentile for both.  She's quite healthy, but since the shots has been running a slight fever, but no where near as bad as the last time she got these shots.

    Sabrina is continuing to surprise us each day.  She has recently learned how to drop things.  Fun at first, but we know that as that develops she'll be dropping things just to get us to pick them up.  Oh well, it is still cute for now.  She also held the bottle for the first time by herself this week.  We were so proud we just had to take some pictures.  He sitting skills are getting better, but still has a ways to go before she will be sitting unassisted.  

    As for the rest of us, Hsin-Yi is still madly preparing for work to start.  She has been busy drawing up lists of equipment to purchase for her lab and working on a proposal for the National Science Council to get some funds for her research.  She isn't nervous about starting work next Tuesday, as she pretty much already has started.  It is official next week, and the income will finally start coming in.  I am just being me at home.  I have a little preparing to do for when school starts for me, but right now I am just enjoying being home with Sabrina and Hsin-Yi.  

    Last little bit here, I promise.  That typhoon I mentioned last time that was heading straight for us, hit, but not Taipei.  The typhoon hit southern and central Taiwan and completely missed us.  In fact, it was actually sunny here as the typhoonravaged the rest of the island.  Also, on a more mild note, we finally purchased a microwave which is now installed in our kitchen.  I'm sure some of you would find it hard to imagine surviving without one for so long, but it actually wasn't that tough.  We merely got one for the pure convenience of it.  Till next time....

July 22, 2006 - It was a busy week for the Brunkens.  Well not too busy, but Friday was sure hectic.  We finally made it out to Hualien, on the east coast, so Hsin-Yi could take a look at some things for her lab.  Hualien is a gorgeous place.  The biggest city on in the East, yet only half the size of Lincoln, NE.  It is known for its local treats like mogi and aboriginal cuisine.  It is also a launching point for a lot of the ecotourism for Taiwan, as in the East are where you can see the last remnants of nature outside of what's in the sparsely habited mountain ranges.  We didn 't have nearly the kind of time to really do the city, but we walked around, had some food, bought some mogi, and saw the ocean.  We took Sabrina to the folks place at about 8am, caught the train at Taipei Train Station and were in Hualien by noon.  It was really hot, but we enjoyed what we saw.  Check out the touring page to see some pics, or you can always email us for some, of course.  

    I finished up my class at school, so for the next 3 weeks I'm off, but Hsin-Yi is hard at work on a proposal to get money for her research she will try to get started when she starts on August 1st.  She is busy these days, I'm not so much.  I do have a lot of prepping for classes to do, we'll see how far I get there.  On the Sabrina frint, things are as usual.  No emergencies or anything exciting.  She did sit up for a bit on her own once, which shocked us, but she is far from being a sitter.  She is getting stronger though, so hopefully any week now she will be able to sit and play all by herself.  Her 6 month birthday is coming up this week, which means more shots.  

    We went out and purchased a microwave finally.  It was used from an expat leaving Taiwan.  We also got a heater from her so we are prepared when the winter rolls around.  our landlady, who has just returned from the States, was over to see how we are doing.  She is a nice lady.  We have a pic of her hold Sabrina on the pic page.  She even installed a new water heater in our place so it is "safer" now.  I'll try to remember to snap a shot of that thing so those who don't know what they are like here can see.  This one is fancy, LED lights and all.  She aparently rented the room below us too, so we will have another set of neighbors soon.  

    For a typhoon update, it seems that another one is bearing down on the island.  Definitely not a big one, but it will cause some rain and wind.  I'm excited to see just how much it affects us here.  You can track it yourself by going to the links page.  

    That's about all I have to write.  Just remeber, we are thinking of all of you, we could use a couple emails to know you miss us too.  Keep checking the site for updates. 

July 16, 2006 - Turns out we didn't make it to the East this weekend.  Turned out to be a weekend like any other.  Spent a lot of it lounging and some with the family.  We had a lot of fun with Sabrina the last couple days as she has learned to support herself relatively well in a tripod sitting position.  She even pulled herself up to a sit for a bit once.  She hasn't got as far as actually pulling herself up to a sitting position by herself yet, but she has to start somewhere.  There are some very cute pictures of it on the pic page.  

    In our quest to feed her more solid foods we purchased some Japanese made rice cookies.  They are designed to "melt in the mouth" for babies Sabrina's age.  They do as they promise (and they kind of taste like Kix) but Sabrina really hasn't mastered chewing yet.  Still just tasting things and having a tough time keeping them in.  So, we aren't sure how much she ate, but she made a heck of a mess for such a small cookie.  

    Another week is ahead of us.  It is my last week teaching the writing workshop, then I'll be off for 3 weeks till I go back.  Hsin-Yi is busy writing a grant proposal for her research.  She starts work in just 2 weeks.  It is still raining a little from the tropical storm, but otherwise it is nice weather here, minus the heat and humidity.  Keep you all posted on anymore goings.  How about some emails?

July 14, 2006 - Well it wasn't much of a typhoon, or even a storm for that matter.  All we got was lots of rain.  There was a little flooding in the South, but up here it was business as usual, well...wet business.  It is still early in the season, when September rolls around that's when they get big. 

    Nothing new on the homefront here, we are just enjoying the weekend that is about to start.  We will be doing some shopping tomorrow and on Sunday the plan is for Hsin-Yi and I to go to Hualien ( city on the East Coast), I've never been to the East.  Plans can change though, but if we go I'll be sure to snap some pictures for all to see on the "Touring Taiwan" page. 

July 13, 2006 - The first typhoon of our stay is poised to make landfall later tongiht.  Actually it is a "severe tropical storm" so like a category less than a typhoon, but it has closed schools toaday on the East Coast.  Check out our "Links to Know" page to get more informaiton.  Will keep you posted on the show.

July 9, 2006 - Hello again, not much to report on, but since I was updating the site thoguht I'd post an entry.  I have been teaching this last week.  A writing workshop for 4th graders.  My kids are pretty quiet, they are still getting used to me, so I am experimenting a lot with them, trying to see how hard I can push them.  So far it is a lot of fun, I have them writing a fairy tale for thier homework this weekend.

    Sabrina is still cute little Sabrina.  However, she is seeming like a different baby each day.  She is quiter these days and always appears more serious.  She is constantly exploring the things around her (usually by putting them in her mouth.)  We bring her to the grandparents house on the weekends when she gets a chance to play with her cousin Zhi-Song, who is a month older than her.  They are two different babies that's for sure.  Sabrina is much more quiet and easygoing than her cousin.  Her cousin, a boy, seems much more rough, wants to play rough, and screams when he doesn't get what he wants.  My poor in-laws, their little boy only sleeps for 8 hours at night, usually up by 6am each morning.  I feel for them.  Most days, we put Sabrina down between 8 and 9 and she won't bother us till 9am or later.  She may be up, but she will play in her crib for awhile.  We are certainly lucky, or maybe it's the breastmilk.  

    Not much else to report on, our first typhoon went by and missed Taiwan by a long shot.  We only got a little rain.  There will be more, I'll get pictures.  Hsin-Yi is working on getting her lab set up and research off the ground so she is ahead of the game when she officially starts in August.  I'll get her to snap some photos of her lair soon.  Remember, if you want to know some specifics, email us.  Till next time, tata.

July 4th, 2006 - Happy 4th of July to al the Americans reading this.  My favorite holoday today and it is always a drag to be out of the US on this day.  This is my second time to miss the 4th because i've been in Taiwan.  It's ok, but I do miss all of the fireworks and being with friends and family.  Next year I vow to be in Lincoln for the 4th.  As you can well imagine, today was like any other day here.  It was a Tuesday and that's about it.  NO holidays or anything.  That hard to imagine if you've never been out of the country.  Sometimes when we spend so long in one place we tend to forget there is a whole other world out there with its own history, beleifs, and holidays.

    Well, the big news today was that I, Jason, started work.  I know, I've been saying that I didn't start until August 14th.  Well that's what I thought until about 6:35 this morning when my boss calls me and asks if I can teach a writing workshop.  I had no idea what I would have to do, and my boss wasn't much help, but I agreed.  After all it's money.  I went in and met with the other teacher, and got some idea what I was supposed to do.  The kids were alright, their English was quite good.  I struggled a bit at first, but got going  after awhile.  It is a 3 week worshop, 4 days a week, 90 minute class with an hour of paid prep time.  Not a bad deal, and after today  I have 10 lessons left and will have about 3 weeks off before I go back again.  I guess.

    That's all I have for today.  Happy 4th of July.  Blow something up for me.

July 1st, 2006 - This week was mostly all business.  Hsin-Yi, now being officially hired, has had to go to NTUT a couple times to start getting her lab set up, meet with her grad students, and take care of other business that a Taiwanese professor needs to take care of.  I had to run to school to get the textbooks for my class.  I also found out that I will be teaching another class (leaving me with 4).  I will designing and teaching a 7th grade world literature/world geography course.  I am pretty excited, not about the extra work, but because I will have the chance to design my own curriculum and teach things I like.  This will be a far cry from what life was like in Kaohsiung.  I also will have my own classroom (a new experience for me as well.)  All of this talk about work, you would think we start next week, but still not for another month (month and a half for me.)  

    Polotics have really been the big story here.  The main parties have been at each others throats over corruption allegations surrounding President Chen and his family.  A long story, but history was made on Tuesday when Taiwan had its frist ever vote to recall the president (similar to the impeachment process in the US.)  The motion failed as the President's party boycotted the vote and the opposition couldn't get enough votes to pass it, but things were pretty crazy here.  Lots of demonstrations and egg throwing.  Good ole, Taiwanese politics, you got to love them.   Things seem to be settling down again, but elections aren't far off with the big one in 2008.  Good news from the other side of the ocean though.  The US House of Reps passed an amendment to a bill that would remove current restricions on how the State Depatment conducts communications with Taiwanese officials.  I beleive I sent out a little spiel about that, but if you are curious, go here.  Seems Bush thinks this is a bad idea, tragic. 

    We heard the good news this week that our very close friends, JC and Maggie Pickering and Nate Abel and ,soon to be, Erin Abel, bought houses.  JC and Maggie found a nice place in the Southwood neighborhood in Lincoln, NE and Nate and Erin will be out by Martell, NE.  Oddly enough, Hsin-Yi's younger brother and his soon to be bride also bought a place this week.  They will be moving to a small town outside of taipei called Linkou after their wedding in November.  We are starting to feel like the only couple still renting.  We are looking at buying a place here, but it will be at least a year away.  We need to learn a little more about the market and decide where we would like to live.

    That's about it for this week, nothing too special.  It has been real hot and humid so we haven't been able to go out shopping or anyhting really, cuz we would have to haul the kid along too.  Maybe this week.  Oh, one last thing.  I am trying out Google's free web tracking software called Google Analytics.  What it does, I think, is tell me how many people are visiting my page and from where.  I thought it would be neat.  At the very least it will show me how many of friends and family are actually stopping by to check up on us.  Haha, until next time.

June 24th, 2006 - This week, was quite fun.  It has been hot and humid and the typhoon season is approaching, but life is still good.  This week Hsin-Yi and I went to Taipei 101.  What a building!  It is a ways away from where we live (about 20-40 min by bus depending on traffic,) but well worth the trip.  I thought so, at least.  Taipei 101 is located adjacent to Taipei City Hall and the 3 Taipei World Trade Center buildings.  It is in one of then icest parts of town.  Most know that 101 is the world's tallest building now, but unless you go there you have no idea how state-of-the-art the building is.  Inside is the world's fastest elevator and some of the most sophisticated communications equipment on the planet.  It is mostly office space, but the lower 6 floors are all retail with all the finest wares.  The observation deck is on the 89th floor.  One ticket is about $11 USD.  For that price you get a ride on the world's fastest elevatorswhich take from the 5th floor to the 89th in about 40 seconds (watch your ears on the way down) and unlimited amount of time staring in awe at Taipei from deck.  I must admit, the view is tremendous and one of the few places you can go to see the metropolitan sprawl that is Taipei.  This is a must see for any visitor to Taipei.

   Also this week, we recieved a care package from my parents.  Inside we found homemade chocolate chip cookies, baby clothes hangers, a couple of cute clothing items for Sabrina, and some tings we forgot to pack.  Everything is well received, especially the cookies.  I got my ARC this week from the police department, and Hsin-Yi added Sabrina to our household registry so she is now a Taiwanese and American national.  It has been hot and humid all week, so we are kind of dreading the electric bill as the AC has been runing fro most of the day all week.  We shouldn't be surprised, after all it is Taiwan.  We are well adjusted now ans things start to fall into routine.  Oh, I almost forgot, Hsin-yi was "officially" hired on Thursday.  Her job was kind of up in the air when we moved here as she had several bureaucratic loops to jump through before whe was officially a part of the university.  We knew there was a slight chance she might not get the job, but now it's official, Hsin-yi is officially a professor. 

June 20th, 2006 - Just a quick post since i've been on awhile updating the site.  Not much new to mention.  We are enjoying life without work for now.  Taking care of the basic day to day, week to week stuff there is to do in any household, and of course loving our time with our adorable daughter.  She is getting bigger, more alert all the time, and learning new things that surprise us each day.  Just a few days ago she began playing with her toes (see the pictures page.)  Major events this week?  Not really, I will pick up my Alien Resident Certificate (my ID Card, haha, all of this talk and fuss about immigrants in the US and here I am) tomorrow, Hsin-Yi has a  presentaiton to attend at her university, and we are anxiously expecting a package from mom and dad back home.  We found out this weekend that my parents sold my truck.  My old girl, I had a long history with her, I hope she will remain in good hands.  We are eyeing major purchases here with uncertainty.  Like buying a scooter for example.  It is something we could use, but not sure if it is something we want to buy now.   We are without other things too right now that we are not sure if we want to buy or not (microwave, DVD player, stereo, camcorder, etc.)  Well, there's no rush.  All in good time.

    Again, it is a slow week, but we will keep you all posted, as always, on the happenings in our life.  Hello from everyone, and look forward to more letters from home.

June 16th, 2006 - So it has been a week since I postedsomething here, so I thought I'd better say at least something.  It was a pretty uneventful week.  Mostly just daily routine.  We didn't even go out that much.  At least to nowhere special.  The only thing we really did this week was go out and deal with the government for my immigration paperwork.  I had toget my resident visa and my Alien Resident Certificate.  It wasn't too bad, if you enjoy dealing with bureaucracy.  Take a number, wait in line, take a number wait in line.  It wouldn't have been so bad if they hadn't told me I needed extra documents to compelte the process and we didn't have to go back.  Even then we didn't have everything, you can't trust the information they give, because half the time they barely know what you need to apply for things.  Oh well, we are almost done with all of that stuff, and soom we will all be free and legal in this country.

We did go to Shilin night market last Saturday (I don't think I mentioned anything about that trip.)  It was fun, as Shilin always is.  It is impossible to understand the amount of people and shopping there, so I took pictures.  Unfortunately, they are still on Hsin-Yi's sister's camera.  I'll get them soon and post them.  We didn't get anything really, just bought a lot of snack foods from the vendors.  There is so much to eat there it's insane.  Not all of it is crazy stuff like chicken feet, pig blood cake, and giant sausages.  You kind find jsut about anything, as just about everyone goes there.  It is also a fin place to just see the variety of people and tourists in Taipei.  We'll be sure to take all of our visitors there, as iti s one of our favorite places to go in this town.

We are going out with a couple of Hsin-yi's friends tomorrow.  We will go to another night market for a few hours.  This one I've never been to, so I'm not sure what it's like, but most night markets are similar...eating, drinking, and shopping.  I'll post again within the week.  Remember, if you have any quesitons about somethign you are dying to know, or just want to satisfy your curiosity, please email us (jwbrunken@gmail.com).

June 9, 2006 - The week has come and gone.  From the outside I'm sure it would appear to be uneventful, but for us it was pretty stressful.   Hsin-Yi has been struggling with a sore tooth that got mildly infected, Sabrina is going through some wierd sort of mood swings, and I am stuck in the middle.  Sabrina has been a little different since her shots, not scary different, just...different.  She hasn't been eating as regularly as usual, nor as much.  Of course, we aren't sure if this is because of her, or if it is because of Hsin-Yi not feeling well or eating as well as before (we are still adjusting and working developing a regular meal schedule now that we've moved out.)  She is also crying more intensely.  I guess that's good.  She is sleeping more during the day, which I assume is healthy, but for some reason she just seems like she is acting different.  I guess that means she is growing up.  Growing pains, right?  I guess they aren't just for the one who is growing.

    We have been visiting Hsin-Yi's parent's house periodically and hanging out with her family and Sabrina's little cousin, ZhiSong.  They all love Sabrina and call her a "yang wa wa" , which means a foreign (European) doll (doll like a toy doll.)  We have pictures from last weekend, but they are in my brother-in-law's fiance's camera still, I hope to be getting them soon to post.  We will be going to the Shilin night market (largest and most famous in Taiwan) tomorrow.  It will be great unless it is still raining as it has all week.  Shilin is like 2 or 3 square miles of shops and roadside stands and vendors.  A shoppers paradise.  Other than that, no idea what we will do the rest of the weekend.  We will keep you posted.

    As always, thanks to all of you who are writing to us.  We enjoy hearing from home. 

June 5, 2006 - Due to the fact that Taiwan apparently didn't have one of the shots Sabrina recieved in the States, we had to give her a different brand.  Well, her side effects were a little wose this time around.  She had a fever of 103 the first night, was more drowsy, and unconfortable.  So we have been dealing with that the last few days.  She is much better now, but has stopped sleeping thourgh the night like before, but she does sleep during the day now.  Interesting trade off, but we preferred the night, because we are losing sleep like she is 2 months old again.  

    Dragon Boat Festival came and went.  We spent it eating amazing food at Hsin-Yi's parent's house and spending time with the whole family.  We have pictures.  I'll post them when I get them from Hsin-Yi's brother.  It's Monday now, and we are planning on getting to some of the places we wanted to visit since we landed.  Mostly the giant night market in Taipei.  That place has everything, and lots of fun.  We plan on getting to Taipei 101 too.  Those will be some great pics too.  We'll keep you posted on the weeks doings.  Hope to continue to hear from everyone.

June 2, 2006 - I am officially launching this site today, so Ithought I'd make the first entry for today.  Most of what has been happening thus far I have been communicating to you all through email.  I will continue the updates through this website I think, but I'll still keep emailing.

    Today, Sabrina got her 2nd set of shots and her 4 month check-up.  she now weighs 16.5 lbs.  She doesn't look bigger, in fact she looks like she is losing weight.  We found a decent doctor less than a block away from our place, so it is very convenient.  Even without insurance all of the check-ups and shots were about $160.  Not bad, huh?  So far she is doing well, no fever or wierd behavior (other than actually taking a long nap during the day, she has been driving us nuts lately by not sleeping during the day.)  She has also begun to sleep through the night.  The last 3 nights she has slept 8-10 hrs straight.  She is also begining to reach for things and play with things with her hand.  So cute!  Make sure you peek at the pictures page to see her playing with her bunny.

    Hsin-Yi and I are doing well.  Most of our energy is spent taking care of Sabrina.  We aren't working yet, we both start in August.  Not sure if I will find summer work.  Yesterday, I submitted my application for my visa, so soon I will be legal in this country (I hear that issue hasn't burned out yet in the States.)