Foley Invasion

To all my avid fans, I'm truly sorry it's been so long since an update. As the title suggests, and many of you already know, my family visited the Island. It was really great to see them and have them here for the holidays! It wouldn't have been the same without them. 

They where here for two (Dad and Karelyn) and three weeks (Mom and Tommy). Clearly too much to delineate day by day. But I'll hit the highlights.

Taroko Gorge

New Years Fireworks

Kay & Tommy

Roon, Momma, Tommy on NYE

Kay and the Fam

Our good luck eggs

Dad enjoying the HSR

The Gang

From the Ferry

Looking back at the homeland

Green Island

The 'rental'

Green Island Diving Pier

Green Island hot springs

"Insert caption here"

Life's tough all over, except on Green Island.

The little great wall

Taitung at night

Taroko Train station

Martyr's shrine

Taroko

Golden Buddahs

"Insert caption here"

Egg heads

The hogs

My family arrived in high spirits, despite the best efforts of the plane and its heating systems. I was assured over and over that their flight was the hottest in the history of air travel. The first week they were here, I was still working my usual schedule so Rooney and I often met them for the days, left for work, and then reconnected for dinner. It was pretty great because I got to take them to all my favorite places to eat. And all the owners love Rooney and I so we ate for free or had some free dishes thrown in. And I got to have someone else tell my dad I'm a VIP which sort of makes it more valid. Haha. 

One of the days, Kay - one of my wonderful co-teachers, took us to an awesome temple right outside the limits of Taipei. It is a huge temple for the land god (can't recall his name) and there is a HUGE statue of him. She showed us around and answered all of my mom and Karelyn's (manyyyy) questions. 

She also, somehow, got my entire family (father included) to agree to a night of karaoke. It was hilarious. We all were thrilling ourselves with amazing renditions of many songs. The highlights were though, my dad's cover of "Dancing Queen" and Rooney and my mom's version of "New York". Both were crowd favorites. 

Rooney and I also accompanied them to the Chang Kai Shek Memorial which was pretty cool. And despite our many reassuring that Taiwan had been much colder than it was, there was no reprieve in their 'coming at me' as I like to say about the weather. All I heard for two weeks was how hot they were in all their cold weather clothing. Blah, blah, blah. I was secretly (or not so secretly) wishing and praying for a freak ice storm or blizzard so they would freeze mid speech. 

After a week of late dinners and early mornings, I had a week off. So we set off on Christmas morning on the high speed rail (HSR). My dad was really looking forward to that. It takes the train only 1.5 hours to go almost the entire length of the island. Pretty amazing.

We stopped in Kaoshuing and walked around before grabbing Christmas dinner at Outback Steakhouse. Then hopped on an express train (though much slower) to Taitung which is where we caught the ferry to Green Island. 

So I had heard from multiple sources that the ferry ride to Green Island is in fact the ferry ride from hell. We all braced ourselves and though none of us actually regressed any thing, there was a woman, now dubbed 'Pukey' for I'm hoping obvious reasons, who came and sat next to me. I almost lost it - it being food. 

We arrived to a rain shower and so decided on a car rental rather than scooters. Though I'm not sure rental is the right word. We were given a man's car with the directions to not take the keys out of the ignition - ever. So there was that. We were also assured by a nice Taiwanese lady that it was near impossible to get lost - there being only one road and all. Well in true Foley fashion, challenge accepted. And yes, we succeeded, wonderfully. 

Though our hotel on the island was called a resort, it was more of a comedy of errors. Our first room had a hole in the wall (literal) and our second room had a broken toilet. But Green Island was amazing. It was stunning visually despite the weather and virtually empty besides us and another family with a darling son named Freeman. 

Our next stop was Hualien - the base camp for exploring Taroko Gorge National Park. **Conscientious readers will remember that is the place I ran my race.**

Enter the "Green Island Gangsters" as Tommy liked to call us. Or the "Foley Scooter Gang". What a ball. I love riding scooters and members of the family couldn't wait to get behind the wheel. We roamed all over the park. Two wipe outs (remaining unnamed but easily guessed) and a few hours later we turned in after a great day. 

The following day we returned to good ole Taoyuan and started preparing for the inevitable departure of the first two. What a drag. 

But we didn't mope for too long because it was New Years Eve and we had a good day planned. We hooked up with Ting and my mom, Tommy, Rooney and I headed to Taipei for the festivities. We saw a movie during the day and then headed to a rooftop club for the fireworks from Taipei 101. Only two words: Holy Hannah. They were amazing! The show as a special one because of the year for Taiwan. It was amazing. And we were front and center for it all! What a great night!

Mom and Tommy took off for a few days while I went back to work. They came back and then only had a day or so before leaving as well. 

It was so great to see them! I can't believe I have already been here for five months! I'm almost at the half way mark already. Time is seriously whizzing by. 

I hope this finds you all truly enjoying the new year and basking in the sun or playing in the snow! Hopefully you're not getting pelted in the face by relentless rain on your scooter like those of us here are. I love you all!!