DearOne Photography: January Recap

How long we’ve been here: 422 days or 1 year, 1 month, 27 days (as of 1/1)

Favourite thing to eat:

Dave: Pepper pork bun (#19 here)

Steph: I’m really falling in love with Taiwanese sausages. They’re a little sweet, and you often eat them with little bites of raw garlic. I know it sounds weird, but seriously it works!

Coolest thing this month: Dave served his version of a western hamburger at the café and had other foreign chefs in Tainan actually shake his hand and tell him they were some of the best burgers in Tainan after they tried them!!

Steph celebrated her SECOND birthday in a foreign country- Yay 27!

Favourite place you’ve visited/ Favourite thing you’ve done:

Dave: Celebrating another birthday with my wife.

Steph: Kite flying in Anping.

Thing you’re looking forward to most: GOING HOME!! We miss you guys!!

Biggest Surprise:

Dave: Coming from Canada and having fresh, young pork, it’s amazing just how much boar meat they use. Taiwan also has a really unique compost/ recycling program. They recycle things like cardboard and plastic and have a regular garbage, but they also have barrels of food waste (scraps, bones, egg shells, ect) mixed with deep-fry grease and it gets fed to the pigs. They do get some grain, but a lot of their diet is composed of these food scraps. And I think that’s maybe why the meat is so strong!

Steph: I decided to buy myself a new journal for my birthday this year. I apparently forgot how much I used to write. And with no rules in my journal (no seriously, I actually told myself anything goes), it’s been pretty cool to see what’s come out of it these past few weeks!!

Something you’ve learned:

Dave: I think I’ve perfected making rice. It seems really simple, but I’m talking about washing, rinsing, and cooking five different types of rice. There’s actually a science behind how much water for the starch and what kind of seasoning- not just spices but also the types of fat you put with it (butter, chicken stock, etc).

Steph: What kind of teacher I am. I value creativity. I value independent thinking. I value love. And honestly. And compassion. And grace.

Bowling for Steph's birthday!

A fav night market treat- baked sweet potatoes!

Birthday games!

Eww, feet. But Ari took me out for a pedi!!

I was trying to teach the kids how to make their Chinese names into English forms (ie Pinyin). Then they wanted to show me how to write my name in Chinese!!

And yes, my Chinese name is Star (Steph) Bird (Burt) Leaf (Hillyard). When I wrote my name out for a certain class months ago they thought I had written Star Bird, and it stuck. Leaf is the closest Dave's coworkers could figure out to Hillyard.