looking at 101 in the distance

here is a beautiful picture, taking by arik on a hike we did. we were in the middle of nowhere, everything is green around us, and just the 101 building showing up in the distance, up in the clouds! beautiful!

Krosa -- Our first real typhoon

We just had a huge typhoon coming our way. The typhoon, Krosa, was strong and made lots of trees fall or be teared apart from the ground. Luckly, we didnt get any damage. Ron was at a freind's house when the typhoon started and he needed to come home! he and his friend's mother waited until the typhoon was a bit weak and drove slowly and safely to jasper villa (our house). We could walk around in our building but it was dangerous to go outside, motorcycles fell from the wind and the rain. It was so windy levaes were stuck to our window from the outside! We had a flood on our porch so all of us tried to take as much water away from there while we got wet. Since we took the water away the floor of the house was wet and ron and gil used it to ski on their knees.

written by Ron

We all know that it was typhooning yesterday. I stayed with my parents at our house while Ron was away at a friend's house. I looked out of window and it was so rainy I could wash my hands outside!!! (if I won't fly away...) My parents played with me all morning. At the afternoon I went to play in the playground(which is indoor.) When I was about to go I looked out of the play grounds window and i saw a broken tree!!!When I came back there was a flood in our house so we had to get towels and get the most water as we can into 3 contaners. After everything was dry Ron and I skied on our knees which was prety fun. That's what I did on my first Thyphoon day.

written by Gil Gordon

Our typhoon was pretty exiting. The wind was gushing and rain was pouring down by the buckets. We had around 1 meter of rain in 24 hours (what you get in Tel Aviv in a year...) actually, we could see waves of rain going in vertical motion due to the wind. At one point our balcony was flooded and we had to open the door and drain the water. The wind was so strong, it tore down the curtain with the curtain rail off the ceiling!

Kids were busy with their friends, and I read my book, while Arik was busy following the typhoon news on the computer. In the afternoon we invited other "typhoon prisoners" to our house and had a nice time. Kids were happy to see it, but upset it was Saturday, since school is closed on typhoon days...

Michal

Taiwan Trips 2007

Hi,

We put a nice collection of pictures from our recent trips in Taiwam on picasa web - it will give you nice feelings about this nice island.

To see the pictures click on the slide show on top or the link:

picasaweb.google.com/michal.agordon/TaiwanTrips2007

BTW, there is a typhoon raging outside rigth now... Maybe more on this in next blog. stay tuned..

Gordons

end of the school year!

It's hard to believe, but the school year is finished! The kids are thrilled! it passed so quickly. The past two weeks were basically saying goodbye and packing staff in preparation for the new campus. Not really learning. (as anywhere in the world, I guess...)

Quite a lot of teachers are leaving, as well as some close friends of Ron and Gil- but this is normal when you meet people who live as expats and they only come for a few years.

Both Ron and Gil came home with exellent reports and we are very proud of them. We plan to celebrate this event in a nice restaurant this weekend.

and, we should be in Israel for the summer in just two weeks!

and here are a few more pictures from that trip:

sun moon lake trip

apperently, this was not published, but better late than never...

לפני כמה ימים נסענו לסן מון לייק לשלושה ימים עם חברים ישראלים. סן מון לייק הוא במרחק של ארבע שעות מביתנו. גרנו במלון יפני שמדברים בו סינית. עשינו סיבוב קטן סביב המלון, הלכנו לאכול וחזרנו למלון. השעה הייתה מאוחרת והלכנו לישון(אמא ואבא הלכו לישון רון ואני קראנו)

למחרת, אחרי ארוחת בוקר גדולה, טיפסנו על הר גבוה שמשקיף על האגם. השביל למעלה מתפתל וזה לקח לנו שעתים. לרדת לקח בקושי חצי שעה. שעה אחרי זה שכרנו סירת משוטים. אני הייתי עם אבא ורון היה עם אמא ואבא נתן לי לחתור וזה היה די קשה.
אחר כך שכרנו סירה גדולה ושטנו לצד השני של האגם, אכלנו ארוחת ערב והלכנו לישון.

ביום השלישי הלכנו לראות מקדש, שקוראים לו וו-וו. המקדש היה יפה מאוד, הסתובבנו סביב למקדש ואחר כך נסענו לכפר אבורג'ינים שזה שילוב של פארק שמסביר על החיים של השבטים האבורג'יניים וגם פארק שעשועים. בפארק יש גם גן עם פרחים מהמם, עלינו על כל מיני מתקנים, לדוגמה, UFO, שזה מין צלחת שעולה למעלה וגבוה ומסתובבת לאט, ואז אתה נופל במהירות למטה! אמא הרגישה רע רק מלראות אותי! רק אני עשיתי את זה, כל השאר פחדו לעלות! היו שם גם מתקנים אחרים כייפים כמו רכבל, רכבת הרים בחושך, סירת פירטים ועוד.
בערך בארבע התחלנו לנסוע חזרה הביתה לטייפה.

גיל

kala lilis season

Kala lilis:

It is now kala lilis season in Taiwan. Not far from our house, on the mountains of Yan Ming shan, one can go to the kala lilis fields and pick up flowers or just look around at the beautiful green!

The flowers are grown in water, like rice, so boots are a good idea.

I even got Katherine, Mary and Mary to pose...

and here are some pics for the strawberries picking

strawberries picking - Miaoli

We went on a nice group trip in early March to Miaoli county, strawberry fields. Luckily, after a week of constant rain, the sun was out and on Saturday morning we were ready to go.

This was the first time we traveled with a guide and group. We met our grouping the morning at 7:30 sharp, and nobody was late! In no time all 16 of us were on the bus and ready to go.

On our way, we learned that strawberry season is quite short, only 3-4 months, from Mid December to Mid April. As soon as we reached the area, we could smell the sweet strawberries in the air, and see strawberry fields stretch everywhere. The fields are not big and are located on the hillsides of the mountains, as well as on every flat surface, including high up in the mountain.

We started with a two hours steep track up the mountain and both Ron and Gil were happy to lead the group. It started off as a paved comfortable uphill path but turned out to be quite difficult. At one point, half the group decided to go back and enjoy the lovely view and good weather, while the rest of us, all of Gordon family included, have decided to continue. Soon, the trail became very steep and we had to find our way between the bamboo shoots. Both our children were quite happy to be up front, and kept waiting for us… After we had our snacks on top, the way back was easier and much faster…

From there, we headed to a nice restaurant located on the edge of a lake, which was formed in the 1999 earth quake. It is hard to believe that there used to be roads and houses where there is now just calm water. The restaurants over looks beautiful view and we enjoyed ice food and tea.

After and hour of piece and quite, we were ready to head to our B&B. There are many B&B and hotels in the area, many of them have hot springs. We stayed in a very nice Japanese style B&B, in Dahu city, which was reasonably priced and had great view of the mountain and river.

In the evening, we had our dinner at a local restaurant, most of the dishes containing strawberries.

The following morning we went strawberries picking. The kids just loved it. They each got a basket and special scissors and went to work. We came back with many strawberries… before leaving Dahu, we went to visit the local shops, bought some souvenirs, and tried new things like strawberry sausage, strawberry popcorn etc.

long time no see

after a long pose in our blog we are back in business! sorry for the long break, but be sure that now we have a lot to talk about! Ron's succeful Bar Mitzva, the family's trip to Israel and our new trips in Taiwan, so prepare and check the blog regularily! the Gordons