Hey everyone!

So the countdown is 17 days and we have so much to do! Preparing to move your life to a new country for a year is not an easy task. You may be wondering what made us decide to quit our incredible jobs, leave our cozy house, and say goodbye to our wonderful family and friends. Why not? Although we’re going to miss our family and friends like crazy, this is our opportunity to try something daring and adventurous! It’s an opportunity to travel the world, experience first hand what it means to live in a foreign country, and most importantly, grow together in our faith and in our marriage. At times it will be scary and we will want to go home, but we’re hoping the amazing and eye-opening experiences surmount the rough times.

Anyways, back to the preparing to leave part. One of the top stressors of the whole move was what we were going to do with our house. We bought our first house last September and we absolutely love it! We knew selling it wasn’t an option. If selling wasn’t an option, then we knew we were going to have to find some sort of renters or hire a property management company to take care of it. We were both not very keen on having strangers living in our place, but knew we didn’t have a lot of time to find people we could trust. Along comes our cousin Valerie. She mentioned she had some friends, a young family, that were moving back to Michigan from North Carolina. No promises, but she said it was worth a shot. Long story short, two days later we had a perfect family agree to rent our house! Such an answer to prayer. We are so excited to have a family we can trust with our home.

It’s been a hectic few weeks. Things like ordering contacts for a year, dealing with the bank, student loans, insurance, bills, and taxes has been time consuming.  Plus, we’ve had to find temporary homes for our furniture, cars, motorcycle, yard equipment, and our….bonsai tree. On top of all that, we had to take care of a giant tree next to our house. I was dreading the day it had to be taken down, but it was starting to grow into our roof so it had to go.

We had a family friend come and take it down last Saturday morning while we were at the cottage. I’m not sure what we were expecting when we came home that morning, but I wasn’t expecting a PILE of branches over the entire yard!

Don’t get me wrong, the tree guy hooked us up with a great deal and we really appreciate the time he took on a Saturday morning to help us out, but it didn’t include hauling it away. Good thing I have an awesome Dad, brother, and friend to help me out! It looks great!

We’ve got a lot to do yet, but we’re making huge strides in the preparation area. Little by little, we’ll be ready to take off.

Stay tuned!

Kyle and Sarah

 

Welcome to the blog! We are super pumped that you’re here joining us on our adventure to Taiwan. I (Kyle) am a HUGE fan of travel blogs. I have buried myself into countless journals accumulating so much knowledge that I’m confident I can give you a rewarding glimpse into our lives abroad! Here goes nothing…

So, we’re moving to Taiwan in 3 weeks. Taiwan, not Thailand! It’s crazy how many times we get asked,

“When are you moving to Thailand?!”

Or,

“I can’t believe you’re moving to Thailand…I LOVE their food so much!”

All you Thailand lovers, hate to break it to you, but we’re moving to Taiwan. Taiwan is a small island off the coast of Mainland China home to a measly 20 million people in an area the size of South Carolina. Can you say crowded!

 

The primary language of Taiwan is Mandarin Chinese and I am super excited to get back into my Chinese studies, while Sarah is excited to try it out. I spent a semester in Taipei, Taiwan while I was in college. I studied at the Mandarin Training Center at National Taiwan Normal University, so I have some experience of what life will be like in Taiwan.

So where exactly will we be living in Taiwan? We’ll be living in Taipei, the capital of Taiwan. It is located in the north about an hour from the ocean. It is also home to the second tallest and my favorite building in the world, the Taipei 101.

I love this city. It is home to many lively night markets selling anything from the awful smelling stinky tofu to the delicious beef noodle soup. On top of the night markets, you can experience the dazzling city lights of a massive Asian city. There’s something about those lights that I love…I don’t know what it is, but they fascinate me. Lastly, Taipei is surrounded by many hills and mountains that are great for hiking and camping. I’m confident Taipei will be a perfect city for Sarah and me to call home for a while. We will be able to immerse ourselves fully into the Taiwanese culture, but at the same time, experience some of the comforts of home when needed.

So that’s just a little window into what we’re getting ourselves into! Stay tuned for updates as we prepare to peace out!

Kyle and Sarah