It's leaving time around here for the expat community. Hordes of people--primarily moms with kids--will depart the Taipei airport over the next few weeks to visit extended family around the world. (Working spouses left behind in Taipei become the lifeblood for a hundred deli's, pubs, and food stands, I'm told.) The travelers are joined by all of the families who have finished assignments and are moving back to their home countries or on to new assignments. Even the animals are on the move. The kids and I have been watching with fascination over the last six weeks as dozens of swallows built elaborate mud nests under the overhangs of the concrete buildings, brooded over their eggs, fed the ravenous hatchlings and then booted them out of the nest. Barret became particularly adept at spotting the "splatter patterns" on the sidewalk that gave away the location of a nest above. These four fat baby birds cracked us up. Quite obviously ready to leave the nest, they were still insisting that their parents feed them while they hung out in the cramped quarters of home. By the next day, they had finally decided (or perhaps been convinced by ma and pa?) that it was time to strike out on their own, and all that was left was their empty nest. Buffalo Ahead!
Barret's class recently celebrated the end of the school year with a trip to Buffalo Meadow in Yangmingshan National Park. It was a great chance to get up into Taipei's mountains, and we made a family day of it. The temperature was at least 10 degrees cooler, and the lush grasses, ferns and trees made it seem like we were somewhere completely different from the traffic and smog of our city. We even got to see first hand why this section of the park is named as it is. While walking down one of the stone paths, we were startled to come face to nose with a massive water buffalo. In the 1930's the occupying Japanese government introduced herds of the animals to the area with the intent to farm them. Most have been relocated, but a few thousand still roam the park with some basic care from the park service. Warnings are posted about not getting too close--our favorite said something to the effect of, "Violators will take care of own safety"--so we didn't hang out with our buddy Buff for too long.
Barret's class recently celebrated the end of the school year with a trip to Buffalo Meadow in Yangmingshan National Park. It was a great chance to get up into Taipei's mountains, and we made a family day of it. The temperature was at least 10 degrees cooler, and the lush grasses, ferns and trees made it seem like we were somewhere completely different from the traffic and smog of our city. We even got to see first hand why this section of the park is named as it is. While walking down one of the stone paths, we were startled to come face to nose with a massive water buffalo. In the 1930's the occupying Japanese government introduced herds of the animals to the area with the intent to farm them. Most have been relocated, but a few thousand still roam the park with some basic care from the park service. Warnings are posted about not getting too close--our favorite said something to the effect of, "Violators will take care of own safety"--so we didn't hang out with our buddy Buff for too long. 
Taking a Blog Break
With summer here we'll be resting from our blog "homework" until school starts up again. Hope everyone has a safe, fun summer. We've so enjoyed hearing from our friends and family around the world and look forward to catching up with you in the fall!
No comments:
Post a Comment