With Christmas looming less than one week away, shopping yet to be completed…ahhh..it must be time to write our annual letter to our friends. This is our seventh year in Taiwan and only the second time we will be spending Christmas in Taiwan. Everyone will be traveling to Taipei and we will take the high-speed-rail down south to Kenting then to Tainan, the historical capital of Taiwan. We will spend Christmas down south and bring in the New Year in Taipei.
Nick entered High School this fall, and has fully embraced everything the school has to offer. Apart being on the Yearbook Club again, he was the lighting manager of the Upper School Musical, a teaching assistant for sixth grade Science, a member of the Taiwan Model United Nations team, a Swimzone instructor as well as teaching/helping out at AWANA and Youth worship at the Taipei International Church each Sunday. Oh, he also “DJ” for the Middle School dances including the Middle School “Candlelight Dance” held in December as well as the Taipei American School International Food Fair this Fall.
Matthew entered Seventh Grade this fall and is equally busy as his brother, Nick. He plays tennis on Monday, rock-climb on Tuesday and Saturday/Sunday, drum-set lessons on Friday and piano on Saturday. He also played intramural softball over the past six weeks which cumulated in the Middle School Softball tournament that took place last Saturday in Taichung. Matthew’s team came in Fourth out of nine teams. Matthew attended the Nike Tennis Camp in Santa Cruz this summer with his friend, Phil, where they spent a whole week playing tennis from morning till night. He started serious rock climbing since March, climbing once or twice a week at a facility in Neihu, about 15 minutes from our home.
Not much has changed with either Peter or Felicia. Both still volunteer their services at the Taipei American School.
We did a bit of traveling in 2009. We traveled to Singapore in early February. It has been almost five years since our last visit to Singapore and it was a lot of fun. Apart from seeing all of our old friends, the highlight of the trip was our visit to “Forest Adventure” which took us (via “Zip-lines”) over water and through the trees of Singapore. We took a trip to Ho Chi Ming City during Spring Break, hosted by our friends, the Tsiens. It was our first trip to Vietnam and we were all very impressed with its cleanliness, and of course the food. The side trip to the Mekong Delta and Cuci Tunnels were both fun and informative.
We spent a busy summer in Moraga. Nick attended the “ATDP” academic program offered by UC Berkeley while Matt attended an enrichment program at Head Royce. Apart from tennis, Matthew also took carpentry at the Moraga Community Center (for the sixth or seventh year in a row) where he built a desk for Nicholas. Both Nick and Matt helped out at the Stead Open again as ballboys and we hosted last year’s winner, Robert Yim, at our house for the duration of the tournament. We made several day trips around the Bay Area this summer. First we took a trip to Monterey, Carmel and Santa Cruz, enroute to dropping Matthew off to his tennis camp. We then took a trip to Angel Island (the Ellis Island of the West where Chinese/Asian immigrants were held for quarantine) which included a boat ride from the Oakland Pier to Pier 39, Angel Island and back. We also attended the Berkeley Kite Festival as well as both an Oakland Athletics (vs. the Blue Jays – we won) and a SF Giants baseball game.
Worries of the H1N1 flu caused the School to cancel the Middle School Camp this fall, denying Matthew a chance to go to Tainan with the other Seven Graders for a week of fun and learning. The expected “outbreak” never happened, but we did manage to join the H1N1 Club two weeks ago, when Matthew came home after the Candlelight Dance with a fever. While he recovered by the second day of his flu, he and the rest of us were quarantined for five whole days. Nick was kept home as siblings of H1N1 flu carrier are not allowed on campus during the quarantine period.
We took a short-trip to Penghu, an island chain on the western side of Taiwan, about 45 minutes flight from Taipei this Fall. Penghu was a military zone for the ROC armed forces but has been opened to tourism over the past ten years. This was our first visit to Penghu and it was a lot of fun. The Fall season was probably not the best time to visit as the seasonal wind was VERY STRONG which meant most of the water-based activities were off limits. We were, however, able to arrange a bus tour as well as a couple of fishing trips to the outer islands. The highlight of the trip would be catching the spiny “blow-fish” or Japanese Fugu fish (which blows up like a balloon when angered).
All of us took another trip this fall, to Hong Kong, to attend Peter’s sister, Susan’s xxth birthday party. This was followed by Peter’s Dad’s 89th birthday party which we also celebrated in Hong Kong. Peter also spent five days in Shanghai with his Mom and Dad where they spent time visiting relatives and eating hairy crabs.
As 2009 quickly coming to a close, we have taken inventory of all the blessings we have received this year. Our collective health condition has remained good with one addition to the Fung-clan via Jonathan Fung (17 October, 2009) born to Frank and Annie. Felicia’s cousin, Kenneth Liu, tied the knot in April, to Yulia in Russia with love. During his reception in Taipei this Fall, we had the privilege of meeting Yulia’s family and friends who had traveled all the way from Moscow. Both Nick and Matt performed at the reception, Nick singing “Can you feel the Love Tonight” and “Stand By Me” while Matt performed the theme song from the famous Taiwanese move, “Cape Number 7” on the piano.
We hope this letter finds you and your loved ones well. The FungYeh family wishes you a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year!
Lots of love from,
Felicia, Peter, Nick and Matt
Author’s note: I have finished this letter last week, but my many editors have kept this on their desks until today…
p.s. It seems that several of you still don’t have our “new” contact details: 7/F, 205 Yu Sheng Street, Shihlin District, Taipei 11145, Taiwan Tel: 02-2832-9538
