Upping our spirits

For the last two weeks Andy and I were a bit down on life. The weather was cold and rainy, I was sick, Andy was trying not to catch my sickness, we couldn't find jobs, and everything looked bleak and grey. Blaa, bla, bla...

Then, we decided to cook some good food with lots of garlic. That way our immune systems would have a good boost and maybe it would affect our mood. The food was delicious...sweet potato noodles, onions, lots of garlic, and soy sauce, yum! And yes, it helped our mood for sure.

The sun also finally came out! So we also decided to get out too. It had been 10 days since I had left the apartment and boy did it feel good to be out in the fresh (well maybe not so fresh since we live in the city) air!

So our first stop out was for some shopping. We were going to put together some Taiwan-style care packages for some friends, but got distracted with fun fashions. Apparently you can buy any color of jeans that you would like here. Maybe your favorite color is green, great, then you can wear green jeans. In Andy's case, he opted for the pink jeans. They were just too hilarious!

As the days got warmer we decided it was time to venture a bit further than our neighborhood. It was time to get outside of Taipei, so we hit up the Beitou Hot Springs.

It was a wonderful day of exploring the beautiful little town. It sits on a mountain side and has a hot springs river running through it. There were all sorts of paths to explore, little temples to enjoy, parks to relax in, cafe's to sip some tea, and of course the hot springs. We kicked off our shoes, hiked up the hot springs and found a nice spot to put our feet in. Then, after a lovely dinner we hit up the baths and enjoyed an evening soaking our bodies in the hot springs. It was exactly what we needed to up our spirits and even our health.