Halloween

For Halloween this year I was a member of the Tibet football (soccer) team. Six of us teachers did this because we found shirts for a really good deal and the team name on the back of the shirt was The Monks. All week I had been asking my KBR kids what I should be for Halloween. They kept telling me I should be a witch. Apparently here the girls dress up as princesses and everyone else is a witch or a wizard. Most of the kids came dressed as those things or Disney characters. I was very excited that one of my favorite students, Kevin, came as a pirate since I taught them how to sing “Yo Ho Yo Ho a Pirates Life for Me.” My favorite costume was one of my KBR boys came dressed up as a hula girl wearing a clown wig. There was cake walks, face painting, singing, popcorn hands, and overall a great Halloween. If you want to view a Halloween video that my friend Stori made just click on her name under my links. Most of my kids are at the beginning of the video. The video is under November 10. Thank you Stori for putting it together!

Shitou

Today we boarded a bus at 6:45 to visit Shitou. Shitou is known for an amazing Bamboo. We had a chance to walk through a Bamboo forest and see the bamboo bridge. We also walked up an insane amount of steps to see a giant rock. My favorite part was the skywalk. At the skywalk you are able to walk through the tops of the trees. It felt like a scene from Return of the Jedi. No Eewoks we hurt during our visit and picture taking.

Tainan

Continuing on our journey south we choose to visit the 4th largest city and former capital or Taiwan Tainan. Because the moon festival was going on there were fireworks and parades everywhere. We stop to wait at a red light and suddenly a parade went by. We also decided to stop at a side street to take a rest from our walking and enjoy a drnk. As we were enjoying our drinks another parade went by. Then suddenly 20 boxes of fireworks were also dumped into the street and lighted. We enjoyed the show. This picture if of me infront of oldest Confucius Temple in Taiwan. Becuase Confucius was huge on education this is also the oldest school in Taiwan. The yellow piece of paper is a wish that I am making and then you post it on a board. Students come make wishes before test. These next two pictures are of us at the Chickan Towers. This was a grave for one of the heros of Taiwan. It was also a dutch fort during the time they occupied Taiwan. The turles have tribute engraved on them for heros of Taiwan. They date back to the 1600 and 1700's.

Alishan

This Friday was our first day off. We were given a holiday to celebrate Moon Festival. For moon festival you eat moon cakes as you stare at the moon and make a wish. To celebrate this excitement we headed off to Alishan. Alishan is one of the most beautiful mountain ranges and forest area with one of the three remaining steep-grade alpine trains in the world. Because it was a holiday weekend everybody was catching trains and buses to head out of town. Crammed, we stood on the train for 2 hours to the city of Chiayi where we took a two hour taxi ride up the mountain going from and elevation of 30m to 2200m. I wish it had not been so late so that we could have seen the scenery. After getting just a few hours of sleep we woke up at 4:40am to catch an old train up above the clouds to watch the sunrise. As I watch the sun rise I again realize how real Heavenly Father is and how much he loves us. After taking the train back and getting a few hours of sleep we headed out to hike the trees trails. I cannot describe the beauty of all I saw so I hope you enjoy the picture. The one where our hands are in the air is the 3000 year old cypress. We are raising our hands because when the Japanese occupied the area they said the tree looked like a person with their arms in the air shouting long live the Emperor.


To head back to Chiayi instead of taking the scary taxi we boarded another old train and rode down the mountain. It reminded me a little of taking the train around Disneyland, except that because of switch back sometimes we were riding backwards. In our ride down we also passed through three climate zones. It was fun to see the scenery change from forest to bamboo to palm tree in our three hour ride. At the train station our group split. Julie and Stori headed home to teach Saturday morning while Mashell, Kristen, and I caught a train to Tainan to visit the former capital of Taiwan.

Taipei/Buddhist Hospital

This weekend I took a nice relaxing trip up to Taipei to visit my Uncle Sean and Aunt Wanda. Sean had bought a barbeque since my last visit and he was excited to grill for me. I was very excited to eat it. It was also really nice to be away from Berham and see my family. On Saturday Wanda also took me to this amazing Buddhist hospital. I was not sick it is just amazing. The hospital has been designed so that it looks like a Hyatt hotel and the conference center put together. We were in a hurry so I was not able to spend much time there.

Saturday I met up with Stori and Julie. We decided to hit the nightlife and check out the much talked about snake alley. This alley is a popular tourist attraction with snakes and shopping. I think it must be popular because they hang snakes by these hooks draining their venom or bile right before they die which you can drink. Yum! Sounds like such a tasty treat. Overall it was a strange place and experience.

On Sunday we enjoyed church and then I took Stori and Julie out to experience the Buddhist hospital. At the hospital we met one of the volunteer who told us that people donated the 4-5 million dollars to build the hospital. People also come from all over Taiwan to volunteer and help at the hospital. Also since I had more time we were able to explore a little bit more. We discovered that there are several amazing gardens and ponds on different levels. I really think they should built hospitals like this in the U.S. It was not only beautiful, but I felt so much peace and happy as I sat there.

National Talk Like a Pirate Day

National Talk Like a Pirate Day

There are many strange and random holiday’s in the U.S. that I am sure no one knows about. For example Pie day, Friends day, Write a Letter to a Friend Day. The only one that I remember and really celebrate is National Talk like a Pirate Day. Since I was not at home to have a party and celebrate it with my friends I decided to celebrate the day with my students. It took me awhile to convince my kids that they did not want to be like Peter Pan, but a pirate. After they decided that being a pirate would be fun, we celebrated the day by dressing up in pirate outfits (that is using what resources and paper I had), walked the plank, sang pirate songs, watched a clip from Peter Pan, had a sword fight, and a treasure hunt. We had a fun day. I hope everyone else had a wonderful pirate day.

Service/Dance

Today we helped by participating in the Island wide service project for the 50 year anniversary celebration. For this service project we wore very cool yellow vest and collect receipts for a group that looks after handicap people. As foreigner we attract a lot of attention anyway so this was a great way to put our skills to good use. We stood around holding the boxes and people gladly gave us their receipts. You may think how receipts help anyone. Little did I know in Taiwan they have a lottery? The lottery numbers come from the receipts. Each time you make a purchase you have been entered into the lottery, if you keep your receipt. Instead of you collecting the money you have now made the organization the possible winner.

Tonight was also the night of the big YSA dance. In the past the YSA dance were very formal and only about 50 people show up. Because of this they asked our ward to be I charge of the dance. Apparently they believe that the foreigners know how to throw a party. It was a Luau Theme and we spent several hours the night before decorating and setting up. The picture is of me putting my paper flower making skills to good use.

At the dance during the opening prayer (in Chinese) the man said something that made everyone laugh. A girl told us that he prayed that we would all meet someone special. Mashell and I put our EFY skills to good us and taught the Baha Men 1 Line dance. It was a fun night with over 200 YSA from all over Taiwan coming out. In case you were wondering I did meet someone special. Lots of nice Chinese men who cheered for me while I line danced.

It's a Jungle out There!!

This week in my Kindergarten Basic Reading class we read Curious George Goes to the Zoo. For this activity we all dress up like the animals and focused on using our five senses. My students names are Dennis, Vincent, Charlie, Ted, David, Tiffany, an dalex who was absent. Tiffany and Charlie are the two horses. Vincent is the lion pulling the tiger tail. He was not suppose to be doing that but, it was so adorable I had to take a picture. Dennis is the other lion attacking Ted in the red striped shirt. Enjoy the pictures.

Videos

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2607948049484171202&pr=goog-sl&hl=en

This website link has videos of my kids. Just click on the ones that say MK. They thought their picture was being taken, which is why they are holding up peace signs. Thank you Elizabeth Hope for making the vidoes.

Sanyi

Today we boarded a train and headed off to Sanyi. This village the originator of Taiwan woodcarving. The craft industry has existed for more than 100 years. I loved walking through the streets and soaking in the smells as old men widdle away at wood. I never realized what an art wood carving was. The scenery was also breath taking. Here we visited the National Wood Carving Museum. It was fun to see the influence of all the different lands that had conquered Taiwan over the year and how they have influenced Taiwan.

Beside wood they was a few amazing ceramic shops. If I had more money I would have bought some. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Taipei/Danshui

Today we took a day trip to Taipei and Danshui. In Taipie we were soaked from head to toe as we headed to the Chaing Kai-Shek Memorial. Chaing Kai-Shek was a the first President of Taiwan. He help to establish the democracy of Taiwan. At the memorial we were able to witness the changing of the gaurds. After the memorial we road the subway system (MRT) out to Danshui were we had intended to visit a dutch fort. Another lost in translation moment took us to the bridge of lovers. It was a fun day and great to smell the sea.

Pirate Time

For a drama activity, with morning kindergarten, we were piaretes. We sailed on a ship, walked the plank, had a sword fight, and a treasure hunt. This video is of my one group of the kids singing "Yo Ho Yo Ho a Pirates Life for Me." http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7621114861069743700&pr=goog-sl&hl=en

Family Meal

Tonight I enjoyed a traditional Taiwanese meal with a family. They brought all the food out to the table. There was a whole fish (the eyes were fought over), vegetables, sweeten cabbage/papaya, sausage (very sweet), and a pork egg mixture. You get a bowl of rice and with chopstick in hand grab whatever you would like. Everyone ate off their chopstick then dug in again. After you are finished eating you use your rice bowl and have soup. I cannot even describe the soup. It was weird and I forced myself to finish it. Dessert was a seaweed gelatin with sweeten condensed milk drizzled on top. Yes, it was not very tasty. However, it was a fun and interesting eating experience. They want me to come over again really soon. We will see what happens. The pictures are of a swing they had in the middle of their living room and some of the fun food.

Lost in Translation

As much as I try to practice Chinese I feel that I am doomed to live my life her illiterate and lost in translation. An example of this would be my adventure to the ward activity. Today ward activity was to meet the member from the branch at a swimming pool in Taichung. Because I had gone to the amazing spa/pool just this week I had high expectations. Because there are 15 of us we all left in different groups. My group consisted of Liz Merket, Brett, and Sergio (nothing can go wrong with the boys). We boarded a train and got off in Taichung. Sergio said that he remember how to get their an why pay the expensive taxi price (200nt). Instead we set off to take a bus (20nt). After waiting for what we thought was the right bus it turned out we were waiting in the wrong location. We went to the correct bus stop and when the correct bus came them driver would not let us on and told us to wait for another bus. This bus took forever to show up. We boarded and enjoyed the right. Segrio, as the only member of our group who spoke Chinese told us it was time to get off. I do not know where we were, but there was no swimming pool. We asked for direction every block and finally arrived at a swimming pool. It turned out we were at the wrong swimming pool. The people as this pool were very nice and called other pools and found our party. A taxi was called and we finally arrived at the correct location.

This took us three hours to finally get there. Sadly the swimming pool was not as amazing as the one I had already been to and everyone was leaving. Since we had paid we were determined to have a good time. We stayed for about an hour and then headed out. When we went home paying the extra money did not matter We took a taxi to the train station and then home. It was along day.

Luckily since I was with Liz we were in good spirits. We discussed former
spring break trips, future reunion trips, how to take over the world, and
other excite topics. When we got home we enjoyed some bing-shaws and movie to top of our exciting day.

Spa/Swimming Pool

When it comes to swimming the Taiwanese know how to do it. Last Thursday (August 17, 2006) I went to a swimming pool/spa. At this location was a two lap pools, swimming area, kiddie area, slide, sauna, steam room, a shower that beats so hard on your back it gives a massage, hot tubs, and the best way I can describe the last two things is bubble chair and bed. You lay or sit in these beds and chairs press a button and enjoy a massage. It was heaven!!! The best part, it was free! A wonderful Taiwanese family had extra tickets and invited us out.

Jack and the Beanstalk

In morning kindergarten we begin our day with an opening activity. This include songs, weather, calander, greeting, and exercise activity. Next, the children are broken up into 5 groups. They spend between 20-30 min with each teacher and then rotate to the next teacher with a new activity area. The 5 activity areas are Kitchen, Drama, Games, Art & Crafts, and Gym. Right now I am the drama teacher. This week we are doing Jack and the Beanstalk. In the pictures were the kids are wearing a hat, Jack is selling his cow. In the other pictures they are climbing the beanstalk. The focus was on action words. Climbing the beanstalk, running from the giant, and other fun senerio's.

50th Anniversary Celebration

Today we learned some Taiwanese cooking. Our Head Secretary Gloria and another secretary Gina taught us how to make homemade dumplings. It was a wonderful chance to be able to bond with our secretaries. Gloria also asked if I would be staying until for a year. I told her no because my family would miss me. Then she said that she would miss me if I left. I love her.

We also got on a train and headed to Chung-Hua for the fifty year anniversary celebration. When we got to the location there was a cement slide that we played on. Before we knew it we had an audience of Taiwanese children who had joined us.

After we were done playing we headed into the stadium for the performance. The fifty-year celebration of the church in Taiwan was amazing. There was traditional martial arts performances and dancing. After this they showed, through song, dance , and skits the church entering and spreading through Taiwan. My favorite part was when they showed a traditional Taiwanese marriage and then introduced the temple dedication with older couple dressed in white ballroom dancing to I Love to See The Temple and Familes Can be Together Forever. At the end the had a medley of faith in every footstep and called to serve sang as all the missionaries who had every served in Taiwan joined the performer. It was a fun experience.