Thankgiving Treat

I know, I know, Thanksgiving has already past but I found this super adorable Thanksgiving treat and wanted to share it with everyone, it is sure to be something that I am going to make next Thanksgiving...those around me look forward to receiving these next year.

Thanksgiving Tee Pee's
Enjoy!

~Betherd~

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! I hope that you have a wonderful day and enjoy your black Friday shopping double time for me. I had an interesting Thanksgiving day and I will write about it as soon as I can get some pictures from Natalie. Love you lots and enjoy your turkey day!

~Betherd~

Riverdance

Ahhhh I am going to see this in two weeks!!!! I can't believe it, I am so excited.. I got my ticket tonight. To see a little preview of what I will be seeing on the wonderful day of December 13th go here or here or here or here or here. I'm sorry, you don't really have to watch these all but I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am, this is a show that I have watched for years on VHS and have always wanted to see it live. They came last February to Salt Lake but unfortunately I didn't have the money and no one really wanted to go with me. So when I saw that they were having a Taiwan Tour I just had to jump on it. I am sure that I will somehow fit in a countdown until the day, but until then I will just have to make due with youtube videos.

~Bethered~

Skillet Dinner

Tonight when Natalie finished her 9pm tutoring we were both hungry as we hadn't had any dinner, we decided to head to the night market. When we got there we were kind of wanting to try something new, the old stuff is getting just that, old. We saw these skillet places (I don't really know what they are called but that is what I have tried to call them) where they heat these black skillet plates and make them really hot before putting your food on them. I think that they also then reheat them with the food on because when they bring the food out it is sizzling. Natalie and I thought that they looked interesting and had stopped to watch a guy finish making a plate for someone when a guy walked up and asked if we would like some help, we said yes and thanked him. He was looking at the menu and so we thought that he was reading off the menu to us, we explained what we wanted and he repeated it as if double checking. Once he was for sure what we wanted he said "this way please," and pointed to the skillet stand on the other side of the row. It took me a moment to figure out what was happening but then I realized that we had totally be tricked, though it was kind of funny. We did go with him and ordered food there (as he spoke English and we find it's always a little bit easier if someone knows English beside us). We found it pretty funny how smooth the guy had been in getting us over there, we thought the food was really good (though mine was a little spicy-- it had a black pepper sauce on top), but we don't think that we will go again, we felt really awkward as they kept on watching us and every few seconds two or three people would walk up to our table and just stand over us watching, randomly spitting out something in Chinese. Then the guy would come over and translate telling us that we were doing one thing or other wrong or that we should do it this way. We were glad that we tried it but probably wont go again.
P.S. Oops I forgot to tell you what the food was...I had noodles, with a egg and then chicken and sauce on top (for some reason they really like the sauce here). Natalie had noodles with a egg and then some spaghetti sauce.

~Bethered~

Thanksgiving, Day 2

Today we talked about pies (yum yum). It made me a little sad that I will not be having a traditional thanksgiving (seriously considering going to McDonalds and buying a couple of their apple pies and then coming home and having them with vanilla ice cream..sound like a good idea?). We talked about different types of pies you can have and then watched a movie of a lady making Pumpkin Pie. Last we used play dough and pretended that it was crust, we made lots of different color and sized pie crusts.

Ok, so we were going to learn this song today, but we ended not having anytime, but I figured others might have the time.

Pumpkin, Pumpkin Pie Yummy (Sung To Peanut, Peanut Butter and Jelly)

First you take the pumpkin and you pick it,
You pick it, you pick it, pick it, pick it.
Pumpkin, Pumpkin Pie Yummy! Pumpkin, Pumpkin Pie Yummy!

Then you take the pumpkin and you carve it,
You carve it, you carve it, carve it, carve it.
Pumpkin, Pumpkin Pie Yummy! Pumpkin, Pumpkin Pie Yummy!

Next you take the spices and you mix it,
You mix it, you mix it, mix it, mix it.
Pumpkin, Pumpkin Pie Yummy! Pumpkin, Pumpkin Pie Yummy!

You put it in the oven and you wait,
You wait, you wait, you wait, you wait.
Pumpkin, Pumpkin Pie Yummy! Pumpkin, Pumpkin Pie Yummy!

You take it out the oven and you bite it,
You bite it, you bite it, bite it, bite it
And you chew it, you chew it, chew it, chew it, chew it. (Sing like your mouth is full)
Pumpkin, Pumpkin Pie Yummy! Pumpkin, Pumpkin Pie Yummy!

Looking For a Smile?

Tonight Natalie and I had a youtube marathon with Mormon movies, we found some pretty funny ones. Here are a few of my favorites that left me smiling.

You Raise Me Up: Missionary Style
This first movie starts out a little slow, but it give it a minute and it picks up and the missionaries are hilarious.

Missionary Haka
I am pretty sure that I might have shared this one before, but it still makes me laugh every time I watch it again.

Mormon Dating the DTR
This one was pretty funny, I guess it was made by Divine Comedy and there is a whole other part too, but this was the part that we liked the most.

Enjoy!

Thanksgiving, Day 1

One thing that I like about working in a preschool in this environment is that we get to pick our own weekly themes, and since it's a weekly theme that means that we get to celebrate any holiday for almost a week. This week is no different, for all of you norms in the grand ol' USA celebrating Thanksgiving this week you will get one day and us we will get in a way to celebrate it every day. Now I know the celebration is not the same, but it puts in a different perspective and makes you appreciate the holidays even more for when you are home (or make you realize really how unimportant they are). I can't wait until Christmas time (not that i want it to race to then), as we will be doing the Christmas theme for two weeks! and then I get to come home and celebrate it for another week with my family (now that is the life!).
Anyway today was the first day of our Thanksgiving theme, in my afternoon class we did a couple of different games and songs. (sorry to be adding all of these songs and such that I used, but it makes it easier to find them for the future for me and since I post things before the actual holiday others might be able to use them too)

The first one is called The Turkey:

The turkey is a funny bird.
(Hook thumbs together and spread fingers to create turkey tail.)
Its head goes wobble, wobble.
(Wobble head back and forth.)
And all it knows is just one word:
(Hold up one finger.)
"Gobble, gobble, gobble."
(Make mouth shape with hand, opening and closing it while sounding like a turkey.)

The next one is called Turkey Dance:

Oh, you turkey to the left (two steps to the left)
Turkey to the right (two steps to the right)
Then you heel and toe (do motion with foot)
and scratch with all your might (scratch with foot--we did scratching with our hands and feet)
Now flap your turkey wings (put hands in armpits and flap)
While your head goes wobble, wobble. (wobble head)
Then turn around and then you say (turn around)
"Gobble, Gobble, Gobble!"

And the last one that we learned was called The Turkey Hop:

Do the turkey hop,
do the turkey run.
Do the turkey gobble
it's a lot of fun.

Now flap your wings,
like the turkeys do.
Then run from the farmers,
before they catch you.

Students line up on one wall (they are the turkeys) and one student and I (we are the farmers) stand in the middle. We say the poem and do the actions. When we get to the end of the poem the "turkeys" run to the other side. If one of the farmers touches them then they turn into farmers. We play until there are only one or two turkeys left.
The kids really like this game, we played it for almost half the class time. In the first afternoon class on our last game I was actually the last turkey (can you believe that?) and I got through the kids one time when it was only me against the whole class, I was quite impressed with myself but then class time was over so I didn't get to see how long I could go.

~Bethered~

Prince/Princess Crowns

This week we were talking about Fairy Tales. One day I did the story "The Emperors New Clothes" I first told the story and then we made some "new clothes" for the Emperor. Basically we decorated Burger King crowns that Nathan and Sallee had been kind enough to bring for me. Some of them came out really cute, and others I am not quite sure what happened to them. Some of the kids didn't want to show their decorations and so they have the Burger King crown part showing. Enjoy!

Crowns

Leslee's Birthday Cake

This past week was Leslee's birthday, I have sort of gotten used to kids having pretty big cakes but when her mom walked in with the cake it was HUGE!! It was so funny having Leslee sit in front of the cake though, she was ready to dig into it, every time someone would stop talking to her, her hand would start stretching towards the cake and we would have to say her name a couple of times to get her attention again. As soon as she blew out the candles she dipped her fingers into the cake, it was pretty funny. See that white thing in the middle with Hello Kitty on it? That is all white chocolate, Yuling scooped it up with a couple of spoons and put it in a big bowl for Leslee, she was slowly making her way through it. When I posted the last pictures of a birthday cake Ben had asked me if I could bring home a couple of them, I wish that I could, they are amazing. Enjoy!

Leslee's Birthday Cake

Halloween Town Party

Here are the pictures of the Halloween town party that we went to downtown, plus pictures of the kids dancing. Enjoy!

Halloween Town Party

Halloween Adventures

I can't believe that Halloween is almost a month ago, it seems like it was just yesterday and sadly I haven't gotten to writing about it. I will just highlight some of the parts. Natalie and I had decided to do every class about Halloween stuff. One of my favorite things that we did that week was I taught the kids "If You're a Ghost and You Know It," it's to the If You're Happy and You Know It. It was so cute, I had found it online, it goes as follows:

If you're a ghost and you know it, then say boo. BOO!
If you're a ghost and you know it, then say boo. BOO!
If you're a ghost and you know it, then you really ought to show it, if you're a ghost and you know it, then say boo. BOO!

If you're a cat and you know it, then say meow. MEOW!
If you're a cat and you know it, then say meow. MEOW!
If you're a cat and you know it, then you really ought to show it, if you're a cat and you know it, then say meow. MEOW!

If you're a bat and you know it, flap your wings. FLAP, FLAP!
If you're a bat and you know it, flap your wings. FLAP, FLAP!
If you're a bat and you know it, then you really ought to show it, if you're a bat and you know it, then flap your wings. FLAP, FLAP!

If you're a skeleton and you know it, jingle your bones. JINGLE, JINGLE!
If you're a skeleton and you know it, jingle your bones. JINGLE, JINGLE!
If you're a skeleton and you know it, then you really ought to show it, if you're a skeleton and you know it, then jingle your bones. JINGLE, JINGLE!

The cutest part was that the kids would start off behind their chairs, hiding, and when I would say "then say boo" they would all jump up and yell "BOO" and then go back behind their chairs, when we got to the cat part they would come crawling from behind their chairs and say meow. Then they would get up on their knees to flap their wings and stand up to jiggle like jello for the skeleton. I wasn't sure how it would go but the kids still really like it and they ask to do it sometimes still.

I also taught them five little pumpkins:
5 little pumpkins, sitting on a fence.
The 1st one said, my it's getting late.
The 2nd one said, there are witches in the air.
The 3rd one said, but I don't care.
The 4th one said, lets have some fun.
The 5th one said, lets run and run and run.
Oooh went the wind, and out went the lights!
And the 5 little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

Again the kids thought that it was really cute and they still like to ask to do it, they especially like the actions that we do with it.

Another thing that I found that I really liked was a version of Brown Bear, instead it was Brown Owl.... Brown Owl Brown Owl, Who do you see? I see a White Ghost looking at me...Purple Bat....Green Witch.... Black Cat and finally Pumpkin pumpkin what do you see? I see a Jack O Lantern looking at me.
I love the all the fun and cute things that you can find on the internet that people have created or made up. Strangely my favorite things that I did in my classes that week were all the things that I did in the morning classes.

Ok now to really talk about what you are interested in (if anything), Halloween day. A couple of weeks before Halloween each student was measured for what size costume they should get and then one at a time the teachers took a kid and had them go through the costume catalog.The catalog had probably close to 300 costumes for kids and 100 for adults, but because the kids were allowed to pick their own costumes we saw a repeat of many costumes. First of all when you are this young it is still cool to be in the same thing as your friends, but there were also other factors. Ben had wondered if their were only 4 costumes in Taiwan to be had, I would say that the one that you saw the most of was the Snow White costume, I am not 100% sure on this but I am guessing that Snow White showed up a lot was because all little girls want to be princesses and Snow White is the princess that looks the most like them, she has black hair and the same kind of hair cut as a lot of Taiwanese people.

Friday morning (Halloween) most of the kids showed up in their costumes (several parents had sent their kids in normal clothes in hopes of keeping the costumes nice and clean), they were all so excited and were almost literally jumping off the walls. I couldn't believe how cute they all were. It was interesting trying to keep class in order and to get things done, but somehow we did it. By lunch time most of the kids had changed back out of their costumes into normal clothes for nap time. For some reason Natalie and I decided to wait until only like 15 minutes before we had to head downstairs to get into our costumes (not the smartest idea), so we were rushing a little bit in getting ready, but we were able to get ready. We rushed downstairs with all of our stuff (and sadly with all of my rushing I forgot to grab my camera card out of my computer- luckily Natalie had hers), we started class and the kids decorated their candy bags with stickers and stuff. When we were finished everyone met outside and Yuling did a lot of talking (for which I understood zero of :D). I kept on getting told to go to the office, but everytime I went no one followed and so I was really confused, but finally the other teachers came too and we were given candy. Each of us was given an assignment of where to go, Natalie got placed inside the toy house because she was the smallest and I got put in the green classroom with Teacher Michelle.

The 3 year olds were each teamed up with a 5 year old and off they all went, running around in circles eventually going to each of the trick or treating places and getting a piece of candy from each place (we had the teachers and a couple of parents there to help also), they didn't get very much (which I guess in the long run was better anyway) but they were all happy and were even willing to share. When we were done with class Yuling informed me that my tutor group had been canceled for the day and was wondering if i wanted her to cancel the Chou family, there was a Halloween activity that was going on downtown that I thought would be fun to go to but wasn't planning on going because of tutoring, but because Yuling suggested it I said sure. I tutored Kristy and then had a couple of hours to just relax (which was a really strange feeling for a Friday) and then Allie came upstairs to get us because we were leaving. Yuling and Allie drove on their scooter while Natalie and I rode our bikes.

When we got there we saw a group of kids from Owl Preschool going trick or treating to different businesses, we quickly joined up with them and watched as they finished their trick or treating. When that was done they had a program of teaching the kids to dance, then for some reason they had decided that our school should get up on stage and sing some songs, so the kids went up and we had to lead them in like 4 English songs (they were awesome if I do say so myself-- of course I'm not biased or anything :D), once they were done with that they had some other random singing and dancing, basically just the kids having fun.

We stayed there until the end and then Natalie and I decided that we were hungry, we had seen a place on the way that we thought would be good but because it was later at night the place was closed, so we headed over to our old trusty friend McDonalds. We decided to eat on the 3rd floor, we were part way through our meal when Natalie had to go downstairs for some reason, she passed Allie on the way down, she was by herself eating, she kept on popping back upstairs to say hi but that was it. When Natalie and I were done eating we went downstairs (which had been like 20 minutes since we had originally seen Allie) and she was still by herself, we were not comfortable leaving her by herself so we sat down with her and started talking to her. We had been sitting there for maybe like 5 minutes when her mom came back, I was still a little concerned but because her mom was there we were able to leave.

We stopped off at a bakery and then headed home. I would say all in all it was a good Halloween, I loved seeing the kids in their costumes and how excited they were. It was particularly cool to see how many of the kids showed up at the downtown Halloween event (it was put on by Leslee's grandma). Now that I have caught up on my Halloween I will wish you a belated Happy Halloween! Love you all and have a great day!

~Betherd~

P.S. Sorry that this post was so long.

Branch Potluck

Last weekend we had a branch activity, first learning about food storage and then having a potluck.. part of the thing was they had bought a big turkey and cooked it up. Unfortunately I was already full by the time the turkey was done so didn't try any. It was funny though as at the beginning one male tried cutting the turkey, but not very long after he had started his wife and other females pushed him out of the way. I was talking to Teacher Stephanie and told her that it was funny because in America it's generally the male that cuts the turkey, she said it's because the females were excited and wanted to try it, plus they were faster than the guys :D
So here are some of the pictures from the turkey part. Enjoy!

Ward Potluck

Wedding Reception Pictures

Here are the pictures that I took from the wedding reception that I talked about earlier. Enjoy!

Wedding Reception

Hair Salon

Last Saturday morning Christina invited Natalie and I to go with her to a hair salon, not to get our hair cut or anything but to have our hair washed and styled. They started out by massaging our shoulders and then added soap to our hair and started massaging our head...it felt a little good but was hurting a little too. They scrubbed the soap in my hair for the longest time and then pulled out the suds and added more soap. Finally they went and rinsed out my hair and then some lady came and dried and styled my hair. Christina said that some people don't like to do their own hair and they go there nearly everyday and just have the people do their hair for them... interesting. Here are a few pictures from the experience. Enjoy!

Hair Salon

Family BBQ

Last weekend Natalie and I were invited to dinner on Saturday night with one of our students (Buzz). Buzz and his mom picked us up at 5 and we drove to a friend of theirs where they were having a BBQ, most of the time Natalie and I were inside with the rest of the kids (who spoke English), playing Wii while the parents were outside doing the "BBQing" (they didn't speak much English). Here are the few pictures that were taken from the evening. Enjoy!

Buzz Family BBQ

Wedding Reception

I suppose that since I have already posted part of the pictures from Halloween that I should start by writing about the actual event and then finish posting the pictures, but before I do that I feel that I should write about stuff that happened before Halloween so that I won’t forget about it. A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend a wedding reception, the wife was from my branch and the groom was from Hualien branch.

As I pulled up to the church on my bike the entrance had posts made of balloons, lots of them everywhere, I continued in and found that there was even more balloons and streamers leading up the stairs to the 3^rd floor. At the top of the stairs there was a table with a picture album that was probably 18-20 inches by 12-14 inches with pictures almost the same size, behind it on the wall hung an even bigger picture of them. The pictures were amazing, you could tell that the quality was very high and the paper that they were printed on beautiful and it was just so clear. Stephanie told me that when I get married I should come to Taiwan for my honeymoon and that I could get some pictures taken (isn’t that a great reason to come to Taiwan, for pictures?...sorry Nathan and Sallee we should have gotten you some while you were here).

I walked into the gym and there were rows of people sitting (yeah we were late) listening to some guy talk at the front, we were lucky to find a couple of seats and sat down and watched what was happening, we only really understood half of what was being said. It started with this guy talking and then I am pretty sure that both of the parents talked at one point and even the sister of the bride said some stuff. Once they were done with all the talking we were invited to go to the back and eat food.

I got up and walked through the balloon arch (yes there was a balloon arch that was probably 10 feet high and 15 feet wide..there were probably a 1000 plus balloons in the arch) and walked up to the food tables. As I was walking towards the table I saw an old lady standing by a tray with some packaged cookies, she had her purse out and was putting them in her purse, it made me laugh so hard to see. The food was pretty yummy and interesting.

While we were eating the food they had the bride and groom doing stuff, first the groom had to put a blindfold on, then they got five people from the crowd and had to guess which one the bride (of course none of them were), he first shook each hand and they asked him to guess. He stood there for a moment and then he asked if he could smell each hand, after he had smelled each hand he said that none of them were (which he was right). They then did another set with the bride, her sister and a couple of other people, he again smelled them and got it right (kind of cute but a little weird at the same time if you ask me). They then for some reason had the groom do push-ups, next he had to do push-ups with the bride sitting on his back, the first one he tried doing he fell down and the bride fell over, then they had to do it again.

I didn’t really know the couple but I am glad that I was able to go and see how a Taiwan reception goes, it was certainly a interesting night.

"Family" Photo Shoot

This week in our afternoon class we are learning about different activities that families like to do together, yesterday in Natalie's class they talked about family photos... these are her pictures that they took, they are priceless and I love every single one of them. Enjoy!

Family Photo Shoot

Halloween School Party Pictures

I know that I haven't even written about Halloween yet, but I got the pictures from Natalie last night and they are just so darn cute I had to post them up. Before you go, prepare yourself for some major cuteness and a lot of pictures, have you prepared yourself? Ok, good, now GO!

Halloween School Party

P.S. Enjoy!

Chuckle For The Day

So as I was doing my normal blogstalking I stumbled across this post, it has become my official chuckle for the day. Enjoy!

Sunday Dinner

When I first got here our Sunday dinners were only 3 people (Natalie, Amy, and I) but slowly it has been increasing (we added the Sister Missionaries) and it has even been getting bigger.. I think that today for dinner we will be having about 10-12 people. I just wanted to show the fun that we have during our Sunday dinners. Enjoy!

Sunday Dinner (Oct. 26, 2008)

Hong Kong Pictures

As I have said before the batteries in my camera died on like the 2nd day of our trip and so I wasn't really able to take as many as I would have liked. Sallee was nice enough to let me take some with their camera, so I will go through hers next and post them so that you can see them. These are what I did get of our Hong Kong trip. Enjoy!

Hong Kong Trip

Changing of the Guard

On Sunday when we were in Taipei Christina took us to this place where they did the changing of the guard. There wasn't anything that they were guarding, which is kind of weird in my opinion, but oh well. Here are the pictures and a few movies from it. Enjoy!

Changing of the Guard

Museum of World Religions

I think that the title pretty much explains it all, while in Taipei we went to the Museum of World Religions-- I was really quite impressed with all the detail and information that they had there. Here are the pictures that I took. Enjoy!

Museum of World Religions

Concert Hall and National Theater Pictures

While in Taipei we went to the Concert Hall and National Theater...these are the pictures from it. Enjoy!

Concert Hall and National Theater

Taipei 101 Pictures

Last one today and then I'm going to bed (with Ben's strong suggestion after telling him that I didn't go to bed until 4:30 last :D). These are from our adventures to Taipei 101 in Taipei at the beginning of October and a few from Shillin Night Market. Enjoy!

Lunch and Taipei 101

Preschool Birthday

Pictures from a "traditional" preschool birthday party. Enjoy!

Rebecca's Birthday

Dinner at Italian Place Pictures

Here are the pictures from when we went to dinner at the Italian place in Taipei. Enjoy!

Dinner at Italian Place

Birthday Pictures

There are probably going to be a lot of posts about pictures today (sorry), I have found that just uploading them as an album onto Google is a lot easier than using blogger..so finally I am getting caught up for like the last month or so.
This album is the pictures from my birthday dinner on October 19th. Enjoy!

Birthday Dinner

Taroko Pictures

So for some reason blogger has not been letting me upload pictures lately, every time I try it fails so I have finally uploaded them all to picasa online webs. Enjoy!

Taroko Trip

Terrible Movie

I got an e-mail today about this movie being played throughout California. I think that it is ok to have different views but this is not ok, it makes me sad/angry/hurt and a bunch of other emotions rolled into one.
Movie Article

Partying It Up-Hong Kong Style, Part 3

Sorry it has taken me a couple of days to get back on the bandwagon of writing- last night when I was going to write again Natalie and I went downtown and didn’t get back until after 11, and by that time there was no way that I felt like sitting down and writing about my adventures. Anyway now to Wednesday.

Wednesday morning I woke up at about 7:15 and decided that, that was too early to be getting up (especially for me) and so went back to sleep, I was able to sleep for like another 45 minutes when I woke up again and decided to just get up and not go back to sleep. I got dressed and went next door and knocked, no response. I thought about waiting but my tummy had other plans and so just went downstairs and had breakfast by myself, they had a little change in the food and so I made myself an “egg mcmuffin” with juice. While I was “enjoying” my breakfast this random white guy came up and asked me where I was from, I told him the US and he asked if I was there for pleasure or business and then I kind of explained about being in Taiwan, when I was done he was like well welcome, enjoy your visit. As he walked away I thought that it was one of the randomest experiences that I have ever had. When I was done eating breakfast I headed back upstairs and knocked on Nathan and Sallee’s door, Sallee answered and Nathan was in the shower. While we were waiting for Nathan I read a little bit of a book that Sallee had brought and was done with.

Once they had eaten and were all ready to go we headed down towards the ferry where we to the information center to reserve rickets for a boat tour that we were wanting to go on, on Thursday. We had read that on Wednesday there were about 6 museums in the area that had free admission (thank goodness, the places that we went to were cool but I don’t know if I would have gotten as excited about having to pay for all of them), the first one that we went to was an Art and Cultural theater, as you can imagine because it was a theater there wasn’t tons to look at, though there were some photos that were really well done, they had done the effect where you only leave one thing colored and the rest black and white, it is normally not my favorite photography effect but the way they had done it was quite amazing. Once we were done with the Art and Cultural Theater we headed off for the Science Museum. Because it was sunny and hot outside it felt like it took forever to get there (at least to me), but we finally arrived. For those of you that don’t know me, science has never been my favorite subject in school (or outside of school for that matter) and so I was a little hesitant and not excited about going there. I am soooooooo glad that we went though, the place was AMAZING! I think that if I lived in Hong Kong I would go there very Wednesday and could probably stay there for hours. There were all of these different presentations that you could go watch and tons of little games that you could play. There was this awesome mirror maze that you could walk through; they had so many different kinds of mirrors that made you do different things. I realized partially why I love working with kids, when you break down science and make it for a kid I enjoy it and can understand it- why can’t everything be like that?

About when we were done with the science museum was when my stomach started talking to me, saying something along the lines that it was hungry and that I should probably feed it or it’s quite whispers would turn into screeching like an angry cat. We decided to try an Indian place, I had never tried Indian food and so was game to try it. So when you take the first bite of the Indian food it tastes really good and you think that it is going to be one of the most amazing meals that you have ever had before, but wait like 1.27 minutes and you mouth starts with a little tingling, give it like another .13 minutes and it turns into a full rage fire in your mouth- which for some might be really cool, but for me having a full rage fire in my mouth was not completely enjoyable. As I looked through my tear stained eyes at Nathan I noticed that I was not the only one having a fire, except Nathan’s seemed to be on his head at sweat poured down his face, I looked towards Sallee hoping that she would be joining us in this strangely entertaining party of heat but noticed that she seemed to be sitting fine like she was in a nice ice bath and felt cool as could be (darn people who can hold their heat). I can at least say that I have tried Indian food, it’s a stamp in my food passport, but I don’t know if I ever want to go through that again.

Next on our list for the day was the space museum, it sounded really cool to me and so I was a little excited to be going there, sadly though it was not as cool as it had sounded. I believe that half of the stuff that we walked by was broken (which really disappointed me as I really wanted to move rocks with the claw L), I think that we might have spent half an hour in there total.

There was this little thing that they have made called Avenue of Stars, basically like a mini version of Hollywood, I didn’t really stop to look at any of the statues or the hands in the ground- kind of boring to me as I didn’t know half of them. I guess though that some people thought that it was really cool because it was quite crowded as we were walking by.

After the Avenue of Stars we caught the ferry over to Hong Kong Island and then hailed a bus (is it really called hailing when there are bunches of other people getting on?). I am not quite sure how long we were on the bus, but it was long enough for me to fall asleep and then wake up with tons of people crowding on. Sadly I had chosen the seat that was sitting backwards and so by the time we got off the bus I was not feeling very good (for some reason sitting backwards and not being able to move is not a good combination for my stomach). I was quite appreciative to get off the bus though I was still a little sleepy, so it took me a little bit to adjust to moving. We walked to this place where we caught a tram- basically a double decker but it goes on wires/cords or whatever it’s called, we got on the top and with the windows open it helped my stomach settle down very quickly. It was a cool experience, kind of bumpy though- I would say that the buses were a little more of a smooth ride than the tram was.

The tram dropped us off at one of the MTR stops that would take us back to Hong Kong, the cool part about going back to Hong Kong via the MTR is that we got to go underwater (not that you get to see it or anything), I felt a huge difference when we went under water. The train was already cool because of air conditioning but when we went under water it went close to almost freezing.

Right outside the ferry place there is a internet café, we decided to give in and stopped there to check our e-mails, blogs, sports results (I am sure), and facebook (of course :D), and I am sure some other stuff. I am quite surprised how well I did that trip with not having internet, this past weekend the internet was out the whole time and both Natalie and I were quite literally going stir crazy with not having it, we kept on thinking of all these things that we wanted to work on but they all involved the internet.

I asked if we could stop back at the temple street market again, I had had chance by now to look at other places and there were a couple of things that I wanted to get that I hadn’t earlier, so we took a bus and then walked to the market. While there I bought another purse (Natalie asked me the other day how many I have bought since coming here and I am proud to say 5! I know someone’s jaw probably just dropped but I will have you know that they are not all for me), some more chopsticks (they are gifts people!), and some really cute earrings (which I actually wore today!). By this time we were a little hungry so we stopped at one of the places in the middle of the market and ordered some food, I got some sweet and sour chicken which was amazing, they had it perfect with tons of crunch! After that we were all kind of pooped and so we walked home, I showered, wrote in my journal and then went to bed.

*for Thursday and Friday I did not write everything down that happened so I do not know how detailed they will be, it is 11 right now so I think that I will stop and finish up tomorrow. Just think though, I am almost caught up with Hong Kong! Now all that will be left is Halloween, the wedding reception that we went to last weekend, and this week! (plus pictures which for some stupid reason it’s not letting me post right now).

Love you all and hope that you are having a most amazing Wednesday!

~Betherd~

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Birthday Wishes

Today is my oldest brother Ben's birthday. He is not that big on photos being posted of him on the internet, so I will abide that and not post one. I did want to let him know that I love him and hope that he has an amazing birthday (have fun at the basketball game tonight).
Love You Ben!! HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY

~Betherd~

President Hinckley Quote

Last year towards the very beginning of the year my roommate Katie left each of us a letter on our beds. In this letter she included this quote from President Hinckley, he gave it in 2002 at BYU-I during the dedication of the Gordon B. Hinckley Building. I stumbled across it again today, listening to it again left me in tears.

First, I want to tell you that I love you. I love you kids, you wonderful young people of this Church. I love you. I believe you are the best generation this Church has ever had. No generation which has gone before measures up to the stature to which you measure up. You are better educated. I think you have greater faith I think you have shown that faith and are showing that faith than any other previous generation. I am so thankful for you. I thank you for your strength; for your willingness to do the right thing; for your desire to serve the Lord; for your capacity to help build the kingdom; for the fact that you get on your knees and say your prayers, as I know you do; for the fact that you pray to the Lord to help you, to guide you in the things you do, as I know you do.

God bless you for what you are and who you are.

Now, don't ever do a cheap or a tawdry or a mean or an evil thing, my dear young friends. You don't have to engage in these things. The world is on a slippery slide, it is going downhill and it is going fast. And you are as a beacon on a hill young people of rectitude and virtue and decency and goodness. Remain that way. Do not destroy your effectiveness. Do not become involved in any kind of behavior which would destroy you, injure you, hurt you, debilitate you in any way whatever. You don't have to do those things. You can stand above them. You must stand above them! The world will look to you as the years pass, of that I have no doubt whatever. For if it continues to go in the direction in which it is going, the disparity between the world and this Church will grow and lengthen and we will become more and more of a peculiar people.

Now, be faithful, be true, go forward, be ambitious. Don't short-circuit yourself. Don't stop now. Keep growing. Keep going. Educate your minds and your spirits and never lose sight of the fact that you are a child of God with a divine destiny and capability of doing great and good and wonderful things. Don't sell yourselves short. Don't cheapen yourselves. You know who you are. Each of you knows that you are a child of God and that your Heavenly Father expects something great and noble and good of you.

The Lord bless you, my dear young friends. As I look into your faces, I see the future. Keep the faith. You will marry. You will have children. You will have grandchildren. You will go out and do the work of this world, but maintain your integrity. Be honest. Be good. Be decent. Be prayerful and the God of heaven will smile upon you and bless you, and give happiness in your hearts and a sense of peace in your lives.

I wish for you nothing but the best. You are so choice and so wonderful and the future is so great that you can't afford to betray yourselves in anyway or to do anything less than that which each of you is capable of accomplishing. You don't have to be a genius. You don't have to be a straight-A student. You just have to do your very best with all the capability you have. You have to do your very best. And somehow, if you do that, God will open the way before you and the sun will shine, and your lives will be fruitful and you will accomplish great good in the world in which you take a part. I couldn't wish for you anything better as I look into your faces this day.

May heaven smile upon you. May you be blessed. May you be happy. May you have joy in your lives. May your tears be few and your smiles many as you go forward with your lives is my humble prayer as I stand before you and express unto you my love for you and my confidence in you and my hope for you and my prayer for you. You are the very fiber of this Church and this Church will grow as its young people the young people of this generation magnify their callings and go forward and serve the Lord and live in loyalty toward Him. God bless you.

There is no end in sight for the good you can do. Do you know it? You are just simple kids. You are not geniuses. I know that. But the work of the world isn't done by geniuses. It is done by ordinary people who have learned to work in an extraordinary way people of your kind who can do these things.

I repeat. Don't sell yourselves short. You look in the mirror every morning when you boys get up to scrape off the fuzz, and the girls get up to put on the paint you look into the mirror and say "I can do the right thing today, God being my helper. And I will do it."

Heaven bless you is my humble prayer for you.

(you can listen or read the whole thing here)