from the University of Maryland. Not that I actually go to the University of Maryland, but I saw this through a blog that I stalk and thought that it was cute that college made an e-card/movie like this. Check it out if you would like to.
Greeting Movie
I also wanted to share one of my Christmas songs, I heard this a couple of years ago and I really like this slide show of pictures that someone put together.
Mary Did You Know?
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Neglect
I am sorry dear blog, I have been neglecting you and have not written in over a week. I have much to write about, and as my dear sister-in-law reminded me it is not fair of me to have made you endure a countdown till Riverdance and then not post anything about it. But unfortunately if I thought that I was already busy it has been nothing compared to this week, I am down to 4 days before I leave Taiwan and I have enough stuff to do to probably fill another month. Our Christmas program is this Saturday and there is still much to be done with costumes and practice and making CD's, plus Yuling wants all of our pictures that we have taken while we have been here; I also have had much packing to do and still more cleaning (and maybe a little more shopping ;D...never can get enough of that). But I think that I have finished most of my packing tonight (and guess what I still have a kg or two in each bag... YES!!), so hopefully tomorrow night when I have finished tutoring I will be able to start my long catch up of what has been going on for the past week.
I apologize again for this dreadful neglect, I pledge to TRY and do better.
~Betherd~
P.S. Please be careful with all the extreme weather that is happening throughout the US (as for me, today I got burnt while out practicing the Christmas program!)
I apologize again for this dreadful neglect, I pledge to TRY and do better.
~Betherd~
P.S. Please be careful with all the extreme weather that is happening throughout the US (as for me, today I got burnt while out practicing the Christmas program!)
Monday, December 8, 2008
Breathe Easy
I almost didn't have a ticket for this Saturday to Taipei, Yuling had ordered me tickets last week but I didn't realize that there was a cut-off date of when you could pick up the tickets and so was going to pick them up today (which was too late), luckily I have an angel in my life (in the form of Amy) and this afternoon during my lunch break she drove over and helped me order new tickets and then went with me to pick them up. So now I have tickets for this weekend (I would have been super sad if I didn't have tickets for this weekend...Riverdance for those that don't remember) and Natalie and I have our final tickets to Taipei (it was really sad to order tickets that only went one way) thanks to Christina, Amy, and Yuling. I am so blessed to have so many people that will help us.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Sunday Adventures
Last Sunday I was way more than just tired and so slept through my alarm, I woke up about 20 minutes after church had started, I got up and quickly got dressed and headed over to church. I got there just as they were getting out of relief society.
In Sunday school we had a new teacher, it was kind of funny as she spent half of the class time having everyone introduce themselves (I personally think that she was just stalling for time). When it was my turn to introduce myself I stood up, said my name and then quickly sat back down, then she wanted to know where I was from, why I am in Taiwan, and what year I am in, in college (kind of strange question in my opinion). There was a lot of time spent on talking about the people, I don't really remember much of a lesson.
In Sacrament meeting it was the primary program and when we walked in all the children were already sitting down up on the stand. The opening song was "I am a Child of God," it was so fun having that song be the opening song and having the kids up on the stand because they all sang really loud and were actually participating in church. I really like how they did parts of the program here, they made the whole sacrament meeting about the kids, even the opening and closing prayers were offered by primary children. That is one part that I miss a little bit when being in a singles ward, you don't have primary programs. It was really neat to see all of these primary children singing their hearts out in Chinese to songs that just a couple of years ago I was singing my heart out in English. Towards the end of Sacrament meeting the kids were going a little insane (they didn't have any teachers up their with them- they do not divide into the traditional classes for primary I believe as their is only 30 kids max.).
After church was over there was a baptism for 4 kids. I know two of them: Jackie (Ariel's older brother) and Angel (Jimmy's older sister), I have seen the other two around church but do not really know them. It was kind of neat to see these kids get baptized, I don't think that I have really watched others get baptized since I was little, it is a cool experience to watch. Both Jackie and Angel had their dad's baptize them, one of the little girls I think had her dad or grandpa or someone baptize her and then Jackie's dad baptized the other little girl. It was funny when Jackie was baptized, his dad finished the prayer and then practically slammed down into the water, everyone thought it was funny, but I was a little concerned at what was going to happen when he baptized the little girl- but no worries he did it a lot gentler. Their baptizmal font is kind of cool, it has an entrance from both sides (from each bathroom), so when they entered the dad would enter the water first and then walk to other side and hold the hand of the little girl to help them into the water, I thought that it was very sweet and cool.
Once the baptizms were done there was lunch! It was super funny though because when I walked up to the table President Chen hadned me a bowl with sooo much rice and I was like ok I will just add a little bit of stuff on the top but when I walked up to that Jackie/Ariel's dad took my bowl and ladled some soup stuff onto my rice, but rather than be a small ladle it was like the size of bowl! and so my rice was swimming in this stuff (and I didn't like it very much). Lucky for me Sister Wood was there, so she, Natalie, and Sister Gong helped me finish it up.
Here are some pictures from the baptizm that Natalie took last week. Enjoy!
In Sunday school we had a new teacher, it was kind of funny as she spent half of the class time having everyone introduce themselves (I personally think that she was just stalling for time). When it was my turn to introduce myself I stood up, said my name and then quickly sat back down, then she wanted to know where I was from, why I am in Taiwan, and what year I am in, in college (kind of strange question in my opinion). There was a lot of time spent on talking about the people, I don't really remember much of a lesson.
In Sacrament meeting it was the primary program and when we walked in all the children were already sitting down up on the stand. The opening song was "I am a Child of God," it was so fun having that song be the opening song and having the kids up on the stand because they all sang really loud and were actually participating in church. I really like how they did parts of the program here, they made the whole sacrament meeting about the kids, even the opening and closing prayers were offered by primary children. That is one part that I miss a little bit when being in a singles ward, you don't have primary programs. It was really neat to see all of these primary children singing their hearts out in Chinese to songs that just a couple of years ago I was singing my heart out in English. Towards the end of Sacrament meeting the kids were going a little insane (they didn't have any teachers up their with them- they do not divide into the traditional classes for primary I believe as their is only 30 kids max.).
After church was over there was a baptism for 4 kids. I know two of them: Jackie (Ariel's older brother) and Angel (Jimmy's older sister), I have seen the other two around church but do not really know them. It was kind of neat to see these kids get baptized, I don't think that I have really watched others get baptized since I was little, it is a cool experience to watch. Both Jackie and Angel had their dad's baptize them, one of the little girls I think had her dad or grandpa or someone baptize her and then Jackie's dad baptized the other little girl. It was funny when Jackie was baptized, his dad finished the prayer and then practically slammed down into the water, everyone thought it was funny, but I was a little concerned at what was going to happen when he baptized the little girl- but no worries he did it a lot gentler. Their baptizmal font is kind of cool, it has an entrance from both sides (from each bathroom), so when they entered the dad would enter the water first and then walk to other side and hold the hand of the little girl to help them into the water, I thought that it was very sweet and cool.
Once the baptizms were done there was lunch! It was super funny though because when I walked up to the table President Chen hadned me a bowl with sooo much rice and I was like ok I will just add a little bit of stuff on the top but when I walked up to that Jackie/Ariel's dad took my bowl and ladled some soup stuff onto my rice, but rather than be a small ladle it was like the size of bowl! and so my rice was swimming in this stuff (and I didn't like it very much). Lucky for me Sister Wood was there, so she, Natalie, and Sister Gong helped me finish it up.
Here are some pictures from the baptizm that Natalie took last week. Enjoy!
 |
| Baptism |
12 Days of Christmas
I am not going to share everything for our Christmas program yet, but I am super excited about this part and so wanted to share. Natalie I made up words to the 12 Days of Christmas, each day has to do with another song that is being sung (the only one that we couldn't make up another part to was the 1st day but that is ok because that is when we are singing the 12 Days of Christmas so it works! :D).
Rather than sing/write you the whole song I will just go from the 12th day of Christmas.
On the 12th day of Christmas, my teacher gave to me..
12 boughs of holly,
11 shepherds watching,
10 snowflakes falling,
9 secret wishes,
8 angels singing,
7 happy children,
6 laughing reindeer,
5 silent nights,
4 balls of snow,
3 toy bags,
2 jingle bells,
and a partridge in a pear tree.
You should try singing it, it is quite cute and very catchy- especially if you add the dance moves which I am more than willing to show you ;D
Enjoy!
Rather than sing/write you the whole song I will just go from the 12th day of Christmas.
On the 12th day of Christmas, my teacher gave to me..
12 boughs of holly,
11 shepherds watching,
10 snowflakes falling,
9 secret wishes,
8 angels singing,
7 happy children,
6 laughing reindeer,
5 silent nights,
4 balls of snow,
3 toy bags,
2 jingle bells,
and a partridge in a pear tree.
You should try singing it, it is quite cute and very catchy- especially if you add the dance moves which I am more than willing to show you ;D
Enjoy!
Saturday, December 6, 2008
A Day at the Circus
Earlier this week I did a fill-in-the-blank story with the kids, I thought that some of them turned out kind of funny/silly and wanted to share them with you. The story was called A Day at the Circus.
3 years old (I took the lists from the 4 and 5 year olds classes and just had them pick one from each thing rather than try and have them come up with actual words).
The circus was in town again, and my family and I were excited. It was a windy winter day for a happy family outing, as we piled into the airplane and headed for the Big Top. When we arrived, I went straight for the funny mirrors-- they made my eyes look wildly skinny! How crazy is that? After that, my brother and I swam on the ferris wheel. But the highlight was the animal show. We met a talking monkey and a flying elephant who were playing duck, duck, goose. The winning animal had to participate in a pizza-eating contest with a member of the audience, and out of the crowd of googooplex, I got picked! You'll never guess who won-- but lets just say I won't be eating pizza anytime real soon.
4 year olds:
The circus was in town again, and my family and I were excited. It was a sunny summer day for a exciting family outing, as we piled into the airplane and headed for the Big Top. When we arrived, I went straight for the funny mirrors-- they made my eyes look wildly skinny! How crazy is that? After that, my brother and I skipped on the ferris wheel. But the highligh was the animal show. We met a talking monkey and a flying elephant who were playing duck, duck, goose. The winning animal had to participate in a stinky-tofu eating contest with a member of the audience, and out of the crowd of 100, I got picked! You'll never guess who won-- but lets just say I won't be eating stinky tofu anytime real soon.
5 year olds:
The circus was in town again, and my family and I were excited. It was a windy winter day for a happy family outing, as we piled into the airplane and headed for the Big Top. When we arrived, I went straight for the funny mirrors-- they made my hands look wildly skinny! How crazy is that? After that, my brother and I swam on the ferris wheel. But the highligh was the animal show. We met a talking horse and a flying cat who were playing dodgeball. The winning animal had to participate in a pizza eating contest with a member of the audience, and out of the crowd of googooplex, I got picked! You'll never guess who won--but lets just say I won't be eating pizza anytime real soon.
~Betherd~
3 years old (I took the lists from the 4 and 5 year olds classes and just had them pick one from each thing rather than try and have them come up with actual words).
The circus was in town again, and my family and I were excited. It was a windy winter day for a happy family outing, as we piled into the airplane and headed for the Big Top. When we arrived, I went straight for the funny mirrors-- they made my eyes look wildly skinny! How crazy is that? After that, my brother and I swam on the ferris wheel. But the highlight was the animal show. We met a talking monkey and a flying elephant who were playing duck, duck, goose. The winning animal had to participate in a pizza-eating contest with a member of the audience, and out of the crowd of googooplex, I got picked! You'll never guess who won-- but lets just say I won't be eating pizza anytime real soon.
4 year olds:
The circus was in town again, and my family and I were excited. It was a sunny summer day for a exciting family outing, as we piled into the airplane and headed for the Big Top. When we arrived, I went straight for the funny mirrors-- they made my eyes look wildly skinny! How crazy is that? After that, my brother and I skipped on the ferris wheel. But the highligh was the animal show. We met a talking monkey and a flying elephant who were playing duck, duck, goose. The winning animal had to participate in a stinky-tofu eating contest with a member of the audience, and out of the crowd of 100, I got picked! You'll never guess who won-- but lets just say I won't be eating stinky tofu anytime real soon.
5 year olds:
The circus was in town again, and my family and I were excited. It was a windy winter day for a happy family outing, as we piled into the airplane and headed for the Big Top. When we arrived, I went straight for the funny mirrors-- they made my hands look wildly skinny! How crazy is that? After that, my brother and I swam on the ferris wheel. But the highligh was the animal show. We met a talking horse and a flying cat who were playing dodgeball. The winning animal had to participate in a pizza eating contest with a member of the audience, and out of the crowd of googooplex, I got picked! You'll never guess who won--but lets just say I won't be eating pizza anytime real soon.
~Betherd~
Sad Day
Transfers are tomorrow :(
I had already planned on Sister Wood leaving (as she has finished her mission and will be returning home), I am happy for her but will miss her dearly.
Yesterday Natalie got a phone call from Sister Wood telling her that not only would Sister Wood be leaving on Monday but so would Sister Gong, I guess there are not enough Sisters and so they taking Sister missionaries out of the Hualien area. (I send out my apologies to the new interns who wont really have anyone to translate for them unless Stephanie does it). I am happy that I was able to know both Sister Wood and Sister Gong but will be sad to see them leave also.
Then this morning I walk into church and saw a new Elder, just newly arrived from America. I asked about it and found out that not only will we be losing Sister Wood and Sister Gong but we will also be losing a bunch of our Elders also... Elder Pendleton from our branch (he is training the new Elder and they will be going together), Elder Mao and the other Taiwanese Elder from the Hualien branch. It will be a very interesting last few weeks with all of these missionaries gone. I am happy that I was able to meet them all.
~Betherd~
I had already planned on Sister Wood leaving (as she has finished her mission and will be returning home), I am happy for her but will miss her dearly.
Yesterday Natalie got a phone call from Sister Wood telling her that not only would Sister Wood be leaving on Monday but so would Sister Gong, I guess there are not enough Sisters and so they taking Sister missionaries out of the Hualien area. (I send out my apologies to the new interns who wont really have anyone to translate for them unless Stephanie does it). I am happy that I was able to know both Sister Wood and Sister Gong but will be sad to see them leave also.
Then this morning I walk into church and saw a new Elder, just newly arrived from America. I asked about it and found out that not only will we be losing Sister Wood and Sister Gong but we will also be losing a bunch of our Elders also... Elder Pendleton from our branch (he is training the new Elder and they will be going together), Elder Mao and the other Taiwanese Elder from the Hualien branch. It will be a very interesting last few weeks with all of these missionaries gone. I am happy that I was able to meet them all.
~Betherd~
Taiwan Material Girl
Last Friday night I headed off to tutor the Chou family, I knew though that I had an early start for the next day so when Angelo asked if I could stay and play I explained that I could not. I went straight home and checked my e-mail really fast, showered, set out all of my clothes and had my bags packed and went to bed at about 11pm.
Early Saturday morning (at about 5am to be exact) I woke up, I was pretty sure that I wouldn't wake up but was pretty proud (and surprised) of waking up right when my alarm went off. I got dressed (with 3 pairs of socks, two pairs of shorts, two shirts, one sweatshirt, one jacket, and one pair of gloves on...oh yeah and I was wearing my Taiwanese mask (can't forget that :D)) and cut up a couple of oranges and headed off at 5:20. I hadn't really thought about it much before I left but it was still dark when I got up and dark when I left and just a little cold. I left with a prayer, hoping that I would have any difficulties with my bike (for the last week or so my bike hasn't been working, when I am pedaling it doesn't do anything- if I were going to be here longer I would actually consider buying a new bike it has been so annoying but I will just have to bear it for 2 more weeks). I actually got there with extra time (which I was concerned about and that is why I left so early), so I stopped at McDonalds to grab some breakfast. I then went to the train station adn ate my breakfast while I waited for Stephanie and Eliza to arrive. I didn't have very long to wait, we quickly got in line and found our seats. Because we had ordered our tickets at different times our seats were not together, but I went with Stephanie and sat down behind them, we had barely sat down when the guy came that the seat actually belonged to, Stephanie asked if he would be willing to switch, he was willing and so I got to sit with Stephanie and Eliza rather than in another car. Stephanie went to sleep very quickly and Eliza was listening to music, it took me awhile to get everything adjusted and for me to get comfortable but when I finally was comfortable and looked up I realized that the sun was rising! I quickly searched for my camera and batteries and took a couple of pictures, the pictures don't even begin to show how beautiful looked... I'm not a morning person but sometimes seeing things like that make it totally worth having gotten up at 5am, biked for 30 minutes and it being freezing cold. Soon after that I fell asleep and did not wake up until we were pulling up to the Main Station in Taipei.
We walked outside and found that rather than it being cold (which many people had warned us that it would be and that we should wear lots of layers) the sun was shining high overhead and it was hotter than hot chocolate (:D) and we started pulling off layers, Stephanie walked forward and grabbed us a taxi and we were off to the temple. We were a little early for Stephanie's session and she still needed to change so we went to the stake center and were in the bathroom for awhile while Stephanie changed and then we picked the relief society room for our headquarters for the day. Eliza played the piano for awhile and I ate some oranges, then they left to go next door and get some breakfast while I played the piano. I enjoyed playing the piano but for some reason I was losing my voice so every time I would try and start singing a little bit higher my voice would squeak and not get any higher.
Stephanie left to go to the temple and asked if I would be willing to keep an eye on Eliza until her sister came and picked her up, I was ok with that and pretty much just kept on playing the piano for awhile. At one point Eliza came in and started playing it while I was so I just moved so that she could play instead. I was kind of bored so I started looking through the cupboards (the few that were open), in one of them there was a bucket of animal crackers, Eliza really wanted one but I told her that we couldn't have any, so instead I told her we could go to the 7-Eleven that was just down the street from the temple and stake center. We had just began walking when we met up with a boy from our branch and he decided to join us (I guess because he continued all the way down there with us and stayed with us), he couldn't speak any English so I didn't really talk with him much. When we got to the 7 I told them to go pick out a snack (even though I hadn't really invited him I thought that it would have been rude to not get him anything so they both got to pick snacks), they asked if they could get a drink and then share something and I told them that yes they could, I quickly picked what I wanted and then we left.
As soon as we got back to the stake center Eliza and the boy went off somewhere else to eat their snack, it wasn't very long though until Eliza came back and was just sitting with me, I asked her if she she had gotten any of the chips, she told me that she had, had one and then he finished the rest really fast. I was a little disappointed as I had mostly bought the stuff for Eliza and just because he was tagging along did I buy it for him also.
Eliza started playing the piano again and so I told her that I was going to go downstairs to distribution and that I would be right back. While I was down there I saw President Chen buying somethings. Everywhere you go in Taiwan, if it is an LDS home, car, book or anything you will see these little stickers that say "No Success can Compensate for Failure in the Home," now I guess that mom said a Prophet said that, I wasn't aware of it but it is very popular in Taiwan, I am glad that they find that a high priority. Anyway they have these stickers and we found out that we could get them for free from distribution, so I went to get some of those, I also got a couple of more Liahona's and the Conference issue of the Ensign. As I was flipping through the Ensign I was looking at the pictures (I always love the photography from Conference), when there was a picture of MTC men's choir, and right on the right side was a guy from my ward last year, I got so excited and happy when I saw that.
After I had been reading for awhile I thought that I would run across the street and look inside Bountiful Living, the first thing that I noticed when I walked in the door was that there were probably 20-30 nativty sets (which is kind of funny because whenever I had been asking people about them they had no clue what I was talking about), I looked around a little more but thought that I would have a chance to come back with Stephanie so didn't really stress about getting anything at that moment. I went back to the stake center and we hadn't been waiting for much longer when Stephanie came out of the temple, her sister was there and President Chen was ready to go but I asked if we could go quickly back to Bountiful Living, so Stephanie went with me while the others went to grab the car. I bought a nativity set for mom (don't worry, I am terrible at keeping secrets especially from mom so she already knows that I bought it :D), a pair of the most adorable baby girl shoes (I couldn't resist so Joel and Becky I guess they are the first thing for your baby!), a case for my scriptures and a miniture Taiwan flag pin. *When Natalie went there she bought a t-shirt, that we later found out was designed by Elder Pendleton, I will be going back this Saturday if anyone is interested in a Chinese LDS shirt (I bought one ealier that says CTR in Chinese).
Then we were off to the material market, Stephanie's sister dropped Stephanie, President Chen and I off and then she and Eliza went somewhere else. Sadly when we got out of the car quickly I forgot to grab my camera so I didn't get any pictures of all the material. And when I say lots, I mean LOTS! There were tons of "outside" stores but we didn't go to any of those as Stephanie said that the stuff inside would be cheaper and better material. We first bought the material for the branch (they are making Angel costumes for everyone when they go caroling) so that President Chen could pay for it and take it with him (he wanted to get home). Then we went and looked for my material, we just stayed to the front couple of stores as Stephanie said that it is really easy to get lost in there (at one point I went to one wall and looked down the aisle, it probably went back as far as a Wal Mart store and had tons of off aisles). There was so many different kinds of material, Stephanie started handing me these sample books and I was like how do I even begin to deside, but when I was into my 4th or 5th book one material jumped out at me, it was beautiful, the pattern was extremly loud but it was enough to show Chinese design. I knew immediately that it was the one that I wanted. While they were cutting the material for that I started looking for the material for the other two dresses (Erin and Jamie had asked if I would get them a dress made also), I found out that real silk was only like $30NT dollars more per a yard and found two that I thought were equally beautiful so ended up getting them real silk while mine was fake (:D), all in all though I thought that it was an amazing purchase, I bought material for 3 dresses for less than $45US and a big chunk of it was real silk.
When we were done we went outside and Stephanie's sister and Eliza pulled up and picked us up, they asked if we were hungry and by this time I was really starting to get hungry so we decided to go and get lunch. They picked subway (which I wasn't going to complain), as we were walking up to the doors the smell of fresh baked bread was so powering, it smelled wonderful. I decided to try something new so ordered terriyaki chicken, I guess while we were ordering Stephanie's sister paid for all of our food, I was so grateful, a person that I don't even knew had just paid for my food (I guess like sister, like sister- that is just something that Stephanie would do). Though I couldn't understand what they were saying it was fun to watch Stephanie and her sister interact, because her sister lives in Taipei and she lives in Hualien they do not get to see each other all the time and so they were talking really fast and happily to see each other.
When we were done with lunch Stephanie's sister had a meeting that she had to be at, so they dropped me off at a MRT stop, I had a little time and so decided to take the MRT out to Danshue (I think that I have talked a little bit about it before, it is where the Danshue river pours into the ocean- Christina had told Natalie and I that we should go there but we never had), it was gorgeous, I tried to get some pictures of the sun going down (interesting how I got to see both parts of that), but my camera was being stuburn. They had a dunkin donuts and so I got a couple and some juice and just sat down to watch people. There was a girl that had her headphones on
and was drawing, I wish that I had the talent to just be able to draw what I see.
If you don't know me very well I stress about time and so decided that I should probably head back towards the train station (even though I had close to 2 hours still before I was leaving :D), it worked out ok though, at the Taipei Main Station there is like 3 different malls underground and so I just went to one of those- I found these cute Chinese coin purses that were only like $15NT (the only other place that I had seen them was at Bountiful Living and they were like $40NT or $50NT), I was also able to buy some dinner and then had a few minutes before I had to catch my train- I prefer not to feel completely stressed if I can manage it.
I slept almost the whole train ride back to Hualien, and was a little surprised how quickly it seemed to come. When we got to Hualien I looked around for Natalie (we were supposed to be coming back on the same train), but could not seem to find her anywhere so I decided to just head home (I passed her bike locked up still on my way out). Because my bike has been having major issues lately and because I was more than a little tired I walked my bike part of the time home. I was very happy to get home, I took a shower, talked to Natalie a little bit when she got home, watched like 20 minutes of Anne of Avonlea and then headed to bed.
Unfortunately I didn't take as many pictures as I normally like to because my camera was being stupid but here are the few that I did take. Enjoy!
~Betherd~
P.S. Ahh I can't believe that I almost forgot the best part when I was biking to the train station at like 5:45 in the morning I passed the library and there was a group of people doing Tai Chi or something like that, I kind of wish that I had stopped to take a picture but it was really cold and I just wanted to keep moving until I got to the train station.
Early Saturday morning (at about 5am to be exact) I woke up, I was pretty sure that I wouldn't wake up but was pretty proud (and surprised) of waking up right when my alarm went off. I got dressed (with 3 pairs of socks, two pairs of shorts, two shirts, one sweatshirt, one jacket, and one pair of gloves on...oh yeah and I was wearing my Taiwanese mask (can't forget that :D)) and cut up a couple of oranges and headed off at 5:20. I hadn't really thought about it much before I left but it was still dark when I got up and dark when I left and just a little cold. I left with a prayer, hoping that I would have any difficulties with my bike (for the last week or so my bike hasn't been working, when I am pedaling it doesn't do anything- if I were going to be here longer I would actually consider buying a new bike it has been so annoying but I will just have to bear it for 2 more weeks). I actually got there with extra time (which I was concerned about and that is why I left so early), so I stopped at McDonalds to grab some breakfast. I then went to the train station adn ate my breakfast while I waited for Stephanie and Eliza to arrive. I didn't have very long to wait, we quickly got in line and found our seats. Because we had ordered our tickets at different times our seats were not together, but I went with Stephanie and sat down behind them, we had barely sat down when the guy came that the seat actually belonged to, Stephanie asked if he would be willing to switch, he was willing and so I got to sit with Stephanie and Eliza rather than in another car. Stephanie went to sleep very quickly and Eliza was listening to music, it took me awhile to get everything adjusted and for me to get comfortable but when I finally was comfortable and looked up I realized that the sun was rising! I quickly searched for my camera and batteries and took a couple of pictures, the pictures don't even begin to show how beautiful looked... I'm not a morning person but sometimes seeing things like that make it totally worth having gotten up at 5am, biked for 30 minutes and it being freezing cold. Soon after that I fell asleep and did not wake up until we were pulling up to the Main Station in Taipei.
We walked outside and found that rather than it being cold (which many people had warned us that it would be and that we should wear lots of layers) the sun was shining high overhead and it was hotter than hot chocolate (:D) and we started pulling off layers, Stephanie walked forward and grabbed us a taxi and we were off to the temple. We were a little early for Stephanie's session and she still needed to change so we went to the stake center and were in the bathroom for awhile while Stephanie changed and then we picked the relief society room for our headquarters for the day. Eliza played the piano for awhile and I ate some oranges, then they left to go next door and get some breakfast while I played the piano. I enjoyed playing the piano but for some reason I was losing my voice so every time I would try and start singing a little bit higher my voice would squeak and not get any higher.
Stephanie left to go to the temple and asked if I would be willing to keep an eye on Eliza until her sister came and picked her up, I was ok with that and pretty much just kept on playing the piano for awhile. At one point Eliza came in and started playing it while I was so I just moved so that she could play instead. I was kind of bored so I started looking through the cupboards (the few that were open), in one of them there was a bucket of animal crackers, Eliza really wanted one but I told her that we couldn't have any, so instead I told her we could go to the 7-Eleven that was just down the street from the temple and stake center. We had just began walking when we met up with a boy from our branch and he decided to join us (I guess because he continued all the way down there with us and stayed with us), he couldn't speak any English so I didn't really talk with him much. When we got to the 7 I told them to go pick out a snack (even though I hadn't really invited him I thought that it would have been rude to not get him anything so they both got to pick snacks), they asked if they could get a drink and then share something and I told them that yes they could, I quickly picked what I wanted and then we left.
As soon as we got back to the stake center Eliza and the boy went off somewhere else to eat their snack, it wasn't very long though until Eliza came back and was just sitting with me, I asked her if she she had gotten any of the chips, she told me that she had, had one and then he finished the rest really fast. I was a little disappointed as I had mostly bought the stuff for Eliza and just because he was tagging along did I buy it for him also.
Eliza started playing the piano again and so I told her that I was going to go downstairs to distribution and that I would be right back. While I was down there I saw President Chen buying somethings. Everywhere you go in Taiwan, if it is an LDS home, car, book or anything you will see these little stickers that say "No Success can Compensate for Failure in the Home," now I guess that mom said a Prophet said that, I wasn't aware of it but it is very popular in Taiwan, I am glad that they find that a high priority. Anyway they have these stickers and we found out that we could get them for free from distribution, so I went to get some of those, I also got a couple of more Liahona's and the Conference issue of the Ensign. As I was flipping through the Ensign I was looking at the pictures (I always love the photography from Conference), when there was a picture of MTC men's choir, and right on the right side was a guy from my ward last year, I got so excited and happy when I saw that.
After I had been reading for awhile I thought that I would run across the street and look inside Bountiful Living, the first thing that I noticed when I walked in the door was that there were probably 20-30 nativty sets (which is kind of funny because whenever I had been asking people about them they had no clue what I was talking about), I looked around a little more but thought that I would have a chance to come back with Stephanie so didn't really stress about getting anything at that moment. I went back to the stake center and we hadn't been waiting for much longer when Stephanie came out of the temple, her sister was there and President Chen was ready to go but I asked if we could go quickly back to Bountiful Living, so Stephanie went with me while the others went to grab the car. I bought a nativity set for mom (don't worry, I am terrible at keeping secrets especially from mom so she already knows that I bought it :D), a pair of the most adorable baby girl shoes (I couldn't resist so Joel and Becky I guess they are the first thing for your baby!), a case for my scriptures and a miniture Taiwan flag pin. *When Natalie went there she bought a t-shirt, that we later found out was designed by Elder Pendleton, I will be going back this Saturday if anyone is interested in a Chinese LDS shirt (I bought one ealier that says CTR in Chinese).
Then we were off to the material market, Stephanie's sister dropped Stephanie, President Chen and I off and then she and Eliza went somewhere else. Sadly when we got out of the car quickly I forgot to grab my camera so I didn't get any pictures of all the material. And when I say lots, I mean LOTS! There were tons of "outside" stores but we didn't go to any of those as Stephanie said that the stuff inside would be cheaper and better material. We first bought the material for the branch (they are making Angel costumes for everyone when they go caroling) so that President Chen could pay for it and take it with him (he wanted to get home). Then we went and looked for my material, we just stayed to the front couple of stores as Stephanie said that it is really easy to get lost in there (at one point I went to one wall and looked down the aisle, it probably went back as far as a Wal Mart store and had tons of off aisles). There was so many different kinds of material, Stephanie started handing me these sample books and I was like how do I even begin to deside, but when I was into my 4th or 5th book one material jumped out at me, it was beautiful, the pattern was extremly loud but it was enough to show Chinese design. I knew immediately that it was the one that I wanted. While they were cutting the material for that I started looking for the material for the other two dresses (Erin and Jamie had asked if I would get them a dress made also), I found out that real silk was only like $30NT dollars more per a yard and found two that I thought were equally beautiful so ended up getting them real silk while mine was fake (:D), all in all though I thought that it was an amazing purchase, I bought material for 3 dresses for less than $45US and a big chunk of it was real silk.
When we were done we went outside and Stephanie's sister and Eliza pulled up and picked us up, they asked if we were hungry and by this time I was really starting to get hungry so we decided to go and get lunch. They picked subway (which I wasn't going to complain), as we were walking up to the doors the smell of fresh baked bread was so powering, it smelled wonderful. I decided to try something new so ordered terriyaki chicken, I guess while we were ordering Stephanie's sister paid for all of our food, I was so grateful, a person that I don't even knew had just paid for my food (I guess like sister, like sister- that is just something that Stephanie would do). Though I couldn't understand what they were saying it was fun to watch Stephanie and her sister interact, because her sister lives in Taipei and she lives in Hualien they do not get to see each other all the time and so they were talking really fast and happily to see each other.
When we were done with lunch Stephanie's sister had a meeting that she had to be at, so they dropped me off at a MRT stop, I had a little time and so decided to take the MRT out to Danshue (I think that I have talked a little bit about it before, it is where the Danshue river pours into the ocean- Christina had told Natalie and I that we should go there but we never had), it was gorgeous, I tried to get some pictures of the sun going down (interesting how I got to see both parts of that), but my camera was being stuburn. They had a dunkin donuts and so I got a couple and some juice and just sat down to watch people. There was a girl that had her headphones on
and was drawing, I wish that I had the talent to just be able to draw what I see.
If you don't know me very well I stress about time and so decided that I should probably head back towards the train station (even though I had close to 2 hours still before I was leaving :D), it worked out ok though, at the Taipei Main Station there is like 3 different malls underground and so I just went to one of those- I found these cute Chinese coin purses that were only like $15NT (the only other place that I had seen them was at Bountiful Living and they were like $40NT or $50NT), I was also able to buy some dinner and then had a few minutes before I had to catch my train- I prefer not to feel completely stressed if I can manage it.
I slept almost the whole train ride back to Hualien, and was a little surprised how quickly it seemed to come. When we got to Hualien I looked around for Natalie (we were supposed to be coming back on the same train), but could not seem to find her anywhere so I decided to just head home (I passed her bike locked up still on my way out). Because my bike has been having major issues lately and because I was more than a little tired I walked my bike part of the time home. I was very happy to get home, I took a shower, talked to Natalie a little bit when she got home, watched like 20 minutes of Anne of Avonlea and then headed to bed.
Unfortunately I didn't take as many pictures as I normally like to because my camera was being stupid but here are the few that I did take. Enjoy!
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| Thanksgiving Taipei Trip |
~Betherd~
P.S. Ahh I can't believe that I almost forgot the best part when I was biking to the train station at like 5:45 in the morning I passed the library and there was a group of people doing Tai Chi or something like that, I kind of wish that I had stopped to take a picture but it was really cold and I just wanted to keep moving until I got to the train station.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Turkeys, Indians, and Children, Oh My!
Last week for Thanksgiving Natalie made this real awesome turkey and then the kids got to decorate the feathers, the turkey came out looking awesome. On Friday she Indian "face painted" the kids and then took pictures of the kids with the turkey. These are the pictures, I think that they are adorable! (and of course as normal I need no excuse to share pictures of my kidlets!) Enjoy!
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| Turkey |
Thanksgiving Celebration
As most of you are aware last week was Thanksgiving, though I didn't have a traditional celebration I did get to have a celebration. Wednesday evening Natalie came and asked me if I was interested in going to the Chu's house the next day for Thanksgiving lunch, of course I wasn't going to turn down free lunch (though I guess that I get it everyday). We weren't really sure what to expect but were excited to go and see how others might celebrate Thanksgiving. The Chu's live in a dorm owned by Tzu Chi, when our afternoon classes were done Natalie and I biked over there, when we pulled into the parking garage we thought that there were quite a few bikes but didn't really think much about it. We got on the elevator and made our way up to the 11th floor. We walked into their apartment and found not only the sister missionaries, but also 3 sets of elders (yep 3 sets!), Christina is amazing, she had invited all of us (even those elders that don't serve in her branch) to lunch and wasn't letting anyone do anything.
We walked in to find everyone with a glove on their hand pulling apart a chicken and a turkey. It was an interesting sight, we sat down and Christina kept on bringing in more and more food. At one point someone found the brain of the duck and I am pretty sure that Elder Pendleton considered eating it but in the end he didn't.
Once lunch was over we took a couple of group photos and then because they had just received their mail before coming to lunch all the missionaries sat down and opened up their mail, Natalie took quite a few pictures of them opening their mail (as you will see if you go through the pictures). Sister Wood let me read some of the letters from her little brothers and sister, they were quite hilarious and I couldn't stop laughing (though of course I can't really remember anything now to put down). Once we were done we had to leave and bike back quickly to prepare for class that started like 30 minutes after we got home, luckily I had an easy lesson.
Here are the pictures of my Thanksgiving lunch. Enjoy!
P.S. What did you do for Thanksgiving this year or what has been your most interesting Thanksgiving?
We walked in to find everyone with a glove on their hand pulling apart a chicken and a turkey. It was an interesting sight, we sat down and Christina kept on bringing in more and more food. At one point someone found the brain of the duck and I am pretty sure that Elder Pendleton considered eating it but in the end he didn't.
Once lunch was over we took a couple of group photos and then because they had just received their mail before coming to lunch all the missionaries sat down and opened up their mail, Natalie took quite a few pictures of them opening their mail (as you will see if you go through the pictures). Sister Wood let me read some of the letters from her little brothers and sister, they were quite hilarious and I couldn't stop laughing (though of course I can't really remember anything now to put down). Once we were done we had to leave and bike back quickly to prepare for class that started like 30 minutes after we got home, luckily I had an easy lesson.
Here are the pictures of my Thanksgiving lunch. Enjoy!
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| Thanksgiving |
P.S. What did you do for Thanksgiving this year or what has been your most interesting Thanksgiving?
Calendar
This morning at the beginning of my 5 year old class I was doing calendar, we were talking about how it was a new month "December," when I was just about to go on Ariel spoke up. She said "Teacher, in December you go to Taipei and you don't come back" in a real sad voice. I have kind of realized that it was coming soon but I guess having one of my kids voice it made it more of a reality. I think that just like when I came here it won't really it me until I am actually gone. People have asked me if I am ready to go home, I think that on one hand I am ready to come home- just because I am ready to see family and friends but on the other hand I am really going to miss my kids.
Wendy was gone last week for two days and I was just so happy to see her this morning when I walked into class, I know that it is going to be worse when I leave here. I begin to wonder, how do these kids do it every 6 months? I mean they have two new teachers come every 6 months that they get close to and really like and then they just leave and don't come back, I don't know if I would really like that.
I guess that I just wanted to say "Darn you" to the calendar as it tore my heart to see the faces of those kids as they too realized this morning that I will be leaving soon.
Wendy was gone last week for two days and I was just so happy to see her this morning when I walked into class, I know that it is going to be worse when I leave here. I begin to wonder, how do these kids do it every 6 months? I mean they have two new teachers come every 6 months that they get close to and really like and then they just leave and don't come back, I don't know if I would really like that.
I guess that I just wanted to say "Darn you" to the calendar as it tore my heart to see the faces of those kids as they too realized this morning that I will be leaving soon.
Picnic
I can't believe how many posts I still have to make, I was making a list yesterday and I am pretty sure that the list was up to like 10 different things that I need to catch up on, so I guess I had just better start and work my way through it. As many of you know two Friday's ago we took the preschool on a picnic to a park that was like 10 or blocks away from the preschool (which when you are doing it with 40+ 3-5 year olds it is a big job, even if there is no one driving on the streets).
We started the day off by having the normal 20 minute classes (the first hour) in hopes of giving those that normally come to school late a chance to get there before we left, I think though that everyone made sure that they were there on time. When we were done with classes everyone made sure to hit the potty and then we started lining up, the 5 year olds were the first out the gate and they lined up waiting for a 3 year old to join them. Then the 4 year olds were partnered up with each other. I was quite impressed with how well the 5 year olds did, they walked on the outside with the 3 year old on the inside and they were pointing out things to them all along the way and talking to them, they looked so cute.
When we began there was an adult like every 4-5 feet walking between the kids and the road, for some reason there was a lot in the back where I was so I moved forward towards the 5 and 3 year olds, I hadn't been up there very long when Yuling asked me/told me (more of the told me) that I would help block traffic when we came to crossroads, she assured me that she would be on one side and that I would be on the other. I am pretty sure that not once did I see Yuling on the other side as we blocked traffic. I was pretty tired by the time we got to the park though, as I would be at the front of the line and I would stop the traffic while the whole group crossed and as soon as they were all passed I would have to run forward to be at the front for when they crossed another road.
Besides the traffic stopping the day was very pleasant, I was able to relax and the parents and Chinese teachers mostly took care of everything else. Of course the kids didn't stay away from me, they wanted to share everything with me. It made me laugh at how many of the kids had just bags of candy and chips for their lunch, they hadn't brought anything healthy (I don't think that most of the parents are used to providing lunch as normally it is prepared by the school and they don't have to worry about it). Beforehand Yuling had told me that I wouldn't really need to bring a lunch as the kids would be more than willing to share theirs with me, she wasn't joking, everytime I turned there was someone new handing me something, some that I found that I liked and many others that I found that I didn't like. Some of the things that were brought to share with me were duck (Kristy's Grandma), chicken leg (Fiona's Mom), Robitusen (Jimmy- yeah I was a little confused, isn't this a medicine?), and tea (Joy's Mom)... there is a story behind Joy's mom bringing tea to share. I am not sure if she realized that we couldn't have tea but she brought like 8 cups to share with all the teachers, when she got there Michelle asked me if I could have tea and I told her no that I couldn't, she was like ahhh, you, Yuling, and Stephanie cannot have tea that leaves just Jane and me...that is a lot of tea.
I mentioned in my pictures that I should tell you the story of Wendy and my bag of chips... I had a bag of chips that I was munching on when Wendy came up to me, I figured that since everyone else was sharing with me I might as well share with her too so I offered her a chip, she took one and sat down eating it. When she was done she walked away, it wasn't very long though before Wendy was back and she just reached into my bag and grabbed another chip, someone came up and she offered them a chip. I was pretty much done and so I wasn't really holding the bag anymore, it was kind of sitting on the bench in front of me, so Wendy picked it up and was just kind of holding it. I was just sitting there when Wendy got up and walked away... WITH MY BAG OF CHIPS!!! I was like what the heck, she just stole my bag of chips, she wandered around for a little bit and then came back and gave it to me. I just thought that it was hilarious that she totally stole my bag of chips.
When we had been there for a couple of hours they started to gather all of the kids together and sent them home in cars (I think that it probably took like 3 loads with 2-3 cars, but we did eventually get everyone back to the school). I could tell that it was time to go home as some kids were getting a little sad and crying when their moms/dads/grandmas left.
After nap time we just had a short movie all together and then the day was over. All in all it was a very relaxing day and I enjoyed myself.
I didn't do very well at taking pictures but here are the few that I did take (I can't wait until I get the CD of pictures from Yuling that she has been taking while I have been here--though of course I am pretty sure that I have taken more then her).
Enjoy!
~Bethered~
We started the day off by having the normal 20 minute classes (the first hour) in hopes of giving those that normally come to school late a chance to get there before we left, I think though that everyone made sure that they were there on time. When we were done with classes everyone made sure to hit the potty and then we started lining up, the 5 year olds were the first out the gate and they lined up waiting for a 3 year old to join them. Then the 4 year olds were partnered up with each other. I was quite impressed with how well the 5 year olds did, they walked on the outside with the 3 year old on the inside and they were pointing out things to them all along the way and talking to them, they looked so cute.
When we began there was an adult like every 4-5 feet walking between the kids and the road, for some reason there was a lot in the back where I was so I moved forward towards the 5 and 3 year olds, I hadn't been up there very long when Yuling asked me/told me (more of the told me) that I would help block traffic when we came to crossroads, she assured me that she would be on one side and that I would be on the other. I am pretty sure that not once did I see Yuling on the other side as we blocked traffic. I was pretty tired by the time we got to the park though, as I would be at the front of the line and I would stop the traffic while the whole group crossed and as soon as they were all passed I would have to run forward to be at the front for when they crossed another road.
Besides the traffic stopping the day was very pleasant, I was able to relax and the parents and Chinese teachers mostly took care of everything else. Of course the kids didn't stay away from me, they wanted to share everything with me. It made me laugh at how many of the kids had just bags of candy and chips for their lunch, they hadn't brought anything healthy (I don't think that most of the parents are used to providing lunch as normally it is prepared by the school and they don't have to worry about it). Beforehand Yuling had told me that I wouldn't really need to bring a lunch as the kids would be more than willing to share theirs with me, she wasn't joking, everytime I turned there was someone new handing me something, some that I found that I liked and many others that I found that I didn't like. Some of the things that were brought to share with me were duck (Kristy's Grandma), chicken leg (Fiona's Mom), Robitusen (Jimmy- yeah I was a little confused, isn't this a medicine?), and tea (Joy's Mom)... there is a story behind Joy's mom bringing tea to share. I am not sure if she realized that we couldn't have tea but she brought like 8 cups to share with all the teachers, when she got there Michelle asked me if I could have tea and I told her no that I couldn't, she was like ahhh, you, Yuling, and Stephanie cannot have tea that leaves just Jane and me...that is a lot of tea.
I mentioned in my pictures that I should tell you the story of Wendy and my bag of chips... I had a bag of chips that I was munching on when Wendy came up to me, I figured that since everyone else was sharing with me I might as well share with her too so I offered her a chip, she took one and sat down eating it. When she was done she walked away, it wasn't very long though before Wendy was back and she just reached into my bag and grabbed another chip, someone came up and she offered them a chip. I was pretty much done and so I wasn't really holding the bag anymore, it was kind of sitting on the bench in front of me, so Wendy picked it up and was just kind of holding it. I was just sitting there when Wendy got up and walked away... WITH MY BAG OF CHIPS!!! I was like what the heck, she just stole my bag of chips, she wandered around for a little bit and then came back and gave it to me. I just thought that it was hilarious that she totally stole my bag of chips.
When we had been there for a couple of hours they started to gather all of the kids together and sent them home in cars (I think that it probably took like 3 loads with 2-3 cars, but we did eventually get everyone back to the school). I could tell that it was time to go home as some kids were getting a little sad and crying when their moms/dads/grandmas left.
After nap time we just had a short movie all together and then the day was over. All in all it was a very relaxing day and I enjoyed myself.
I didn't do very well at taking pictures but here are the few that I did take (I can't wait until I get the CD of pictures from Yuling that she has been taking while I have been here--though of course I am pretty sure that I have taken more then her).
Enjoy!
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| Picnic |
~Bethered~
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