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Thursday, January 29, 2009

Karaoke Night

Tuesday nights at Applebee's in Orem is Karaoke Night...Tuesday afternoon Leah called me up and asked if I wanted to do something, as normal I didn't really have any plans and so I agreed. She had been watching American Idol and so really wanted to go do to Karaoke, as chance would have it, it was Karaoke night- she decided to make it a Newport ward girls night, sadly though Charissa and Brea didn't answer their phones, so it ended up being Krystle, Leah, a couple of Leah's friends, and I...it was tons of fun. I think with that big of a group I would be too nervous to go up and sing, even if it wasn't an hour wait after you sign up. Amazing Krystle though was brave enough and signed up to sing Think by Aretha Franklin, I never cease to be amazed by how beautiful her voice is.

Krystle and Leah looking through the Karaoke books while waiting for everyone else to show up.


Beautiful Krystle singing her heart out, if she saw this picture she probably wouldn't be very happy with me :D...I kept on trying to take a really good picture of her, but because my camera was stupid it would take forever to take the picture and by the time it finally took it Krystle was looking back at the screen again :(

Krystle and I

Leah and her super cute friend Chelsea..her face is classic.

Leah taking a picture of me taking a picture of her.


Monday, January 26, 2009

Family Mission Statement

For my SFL 105 class (Home and Family Life) today we had to turn in a Family Mission Statement, either one for our current family or one that we will hope to use for our future families, as I obviously don't have a "family" at the moment (sorry to my family--I just mean that I haven't started to create a family of my own yet) I wrote one for my future family. I was having a little bit of difficulty at first with this assignment, my teacher wasn't very specific in what she was looking for or what format she wanted it done in, searching the internet did not do much for help either, all I could find was Stephen Covey's example from his book "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People":

The mission of our family is...

to create a nurturing place of order, truth, love, happiness, and relaxation; and...

to provide opportunities for each person to become

responsibly independent and effectively interdependent,...

in order to achieve worthwhile purposes.

Our Family Mission

To love each other...

To help each other...

To believe in each other...

To wisely use our time, talents, and resources to bless others...

To worship together...

Forever.

Which was not exactly what I wanted to do and if I just used it, it would obviously not be doing the assignment anyway. I was just sitting at my computer when it hit me and I got this awesome idea, I started typing very quickly before it disappeared. I am still not sure if it is what my professor wanted, but I am happy with it and hope that I will really be able to use it for my future family.

The Family Mission Statement:

To create a HOME of ZION with LOVE,

To LOVE with ACCEPTANCE,

To ACCEPT with COMFORT,

To COMFORT with KINDNESS,

To be KIND with SERVICE,

To SERVE with KINDNESS,

To be KIND with COMFORT,

To COMFORT with ACCEPTANCE,

To ACCEPT with LOVE,

To LOVE by creating a HOME of ZION,

A family or a home is not created in just one day or with one action; it is something that is created by small daily acts of kindness and love that we do for each other. Each part of this family mission statement represents the small things that we as members of a family can do for each other daily-- sometimes just by saying “Hi, how was your day?”; other times it might be by doing someone’s chores for them. Our mission as a family will be to do small daily acts individually and collectively, to make them a priority and to show daily each person of the family that we love them.

Cake Claymation

I subscribe to this awesome blog called Cake Wrecks where they just show mistakes peopel have done with cakes...sometimes there are some rather funny ones. Anyway today they posted this a cool video of claymation, it was very well done I thought and I loved the end result.

Enjoy!

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband Concert

Tonight BYU offered a concert with Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband...tickets were only $10! Which was awesome, Libbey, Kyle and I decided to all go together. I have one of his CD's so I know a chunk of his music but I had never gone to one of his concerts before. It was amazing, so much fun...I loved how their band had fun on stage even though they have been playing for years together, they play and tease each other while up, which makes the crowd more involved and entertained. Sadly I realized that I had forgotten my camera just as we were pulling up to the WILK (building on campus where the concert was being held) and both Libbey and Kyle didn't bring their cameras :(...but have no worries I found on youtube one of my favorite parts of the night, it's called All Bass- where all 5 members of the band were playing on the same bass, it was AWESOME! I hope that when they come again I will get an opportunity to go.

All Bass movie

P.S. For those who are local, Jon Schmidt will be at BYU next Saturday night (January 31st) at the WILK 7:30pm...tickets are $10 w/ BYU ID at the WILK information desk or $12 at the door.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

It's Here!

Box #1 has finally arrived! I can't believe that I sent my boxes from Taiwan nearly two months ago, yesterday one was delivered to the doorstep of my brother and sister-in-laws house!



As my brother likes to say it looks like someone brought it over from Taiwan in a canoe and then dragged it behind a bike to their house...but it doesn't matter as it arrived mostly intact and as far as I can tell everything is there (of course that's not saying much because I couldnt' remember what I packed in them). Box #2 is supposed to arrive today! We will see how well it fared ;D

Betherd
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Saturday, January 10, 2009

Riverdance: A Journey to Taipei, Part 1

I tried starting writing this post when I was in the LA airport waiting for 4am to come around so that I could check in my luggage. I had started with realizing how it had only been a week since I had gone and here I was already back in the US, when I realized that I couldn't do it then-- it was still too fresh so rather I went back to my pictures and started looking at them. My I must have looked a sight to the lady sitting next to me, it was 2 in the morning, I have my laptop open on my lap and I am looking at my computer with tears streaming down my face. I didn't know what I was crying for more, that I was happy to be back in the United States or over how much I missed these kids that I was looking at the pictures of. I still have a hard time when I look at pictures of those wonderful little kids that I miss so much, but I also realize that it is time to finish writing about my trip before it is too far away and I don't remember. (sorry really random beginning I know)

What a grand adventure it was to be able to go to Taipei to see Riverdance, of course knowing me I could not go anywhere without things happening. I was very lucky to not have as early a train ride as last time I went to Taipei, but I still had a pretty early ride so Friday night went to bed early and had all of my stuff ready to go. Most of the ride to Taipei I slept (fro some reason I could never get on the train and stay awake the whole time), except I did keep on startling awake feeling like someone was watching me, finally I saw a little boy peaking at me through the cracks in the seats.

Finally I arrived in Taipei at the Main Station. Teacher Stephanie had told me that the show was going to be at a certain place and I knew that it was supposed to be close to the train station but I couldn't quite remember where it was so I went to the information desk and showed them my ticket and explained that I was trying to get to this place. They started to tell me that I had to take the MRT to Taipei 101 and then catch the bus to 101 and then walk some, I was like, "umm, can't I just walk there," they laughed at me and then told me that, no it was too far away. I was still confused and thought that I should be able to walk there but I decided to trust them and get on the MRT. I took the MRT to the city hall stop, there was a free shuttle that would take me all the way from the MRT to Taipei 101, but because it is free the lines are always really long and the buses really crowded so I decided to just walk. When I got to 101 I was a little confused about the next part of the directions so I pulled my ticket back out and stopped a police officer about where I should be going. They pointed the directions to me and I began to walk, I had my ipod on and wasn't really paying attention, just walking, when randomly I looked up and there it was- right in front of me!

I walked inside and double checked that I was in the right building and then quickly realized that I was hungry, but I was pretty far away from anything that was going to be cheap and I didn't really want to wander too far away (I get stressed out about time, even though I had arrived like an hour and a half before the show was supposed to start). Luckily there was a little cafe kind of thing inside and I bought me some lunch (it advertised hamburger but when I really got it, it was a ham and cheese sandwich, I thought that, that was funny but it was good all the same), I also bought some cheesecake kind of thing that had raisins in it- it was good except the raisin part.

While I was waiting to be able to go inside the auditorium area I noticed that there was a table that was selling, books, DVD's, shirts, mugs, etc. of stuff about Riverdance..I have never had my own Riverdance movie and so I thought that it would be cool to buy the DVD as it was only $12 US for 2 DVD's, I almost bought them when I stopped myself as I remembered the last time I had bought a movie in Taiwan- it wouldn't work because of the codes. After I changed my mind about the DVD's I headed to my seat (about 40 minutes before the show was supposed to start :D). I was looking at my ticket and slowly going up the stairs when I had the thought "wouldn't it be sad if my ticket was the last row?"...well guess what, it was :( and even worse the numbers were switched on my row, all the other rows went seat #1 was on the right and went to the left but on my row seat #1 was on the left and so I was out further even. But I finally found my seat and took the opportunity of extra time to start writing down everything that had happened so far that day.

As I was sitting, waiting for the show to start somethings that I noticed were happening (sorry these will all be kind of random, they were written down as I thought of them):
*There was this random guy that was yelling out in Chinese- he would yell about every five minutes and it sounded like it was always the same thing to me, I could never find where he was yelling from though.
*Irish music was playing in the background, even though I knew the show was going to be a little different considering it was in a Chinese community hearing the music from Riverdance made it all real to me and seem like I was used to..it also helped to calm my excitement.
*Some people were obviously very used to coming to the shows in this particular building and having the cheaper seats (meaning seats at the very back of the auditorium), as soon as they sat down many people started pulling out their binoculars and looking around them...it kind of made me feel like I was in the movies for an opera scene where all the ladies had their opera glasses and men had their eye-glasses. As funny as it was to see people doing that it also made me kind of wish that I had $200 to just spend on a ticket so that I could have been really close.
*From my viewpoint the stage looks really small...I think that it was smaller even than most Riverdance stages.
*There were two couples-one on either side of me, the couple on the left smelled of smoke, alcohol, or tobacco, I'm not sure which one, but I did know that he smelled really bad. The couple on my right was really kind and they even talked to me a little bit. The lady asked me if I was a student doing a report because of all my writing, I explained to her that I was here interning and that I easily forget details so I had to write everything down as the day went.
*I'm not sure if I ever said but I was at the TICC- Taipei International Conference Center, there was several big things going on that day.
*I am kind of sad that I won't be able to watch it but I am pretty sure Lion King was coming soon to the Conference Center.
*At 3 minutes till showtime I started to get VERY EXCITED!, I was pretty sure that I could hear footsteps as people were getting into place. I had also not seen any white people there.
*The company was a smaller company than I was used to but they were still wonderful. I found it really amazing how they magnify the sound from the feet so well- I kind of wonder how they do that.
* The escalators were sweet, they wouldn't work until you stepped on this pad thing at the very bottom or top of them and then they would start working- it had it all figured out too for how long it would take you to get to the top or bottom. The first time I figured that out I was walking up to the escalators, I saw that they weren't working but I was like oh well I guess I'll just walk up them anyway, I had just stepped onto them when they started going- WEIRD!
*The intermission came a lot faster than I thought it would, about an hour after it had started and it really confused me as they did the ending dance before the intermission- so I thought that it was over, but I knew that they still had more to do. Oh well!
*I changed my mind and decided to buy the DVD anyway- I figured that if it wouldn't work they would make good Christmas/Thank You presents for those in Taiwan. I bought myself one and then decided to get mom/dad one also- I said if they didn't work it would be perfect for Teacher Stephanie and the Chu Family. (But YIPEE!!! they worked :D)
*The people wouldn't let me just walk all the way down the stairs inside the auditorium- I had to go outside and use the elevator or the escalator, both which took a really long time as there was lots of people trying to go downstairs during the intermission to get to the bathroom and to where they were selling things.

Teacher Beth's Chinese Words

(Please excuse that they are probably not the correct spelling)

huh-huh shue: Drink Water (if you are talking to older people you would just say huh but huh-huh is more like baby talk)
mayo: I don't have
che-che: Thank You
ma: Horse
liang liang: Shiny, shiny or beautiful
huan ing guang ling: Welcome (this is the one that sounds like Good Morning)
ne-how: Hello
zou-an: Good Morning
dew-an: Good Afternoon
dou-an: Good Evening
chuang: Bed
tuan: Boat
che-che guang ling: Thank You for Being Here
Doy Bu Chi: Sorry
Bu Ka Chi: You're Welcome
May Guan Chi: It's Ok
Doy: Yes, it is right
(there might be more but I don't know

Kids Chinese Names:
Kristy: Lee Pei Ee
Leslee: Yo Tien Hua
L. Alice: Goey
Meggy: Che Chuen
Rose: Shu Yo Ro
Areti: Ling Yen Chuan
Anna: Chunz El Ling
Ray: Jiang Chun Ray
Amy: Jing Jing
Buzz: Lee Chunz Ling
L. Annie: Ze E
Yukai: Yukai (Yep, probably one of the easiest to remember :D)
Mine: Ma Liang Liang

Gratefulness in the Form of a Bike

I wrote this the morning that I went to Taipei for Riverdance I just hadn’t had a chance to type it up and post it yet.

As I sit in the Hualien train station waiting for my train to Taipei for the second to the last time I have begun to reflect and to be grateful. This morning I rode on my bike by myself to the trainstation, for that I have many things to be grateful- that I have a bike, though it may not function the best it gets me from point A to point B; that I can ride a bike- some people can’t, whether it be because of a handicap or some other reason; that I could endure the distance without having to stop or feeling out of breath when I arrived- that would not have been the case several months ago when I arrived; that I could find my way without the help of others- I don’t really think that I appreciated how well I could remember how to get to places, even if I only went there once, before this trip- but on this trip I have bery much appreciated it, especially since I don’t always go with others that remember or know how to get where we are going, they can tell me once and I will remember. Some of these things may seem rather small or large, but to me they are all important, I don’t think that I always take the time to truly sit down and look at how blessed I have been from this trip, I know that there are many others that I cannot think of off the top of my head but I am very, very grateful for them indeed and hope to try harder to appreciate what I have.

Friday, January 2, 2009

Happy New Year!

I know that I am a couple of days late, but I realize that I wouldn't be a very good blogger if I didn't take the time to stop and wish everyone a HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope that 2008 was a great year and that 2009 will turn into an amazingly awesome year for all. I look forward to hearing the tales and stories of your adventures. May your goals and resolutions happen and leave you feeling happy and good about yourself.

~Betherd~