Markets

My dearest Mother gently complained that I have not really showed pictures or what a market is, when I was describing it once a few weeks ago she said "oh, that's completely different than I imagined." So when we went downtown with Yuling I took many pictures to show a "market," now this is just a general shopping market, with a little bit of everything...there is also specific markets just for fruit, just for vegetables, food, clothes, stones, meat, etc. but hopefully this will give you a general idea.

Scooter Ridin' Fun

A couple of weeks ago I had just gotten off skype talking to my Mom when the phone in the kitchen started ringing (it doesn't do that very often but when it does I generally ignore it :D), Andrea went to answer it. It was Yuling asking if we wanted to go downtown with them, of course we said yes and hurriedly got dressed.

We were downstairs at the appointed time when Yuling, Daniel, and Joseph pulled up on their scooters, we grabbed our helmets and hopped on. Before going downtown we swung by and picked up Allie.

(Joseph, Andrea, and Daniel waiting while we pumped up Yuling's tires)

Yuling's tires were a little low so we stopped for a few seconds to get them pumped up, while Allie and I waited we snapped a few cute pictures.

Joseph and Yuling dropped us off at the entrance to the market while they went to find parking, the first thing that Daniel noticed was this giant bear inside one of the drink places. He kept on saying bear in Chinese and pointing at it.

No bed for nap, so Daniel had to make due with his Dad's back.

After buying several purses (I believe that among the three of us we bought 5 :D), clothes, and other foods we stopped for lunch, of course we had to go to what I like to call "Famous Dumplings," and as usual they stepped up to the plate and served delicious food.

Daniel was getting a little tired and restless by this time so I let him play with my camera again, there are several like this.

After lunch we dropped Allie off at her music class and then came back for dessert, Andrea and I both had shaved ice with mango--YUM!

Besides having fun with Yuling, Joseph, Daniel, Allie, and Andrea?...finding and buying Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel, and Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story for only $30 US!!! (The first two are two of my favorite movies and ones that I have wanted for a very long time but wasn't ready to pay $30+ for each one)

Copy Cat

Yesterday I was playing copy cat with Daniel, it took him a bit to realize what I was doing but then he loved it and would do many silly things to see if I would copy him.

Today at church Andrea and I sat in front of Yuling so that she could translate for us. At one point during the meeting Daniel went to the pew in front of us and was "talking" to Andrea and I, I started to copy him again. He played along and then he got a very mischievous look in his eyes-- he pulled his shirt up! Sometimes that little two year old is too smart for his own good (and he thought that he was hilarious when Yuling and I said something at the same time :D)

An Invitation

On Wednesday I was talking with Yuling about getting train tickets for Andrea and I got to Taipei for the weekend of the 22nd so that we could go to the Temple and do some shopping. As I was talking with Yuling about it my tutor student Leslee came in, she handed me an envelope. I asked what it was and her Mom said that it was an invitation to a garden party at Leslee's kindergarten school, but that it sounded like we were going to be out to town. I said that we weren't sure yet, when we got upstairs Leslee said something to her mom, her mom said that she was really worried about us not being able to come to her garden party.

I told her that I bet that Andrea and I could talk about it and go to Taipei a different weekend so that we could go to her party. She got very happy.

This is the second time that they have invited me to something, they are always very sweet and give me a card with a note written by Leslee and a note written by Leslee's mom Becky with directions how to get to the place.

Thursday Leslee and her mom stopped by the school again to give Yuling something, her mom asked Andrea if we had decided what we were going to do, she told her that we were going to go to Taipei a different weekend so that we could come to the party, she said that she would tell Leslee and that she would be very relieved, that she had been worried about whether we would come or not.

Child Photography

Oh, did you think that this was going to be pictures of kids? How silly of you, no these pictures taken by the up-and-coming photographer Daniel. He's 2, you know, they're starting them earlier and earlier these days :D

Daniel was having a bit of a hard time during the Relief Society activity last week, so I introduced the digital camera to him. He LOVED it! With the help of Yuling he took over 100 pictures in a time period of 30 or so minutes :D Good thing for digital!

Hairs a Thought

A couple of weeks ago I was tutoring Jenny when we had a little bit of time left at the end before her Dad showed up. Jenny noticed my earrings on my desk and picked them up and started looking through them, she tried every single earring on me and decided which ones were the most pretty. Somehow she went from looking at my earrings to doing my hair, this is the result...

A couple of days ago I decided to see if my hair was long enough to do the cone head, it works but I think it would do better my hair was a little longer and if it was straightened.

When I was walking around after-school yesterday Zoey told me that I look like a Christmas tree...quite funny! So then as Wendy was leaving she said "Good-bye Teacher Beth Christmas Tree!"

Yuling told me that I was "brilliant!"

A Mart: An Extreme Adventure

Two field trips in two days! How crazy is that? It was so much fun though, well as fun as it can be going shopping with 50 kids :D We had our regular morning classes and then the craziness started. There were at least 10 cars lined up out front of the school and that many or more parents wandering around, talking with each other and the kids. You know how when you are getting ready to go somewhere you go through in your head like a million times what you need to take with you/do well multiply that several times and you can begin to understand what it was. Finally we would be ready and then a 3 year old was missing, or someone needed to change clothes/shoes, go to the bathroom, basically anything that you can think of.

Finally we started to get in the cars, I was in the first one to leave. I got to ride with Elaine's Mom and 6 bouncy 3 year olds :D

It's amazing how much faster you can get somewhere when going in a car. We were all dropped off at the curb and then the parents went and all parked their cars.

Before going inside, each teacher took a group of 10 kids (except me, I was the lucky one with a microphone and got to be the "tour guide"). We walked in and everyone quickly started grabbing carts, I got the microphone out but wasn't really sure what Yuling wanted me to do with it, after a few minutes we quickly decided that it would be easier just for each teacher to be a tour guide for their groups. We started out all together but that quickly changed and were soon spread out through the store.

We had two hours to explore the store with our groups (I used it as a chance to buy some of the more heavier stuff that we needed but didn't really want to bike back with. AKA- Rice). The kids had tons of fun looking at things and picking out what they were going to buy (each one had been sent with $50-$150 or so). Minds were changed many times, especially on making sure that they had enough money.

I went on several runs with kids to find stickers or tattoos that they saw someone else have and they wanted.

When it came time to check-out they opened two check stands just for us, so we wouldn't block other customers and hopefully not frustrate everyone in the store.

When going shopping with 50 kids you would expect to have someone wander off on their own, that happened but it wasn't one of the kids. Yuling disappeared with her group and we didn't see them until the very end when we were getting in line to check out.
It was a long day and everyone was very tired when we were heading home, the kids had fun and loved buying lots and lots of candy (of course that is what most of them bought :D).
Elaine's Mom was nice and bought snacks for everyone in our car to eat on the way back and some how our 6 3 year olds had become 9, all sitting in the back together- with no seat belts :(