International Day

The last big hurrah for SMIC students before the end of the year was a couple Saturdays ago. The many extra hours that teachers put in was well worth it once the big day came and went. The students had a blast traveling from room to room, country to country. My first graders presented Ireland. Since I know pretty much nothing about Ireland, I'd like to thank my good friends Kristel and Andy for giving me pointers and ideas (since they lived there last summer)...as well as my Irish husband - for helping prepare and also for putting up with me as a stressball.
I've realized that my blog this year has primarily been about my kids, but they're just so darn cute I can't help but share their joy with everyone else. (Another reminder - if you want to see less of my kids and more of what we're doing - check out John's blog:) ).


What's inside the castle walls?



Singing and Dancing Children (When Irish Eyes are Smiling...)




Tasty Irish Food - Mashed Potatoes, Irish Scones, Cabbage, Butter Cookies, Irish Apple Custard Pie, Leprechaun Fizz


Parents and Families Watching


Kiss the Blarney Stone!


Go on a Leprechaun Hunt to Find the Pot o' Gold

Taiwan!

I finally made it back to Taiwan! Since I left a year and a half ago I've been waiting to return. This past week was our May holiday, or "China's Worker's Holiday". We had off school for the week, so I took an extra day and went to Taiwan for 5 days before meeting John and his uncle and cousin in Beijing. I had such a wonderful time visiting friends and seeing the old stomping grounds. It brought back so many memories from when I lived there that I will cherish forever. Those 6 months of my living there went by fast, but what I experienced and learned from God's provision and faithfulness will be with me for life. My friends, co-teachers, and students were such a blessing and continue to be in my life. I am so thankful to have formed the relationships that I did there!

So...my time there:) I stayed in Taipei one night with Erin, one of my ITPS teammates, then stayed with my dear friend Carrie in Hsinchu who was one of my roommates when I lived there. I was able to meet up with pretty much everyone possible which was so much fun. It was encouraging to hear the ways that God has been working there, and also good to know how I can be praying for the various ministries there. Carrie even trusted me enough with her scooter, so I got to live it up driving crazy like the old days...Yes, my back is still okay!:) Speaking of...when Carrie and I went to our old apartment to get my things, the security guard remembered me through someone translating he said that the guards have all been thinking of me and hoping I was healthy again. He told me to keep in touch, pengyou (friends) - so sweet.

Here are some pictures from the trip...




This is my co-teacher Lisa from last year, and her 2 kids - Shawn and Tina. I've been able to keep in touch with Lisa and Tina over the past year so it was so nice to spend some time together.


Jesse (my ITPS teammate in Hsinchu) and his fiance Vanesa taught Carrie and I how to play Majong. I bought a game for myself as soon as I got to Beijing.


Bowling Night! Frikkie (friend from church and teaching company), Brenda (church friend), Jesse, Dom (new Australian teacher), Vanesa, and Carrie tearing up the alley with our mad skills.

One game was USA challenging World...can't remember the outcome:)


Kevin, Mona, and Jed - the social family of Hsinchu...I think everyone knows them. Their excitement for life always encourages me. Jed was born when I was living there...he has gotten so big, and now there's another boy on the way!



Eve is one of the sweet ladies who was always willing to help in any way while I was living there. Nancy was another dear friend like this who I got to see but missed getting a picture of. Nancy, Eve, and Dai were like God's angels for us last year!


Many new snack stands have been added downtown - Carrie introduced me to chocolate covered frozen bananas. A tasty and healthy treat!



Carrie's making soy milk - it's her side job.



We went to Nanlio (the harbor) and were surprised to see a lot of action going on. There was even a frozen coke serving truck.



This is one of the students at Dongmen who I used to scooter to my apartment and tutor for a couple hours each week. We became quite close, so I was excited to surprise her as she went from one class to the next.



Eva was one of my co-teachers and Maria and I were office buddies last year. We got to go have desserts in the park during one of their breaks. Eva knows how much I love sweets.



Tuesday I flew from Taipei to Beijing to meet the boys. Here we are at the Forbidden City on Wednesday. We spent the rest of the week there touring around, The Great Wall being the highlight of course. I'll let you all check John's blog for that story:) His blog is now a link on my page....check it out!

Spring is here!
I've been getting quite behind on my blog updates. Rather than bringing you all back a month in time to catch up, I'll just make this one a summary of what's been happening.
First, thank you to all of you who sent birthday messages! John made sure my day was special. My kids did their best to make the day special as well:) I recieved many fun and interesting gifts that they had either made or found....some examples are: an origami colorful ball, a decorated hard boiled egg, stuffed animals, cards, boquets of flowers (even roses), etc. They enjoyed having dirt pudding for my "birthday treat"...gummie worms being their favorite part.
John suprised me with a guitar! I've been teaching myself online - so far so good. A dream of mine for a long time has been to learn to play the guitar. My college roomates suffered through my beginning "teach myself lessons" sophomore year...which I gave up after I could only play Amazing Grace by plucking strings. This time it's going to happen! haha





To celebrate Easter, my kids had a scavenger egg hunt. I made clues for them to run around outside finding eggs and one of the moms created amazing treasures for each of them at the end of the hunt. They had so much fun!

























Last weekend we went on a "Employee Field Trip" to a nearby city known for it's beautiful river. It was interesting...not necessarily the most beautiful, but we all still had a lot of fun wondering around the tourist city.






Don't forget to check John's blog....he's much better at udpating!:) from-shanghai@blogspot.com

Fieldtrip to the zoo

Friday we had our elementary field trip to the zoo. Now, some of you might think - how fun, a day at the zoo without teaching....but what you may be forgetting is - I needed to take my 20 first graders with me to the zoo:) It was a fun filled day at the zoo, let me just say that. I came to the realization that kids are no longer impressed by zoo animals. Maybe the zoo is overdone with the parents, or maybe the kids just never get to eat snacks at home? I'm not sure, but at least every 5 minutes, at times, every minute, I had kids telling me how hungry they were, how they wanted to buy a snack, or they were giving me their random goodies from the backpack - most of which went right into my backpack and are still there. Lunches and snacks are a little different here. One of my kid's mom packed me a lunch of sushi and egg salad sandwhiches - loved it! That along with all the other parts of everyone elses lunches they kept giving me - I was set. Once we finally got lunch and buying snacks out of the way the kids enjoyed seeing the animals. Some of the animals though didn't look happy - therefore it wasn't always fun to look at them...more sad...especially when they would be eating the garbage that others had thrown in. Didn't see any "No Feeding the Animals" signs around - so you can imagine what was inside the cages. All in all, the kids had a great day - and that's what matters! I even lucked out with a leg massage on the way home after the 5 hours of walking.

Science Fair

Last week our Elementary school had its Science Fair. These first graders worked hard - and found many ways to help the environment. I even accomplished to show them how to make plastic without using natural resources (oil...maybe you all knew that - I didn't)...it only blew up once at home, testing it before showing the class. Thankfully it went smoothly in the classroom. We also helped clean the environment and started collecting toys and clothes (reusing) to donate to a nearby orphanage. I have quite the toy collection in my room:)

My class never ceases to amaze me - it's been so exciting to see their growth this school year. I now know the joy of a first grade teacher....hard work....but soooo rewarding!

Look What's Coming!!

When we got back from Chinese New Year vacation in America....I was quite pleased to see a new sign added to the Super Brand Mall. April 26th will be a good day!

Trip to Suzhou

As most of you have probably seen from John's site, last weekend we had a getaway with a few friends to Suzhou. This is a smaller city that is mostly used for vacationing. It is known for its gardens and beautiful surroundings. We headed out right after school on Friday with our friends Jayme, Channing, and Laura. It's a 45 minute subway ride and about one hour train ride away. The train station is always a joy - yuck!! It's not the cleanest place to be:) The actualy train ride was a little different than our first one to Honzhou - so many more people, most of which stand around you and stare, one because there is nowhere left to sit and two, they just love to stare.

Here are some various pictures of sights around the city. John and I took a boat ride around the river channel. Along with the old parts of the city, bridges and such, we got to see some daily routines of some of the locals...brushing teeth in the river, washing clothes, scrubbing mats, reading the newspaper, etc. All of us visited one of the many gardens, did some street shopping at the markets, went to "walking street", and various other activities.






My friend Laura is engaged to a German man - Thomas - and they are planning a summer wedding in Alabama. It's been fun to hear about their plans, and also get see G blessing them as they figure out paper work as to how they will legally be married. It's not easy putting that all together when neiter of them are in their own country. Just recently though everything has come together and they should be able to have a marriage license before their "wedding ceremony" in America. Laura is getting her dress made in Suzhou (where Thomas is living and working on his thesis). If only I could have waited one more year....her dress is beautiful...and let's just say A LOT cheaper ($80). Crazy huh!

Home for Chinese New Year

All of us teachers had off from February 5th to the 24th for Chinese New Year. This holiday is celebrated like the Christmas season is celebrated at home. Everyone travels to see their families to enjoy much celebration including lots of fireworks. We have seen some areas of burnt grass - very interesting.

We had such a wonderful time visiting friends and family. The time flew by though - so if we were unable to see you, we look forward to seeing you this summer. We spent about a week in Wisconsin and a week in Minnesota. Here are just a few pictures. We weren't on our usual picture taking mission to fill the blog - so the pictures are few. Thanks to those of you who went out of your way to come see us and also for those of you who opened your homes for us to stay in. We're so thankful for our dear family and friends!!