Trunk or Treat

We had a very fun Halloween evening! As soon as Brad got home from work he changed clothes and we headed to the church for the second annual Trunk or Treat event. First we enjoyed a hamburger & hot dog potluck dinner, followed by games, caramel apples, and popcorn in the gym. Finally it was time for the event of the evening: trunk or treating.

Each family opened their trunk and the kids went from car to car collecting candy. There was a contest for the best decorated car, with many serious contenders. The kids had a blast, and we adults had plenty of time for pleasant conversation throughout the evening.

Wouldn't you know, I forgot my camera...grrr..... A friend took pictures of my kids, so I may eventually have some to upload. Elisa was a beautiful ballerina, Caleb was a baseball player, Julianne was a Middle Eastern woman, and Igor was a football player. They all looked adorable.

Family Fun

This family wrestling match included everyone except me. Julianne hadn't joined yet when this picture was taken, but she did eventually get involved. The gray sweats and orange shirt are Brad's, and the blue & white shirt is Igor. Nothing like a little family fun! (But I confess I was happy to be the photographer.)

Co-op

After taking a year off from co-op, we decided to come back this year. One of the problems with attending our old co-op is they have changed locations and are now a 45+ minute drive from home. Fortunately, three families from our church decided to start a co-op here, so now our commute is about 90 seconds. :-)

I teach a Countries & Cultures class, which as been lots of fun. A few weeks ago Igor didn't have school on co-op day, so I had him come and teach my class. We had learned about Russia a few weeks before, so the kids were really excited to meet Igor, ask him questions, and learn how to write their name in Russian. Here he is with some of the kids. This week was field trip week, and we visited a local, highly-publicized "pumpkin patch". After a very long drive to get there, the "patch" was a large yard with a few bales of hay and a hundred or so pumpkins lying on the ground--no vines, just pumpkins. Nearby was a haunted house, which all of the co-op families chose to forego. There was no tour, no educational talk about pumpkins, just a bunch of pumpkins there on the ground. I felt bad for the embarrassed field trip coordinator (who happens to be new to the area). However, we had a good time anyway, just being together letting the kids play while the moms visited. And it did provide a nice photo op.

Igor & Sports

Igor is adventuresome and wants to make the most of the opportunities his exchange provides him. He has played soccer and basketball in Russia, so he's decided while he's here he'll try new sports.

He's been a wonderful addition to Coquille's J.V. football team. When he arrived, he didn't even know how to play football. In effort to be a most excellent host family we tried to teach him, but I twisted my ankle in the second play of the game and that was the end of that. The high school coaching staff has done a much better job and now he has won awards for his blocking. He's made some great tackles (both on the field and at home...) and we have had so much fun attending his games.

Football season will wrap up soon, and then he'll be trying another new sport: wrestling.

More on Taiwan

I was never able to get more pictures to upload to my last post, so here I am starting a new one! This is me with my Taiwanese host family, except for the father, who was at work.

And here I sit, enjoying the most wonderful foot massage on earth. I don't know why we don't have foot massage parlors in the U.S.!


My chicken rice burger was a special treat! I've been told that these are also served at some Chinatown McDonald's in the States.
Honestly, there was so much packed into our week that I could go on and on about it. I will try to upload a bunch of pictures with captions and link you to them later.

Taiwan

One of the highlights of my year was my trip to Taiwan at the end of September. I qualified for this all-expense paid trip by reaching placement goals with AYUSA. It was a fabulous experience!

I flew alone to San Francisco where I met up with the other 18 AYUSA staff members that were going on the trip. Our flight left at 1:30 a.m., which was nice because we slept a lot of the flight, making the 11.5 hours go by more quickly. We arrived in Taipei at 4:30 a.m. and loaded onto the bus to head to Taiwan's AYUSA office. Our host families greeted us there and took us home for a few hours before our crazy schedule began.

My host family had two childen: a 10-year old daughter and a 17-year old son who was an exchange student to Florida last year. He was the only one that spoke English, so when he wasn't around communication was difficult. The family was warm and friendly and did everything they could to make me feel comfortable. From what I understand, many Taiwanese people use beds, but this family did not. Here is my room:

AYUSA Taiwan packed each day full of activities, so we really didn't spend much time with our host families. We got to see many great cultural sights, and experience so much that I'd have to write a book to tell you about all of them. Here's a couple of my favorite highlights.

We visited a prestigious private school, where we were treated like royalty. They applauded us as we got off the bus and walked inside the school. Then three students were assigned to each staff person and gave us a tour of their school. Here's me with my wonderful tour guides.
One evening, they took us to a special district of Taipei that is famous for its foot massages. Each staff member got a 45-minute foot massage, which was the most wonderful thing since sliced bread. The place was set up like a salon, with enough beautician-style chairs to seat about 30 people. First, we soaked our feet in hot water, then the professionals took over and massaged them until we purred. It was truly fabulous!

We were served authentic food for every meal, so there were many firsts for me and a few "no thank you's". I particularly had a hard time with jellyfish and sea cucumber. In the middle of one of our sightseeing days our leaders got us McDonald's for lunch. I had a Rice Burger...which was the same as the regular McDonald's sandwich except that the "bun" was rice grilled into the shape of a patty! Different, but very good!

For some reason, I am unable to upload any more pictures, so I'll try again later.