There is a River

Well, you didn't have to wait long. When I got home from school, I discovered that the internet was functioning again. Praise the Lord!

Just so you know, I wrote this on Saturday.

I can't believe it has already been more than a week since my last post! I will try to catch you up on what has been happening...

On Friday, a week ago, (sorry for going back so far, but this is a memorable event and must be recorded.) Doc and I decided to go to the beach. Now there is a beach that is just about 5 minutes walk away or less. But no. We didn't want to go to that beach. We wanted to go to the nice beach which happened to be located 3 miles away. With directions in hand, we set out on our bikes. It said it should take us about 20-25 minutes. As we traveled, I attempted to read the directions with one hand and guide my bike with the other. All was well. We only got lost once. But no fear, I had my cell phone with me. I called someone back at the dorm, and they were able to tell us where we had gone wrong. We arrived at the beach about 45 minutes later. We had great fun walking in the water, gathering seashells, and simply sitting in the sand, enjoying the breeze and talking.

Just because I am not in the picture doesn't mean I wasn't there. I was only able to get one picture in before my battery went dead. Grrrr, it always seems to do that to me.

I have now put my feet in the Pacific Ocean!

This past week has been really good. I took the boat to Shau Kinmen on Monday and Tuesday. Now all of Shau Kinmen, or at least the student population, knows my family. They all oohed and ahhed over them much to my delight.

On Wednesday, I showed off my family some more. On Thursday, I was able to have my first experience of teaching in the classroom. I reviewed some vocabulary in the 6th grade, I taught a song and a chant in the 5th and 4th grade, and I got to teach the whole lesson in the 3rd grade. It was a lot of fun.

Things I have learned (or am learning)...

1. When teaching a song or chant, make sure you are teaching them the correct words. (I managed to teach them the wrong words and did not realize it until I turned on the CD. Whoops.)
2. When teaching a song or chant, make sure they are familiar with ALL the words and understand the concept. (There isn't really any point if they don't know what they are saying.)
3. Be prepared for anything. (I was handed the lesson in 3rd grade with no prior notice. It was a good experience and went well. I even had a good time. It was just a little scary for the first few seconds, not really knowing what I was doing. Fortunately, I work with a Taiwanese English teacher who will translate for me if I need it.)
4. CHINESE!!!!! I had my first Chinese class yesterday. It went very well and was a lot of fun. We started out by learning bupumufu (pronounced more like buh, puh, muh, fuh...) It is the Taiwanese phonetic system. It is used instead of pinyin. It is also much easier in that there is only one system whereas there are many types of pinyin. With it, you can sound out Chinese words and or write them down phonetically. I look forward to mastering it. But I am no where near it yet.
5. Guitar! It is something I have wanted to learn for a while now, but have not had the time, or not taken the effort to make the time. But I am now, and have really enjoyed it so far.

This morning, I felt ambitious. So, I got up, grabbed my backpack, and headed out with a team mate to the nearby grocery store. There, I picked up apples, yogurt, and butter (actually it was margarine. We have not found the butter yet. But I know it's here somewhere.) I came back to the dorm, and the afore mentioned team mate and I set about making some Apple Streusel Muffins. It was from one of the many recipes that my sister let me copy from her book. I filled the muffin tins and proceeded to stick them in the oven. Unfortunately, the muffin tin I was using was too big to fit into our small toaster oven. So, we scooped them out and put them in a bread pan. About an hour and twenty minutes later, I pulled it out. Everybody was nice and said they liked it.

By the way, if you are short on sour cream, I have found that yogurt and baking soda works as a substitute in baking. (Isn't the Internet great!?)

I look forward to doing more cooking. It is fun to see what you can create with only a toaster oven, and a microwave. (we actually have two toaster ovens. But you can only use one of them at a time or else you will trip the breaker.) (Yes. I know this from experience.) Now that I think about it we have more than that. We have a couple hot plates, and an electric grill. I can't wait to try some grilled vegetables.

My Sabbath is almost over now. It has been good. May you also have a blessed Sabbath!
Well, I guess thats all for now.
:0)