Last Sunday, July 12th, was the day after the typhoon. Samuel went to Taipei with a group of three guys, including Gabriel (from last year) and his mom, Yanny, whom I really liked. She sent me some photos of their adventures after I posted last week. Here's Samuel eating in the basement of Taipei 101.
They didn't go up to the observation deck of the skyscraper like last year. They just wanted to take cool pictures outside. And they succeeded!
Monday, July 13th, was our final day of camp! We had to postpone our final day due to the typhoon. We got up bright and early one last time and dug deep for the 15 hour day. Here's the video I sent out in our last newsletter that has a lot of footage of our family at camp.
We were thankful our Uber was on time... though Evie doesn't look like it.
About half of the campers came, likely because kids in Taiwan have different summer camps scheduled each week, so they had to start a new camp instead of attending our rescheduled final day. We enjoyed singing the songs again. When catchy songs get stuck in my head, I typically need to hear them again in full to complete the circuit and satisfy the need of the catchiness.
Evie succumbed to Ezra's bad, gunky, coughing cold over the weekend that had made him stay home from camp. However, today she really couldn't stay away from camp because she was in charge of the gospel skit. She and Gabriel wrote and organized the The Three Circles skit to present the gospel to the students. Samuel and Ezra participated too by holding circles up. They did great. Though I wish the campers had listened better. I think we feel like that about most things at camp.
After our morning song and skit time, the groups were split into three. One group stayed in the auditorium and used the stage to practice their portion of the presentation for that afternoon - either a song or skit or both. The other classes went to the Music area to practice their song or skit. The third group went to Terry's station for game time. He busted out some more youth group games and cycled through them three times for each new group. He got tired of the repetitive nature of rotating groups, but it did work better than everyone doing game time together like last year (holy insanity!)
Here they're playing Elephant, Motorcycle, Cat, Cow, where the person in the middle commands others to perform the correct actions. If someone makes a mistake, they take the place of the person in the middle.
Samuel looks mega-chill back there, haha.
Ezra was finally back at camp after not being there for most of the previous week. Resting was probably good for him, but then he spent all day Monday managing the naughtiest kid there. He got pretty tired out. He is a director 100%. He literally steered the kid where he was supposed to go. He likes to control things.
Here are Evie and Anna directing the skit stage practice time. The three soldiers who threw the three friends into the fire had just died from how intense the fire was 😂
Balloon volleyball time! Classic. It never fails to entertain - I'd always get my finger hurt playing that game in youth group. Here's Samuel.
And Ezra.
Evie on stage again.
More stage practice, this time with Samuel up there also.
I had Terry take my photo to show how I operated as the camp nurse. I used my fanny pack to carry bandaids and antibiotic ointment with me wherever I went. It felt good to hang up the fanny pack once the camp was all done.
The parents all came by 2:00 pm and were very engaged with their kids' presentation. Many seemed to record the whole thing.
The kids were super squirrely all week, but when they got on stage for the final time, they all locked in and performed. They did really well.
Evie and the other leaders stood in the back to remind the kids of the actions to the songs.
Terry got silly with Nanson at the end.
We all hurried to clean everything up after the performance so we could leave. Terry had to unscrew 9-Square and then Samuel helped him carry it out to Nanson's car... along with everything else. Since we got finished cleaning so quickly we had to wait for the bus to take us all to the dinner venue.
Our celebration dinner was actually at a wedding reception venue. Once they got Hao's laptop connected he played the camp songs and most of the students sang and danced to them. I was surprised they weren't sick of them!
Terry handed out certificates to all the YoLPers.
Including our kids!
I think last year's dinner and vibe was more fun, but we still had a good time. The steamed dessert chocolate buns were heavenly.
On Tuesday July 14, we all slept way in until like 10 am. We were so tired. Evie felt pretty sick still. Terry still went to the church office to organize his stuff and then meet with his English student Justin. Between episodes of LOST that night, we finally walked three blocks down to the chocolate ice cream shop we've been eyeing... but they were out of ice cream! That's one funny thing about Taiwan - they often run out of stuff. That rarely happens in the States.
So we visited the next-door stationary store and then crossed the street to go to Family Mart.
We got peach ice cream cones there and then came home and watched another episode of LOST. LOST is peak relaxation time. We're on season five.
On Wednesday July 15th, Porky got stung by a wasp that had entered our laundry room through some vents that we can't seem to close. His little right lip was swollen for a couple of hours.
Evie felt a lot better and decided she wanted to make Nutella cupcakes, so that's what she did! She spent several hours on the whole thing.
In preparation for Noah's visit on August 1st, Terry has been researching taking the written and driver's test to get a Taiwan driver's license. He discovered that if he went to the correct office in Taipei, his international driver's permit could be registered for the remaining six months of our first year here. So he took the train into Taipei, met Mei, got registered, got lost, and came home. It was a big afternoon for him.
The cupcakes were delicious and useful for sharing with friends.
The boys bought these super cheap guns from the stationary store the night before and were obsessed with shooting stuff.
On Thursday July 16th, I met with Lillian for coffee while Terry met with Nanson. She's just great.
Noah sent us a happy photo with our favorite cat.
Terry had taken Justin to Starbucks on Tuesday so his mom, Amy, brought us boba when Justin came over that afternoon. She's so nice!
As soon as Justin and the boys were done playing Settlers (Terry won this time), we hopped into an Uber and joined Albert for dinner at The Diner. He wanted to take us out as a treat, and American food/cheeseburgers sounded really good. We had visited this Diner before with Mei when we'd only been in Taiwan a week. It's crazy it took us six months to go back. It's good enough that we really should go every couple months to get a fix.
After buying some Krispy Kreme donuts (another reason to visit), we took Albert home via the train to show him our apartment.
It was kind of a long walk for us, but we really wanted to show him our place. He helped us so much last summer when we were here for a month that it was like a full-circle moment to see us settled.
Friday July 17th was another chill resting day since the day before had been full. Porky has been naughty this week and meowing at 6 am. He woke us up early and Terry went out with him and fell back asleep. Terry did that several times this week and perhaps that's why he's been a little sick.
During Friday and Saturday afternoon Terry felt dizzy - we think because of the congestion his cold's been giving him. His cold isn't as bad as it was for Ezra and Evie, but with the early cat wake-up calls, he's been feeling ill. However, that didn't stop him from going to play basketball with the boys. He always thinks it'll help if he does something active when he's sick. I always think it'll make it worse.
Maybe all the sweating detoxed his body. I don't know. But Terry was able to meet some of the older guys the boys have been playing with, so that's good. I spent the afternoon writing a newsletter.
Saturday, July 18th, started by talking to Noah on the phone for a couple of hours. He'll be visiting us in just under two weeks, so we had some things to discuss.
Evie went to an outdoor second-hand flea market with Lydia and almost bought this for Samuel.
I did two workouts!
Terry felt dizzy again and played basketball again anyway. They got even more sweaty this day.
I walked over to say hi to the guys and saw this funny hat on a dog on my way home. People are so crazy about their pets here.
Learning basketball has been good for our boys. It's good for Samuel's mental health because it distracts him from worrying.
On Sunday, July 19th, we went to church, drank boba tea, played Axis and Allies, and I wrote this blog! We went on a family walk at dusk and it was lovely outside. We found a park and messed around.
They spun until their feet felt weird when they got off.
Samuel loves to swing on these things and he looks so silly while he does.
In front of the cool building my friend Claire from BSF lives in. Tomorrow we go to TMF (Taiwan Missionary Fellowship - a week-long conference)!
