Monday, August 24th began our second full week of working out at Morrison every day. Evie came with us. This is my favorite section of the bike ride over there b/c of the sound the paving stones make as we go over them. Plus the trees. At home the boys had started school...but I forgot to take first day of school pictures. They only started with math in order to take it slow. Every day they added in one more subject.
After we got cleaned up, we hurried over to Taoyuan to resupply on groceries. I had used up all my Costco groceries since Noah's visit. But it was the first time that we drove ourselves instead of going with friends or hiring an Uber. New level unlocked!
Before we made it to CostCo, we stopped at a baking store. This is the same place where I bought my oven. They also carry a lot of foreign foods. I was hoping to find cornmeal like on my first visit but I did not. That's one thing that's different from America where it's unusual for stores to simply be out of something. Here it's pretty common to not be able to find something. Yesterday there were no potatoes in the store!
That evening we were planning on going out to a special dinner with the church staff, but it got cancelled while Terry was at staff meeting. So I had to pull dinner together. Evie suggested beef sandwiches so I pulled up Mel's Kitchen Cafe (my go-to) for the win. I made her roasted garlic beef sandwiches and they were incredible. I had never roasted garlic before - it was like bananas after I mashed it.
I made homemade rolls too! Plus coleslaw. We ate late but it was worth it.
On Tuesday, August 25, we woke up to happy pictures from Noah's first day of classes at The School of Mines and Technology. It's his second year in Computer Engineering and he has 17 credits. Pray for him!
Noah also went to the welcome for the freshman where they all had to dance, which he did not enjoy last year. He was gratified to be able to watch the poor suckers this year.
The boys started homeschool that day and the day before. Here is Ezra watching his Pre-Algebra Math-U-See video.
Terry and I did a FASTer Way HIIT workout in our bedroom, but it's hard for me to go all out on the tile floor. So I ran a mile of sprints in the park behind us. I found this flower on my way in.
Red face + flower
After Terry got cleaned up, he took the train to Taipei to spend the day there. He had a brunch meeting with an EC talk friend. This is his brown sugar milk tea that came with his meal.😍
We called Noah to hear about his first day. He was very chipper and happy. He'd had a good day and talked with several people.
Ezra decided to make "battle armor" for poor Porky. Noah was still on the phone and he thought it was hilarious. I think Porky secretly likes the attention. He and Ezra are like brothers. Porky likes to play with him.
We were telling Noah, "You can do it!" or "Jiayou!" in Chinese. It's a fun word. It means "add gas or oil," like pedal-to-the-metal, or go for it, or let's go.
That afternoon, our phones went off with alarms for an earthquake in the south that we did not feel.
Next, Terry met with the first friend we met at TMF in 2024 on our vision trip. Even before we talked to our now boss, Peter Wong, we met this man, Peter Kim. There's so many missionaries named Peter, haha.
Terry then took another train to a neighborhood, in order to visit a store where I was hoping he could find soccer cleats for Ezra. It's so hard to find things here...at least for us. This place, Decathlon, is the closest thing to a Scheels, but there were no soccer things. He did get some swim shorts, goggles, and swim caps for Samuel. You have to wear swim caps in all public pools here! It's insane.
Meanwhile, I had arranged at the last minute to host Evie's friend Moriah and her family. We'd been wanting to get together and sometimes spur of the moment works best for me. This family is incredible. They're very godly, and just the sweetest. They really are.
Wednesday, August 26, was total body lifting. Ezra took some silly Porky photos at lunch.
Terry had ChatGPT make it into a jedi. 😆 Evie went to Cedar Tree to visit Anna and the kids.
It had been a long time since Terry and I had a coffee date, so we fixed that.
I had forgotten about this cute shop called Swell Co. Cafe. It's got a California beachy vibe, complete with a golden retriever. It was fun to pet him. He was very friendly.
Their mochas are delicious. Drinks are smaller here. Also less sweet. But I'm getting used to less sugar! Whenever we go back home our tongues are gonna pucker at all the sugar.
Ezra was totally not sleeping when we got home. He had returned from his class and was bored. He and Porky together.
That night we had the rescheduled staff dinner appreciation night for Joe, who was stepping down as an intern. Evie enjoyed holding Arabelle. She looks like a doll!
It was a good time. I ordered a whole chicken so at least one dish could have some meat (everyone choose something) and we laughed about how in American they cut the chickens heads off. So strange in Asian culture.
For Thursday, August 27th's upper body workout, Evie came with us.
At home I had the final piece of milled bread that Noah brought. He brought us four loaves and they were gone way too quickly. I'm making white flour sourdough again. It just doesn't make us as happy or fill us up.
Nom nom nom. I really do miss my flour mill. The freshly milled bread made me feel like I was filling in the empty corners of nutrition in my body.
Then Noah texted us the news that his car wouldn't start after classes! He called his roommate, Tim, who was thankfully home and who jump-started it. Grampa B. drove into town and they deduced that his battery was dead and got him a new one. Thankful for everyone's help since Terry isn't there to do the dad thing.
That week, Evie decided she wanted to cook for us all by herself...however, she chose too difficult of a recipe and I had to help her. She wanted to make quiche, which usually has eggs in it. But Samuel and I can no longer eat eggs. So we recreated a recipe I had made up - tofu quiche! We just swap tofu for the eggs and it works amazingly. We even found swiss cheese, which is hard to do. It was delicious.
Ezra is always putting Porky in these weird positions that holds for a while. Porky is becoming more laid back, little by little. He still doesn't like being held, though.
We had extra pie crust, so Evie whipped up another Mel recipe, chocolate chess pie, plus homemade whipped cream.
On Friday, August 28th, we woke up to more happy pictures from Noah. It was the first night for campus clubs, so Noah helped represent the Moonrockers club that he is a treasurer for this year (!). Then he had his first night of Intervarsity and he did a good job at being social (hard for me and him as introverts).
After our leg day workout, Terry and Nanson took the van to Nanson's mechanic. All the dash alarm lights had come on during our drive home from the restaurant the night before. Terry was worried it was an alternator, but the mechanic said it was the O2 sensor. He just reset it and we'll see how it goes. He also replaced the battery and changed the oil.
Samuel was signed up in time and was selected to go on a Morrison faith weekend retreat at the Taichung campus next weekend. The chaplain selected the wrong paper size for the permission form and we thought it was hilarious.
Ezra and I went to Mitsui, the outlet mall, to shop for soccer cleats. I was told there probably wasn't any there but we found some at the Asics store, the same place we got new running shoes for Evie. Meanwhile, Terry and Evie went to Cedar Tree for the final presentation of the month-long English camp. They stayed for a discussion afterwards. That evening Samuel and Ezra went to Morrison for their youth group, R.G., Righteous Generation.
Saturday, August 29, was very chill...apart from Samuel's early swim practice. When we got home we had sourdough pancakes, we watched The Price is Right, and we called Noah. We watched the final Wingfeather episode together. It's bittersweet b/c it was one of the things we started doing with him not too long after we moved into our apartment.
Also me in Trouncer/Porky's hat.
The guys all played Risk and then Samuel had a long nap. Evie went out with her friend S. I made pizza dough. We watched the second Hunger Games movie that night. That afternoon our neighbor Amy gave us mooncakes and we talked about how Justin was doing in America at college and their trip through the US. It was nice talking to her.
Sunday, August 30, was a tough day for me. There was church, followed by an English camp reunion. Terry arranged the whole thing, taught a short lesson, and played some games.
Here the crew is bringing back the nine-square supplies. While Terry was teaching, they had set it up in the park and then brought the 9-11 kids over to play. It worked out really great. We were super annoyed at some residents where the church is located because they told the landlord they didn't want nine-square set up behind the building, even though it was only for a half hour. Bunch of old Karens.
Everyone was pretty tired afterwards. Terry and Evie also visited an open house for Cedar Tree afterwards. Big day. Ezra and his favorite brother Porky chilled for a bit.
For Noah's Saturday, he worked at Bass Pro and then came home and made himself some delicious pizza!
He watched Young David.
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