On Monday, August 31st, Evie accompanied Terry and I to the Morrison gym where we did a FASTer Way total body workout. It kicked our butts. Evie was sore all week.
At home, Samuel commenced school after a counseling appointment with Eunice.
Ezra also did school. I gave him a hard time (for the zillionth time) about how he needs to make his bed. Meanwhile, Evie and Noah had coordinated to watch an Airbender movie together.
That afternoon, Terry went to the park with Ken to do some evangelism, but since it was so hot and empty, they mostly talked about ideas for how Terry could get out there - starting an English class and where they could do it, etc.
While Terry was gone, and in preparation for his upcoming Thursday birthday, I sent Evie to the school while I went to a clothing store. Evie's mission was to buy a Morrison hat or jacket as a gift for Terry, something he had expressed an interest in. I went to NET to find some nicer dress shirts to make him look less like a youth pastor and a little more professional, because the people here dress that way. Evie found this Morrison newspaper that one of the boys wrote about their April track meet to the Philippines! When Evie had secured a jacket, she scooted to the store, where we reconnected and came home at the same time to disguise our shopping quest. Terry had no idea. Mwahahaha!
After school that day, Samuel ran a timed 5k to see if he would qualify for the weekend's cross country meet...that ended up getting rained out. But he ran well and was going to go.
On Tuesday, September 1st, Evie got up early and ran with Anna while Terry and I biked to Morrison for a tabata workout. We saw Joe going into the international school behind us for his second day of teaching there.
We did sprints home and I almost died. We only sprinted for 20 seconds and then walked 40 seconds for a mile-ish so it's not that bad. However, I was running with my awkward backpack and it was slightly uphill (and always hot here). I got slower and slower til it was kind of embarrassing.
That day was supposed to be Ezra's first soccer practice and thankfully, his shin guards we had ordered from Shopee arrived just in time! Of course, he forgot the shin guards (thankfully recovered the next day) and practice was cancelled due to heavy rain, but it was promising all the same.
Back at home, Noah had a good night meeting with his bible study at Canyon Lake. So familiar.
Ezra has always been highly distractable while doing school... Here he was chasing the cat down under his bed. He got so far inside that Samuel had to pull him out.
Ezra again distracted, though it was after school, so it was fine. I keep remarking how Porky is like the little brother Ezra never had. Porky misses Ezra's shenanigans when he's gone. He's still a kitten so he appreciates the playfulness, mostly.
Taking a break in the Axis box.
Evie had made up her mind last week she wanted to cook a dinner completely independently. But last week she needed help for tofu quiche, so this week she tried again with biscuits and gravy. She was really busy this week getting Terry's gift ready, so she shouldn't have pressured herself, but she did it. She even went shopping all by herself! I did take the tasty biscuits out of the oven while she was at the store.
B/c it rained heavily all day, Terry drove Evie to the store and dropped her off, dropped the boys off at the school, and picked Evie up again. I tried to capture the rain but all you can really see is general misty darkness.
Ezra's first soccer practice was cancelled, so he biked home in the rain. He was soaked, though it's kinda hard to tell here.
Samuel also biked home, but it was less wet for him.
Delicious biscuits and gravy instead of pizza that night. Good job Evie!
Evie was worn out but had already told Terry (who told all his EC Talk friends) that she would come to English conversation night with him. They left early by bus to try to go back to the store and return some swim shorts, but they ran out of time. Bussing there takes too long.
Evie was tired, but they had a good evening with the English students. It's the highlight of Terry's week.
Heading home by train. We had a late and difficult night with Samuel after they got home, so we were all slow the next morning. Samuel had really been struggling with anxiety this day and the day before.
Worm seen b/c of the heavy rain.
On Wednesday September 2nd, Noah send us some happy studying cat pictures.
We're all slightly shocked at how much skinnier Trouncer is! We told Noah to feed him more wet food. Hopefully nothing is actually wrong w him.
That morning Terry and I talked to Becky.
B/c we had such a late night, we missed our Morrison window and had to work out in the 85 degree apartment gym. Better than nothing.
We saw Evie on our way out. She's being a dinosaur (earrings, shirt, pins). She was on her way to hang out with Eleanor.
They went to the mall and had shaved ice.
Then they wandered around taking funny pictures.
Asian culture is so cutesy - the hearts and the posing.
Terry saw them on his way home from En Cafe, where he had talked to Rex and Theresa. They discussed Terry's folks coming in October and what we could do with them, amongst other topics. That night Terry did buy the plane tickets for his parents!
Thursday, September 3rd, was Terry's 48th birthday! After our upper body workout with Evie, we called Noah and talked. Evie said Terry could pick her earrings for the day.
He chose donuts. I also let him choose my outfit for the day b/c that sounded fun. He actually hates making decisions and prefers to just do what everyone else does, but that day he made up his mind to make decisions - he usually has no idea what he wants for his birthday, so he tried to be ready for our questions.
Family photo with phone Noah before hanging up. I actually had my first BSF via Zoom that morning - it was super quick so I didn't miss out on much.
Terry choose this yellow dress for me to wear. It's a favorite of his. That afternoon we went to a coffee shop for a quick hour.
It's directly across from the park from us and is called Swell Coffee Co. We visited it last week too. We love this place. I was sitting there watching it rain (again) but smiling b/c I felt so content and happy.
We had to share an umbrella walking home b/c Terry forgot his.
Terry drove the boys to their practices. It had been raining almost nonstop for two days, so they didn't cancel this time. They worked out inside and Terry worked on a newsletter at the school. Meanwhile Evie was feverishly working to finish Terry's gift.
She made him a Terry comic. She had started it and given it to him at Christmas with the promise that she would finish it. She was very impressive. It was also 15 pages. So much work for her!
Terry chose pizza for his dinner, so that is what I made. He also chose to watch Clarkson's Farm for his "movie" choice.
Porky puts up with way more from Ezra than anyone else. Brotherly love...or fear.
I also made Terry a cake that we presented after the show. He turned 48!
Evie wrapped everything while we were at the coffee shop. He was shocked at the number of packages, but she just put everything in it's own bag. Terry's folks called to wish him a happy birthday halfway through opening, so they got to watch too.
He's tried on so many hats and they've always looked terrible, so how is it that the one I picked out on my own without him looks good? He likes it.
He loved Evie's comic too!
We sat down on the couch and read the whole thing. It was very funny and sweet. Also vry reminiscent of Terry, since he had made me a "Spiderwoman" comic book when we were dating.
Terry turned into a goat, I got kidnapped by a giant cat, and he rescued me. So funny. Here's a scanned copy to read.
We all laughed at Porky b/c he actually fit himself into this tiny box that Ezra made.
On Friday, September 4th, it was still raining.
We drove to and from Morrison for leg day and were back with enough time for me to have coffee with Lillian.
We met at the coffee shop in our building, The Daily Collector. I got to hear all about how she met and married her Taiwanese husband, Ken.
Back upstairs, I helped Samuel with a biology science experiment using a needle to show water's meniscus.
Terry recorded another Taiwan Tales with Terry for our newsletter. Look for it there! It was still raining but he managed to record on our balcony.
Ezra made Porky a matching helmet to last week's battle armor.
That's Porky trying to get the armor off.
We dropped Samuel off at school for his last class of the week due to said deluge, drove to NET to exchange a shirt, grab some groceries, and then picked Samuel up again. We were feeling particularly zonked and stressed after all that driving. It really is lovely not driving most of the time. Who knew that would make life better? It does.
Terry didn't get this shirt b/c it was a little small and the XL was too big - Asian sizing. But we did find a couple nice and light polo shirts.
Back in the van!
Terry's original choice for his birthday was teriyaki burgers, so I made them the night after. I have never seen ground turkey or teriyaki sauce, but I made it work with hamburger and ground pork, and I made my own teriyaki sauce. They were great!
Saturday, September 5th, was very chill. We did practically nothing. I went to the baking store and found the closest thing to our US brown sugar to make cookies. They have brown sugar here but it's very different. This stuff had the same consistency and the cookies turned out way better!
I worked on the newsletter that afternoon, Terry went to En Cafe and the mall, and the boys played games, before I was drawn outside b/c of the beautiful light. It was golden hour and everyone was out.
I walked around the park and then went up to the roof. Evie was gone for the day - she had played tennis with a small group from Morrison and then went to a back-to-school homeschool girl's party where they watched Bride and Prejudice. It's a Bollywood version and now I need to see it.
Somebody had a bunch of plants and trees up on our roof.
There's our park, Rotary Park, and the tall gray building on the edge next to the blue construction building is where Swell is.
Meanwhile, the girls had fun eating, chatting, dancing, and watching the movie.
Evie taught them Thriller. She said they were slightly disturbed by it.
On Sunday, September 6th, I slept way in. It's been so dark b/c of the rain. It was raining again, so we drove to church. New experience unlocked as we parked in the building's underground garage successfully. We would've been half soaked if we'd walked.
Terry gave the boys some money and they ordered their own favorite fried chicken for lunch. Porky begged, and was rewarded with some chicken. Why not? He's stuck in this apartment all day everyday even though he wants to go into the hallway by the elevator.
Then the kids all played duck game until Evie's friends came over to be trained for evangelizing in the mall. Wow, I just included Terry in "the kids." He's taking Noah's place in the game.
Meanwhile, Noah had just returned from a full day of work and dinner w my folks.
Evie, Anna, and Lydia had decided at TMF in July that they wanted to go out and try to have spiritual conversations. They rescheduled many times but finally got around to doing it. The girls came over beforehand to discuss training and strategy. Terry gave them some pointers.
Anna took some handy dandy notes.
They did it! Each group had at least one successful conversation. So proud.
Sushiro afterwards. It was Evie's first time. Your sushi arrives via conveyor belt.
Inhaling the shaved ice b/c it was like snow.
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