Critters at Jhongpu

Yes, this butterfly was alive! I flittered off right after I manged to capture this picture.

A caterpillar...

Okay, so this was bigger than the spider I posted about a couple months ago! It was really huge, but the picture doesn't really do it justice... you can sort of see its web, though.

These garbage cans are not exactly "critters", but I though that they were cute.

Jhongpu

On Saturday I went to a really neat outdoor area with the family of the three daughters pictured above. We had a fun day doing various things....


...feeding rabbits,

...eating majan (rice and etc. wrapped in bamboo leaves and cooked),

...and playing violin!

On the Farm...

Today I went to the family farm of my friends who I went mountain climbing with yesterday. Elizabeth & Sarah Dodd (missionary children) joined us. We had fun!! Here are the kids in the back of a pickup (not illegal here).

Chickens look the same, I think...

...but cooking them is a little different! I was amused to see the head & the feet get gobbled up first. I enjoyed some good white meat, tenderly smoked in the smoker below.

Then we enjoyed "special Taiwan potato". It isn't taro, but the color is bright purple like taro. They cooked these in the smoker as well, and the we just peeled and ate them like a snack. They taste a little bit like sweet potato.

Dulishan

"Dragon Whiskers"

The making of one of my favorite dishes: "Dragon Whiskers" (a.k.a. pumpkin leaves & tendrils, but don't you love the translation of the Chinese name?).

1. Wash the leaves & tendrils. Change the water three times.

2. Sautee A LOT of chopped ginger in a little oil. Add pork if desired.


3. Add greens. Add salt. Add water periodically for steam. They are ready in about 2 minutes.

4. Put on plate and serve! YUMMY!

Shiao Pengyo...

Today I went to Dulishan (a mountain) with the a family I have gotten to know both through school and church. Another family joined them and we had a lovely and lively time together!

Here I am with Betty the clown. At the time of this picture taking I felt like I was literally dripping - it was SO hot and humid today and I had just gone up what seemed like a gazillion stairs. This is about 1/3 of the way up and already the view was making it worth it. =)

This is Betty's little sister, Lillian. She is the sweetest little lady! About 1/2 way up the mountain there was a little ice-cream stand set up. We all really enjoyed it (especially me, who hadn't had mint chocolate chip for almost a year). Note the bang trim Lillian gave herself... it's growing out now. Little girls aren't that much different here in Taiwan from some other little girls I know...

The other family who joined us has 7-year-old triplet boys and boy (oh boy, oh boy) do they ever have a lot of energy. Here I am "resting" with the three boys, Betty and the triplet's mother. I hardly saw them because they were so far ahead of everyone most of the time.

Oh, and if you were wondering, "Shiao Pengyo" means small friend(s).
"Ta men shi wo de shiao pengyo." (They are my small friends.)

Ni yao shi wo de pengyo ma? (Do you want to be my friend?)
Yo, shie shie ni. (Yes, thank you)
Hao! (Good!)
Ni shihwan zuo shi shen ma? (What do you like to do?)
Wo shihwan chu papashan. (I like to go climb mountains.) Ni de? (And you?)
Wo shihwan shi wan! (I like to wash dishes!)
Jen de ma? (Really?)
Jen de. (Really.)

Okay, I'll stop now. =) I REALLY enjoy Chinese study and now know all the letters of the Chinese phonetic alphabet. Whoo hoo! Now for memorizing characters....

School lunches

I have meant to take a picture of this for a while...
School lunches are generally very good, always with rice and a variety of other dishes. Each classroom has a cart containing their lunch wheeled into their room and the students serve their classmates. These are a few of my first-grade students all decked out and ready to help! Cindy and Amy are in the top picture and my super-funny character Ruby is below. Note the little mangoes next to her... they're really yummy!

Trip to Taichung

Today I travelled up to Nantou County with some of my students' families. The day started off at 7:15 as we loaded a tour bus rented for the occasion. There was some discussion as to which student I would sit next to on the trip, but things peacefully settled with a 2nd-Grader, Mei, next to me, and a 4th-Grader, Julia, right behind me. They made sure that I didn't go hungry for the 2 hour bus ride to near Taichung. =)

Our first stop was a Taiwanese Cultural and Historical Museum. Here I am in front of it (of course, I couldn't take pictures inside and it was VERY interesting). Probably the most interesting for me was seeing a pair of tiny shoes - not longer than 3 inches - that used to be worn by women when foot-binding was still practiced. Gladly, it is not longer a custom, but there are still some old women who remember those days.



Our next stop was a circus!! I haven't been to a circus before and rather enjoyed this performance of amazing acrobatics. I wasn't sure if I could take pictures or not, but because no one else was I decided to turn off my flash in case I wasn't supposed to. Because I didn't have my flash on my pictures didn't turn out. Oh well. It was pretty cool. Below is one of my favorite fourth-graders, Julia.



After a good lunch of various things (I'm not sure what all of them were) we traveled to a "famous" bike trail. The picture below is of one of the families (the girl in the back is another fun fourth-grader of mine). As you can see, it was raining so we were all decked out in yellow ponchos! We rented bikes and had a lovely time biking the trails, in spite of the rain.

As we biked, I spied a mulberry bush. I hadn't seen one before and thought I'd take a picture in case you hadn't either. Mulberries are in season right now are are quite delicious!

After biking, we loaded back into the bus and headed home. My host family invited me to their home for a yummy dinner of dumplings and egg-drop soup. They shared that they were Believers of a year, and so we had a good time sharing together what God has done. What a perfect way to end Good Friday! God truly has done much for me and you and I am forever grateful!

Love,
Christy

Highlights from Tainan

Here are Genessa and I at the Ray of Hope banquet.

The most exciting part of the weekend happened on Saturday when I had the neat opportunity of see the Lord draw the hearts of two young ladies to Himself! We went to an "English conversation" class where the Easter story was presented and then we broke into small groups for discussion. The two Taiwanese gals in the picture below had many questions and we talked for nearly two hours. I was blessed that both of them indicated their desire to become Christians when given the opportunity. God's ways are wonderful!!


The children below also prayed to receive Christ as their Saviour.

Also on Saturday we went shopping around Tainan. We found a little Chinese Efu (clothing) shop down a little alley-way and after admiring (and purchasing) some clothing, we were delighted to discover that the owner and his sister were Christians. Here I am, below, in one of the tops I bought.

New food!

Last weekend I went to Tainan to visit the Ardron's and their granddaughter Genessa. We had a wonderful time together! I am so grateful for their hospitality. On Friday night was a fundraising banquet for Ray of Hope, the ministry that the Ardron's helped start many years ago. This was quite a banquet, with many, many courses of new and delicious food. I took a picture of the carrot-bird and fruit (see below) because they were especially creative. The new food that I ate included ostrich and bananas deep-fried with shrimp. The best part of the meal was a coconut soup with tapioca balls served for dessert. The best part of the evening was hearing about lives changed as God has worked through this ministry. He is good! =)