Mondays are always busy as girls head back to school after what never seems to be a long enough weekend. Adam worked from home so we had lunch together and a quick trip to Carrefour for sporting goods to use for the Young Men. Our condo has a huge rec room down stairs with basket ball, golf, ping pong, pool table, work out room, even a children's play room and ball pit. There is also a huge lounge that we can show a movie in. Oh and a large conference room too. All very nice and not crowded. Which we love. Some of the other places our friends are staying in have similar things but you have to reserve them or there are a lot of rules and very crowded. The longer we live here the more we know we made the right choice for us. This was the place for us to live!
Another Typhoon hit again in the middle of the night. NO big deal but it did make it a bit cooler this morning which was so nice. The breeze when it is cool is such a welcome relief.
Lacie is struggling with school right now. She has never struggled in school especially in Math. She use to do geometry problems in sacrament meeting just for fun. Here the kids are so advanced and math is their thing! They all have tutors and are super fast and good at math. Lacie is feeling really stupid. The teacher is working one on one with her to build her confidence but it has been a real struggle to even get her to do her home work. She has totally turned her brain off. When they tested her she basically failed. It said she knew none of her addition, subtraction, multiple facts, or division facts. This I know is not true. I have no idea what is going on with her other then I think she is totally over whelmed and very thing is hitting her. She is missing Elsie terribly which doesn't help. We will get through this!
Tuesday brought Adam involved with an activity for the boys, so our regular scheduled Mandarin Class was cancelled. October is going to be a really bad month for class with Adam in the States the first two weeks. I have decided I just have to start using what I have learned. No one understands me now so it really won't matter if I don't say things right. Maybe I will be credit for trying. Mandarin is so hard! I have been praying for Heavenly Fathers help. It has been a really long time since I was in school and I wasn't very good at learning English. Emmie and Adam are doing much better then me. Lacie is loved it in school and doing better then us all.
Spent the day looking and ordering Emmie cloths/shorts on line. I didn't buy her really anything to come here. Things are very expensive here. Believe it or not Emmie is feeling big here. It is really bothering her. She has been wearing baggy things to dance because she feel big compared to the tiny, tooth pick, no muscle Asian girls. It has been really hard to watch and we have spent many a nights talking about it. I am hoping some new clothing will help her feel more mature and better about herself. She is still wearing a little girls 10-12 pants even though she is looking like a woman. Hard spot to be in, but I would trade in a heart beat! She is finally over 100lbs and by know means fat, but here everyone is tiny, tiny, tiny! It is time for her to have some things that look more like high school and not a little girl. Just didn't think about shopping for clothing on top of everything else I was getting to come. Adam is bring them back for her from the states.
Wednesday nights with Mutual and Dance practice have been a challenge for Emmie. Tonight she didn't get done with practice until 5:15 (it starts right after school) and had to be at Mutual at 5:30. Then she didn't get home until 8:00p.m. still had homework and shower and prepare for seminary. She gets to bed at 10p.m. if lucky and is up by 5:20a.m.. Mandarin classes are a stress for her too. Tuesdays and Thursdays we have class from 6-8p.m. That takes up all of the evening and leaves little time to get homework done. She is doing well with Mandarin. Much better then me. We had a good laugh on Thursday because she has been trying to use her new words. Every day at the school cafeteria she tells the lady ... bu hao (which she thought meant your welcome.) It really means..... NO GOOD! She has been telling the lady as she pays for her food. bu hao (NO GOOD) hee hee! :) We laughed and laughed. Silly girl! At least she is trying and really is doing really well. I suggested that maybe she just do one class a week. Emmie didn't want anything to do with that. She still prays each night for help and that she will be fluent when we leave. She is more determined then all us to learn.
Thursday was fun for me. I spent the morning at choir. Still struggling with the music. SO hard! Then after choir I went to IKEA and lunch with two new friends. Carrie Chiles who is Emmie's seminary teacher and lived here for 18 years and Dori Shinner who just moved here from Shang Hi but owns a home in Boise by Micron. She has a son Colton who is a Sophomore and is becoming a good friend of Emmie's. IKEA was a lot of fun. really enjoyed it. Even getting stuck going up and down in the elevator was fun with these gals. Not to mention Dori almost falling into a drain in the parking garage! This one was super low, smelly and tight spots. All kinds of scary stuff down there.
Friday brought Adam boarding a flight for Boise and me off to spend the day with my new girl friends, Belinda Beck, Colleen Gordon, and Dori cutting up and getting food ready for the opening ward social tomorrow night. When I got home I found that Adam had left his US phone here. Great another trip with no communications! Hoping Whatsap works but wont know for 11 hours still.
I did have a lot of fun preparing for the social with these great ladies. Lots of laughing over cutting onions and crying like babies and burning of the fingers with hot glue guns making decorations! I am grateful for friends. It helps me not miss everyone back home so much! It also helped pass the time waiting to hear Adam was safety on the ground in the states.
Had to get Lacie up early to be at school by 7:15a.m.. She had volunteered to help serve the teachers breakfast for teacher appreciation. It was set up very nice with students playing instruments for the teachers while they ate. Once again over the top and the students who played where incredible. You can tell they have been training for ALL of their lives. Very impressive and intimidating all in the same breath. Lacie was super excited to help. After all the years of tons of work for teacher appreciation in the states it was nice to just drop her off, take her photo and send in a few little gifts for teachers! NICE!
Emmie had "Field Day" here today. She called it the Academic Field Day. Emmie usually is very excited and loves Field Days. She was not excited about this one. They spent all day outside like most field days. The only catch is you had to answer history questions or do a math problem to be able to take your turn at something. Yep only at TAS! They also had to wear their class shirts. Emmie's is red with black writing. That way you could spot all the kids in your grade. Emmie said some of it was fun, but mostly hot and tiring!
Saturday Emmie had dance practice and then we spent the evening at Cayson Southam baptism and then the ward social. It really was a lot of fun. Emmie did a great job of teaching the ward to line dance. She had everyone out there laughing and dancing. She didn't seem a bit nervous. It was a very proud parent moment. She was easy to follow and very encouraging to everyone. She did a really good job of involving all the young women. She has spent the last 2 weeks making one up and teaching the other girls so they could help everyone learn it. It all went really well. My chili turned out really good.
Adam at Leavitts watching BSU football game. Just like old times. Just missing a few important people! Miss our home and friends when I see photos like this. :(
Happy Birthday wishes... to Hailey! Hope it was a super fun day for you! Knowing your mother, she made something kind of yummy birthday treat!
What I love about Taiwan.... Yummy Bread. All kinds! All good. Not good for my waist
line but so good. Emmie says that the teachers are her favorite thing this week. They are really nice and so helpful. The fruit here is amazing! So spoiled with the yummy fruit!
Wow! I even got this done on Sunday! Have a great week everyone!!!!
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