Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Homeward Bound
Well, I guess at this point even if I did want to stay longer (which I do) the Taiwanese government wouldn't be too happy about it. So to home I head. I couldn't have asked for anything more from this trip. I had a lot of fun, made a lot of new friends, and served even beyond what I set out intending to.
When I left the staff and councilors all gathered and gave me a giant card that they signed and put pictures all over as a going away present. They even surprised me with my favorite drink, a mango ice. It was really a nice send off, very bittersweet, and I will definitely miss everyone from camp.
Of course like most of my travels, my first flight out of Taipei is delayed, so hopefully I won't miss my connection in LA. If I'm going to be traveling home I would just assume get there, and surprising enough I haven't been craving any food from home, but now that I'm heading that way, I could really go for a Whataburger.
Well I guess that's all from Taiwan, I'll definitely be posting a bunch of pictures and put together some videos once I get home, but I'm done from the road.
Thank you anyone that has followed along for following and thank you for all the prayers along the way not only for me, but the rest of the group when they were here and the entire adventure as a whole. Thank You.
When I left the staff and councilors all gathered and gave me a giant card that they signed and put pictures all over as a going away present. They even surprised me with my favorite drink, a mango ice. It was really a nice send off, very bittersweet, and I will definitely miss everyone from camp.
Of course like most of my travels, my first flight out of Taipei is delayed, so hopefully I won't miss my connection in LA. If I'm going to be traveling home I would just assume get there, and surprising enough I haven't been craving any food from home, but now that I'm heading that way, I could really go for a Whataburger.
Well I guess that's all from Taiwan, I'll definitely be posting a bunch of pictures and put together some videos once I get home, but I'm done from the road.
Thank you anyone that has followed along for following and thank you for all the prayers along the way not only for me, but the rest of the group when they were here and the entire adventure as a whole. Thank You.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Some New Pictures
Well, camp started today and we've got another great group of kids. I'm really pretty sad that I have to come home before the end of the camp, because the kids are great, but they just get better and better as camp goes on and they get more comfortable.
It pretty much rained all day today, but it didn't hamper all the first day activities since most of them happen inside. Rain tomorrow won't matter much either since it's water war day and we'll all end up soaking wet anyway.
Alright, I made another small set of pictures on my flickr account. You can see them by clicking the following link.
Flickr Set #2
It pretty much rained all day today, but it didn't hamper all the first day activities since most of them happen inside. Rain tomorrow won't matter much either since it's water war day and we'll all end up soaking wet anyway.
Alright, I made another small set of pictures on my flickr account. You can see them by clicking the following link.
Flickr Set #2
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Back at Camp For the Last Time
Sorry about not getting any posts, pictures or videos up this weekend, but I was very busy living the Taiwanese lifestyle.
On Friday, Vision and I went to the orphanage that his parents run and met some of the girls and I got a quick tour. It was a really neat place. They house teens, and up until this point it has been mostly girls, they are currently preparing some housing for boys as well. After this we rode his scooter to the beach and took in the scenery to finish out the morning. After grabbing a quick lunch back at the orphanage, we met some of his friends at another beach for some swimming, diving and snorkeling. It was a lot of fun and really nice to get wet after all the hot and sweaty days I've had here. After swimming away most of the afternoon, we met his mom and went to a spa type place were we had an entire bowling alley to ourselves, and played pool.
Saturday, we slept in late, and that's the first time I've done that in a long time. Once we were up, we headed to Vision's church were we played games and watched a movie with the teen/college fellowship. Luckily it was in English so I had a better viewing experience than anyone there. After the get together, Vision, Ruby(another councilor at the camp) and I headed out to the Keelung night market for dinner and people watching. It was really nice going with some locals so they introduced me to all kinds of popular local cuisine.
Today we went back to the church for the sunday service and the traditional after church lunch. We didn't do a whole lot else today, because after church and lunch we rested a little bit before we picked up Ruby and headed back here to camp.
We learned out new songs and dances and got our parts for the drama this week. I must have done ok last week because this week they gave me more parts, and would have made me Jesus if I wasn't going to miss the last part. Well off to bed for me, I have to get rested for the last week of camp where I'm sure I won't sleep much as I get homework done for when I get back and try to take in everything possible before I have to head home.
On Friday, Vision and I went to the orphanage that his parents run and met some of the girls and I got a quick tour. It was a really neat place. They house teens, and up until this point it has been mostly girls, they are currently preparing some housing for boys as well. After this we rode his scooter to the beach and took in the scenery to finish out the morning. After grabbing a quick lunch back at the orphanage, we met some of his friends at another beach for some swimming, diving and snorkeling. It was a lot of fun and really nice to get wet after all the hot and sweaty days I've had here. After swimming away most of the afternoon, we met his mom and went to a spa type place were we had an entire bowling alley to ourselves, and played pool.
Saturday, we slept in late, and that's the first time I've done that in a long time. Once we were up, we headed to Vision's church were we played games and watched a movie with the teen/college fellowship. Luckily it was in English so I had a better viewing experience than anyone there. After the get together, Vision, Ruby(another councilor at the camp) and I headed out to the Keelung night market for dinner and people watching. It was really nice going with some locals so they introduced me to all kinds of popular local cuisine.
Today we went back to the church for the sunday service and the traditional after church lunch. We didn't do a whole lot else today, because after church and lunch we rested a little bit before we picked up Ruby and headed back here to camp.
We learned out new songs and dances and got our parts for the drama this week. I must have done ok last week because this week they gave me more parts, and would have made me Jesus if I wasn't going to miss the last part. Well off to bed for me, I have to get rested for the last week of camp where I'm sure I won't sleep much as I get homework done for when I get back and try to take in everything possible before I have to head home.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Real Taiwanese Experience
Well I guess I'm really seeing and living the Taiwan Life now. I'm staying with Vision's (one of the camp councilors) family in the town of Keelong for the weekend.
Example #1 of how Taiwan life is different, instead of petting a dog, I got to pet a puffer fish(video of this to come soon). It was like playing with a balloon that is breathing in your hands. We also had a "snack" at 11:30 at night which was essentially a full meal.
Vision's family runs an orphanage just down the street from their house, and we are planning on going to play with the kids tomorrow We might also make a trip to the coast since it is so close, or go to the lake and go swimming. This will definitely be an interesting cultural experience over the course of a weekend.
Oh yeah, this week was another great week at camp. Instead of being a foreigner helping the team at camp, it really feels like I'm just a part of the team here now, and it's really a blast. Like I mentioned before I even got speaking parts in the play that goes on over the course of the week. I think I did fairly well, and I know the councilors have a fun time teasing the way I say things, but it's all fun and entertaining. Besides teaching and running sports like I have all along, I also spent a large chunk of time filming the other activities that were going on. The camp pretty much films everything that goes on and takes tons of pictures for a camp video and promotional videos later, so this week I helped with the documentation. They also like to have a video ready for the kids to take home with them at the end of camp if possible. Well this week there wasn't anyone set for making the video so I took on that task as well and had the pleasure of sifting through about 75 gigabytes of video for a 5 minute video. So lets just say the video got done, but I grabbed a total of 30 minutes of sleep that I grabbed while the computer was processing some video. Sleep is calling me so I'll try and get some pictures and/or video up whenever I get a chance.
Example #1 of how Taiwan life is different, instead of petting a dog, I got to pet a puffer fish(video of this to come soon). It was like playing with a balloon that is breathing in your hands. We also had a "snack" at 11:30 at night which was essentially a full meal.
Vision's family runs an orphanage just down the street from their house, and we are planning on going to play with the kids tomorrow We might also make a trip to the coast since it is so close, or go to the lake and go swimming. This will definitely be an interesting cultural experience over the course of a weekend.
Oh yeah, this week was another great week at camp. Instead of being a foreigner helping the team at camp, it really feels like I'm just a part of the team here now, and it's really a blast. Like I mentioned before I even got speaking parts in the play that goes on over the course of the week. I think I did fairly well, and I know the councilors have a fun time teasing the way I say things, but it's all fun and entertaining. Besides teaching and running sports like I have all along, I also spent a large chunk of time filming the other activities that were going on. The camp pretty much films everything that goes on and takes tons of pictures for a camp video and promotional videos later, so this week I helped with the documentation. They also like to have a video ready for the kids to take home with them at the end of camp if possible. Well this week there wasn't anyone set for making the video so I took on that task as well and had the pleasure of sifting through about 75 gigabytes of video for a 5 minute video. So lets just say the video got done, but I grabbed a total of 30 minutes of sleep that I grabbed while the computer was processing some video. Sleep is calling me so I'll try and get some pictures and/or video up whenever I get a chance.
Another Camp Gone By
So I had every intention of trying to post more during this camp, but as seems to be the case, it just flew by in a blink. It was a great week, and the kids were even better than the last. It seems like every new group comes in more and more ready to talk and have fun.
This weekend I'm heading home with one of the councilors that lives in the far north of island. It should be a lot of fun. I'm being pushed out the door now, so I'll make sure to come back and fill in the week and weekend plans, and maybe try and get up some more pictures or video. I will say this, there has been major talks of expanding my role in the skits next week after my stellar performance this week!
This weekend I'm heading home with one of the councilors that lives in the far north of island. It should be a lot of fun. I'm being pushed out the door now, so I'll make sure to come back and fill in the week and weekend plans, and maybe try and get up some more pictures or video. I will say this, there has been major talks of expanding my role in the skits next week after my stellar performance this week!
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