Ward Party

We decided to attend a local church congregation (versus the English-speaking international ward) this year while we are in Taipei.  We have felt so welcomed, and they have already put us to work as teachers.  Today was a holiday (Mid-Autumn Festival), and the bishop had mentioned that he and some of the other leaders wanted to come by and bring us lunch, so we'd have a chance to get to know each other.  We thought this would be great, especially as we have a hard time remembering Chinese names.  Turns out that 40 people came, including a lot of kids, so we had a full house.  They brought all the food and did all the clean-up.  They even brought name tags, and we took pictures of everyone to quiz ourselves.  What a fun welcome to the ward!  Turns out that I had actually met three of the women 15 years ago when I was in Taiwan.  They remembered me, but it took me a while to place them.  However, I pulled out my pictures from way back then, and there they were!

pomelo hat and moon cakes

The fruit of the season is pomelo (like a grapefruit with a very thick skin). Apparently, the Taiwan tradition is that at mid-Autumn festival, kids wear the peels as hats. We had to try it out...

The other food associated with mid-Autumn festival is moon cakes.  I get the feeling they are like fruitcakes at Christmas.  They are more about form than function (it's all about how pretty they are and the pretty box they come in).  They also like to be re-gifted.  I'm guessing only a few people out there actually like to eat them—my  mom (fruitcakes, that is) and as we discovered last night--Paul (moon cakes, that is).  You can see the different kids' reactions as we tried the moon cakes a sister at church re-gifted us (she told me as much).  These have red bean paste and a cooked egg yolk in the middle.

Sylvie wants to know why she can't have one of Grandma's chocolate chip cookies instead. Claire ate the bean paste part and tossed the yolk.  Paul gobbled the whole dry pasty thing down.  Joel's ended up in bits all over the place.

White Sand Bay

Some colleagues recommended this beach which is about an hour from our house.  We went on what turned out to be the perfect day.  Not only was the weather great and the beach full of conveniences like tents for shade and hot showers after, but because it was the Saturday before the holiday, most people were working to make up a day, so it wasn't crowded.  Our kids LOVED it.  Claire even managed to make friends with someone with a net and brought home two tiny fish (that died the next day).  Jonathan got to try out his thrift-store-purchased skim board (not as easy as he remembered), but the kids had fun getting rides on it.

Cake Museum

We got to go on a field trip this week to a "cake museum" where we made our own moon cakes and learned about the history of a famous pastry company in Taipei. They are one of the leading sellers of wedding boxes and other special occasion treats. They taught us about different traditions associated with important occasions, including this tradition of marrying off rich daughters who for some reason weren't already "arranged for" (maybe too ugly or other problems). The veiled girl tosses a fabric ball into the crowd of potential husbands, and then whoever catches it unveils her to see what fortune brought him.  Somehow we were chosen for this reenactment. 

Joel's naughtiness

Our youngest is no longer an innocent baby. I discovered him like this after a "nap."  He had climbed out of his crib (a first) and pulled every single item out of the dresser, most of which he somehow got into his crib.  He then repeated this trick for his babysitter three more times this week.

Settled

Homemade bread means we're settled. All kitchen appliances made it, our 12 bags of wheat are sealed in their buckets.  The musty sheets and towels that were in storage for a year are washed and put away.  Toys and books, clothes and dishes--it's all here.  The last step is pictures on the walls, and that is scheduled for next week. (We are spoiled that they do it for us.)  We even have our wheels already--we're set up!

Outing with Grandma & Grandpa

We were sad to say goodbye to Grandpa Tom and Grandma Karin, but a cross-Pacific flight probably sounded like a relief to them after being at our house for five weeks.  Even the night before they left, they watched the kids to let us get in a date to a famous dumpling house and the temple. They also took the boys on a big outing the day our last shipment arrived. It seemed the boys got a taste of Taipei--lunch at the 101, donuts on the go, and to top it off, mango ice AND yogurt with sprinkles.  Yum!