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Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Ailey's school activity - March 2010

Ailey's class presented this little song and dance to an apparently empty auditorium. Ailey makes a cameo, behind another kid, about halfway through.

Saturday, April 03, 2010

Ailey knocks out some homework - March 2010

Very impressed with Ailey's progress with Chinese characters. She's still a little shy about speaking but her comprehension is solid, her pronunciation perfect and her reading and writing coming along quite well
























Ailey copying characters - stroke order is very important.


Ailey writes her diary. She had been doing this during the tutoring session after school but we changed the program up a bit so she does this at home now. Pretty impressive (the smaller box to the right is the bo-po-mo phonetic alphabet which Ailey had to learn as well).



And after a grueling day of school and homework, its time to kick back and relax with a game of Blockhead!
























And to celebrate the end of the day, some fireworks in our dining room. Cant remember the festival but the fireworks ran all day long culminating with a parade that ran down the street next to our apartment until 10pm. The fireworks seemed to be going off inside the apartment they were so close. We were pretty sick and tired of it all by the end of the day.
Yuanzuei (Birdsbeak) hike - April 2010

With a Nike holiday but no school day off, Mihwa and I took the opportunity to do this crazy hike about an hour and a half outside of Taichung. Mihwa had done the hike before but I had no idea what I was getting into. Pretty hairy! Sore as hell the day after.

The one way tunnel leading to the trailhead










I think the sign says "dont fall off the cliff."















2180m = 7150 feet



A little poetic license perhaps?









































Paperbag trees - in case you ever wondered where those came from.


Actually these are bags placed around the pear fruit to keep the birds and insects away. The trees are scaffolded to keep the branches, and fruit, close to the ground for easy picking. Very strange sight to see entire hillsides of trees covered in paper bags.


Lugang, Taiwan - March 2010

An old college buddy swung through town with his family for a quick visit so we scrambled down to Lugang, home to the oldest temple in Taiwan. Kurt's been living in Singapore the last 15+ years running his biz which he sold a couple years ago. He'll be repatriating to the Portland area in about 6 months.













Clyde (I think)...


...and Drake (I think)






















Clyde and Drake (definitely). Clyde is the elder...by a minute.























Some dried crayfish and mussels for sale outside the temple.

The Beuter clan (in the background)
Busan - lunar new year vacation, February 2010

A stop in Busan to connect with family for this important holiday.


The beautiful night view from our hotel.

New totems at the trailhead of our favorite hike.