Weekly Update

Okay, I'm trying something new. I'm going to update this thing weekly, even if it kills me. Sometimes the big updates seem so daunting that I avoid them and then I get behind which is even more daunting. I still have to update you on our Chinese New Year week off (not like our last) and a few other things but I'll stick with the present for now.

Last weekend was pretty unique and sad. One of our students died earlier in the week after a long battle with cancer. His mom is a teacher at our school. He has an amazing story. I'll link to his sister's blog if you're interested. I was asked to lead worship at the memorial. It was a very touching time and Ian was supported by a huge number of people. He really had an impact on a lot of people. So did his family, who are really amazing too. It's not something I want to do again soon (obviously) but it sure gave us a lot to think about in terms of how we live our lives.

We had a bunch of people over for pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. Not too many people had heard of that but they had no trouble eating our food!

Apart from that, Isaac is doing well in Grade 9...in fact, his marks have gone up. He still is pretty well connected with his friends from Grade 8 so the transition has been pretty smooth. He heads off this weekend for his final soccer tournament, which he's pretty excited about.

Makena is active in dance and worship team at school and is doing very well.

I'm pretty excited about next Monday. I have been invited (I sort of asked for the invite) to go out with a research crew from the local university on Ocean Researcher III, a research vessel that's going out to collect some data off the coast of Taiwan. I've been told that if I go, I'll have to work and help out, which is fine with me. I can't wait. It is what I'd be doing if I wasn't a teacher. I also am going to the Philippines for a conference at the end of the month. Now don't take this the wrong way because life is still very busy and the job takes tons of time (in case you thought it was all fun and games).

I'm also LOVING swimming, which is a change for me. I go at least once a week to our favorite pool (almost nobody there and quite with a great lap pool and awesome hot pools). I'll post pics soon. Besides that I run 2 or 3 times a week as well. Janice is being very faithful in this area as well.

Janice is working more as the other library person shifted into teaching Kindergarten for now. Life has become a little crazier as a result but she really likes being busy.

We're into our second week back after the Chinese New Year break, during which we mainly stayed around, seeing some local stuff. Unfortunately, it rained pretty much the whole week but we did some things we haven't done before so it was relaxing and fun.

The only bad news is that our car needs some work, which is going to cost us $20,000 NT (600 bucks). It seems like a lot (especially when you're making 1500 a month) but for what they're doing (2 tires, engine mount, timing belt, several other belts) it's not too bad.

I'll try to share our weird barbecue/go cart/karaoke experience soon.