Kaohsiung

It was a great day here in Kaohsiung. We got the kids up and ready early in the morning. Breakfast was a wonderful buffet at our hotel. At 8:30 we met this friend of a my friend. My friend is a Taiwanese woman I met last summer through the dance studio where I teach. She has taught me Mandarin, translated writing and then hooked me up with people she knows here in Taiwan. God directed our paths to met and she has been a blessing. So this friend Fang-Xie took us for the entire day to get a real feel of her country. First we took a 45 min drive to her small home town of Kaohsiung County. Driving around in Taiwan is interesting as there are not many rules and vehicles (mostly mopeds) weave in and out from each other. At the town she and her family are well known there because they own a cultural center. Her brother is a congressman or something like that, so we got the royal treatment. The cultural center is horseshoe shaped with stores all around and open in the ccenter. First we made hand painted umbrellas. Then we shopped. I found some zodiac figurines I wanted and when I went to buy them they just stamped them and I figured out then anything we asked for that day was going to be given to us. Next we went to the restaurant, we told her what kinds of food the kids liked and she ordered for us all. This was a totally authentic Taiwanese meal. There were four dishes of food we all shared family style. One platter was the whole fish head and all. And guess what Naveia likes to eat, fish eyeballs! I guess it is a treat to the children to get to eat them. Jan what do you think about that one? It was all so delicious and fresh. After that we made pottery. The kids did not want to touch it so me and John did it. They are going to write the kids given names in characters on them and Fang-Xie is going to bring them to us next year when she visits her friend in the states. Next we had afternoon tea. We had to work for it though. The ingredients come in a big bowl and you grind it down with a stick. We headed back to the city of Kaohsiung. The kids took a nap in the back seat, they looked so cute and peaceful. There she took us to the beach. We were just going to look but all ended up taking off our shoes to put just our feet in. That turned into the kids both wet and sandy from the neck down. They loved it! So we had to head back to the hotel to clean ourselves up. Then we went to the Dream Mall. It is biggest mall in Taiwan. This place was huge. I think like 9 floors of stores. The only shopping we did was to buy Kai some shoes that fit him. Then we went on the roof and rode a tall ferriswheel and some robot animal things. Dinner was at the food court. Fang-Xie had been translating what the kids were saying for us all day. I told her to ask Naveia if she wanted pizza, she said Naveia asked for McDonald's. What! We go from fish eyeballs to Micky D's. I agreed, but told Fang-Xie she will be disappointed when we get home because our family does not eat McD. So the kids got that and we had Japanese. It was a fun filled long day. The kids were exhausted and have been sleeping well again tonight. I also did better and got up a 5 am this morning. It was such a gift to have Fang-Xie interprete what the kids were saying all day. I will give you a few good lines we heard. On the way to the county Naveia was getting deep, she was telling Kai that us American ma and ba don't understand what they are saying. She was talking about the first day when they came with us that she cried less then him and the daddy will like her better for that. She kept going on and on about him needing to pretty much get over wanting his foster parents and be a good boy. She brought him to tears and we had to assure him we loved him too. She is a tough cookie. She likes to boss him around and he is a lot like Zane easy going and sensitive. By the end of the night he finally called me mama and wanted me to hold him. Overall they are both doing great with the transition so far. Thank you for your prayers they are working.