A Week in Review

It has now been a week . . . a very full week, where we can say we have weathered all sorts of challenges from airport madness to jet lag to acclimating to a different culture. Looking back thus far, it seems like so much of the last several days have been a blur, but tonight as I tucked the kids into bed, I asked them to share their highs and lows for the week. Here they are as follows:

Big-O:
   Highs: 
       - Beef noodles
       - Figuring out that my Primary teacher at church speaks English :)
       - Being invited to play basketball with 6th graders at school, even though I'm only a 4th grader
       - Learning how to play the recorder at school, especially when the music teacher took time to really help me individually so that I could keep up with all the kids
       - Writing in my journal every day. 
       - Learning how to dry laundry here

   Lows:
       - Feeling pressure to understand everything at school -- especially when they speak Taiwanese, which i can't understand at all
       - Hearing the kids at school say I'm serious
       - Trying to help Bitts safely walk to school and back in the crazy traffic

Mr. Bitts:
    Highs:
       - Reading Eragon
       - Riding Ama's [Li-ling's mother] bike around our housing complex
       - Playing duo pi qiu [dodgeball] with the kids at school
       - Playing basketball for gym at school
       - Having my classmates say my artwork was piao liang [beautiful]!

    Lows:
       - Not understanding everything at school
       - Having to sleep at my desk every day after lunch
       - My mom making me write in my journal every day
       - Almost getting run over by a scooter
       - Holding a pig's foot for the first time
       - Realizing the $100 Taiwanese dollars mom offered me for holding the pig's foot was worth a lot less than I'd expected!

Sassy:
    Highs:
       - Playing at the park within our housing complex
       - Eating lots of new yummy food, including all the awesome breads and pastries
       - Riding on the back of Mommy's bike and feeling so excited and scared that I got chills on my bum!
      
    Lows:
       - Getting sick today

Coco:
    Highs:
       - Going on an airplane
       - Going to Ama's [Laoshi's mother] house
       - Playing with my guys (Disney princess action figures

       - Playing with my new friends at school and being nice to them

       - Taking naps at school
       - Eating mian [noodles] at school
       - Eating all the yummy street food, because "Taiwan has lots of yummy things to eat."
       - Getting my new helmet

    Lows:
       - Throwing up after I got here
       - Missing Daddy

Buggas:
    Highs:
       - Being spoiled rotten by Ama
       - Discovering I'm a natural at slurping Chinese noodles
       - Receiving personal gifts from family friends
       - Getting to play outside every day in the temperate weather, only to hear everyone worry about how I'm not more bundled up and that it's much too dangerous for me to play on the ground in the dirt.

    Lows:
       - Having every Chinese lady gawk over me and boldly insist on holding me
       - Not understanding why I can't hold/touch Daddy through the screen during FaceTime 

Mom:  (For me, I'll start with my lows, since I really don't have that many.)

    Lows: 

       - Trying to sensitively navigate cultural nuances, and occasionally making mistakes that could embarrass/offend those who have done so much to help me and my kids in this experience.

       - Losing face with others when my kids are naughty in front of others . . . an inevitable occurrence, I suppose.

       - Not packing enough gifts. (The culture here in Central Taiwan is much more centered on reciprocal gifting than that of Taipei, and people have been beyond generous with us here.)

     Highs:

       - Truth be told, there are too may to name. Overall, it has brought me joy to share this place that means so much to me with my children. I love seeing their surprise (at times their shock), their struggles, and their wonder. All in all, I feel like they have already grown so much, and I can't believe we've only been here a week. Amazing. I feel so lucky. I feel so blessed.