Let the Week Commence!

It's Monday morning, and we are off to our first day of camp.  60 campers will be arriving as we eat our breakfast, so it's time to finish the final preparations for our classrooms.  We are starting out with a book about the Christmas story before we make Christmas decorations of popcorn strings, paper chains, and ornaments.  After that, we will teach them some English Christmas greetings to write in their cards for their families.

The next part was their favorite!  We melted chocolate chips to pour into Christmas candy molds, frosted cookies, made graham cracker gingerbread houses, and learned about the story of the candy cane.  Our American treats are very sweet to the Taiwanese, so even the high school counselors were giddy over graham crackers.  They thought they were delicious!

Then, it was time for lunch.  The Taiwanese like to show their kindness through food, so they had been filling us to the brim at every meal.  This was the first time that we could actually enjoy the meal, and they gave us student-sized portions.  We had a 90-minute lunch break so that the students could take a nap during the day.  Everyone naps, even the middle schoolers and teachers.  Perhaps, we should add this to the American school day...

In the afternoon, we taught them some of the science lessons about Christmas.  We made a tree out of newspaper and talked about recycling.  Then, we played Jingle Bells on glass jars and talked about the science behind vibrations.  We finished the day with some games, including Four Corners, Phase 10, and Apples to Apples.

After an hour meeting to discuss the day, we went out for a Japanese-style dinner and a night of shopping.  The food was delicious.  Sesame was very popular at the restaurant, and it was made into a salad dressing, dipping sauce, and ice cream.  There was also a wheat tea that tasted like Cheerios.  The shopping district was a very modern part of town that included many American stores and fast food restaurants.  We walked through thirteen floors of a department store!  Wow, there were so many items to buy!

We finished the evening at a teahouse, which is similar to a coffee shop, where we had more bubble tea and visited with our Taiwanese friends before walking back home and enjoying a long night of sleep before the day ahead.  See you tomorrow!