It has been quite a week! The days were just packed. Each morning we would get up around 7:30 and prepare for the day ahead. We’d meet Pastor Lin outside our apartment building at 8:30 and travel about 25 minutes to the military school (Chung Cheng Armed Forces Preparatory School). After they checked our vehicle we went straight to the library where we would begin music at 9. After four or five songs there’d be a few group games and then a vocabulary lesson to prepare the students for a skit from Daniel (performed by our lovely skit team from L.A.). For the most part the kids had decent language comprehension. Usually we would try to speak slowly and clearly and use basic language. Rarely did they need the interpreter to explain things to them. By the end of the week it seemed like they had improved a lot and were much more open and talkative then they had been at the beginning of the week.
After the skit (which was always very funny and professionally done, I might add!) there would be a short break followed by small group discussion. There were nine or ten boys in every group and a few girls in some of them. My dad and I were in charge of group ten with another man, Mr. Yeh, as a translator.
Lunch started at 12 o’clock and we ate in the mess hall with the other cadets. Some days Teacher Sunny had special meals for us, but every chance I had I ate the lunch that the cadets ate. It wasn’t too bad, but I’m glad I don’t have to eat it every day. Most of the students there just ate the rice and not much else. Any leftovers (and there were a lot) were put in a slop-bucket and later taken to some animals. The typical meal was some cabbage, a small drumstick, a piece of been curd, some stringy spinach, a big bowl of rice, and a different kind of fruit every day (pineapple, mango, guava, banana, etc.). Sometimes there was a sort of soup or watery pudding.
The first day we took a tour of the school after lunch during our free time. They have a huge lake which is not used for anything but looking at. There are many classrooms and dorms on the property; we were given two for our own use throughout the day. They also had a big building for conferences and graduations. Most of our activities, including music and small group, were in the library. Finally, they had many courts and fields for sports activities including an Olympic-sized pool and one or two other smaller pools. I saw lots of people playing basketball and a few playing tennis, but not many people knew how to play football or soccer and the fields were consequently overgrown. The school occupied a huge area and I wasn’t able to see all of it. They had plenty of area for jogging and I also saw many people biking within the complex. Everything was enclosed in a high, thick fence that was topped with broken glass or barbed wire. In the words of Charlie, a friend we made there, “You can’t run away.” Did I mention that they also check every outbound vehicle for stowaways?
After our free time there would always be another set of worship music. We repeated these two sets everyday so that the cadets could get used to them and remember the words. Following the music were more group games and then a short teaching time about American culture, sayings, and idioms. Immediately following that time was an organized outdoor activity. The first day was tug of war in the pool. The second was soccer and football. I played all-time quarterback on one field while my dad and Pastor Lin took turns on the next. Isaac, Mom, Nathan, and Elijah helped out on the two soccer fields. Many of my guys picked up the game really fast and were actually very good! The next day during free time I played some more with the guys that were really into it. The third day was a few more pool games including running across a floating bridge and racing banana boats.
In the evenings after sports and dinner we watched a movie. It was optional for the teachers to stay so I stayed for two out of the four. The first night everyone watched the Blindside. I had seen the movie before but enjoyed seeing it again. It was a big hit with all of the guys! When I taught them the offensive line position during football they exclaimed, “Just like big Mike!” The next movie I stayed for was a documentary on Mt. Sinai. I heard it was excellent, but wasn’t really able to watch it myself. Instead I talked with a guy named Samuel. He and I had a great time talking about lots of different things including religion. After the movie Pastor Lin would take us right home and we’d fall into bed so we could get up early in the morning.
On Thursday, the final day for the helpers, the schedule was a little different. After lunch each team had time to practice for their end-of-the-camp presentation. As soon as we finished with that our family played a mini-concert of our favorite rock songs. Next was the closing ceremony. The school’s founder, a one-star general, was present mid-way through. Originally my dad planned to have our group sing a song, A New Hallelujah, and do hand motions. One of the kids in the group mentioned that he played guitar, so we decided that he should accompany my dad. It also came out that another kid played the drums and one played the keyboards. No one played bass, so I got to. Our acapella plan turned into a full-fledged band with all the instruments! The guys did a great job and had a lot of fun! Everyone else’s presentation was awesome as well! Many groups did remakes of the Daniel skits that they had seen throughout the week. The whole thing was very nicely done.
After cleaning up we had BBQ. Each group had their own bowl and charcoals. I wasn’t there when they started the flame, so I don’t know how they did it; I only know that they weren’t able to use any lighter fluid and that they had to blow on the coals for about 15 or 20 minutes before they finally flamed up. They food was worth it, though. They had different veggies, some kind of sausage, something that resembled a corndog (without the hot dog), and some shish-kabobs. It was a great evening; everyone was playing catch and talking and having great food!
Friday was an optional day for the helpers. All four of us boys went with a few of the other helpers on an all-day field trip to Kenting. First we visited the aquarium. They had many interesting exhibits there and I’ve included some pictures. For lunch Nate and I went to Starbucks with some of the guys we were hanging out with. Harrison (one of the senior cadets from my group) was kind enough to buy me a great big coffee! Throughout the week he’d been bringing me green teas and milk pearl teas and just generally being a great guy! One thing I noticed about this school was that everyone was so selfless – everyone acted as a team and everything they did benefited someone else and not themselves. They all gave up of themselves for their buddies. That’s something that I haven’t seen too much of in America (after all, we’re all about individualism and sticking it to the man) and really appreciated about the guys at the school.
After having a great time seeing all of the exhibits and chatting and taking many pictures we loaded back up into the buses (pictures also included) and headed to some kind of tourist resort. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to go to the beach as originally planned because the water was dangerous and there weren’t enough teachers to keep everyone out of the water. We did have a fun time walking through the Frog rock Park, though. Elijah started feeling pretty sick by the time we got back so we headed to a Starbucks nearby for some AC. He got some water but was still feeling poorly. He’s just starting to feel better now (Monday), but had a sore throat and was sick from lack of sleep (it was a really long week), causing him to miss youth group and church on Sunday morning. We arrived home by nine, probably, and got right to bed.
Saturday morning we again got up early, this time to visit the airforce museum with some other friends from church. Isaac had a blast – it was totally his environment. Unfortunately we weren’t able to take pictures inside, but I let Isaac shoot away on the outside so we have some good aircraft shots. After being treated to lunch by Larry, Michele, and Kai (his girlfriend and a girl from youth group, Isabella, were also there) at yet another delicious restaurant we visited a sugar cane refinery. It was great to find out how all that stuff works. The factory was huge and we had a fun time looking at all of the tanks and vats.
As soon as we got back from the sugar cane refinery we proceeded to youth group, which was a blast as usual! We had an added surprise: most of the leaders from the groups at the military camp came! All of the guys that we had gotten really close to at the camp came and visited! I’m hoping that, since many of them are not Christians, they will continue to come and will continue to hear the gospel. One especially is on my mind. He told me that he finds youth group and spiritual talk boring. I’m trying to help him, and have been praying that he will come next week with the other guys from camp, many of whom are very open to Christianity. I’ve had numerous conversations with them on religious topics. This camp has really presented a lot of opportunities.
Sunday we had a chance to catch up on some much-needed R&R. I hung out at the coffee shop and had a great time catching up on email and facebook and chatting up some people. In the evening we had dinner at the Lin’s house with Mrs. Paula (who’s expecting a baby in a few weeks), her mom, and a pastor, Mr. Mario. We met him last week for the first time. He’s only going to be in Taiwan for a few weeks and is originally from Brazil, but now lives in Germany. So his accent is basically awesome! Oh and the food! It was so delicious! Chicken legs, pot roast, mandarin orange salad, bread, mashed potatoes, apple cinnamon cake, and watermelon! I must have gained ten pounds! We also had a great time playing board games with John and Kevin.
Today we visited Morrison Academy again to return books and check out some new ones. We also played soccer for a little bit but ended up stopping after I accidentally kicked the ball into a little kid’s stomach. On our way back we ate lunch with the Lins at McDonalds. We had been planning since the beginning of our trip to eat the double Big Mac meal and get the free collector’s FIFA cup. Isaac, Nate, and I each got one for the surprisingly low price of just under $5. It was also surprisingly easy to eat. I’m sure I could’ve eaten two. I have some pictures so you can check out the size. It’s bigger than I remember anything in the American McDonald’s being. From there we walked to Carrefour to spend some of our coupons. For helping out with the military camp we each received a certificate and what was essentially a gift card for US $30 to Carrefour. We ended up spending about two-fifths of it on silly and cool shirts, both for gifts and ourselves.
When we left Carrefour we walked a few blocks to NKNU (National Kaohsiung Normal University). Dr. Stephan Olander, an American and friend of my dad’s who has been living in Taiwan for some years now, invited us to speak to his class. We spent a good two hours chatting with them, mainly on the topic of home schooling. It was a current-events class composed of junior-high teachers. They had some great questions and were very interested in what we had to say about home schooling. In Taiwan it is legal to home school, but it is very uncommon.
Upon taking the MRT home we discovered that the apartment complex’s pool is now open! We can swim between the hours of two and nine. It’s unfortunate that it’s not opened earlier, but we’ll take what we can get! We went swimming this evening with John and Kevin and it was great! Tonight was very chilly but a welcome change to the stifling day. We’re hoping to take advantage of the pool in the few weeks we have left. It’s going to be nice to take a quick dip after working up a sweat playing pool or Ping-Pong!
No comments:
Post a Comment