Home stay family #1

Left to right: Yi Xiang, Me, Wen You, Shu Pen, Shu Pen's husband

This is the first wonderful family that I stayed with for four days during my first week here in Taichung. A very sweet and fun family with 2 very well brought up children. So I was very curious each time before I got to a new family as to how the families are and so far among all the 5 times I've moved within 3 weeks, they turn out to be pleasant experiences that I will never want to forget.

So Wen You is in kindergarten school while Yi Xiang is in grade 2 and their house is just 5 minutes walk away from school making it very convenient for them to go to and fro school.

Playing snake and ladder

This is Wen You wanting to play board games with me. We played a game that was similar to snake and ladder except that he was the one throwing the dice and moving the block for both players (himself and myself) during the entire game. How cute of him.

Us fooling around after they both completed their homework

During the last day that I with them, Shu Pen brought her sons and I to this lady's place where we did some
handicraft.This lady is a professional in creating art pieces as in the following pictures. I didn't dare take many photos of all the many art pieces that she did as she mentioned that she does not like her art pieces to be shared randomly among other people. She prefers keeping a low profile about her art work.

It may not be clear in the picture above but all the pieces hanged up are orinigal pieces of hers. They are either acrylic painting on canvas sheets or frames already containing designs on it and further enhanced by her either by painting or by adding on some colored clay/dough on it.

Yi Xiang's!

Wen You's !

Mine!

So these were the final products that the boys and I completed. The ones that the boys did were called Tie(2) Gu (3) Ba(1) Te(4). I'm not too sure of its Chinese characters but in terms of hanyu pinyu, that is how it's pronounced. As for mine, there's no specific name to it I guess. I just started off with a wooden photo frame. The rest of it were actually made of dry clay/ dough that was added on to the frame.

Teacher, Shu Pen and I

Adding details to the bricks

(blur) Group shot

This face shows how excited I am riding on a bike.

Staying with Shu Pen's family also gave me the opportunity to sit on a motorcycle for the first time!Cheap thrill indeed but it was really exciting! Motorcycles/ cycles are commonly seen on the roads of Taiwan. It is the main mode of transport for getting around places within the city. It is even more commonly used than bus and train services in the city.

My last morning with the boys

Four days with Shu Pen's family zoomed passed faster than expected. Very soon it was my last morning with them before leaving for school. I felt like I was fated to meet Shu Pen. We had so many topics in common that we just talked non stop each time I returned back to their home from school. It was a pity the school only opened up 4 days for this family to host me. If not, I would be more than willing to stay for a longer period of time with them.