Last Day in Taiwan

We had a nice flight from Japan and arrived in Taiwan at about 10:30 AM. Since our flight to Chicago didn’t leave until about 8:00 PM we had some time. Luckily the family of one of the boys I flew back with took me and River for a tour of the lotus flowers because it was harvest time. We stopped at a restaurant that had a lovely lily pond where you could feed the cute ducklings and we were all amazed by the huge lillypads that were about the size of a kiddie pool. We met a man there who was harvesting lotus seeds. He was so kind to  show the children how he did it and to let them help. They had a great time. Our  lunch was delicious! Every dish had either lotus roots or lotus seeds in them. Then we toured an historical farm house and enjoyed looking at the old farm equipment. Finally we strolled through the lotus fields. I had no idea we were going to have such a fabulous day and am so grateful to this family for the experience and for saving us from a long day in the airport!  I can’t believe  it but we are finally home. it will take some time to truly process all of the amazing things that we have done and seen.  For now what I am feeling most is gratitude for all of our friends, especially Ivy and Ken who brought us to Taiwan and became our family!  I miss them already, but I’m also happy to be home 💗  And now I look forward to the beginning of a new school year with fresh ideas new inspiration.

Last Day in Japan

For  our last day in Japan we went to a Japanese tea house and had traditional tea with mochi and for a sweet treat we shared a mountain of shaved ice filled with sweet red beans and covered in a sweet sauce. Then we went up A small mountain to a shrine, but before entering the first tori, or gate, we had to wash our hands.  You can see the awesome view of Fukuoka from the top of the mountain. On our way down,  we saw another small shrine where all of the statues were wearing red and white polkadotted outfits.  We finished the evening with fireworks to celebrate the amazing time we had together.  I can’t believe it but tomorrow morning I will have to say goodbye to Ivy, Ken, Ume, Aki, and Nan. They will stay in Japan to spend more time with Ken’s family, and I will fly back to Japan with 3 older boys and River. I am so grateful to them for this incredible experience and am blown away by their generosity! I will really miss living with them, it has been wonderful to deepen our friendship and become more like family. Hopefully I will see them again ❤️

Leaving Nokonoshima

In typical Ivy style, leaving Nokonoshima wasn’t a sad event because of course she had other fun things planned! We took a ferry to another island where we got to play for most of the day. After this most of the children caught a flight home. When the rest of us returned to Fukuoka we had dinner at a soba restaurant where they made the noodles while you watched, they were delicious, and they also made a huge variety of tempura! Later we tried to watch the Persied meteor shower at a river in the foothills of the mountains, but unfortunately it was cloudy. Luckily we all had fun playing in the water instead!

Food and Fun

Most of the time Ken was our island chef, and I have to say he did an amazing job cooking for 22 people! But of course we all helped, and we found that the children could be excellent cooks as well. We all tried “the long slide”  which River and many of the children did over and over again. What a rush! Once was enough for me. I kept worrying about what  would happen if the wooden sled fell off the rope track on that crazy big steep hill! We went to a beach for a couple of hours and Dring Ning found a starfish! I have never held a live one before, and all of those little legs tickled my hand. We saw a lovely sunset on our last day when we had our egg competition. Each team had a raw egg and had to build a protective covering with materials found in nature so that it wouldn’t break when thrown over a tree branch. Most of the eggs survived and it was really fun to see all of the great designs. The teachers celebrated our last day on Nokonoshima with a champagne toast for the amazing time we had together.

Exploring

On our second day we explored! There was a one room museum that showed the history of the island and some old cars and tools like the very old fire engine. The kids got a kick out of the scarecrow. There were also a few shops, some where artists were making traditional crafts like pottery and painted silk. We fed the bunnies and goats in the small petting zoo. We also got to see a huge spider eating its catch. I should have taken a video, that was super cool!  Then we saw the gardens, with so many beautiful flowers!!! River loved running ahead, hiding, and then jumping out when I got close. He found a baby praying mantis (incredibly cute!) and a snail in different spots, and photo credits go to him for both. All of the children were making discoveries and having fun. Of course by the end of our very hilly walk they were ready for a short rest. It is so lucky to be in such a beautiful and safe place. After this group exploration the children were free to explore on their own. I think that a lot of their time was spent in the dime store where I bought River one of those rolled up paper yo-yos. And all of the teachers found fun gifts in the other shops. I think I might need a second suitcase for my return trip!

🌺Nokonoshima🌺

“Mom, we’re riding the rainbow to Nokonoshima!” is what River said when he saw our ferry 🌈 It must have been to deliver us to such a magical place! We were all stunned by the beauty of Noko island. Everywhere you looked there were incredible views of the ocean, mountains, and dramatic coastline. Once we dropped our luggage at our cabins the children took flight and ran with bursts of joy!  They were also very impressed by the fabulous playground and stayed there until Ken cooked us a delicious dinner. Then it was time to pull our futons out of the closet onto the tatami mat floor and go to sleep.

Going to Fukuoka Japan

We had a smooth trip to Japan. We dropped our luggage at Ken’s parent’s Montessori school where we would spend the night and went to the local hot springs mineral bath for a relaxing soak and then dinner. The crazy thing about the baths is that you need to go in with no clothes, so it was a little weird at first to go in with the  girls but the baths were so beautiful with indoor and outdoor areas, hot and cold baths, that we got used to it quickly. Luckily there were separate baths for the boys and girls, but since River is just a little dude he came with me. I can’t tell you how many times I heard gasps as River stood up and people realized the kid with the long gorgeous locks was a boy. 😆 It was a little tricky to keep my tattoo covered. They had an absolute rule about no tattoos because they did not want any yakusa coming to the baths! A couple people looked at my little shoulder towel skeptically but luckily I got away with it. River is getting really good with his kid chopsticks. Lots of kids enjoyed the  huge piles of shaved ice where you could add your own syrup for dessert.

Ocean 💖

We had a lovely trip to the beach. River came here with his school group earlier, but it was a very different experience since this time the tide was in! My boy is fearless and it totally freaks me out! He loved swimming in the ocean, with the help of a floaty device, and climbing on the rocks until the sun set and the moon came out. In the first picture it looks like a small city on top of a mountain, but it is actually a graveyard with great feng shue! The family we met there was very nice and afterwards we had a delicious dinner together. On the docks later we saw little puffer fish and baby rays swimming around! I can’t believe we are leaving this magical place tomorrow! I am so grateful to all of our friends for making it such a wonderful experience!!! I look forward to seeing some familiar students and meeting new ones for our 1 week trip to Japan 😃

Last Day of School

I can’t believe it but we had our last day of school. We mostly worked on friendship bracelets and Father’s Day cards. I was surprised that the children here had never seen friendship bracelets before. I wonder if they will continue to make them 😊 Teacher Joanne gave me a lovely gift and a card from all of the children. We finished with homemade bear muffins that were almost too cute to eat. River looks like he had fun with his class too. He was so lucky to have amazing teachers and friends who really loved him and will miss him 💗

Camping!

I would not say that our camping trip on the farm with 27 kids and 3 adults for 3 days was without challenges, but it was a truly amazing experience for everyone! Our biggest challenge came when the water mysteriously cut out on us! We went for one day without, realized how much we depend on it, and gained a new respect for clean running water before it mysteriously turned back on.  We spent hours every day playing in and exploring the river. It is awesome to me how children can decide on a project with absolutely no communication and go to work on it wholeheartedly. Over 3 days the children built a very impressive series of dams out of river rocks that resulted in 3 tiered swimming pools!!! We had fun finding tiny toads and huge spiders. I can’t believe I don’t have a picture of Ivy cooking. Probably it is because I was working with the kids on chopping or washing dishes, but she took on the immense challenge of cooking for all of us. (Not to mention her massive pre-trip grocery shopping bonanza) She did a wonderful job for every delicious meal and plentiful snacks in between. It is really incredible to me the lengths people will go to in order to avoid the sun. Teacher Joanne wasn’t really planning on robbing a train she just didn’t want a tan. It becomes even more impressive when you know that it was about 95 degrees! I am so grateful that River and I got to be a part of this amazing bonding experience!!!