Going home

The last seven days of our trip have been so crazy busy that we have had almost no chance to get online. Below is a quick recap of our crazy last week. One of us may write more details about these days in the future.

7/13-7/15

We ran our second summer camp program. This time the camp was full with 40 children. We learned a lot from our first camp and tried to improve the program based on what we learned. The camp ran smooth with children connecting with nature while practicing their English skills. We've had a blast running program at Guandu.

7/16

Gene invited us to go river tracing up in Yangmingshan National Park. We walked up a stream and used rock climbing equipment to climb up boulders and waterfalls. This was probably one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had in nature.

7/17-7/19

We took a trip to Hualian County on the east coast. In our three days there we went rafting, hiked Toroko National Park, biked through the town and around a lake and then did some stream tracing and swimming. This was an amazing way to end our trip.

7/20

Today we are packing and getting ready to leave. We are sad to leave this place but also excited to get back to the US. The whole trip has been an amazing experience for us all.

Family Camp

7-10 & 7-11- We ran an afternoon family camp on both of these days. Both camps were full with 50 participants. We started the Family Camps by giving a simple presentation about Islandwood. We then let each family choose 2 activities out of 5 and each of us ran one activity.

I (Mike) ran the Bird Beak Buffet, where each family member got to experience what it is like have a bird beak using tools like chop sticks and spoons to catch food.

Zach ran Meet a Tree where partners lead each other to a tree. They use their other senses to 'meet' the tree. Then they were led away from the tree and had to try to find their tree.

Hillary led Nature Art where families made their own insect out of re-used items.

Erin led groups through Team Building activities.

Ali took families on a stream exploration where they caught macros and then painted pictures of the critters.

We ended with a group reflection where many children shared what they learned. The activities went well and we got mostly positive feedback from the questionnaires. The one complaint they had was that they wished that they could have done all five activities.

Friday- Camp Taiwan & Taipei 101

7/9-While the rest of the Islandwood crew took the trip up to Yangmingshan National Park, I took a solo trip out to the Northeast portion of the same mountain range. I went out there to visit a residential camp called Camp Taiwan. I took a bus to Wanli, a coastal town, where I checked out the sandy beaches. I then took a 20 minute taxi up into the mountains to the camp. One of the Directors, Nara McDonald, gave me a tour of the facility. The camp is a traditional English residential camp with activities like archery, high ropes, kayaking, nature study, and farming. They also run an outdoor education program in the spring and fall. It was interesting to see a program like that in a different country.

In the afternoon I took the bus back to Taipei city. I went to Taipei 101, the second tallest building in the world, to check out the observation deck. The view from the observation decks (89^th and 91st floor out of 101) was hazy but beautiful. It was amazing being able to see the vastness of the city from that high up.

In the evening the Islandwood crew reunited to go to a BBQ at Gene’s house. Like always, there was an amazing variety of food. There was BBQ chicken and pork, tempura fish, rice noodles, squash and mushrooms, tofu, okra, bamboo shoots, lotus bulb and seed, watermelon, cheese cake, green bean soup, tea, Taiwan beer, and probably something else. After an epic feasting of food, we ended the evening on his roof top garden.

Yangmingshan National Park

On Friday (our day-off between summer camp and family camp) Zach, Hillary and Ali traveled to Yangmingshan National Park. "Shan" means mountain in Mandarin, and the name of one of the popular mountains in the area is "Yangming", which is pronounced "yummi." So we have been affectionately calling it "Yummi Mountain!"

Vicki and Bill, who had previously taken us to dinner in Taipei and tea in Jioufen, were our hosts for the day. Vicki's parents and Frank, a friend of Vicki, also joined us. Vicki's parents were such incredible hosts. Her mom made us homemade breakfast rolls with fruit and nuts, and supplied as with tea and cookies at every stop.

Vicki's parents also treated us to an amazing lunch-time feast, which helped "Yummi Mountain" live up to it's name! We all got our fill (and then some) of traditional Taiwanese foods, such as ginger potatoes, steamed sugar cane, sweet potato greens and whole shrimp.

After our 12 dish feast we went hiking of course! We first visited the Siaoyoukeng sulfur stream vents, then we hiked up a steep trail abuzz with cicadas and butterflies. At the top view point we could see all of Taipei, our town of Guandu, the Nature Park where we work, and the ocean! Zach, Hillary and Ali were all excited to get a little hiking in, and see a little more of this beautiful area.