Granite Mountain Hike

My dad, his friend Gary, and I all went hiking yesterday at Granite Mountain.  Do you guys remember learning about granite in science class?  Well, here's a picture of it:

Granite comes from lava that cools slowly.  Since it cools slowly, there's enough time for crystals to grow inside the rock.  That's why granite looks like it has a bunch of smaller rocks inside.

We didn't pay much attention to the granite on the ground though!  We were too busy looking at the nature around us.

Granite Mountain takes about an hour to drive to from my house.  It is east of where I live.  This is what it looks like at the top:



Oh, I almost forgot to mention, Gary's two dogs came with us too!  Their names are Chui (like "chewy") and Perron.  Their names are Spanish because they are Mexican dogs (Spanish is the language they speak in Mexico).


Dad is on the left, Gary is on the right.

We didn't make it all the way to the top, because the weather wasn't great, and my dad was really tired.  I wish the weather had been clearer, because we would have been able to see all around us, just like in the picture above.

We started the hike at around noon (12 pm).  Gary gave Chui to me to hold on to so he wouldn't run off.  It was a little cloudy and cool, but it hadn't started raining yet.  I was wearing the knee brace I got for my birthday, because my right knee often hurts when I walk down a trail (I'm really a Grandpa Stephen!):



My girlfriend doesn't like me to go hiking because she's worried about my body, so I told her I would try to take better care of my knee and be careful.

After a little bit it started to rain.  I brought a rain jacket with me, but I didn't put it on because I didn't think it was raining too hard.  I should have put it on though, because my backpack got really wet!





The plants around us changed as we got higher and higher.  Granite Mountain trail is harder than other hiking trails because you get very high on the mountain in a short time.  That means that the trail is pretty steep ().  I wanted to take more pictures, but Chui kept on pulling me because he doesn't like waiting.  He's a little impatient.  If I stopped for a second, he would always look back at me.  I think he wanted to tell me to hurry up. XD




That's Chui, looking ahead.

Once we got out of the trees, we saw a bunch of different wildflowers.  Here's a


Red Columbine


Lupin


Indian Paintbrush


Phlox


Tiger Lily

Which flower is your favorite?  Why?

We also saw a lot of wild fruits.  When you go hiking, you have to be really careful about eating anything you find in nature, but if you know 100% that something is safe to eat, then go ahead!  It's too early for fruit right now, but here are the plants we saw and what kind of fruit they have.


Huckleberry


Huckleberry fruit


Wild strawberry


Wild strawberry fruit (very tiny!)


Red huckleberry fruit


Thimbleberry


Thimbleberry fruit

Do you guys remember where the fruit of a plant comes from?

After we got out of the trees and near the top of the mountain, we actually were walking inside some low clouds!  Everything got really foggy, so we couldn't see very well, and it started to rain harder.  We put on our jackets and looked for a place to have lunch.  We were lucky.  There were some trees close to the trail, so we walked inside for protection from the rain.  It was nice and cozy under all those branches!

Gary made some tea for us with his small stove, and we ate the sandwiches Mom had made for us.  It was nice to sit down and rest, and I could tell my dad really needed it.  He was pretty tired.










Inside those trees is where we had lunch.



After lunch, we decided to head back down.  We didn't quite make it to the top, but the clouds were too thick to see anything from the top, so it didn't really matter.  As we started hiking down, the clouds cleared a little bit, and we could see between the clouds:


The clouds were very thick, but they opened up a little to let us see the mountains on the other side of the road.




There was still snow at the top of the mountain!

The hike down was nice, but my dad's legs got so tired that he didn't enjoy it very much.  The last two miles he could barely walk, so we had to go really slowly.  Usually, it takes a person one hour to walk two miles (1 mile = 1.6 km), but my dad was walking so slowly that it took us more than an hour to walk just one mile!  My dad was surprised that it was so hard for him.  Maybe he didn't realize he is so old now, and can't do everything he did when he was younger.  The important thing is we made it back safely before it was dark.

In the end, I wish the weather had been nicer, and that Dad hadn't gotten so tired at the end, but I'm glad I did it.  The weather could have been worse, and if so, I wouldn't have gone on the hike.  Maybe next time, the weather will be better, and we'll make it all the way to the top!

p.s. I took the hat your dad gave me Janice!  It helped a lot!  Thanks!

It came!

Hey guys, I got the birthday card you all sent me yesterday two days ago, and I was very happy and thankful for what you all did.  The card looks beautiful!  Thank you so, so much!

It's good to see all of your smiling faces.  You guys seem to have grown so much just in the short time since I've been away from Taiwan.  The classroom looks completely different too.  Do you like it?  Tr. Michelle said she'll send me pictures of the remodeled school and classrooms soon.

Aden, I like your monster.  His (her?) square face is very interesting.  How does it talk?  How does it eat?  Getting a good grade isn't so important to me when I go to school in July.  The most important thing is what I learn, since I want to be a better teacher.  Also, I'm glad you enjoyed the box of magic cards.  What do you love about them?  Looking at the pictures?  Moving them around?  Using your imagination with them?

Regina, I miss you too, and it's good to hear from you.  I love your decorations on your part of the card, especially the rainbow heart and colorful sparkles.  Is your father coming to Seattle for work?  I hope the weather is good while he's here.  How long is he staying?  If you were coming, I could say, "I see you!  HEY!  I SEE YOU!"  Maybe someday you can come to America, and you can use English to talk to the people you meet!

Edward Z, we already talked about your trip on this blog, but I'm very happy you got to travel outside of Taiwan with your family.  If you go to Japan again, where would you like to go?  What would you like to do?  I'm very happy with my family.  I talk about comics and movies with my brother, I help my mom clean the house, and I go hiking and watch sports games with my dad.  And of course I hug and kiss my cat, Shadow!  Your drawing of Mickey is very skillful.  Even if you hadn't written anything, I would've known who you drew!

Ben, you look like you're thinking very hard in your picture.  It's a good picture of you, I like it.  Thank you for all the glue you drew for me.  As for your question about liking Taiwan or America more...it's hard to say.  Taiwan is where I met all of you guys and Tr. Michelle, and also where I met my girlfriend.  In fact, I met many good friends and students there.  It's a beautiful country, and I hiked all over the place while I was there.  However, America is where my family and old friends live, and Seattle is also a beautiful place.  Right now it's pretty warm outside, but the past month it's been switching from hot to cold almost every day!  I do enjoy living at home, because my mom's garden is beautiful, and I've been able to do a lot of work around the house, which is nice.

Cinthia, you look really happy in your picture!  You must be doing very well!  I'm glad you still have the money I gave you.  Do you collect real coins too?  You can collect them by different years...that's what I do with U.S. coins.  Also, what pictures are you talking about where I look stupid?  The ones on this blog?  Hahaha.  By the way, those pictures you drew of me on the card?  Am I getting stabbed by swords?  What's going on?  -_-

Janice, I'm doing very well over here.  I'm much healthier than I was when you guys last saw me.  I've become a lot fatter, and also put on some more muscle (that means I've become stronger).  It's so good to see your smiling face.  I'm also happy to know you're getting along well in class.  I knew you would!

Coco, I miss you guys as well.  I think about you guys nearly every day.  I will come back to Taiwan, but not until next year.  I still need to decide if I'm going to move back to Taiwan after my year of school, or keep going to school after it's finished.  I already showed my card to my mom, so she saw it!  AAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!  Thanks for the birthday cake Coco!
(Tr. Stephen wrote it)

Of course I know who you are, Dora!  HAHAHA.  You wrote a lot for your card, I'm impressed.  Now, you wrote a lot about Teacher David, so I want to talk about that.  You said you don't fell like respects you, and it could be true, but you have no way of knowing what someone is thinking in their head.  You should try and think that people around you have the best intentions, otherwise it will be hard to trust people in the future.  He may have places that he needs to work on, but he hasn't been in Taiwan very long.  You may see him just in class, but he might still be getting used to life outside of class too.  Now, it sounds like he's messing up a lot in class, but I want to point out that you notice when he messes up.  That means your learning is important enough to you that you want it to be the best it can be.  And when it isn't that makes you unhappy.  Well, the best students look for challenges in other places when they can't always get them in the classroom.  You can try that out.  And also, about the smoking...as you get older, you'll find people that smoke.  You can try and avoid them, and you can try and change them, but when you can't do those things, then you just have to accept them.  You may not like it, but he's not going to change anytime soon, and he's not going anywhere either.  Now, I wrote a lot about that, but I want to write about happier things.  Are you going anywhere for the summer?  How's your family?  I hope you're doing well...and don't worry, we'll keep in touch.

Hi Edward W., I'm doing great.  You look happy in your picture, but remember to look at the camera so people can see your eyes!  Hahaha.  Do you still collect magic cards?  What are you up to these days?  How's your sister Bella?  Do you still enjoy learning English?  Let me know, kiddo!

Do you guys ever talk to Aliya in Anchin class?  I wonder how she's doing.  I hope she's doing well.  Can you guys let me know?

Thank you all again for your birthday wishes.  This may sound weird, but if you can, I'd like you to thank Tr. Michelle for me, for putting this all together.  Without her, I wouldn't have gotten this card.  And also, don't forget that Tr. Michelle's birthday is coming up (this month).  Don't forget to wish her a happy birthday as well.  I'm not around to do something special for her with you guys, but that doesn't mean you can't do something special for her by yourself.

Thanks again, guys.  I miss you.

Tr. Stephen

edit:  Tr. Michelle texted me today and told me I forgot about you Kenny.  I'm so sorry!  I don't know what happened.  Thanks for the robot drawing Kenny.  I see you still like being a zombie as much as you did when I was teaching.  Kenny, I will come to Taiwan, but not until next year.  You look very happy in your picture, so I know you're doing alright.  I miss you lots too.

Perspective

What does the word 'perspective' mean?  It means "a point of view", or "a way of seeing something".  Let me give you an example.  What do you guys think of Magic cards?  Some of you might think they are fun cards to look at and collect, but maybe you don't know how to play the game.  If a picture looks cool, or it's a */*, that means it's a good card, right?  That's your perspective.  The teachers at Hess might have a different perspective.  They might have a different way of looking at them.  We might look at a card and only think it's good if it is useful, even if it has a cool picture.

Why am I talking about perspective?  Because today I learned an important lesson about it, and I want to share that lesson with you.

I was sitting in my room doing really important, adult things.



*Ahem*, so I wasn't really doing anything important.  My mom walked in and told me that some blue jays were being mean to our cat, Shadow.  They were cawing (it means 'yelling for birds) and chasing Shadow.  She was really scared, so my mom chased the birds away and our cat went inside.  I got really angry at the blue jays and yelled at them, since I love my cat.  Blue jays are loud, annoying birds, and they like to bully other birds.

I went back inside and didn't think much more about the birds.  Then, my mom came inside and told me to get my dad.



Shadow had attacked a young bird and Mom didn't know what to do to help it.  Dad said that the bird was afraid and confused, so we needed to first give it time to rest before we tried to help it.

Do you see what happened?

I got mad at the birds for attacking Shadow, because from my point of view the birds were doing harm to someone important to me.  But from their point of view, a big mean cat was attacking someone important to THEM, and they were just trying to protect their child.





I never stopped to think about things from the birds' point of view until my mom told us about the hurt bird.  Then everything made sense.  I felt bad about just thinking about my own point of view, when the birds were clearly trying to do the right thing.

We brought Shadow into the house and kept her there,  The young bird crawled under a bush after a moment, but unfortunately, it died there shortly after.  Even when my dad was getting to the body to throw it away, the bird parents were very upset, and still trying to protect their child.  Poor birdy.



So guys, the lesson here is, when you feel strong emotions against someone or something because you think they are doing something wrong, always try to consider things from as many perspectives as you can.

Hope everything is well with you guys.

Tr. Stephen

Dad's Concert

Yesterday, I went to my dad's brass band concert.  There's a may be some new words in that last sentence so let's go over them.

A "band" is a group of people who make music.  It can be something like this:


Or something like this:




"Brass" means a kind of instrument.  "Brass" instruments are in a group together because you play differently from other instruments.  With "brass" instruments you have to buzz your lips to make a sound:

https://youtu.be/62t1Dhmm-2Q?t=92

A "concert" is when the people who play in a band put on a show for other people to watch.  Kind of like this:




Or this:

My dad's concert was at a church.  They always have their concerts at the same church:



You see, they made a deal with the church.  The church lets them have concerts at their church once in a while, and my dad's band has to play for the church once in a while.  It's a pretty fair trade.

This is what it looks like from the inside:





My dad is the third one from the left.  So if you count one starting from the left side, he's the third man.  Do you know which one my dad is?  Don't worry if you can't figure it out, I'll show another picture of him at the end.

For this concert, the band played with a man playing the organ.  An "organ" is like a piano, but very big.  See these metal pipes in the back?



This is what the organ uses to make sound.  When you play the piano, a hammer hits a string whenever you press the white key down.  When you play an organ, wind goes through these huge pipes to make sound.  The sound of an organ can fill up a whole room!

The concert was about two hours.  There was a break in the middle.  A break during a concert or important show is called an "intermission".  "Inter-" means "between", so it's like saying the part of the concert that is in the middle.  The band played seven songs, some slow and peaceful, some fast and exciting.  They sounded really good!



I took a picture of my dad and mom during intermission for those of you who asked to see them.



If you want to listen to the kind of music my dad's band plays, here is the website:

http://brassbandnw.org/

(move to the lower right part of the page and click on the youtube video there to listen)

Have any of you been to any concerts before?  Have you played in a concert before, or something like it?  Maybe you have played in a "recital".  "Recitals" are like concerts, but only one person plays at a time.  When that person finishes, the next person plays.  Piano and violin recitals are very popular in Taiwan, so you probably have a friend who has done one even if you haven't.

I know some of you play piano and can read music.  How about those of you who don't play instruments?  Have you ever wanted to?  Which instrument would you play if you could?  Would you want to play in front of people?  You don't need to worry about being nervous if you're in a band, because everyone plays together!  They all work hard to make the song sound great, and everybody is an important part of the band.

Plus you get to wear nice clothes and look cool.

Well, that's all for this entry guys.  Talk to you later!

Tr. Stephen

Cleaning Gutters

^What's this?

We call these "gutters" (gut/ters).  In rainy places, houses need to have gutters to catch rainwater and lead it away from the house.   Why?  Because if your house stays wet for a long time, bad things can happen...



or...



EWWW!!!!

Now, I don't remember if homes in Taiwan have gutters.  Maybe not, since many houses have flat roofs.  Roofs are the top part of a house.  In the US, many houses have roofs like triangles.



It rains a lot in Xizhi, so they must use something that lets the water run down below the street where it won't damage houses.

Anyway, why am I talking about all this?  Well...



...because I had to clean our gutters out!  You see, if just water falls in the gutters, it'll fall down a pipe and go under the ground.  That's what is supposed to happen.  But if leaves and other stuff fall in, they'll stay in the gutters.  And if too many leaves get in the gutter, it can stop the water from going down.  This will damage the gutters.



We have A LOT of trees around our backyard, mostly in our neighbor's yard, so that means we get A LOT of leaves in our gutters:



We also get branches and other things, too.

Climbing around on a ladder can be dangerous.  If it's a tall ladder, then you have to be really careful.  You have to move slowly even if you want to get the job done quickly.  If you fall off from the very top, you might get hurt badly!  I'm not a patient person, but even I know I have to pay attention and watch my step.



This is after I finished cleaning one part of the gutters.  You can still see some leaves in there, but that's fine because you don't need to make it perfectly clean.  You just need to clean it enough so water can still flow inside.

Here's a picture of me as I'm cleaning:



I sweep the branches and leaves down from the top of the roof into the gutters, and then pick up the leaves from inside the gutter.  What do I do with the leaves?



I have to throw them away, but not in the garbage can!  We have a special "garbage can" for plants called a "yard waste bin".  "Waste" means things you don't want, or things that are left over after you finish something.  When you go poo-poo, that's called "waste"!





In America, parents will pay children for doing chores.  They think it's good for children to learn how to take care of the house and keep things neat, so they give them a reason to do that by giving them money.  Students in America aren't just studying all the time, and parents are OK with that.  This can be good and bad.  It can be good because children learn that they can earn money by working hard, but it can also be bad because some kids might only want to help their parents or do a good job when they can get money for it.  Sometimes you should do a good job because it's the right thing to do, not just to help yourself.

My mom wants to give me money for helping the family, but I'm proud to be able to help and I don't need any money.  When she asked me how long I worked, I told her I couldn't remember, and she got mad at me because she knew I was just pretending to forget on purpose! :P

Are there any ways you help Mom and Dad around the house?  Would they let you help them if you asked, or would they just tell you to worry about your schoolwork?  Would you want to help them if you could?  These are things you can think about when you see your parents taking care of you and cleaning around the house.  When you're older, maybe you can do some of those things to show them some love!

Alright guys, catch you later!
Tr. Stephen