Monday, June 7, 2010

Three Human Washing Machines

A-li and I had planned to wash the Vox Nativa Music School's Bunun performance costumes last week, but because of the rain it was postponed to today. These clothes haven't been washed since they first got them two months ago, and they've performed in these costumes 4 or 5 times! They even worse these when they sang at the Shanghai World Expo a few weeks ago. It was about time they were washed...plus they will need CLEAN costumes for the performance on the 18th.

I have seriously NEVER hand washed so many clothes at one time! We first pulled out about 3o shoes and 30 headpieces to air dry in the sun....then washed and dried about 30 some costumes, and each costume has about 4 separate pieces !

the boys' headpieces




the girls' headpieces


so this was our process....


1. A-li and I would let one type of clothing soak in a tub and then wash them


2. then I would rinse them thoroughly


3. A-li would rinse them again to make sure they are REALLY clean and soak them in fragrant water to let the clothes smell nice and clean


4. Ne-vu would hang and dry the clothing


I really like the boys' vests



during our lunch break we left a sign to make sure people didn't steal any of the clothing! last week someone stole two of A-li's new bras :(





after lunch....
Principal Ma's friend who is a teacher at a nearby middle school came by to interview A-li and Ne-vu about the Vox Nativa Music School of Taiwan...they discussed what made their weekend school so special


before I came to Luo Na Elementary...I've never seen tea be prepared this way...it's a whole complicated process with an interesting looking contraption. I wish I had a better picture!

Around 4:30, Principal Ma took me to another elementary school because he was supposed to judge their parade. It's a shame my camera battery was completely depleted, and I had to borrow Principal Ma's camera.

On the way over he showed me a school that was completely destroyed by last year's typhoon .

Isn't that insane?! They don't plan to build the school here again, but they aren't sure where it will be built.

this used to be their playground area

I asked where their temporary school relocated to, and luckily on the way we passed their current temporary school.
there are only 4 little buildings.. they sort of remind me of trailers

this school only has 30 kids total!


the school that Principal Ma was asked to visit only has 48 kids total! These two schools are deeper into the mountains.


the are we were in is famous for their olong tea! miles and miles of tea leaves!


and their parade begins!



Not only did all of the elementary school students participate, but all of their parents did too!




they definitely slowed down traffic!

The parade was really fantastic :) Everyone had so much energy, and they paraded for a very long time! Kudos to all of them! Eventually the parade stopped at this tea garden place.....wherever it was...there were so many beautiful flowers!








Lesson of the day: always charge your camera batteries people! I'm so sad mine died halfway through the day...


I'm not sure if there is more stuff to organize tomorrow, but hopefully I'll have time to sit in 1st grade's Chinese class!

Off to bed,
Sa vì

2 comments:

  1. Hey! Bet you know who I am eh? Just look at my blog. I'm pretty sure I'm the only person you know who owns a doll named Thackery.

    I read all of your posts so far, and it looks amazing! I'm glad you're having fun. :) This stay up in the mountains must be a huge learning experience for you. And it's great that you've got the internet there to share it with everyone. My dad was the one who first told me about your blog actually. He read the whole thing too. ;) Keep up the good work!

    Sincerely,

    Nobody ♥

    ReplyDelete
  2. haha your father is reading my blog?! How does he even know about it?!

    ReplyDelete