Today Elaine turned 6. Birthdays have always been a big deal in our house typically being a week-long celebration culminating in typically two parties…one for family and one for the girls’ friends. Knowing that we wouldn’t be able to have a family party, we decided to allow Elaine to have a rather large party with her friends. Finding a venue which would be appropriate for both boys and girls; however, was a daunting task.
First; however, we took her to the restaurant of her choice...I am VERY proud to announce that FINALLY the girls have graduated beyond McDonald's as the restaurant of choice...Elaine chose 'Kampai', a Japanese BBQ place which is SUPER happening! Their 'schtick' is that if two people kiss for 10 seconds, they are awarded with a free plate. So, Elaine and Terry took up the challenge...you can see that the effect was super cute. It was a GREAT time for us and a chance to get some food that reminds us of home! This definitely started the birthday celebration out right!Back to our daunting task of finding a venue....Lucky for us, we found a franchise where the kids can paint a piece of pottery. After grabbing the brochure, I discovered that there was a branch not too far from the girls’ school. Thinking we were looking for a small craft shop perhaps in a mall or small area, we instead found ourselves in the Zishan Cultural and Ecological Garden. Apparently, the ‘DIY painting’ is party of the Zishan Garden’s way of helping students connect with their surroundings. WE DEFINITELY hit the jackpot, if you ask me.
So, today, Elaine and 16 of her classmates were treated to lunch, and a guided tour of the cultural center, where we saw 6,000 year old oyster shells which are about 5 times the size of today’s oyster shell! After, we went outside and discovered different species of birds, frogs, plants….then hiked up to a temple at the top of the mountain which was once Taiwan’s very first school (which was a Japanese school as Japan had occupied Taiwan at that time). It is now a temple which sits high up in the Zhi Shan mountain. It’s a great way to see the city, and I was AMAZED that all 18 of the kids made it to the top and entered in to the temple as respectfully as they did. A number of them decided to ‘Bai Bai’, which is offer a prayer to the God of that Temple….while I suggested that they give thanks for many of the things that they have, our guide suggested that they each offer a prayer, asking this God to fulfill whatever wish they decided to offer…heaven only knows how many Nintendo DS I’s will be in their future, but the effect was fun . 
You can imagine the chaos involved in corralling 18 children while hiking up to this temple. Lucky for me, 3 fellow moms and my faithful husband worked the crowd control and kept everything down to a dull roar. One of the moms is Chinese (I believe she is local Taiwanese; however, I’m not certain) and was VERY helpful in explaining a bit more about the temple…for example…one enters on the right and not the left as the left entrance is for the ghosts. She also cautioned us not to step on the red raised step in each door frame, as this is also to prevent ghosts from wandering where they should not. She also saw an ancient large gold coin in the back of the temple…apparently if one rubs this coin, wealth and prosperity is supposed to come along. So, needless to say that we all rubbed the coin!!!! :)
One can imagine that, an hour later, the kids were all tired and getting restless at the temple, as beautiful as it was….so we asked our trusty guide (who was English speaking) to please quicken the pace of the tour to prevent any major meltdowns. With very few incidents, our now tired and restless crew arrived back at our party room. Waiting for them were 3 different coin banks aligned by very large palm leaves with 6 different swabs of paint, paint brushes, and water. With new found enthusiasm, they dove into their new craft. 
Knowing that we had informed the parents to pick up their little ones at 3:30, I realized that, as is typical for me, we were running late. The kids were still painting at 3:25, and we had yet to cut the cake!!! So, trying to respect others’ schedules, we opted to cut the cake first….let the kids finish and clean their hands, then we frantically sang ‘Happy Birthday’ so as to let everyone go home :).
