We Are (Local, don’t get excited) Taiwan TV Stars!

Just wanted to post this news clip before it disappears from the internet forever.

http://ap.ntdtv.com/News/Clip/2009/01/01/66365b0f-db6a-47b1-892c-3413c4e257a4.wmv

Michael and I went on a three-day bike trip over New Year’s break with Sandy, our good Taiwanese friend, and about 50 kids from an orphanage that she volunteers for. This was their third bike trip, the first two being three-week trips around the entire island of Taiwan! They’re absolutely amazing children. We had met them before, last year when we went with Megan to visit Sandy, and thought they were a lot of fun. So when Sandy invited us to come along for the trip, we were excited to say yes!

For those of you who can’t speak Mandarin, here’s a (rough) translation of what’s said in the report:
Lady:
Let’s take a look at this next story, an interesting way to welcome in the New Year – in DouLiu, children from the Sheen-Ee orphanage decided to ride their bicycles to welcome in the new year. Their three-day trip led them from DouLiu to Tainan, covering almost 300 kilometers. Their director, WenHui, told us that this activity really encourages the children.

Voiceover:
Here we go again! On the morning of 2009 New Years Day, at 6 am, before the sun had even started shining, the children from Sheen-Ee orphanage started out on their 3rd bike trip.

Director:
We’ve already done this sort of thing twice before, because our hope is that the kids will believe in themselves. Really, riding bicycles in a group like this is excellent for the kids. And just look at them – it’s so cold outside, but they were still able to get up and get going, and have a good start on the beginning of this journey! This is really not easy. Right now, it’s so early that most everybody else is still inside asleep. But we’ve already gone 5 kilometers before stopping to eat breakfast!

Voiceover:
(Not quite sure what she said)…This woman, Sandy, has already gone on a trip with the orphanage and now joins them for a second time.

Sandy:
Most importantly, I come here to see the kids go from an attitude of “I can’t!” to having confidence and believing in themselves, from not being able to hug me to running up to me on their own initiative, saying “Teacher, you’re here!!” This gives me the ability to take initiative myself.

Voiceover:
(Not quite sure what she said)…Two friends from America, who have come to join the children in their journey.

Emily:
Michael:

Voiceover:
(something)…So, the children from Sheen-Ee Orphanage set out. Jia You! (This literally means add oil (to a fire), but is used to mean “You can do it!)

Pretty cool eh? Come visit us and you can hop along for the ride next time