Bree celebrates the New Year at the home of her friend Marina, where they watch the midnight fireworks show at the Space Needle.
Family reunion in Taiwan. From left to right: E-moon, Liya, Cheng-nan, Evan, Angela, Victor, [??], [??], Victor, Endry, A-bei.
Angela has felt sick for the past few days, and it turns out she has COVID. Her symptoms have been very mild, and according to CDC guidelines, she should be okay to travel by the time of her upcoming flight home.
Moxie sits in the Circle of Comfort. Jan is using the time between Christmas and New Year’s to clean some things out of his office. He clears a bunch of stuff off his desk, creating room for a circular “Ogosport” mesh paddle toy thing we’ve owned for years. The cats love to sit in or lie down on this circle regardless of where it is, but placing this under the warm desk light creates an irresistible attraction.
Angela returns from Seattle. Jan and Lyn pick her up and, since it’s the middle of dinnertime, the three go to Grazie in nearby Southcenter for a good Italian meal.
Liya, E-moon, and Evan continue to travel in Taiwan after Angela’s return to Seattle. They visit the mountain town of Jiufen a couple hours east of Taipei. It’s known for its teahouses.
Evan leaves Taiwan for Madrid, Spain. He’ll spend the winter term there in an intensive Spanish language class. In theory, he’s not supposed to use English for the duration of term.
Lyn tests positive for COVID too. There’s a nationwide spike in COVID cases at the moment, so it’s not a big surprise. She quarantines herself in her apartment at her retirement home, and will be there for at least the next five days.
Angela’s best friend’s daughter Ruth is stranded at SeaTac on her way back to school, so we host Ruth for a couple of nights before she can catch the next flight to Walla Walla.
Liya returns from Taiwan. She’ll spend a couple of weeks with us before beginning a spring term in Costa Rica.
We host Angela’s cousin Leslie for a night. Following Ruth’s visit, we just have time to turn over our guest room before our next impromptu guest arrives. A pipe burst in Leslie’s apartment on Bainbridge Island, and while repair people were able to fix the problem quickly, they set up massive fans to dry out the apartment. It’s impossible to sleep with the noise, so Leslie comes over to spend the night.
While Liya’s back for a couple of weeks, we make a day trip to Crystal Mountain for skiing. Our friend Josie (left) joins us, as well as our friend Chris (taking the picture). It’s warmer than expected, and there’s a bit of drizzle in the morning, but the afternoon is pretty.
Bree spends the day of her school’s Winter Ball sewing a silk dress for the event. She finishes it just before her friends Grace (left) and Julia (right) arrive. The dance is held at the Seattle Aquarium, where Julia happens to volunteer, so she provides a little insider info as they walk around the exhibits. Bree has a great time.
Jan finds out that he didn’t pass the N1 level of the Japanese proficiency test he took back in December. That’s disappointing but has no real consequences; he studies for the test as a way to motivate himself to study things like kanji, grammar, and vocabulary. He’ll take the test again this coming December.
This month he was inspired by Evan to begin using a new technique for studying grammar: a type of flashcard called a “cloze deletion” or “cloze test”. In this type of card, the front of a card shows a sentence that’s missing some key word(s) and one has to remember what those words are.
Jan’s also been inspired by Bree, who’s been reading Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in Spanish. She reads the Spanish text while listening to the Spanish audiobook, and says she likes that combination; she also says it’s helpful that she knows the English original by heart. Jan looks for something suitable that’s available in Japanese e-book and audiobook formats, and manages to find a translation of “The Hobbit”. It’s fun to read, although there are far too many dwarves and Gandalf in that book is a bit of a pill.
Liya leaves to spend her spring term in Costa Rica. She’ll be studying at the School for Field Studies, an undergraduate study abroad program that focuses on environmental studies and research. Our family friend, Kaila, did the same program last year and had a great time.