[April 5, 2014] Morrison Academy Bethany Campus Annual Flea Market

Another great little market for parents looking for bargains.  Manageable size, friendly sellers, always something special to be found.

Image is from the school's FACEBOOK page.  If you are looking at schooling options, this one is worth checking out.

[March 22, 2014] TAS Orphanage Club Annual Book Sale

Taipei American School Orphange Club's  book sale is an institution.  If you are looking for any kind of books at all, make your way and fight the crowds!  This is not just limited to children's books. New books, old books, comics, art books, encyclopedias, novels... more than you can imagine possible for one single sale.

Start time 10am. Runs till 5pm.

Address: Taipei American School, 800 Chung Shan North Road, Section 6, Taipei

[March 29, 2014] AGAPE CHARITY RUMMAGE SALE (Children/Maternity/Parenting-Related)

AGAPE CHARITY RUMMAGE SALE - March 29th, 9:00am - 1:00pm
DONATE ~ VOLUNTEER ~ SHOP!
Dear Parents and Friends of City Playgroup,
We are excited to announce that the AGAPE charity rummage sale will be on Saturday, March 29th, from 9:00am - 1:00pm. As most of you may know and remember, this rummage sale founded by parentpages families in 2004 has grown so much over the years that it became overwhelming for the group to continue to manage it, and it was adopted by AGAPE ICA Church in November 2011.

We are very grateful to all of you who will make donations over these next few weeks, through drop offs and directly on the day of the sale. This time all cash proceeds will be given to Mustard Seed Mission, and their Ai-Hsin Children's Home. The website link: http://www.mustard.org.tw/ah_home/index_e.asp

All remaining items will be donated to either a local infant / toddler orphanage in Taipei City and to charities working with aboriginal villages of Taiwan, of which both we have donated extra things to for several years now.

This is a bi-annual event that allows families to reuse and recycle, as well as de-clutter for a good cause. We are asking for donations of infant and children's clothing, books, toys, and infant and maternity related items since these things have always been the main focus of our rummage sale.

Please Note: the only furniture we can take is infant related such as beds, strollers, playpens, and highchairs, etc.

We have been very encouraged by those who have stepped forward already to volunteer and ask that if you are interested to help in sorting, or setting up and/or working at the sale on the day, to please respond to this e-mail. We need and appreciate any help you can give! Those who volunteer for a few hours will have an opportunity to select up to (5) items they wish to purchase while sorting and at 8:30am for those who will help on the sale day, as a gesture of appreciation.

Sorting & Set Up Dates
Thursday, March 27th: 1:00 - 4:00pm
Friday, March 28th: 10:00am - 4:00pm

Volunteers are always welcome on the morning of the sale for help at the tables selling from 9:00am - 1:00noon, and packing up from 1:00 - 2:00pm.

Location: 3F, Building No. 21, Chang Chun Rd., Taipei City / 台灣台北市中山區長春路21 號 3 樓
(Near the intersection of ZhongShan North Rd.)

The venue is located a few blocks from the Zhongshan MRT stop, EXIT 9, on the red line. The 5th exit is in the underground mall area and that you have to head north towards the direction of the Shuanglian MRT stop while underground. You will actually take an elevator at Exit 9, It is less than a 2-block way from there.

DONATIONS
If you have any items to donate, we ask that you bring them to the following places:
Taipei Area:
-City Playgroup Thursday Outing Locations / Kelly Manske

- Kelly Manske: 台北市慶城街69號11樓 11F., Building No. 69, Qingcheng St ., Songshan Dist., Taipei City Cell: #0919-996-827 / Home # (02) 2545-0459

- Kindermusik Classroom with Jennifer Chau: 12F-2, No. 185 Zhongshan North Road, Section 2. Please call to work out a drop time with her at #0976-630-1060

-Agape International Church, 3F, No. 21 Chang Chun Rd., Taipei City. Please call Ken or Peggy Krake to coordinate a drop off time at 2571-8120 / 0983-400-054

Tien Mu / Shilin / Beitou:
Community Services Center / In care of Jennifer Chau No. 25, Lane 290 Zhong Shan North Rd., Sec. 6 Telephones: (02) 2836-8134 · 2838-4947

Neihu Area:
Parent's Place / Angela Chang #315, 2F, Cheng Gong Road, Section 4, Neihu Tele: 0988-661-132 or 0975-266-833. Please call her first! Website: http://www.parentsplace.com.tw/

I will have a flyer for you to keep for reference or forward to others in a few days, but you must send me a reply by e-mail or private message to have me send it to you directly. Thank you for all of your help and support to a worthy cause, and for recycling what can be useful to others!

Sincerely,

Kelly Manske Thursday Morning City Playgroup Leader

Spring Semester 2014: What's On Around Town For Children Ages 6 and Up?

If your family is new to Taipei,  or if it's difficult for you to find events and groups for your elementary and junior-high school aged children, take a look at some of the offerings below.

Drew's Drama Session II

We are getting ready to launch Drew's Drama Session II next Sunday (March 2), 10 am at the Red Room. (near Chungsiao Fuhsing SOGO). This will be a four week session, 1.5 hours per Sunday, a total of 6 hours altogether, featuring the works of Dr. Seuss. Recommended age group: 8-14 yrs old. Cost: NT 2800. If you are interested, please message Carol (cyao@tig.com.tw)  and she will help you with the details.

This drama group will connect you and your children with some of the best English-speaking performers in Taipei.  We are lucky to have this opportunity for our children!

Stage Time and Juice at the Red Room

The next Stage Time and Juice will be Saturday, March 15, 2014. (I will post full details later). This afternoon with have a St. Patrick's Day Theme! Everyone will be encouraged to wear green and there will be green punch and hopefully other Irish/green themed snacks, which are brought along by you, the participants in the afternoon.*  Stage Time and Juice is a space for children, families, and people who enjoy encouraging the creative development of youth (and their parents!) to get together and share their knowledge.  Children and adults alike get up on the stage for up to 5 minutes, to share original or favorite poetry, music, skits, stories...  whatever it is that delights and insipires them.

Juice is not just for 6 and up. We do have younger children who come along with parents or older siblings and really enjoy the afternoon.  It is not a drop-off activity, and parents need to actively look after their children of all ages throughout the afternoon.

I wrote a full bi-lingual post about this regular event last year.  This is a wonderful place for you to meet other families and get a feel of what is available in the community, too.

*Each family is encouraged to bring along either a large bottle of juice or tea, or a plate of child-friendly finger food to share.

If you would like to contribute to the performances, please contact Carol at  cyao@tig.com.tw.

Writer's Workshop at Parent's Place

Now well into its second year, my Writer's Workshop is going strong.  Open to children age 6 and up, this workshop is a platform for children to confirm their love of the English language and their power to use it.

This semester, we will continue to work on the mechanics of the language, at each child's developmental level.  We will also take on a group project, producing some video material based on our written work.  Through this project, children will learn about using language to communicate to a wider audience.

The workshop is every Wednesday 1:30pm-3:30pm, at Parents' Place in Neihu.  Please contact me through the contact page here for more details.  So far, there are nine children in the group, and we have space for a few more.

Sample of work: Writing to our heroes.

English-Language Drama Camp, Winter of 2014, Parents' Place in Neihu

10am-3pm Mon-Fri January 20-24

We are excited to offer this winter camp during the first week of the winter holidays! We will have FIVE DAYS of drama and storytelling activities for the children. And, we are lucky enough to get not one, but TWO experienced, creative, energetic, and much-in-demand teachers for the week.

10am-12 noon, freelance teacher and choregrapher Lauren Mark (http://becoming.com.tw/lauren-mark/) will lead children to:
-explore different levels of movement and physical shapes
-transform spaces into other worlds through imagination and body language
-make living paintings, or tableaux, of your favorite story scenes

1pm-3pm, Katie Parlow (http://becoming.com.tw/theatre-katie-partlow/) will introduce the children to the world of theater and improv.

In theater, kids can learn self-confidence through games designed to help them express their own creativity and imagination. Beyond that, improv also teaches kids flexibility and quick-thinking, all in a fun and safe environment. Different skills: voice, body, story creation and then two days of improv. "Improv activities" is a series of different games where participants make skits.

This camp is open to children from grade 1 and up. The nature of the activities mean older children should find it most enjoyable and challenging, also.

Schedule:
9:45am doors open
10am -12 noon Movement/storytelling
12 noon - 1pm Lunch
1pm-3pm Theater/Improve

Pickup by 3:30pm.

Please register ASAP. We need 5 registrations to confirm the camp. http://www.parentsplace.com.tw/Register.html

Cost: NTD5,000 for the week.
Lunch: Bring your own, or NTD100 per day for a Chinese-food lunchbox.
Payable upon registration.

Awesome Playgroup News Winter 2013 - Online Edition of the Paper Produced by Children in Taipei

Here's the link to our digital format of the latest Awesome Playgroup News! But we will still have a few of the beautiful print copies available at the Jan. 18 Stage time and Juice. Please support our sponsors. And, check out the photography contest!

http://www.youblisher.com/p/786428-Awes ... nter-2013/

This paper is produced by children who are in Taiwan and/or connected to Taipei City Playgroup and offshoots in some way. We welcome all children's submissions, children's help with layout, and sponsors' support.

Shimen Coastal Area - More Than a Kite Beach

Way back in the early days of this blog, I wrote about the annual kite festival at Shimen Kite Park.  Since that writeup, I have gone out to the beach several times, mostly to walk my dog and give my kids a bit of a run in fresh air.  On a trip out there alone (with the dog) a few days ago I explored the area a bit more than I had in the past, and discovered it was a little treasure trove of places to run and play, even on these cooler winter days.

First, we have to deal with the ugly truth.  A LOT of trash gets washed up onto this Kite Park beach, and is left there during the winter months.  This first picture is taken from the Kite Park entrance side of the beach.  I wouldn't feel comfortable recommending this for children or dogs at the moment. Unfortunately, this is the first landing for most visitors, as it is easily accessible from the carpark right off the main coast road.

This is a picture of the "Polystyrene Garden" - for some reason, there is a lot of polystyrene "growing" out of the vegetation that reaches from the car park to the beach.  It looks like leftovers from containers used to hold raw fish.

This time round, I decided to venture to the other side of the township that is by the Kite Park beach.  I drove out of the carpark, and took a hard right, driving over the little bridge and through the street, then took a right toward the beach. There is a signpost showing the way to the Cape Park.  I turned left and followed the street up the hill. I was delighted to discover three car parks, clean toilets, and a number of wonderful stone and wooden picnic tables and chairs scattered around the grounds, under these amazing "windswept trees".  These areas hold the promise of a cool escape from hot summer days.  This area is known as "Fugui Cape Park".

The paths are mostly wheelchair-friendly.  This gun emplacement is right next to the path.  

 The area is well-signposted.

The steps go up to the lookout.

The view is spectacular.  You can head back down to the activity area and enter the brick maze, or run around the open space. It was almost silent when I went there.

 This "Laomei" Green Reef was formed by "wave-cut volcanic lava". The best time to see this is at low tide in April and May.  It is the only place in Taiwan that you can see this kind of landscape.

Besides this off-road area, there are several attractions close by.  The government website is well-written, and clearly shows the positions of the respective landmarks in the area.  I did not make it to the lighthouse this time, but plan on taking the children out there when we have opportunity.  The lighthouse is the northern-most one in Taiwan, and very accessible.

Fuji Fishing Harbor is located right on the way out of Fugui Cape Park.  It is the large white building down at the edge of the water.  You can buy seafood to take home, or have a meal at one of the many local seafood restaurants.  If you go on a weekday, you can get away with not paying for parking in the car park.

Here's a night view of Fuji Fishing Harbor, taken in August 2013:

Overall, Shimen district's attractions and natural areas should appeal to families.  Definitely not as popular with tourists as Baishawan or Sanzhi, it could provide some coastal air and a space for the kids and the dogs to let off steam, year-round.

How to get there:

MRT/Bus:
1. MRT: Take the Danshui (Danshuei) Line to Hongshulin Station and catch the shuttle bus
2. Danshuei Bus: Danshuei → Jinshan (Laomei Village, Shihmen → Walk about 150 meters)

Car:
1. Taipei → Chongcing North Road Interchange → Provincial Hwy 2B (Dadu Hwy) → Danshuei → Provincial Hwy 2 → Shihmen → Laomei Village (intersection of Laomei Street and Danshuei-Jinshan Highway (Provincial Hwy 2)
2. Taipei → Yangmingshan National Park → Yangmingshan-Jinshan Highway (Provincial Hwy 2A) → Jinshan → Yeliou → Shihmen → Laomei Village (intersection of Laomei Street and Danshuei-Jinshan Highway (Provincial Hwy 2)
3. Sanchong → Wugu Interchange → Guandu Bridge → Jhuwei → Denghuei Blvd. → Provincial Hwy 2 → Shihmen → Laomei Village (intersection of Laomei Street and Danshuei-Jinshan Highway (Provincial Hwy 2)
4. Sun Yat-sen Freeway → North Coastal Highway Interchange → Provincial Hwy 2 → Shihmen → Laomei Village (intersection of Laomei Street and Danshuei-Jinshan Highway (Provincial Hwy 2)
5. Second Northern Freeway) → Sijhih → Keelung-Wanli Interchange → Wanli → Jinshan → Shihmen → Laomei Village (intersection of Laomei Street and Danshuei-Jinshan Highway (Provincial Hwy 2)


Google Map: http://theme.northguan-nsa.gov.tw/gmap/gmap.aspx?Lang=2&SNo=04002740&nearBy=view