Today, April 16th, we had our final two school interviews, first with a reputedly top boys' high school in Kaohsiung and then with a delightful elementary school. Once again, each school takes advantage of the lush warm climate to showcase plants, each has a guard house to monitor visitors, each has attractive parking areas made of brick or tile rather than blacktop, and each has a staff that is deservedly proud of their school. Our observations of how the teachers in Taiwan service kids with disabilities (learning, physical, emotional) seem to hold true for these two schools as well: an occasional pull-out option to support mainly inclusive classroom teaching. The Min Tsu Elementary School impressed us by their having helped create a special program, now administered by the Kaohsiung City government, to train parents of autistic children how to communicate more effectively with their children! The program is offered for two full days, a Saturday and a Sunday, near the summer's end. This school is known for its servicing of autistic students and indeed has a special room to teach the 12 autistic students in their school. Some classes do have aides for the more limited children if placed in the inclusive classroom.

In between our two visits, we grabbed a quick lunch at guess where!?? And then, in our forty minutes to kill, we went to their wonderful National Museum of Science and Technology and zipped particularly through the interactive children's sections. Fun! The pictures here show: the insides of a turn stile; the way the heat of our hands can make a meter go up; the power of the energy created by rapidly turning a crank lights up a light bulb; and the workings of a lunar and a solar eclipse by placing the observer (Ted) between the sun and the moon.

The last exciting event of the day was Maren's arrival!! Her plane, just like Chris, Neot and Maya's was late, so we didn't pull into our villa until after midnight!! But we are so glad she is here!!