Things I Take for Granted

Morning after morning, I try and remind myself to tell you about some of the sights I see on my way to school. Things that might be foreign to you. Things I take for granted.

Like the breakfast stands. Food is a huge thing in Chinese culture. Around mealtimes, you greet people by asking if they've eaten yet. And many homes in this crowded city do not have big kitchens. So it's not unusual for people to eat out for many, if not most, meals. On my 7-minute drive to school, I pass a handful of breakfast stands. Some sell egg sandwiches. The real traditional ones sell Chinese pastries and soy bean milk, which is often handed to you in a small plastic bag. You can have it hot or cold, sweet or salty. I love sweet, warm soybean milk!

And then there are the people doing exercises. Exercising is as big a thing as food in Chinese culture, partly why you rarely see overweight Chinese people! On my ride to school, I pass two groups of ladies. If I'd drive a different route, I'd see many more men and women working out in the park that I drive by!

The first group I pass never fails to make me smile. They dance. And boy, do they dance. One lady, especially, looks like she may have always dreamed of being professional dancer. Her hair is always put up nicely, and curled. She always wears quite the outfit. And she's totally into the music. Keep in mind, this is around 7 a.m. Her group is comprised of about 20 other ladies who are almost as passionate as she is about dancing.

When I sit at the 5-phase traffic light, waiting my turn to go, I often watch another group of ladies in red and white. They do Tai Chi, I believe. In uniform. In sync. In all seriousness. And those ladies can bend and breathe like I can't at almost half their age. Their workout venue? At the entrance to a large Japanese department store. Where there's a decent space, you'll find people exercising every morning, from the crack of dawn.

Many parks have long stretches of rock, where people take off their shoes and walk barefoot on the smooth river rocks. Except, the rocks are planted into cement, a good inch apart, with the tips facing up. Walking across the rocks is really painful to the untrained foot. But it's great accu-pressure, a DIY foot massage.

On my way home, I often drive past a local market. If you step inside, you have rows of vendors selling fresh fish, fresh meat (with pig heads lying staring at you), fresh noodles, fresh flowers, fresh veggies. And then the odd little corner shops where you can buy fine China and such. Go figure.

The same drive home takes me past numerous food vendors, from young entrepreneurs who set up noodle stands in the back of a little pickup truck, to an old man who blows a whistle every time he's about to fire off his contraption that makes puffed rice. There are rows and rows of snack stands selling everything from shaved ice, hot or cold glutinous rice balls, seaweed treats, or finely-sliced cooked pig ears.

I can walk out any time of the night, if I so wished, and find a number of vendors selling good Chinese food. In my area, these vendors are fewer than, say, downtown, or in the college areas. What can I say? The Chinese people are serious about their food.

By now, you can tell that the Western idea of stereotypical Chinese food is far from correct. There are oh-so-many kinds of Chinese food. And other than deep-fried or steamed fermented soybean curd, I like it all.

Perhaps I should follow the unspoken advice of my neighbors and join them for their daily exercises in the park.

"Miss Booysen's going to Africa!"

I get to go back to Kenya for a few days. When I was in Iowa this summer, friends of mine asked if I'd lead their team on a return medical mission. I was thrilled to do it, thinking time is not a problem--I work part time. Right?

Not any more!

When the school asked me if I'd take on a full-time pre-K teaching position, I explained that I already had a commitment in October. They were gracious enough to understand. It turns out that though I'll be gone for 10 days, I only miss 4 school days. That's a God thing, really. It "just so happened" that this trip, planned months ago, is falling over two 3-day school weeks.

My little ones are excited for me to go to Africa. When one of the moms asked her daughter what I'll be doing there, she said, kind of in a moms-just-don't-get-it manner, "To see giraffes and zebras and lions, of course!"

So I explained to the kids today that I'm going to "help sick people." How else do I explain that I'm a part of a medical team but have no medical expertise. I'm going as a liaison, helping to facilitate meetings for some future projects (planning to build a clinic in the remote north of Kenya) as well as for ways in which the team's involvement so far can be maximized. (In other words, how can the clinic they funded in Kipkaren be self-sustainable?)

Until this morning, it really hadn't sunk in that I'm going.

I've been pre-occupied with getting things ready for parent-teacher conferences starting the day I walk back into class. And with finishing a Church History class. (Yeah! I'm another step closer to being Dr. Booysen!) And with working on the coursework for two other classes as well, one of which is the start of my dissertation.

Back to Africa, though.

So it really only hit me this morning that I'm going back to Kenya tonight...

Some things I am really looking forward to:
* Seeing my Kenyan friends, especially the kids in Ilula
* Catching up with my friends in Kipkaren, and meeting Allison and David's baby boy
* Telling the kids about life in Taiwan
* Spending time with God by the river in the mornings
* Watching the African sunrise and sunset
* Journeying with the team, helping them unpack what they're learning
* Spending the last two days in the Maasai Mara with the team
* Buying little gifts for my kids here, so they know I was thinking of them

Things I'm not looking forward to?
* Being confronted with overwhelming needs, and trying to discern where to help and where not to help

Each and every one of my little rugrats gave me the biggest hug this afternoon. "Be careful of tigers, Miss Booysen," my quietest boy said. It doesn't matter how many times I've told them that there are not tigers or bears in Africa.

I'll be careful.

But not so careful that I don't have fun. And not so careful that I don't discover unexpected surprises in unexpected places. By that, I don't mean a snake in the bathroom. 'Cause that might happen, you know? It's just the way it is when you're right by a river.

But the river brings good surprises, too.

I know it does. When I was praying about leaving Kenya last year, God kept impressing on my heart that I need to step out in faith, that as I cross the river before me, he will make my feet sturdy, and that he'll build the bridge as I walk.

He has done so indeed.

What a GOOD GOD we serve!

I'll try to post updates from Kenya, of course.

This is where I live... quite different from life in the Kenyan boonies...

Life

Last weekend, I hopped on the high-speed train and headed down to Kaohsiung for the weekend. Due to work, I wasn't able to go with the church group I first thought I'd join, so I connected with my friend Marion instead.

I had met Marion about 10 years ago when she was an intern at ORTV, and though I hadn't seen her, we've kept in touch over the years. And so, Friday after work, I hopped on the train and headed down to the very last stop on the line, where Marion, her husband Kris, and their 3-month-old son Kaeden met me.

I think I fell in love right away with Kaeden.

Look at this. How can one not fall in love with this kid? He wakes up with a smile. For real. And at times, when he's not so happy, his dad takes him flying around the house. He hums the Superman tune to him, which always makes Kaeden smile.

I think Kaeden might truly believe someday that he can fly...

Kris and Marion put Kaeden in a little Superman outfit for church on Sunday.

Just for fun, they put on Superman T-shirts to church, too. As you can tell, they're a great family, and I had an awesome time visiting!

On Saturday, we left Kaeden with a sitter and joined a local church to do some cleanup in a nearby town. Typhoon Marokot, which hit the island on August 8-9 and dumped close to 10 feet of rain on parts of the island, causing landslides and burying some villages in the mountainous areas. At this stage, the official death toll is 376, with another 254 people still missing.

Obviously, the storm has wreaked havoc on the island's economy. Here's an excellent set up pictures from The Boston Globe about the extent of the storm, including damage in the Philippines and China. But the worst damage was in Taiwan.

As you can imagine, the villages that had been affected the worst have been getting the most help so far. In areas, relief crews are still digging for bodies...

So our crew went to Kaoshu (meaning Tall Tree), a village in Pintung County where things weren't necessarily as bad as in other places, but people still needed help!

Kris, Marion, and I joined three other people and helped a coconut farmer clean out his house.

The farmer and his family had about three feet of muddy water wash through their house. We helped to sweep out some more mud. And wash off mud from walls, and from furniture, and dig out mud from behind pipes... It was unbearably hot, but working as a team, I know we were able to bless this farmer and his family!

Here I am trying to get the pressure washer to work so I could spray off some mud from the walls. You can see the mud line on the walls above my knees...

The shelf against the wall is a family altar where this family would be bringing offerings to their ancestors. The urn on the floor below the altar is what people use to burn ghost money in.

After a long time of digging out mud and carefully carrying it outside, we took a break to drink some water. The farmer brought us some fresh coconut water earlier, too, which was a bit hard for me to get down since we simply weren't too sure about the cleanliness of the tools with which he would've split the coconuts. But what can you do when the guy hands you a cup of coconut water and waits for you do drink it?


Here I am outside the house. (My face is beet red from working in the hot house.) The water next to the house is mixed with sewage, so we were very careful about not splashing any of the mud we carried outside. The farmer, on the other hand, was walking through this water barefoot!


The neighbors' house. Though the damage outside doesn't look so extensive, it's really bad when you step inside the house and there's mud in everything!


After a long day of working, Kris, Marion and I were thankful to head home and clean up!

Throughout the day, I was reminded a lot of last year's flood in Cedar Rapids as well as of the earthquake in Taiwan on September 21, 1999. I was living on the island then, too, and went down to central Taiwan to help with earthquake relief work.

No wonder my niece Clara thinks everywhere I go, disasters follow! I've lived through a major earthquake, several major typhoons or floods; I survived a tough season of living in the boonies, a civil war; I even held a ticket for a flight on an airplane that crashed (I had changed my travel plans just days before to leave one day earlier)!

But I've survived. No, I think I've more-than-survived all these crazy events in life. I've been able to enjoy life.

Which reminds me. A mom cornered me at school the other day. Her daughters used to be in my youth group years ago, and she asked me why I'm not married. (In this culture, as in Kenya, it's very unusual for people to choose to be single.) Though I was taken aback my her frankness, my answer to her was what I always tell those who ask: that I've had offers, but have not yet met a man whom I've wanted to spend the rest of my life with, and that there are worse things than being single...

"But Adele," she objected, "what if you cannot have a baby?!"

I wonder if that is supposed to be the ultimate goal in life: to procreate.

Maybe I'll think differently about these things if ever I have the blessing of marrying an amazing man and having a child, but for now, I find immense blessing in simply living life to the fullest, in making the most of the freedom afforded by being single and grasping opportunities to live abroad, get a doctorate, and simply enjoying life. Some people might think that's selfish. I think I'm being optimistic.

And so, when I cross paths with friends like Kris and Marion and get to fall in love with their little one, it's not because I desperately "want one of those" for myself, but simply because I find immense joy in seeing friends (and family) grow into a family of their own. I love seeing the promise that a little life holds.

And when that little one has a dirty diaper . . .

. . . I can hand him back to where he came from. :)

There and back again

Wanting to get out of the city for a bit, I asked Jeremiah (whose family I used to live with in California) to meet me for dinner in Tansui tonight. It's a town at the end of the river that flows through Taipei and spills out into the Taiwan Strait, the body of water that separates the island from China.

I had time to take a few photos before Miah showed up. Didn't have my tripod with me, so the photos aren't as crisp as I'd like them to be, but you'd get the idea of some of the nightlife, regardless.













The main night market in Tansui -- where we ended up having beef noodle soup at a hole-in-the-wall restaurant













The night markets all over the island are this crowded every night













The signs in Taiwan crack me up sometimes! "The best saporous chicken..." I had to look that one up. Saporous means flavorful.













There's a potato restaurant. Look at the small print:
Ireland's proverb says: There are two things in the world that can't be joked. 1. Marriage 2. Potato













If you don't want saporous chicken or Irish potato, how about some coagulated pig's blood (mixed with rice) on a stick (on the far left) ...













... or some fried squid on a stick?













Want something sweeter? How about caramelized cherry tomatoes with pickled plum?



















Along the main drag along the coast is this little Taoist temple. There were numerous urns along the water where worshipers would burn ghost money for the spirits to protect the fishermen



















Another Taoist temple along the waterfront. Taoist gods are very scary-looking!














Tired? Get a quick massage!













I was impressed to see most kids wearing helmets. You still often see entire families on a scooter without the little ones wearing helmets. In case you're wondering, the fruit on the table next to the family are similar to litchis. They're a tropical fruit called dragon eyes













Off in the distance you see Taipei City. It takes about 30 minutes or so on the MRT to get from Tansui back to the suburb where I live. A good little getaway for the night.

Heading back to the train station, I ran into Charis, a kid that used to be in my youth group years ago. She and their YWAM team were just coming back from the south of the island, where they were helping with typhoon cleanup.

It was especially good to see Jeremiah again, and to visit about everything from family to studies. It's good to be able to connect with someone here who's known me a bit longer than most of the people around me!

Life at the Foot of a Volcanic Mountain

I live on an island, just a hop, skip, and jump from the coast. Not really. You'd need to hop, skip and jump over the mountains first. Between the apartment I call "home" and the ocean lies a mountain. I live at the foot of a gorgeous volcanic mountain.

Watching the moon set

Seeing that it was still early, I could easily pull over and take in gorgeous little waterfalls

The volcano is extinct, though. But it still has sulfur springs. Some are hot enough to boil eggs in. Which people do. Just for the fun, I guess.

You can smell the sulfur as you ride up the mountain. Having lived higher up on the mountain during my previous stay in Taiwan, I've grown to love the smell. I had driven the roads around the northern tip of the island many times, usually in the small car I used to have. I called it the Silver Bullet. It was actually gray. And not too fast. The name was an optimistic take on life.

Today was my first time to drive these roads on my scooter. A friend had left me her 150CC Yamaha scooter, which has been a tremendous blessing. I'm calling the scooter Solomon, since it has three stickers on it with Salomon written on it. I'm guessing it's the snowboard company. I'll call it Solomon instead. For the wise king of Israel. Partly because I'm working on a class on church history right now. But mostly because I seek to be wise. Part of my Chinese name, in fact, is "wisdom," since that is what I seek to have.

But that's another story.

Seeing that I've been waking up at crazy hours, thanks to jet lag, I decided this morning to head up the mountain. Beat the crowds and go early. 'Cause the mountain really gets crowded on Saturdays. As in bumper-to-bumper traffic most of the afternoon.

Once you're up on the mountain, you can explore various nearby mountains, all with hot springs

By 5:30, I filled up Solomon (it cost me all of $3 to fill its tank with gas - nice!) and headed up the mountain.

There were hardly any cars on the road. Some bicycles. A few other scooters. The cars started trailing up the side roads only as I made my way down.

It didn't take long before the smell hit me. Sulfur. It made me smile. I passed the turn-off to my former home, passed the alleys leading for former friends' homes who have all since moved. Stopped at the 7-Eleven high up on the mountain to get a cup of latte. The Starbucks next door was still closed, else I may have stopped to study there.

Kiptoo and I, stopping at the top of Yangming Mountain (with the Taiwan Cultural University in the back) to enjoy some hot latte from 7-Eleven

But I kept going higher up the mountain, passing many older people who were heading out for early-morning walks. Many greeted me in Taiwanese as I waved at them. I don't speak Taiwanese, only Mandarin. But a smile and a wave transcends language barriers.

Looking down at my neighborhood... Due to the haze you cannot see it clearly, but the ocean is visible towards the top right corner of the photo

Not wishing to go all the way over the mountains to the coast (not today, I didn't want to be stuck in the traffic later in the day, plus I need to study), I turned around at the entrance to Yangming National Park and took a side road down to my neighborhood.

I took a side road down to my neighborhood

The side road is much steeper and way more curvy. You constantly have to make hairpin turns. I was glad there were only a handful of cars winding their way up the side road by that time.

Suddenly, a rock about the size of 3 baseballs landed a meter or so in front of me... I looked up and saw a whole group of macacus monkeys up in the trees right above me. They weren't happy, for whatever reason, so I didn't pause to take a picture...

Passing through the bamboo forests

As I kept winding down the mountain, I passed through bamboo forests, then past small-scale farms until the road spit me out in Tienmou, my neighborhood, where I stopped for breakfast and to come and change into something cooler.

Closer to the foot of the mountain, some small-scale farm with persimmons ripening on the tree

At the same farm, the "moon fruit" aren't ripe yet, either. These are giant grapefruit that are usually ready by Moon Festival, which is coming up next month

Entering Tienmou, I passed by two local temples. The one at the back is a Buddhist temple (it's more simplistic) while the one in the foreground is a Taoist temple

Some detail on the Taoist temple roof

Now, I'm heading out to make myself at home in some little coffee shop someplace and study.

Life at the foot of this volcanic mountain is good.

Hot. But good.

"Highest Noon" Festival (aka Dragon Boat Festival)

According to the Lunar calendar, today is the 5th day of the 5th month. And the 5th day of the 5th lunar month is the day when the sun is at its highest and the heat starts to become oppressive. On this day, many people in this part of the world prepare sacrifices to protect themselves against the spirits that allegedly thrive at this time of year.* And on this day, there are lively races in many places around the world where you find Chinese people.

The festival officially started about two weeks ago, when the dragons where "woken up" by having their eyes dotted. And teams (most local teams, but some are international) will have been practicing for a while now. Especially the ones who are serious about winning, not only for the money, but also for the bragging rights.

The team from the Philippines have been competing since 1995 and are one of the favorites. You can see a marked difference between the teams that are serious about winning and those who compete for the fun of it. Look at that teamwork!

I headed down to my old neighborhood (Dazhi, where I lived & worked for almost eight years) and joined a small army of photographers on the bridge, from where we had a bird's eye view of the races. (I'd've loved to get close to the boats to take more photos, but by the time I got to the races, that area was off limits to the public.)

From the bridge, I could see most of the 500-meter stretch of the race. I have no idea how many times each team had to race, but it looked insane! They'd race, then paddle back to the starting line and race again without resting. I'm sure there are many aching bodies tonight... And the races continue this weekend!

The three boats in the center are racing. The two on the left are returning to the starting line. In the background, you can see one of Taipei's landmarks, the Grand Hotel. I'll never forget: The very first day I worked in this area, the top floor of the Grand Hotel burned down!

Backing up into the starting spot. In the background, you can see another one of the city's landmarks: Taipei 101. At 509.2 meters (1,670.2 feet) tall, this is currently still the tallest occupied building in the world. A building in Dubai has surpassed it in height, but it's not yet occupied... The 101 also has the world's fastest elevator. It ascends at almost 17 meters per second, or more than 55 feet per second!

So what do boat races have to do with the start of the hottest time of the year?

The best-known legend concerning this day revolves around a poet named Qu Yuan who lived in China in 340-278 BC. When Qu's talents became the target of slander. So he committed suicide on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month by weighing down his clothes with stones and jumping into a river.

Legend has it that local fishermen raced to help him (hence the boat races today) and threw rice in the river to prevent fish from eating him... Hence, another tradition for this day is to eat zong-zi, sort-of like rice tamales.

We had zong-zi as part of our dinner tonight. Vivian and Keith (whom I live with) had spent the afternoon at Keith's mom's place. Chen mama cooked the rice filling, and Vivian (who is Filipino Chinese) learned from her mother-in-law how to fold, fill and tie the zong-zi.

Inside the glutinous rice stuffing, Chen mama had put chestnuts, mushrooms and pork. You can get all kinds of different zong-zi stuffing. Some are just glutinous rice.

Though the actual races focus on teamwork and competition, there still is a strong spiritual connection with the races, from the dotting of the eyes to teams offering ghost money to the spirits. In fact, some of today's boats had wads of ghost money stuffed in the dragons' mouths. One tradition is for competitors to toss the money into the water before a race, feeding the money to the dragon (and probably burning it after the races for the spirits) would be a different option. There are also specific ceremonies along the shore facilitated by Buddhist and Taoist monks to invoke blessings on the events.

Notice the ghost money hanging out from the dragon's mouth

I continue to be amazed at the intricacies of the Chinese culture. So many of the day-to-day cultural activities go back centuries, and hence helping someone understand the dark side of many of these practices is very difficult.

I wonder how many of our Western cultural practices have very dark roots...


*According to my book, the "five noxious creatures," (the scorpion, centipede, snake, lizard and toad) arrives during the summer and bring with them unseen evil spirits. At this time of year, many people will hand sprigs of calamus and mugwort on their door to protect them against these spirits. I've seen many children specifically wearing protective talismans during this time.

Because I Want to Know

Yesterday was Matsu's birthday, I was told today after asking my Chinese colleagues about the craziness around our neighborhood.


Eight Generals 6, originally uploaded by Boyznberry.

(Click on this photo to see more photos from Matsu's birthday parade.)

Rather than rely on bits and pieces of information I had heard before from Christian colleagues from before, I've decided to ask my Buddhist and Taoist colleagues whenever I have questions. Not that I might always get an accurate answer, I know. Even if you'd ask a handful of Christians about certain practices or beliefs, you might get contradicting answers.

Hence, I ask questions, and I refer to this book I bought called, Private Prayers and Public Parades: Exploring the Religious Life of Taipei, which has been very insightful, to say the least.

I ask, because I want to understand.

And I ask because, in the last three years, I've learned to ask far more questions and listening more.

Not that I don't desperately want to engage in further conversation with some of these friends! Out of respect for the people, and out of a desire to know first what they believe, I will listen.

And so yesterday, I was sitting in an office at school, working on a project for one of the departments. A dozen or so Chinese colleagues sat down for lunch at the table where I was working. During a lull in their conversation, I politely said, "Xing wen..."

In other words, "May I ask..."

And were they keen to tell me all about the day.

"It's Matsu's birthday," the seemingly-most-knowlegable and possibly-most-devout among them explained. She explained that the parade was to honor Matsu, and to pray for the neighborhood.

The ladies continued to talk among themselves about some of the recent events in Taiwan regarding honoring gods. I listened on, trying hard not to let my face show how utterly bizarre I think the practices are. For example, due to the H1N1 epidemic, worshipers at one temple in Taiwan dressed their gods with face masks.

"So, if you don't want H1N1, do you go to pray at that temple?" I asked.

The explained that that was not the case. "We are just protecting our god," one colleague explained proudly.

My eyes must've given away that I thought it's pretty sad when humans have to protect their gods against viruses. "Actually," she said, "our gods protect us, so we also show them respect by protecting them. It's the same as when we take them food."

"So who exactly is Matsu," I asked another colleague later in the afternoon, when the crowd had left and she came to sit down for lunch. I had been told earlier that she was one of the most knowledgable persons about Taoism.

My colleague proceeded to tell me about Lin Mo, a girl who lived long, long ago in China. She was a very good girl, and she didn't get married. One day, her father, a fisherman, drowned, and she tried to help him. "After that, the god said she should be a god."

"Which god?" I asked inquisitively.

"A fortune teller."

"So when did she change from Lin Mo to Matsu?"

"When she became a god. Later, her sisters also became gods. Everyone can pray to them, but fishermen really pray to Matsu and her sisters. In fact, it is said that when the waters are rough and your boat is in danger of capsizing, if you see the ghost of Matsu, you have peace that everything will be fine."

Interesting.

Matsu herself wasn't carried down our streets yesterday, though. Those were other gods, smaller gods. All came out to celebrate Matsu's birthday, because she is considered the queen of heaven.

Noted.


From my book on Taiwan's religious practices, I also learned that Lin Mo was born around 960. Either way, she died at age 28. The book explains that the incident of saving her father (or it could've been her brothers) didn't really occur, but that it happened during a dream or a trance. Her ghost is said to have saved a high-ranking official in 1122, and hence she was promoted to Queen of Heaven. However, this promotion may have been a political move during the Yuan dynasty to win the allegiance of the coastal peoples. Within the temples that have her statue, she is usually flanked by two demons called "Ears that Hear the Wind" and "Thousand-Mile Eyes," both who were hapless suitors...

What I do not understand yet is how the people here have such a fascination with a religion that has openly-evil components.

Matsu's suitors, for example, are flat-out called demons. And they're in the temples.

And when you look at the photos, the "Eight Generals" in particular are downright scary! As are many of the other rituals which I'm sure I'll get to share about as time goes by.

Last month in China, I gained some invaluable insights on why/when the Chinese switched from a nation called "God's country" to referring to themselves as "Descendants of the Dragon." I'll share more upon completion of my China paper, but for now, the connection with the events surrounding Matsu's birthday is the following. I'll quote it directly from C.K. Thong's excellent text on Chinese history, Faith of Our Fathers: God in Ancient China (p. 267):

"Satan's tactic, ever since his rebellion, has been to try to get to every human being to do his will instead of God's. He is an adversary of the person and the purposes of God and seeks to usurp God's position. His schemes are wonderfully planned and executed; he does not work haphazardly. His ways are subtle. To deceive mankind, he often appears attractive. His aim, however, is to hold us captive to sin and to destroy us. ... The central characteristic of his modus operandi is fear, not love. He uses counterfeits, such as lust instead of love. While God draws people to Himself with His unfailing love, Satan uses deception coupled with fear to gain control over mankind."

I worship this God who sent His Son Jesus to redeem us from the consequences of sin.

I worship Jesus who came to earth as a human, yet was sinless, performed miracles, died on the cross, and conquered death by raising from the dead.*

I worship him for his love and for the hope I find in him. Not out of fear or superstition of what may happen if I don't please him. Nor because of religious bondage. I worship him out of love, because he loved us first.

My desire is to continue sharing this hope, freedom, love, forgiveness and meaning we can find in Christ with my neighbors.

But for now, I'll listen and learn. So that I'll know what my friends believe when I do engage in conversations with them.

* Interestingly, a "major solar and lunar eclipse" was recorded by Chinese imperial astronomers in A.D. 31, the year of the death of Jesus. They also recorded a strange halo in the sky three days later. Fascinating, isn't it??

"Hau shufu"

That means, "Very comfortable..." in Chinese. But the expression is often used even to refer to any situation when you feel right at home.

That's how I felt today, visiting with my very dear friend Jean Lin. Jean was my very first translator during our weekly Bible studies. She was also the head of the art department, so over time, we got to work together very closely. We also became very good friends and prayer partners. Jean got to travel to South Africa on a work trip with another friend (Silvija) and I, and over the years, her family grew very dear to my heart. In fact, her dad shared his coveted beef noodle soup starter with me. :)

Today, I got to sit down and catch up with Jean. It's been years. (I very briefly saw her when I was on the island three-and-a-half years ago en route to Kenya.) But I hadn't seen her otherwise, nor have I heard much from this super-super-busy woman. Turns out she's spent much of the past few years doing ministry in Moscow. As we sat and visited, two hours passed in the blink of an eye. We laughed together at memories of when we first became friends, when I was a naive 25-year-old, and rejoiced together about news of years of prayers having been answered.

I look forward to catching up with her family soon, before Jean heads back to Moscow for a while. But for now, it did my heart well to visit with someone who's known me well, who's tread deep tracks in my heart, who has prayed much for me and with me.

And as we sat and prayed together in Starbucks, Jean's hands as strong as her faith, holding mine in prayer, simple tears of joy rolled down my cheeks. As we said "So long," I had a smile on my face and in my heart.

I know I won't get to see Jean much. It's just like that. But spending a couple of hours visiting with a dear old friend was comfortable. Very, very comfortable.

Jean (standing in the back) with friends and Bible study group members. This photo was taken in January 1996.

In February of that same year, Jean traveled to South Africa with me, and got to visit my cousin Andries and his family on their corn farm. (That's his son Tielman next to Jean.)

Peace

I was just a tad frustrated two days ago with the lack of movement on the job front. Granted, I've only been on the island a week, and I had visited with places where I wanted to work. I had only been waiting one week for an answer, so that's absolutely no reason to be frustrated. But if you put it in the bigger scope of things, of me resigning my job in Kenya at the end of September and starting the job search way back in October, well, then it might make sense that five months later, the waiting game is getting a bit old...

As I spent time with God before starting the day, though, I read Psalms 16, and was filled with immense peace about the day and the ongoing journey. Here's how David put it:

¹ Keep me safe, O God,
for I have come to you for refuge.

² I said to the Lord, “You are my Master!
Every good thing I have comes from you.”
⁵ Lord, you alone are my inheritance, my cup of blessing.
You guard all that is mine.
⁶ The land you have given me is a pleasant land.
What a wonderful inheritance!

⁷ I will bless the Lord who guides me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
⁸ I know the Lord is always with me.
I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.

⁹ No wonder my heart is glad, and I rejoice.
My body rests in safety.

¹¹ You will show me the way of life,
granting me the joy of your presence
and the pleasures of living with you forever.

Verse 11 especially spoke to my heart. As I stepped out into the busy-ness of the city, my heart truly was at peace, and I was looking forward to simply enjoying "the joy of God's presence" throughout the day.

I won't bore you with all the details of the day, but by the end of the day, I had news that I've been accepted as a substitute teacher at Taipei American School. This is an excellent school, and being a sub is perfect since it allows me flexibility in my schedule to accommodate for my studies. Plus I can use the school's libraries to sit and work on my studies when I'm not subbing. Now I just need to pray for good hours at the school, that they'd be able to use me a lot! :)

Next: Find a place to live. I searched various directories till deep into the night, and sent out some inquiries. This morning, I made some follow-up calls to people who had already responded. I had a delightful visit with the first lady I called about a room! She's American, has one younger American roommate, and the apartment is about a minute's walk to school! It's perfect! As we visited, we discovered that we have a lot of mutual friends (people who had already left the island). I'm heading there this afternoon to see the room, but I'm pretty sure I'll be moving in on Saturday morning!

After that, I made a foll0w-up call with the Taipei Philharmonic Chorus. I had sung with them before and had inquired about joining them again. They told me I'm very welcome back, and rehearsal is this evening. We're performing Mendelsohn's Elijah in a month, on April 7! This oratorio is one of my favorite pieces! This is where we're performing.

So, in a span of just more than 24 hours, I have a job, a place to live, and some culture!

Needless to say, I indeed have joy. And peace that for now, this is where I'm supposed to be.

On a completely different note, I just got news last night that the cow we got the Sifunas died of West Coast fever. I am disappointed by the news, especially since that's something completely preventable. But there's nothing I can do about it. The cow is dead.

This Week in Pictures

On my second day back on the island, I was heading to friends' home, where I was to tutor their daughter. I head left early so I could find the place, and had some time to kill, so I ordered a cup of tea at a neighborhood restaurant, and spent time journaling.

Walking around Taipei, I'm always amused by what I find. This is one of those cases of extreme differences between Asia and Africa. In Africa, one would find road workers patiently flagging down cars for days on end. But the Taipei City Council uses their culture of technology by creating moving mannequins. The mannequin (dressed in a rain suit) is attached to a car battery, and the arms go up and down the entire time, warning motorists that there are road works ahead.
There are big and small rivers all through the city. I always find it amusing to see fishermen in or around the city rivers!

I'm waiting to hear back about a job interview I had earlier this week. Since the results of that interview would determine the way forward, I decided to take advantage of the time of waiting by going to visit dear friends in the center of the island. I tried out the new high-speed train, which was an absolute pleasure to take! Kiptoo, of course, went along. Oh, and he was enjoying a cup of soy bean milk for breakfast.

Rice paddies and small-scale farms (and adjacent towns) next to the railroad tracks

Having breakfast at Debryn's house. Yummy ham-and-egg wraps with turnip cake and soybean milk. :)

Debryn's husband Sam is a tea connoisseur, and we had Chinese tea for hours on Friday morning while visiting about all things important. Sam runs his investment consulting business from their home, so it's a blessing for his wife and kids to have him right there. Almost-two-year-old Tia loves to go to her daddy's office to smell the tea.

Isn't Tia adorable? On a side note: Notice the tea cups in the foreground. The tea is poured into the taller, skinnier cup, called the sniffer, and then you pour it over into the shorter cup. After pouring the tea from the sniffer, you smell the aroma of the tea in the sniffer. Kind of like wine tasting, you know? I really enjoyed the tea ceremony and hope to learn more while I'm here!

We had lunch at The Shack, a hole-in-the-wall restaurant that has been around since Sam's parents early days as missionaries on the island. (Both Debryn and Sam are missionary kids/MKs.) Here's Kaizen, the Websters' 7-year-old, being a 7-year-old. The lady in the background is making dumplings. Dumplings is such a generic term for a wide variety of thoroughly enjoyable Chinese delicacies. You can have them fried, steamed, boiled, with pork, veggies, or other meat. With paper-thin dough, or thicker coverings. You get the idea. Different restaurants specialize in different styles.

Tia wanted to do what her brother did and pose for a photo, too.

Kiptoo (and Kaizen in the back) showing off our delicious lunch of deep-fried guotie (potstickers), kong hsin tsai (empty heart greens) and a beef dish. And rice, of course. Got to have good rice.

This is a temple in one of the towns on my way back to Taipei. Unfortunately, most of the temple is blocked by the apartments in the foreground. It's really scary looking, if you'd ask me! But Buddhist and Taoist idols often are rather scary, and people don't worship them out of adoration, but often out of fear of what would happen if they don't worship them...

Smaller temples like this is seen everywhere. You'd often even see smaller shrines right in the middle of some farmland, where people would take offerings to the earth god to secure good harvests.

I thought you might find this to be an interesting pillar outside a restaurant downtown, where I'm staying right now. The top picture is of beautiful soybeans, and the bottom, a delicious plate of larger-than-life chicken feet! (No, I don't care for chicken feet.)

I love read in the nearby park and watch the people around me. Yesterday, there were at least 4 groups of people in my immediate sight (the park is big, so there were many more groups). They do tai-chi since early in the morning. But some people, like this lady, work out on their own.

Later in the day, I sat and watched a group of ladies who were doing tai-chi with two swords each. In the alley across from that group, you could pay less than a dollar to go and sit with your feet on an electronic foot massager. There were two rows of 10 massagers, all occupied, with about 20 people waiting their turn.

I'll be heading out shortly to go to church in the north of the city, and hopefully see some old friends. I'll take my camera along and see what else I can capture today.