It is my first Christmas in Taiwan. I find myself really missing home during this season! I miss the snow, my family, the beautiful lights and decorations, the music, the "feeling" of Christmas at home!
There have been lots of "firsts" in the past few months... my first scooter ride, my first taste of Chinese noodles, my first day of school with my new students, my first time driving through the roundabout in the center of town by myself, my first time ordering food alone (in a foreign language), killing my first cockroach! All of these firsts are exciting, a bit scary, exhausting and yet exhilirating!
I'm finding myself feeling more comfortable and more at ease all the time here. But all of my recents "firsts" remind me of Jesus' first Christmas here on earth. I can only imagine how strange everything looked, sounded, smelled. I know what it is like to leave home and enter a foreign land! It is overwhelming to say the least. When I think that the Creator of the whole earth left his perfect home in heaven to enter a "foreign land", I'm overwhelmed with gratitude to Him! As much as I miss home during Christmas time, Jesus must have missed heaven so much more! And yet he came and endured culture shock of the most extreem kind so that we could have a relationship with him!
I am thankful for my first Christmas in Taiwan because each time I feel a little homesick I am reminded of how much Jesus sacrificed on his first Christmas on earth! I hope you all enjoy this season! Enjoy the snow, the lights, your family and friends, the great food, the music... but most of all enjoy Jesus! Merry Christmas!
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
A Day in the Life...
What's a day in the life of a Morrison teacher in Chiayi, Taiwan like?
The alarm rings at 6:00 AM and I scan the floor and walls for any crawling critters that have been out and about in my bedroom at night. When I'm sure the coast is clear, I get up and begin getting ready for the day... each trip into another room of the house in the morning begins with a quick scan for gecko's, cockroaches, spiders, or whatever other visitors have emerged in the night time! On a good day, I find myself alone in my house (or at least I don't SEE any of my visitors).
By 7:00 AM I am downstairs and starting my scooter. Christina and I are now caravaning to school, me on my scooter and she on hers. I'm still not quite brave enough to go all by myself. The morning time is very busy becuase we live near a school. The traffic is wall to wall with scooters, cars, bicycles, pedestrians. There are official crossing guards at each intersection to try and keep things moving in an orderly fashion. The air is filled with the sounds of students chattering, engines roaring, crossing guard whistles blowing, and horns honking.
At 7:15 we arrive at school and get ready for the day. The students begin arriving at 8:00, we begin class at 8:15. We have a PE teacher that comes for one hour each day, first thing in the morning to do PE class with our kids, so I have a prep. period from 8:30-9:30. I don't know how I'd be able to be ready for each day without that time! It is a challenge to juggle three grade levels, and the preparation and planning are VERY time consuming! We do reading, writing workshop, and science in the morning. At 11:45 we all begin moving lunch tables into the hallway. Christina and I eat lunch with the kids at tables in the hallway. After lunch we have a short recess/inside work time which is also supervised by Christina and I. Our afternoon time is filled with Bible, Chinese, and math. We throw in art and music when it fits in with other subject areas. The days go by really quickly because I'm busy every minute with the three different grade levels! By 3:15 we are ready to dismiss.
Christina and I generally stay at school till 5:00 PM planning, correcting papers, taking care of school business, having meetings via camera phone with other campuses, etc. At 5:00 we head home through the busy afternoon traffic. The ride home usually includes a stop at the market or grocery store to get some things to make dinner.
I do a lot of my own cooking. Most Taiwanese people eat out for most meals. It is very inexpensive to eat local food. It is very convenient for most, but not so easy for me, becuase I can't read menus or ask what things are. It can be a bit scary to point to a random menu item and just wait to see what you get. It would be fine at home where I'm used to most of the food... but if you do that here, you are likely to end up eating pigs ears, chicken heads, and pork blood tofu with a side of octopus balls (all very popular foods here). It is more expensive, and less adventerous to cook my own food... but for now, it is the best option!
The evenings are usually spend catching up on e-mails, cleaning the kitchen (which I'm fanatical about becuase I don't want a cockroach infestation), and watching an episode of CSI. There is one TV station here that plays various CSI episodes nearly 24 hours a day! Wednesday nights I meet with my Bible study group (lead by Christina) for a few hours. Thursday's I usually meet with my OMF (my mission) prayer partner. Weekends are spent grocery shopping, and spending time with some of the friends I've met here, and sometimes traveling to other places in Taiwan. It is hard to see those people during the week becuase most of them teach at "bushiban" or "cram schools" where the children go after regular school for several hours each night to learn English. They work till 9:00 PM, when I'm just about ready to wind down for the night, so we generally catch up on the weekends. My church is small (4-10 people on any given Sunday). There aren't many English speaking ex-pats in Chiayi!
So, there you have it... a day in the life of a Morrison teacher in Chiayi, Taiwan.
The alarm rings at 6:00 AM and I scan the floor and walls for any crawling critters that have been out and about in my bedroom at night. When I'm sure the coast is clear, I get up and begin getting ready for the day... each trip into another room of the house in the morning begins with a quick scan for gecko's, cockroaches, spiders, or whatever other visitors have emerged in the night time! On a good day, I find myself alone in my house (or at least I don't SEE any of my visitors).
By 7:00 AM I am downstairs and starting my scooter. Christina and I are now caravaning to school, me on my scooter and she on hers. I'm still not quite brave enough to go all by myself. The morning time is very busy becuase we live near a school. The traffic is wall to wall with scooters, cars, bicycles, pedestrians. There are official crossing guards at each intersection to try and keep things moving in an orderly fashion. The air is filled with the sounds of students chattering, engines roaring, crossing guard whistles blowing, and horns honking.
At 7:15 we arrive at school and get ready for the day. The students begin arriving at 8:00, we begin class at 8:15. We have a PE teacher that comes for one hour each day, first thing in the morning to do PE class with our kids, so I have a prep. period from 8:30-9:30. I don't know how I'd be able to be ready for each day without that time! It is a challenge to juggle three grade levels, and the preparation and planning are VERY time consuming! We do reading, writing workshop, and science in the morning. At 11:45 we all begin moving lunch tables into the hallway. Christina and I eat lunch with the kids at tables in the hallway. After lunch we have a short recess/inside work time which is also supervised by Christina and I. Our afternoon time is filled with Bible, Chinese, and math. We throw in art and music when it fits in with other subject areas. The days go by really quickly because I'm busy every minute with the three different grade levels! By 3:15 we are ready to dismiss.
Christina and I generally stay at school till 5:00 PM planning, correcting papers, taking care of school business, having meetings via camera phone with other campuses, etc. At 5:00 we head home through the busy afternoon traffic. The ride home usually includes a stop at the market or grocery store to get some things to make dinner.
I do a lot of my own cooking. Most Taiwanese people eat out for most meals. It is very inexpensive to eat local food. It is very convenient for most, but not so easy for me, becuase I can't read menus or ask what things are. It can be a bit scary to point to a random menu item and just wait to see what you get. It would be fine at home where I'm used to most of the food... but if you do that here, you are likely to end up eating pigs ears, chicken heads, and pork blood tofu with a side of octopus balls (all very popular foods here). It is more expensive, and less adventerous to cook my own food... but for now, it is the best option!
The evenings are usually spend catching up on e-mails, cleaning the kitchen (which I'm fanatical about becuase I don't want a cockroach infestation), and watching an episode of CSI. There is one TV station here that plays various CSI episodes nearly 24 hours a day! Wednesday nights I meet with my Bible study group (lead by Christina) for a few hours. Thursday's I usually meet with my OMF (my mission) prayer partner. Weekends are spent grocery shopping, and spending time with some of the friends I've met here, and sometimes traveling to other places in Taiwan. It is hard to see those people during the week becuase most of them teach at "bushiban" or "cram schools" where the children go after regular school for several hours each night to learn English. They work till 9:00 PM, when I'm just about ready to wind down for the night, so we generally catch up on the weekends. My church is small (4-10 people on any given Sunday). There aren't many English speaking ex-pats in Chiayi!
So, there you have it... a day in the life of a Morrison teacher in Chiayi, Taiwan.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Up the Mountian
Scooters. Cars. Trucks. Industry. The pollution in the tiny country of Taiwan can be overpowering at times! It isn't uncommon to see scooter drivers wearing cloth masks over their nose and mouth in an attempt to filter out some of the fumes pouring out of vehicles and smoke stacks.
I was really blessed this past weekend to take a day trip up to the mountians with the McGills (the Morrison superintendent and his wife) and a few of the other new teachers. I'll be honest, I wasn't that excited about traveling up the mountian as 5:45 AM on Saturday morning when my alarm clock woke me up to get ready to go! But I dragged myself out of bed, knowing they were expecting me. Our trip had several legs. First, Christina (my teaching partner) and I took a 30 minute taxi ride to the High Speed Rail Station. Then, we boarded the HSR and zoomed at breakneck speed for another 30 minutes to the city of TaiChung. We left the train station by van with the McGills and headed out of the city toward the mountians. After twisting and turning on the steep and narrow mountian roads for an hour and a half, we had arrived at Sun Moon Lake. Steping out of the van I had to remind myself that I was still in Taiwan! The crowded streets were replaced with lush tropical vegetation. Instead of the noise of horns and engines and thousands of people living on top of one another, we heard the chirp of birds, the quiet laping of small waves on the shore, and the rustle of leaves as raindrops pattered down gently. I had almost forgotten that life could feel so peaceful! As we traveled further up the mountian, the air grew cleaner with each mile. Upon reaching the top we were greeted not only by some of the most beautiful scenery I've ever viewed, but also a glorious cool breeze! The humidity, heat, commotion, and clatter was miles away from where we were.
Isn't it just like God to bring me out of the pollution and noise of daily life in order to renew me! And isn't it just like me to kick and scream the whole way, not knowing a good thing when it is knocking at my door! As I stood there drinking in the cool clean air, I was struck that each day God wants me to take a trip up the mountian to be with him. In his presence the "noise and dirt" of life seem far away. The clatter is replaced by his peace. How often I miss out on the refreshment of a trip up the mountian with God. The things down in the valley seem so important, but God longs for us to pull ourselves away and follow him up the mountian each day as we spend time in prayer and in his word. He knows we need refreshment from the heat, the noise, the fumes of life! I hope this week we will all take God up on his offer of a trip up the mountian! If we are willing, God will make the trip worth the effort!!
I was really blessed this past weekend to take a day trip up to the mountians with the McGills (the Morrison superintendent and his wife) and a few of the other new teachers. I'll be honest, I wasn't that excited about traveling up the mountian as 5:45 AM on Saturday morning when my alarm clock woke me up to get ready to go! But I dragged myself out of bed, knowing they were expecting me. Our trip had several legs. First, Christina (my teaching partner) and I took a 30 minute taxi ride to the High Speed Rail Station. Then, we boarded the HSR and zoomed at breakneck speed for another 30 minutes to the city of TaiChung. We left the train station by van with the McGills and headed out of the city toward the mountians. After twisting and turning on the steep and narrow mountian roads for an hour and a half, we had arrived at Sun Moon Lake. Steping out of the van I had to remind myself that I was still in Taiwan! The crowded streets were replaced with lush tropical vegetation. Instead of the noise of horns and engines and thousands of people living on top of one another, we heard the chirp of birds, the quiet laping of small waves on the shore, and the rustle of leaves as raindrops pattered down gently. I had almost forgotten that life could feel so peaceful! As we traveled further up the mountian, the air grew cleaner with each mile. Upon reaching the top we were greeted not only by some of the most beautiful scenery I've ever viewed, but also a glorious cool breeze! The humidity, heat, commotion, and clatter was miles away from where we were.
Isn't it just like God to bring me out of the pollution and noise of daily life in order to renew me! And isn't it just like me to kick and scream the whole way, not knowing a good thing when it is knocking at my door! As I stood there drinking in the cool clean air, I was struck that each day God wants me to take a trip up the mountian to be with him. In his presence the "noise and dirt" of life seem far away. The clatter is replaced by his peace. How often I miss out on the refreshment of a trip up the mountian with God. The things down in the valley seem so important, but God longs for us to pull ourselves away and follow him up the mountian each day as we spend time in prayer and in his word. He knows we need refreshment from the heat, the noise, the fumes of life! I hope this week we will all take God up on his offer of a trip up the mountian! If we are willing, God will make the trip worth the effort!!
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Snails in my path
Have you ever had snails in your path?
I was practicing driving my friend Michelle's scooter the other day. It was my first time behind the wheel! I was nervous, but I had a huge empty parking lot all to myself. There wasn't another vehicle or person in sight. It was just me and the "open road"! On my first spin around the parking lot I noticed something very large out of the corner of my eye.... a huge five inch long snail inside an enormous shell was slithering along beside me. I was very busy concentrating on keeping the scooter upright, but I did take note of the slow and slimy fellow. Michelle's scooter is a big one, and it was my maiden voyage on a motorbike of any kind, so I was a little shaky on the steering and turning portion of my first lesson. Going in a straight line was easy enough, but steering and turning the roaring machine wasn't my strong suit. As I made my second pass around the parking lot, I rememberd the large snail coming up. No problem, I thought, I'll just go around it. Easier said than done! As I approached I desperately tried to steer the bike away from the snail, but just like a missile aimed at it's target, that bike, with me on it, was on a collision course with the only other moving thing in the parking lot, the snail! Try as I may, I could not seem to veer left or right. After several seconds of fruitless efforts, and a few squeals and screams, I heard the sickening crunch beneath the scooter tires. Yes, I had managed to hit and kill the only living creature within 200 yards of me. It was a sad day for all, and did not leave me feeling very confident about my scooter driving abilities. I, however, faired much better than my poor slimy friend!
So, have you ever had snails in your path... those unexpected bumps in the road that you try to avoid, but in spite of your best efforts, put you on a collision course with tragedy, or frustration? Do you encounter those circumstances and people that shake your confidence and leave you with the unavoidable knowledge that you are not as in control as you thought you were?
Take heart! God knows about every snail that sits in your path. Snails never take him by surprise! And he has promised that ALL THINGS (including snails) work together for good for those that love him and are called according to his purpose! Snails will come and go, but the plans the Father has for his children will stand forever, and can't be altered by snails on the path!
I was practicing driving my friend Michelle's scooter the other day. It was my first time behind the wheel! I was nervous, but I had a huge empty parking lot all to myself. There wasn't another vehicle or person in sight. It was just me and the "open road"! On my first spin around the parking lot I noticed something very large out of the corner of my eye.... a huge five inch long snail inside an enormous shell was slithering along beside me. I was very busy concentrating on keeping the scooter upright, but I did take note of the slow and slimy fellow. Michelle's scooter is a big one, and it was my maiden voyage on a motorbike of any kind, so I was a little shaky on the steering and turning portion of my first lesson. Going in a straight line was easy enough, but steering and turning the roaring machine wasn't my strong suit. As I made my second pass around the parking lot, I rememberd the large snail coming up. No problem, I thought, I'll just go around it. Easier said than done! As I approached I desperately tried to steer the bike away from the snail, but just like a missile aimed at it's target, that bike, with me on it, was on a collision course with the only other moving thing in the parking lot, the snail! Try as I may, I could not seem to veer left or right. After several seconds of fruitless efforts, and a few squeals and screams, I heard the sickening crunch beneath the scooter tires. Yes, I had managed to hit and kill the only living creature within 200 yards of me. It was a sad day for all, and did not leave me feeling very confident about my scooter driving abilities. I, however, faired much better than my poor slimy friend!
So, have you ever had snails in your path... those unexpected bumps in the road that you try to avoid, but in spite of your best efforts, put you on a collision course with tragedy, or frustration? Do you encounter those circumstances and people that shake your confidence and leave you with the unavoidable knowledge that you are not as in control as you thought you were?
Take heart! God knows about every snail that sits in your path. Snails never take him by surprise! And he has promised that ALL THINGS (including snails) work together for good for those that love him and are called according to his purpose! Snails will come and go, but the plans the Father has for his children will stand forever, and can't be altered by snails on the path!
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Welcome to my blog!
Well, here it is! My blog! Join me here for updates, stories, and whatever else I decide to post!
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