Elaine's Blog

2011-12-16T12:24:00.002+08:00

deep conversation

2011-03-09T11:30:00.002+08:00

Mrs. Li

2009-06-22T17:07:00.002+08:00

Wow! It's been a LONG time since I posted anything on this blog. I wonder if anyone ever looks at it anymore to see if I've posted anything. Probably everyone has given up hope of ever seeing a new post. But here it is. A lot has happened since my last post. And I must apologize for not updating so many people about what's been happening here in Taiwan with me. But you may have guessed, or at least heard through the grapevine, that I met someone here in Taiwan and fell in love. That was shortly after the last post on this blog. I met a Taiwanese guy at the English church in Kaohsiung. His name is Bo-Wei Li. We really hit it off from the start. We found we had so much in common even though we're from totally different cultures. After spending lots of time getting to know each other and lots of good discussions, we started dating, and after dating for a year and 4 months, we married this last March. So now I'm Mrs. Li, and I love being married to Bo-Wei. I really thank God for bringing him into my life and I'm looking forward to what God has in store for our future.

more pics from Taidong

2007-11-18T13:36:00.001+08:00

Here's Janice and I with a couple kids from the aboriginal village we stayed at... aborginal dance performances...

our morning coffee...

haha, when you're desperate, you're desperate!

Visit to Taidong

2007-11-18T13:16:00.000+08:00

Here are a few pics from a recent trip to Taidong, a beautiful city on the east coast of Taiwan. I went with Dennis (a friend from Canada who was visiting Taiwan), Janice, and about 200 others from her church. Dennis and I were the only foreigners along on the trip, and of course everything was in Chinese, but it was a great experience!

We enjoyed lots of good food...
bike ride around a scenic lake...
The oceanside was magnificent. I wanted to stay there all day...
Taidong's hot springs...

the cutest mummies you ever saw

2007-11-04T21:35:00.000+08:00

Here are some pics from the recent Halloween parties in my classes.

The toilet paper mummy game was a big hit...

It was a real novelty for me to see Peter stand still for a good chunk of time while the other boys wrapped him up in toilet paper. He's usually bouncing off the walls. I think his mother feeds him pure sugar (and maybe an espresso?) before she sends him to class. :-)

Another beautiful mummy...

He looks so serious but he's loving the attention of being wrapped. This kid is a real card. My class would be dull without him.

uh oh... these boys are getting carried away. I told them not to wrap the face!

Super Hero Carl!!!

hiking and caving on monkey mountain

2007-10-30T13:42:00.000+08:00

Here's a group of us who went caving on the weekend. Sean, at bottom right, is standing at the entrance to the cave that led to a very narrow passageway. It was terribly fun crawling through the cave and getting dirty. :-)

Here's a few pics from a different hike we went on a while back . . .

2007-09-29T10:00:00.000+08:00

Moon Festival BBQ

2007-09-28T09:51:00.000+08:00

My friend Kyle invited a bunch of friends over to his new house in Pintung County (just south of Kaohsiung) for a Moon Festival BBQ. Moon Festival, AKA: Mid-Autumn Festival, is a big event here in Taiwan and most families get together for a big BBQ.

My 25th birthday

2007-09-16T11:44:00.000+08:00

Ya, I know it's been a loooong time since I posted anything. That's mostly because my camera broke so I couldn't take any pictures and what's a blog without pictures. As of yesterday, I now have a working camera once again, so I hope to post more pictures soon. Until then, here's some pictures that were taken with my friends' cameras.

This is my friend, David You. He stopped by to visit me on his way back to Korea from Canada.

This is my surprise birthday cake that David bought me. We were just finishing up the Bible study and then he brought this out. Wow, what a fun surprise!
Here's a shot of the girls (plus David -- ya, I forced him to come to my "women's Bible study" -- poor guy, lol)...
Another good shot...
At Dream Mall on August 23rd morning... this is supposedly the biggest mall in Asia.

Janice and I inside Dream Mall
My friend Emily and I
Starbucks inside Dream Mall

David's visit

2007-09-16T10:51:00.000+08:00

David "fit right in" in Taiwan. Here he is riding my scooter. It was funny, because everywhere we went people tried to talk to him in Chinese but of course he couldn't understand them.
me...
Liuhe Night Market...
Janice and David after we enjoyed "baobing" which is a shaved ice dessert with fruit
Janice and me

Barking Class

2007-08-11T20:50:00.000+08:00

It's been stormy and rainy for the last several days and today once again it was pouring most of the day. So, I decided to bake chocolate chip cookies. It took up a big chunk of my afternoon because we only have a little microwave-size oven so I could only bake 6 cookies at a time. I made about 9 batches of 6.

Before I made the cookie dough, I needed to buy some more white flour, so I went shopping at the newly-renovated Pineapple Store, which is basically a big supermarket full of baking supplies. Just before I exited the store, I noticed a sign by the stairs leading up to the second floor. The sign read: "Barking class, 2nd floor." Oh, my goodness, I had to laugh out loud. I thought to myself, "My, my, the Taiwanese really do think of everything... even a class to teach people how to bark." I was tempted to sign up, since I'm really not a good barker, but I had to run. Maybe next time. :-)

Anyway, speaking of interesting signs, I was reminded of a very interesting sign I saw while touring in China:In case you can't see the words clearly, here's what it says:

Warnings of consumption in tideviewing scenic spot
Dear visitors:
You have entered the Yanguan scenic spot. For make your visit safe and happy, we make warnings with you together.
1. Various kinds of ticket are evidences that make your rights ensured, keep appropriately, please. If you have aesthetic mood, they can be collected as treasures.
2. Step into the scenic spot, when being so enchanted by the scenery, keep your own personal articles well, and look out for the safe suggestion of every beauty spot at any time. make sure not to smoke, not to play with fire, pay attention to the personal security.
3. Enter the tideviewing park, obey the regulations of viewing tides and don't be crowded.
4. Ask the price clearly when consuming in scenic spot, shrewd quality. If your legitimate rights and interests are damaged, please keep the good evidence, complain in time. . .

More China Pictures

2007-07-20T22:48:00.000+08:00

Here's a few more pictures from my China trip . . .

Disong and his father . . .Disong and his grandpa . . . Jonathan and Robbie . . . Eating breakfast in LongSheng . . . Here's a close-up of the local noodle-dish that I'm eating. It tasted fabulous. Our bus suddenly stopped while on route to Guilin because the bridge was out. We just had to wait for another bus to come from Guilin and pick us up on the other side of this bridge to transport us to Guilin. Enjoying a scenic river boat ride . . .

These monkeys were the cutest things ever! I wish I had some close-ups of them. Or better yet, I wish I could've brought one back with me! :-)

this lady was so sweet that I just had to have my picture taken with her. . .Shanghai at night . . . foot massage . . . ah, this is heaven! touring in Larry's hometown . . .

inside the famous Guilin caves . . .
a typical home in the countyside . . .

Mattie and Kayla

2007-07-20T12:04:00.000+08:00

I just adore my niece and nephew. How could I not. They're so cute! I can't wait to see them again. Tomorrow is Kayla's 6th birthday. Happy Birthday Kayla!

China

2007-07-16T11:37:00.000+08:00

I had an awesome time in China. It was hard to come back even though I love Taiwan. Here are just some of the pictures I took on the trip. . .

beautiful Guilin . . .
near the famous caves in Guilin . . .
from left to right: Jonathan (Disong's cousin), Disong, me, Robbie

on a boatride touring the Guilin water system . . . the views were so spectacular that I didn't take any pictures because I was too engrossed in the scenery.
cycling in YangShuo . . .
in YangShuo, an old truck-thing carrying log rafts . . .
rafting in YangShuo. . .
I'm Lovin' it!

we took a long and very bumpy bus ride to Disong's grandpa's village. the village's name is Chicken Feet village (no kidding). this was really incredible to watch Disong fishing. he jumped in this big pond and literally grabbed the fish and fought to get it into the net . . . cooking the fish for dinner. . .

our dinner in Chicken feet village. . .
more of the same dinner (it was quite the feast!)

Disong's grandpa going to sell some vegetables the next morning. . .
LongSheng (Disong's hometown) . . .
group photo at Disong's father's office . . .

Robbie and his parents . . .
fine dining in Shanghai. . .
more fine dining. . . (we ate like kings)
fine dining in Larry's hometown (near Hangzhou) From left to right: Larry, Larry's mother, her friend, Disong.

off to China. . .

2007-06-30T12:46:00.000+08:00

I'm really excited because today I will fly to China to visit some friends there for two weeks! I have been looking forward to this day for so long and now it has finally arrived.

I'll be visiting three good friends I met at ESLI in Canada. They are students at TWU but are home in China for the summer.
Introducing. . . Robbie. . . Larry. . .

and Disong. . .

Rock food

2007-06-25T23:58:00.000+08:00

Check out these dishes! They are all made from rocks. Very cool! Some look more real than others. . . "fresh" fish . . .liver. . . fried rice. . . a slab of pork . . . lunch box special . . .

Puppets

2007-06-25T23:38:00.000+08:00

Our church had an OMF missionary as our guest speaker at yesterday's service. One of the things she talked about was her vision to create Taiwanese-style puppets and use them to tell Bible stories. I think it's a cool idea, since puppets are an important part of Taiwanese culture and are still quite popular with Taiwanese working class adults. Here are some pictures I took of puppets on display at a local museum.

taipei 101

2007-06-24T22:42:00.000+08:00

I finally made it to Taipei, home of the world's tallest building . . . Taipei 101! It made me feel really dizzy looking up at it from ground level. Yah, it's pretty tall.

the cutest kids on earth

2007-06-24T22:40:00.000+08:00

I just have to throw in a couple pictures of my adorable neice and nephew whom I miss so much!

Matthew. . . Kayla. . .

Lene's Visit

2007-06-17T15:32:00.000+08:00

My friend, Lene, from back home in Langley, came to visit me here in Taiwan for two weeks. It was great to see her again and show her around Kaohsiung. So here are a bunch of pictures from the two weeks she was here... (note: all these pictures are from Lene's camera... she was the official photographer while she was here)

Ok, this picture makes me laugh and feel terrible at the same time. Lene is waiting with the guards/police at the domestic airport in Kaohsiung, waiting for me to come pick her up like I promised... and waiting... and waiting... with one big problem: I got the date of her arrival mixed up. I hadn't expected her to arrive until two days later. :-0 So she had to wait for one hour with these policemen before I finally came to pick her up. Sorry Lene!

The morning after Lene arrived, she joined me for my last Chinese class of the semester. I hope to return to my Chinese studies in the Fall, but I really needed to take a break for this semester. Cheng Ching Lake: a must-see for tourists to Kaohsiung...
Introducing Vincet and Joyce. They were two of my students at ESLI but are now back in Taiwan and are getting married next month! They are both so nice and it was great to meet up with them again (they live in Taichung but were in Kaohsiung for the weekend).

This is the little ferry we took to ChiChin Island by Kaohsiung harbour. The island is really tiny but it's fun to see.On the ferry...A view of the ocean on ChiChin Island. On the beach. Though some people swim here, it really isn't nice water at all because it is right by the harbour. If you want nice water you need to travel south a couple hours to Kenting, a tourist hotspot.

At a sushi restaurant in FengShan district... Here's Janice and I with the dentist after she had just finished working on our teeth. Actually, she didn't take long at all. She just looked at my teeth and said, "Your teeth are beautiful... you just have one cavity..." then she filled the cavity. It took her about 3 minutes and then I was done. Amazing! And the best part was the price. Since I have a health care card (sponsored through my school) the whole visit only cost about $10 CAD.Have coffee/tea with some other ladies from church...eating lunch at IKEA...
Lene met Dynasty in a sports store (while I was teaching) and he offered to show us around. So here we are at the British Consolute (another tourist attraction). I don't know all the history but it is an interesting place to visit. There's an old prison there too. As you can see, the ceilings in the cells are pretty low. I caught them! haha

For the last weekend Lene was here, we took a trip to Chiayi (a city farther north of Kaohsiung) with a few others from church. It was a sort of "visioning trip" with the purpose of finding out more about the spiritual needs of the Taiwanese. An OMF missionary from Chiayi showed us around and gave us a very insightful tour of a Matzu temple. It was very interesting but very sad to see these people praying and offering insence to gods made of stone. a huge idol of the goddess Matzu...

sharing and praying for the working class Taiwanese. . . Lene and I got enjoyed a dinner of hotpot and BBQed lamb at the night market with OMF missionary David Eastwood...the night market in Chiayi (it wasn't busy at all that night because it had been raining a lot throughout the day) a Taiwanese favorite: "Squid on a stick"...
A Taiwanese church on Sunday morning . . .fellowship and food after the service. . . this is a real lisenced Nike factory in Taichung. . . the owner (below, holding his son) runs the factory out of his house and employs nearly 20 women to sew the material The English church in Chiayi. . . yes, it was small. . . the six of us who were visiting from Kaohsiung more than doubled the attendence

Love River

2007-05-29T09:00:00.000+08:00

For a long time I've thought, "Wouldn't it be great if Taiwan's churches would host open-air evangelistic crusades in the cities" because the Taiwanese really flock to these kind of events. Even if they don't know what's going on, they will go out of curiousity. And they seem to love crowds. The more people, the merrier.

Then, to my utter delight, I learned there would be an open-air worship and prayer service along Love River, hosted by the Taiwanese churches in Kaohsiung. So I went and checked it out. It was awesome! You could sense the Holy Spirit's presence and quite a crowd gathered for it. What an effective way to reach out to Kaohsiung residents since there are always tons of people walking along Love River in the evenings. I'm sure many unbelievers heard the gospel Sunday night as they were out for their evening stroll.

Here are a couple pictures of the meeting:

The meeting was actually from 6pm to about 10pm, so it was pretty dark outside. The below picture is what it really looked like. The above two pictures were taken with a slower shutter speed to let in more light.I decided rather than to sit down at the meeting I would continue walking along Love River because a. if I sat down I would get eaten by mosquitoes, b. it was 32 degrees -- too hot to sit among a crowd of hot bodies (lol), c. the service was all in Chinese/Taiwanese so I couldn't understand it (no, my Chinese is not that good yet), and d. the walk along Love River is very beautiful. So I walked along and took pictures of some of the scenery. Here are some of them (note: it was very dark out, so if the picture is light it is because of a slow shutter speed)

Here are some dragon boats awaiting the Dragon Boat Festival and races in June. It is a big event in Taiwan.

A close-up of the water:

There are usually lots of musical/instrumental performers along Love River. Sometimes they don't spread themselves out enough and their music clashes with the next performer 10 steps away. But overall, it is really cool to listen to the different kinds of music. Here is a picture of a girl singing while her mom plays the keyboard. I'm not sure if they were taken donations for themselves or raising money for a charity, but the boxes in front are donation boxes.

Bible Study

2007-05-27T15:42:00.001+08:00

I finally started the women's Bible study I've been wanting to get started for quite some time. We met this morning at my apartment. Only 2 other women showed up, because most people who wanted to come were either away this weekend or couldn't make it for some other reason. I suspect there will be several more women next week. But it was really good.

Costco!

2007-05-27T15:22:00.000+08:00

I visited Costco yesterday! It was my first time to go there this year, even though it is only about 30 minutes away from my home (it took me longer however because I got lost, as I usually do). I was able to get my membership through my school so I only had to pay 500 dollars ($16 CAD) instead of the regular 1200 dollars ($39 CAD dollars). Yes, it was very exciting because it made feel like I was back in Canada . . . well, almost. It's mostly the same setup as Costco in Canada, with a few differences, like it's two floors instead of one, and their fast food bar serves iced coffee instead of hot coffee. I expected they would serve rice and seafood, but no, they have the same menu (hotdogs, pizza, etc.). I walked through the aisles and wanted to buy everything! It all looked so good; and it was so much cheaper than regular stores in Kaohsiung. But the problem was, I came on my scooter, so I could only buy an arm's load of stuff. I actually only ended up buying three things: shower gel, power bagels, and antipasto (mmmn!). When I was almost up to the till, I remembered that the main thing I came for was cereal. But looking at the lineup behind me I opted to go without. Yes, there were a lot of people in Costco. (I will never again complain about the crowds at Costco in Canada!) There were lots of food samples to try. . . that is, IF you could snatch up a sample quick enough. It was like a race between dozens of hands. lol. And that was if you could even get near the table, which I usually couldn't because it was too crowded. So, needless to say, I didn't get more than a couple samples. I guess I did pretty good. :-)

Our Pet

2007-05-10T12:27:00.000+08:00

Here's Janice's and my "pet" BiHu (that's Chinese for Gecko). He lives in this apartment with us and often makes a stange chirping noise. I like him because apparently he eats mosquitoes. On the other hand, I like to keep my distance from him. I'm not sure if I'm more scared of him or if he's more scared of me.

Boat Ride

2007-05-10T12:23:00.000+08:00

Tainan Tour

2007-05-10T12:04:00.000+08:00

Janice invited me to join her church for what she called "a wild worship outing." Sounded interesting, so I went. Turned out to be a tour of Tainan historical sites. It was great, though unfortunately, I couldn't understand anything the tour guide said as it was all in Chinese and Taiwanese. But ah well. It was still an experience I've never had before to tour around with two busloads of Taiwanese people.

Here is where we had our "wild worship service." Haha. I found out that Janice just meant "worship service away from home." It was held in the Tainan seminary. Very nice building.

Here's Janice and I.
Here we are eating lunch in the lower floor of the seminary, after the service.
Our lunch. Lots of seafood, as usual. It tasted ok, but was stone cold. I guess our service went to long. haha.
Here I am with our super-enthusiastic tour guide. He toured us around all afternoon.
Originally, Janice told me we'd be home by mid-afternoon. We didn't get home until about 10pm. There were just so many things to see and do. Here we are at a sort of museum of sea creatures. Behind me is the bones from a sperm whale.

Guests

2007-05-10T11:59:00.000+08:00

I went to a wedding party on Saturday evening. It was great fun and good food. Here are a few pictures of some of the guests. I forgot to get a picture of the bride and groom! Oops!

From left to right: Kyle (Taiwanese friend), Aaron (OMF Partner from Canada), and Franky (OMF Partner from UK)
More guests. . .
The cutest guest. . .

FOR CURIOUS WOMAN

2007-05-05T14:21:00.000+08:00

The sign says, "FOR CURIOUS WOMAN." It made me laugh. Actually, it made me really curious. What an excellent way to attract curious women! :-) After I took this picture, my curiousity got the best of me and I ventured inside. It was just a bunch of women's clothing, but there were lots of curious women rummaging through it.

Romantic Hotel

2007-05-05T14:18:00.000+08:00

If you can't read the writing on the blue sign, it says, "Romantic Hotel." Isn't it the most romantic hotel you've ever seen? If you want a romantic getaway in Taiwan, just let me know and I'll book you a room. It's a skip 'n' a hop away from my apartment.

Students

2007-05-05T14:05:00.000+08:00

Here's 6 of my students playing at ChengChing Lake. Our whole school took a field trip there in celebration of Easter.

Sushi

2007-05-05T13:23:00.000+08:00

Here's me with some friends at a sushi restaurant in Kaohsiung. The guy and gal on the right are English teachers who came with OMF (as I did in 2004). The girl in the middle is Sandra -- a good friend of ours from English church. The girl on my right is Summer -- one of my friends from when I was here in 2004 (it was great to hook up with her again). The girl beside Summer is her good friend (she's really cool too).

Lanterns and Music

2007-04-06T22:39:00.000+08:00

The Lantern Festival is a big event in Taiwan. There were so many lantern displays -- each one made by a different group, or business, or school, or class -- and they were very interesting to see. It was hard to get any good pictures though, because there were so many people under the tents that I could hardly move let alone get pictures.

There is every sort of music to be heard here. The other evening, when I was taking a stroll through the Cultural Centre, I came across some sort of children's musical production. I sat and enjoyed the dancing and singing of different groups of school children performing. I had to laugh though at the variety of songs chosen. First there was a yodeling song, then what I think was a Chinese folk song, then a Christmas jingle, then a Christian worship song, followed by another Chinese song, at which point I left because of the mosquitoes. But I couldn't complain that there was a lack of variety. It was really great. I didn't have my camera with me so I couldn't take any pictures. Sorry. But here is a picture I took on a different day near Love River. The man is singing some sort of Taiwanese folk music and strumming his instrument while his foot control the "drum" he made from the Pink Panther toy and a hard hat.

Mongolian Grill

2007-03-28T23:07:00.000+08:00

Some friends and I hit the night market Sunday night after church to enjoy Taiwan's version of the "Mongolie Grill." The food was delicious, spicy, and inexpensive -- just how I like it. :-)

selecting the vegetables and meat. . .
the chef. . .

the seating area

the Doulos ship

2007-03-28T22:57:00.000+08:00

OM's Doulos ship harboured in Kaohsiung for these last three weeks. It has now gone on to visit Taichung City and from there it will go to Taipei City. Here are two shots I took of the ship -- one in the afternoon, and one in the evening. The ship had over 100,000 people come on board during its stay in Kaohsiung.

moss...key...toes

2007-03-28T22:48:00.000+08:00

I can’t think of anything I hate more than mosquitoes. There are way too many mosquitoes in this city and I have a lot of itchy bumps to prove it. But what is worse than the bites is the buzzing all night long. Two nights ago, I was kept awake for hours by constant buzzing around me. I killed a couple of mosquitoes but still heard buzzing. Finally, I had enough! I had to do something. I told Janice, the next morning, that I was going to buy a mosquito net and she replied, “Oh, don’t buy one; I have one already.” She brought out the net, and it is the laciest mosquito net in the whole world, I’m sure... but hey, I was more than glad for it. Now, normally, you would secure a mosquito net to the ceiling, right? Well, unfortunately, the ceilings in this apartment are made of concrete so there was no way I could fasten it. I’m sure if my dad were here, he would find a way, but he’s not, so I had to come up with my own solution. I made this crazy-looking contraption using a metal clothes rack and a long curtain rod. One end of the rod reaches across the top of my bed (which is only about 2 feet off the ground – so that leaves 3 feet of space for the net to hang). So, now I am laying here in bed, listening to the hungry mosquitoes buzzing around, and feeling extremely gratied to think they can't get me. :-)

Heat

2007-03-26T22:50:00.000+08:00

This is an updated picture of me. The weather here in Kaohsiung has warmed up in the last couple days. Right now, it is 11pm and still 27 degrees Celcius outside. It feels hotter than that in my bedroom. I wish I had air conditioner!!!

Chinese Language Study

2007-03-20T10:40:00.000+08:00

A few days ago, I enrolled in the Chinese language school, because I really need more help with my Chinese. I took the most expensive route because I have heard it is the most effective -- that is, one-on-one tutoring. I will go to TLI (the school) for three 2-hour sessions each week and hopefully I will see some progress in my Chinese.

The Wedding Pictures

2007-03-20T10:26:00.000+08:00

Here are some of the pictures of the wedding I described.

Scooter

2007-03-18T12:59:00.002+08:00

I finally rented a scooter a couple weeks ago. I was getting tired of riding the old bicylce everywhere, especially on really hot days. The last time I did it, I got to school and my shirt was totally wet with sweat. yuck! So I'm really happy to have a scooter, even though it's a bit junky. I am planning to buy a scooter at the beginning of next month, because I know a girl who is leaving Taiwan and selling her scooter.

Taiwanese Wedding

2007-03-18T12:59:00.001+08:00

urgg! I keep trying to upload a bunch of pictures but keep losing them (sometimes my own mistake; sometimes the computer's problem) SO I have decided to tell you about the pictures instead of posting them, at least for now. Sorry, I know pictures are more interesting. So I went to this traditional Taiwanese wedding banquet in Pingtung County, which is about 45 minutes drive from Kaohsiung City. A friend of mine, whom I'd met last time, invited me to go with him because he figured I would find it interesting. The event was hosted along the street outside the groom's parents' house. The bride was gorgeous and changed gowns at least twice during the hour banquet. The focus of the event was, of course, food. There were about ten courses served at each table. It was amazing. There was a ton of seafood, because Pingtung is near the ocean. I wish I could tell you a lot more of what went on, and what was said, but everything was in Chinese, so I can't. That is why I would really like to post the pictures. Maybe I will try again sometime.

Church

2007-03-08T12:16:00.000+08:00

This is the "Bread of Life" English church service last Sunday. It is mostly English teachers who attend, but there are also quite a number of English-speaking Taiwanese who come out. This was their first ever baptism service. They baptised two Taiwanese and one Canadian. It was really cool to be a part of the service.

This is the baptism "tank." The people baptised were not quite fully immersed, but they managed it amazingly well.

Janice really wanted a picture with me by the baptism tub. So here it is...

Yummy Hot Pot!

2007-03-03T22:09:00.000+08:00

Janice took me to a famous hot pot restaurant today and the food was absolutely AMAZING!

We went shopping afterwards to walk around because we were so full.
Janice's shirt made me laugh!

Schoolhouse

2007-03-03T21:18:00.000+08:00

Here is Schoolhouse Language Center (where I teach)

Here are a few pictures of some of my students.

2007-02-25T09:58:00.000+08:00

Here is my lovely Taiwanese roommate, Janice. She is a cello teacher and performer, but also plays piano very well. (this picture was taken in our apartment)

My delicious lunch yesterday. Sorry, I don't know what it is called in English (or in Chinese for that matter)

Janice

I wanted to go for a nice quiet stroll, but I forgot how noisy and busy the streets become after dark. In Canada the city starts to shut down after 6pm; in Taiwan, that's when it really comes to life. So needless to say, my stroll last night was not quiet nor peaceful. Nor was it very safe, as I almost got run over several times crossing the street. Pedestrians do not have the right of way here. (actually, no one has the right of way come to think of it)

2007-02-23T08:16:00.000+08:00

the door in front of the pink scooter is the door to my new apartment (ok, not new but new to me)

the street I live on
the street from the other direction
2007 - the year of the pig

Mom, you asked me where everyone parks their scooters at the Cultural Centre (the park)

Some pictures

2007-02-23T06:46:00.000+08:00

Bellingham
Seattle

I've Arrived!

2007-02-22T18:46:00.000+08:00

Hello from Taiwan! Sorry I haven’t been able to post anything until now. I finally got hooked up to the internet this afternoon.
By the way, thanks to those of you who posted comments on my blog already. That is really cool. So, I finally made it to Kaohsiung! I arrived at my destination around 11am Tueday (8 pm Monday Vancouver time). It was a long trip but it went very smoothly. Here is a brief lowdown of the trip: I flew out of Bellingham instead of Seattle, for $40 dollars more I got to experience the sights from a 45-seater plane, and I had the best seat at the very back of the plane. Then again, maybe it wasn’t the best seat because there was a lot of turbulence (even the flight attendant had to stay seated the whole flight).It was also nice to be able to walk around the Seattle airport for a few hours before the 14-hour flight to Taipei. The only downside of walking around the Seattle airport is that I had to lug my 50 ton (only slightly exaggerating) duffle bag around the Seattle airport. And the airport is not small! I lost track of how many “shopping malls” I passed on my way from one end to the other. Interestingly enough, I seemed to be the only one without wheels on my bag; everyone else is so wimpy. hehe. I finally found a “smartcarte” for my bag but it cost me $3! Tai gui la! (that is Chinese for “too expensive”).
The flight from Seattle to Taipei was over 14 hours. I couldn’t sleep much at all, but I sort of half slept for a few hours. As most of you probably know, I have a hard time sitting still for very long. So for most of the flight, I tossed and turned and shifted positions in my seat. No doubt I annoyed the people around me. Upon arriving at Taipei, I took a bus from the international airport to the domestic airport and then caught a flight to Kaohsiung. At last I arrived. I stepped out of the air-conditioned airport into the hot, humid, muggy, smoggy air of Kaohsiung City, ah, just the way I remembered it. After lugging my bags up to the fourth floor of the apartment where I’m staying, I took a shower and a much-needed rest.
The following day, Wednesday, I walked around the city for 6 hours. I was hoping to find a place with wireless internet service. I finally did, but my battery lasted only about ½ hour – only enough time to check my email. I was also looking for a particular hair salon, which I found at about the 5th hour – but it was closed for Chinese New Year. Ah well, it was a good walk nonetheless. Just a little hot.
I finally met with my new manager this afternoon. He is from Nashville, Tennessee. He gave me a TON of materials to read to acquaint myself with the school and it’s policies. I sure won’t be bored for the next few days.
By the way, thanks to all of you who prayed for my health. I was feeling flu-like symptoms before I left for Taiwan, but now I feel perfectly fine. God answers prayer!

Two more days...

2007-02-17T16:01:00.000+08:00

I'm going to Taiwan in two days and I'm getting really excited about it. When I close my eyes I can picture the city sights and the people and everything, and it makes me really miss it. I forgot how much I missed it because I've been back for so long (2 years). I leave on Sunday, February 18th and arrive in Taipei on February 20th. I'll be living with my Taiwanese friend, Janice, and teaching English to children at a "bushiban" (English cram school). My goal is also to study Chinese at a Chinese language centre, so please pray for me that I will stay motivated. Chinese (Mandarin) is so difficult! My grandma doesn't agree. She said to me the other day, "Chinese must be so easy because even little wee children can speak it effortlessly."

Welcome!

2007-02-17T15:58:00.000+08:00

Hi there! Welcome to my blog!