Because You Never Know Who You Might Meet...

I once read a quote somewhere along the lines of 'you should never go out of the house without make-up on because you never know who you might meet'. Well...I met Superman the other day. He was pretty much everything I had ever imagined Superman would be like...cool, suave, and very 'cute'. The only thing was...he was a little bit shorter than I was expecting...and much younger. As my fifth grade class introduced themselves to me at the beginning of the morning, I was slightly taken aback as one of the tiny boys pulled out his muscles and whispered his name dramatically - "Supermaaaann." The class all cracked up at my reaction as I laughed and then raised my eyebrows a little. I went over to look at his name tag, and sure enough, his name really was 'Superman'. Over here, English names are given and taken by necessity without really a second thought, and you can also change your name as many times as you want. On the whiteboard in our office we teachers have a list of the more unique names of the children that come through the EV. Among them are 'Watt', 'Rock', 'Jizzle', 'Skill', and 'Tank'. They sound like nick-names from an eighties war movie! The whole English vocabulary is pretty much up for grabs when it comes to what you want 'the foreigners' to call you. If you could pick out any name for yourself in the English language, what would you choose?

I got back on Sunday from a trip to Nantou, located in central Taiwan where we have another team of teachers working. We went to an American church in Tai-chung, and it was the first time that I have been around that many 'foreigners' since I have been here. It was rather a strange feeling as I looked around during the service to see so many people like...well...me! You could definitely sense an 'American feel'. I felt a little bit out of place, and wondered if that's just part of being away from home for so long. It also occurred to me that by the time I get home it will be a new thing for people I talk with on an everyday basis in the store or at the train station to be talking to me and me actually understanding them... and then realizing that "Oh yes, I can say something back..."

God has shown me more and more while I have been here how important kids really are to me... and how if I was doing anything else right now, I would be crazy. I hate to say this, but I don't think that I ever fully realized the value in a tiny little kid. I have learned to appreciate so much about them, mostly their innocence, and openness... I know that may sound cliche, but it is striking me for the first time. They reach out to learn so willingly and with so much excitement that it makes me want to be able to teach them better. I thank God so much for this chance to be here even though I know that there are others much more qualified than I am.

We taught our largest school ever last week... there were almost 120 students. All of us teachers play the clapping game with them for the introduction, and when we say goodbye, many times the students will stand and as a group give us a thank you cheer in Chinese. When we are sent out into schools in the city, after each class period, my kids will bow and say thank you in English to me before they run up and confiscate my flashcards to quiz me the vocabulary words in Chinese that I just taught them in English. God has used each child I meet here to show me how precious it is to work with them and help them learn for the tiny bit of time that I am with them.

All Sorts of Things...

We got back late Sunday night from a visit to our co-teachers in the cities Hualien and Yuli which are on the other side of the island. We had the chance to walk through the campus of the Hualien school, and it was a blessing to see everything the Lord has been doing there...the program at the school there is really unique and it made a big impression on me that I should look harder for small ways to reach out to the students I teach, even though after that day I won't ever see them again.

Thursday night, we were running errands after school, and we ran into one of our Junior High students. We talked to her for about twenty minutes, and found out that she lives right above our drink stand down the street. When we asked her to come over on Saturday to play frisbee...she mentioned that she did school all day Saturday... the kids here work so hard...a lot of times school is a six days for them it sounds like - especially for the students getting ready to graduate junior high - and then 'cram school' on top of that. So much importance is placed on education here and what grades you get can make or break your future.

We got to see the lighter side of a lot of our Nan Jung students when we played volleyball with them for P.E. class. For over two hours we played out with the students in the sticky heat. Watching them play together, I could see that even with all the importance on education, importance is also put on as working as a true team, even if it means laughing as a team at mistakes.

Military Time

Chaojhou Train Station
October 9, 2008
8:27 P.M.

"Sooo, where's our train?" Joanna asked, as we stood staring at the station readerboard...
"Ummm..." Austin fumbled with our tickets for a minute and then sheepishly looked up... "I think..." he showed us our tickets and pointed at the scheduled departure time - there it was... 19:33 ... "I think our train left an hour ago..." his voice trailed off as we all stared down the tracks...as if we could somehow back the train up by our wistful looks...so yes, instead of leaving at 9:33, our train had left at 7:33...
Seeing as there was going to be some rearranging of plans...Joanna and I promptly left our luggage in the corner and started a video documentary of the dilemma...including Austin standing in line for refunds and new tickets... Joanna and I were pretty impressed with the situation and fired off quick texts to the girls back home...
It was finally decided that we would take the next train - that doesn't leave until tomorrow morning...which gives us the chance to recuperate at home from teaching in Liouciou, the small island we have been on for the past two days...
The second school we taught at was on a cliff, and I was teaching on the third floor of the school. As I walked into my first classroom, the salty breeze from the wall of open windows swept by me, and I looked outside to see the ocean crashing on the rocks below. I had never in my life imagined myself teaching English, and never in my life had I even thought about Taiwan, I had no idea what it would be like to stand in front of a class full of kids that couldn't even speak my language...and if I couldn't imagine that...I certainly never dreamed of being a teacher in a 'castle on the sea'. Going back to the hotel that night, I thought about what an unspeakable gift it was to have been in that classroom - with the kids staring back at me with wide eyes and big smiles. Sometimes (and I know this is sooo cliche) I still cannot believe that I am here...God knew the perfect plan for me this year, and His timing for me to come here was also perfect. He has taught me so much in just the short time that I have been here...mostly of how much I still need to learn. A good friend told me that sometimes, when you go out to teach, you end up being taught the most...
Out of the hundreds of students we have taught already, I have not heard one child mention anything of Jesus...I was reading in Third John today, and verse 4 says "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." After being followed around by little students all morning...I know that nothing could make me happier to know that they are smiling not because they got to meet an American teacher, but because they know Jesus, and how much he loves them. I am so challenged by this verse to remember every day that I came here to show God's love. I came expecting it to be easier than it is to share about Jesus, but because of the language barriers, sometimes just being able to find out a child's name is an accomplishment.
"Teacher...I like banana!", "Teacher...I like apple!" Lunchtime with the students yesterday made me realize that much of our communication depends on the way that we act, and teach, and play with these kids who are so tiny and precious... God really used these past two days to show me how every day - no matter how routine - is a chance to show them how much they are really loved.

Illegal Immigration 101

One: Overstay your original visa and pretend like nothing happened...(maybe, take a sightseeing tour, or go and get your hair done...)

Okay...we didn't actually overstay our visas...but we came pretty close. Jo and Kara and I have all been together in Taiwan for two months...we didn't realize until yesterday - when we were looking at tickets to Singapore - that we had actually been here for almost 60 days. We let our supervisor know and thought little else about it after that, thinking that everything was taken care of...until the next afternoon. We were out searching for the perfect pet fishes, when the cell phone rang... they needed me back at the apartment - pronto - to go downtown with Jo and Kara to get pictures taken (before the photo-shop closed) for the new visas. After picking out Gunnar (the blue fish), Gezee (the one with the speckled tail) and Puck (a cupid sort of fish) we booked it back home so I could fill out paperwork for the new visa. While we waited in the shop, we took turns aggravating their pet bird and watching him try to snap our fingers off. The next day, thinking everything was taking care of, we headed out of town to Kenting - a beach town and also where they are opening a second English Village in December. I should probably mention that Kenting is almost two hours south of where we live...and we were only about fifteen minutes away when Wes came to the back of the bus, and told the three of us that someone from our school was coming to pick us up because something had gone wrong with the applications and they needed us back at the school as soon as possible to sign more papers. We had about an hour before our driver would reach Kenting, so we all headed for the beach so the three of us could jump in the ocean before having to go home. Drenched to our satisfaction, we separated from the rest of the group for the long drive back... three hours later, our papers signed, and back at our apartment...I kick back, my mind at peace knowing that I am - still - a legal resident of Taiwan.

Super Typhoon

This week is going to bring in typhoon 'Charming'...that's his name, and it's actually a super typhoon. This is the third typhoon we have had in the season, and we are in an area that doesn't get hit as hard normally; however, it is only the first day, and already we have seen incredible winds that shake our building with gusts that were predicted at 155 mph. Our team from Nantou was visiting us this weekend, and we had heard that all the trains were cancelled...fortunately, we got them safely on their way back home in one of the last trains going out of our station. Their area is impacted much harder by the typhoons than we are, and the last one did a lot of damage...there were at least ten people who died, and around ten missing at the last report that we received...if you could pray for safety for all of the people here, many who are so unaware that they are held in God's hand, and cannot depend on him for their protection...

The second week of October will be busy for us as we Americans are 'in demand'. We will be travelling to the island Lei Cho for two days to teach in the schools there... the island is about a forty-five minute boat ride from our part of the island...we are all pretty excited about being able to travel out to other schools. We will be teaching in several schools while we are on the island, and then probably go and visit one of the English Villages that is in Taoyuan, in northern Taiwan. All of the students at Nan Jung will be taking mid-terms during that week, and we will miss being at our home school. There is no possible way that we can know every one of the two thousand students there, but every morning as we come into work, we are warmly greeted - often by name - by the kids... but there are only eight of us, so it's easier on them to remember our names...

Last night, we made dumplings with one of our neighbors in the complex here...her two children helped us wrap the pork and green onion mixture into the dough circles...they were actually very delicious...but the seaweed soup that went with them was a little bit less delicious...

This evening after coming back from the city, we went up to the roof on our apartment complex (which is only about eleven stories) and stood out at the top of the rain and wind... I think that this was the first time that it has been cold enough to wear a sweatshirt here...because of the typhoon, we get the day off tomorrow, and we are all like little kids - excited to have a whole day to go out and play in the rain.

A Day With the Kids

This Saturday we got the chance to play ultimate frisbee with some of our Junior High students...Lily and Frank go to the Nan Tung Junior High school where the EV is located, and Tony is Lily's older brother... we all walked down to the field and played an awesome game of ultimate. It was really neat to be able to spend time with them outside of the school, where they were just kids - not students, and we weren't English teachers, just...well, Americans...

At night we went to youth group in the local church we have been going to, and met up with 'Hungry', another student from Nan Tung. The church is small, so there were only about ten to twelve kids there. They were practicing to lead the singing for Sunday morning service. Even though we couldn't understand most of the Chinese songs, when they played "Amazing Grace", we could all sing with them, and the Chinese and English words blended together in praise to our God who is the same to all of us and hears our songs in every language.

The Great Deluge

Today was a very soggy day... on Friday, we pulled in all the fruit from our market classroom as the typhoon threatened to blow it off the balcony... that was a good idea, but we should have brought the whole classroom inside...this morning, our feet got a surprise as we stepped out into a good two inches of water... our trees had blown over, and all of the barkdust was floating around the open air classroom...as we surveyed the rest of the catastrophe, we discovered that our brand new clock for the market was no more, and our vegetable stand display sign teetered from one hook... it was quite a scene, but we had fun mopping all the water down the outside back stairs (and throwing buckets of it over the balcony into the rice fields), and putting our little classroom back in order...

The typhoon has been going on for several days now, and every day the wind will pick up and rain will start around dinner-time as the sky turns a dark purple-y colour...it usually storms through the night. God truly has blessed me with all this rain...we've gone out in it almost every evening... it makes everything feel so much like home in Oregon.