We’ve been having some difficulty with our internet here at home so I figured while I’ve got a connection I’d better get a post up to ensure people don’t think we’ve already called it quits on this blog!

Its seems that one DSL connection to a house converted into eight apartments isn’t enough. We’ll have a connection for a while and then it will all of a sudden disappear and won’t come back for 15 minutes or 24 hours depending and will last for the same weird and varied amounts of time. We suspect its mostly to do with one of the tenants who seems to enjoy downloading large files from the internet and monopolizing the bandwidth……did I get that terminology right all you techies? Anyways I’ve got it right now thank goodness!

Ok so here’s a little story. Last Friday I got on the bus in downtown Taoyuan for the ride to Guieshan (the little village we live in right next to Taoyuan), walk to the back of the bus to one of just a few empty seats surrounded by a bunch of what I think are high school guys. I’ve got my MP3 player going and as I sit down next to one of them I see the rest give him a look and hear a ooooohhhh from them loud enough to be heard over my music. I take off my headphones and immediately the two behind me who spoke English wanted to talk and show off their skills talking to an American……thats right, white guys are cool too!

As we chatted about my age, why I was there, and all the easy things they had learned how to ask in English I found out that they were actually 18 year old freshman at Ming Chuan University at the campus Emily goes to in Gueishan. It was weird to realize these little boys who I was giving “sage council” to about girls and pubs (none of them had ever been in a pub and were excited and nervous to go because now they could being 18)  were beginning probably many of the same core classes I myself am taking.

Another funny thing was anytime, and I mean anytime I said something in Chinese (like yes and no) they would cheer really loud. I can’t imagine a foreigner in the US getting cheered for speaking English on a bus and found it incredibly amusing to be so entertaining. Just to give you a picture other people on the bus were giving this group of 13 or so guys dirty looks because they were cheering so loud.

In conclusion I’d just like to offer up our couch here to anyone needing a self-esteem boost bad enough to make the trip over here. Just save those fees your paying your shrink and in no time you’ll have enough to buy a plane ticket. That purchase is all you need to solve the problem because the boost is the price of a bus ticket once your here…..18NT, about 60 cents USD.

 

Yesterday I cleaned the apartment, and after doing so realized that it was an optimum time for taking pictures. Our pretty little home can be viewed in its entirety HERE.

Tonight we had a dinner guest – Ginger, another American (and Christian!!!) attending Ming Chuan. She taught English classes with Michael’s sister Megan, so he’s met her before. Actually, she was helping us look for an apartment in the area, though she didn’t find anything. This was the first time I’d met her and I thought she was absolutely great. Warm, loving,  and a follower of Christ. I think we’re going to be easy friends :)

Tomorrow, Megan comes to visit for the weekend. Students have next Monday and Tuesday off of school due to Moon Festival, so that means teachers too. Yeah! We’re planning to spend time with her and Sandy, and also pick one of many traditional Moon Festival barbecues to attend. It should be a really wonderful couple of days.

Love!

Emily

 

Its such a diverse list I figured it would be interesting to know all of the nationalities represented in my class of about 30 or 40 students. Its interesting also that MCU has placed all of us Interational Business & Management freshman in the same classes for this semester so basically we see each other all day every day.

Ok so there are:
About 6 Nicaraguans
About 4 Brazilians
A few from Indonesia
A few from Korea
3 of us from the USA (one from northern California, one from Boston, and me)
A girl from Naru (an Island in the South Pacific with less than 15,000 people)
A guy from Kitibus (thats how it sounds but I’m not sure how its spelled. Its also a dot in the South Pacific so small that I can’t find out how to spell it)
A girl from St. Vincent in the Caribbean
A guy from Dubai
A guy from Malawi, Africa
A guy from Swaziland, Africa
About 10 or so from Taiwan (local students who wanted to improve their English so that is why they are in our degree program)

Thats all that I can think of right now but I may be missing a few.

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