So the other day we bought a moped, here they are called motor scooters most of the time. Sadly I don’t have any action pictures to share right now but hopefully that will be remedied in the near future. I legally own it and everything. We bought it from a scooter place and the owner’s wife went with me to take care of the necessities. Basically that means she transfered what amounts to no-fault insurance to my name (no fee for me), and went to the government office and transfered the title to my name (the lady paid the fee of 150NT or about $4.50USD). I have to say it is incredibly nice to ask Emily if she wants to go out and then go without involving any waits for buses or riding on any buses….I hate buses. Plus, if we need something from the store we can just go instead of overpaying at our local convenience store!
Today I taught English to a class of high school students. I advertised my native English speaking abilities on a website used by many here to advertise and find English abilities www.tealit.com and a few days later I got an email from a lady asking if I was available to come teach. Actually this was on the third day of the advertisement and the second day I got an email as well asking for my resume. The request was for me to come teach this past Thursday and that day I was out all day getting the scooter. I called the number she gave in the email and said I wasn’t available Thursday but please keep me in mind for other days. Right during the call she discovered I was available to come Saturday (today) and arranged to pick me up and go. So today came, Emily and I went together and I taught about 9 high school students English for two hours and GOT PAID! I prepared for thirty minutes ahead of time and boom, payday! They had the curriculum there and everything and I just showed up a thirty minutes ahead of time.
Crazy I know! Crazier still is that the lady paid for a taxi back to our town and when we got back we decided to see if we could find out way back on the scooter. We got to the right town, Nanken, and even in the same neighborhood but for some reason we couldn’t find the little cram school we had been at. Then Emily practiced driving the scooter for a little bit and thats when we lost our way.
We switched back to me driving somewhere in Nanken but not sure where and ended up driving all over the countryside and finally ended up back in Gueishan (our town) a few hours later. It was fun but straddling a scooter for a few hours makes you feel kind of funny.
All in all a great day! Seeing Taiwan’s countryside reminded me of how beautiful it is here.
Its amazing how everyday we settle in just a little more. We’ve got a place to live, transportation, cell phones, extra-curricular activities, a church, school, jobs, friends, and all the stuff normal lives have! God is good!
Hey Michael! It’s really too great how God is confirming the path you two have taken. Who knew you would find a “paying” job so soon? Taiwan sounds like a jumpin’ place. And the scooter soounds like just the thing to get you around to your classes and everything. I’m really happy for you – that your making new friends, finding good fellowship, and starting to make a home for yourselves. The Taiwanese sound like very warm and friendly people. God is indeed good and I thank him for his promises. Love you guys – Aunt Winnie