Taiwaneers

Mid-terms are over and I think I did ok. Because it was mid-terms week we didn’t have any class and my last test was Thursday morning. So with the help of our friend Sandy, Emily and I booked plane tickets to go to Kinmen where Megan is for the weekend and more to the point Thanksgiving.

We arrived before dinner Thursday evening. Megan’s team (a bunch of girls) had cooked an incredibly authentic Thanksgiving feast complete with Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes’n gravy, and even pies! They had invited some Taiwanese friends as well and together we gave thanks and gorged ourselves on good ol’ fashion American food! It was wonderful to be with my sister for Thanksgiving.

I stayed in Kinmen through Sunday evening and Emily is still there and will return Tuesday evening. We had a wonderful time going around the island showing Emily the sights. Kinmen is a beautiful place and even though Taiwanese people think its a boring place I love it.

We climed the mountain and were high enough to see both sides of the island at the same time. We also went to my favorite beef noodles place from my trip last Christmas in Sanwei where they make their own noodles that are very thick and extremely tasty. We also went out to eat at a hot pot place with some of Megan’s friends. Hot pot is where they give you a bunch of raw ingredients and you cook it in your own little pot of hot chicken broth at your table. It was really good.  We also went to church on little Kinmen and then afterwards were toured around little Kinmen by some more of Megan’s friends. Among other things we toured a few historical army bases there and went from one to the other by a tunnel made by the army. We also saw Xiamen, China through a telescope so close that we could watch cars on the streets and see people on the beeches. Where the telescope was was 6000km away from mainland China. Emily accurately commented that she felt like she was spying! We were able to see the sign, written in Chinese, on Xiamen’s beech that says ‘two governments, one country’ referring to Taiwan and China that is especially directed for people looking through the telescopes on little Kinmen.

Thanksgivnig weekend was wonderful! I came back on a flight last night and by the time I got to our home here in Gueishan after a flight, two taxi rides, and a train, I was so excited to sleep in my own bed……I’m becoming my father!

Today I woke up with the same headache I went to sleep with and after some debate with myself I decided it wouldn’t be a good idea to go to school today. I slept in and spent the day studying and relaxing. Its been raining all day and the word on the street is that there is another typhoon heading our way. Hopefully Emily will be able to come home ok but if not we shouldn’t have too much of a problem since her classes don’t resume until next week.

One thing that has been happening lately is homesickness. Emily and I are both feeling the desire to be at home with the people we love and around all things familiar. I’ve also been feeling extremely guilty about not having our thank you cards finished and mailed from our wedding. From both of us to all of you THANK YOU so much! We’re still trying to get them finished and mailed but I want to at least get that out there offically without any further delay.

Michael posted a few weeks ago that he felt we were settling into a groove. I agree with him, but that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been change, surprise and adventure. In fact, there’s just as much going on as when we arrived, but we’re giving the individual events less attention; perhaps as much attention as they deserve. Our colorful life is becoming normal.

Some news:

1) I got a job - well, two. I teach a total of 6 hours each week, for two different cram schools.

2) My first semester is finished, and I passed my final with flying colors.

3) I got a haircut that I still don’t like very much.

4) Homesickness has hit.

5) We’re starting to notice little funny things about this culture.

1) Teaching: At one school, Joy English in Taoyuan, I teach for only half an hour in each classroom, doing whatever their Taiwanese teacher wants me to do that day. Because of this, I see 8 different classrooms in a week. Their ages range from 5 to about 15 - so there’s a wide range of English proficiency too. I have found that I like it. A lot! Teaching comes so naturally to me it’s almost surprising. God has given me a gift for passing along information, and for the first time I’ve been given a chance to really use it!

The other school is in Nankan, a town about 20 minutes from us. Michael mentioned this place in one of his earlier posts, “Settling into a groove”. He has posted on a website that he’d be available to teach, and got called up by Jimanda English School. We both went on a Saturday, and I watched as he taught for a few hours. Afterwards, when Michael told the owner that he could only substitute every once in a while because of his busy schedule, she promptly turned to me and said we should keep in touch. Ha! I had some problems getting a hold of her again, but once I did, I had a job instantly. Hard to believe that she hired me simply because I’m a native English speaker…but I can say with confidence now that she’s kept me on because I’m a good teacher. There, I teach for two hours at a time - two one-hour sessions with a group of middle school students. I am loving my newfound independence, using my talents, being more busy, and seeing more of daily life with the Taiwanese.

2) First Semester Finished: My classes are different from Michael’s - I actually attend a “school” that’s officially separate from Ming Chuan University. It’s the Mandarin Study and Culture Center - and although we use the MCU campus classrooms, the staff has office space on campus, as well as countless other connections - I guess it’s just separate. This program uses trimesters, so the end of our first semester is next Thursday. While Michael’s been studying for midterms, I’ve been studying for my final, which was yesterday. No telling why we had our final before the last day of the semester… but regardless, I feel I did very well. Testing, especially in this class, is always encouraging to me because I can see how much I’ve learned. Praise God, I’ve learned so much in the past few months! I can now read some signs on the street, talk some with strangers, and at least understand the general gist of what people say to me. Of course if the conversation only spans family, weather, time of day, entertainment, food, clothes, school, or something else very elementary, I have a lot to say. Unfortunately, most people don’t spend all their time talking about how many classmates they have or how many shoes there are in the room. Still, it’s been so cool to see my brain absorb and spit out this foreign language!

3) Haircut fiasco: My hair hadn’t been cut since Christmas, and was getting on my nerves. So, I did the most logical thing a person in my situation would do: I cut 6 inches off. This would be fine, if I didn’t do it in a Taiwanese beauty salon where I couldn’t exactly communicate what I wanted. The young lady cutting my hair tried to understand, but in the end she just went with her instincts and cut my hair the way she normally cuts black, straight, thin Taiwanese girls’ hair. Unfortunately this just does not work with brown, wavy, thick American hair. I wanted a few layers, but instead I got majorly thinned hair starting at about my chin. It looks funny and my hair actually looks thin for the first time since I was, what, 5 years old? I’ve gotten more used to it, but it’s still a bad haircut for me. Oh well, live and learn.

4) Missing Home: It was Joel’s birthday a few days ago, and since my family was all together to celebrate, I had a chance to talk to everyone on Skype. In the week leading up to his birthday, I started thinking about my youngest brother and how amazing he was. That has started a chain reaction of seriously missing my family. Talking to everyone and seeing their face, laughing about silly things, catching up on news and telling them about my life here has made me realize how much I love them and how huge of a place they hold in my heart. Michael’s been so wonderful with his comfort, but I really, really miss my family. The reality of being in a very different place has started to hit. Please pray for Michael and me.

5) Quirky Culture: Getting gas for our scooter the other night, I looked around and noticed some essentials for sale by the pumps. Here’s what you can buy when you’re in a hurry: tissue paper, cigarettes, candy, water, and bottles of soy sauce. Yes, big bottles of soy sauce rank up there with being able to wipe your butt.

There are nice, dirty, abandoned dogs hanging around everywhere. They’re sort of life neighborhood pets, instead of belonging to one family in particular. These dogs hang out in little packs or alone, wandering around in the road, the local convenience stores, my college, or basically anywhere. They’re harmless and seem completely content to have no home. It’s still pretty weird for me to walk into the 7-11 on the corner and see…a dog in the aisle. He’s just hanging out, having a blast watching people buy stuff. What’s even more weird is that no one cares about the stray dog, not even the store owner.

It rains quite often here, so people are always prepared with a small umbrella on hand. I’ve never been to Seattle or New York, but I’ve seen the pictures of the masses of black umbrellas. Even in Lansing, black is the most popular color umbrella. Here, however, when it rains it’s like the circus came to town. I’m not sure I’ve even seen a black umbrella yet. It’s not just the girls that go to town with crazy colors - the boys have multi-colored gear too.

Michael’s discovered that it’s considered rude to wear flip flops to class - these are only for wearing around the house.

There’s been a lot more, but that’s all I can think of right now. If you come visit, you can witness all these fun quirks for yourself!

Well its time. My first semester’s mid-terms are upon me.

This coming week I have a mid-term in World Literature (Monday), English Composition (Tuesday), and in Application of Information Technology (Friday) otherwise known as Computer class.

The World Lit mid-term should be interesting. The teacher seems to be somewhat vague when describing how we’ll be graded at the end of the year and to-date my observation is if she likes you you’ll do good, if she doesn’t you won’t. Suffice it to say skills obtained from being the son of Scot Jefferies have been in heavy use. In fact, myself and two other students are now competing against each other to see who can suck up the most!

The English Comp mid-term should be a breeze. The teacher is one of those funny people who believe everyone should be positively encouraged at every turn. Plus I’m a native speaker and the least of her problems. Even though I was home-teached I know what the basic essay outline consists of.

Computer class should be another weird one. The teacher thinks I’m pretty much the coolest person on earth….bonus. In this class again, I’m one of the least of the teacher’s worries as other students have never even used Excel in some cases or don’t understand the concepts behind “If” codings, etc., in others. The twist on this class is the teacher seems convinced we should be moving at the same pace as the classes she’s taught in the US (She’s an ABC, American Born Chinese, from Indiana and moved here to be a missionary and does this to support herself) and is frustrated by the language barrier as well as what she perceives as continual shaftings from the university. Maybe the test will be harder than I think it will be? I just don’t know. Plus she has a funny way of wording instructions sometimes so I don’t know if I’ll understand whats being asked of me.

Next week I’ll have the hard mid-terms. Calculus, Accounting, and Economics are all next week so this coming weekend will be harder as far as the studying goes. I feel pretty good about those three even though they’re going to be harder. I get Accounting and how to logically approach it, I have an amazing Calculus teacher and even though its hard I should do ok as long as I prepare. Economics is getting harder and I basically have to learn it by myself because of the teacher but its not to difficult thus far to understand and apply common-sense to so we should be A-ok there at least for right now. God is good!

Well its definitely evident that I’m settling into the groove of life. I get up, go to class, come home from class, spend some time with Emily, go to sleep, and do it again. The little things like the fact that I understand hardly anything said around me aren’t as amazing anymore. The fact that this is my life is beginning to be normal. Living in Taiwan is just my life and not an incredible romantic adventure to be attained.

Its actually interesting how much little free time I have. This might be due to my workload though. Most universities in the US don’t have freshmen taking over 20 credit hours. A lot of my downtime is spent doing homework or studying for a quiz, etc. I don’t feel overly busy though. I have class 4 days a week leaving one day besides the weekend (Thursday) to get homework done, watch tv, sleep in, and in general rejuvenate. It strikes me as funny that Emily and I aren’t out every possible minute exploring and taking it all in but thats just more evidence that we’re settled.

I really like our home. After a long day of classes walking in the door, smelling the American food Emily’s is cooking us for dinner, and seeing her beautiful face makes all the stress of the day come crashing off of me and I can just sink into our Ikea couch and talk with her about my day and hear about hers. Emily is incredible too. With only a studio apartment I don’t feel claustrophobic at all and Emily doesn’t either. Of course I’m never here but still, as a guy who’s lived an American style existence for 23 years straight I thought there might be more of a jolt……maybe I just haven’t hit that stage yet.

It is definitely nice to have the scooter too. Emily and I ride to the train station together in the morning and then she comes and picks me up in the evening. My commute is like a half hour shorter and its more pleasant because at the end of the day the bus is so nerve-wracking. Crowded, jerky, and bumping into people for 20 plus minutes to get to a location you know is only 5 minutes away by car or scooter was frustrating. Plus there’s the waiting for the bus that I don’t have to endure anymore when it just doesn’t come for 20 extra minutes.

God has really been wonderful giving us a church family so quickly too. Sometimes I wonder if we should visit some more churches but I haven’t felt unrest to do it, just the thought. The other day I discovered a few more of my classmates are Christians. One of the girls from Korea and one of the girls from Indonesia.

Even with a few crazies that live in our apartment building we’ve got it so good. Even with a few teachers who don’t know how to teach I know we’ve got is so good. God makes life sweet sometimes. I think right now is one of those times.

By the way, we put up a wedding pictures album on the pictures page in case you haven’t seen them yet.