Taiwaneers

One second I was walking down the street on the way to the post office and the next second I was part of an air raid drill. Thats exactly what happened to me today.

Emily and I were puttering around our house getting everything ready for our summer-break departure tomorrow. All of a sudden we heard an extremely loud and extremely long alarm from outside. It was the same kind of noise I remember hearing as a kid that signaled tornadoes.

We opened the window to see if people were rushing away from buildings or anything giving us an indication of real danger from an earthquake or something but seeing no one we just continued what we were doing and finally the alarm stopped.

A few minutes later I left for the post office and walked down the street to the first intersection. I was about to cross the street when a Cop standing there told me that I had to stay. Looking around I noticed several people just hanging out at the corner and then I realized how eerie it was that there were no cars or scooters or pedestrians or bicycles or anything moving along the streets. One of the other guys standing there spoke a little English and he explained to me that this was a 15 minute air-raid drill that is done across Taipei city once a year.

After the obligatory 15 minutes were up the deafening alarm sounded long and loud again and as quickly as you can snap your fingers the streets were full with cars and pedestrians.

In a country where I feel less in danger than when I’m in America this was a surreal experience.

I wrote this in May, because that’s when I did these things. Somehow it got stuck in Drafts and never got published. whoops
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The weekends tend to be quite busy for us, but yesterday was especially full for me. I woke up mid-morning, ate breakfast and gave the kitchen a thorough scrubbing, then set out with some trail mix and water to join a few classmates for hiking.
We hiked Elephant Mountain (象山), the nearest one to Taipei’s (used to be the world’s) tallest building. It’s from this spot that all the astounding pictures of this valley city are taken. We weren’t able to wait for sunset, but what we did see was spectacular. The day was clear and sunny, so at the top of the mountain we lazily rested for an hour or so, soaking up the rays and perfumed air. There are some moments that seem just perfect, and this was definitely one of them!

We climbed down the other side of the mountain, descending straight into the city. It’s amazing how sharply the mountains rise up from the valley, how suddenly the city halts its growth at the base of these gentle giants.
After finding our way back to the subway system, I headed North to meet Michael and my classmates headed South. Of course we’ll meet again bright and early Monday morning. It’s great when goodbye is only for a few days!
It was 6pm, and I was supposed to meet Michael at 7 so we could go to a Bible study with a friend of ours from school, but he was at home and I was across town. So, we decided he would take the scooter and I would take a combination of the MRT (subway) and a shuttle bus to the nearby department store. Well, a simple plan turned out to be not-so-simple, as no one knew where I could catch the free shuttle bus or which public bus I should take to get there. Michael waited for over an hour as I walked around aimlessly, asking help from strangers and getting none, until I finally spotted the bus as it was pulling away, only to wait another half hour before the next one came. We finally met and were able to go to the study, which proved to be really worthwhile. The people were so sincere and open, and besides hanging out and listening to the scripture, we spent some time in earnest prayer for each other’s needs. It was really a wonderful evening with the body of Christ!