Michael & Emily | Taiwaneers

Old Friend + Natural Wonder + New Friends = Good Weekend!

Emily's Posts, Taiwan, Travel & Exploring 2 Responses »

Apr 062009

Hey all.
We got a chance to spend yet another fabulous weekend with Sandy, and loved every minute! We’ve been helping her in Taipei for the last few weekends, finding foreigners to fill out a survey for her master’s study, and Taroko Gorge was her last stop. Of COURSE we had no problem coming with her again! We’d heard only breathtaking accounts about the scenery there, and despite other plans to come before, had never made the long, 5-hour trip down from Taipei. Plus we’ll take any chance we get to spend time with such a wonderful woman. Wish you could all meet her

Highlights:
~Driving down the East Coast of Taiwan: there’s only one road from Taipei…seriously, just one…so added to the danger of driving on the narrow, curvy, seaside cliff is having to pass all the slow trucks. wee! Also lots of tunnels.
~Sandy’s frequent stops to get surveys (another survey, for a classmate) from Taiwanese on bikes. We made a few friends on the road, and kept bumping into them later, which was fun
~Stopping at a wharf to eat that day’s fresh sashimi and fish ball soup. Oh, and watching Michael almost lose his head due to consuming an unusually large amount of wasabi!
~An hour at the Seven Star beach, which was long and covered in beautifully smooth rocks.
~Perusing Hualien City at night, and eating all the special things they have there. YUM.
~Meeting our host for the next few nights, a friend of Sandy’s. He taught me a few jokes in Chinese. A crack-up!
~Entering Taroko gorge the next day…I was blown away at first, but then it kept getting more and more incredible!
~Walking down the Tunnel of Nine Turns. I now know why that’s the picture they put on every postcard. Unbelievable.
~Enlisting the help of a stranger, because Sandy left her headlights on and needed a jump! ha!
~Spending the evening with the Aboriginal family of our host. We “shucked” freshly cut bamboo tips for the soup, caught a chicken, bathed in a natural hot spring, ate a really yummy aboriginal-style dinner with all local ingredients, learned how to pour tea properly, and generally had a marvelous time. I feel like I know Taiwan a little better now.
~Sleeping like a rock Saturday night.
~Breakfast with our hosts at a local breakfast joint that was CRAZY! They made special dumplings, and when a fresh batch came out of the oven, look out! People crowded around and grabbed what they wanted until they were all gone. Very yummy.
~Bumping into a friend from school and her family, just as we were leaving Taroko at the end of the second day. What are the chances?
~Driving back home…lots of car crashes…sleeping…joking…eating…and saying goodbye to lovely Sandy!

Notice how there were a ton of highlights? It was such a good 3 days. Thank you Sandy for your love and friendship! Thank you God for making such a magnificent place!

Emily

Chinese, Prayer, Culture

Christianity, Michael's Posts, Our Taipei Life 1 Response »

Mar 302009

A huge step was taken last night in my Chinese abilities. I got out Emily’s beginner texbook from last year and, with a little help from my beautiful bride, taught myself how to write 我 (pronounced “wo”) which means I/me. Until now I have focused solely on listening and speaking and basically only knew how to write my Chinese name, 鄭明哲. Reading & writing Chinese has always seemed daunting to me but last night was incredibly fun. I think I’ll incorporate it into my studies from now on.

One weird thing that I’ve noticed lately is that whenever I read, listen, or even think about Scripture my mind wanders and its hard for me to concentrate. A part of me thinks its because I have too many things on my mind and need to properly decelerate. Another part of me feels like its an attack on my relationship with God from a third party. I can’t really tell but the mere fact that I think it might be an attack is strange because I don’t normally think of these things as being very spiritual warfare-esqe when they happen to me. For those of you who feel inclined please pray that I can focus on the Holy Scriptures.

For the past year and a half I’ve had classes every day with the same group of 43 students. As you can imagine our friendships have been deepening. Another prayer request would be that God uses these relationships for my classmates and I to ‘sharpen each other’ and ‘draw (each other) closer to Him.’

Today four of my classmates and I gave a culture presentation on the United States for one of our classes. Teachers love having us do these things even when the class has nothing to do with culture. I guess I can’t blame them though as many of them only teach one or two classes in the International College (IC). We’re used to being in a very diverse classroom every day but for them its still a novelty. Anyways I presented on the South. I used a very hammed-up southern accent and taught them how to say “ya’ll” and about grits, sweet tea, southern-style BBQ, and how the confederate flag is a symbol not only of racism but also of states’ rights. It was really fun and you’ve got to love fluff assignments.

Camcorders & Poison Ivy

Michael's Posts, USA No Responses »

Aug 112008

We just got back from a trip down to Chattanooga, Tennessee and Owensboro, Kentucky to visit the Muffett’s extended family. It was a great trip! I got a chance to get to know the extended family a lot better and experience some of the things Emily has told me about like the Country Club, family dynamics, & many, many others.

In Chattanooga we had so much fun hanging out with everyone. All of us young folks went out a few times. As a new 21 year old Jason was the newest member of the cousin brigade along with myself as the newest member of the family. I felt very welcomed and at home. We all went out (young & older alike) for a day on a big lake part of the Tennessee river. It included jumping off of cliffs, water-skiing, bbqing, and my first time knee-boarding! It was an awesome day and we all slept well that night. My new cousin’s (Brad) girlfriend’s family was our host and they were a ton of fun. Many thanks to them!

In Owensboro we got to spend time with the Holders. They have original artwork all over their house which happens to closely parallel my taste so that was awesome! We went swimming at the Owensboro country club where they are members a few times and that was an event just because Emily has shared so many memories with me that include the country club. It was also wonderful to get a chance to just be with the Holders and spend a good chunk of time getting to know them better. Winnie, my new aunt, and I had a particularly pleasant conversation over dinner one night!

Sadly in Owensboro I somehow got poison ivy which I am still battling the best way I know how with mineral spirits….yuck! Oh well! On the good side of things we recently bought a Panasonic PV-GS200 camcorder on ebay so hopefully we’ll be adding videos to our blog this coming year. Please feel free to make suggestions regarding what aspects of our life you would be interested in “experiencing.”