Wednesday, July 25, 2012

July 25, 2012 Blogpost by Ray

I don't have a cute title for this post, Kailin's the cute one.

It's hard to believe that we've already been in Taiwan for a month. It is going by incredibly fast, pretty soon we'll be hopping on a plane to head home (wherever that is).

On to the stories:

It rains here fairly often, and when it starts I tell my students, "Oh man, I forgot my boat. Looks like I'll be swimming home tonight." Usually it's just intense rain lasting only 10-15 minutes, and if we wait it out we can avoid getting soaked. It's a good plan, except for last night, when the rain won the waiting game and we had to ride our bikes home in the deluge.

It was about halfway into the 10 minute ride home that I started feeling like I was drowning. Maybe it was the water streaming down my face from my somehow saturated poncho, or maybe it was the waves washing over us as cars passed by. More than likely however, it was a both of these things added to the weight of Kailin's purse hanging from my neck, underneath my poncho, feeling heavier and heavier.

But when we turned into the back alley leading to our apartment the deafening explosion of the rain pounding the brick and metal buildings all around us and echoing down the the narrow row was a beautiful sound. Kailin says she had never been on a bike ride like that before, but I imagine it won't be our last during our time here.

 



Today I named my first child.

In Taiwan, people who learn English have an English name in addition to their Chinese name. (Ever heard of "Jackie" Chan before?) I've asked my students how they chose their names and the ones whose parents speak English often choose a name, but if their parents don't speak English, it seems their first English teacher chooses the name. What an incredible and terrifying responsibility I thought. Choosing the name by which this person will be known for the rest of their English lives. It seemed to me too much to believe.

So when I walked into class this morning and one of the school administers introduced me to a new student and her mother, I wasn't expecting the answer to "what's her name?" to be "She doesn't have one." It was my job to give the little girl an English name right there on the spot. I would have preferred to have taken some time to get to know the family, walk them through a few name books, and maybe let the girl choose a name she felt appropriate to her personality. But I wasn't so lucky. So instead, a dozen names flashed through my head and I felt overwhelmed.

But when I looked at the child I was happy with the name that stuck in my mind. Kira. Everyone thought it was a beautiful name (and easy to spell) and the mother was very pleased. The administrator later told us that she wants to name a daughter Kira.

Kira

As I mentioned earlier we have been here a month already and I think a conversation Kailin had while Skyping her mother sums up my feelings pretty well. Her mother asked her how I was enjoying the experience and Kailin said, "We get to spend all of our time together, so I think he is happy." And that is the truth. It turns out that for me, home is wherever I'm with her.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Professional Pea Holder

You heard me. And that is exactly what Ray is: a professional pea holder. Okay, maybe the real title is professional chopsticker, chopstick user, chopstickite? Who knows? But our roommate told us if you could hold three stacked peas in your chopsticks you were professional.


Ray promptly succeeded. I'm... still workin' on it.

We had a very busy week full of adventures where we finally began branching out of our routine. For starters, we tried a new restaurant: Mos Burgers. We were already dying for some American type food, and everyone had been raving about this place. So armed with some general area directions, we took off on our bikes after school one night and eventually found this beauty:


The burger that is. Thanks though ;)

Also this week, our new friends from church took us out to dinner and showed us around the University that is a couple blocks from our apartment complex. The next day they took us to the top of the mountain, Pakuashan, where the largest Buddha statue in Taiwan sits. It was nice and breezy up there, which felt fantastic, and also meant we had views all the way to Taichung. This according to my students is a rare day indeed.


"Praaaaaissse to Buddha!" (insert musical notes here) - Name that movie! And no, it is not Mulan.

The statue was way cool, and the temple behind it was gorgeous. But perhaps the most exciting part was discovering the gigantic koi pond behind the temple full of enormous koi fish. We spent a good 15-20 minutes just ogling at the size of these guys and the beauty of the pond.


We took this from the second floor of the temple looking down. My dad built a koi pond in every house I ever lived in growing up. They were always beautiful, but it wasn't until this moment that I realized what a koi pond could really become.


Seriously, look at the size of these things! We even saw one jump clean out of the water- no less than two feet in the air, I swear.

I lied, perhaps the most exciting part was Ray's new found toy in the temple:


Apparently the higher you lift this weapon, the more blessings you will receive. Neither of us could lift it off the ground even a quarter of an inch... "That's it! Dishonor! Dishonor on your whole family!" Okay, yes, this time it is Mulan.

After a rest from walking around the grounds for a few hours, our friends then took us to Changhua's Night Market. Again, a menagerie of crowded stores and stalls, overflowing with foods, drinks and clothes. This time though there was also an assault on our noses by none other than... Stinky Tofu. We had heard so much about it, but nothing could have prepared us for the at first subtle, then slowly thickening grotesque smell. I'll be completely honest with you, we can't compare the smell to anything else other than sewage. Ray thought some child had messed his pants when we caught our first whiff. Maybe after a few months we'll be brave enough to try it. For now though, our eyes still water when we just think of the smell. That goal is going to take some mental stamina and gag reflex training. Instead, we settled for some delicious, fresh coconut milk, Taiwanese BBQ chicken (amazing!) and the best fried squid we have ever tasted.

Sunday, July 8, 2012

It's a Small World After All!

Last week we attended church at the American Branch in Taichung- about an hour north of us. It's a much bigger city than Changhua, as in, we realized we are really living in quite a rural little town. We like it that way though- access to more Taiwanese culture. Taichung has been very westernized with gigantic department stores and the like, which you definitely won't find where we are!

Anyway, back at the American Branch. When I walked in last week to Relief Society (which is first) and filed into the last row, a girl in front of me turned around and we made eye contact. In slow motion we realized we knew each other! I had gone to high school with her and we took Japanese together our junior year- what on earth was she doing here?! As I stood and introduced myself "I just moved here from CA with my husband Ray." she flipped around and whispered urgently "You're married now?!"

"Just had our one year! Are you here teaching with ILP?" I whispered back.

"On my mission!" She displayed her nametag. "I go home in 6 weeks!"

It was so insane seeing her again, we sat after church and caught up about old times and I filled her in on who is married now. It was great to see a familiar face. I love how the Gospel of Christ brings people together over oceans and vast lands. There is truly no end to His love. Missionaries are such a blessing to members and nonmembers alike and I am so grateful for their examples in being a light to the world.

This Sunday we attended church at the Chinese ward, because instead of a bike ride, a train ride, a bus and a walk away, it's only a 2 minute walk down the street. The sister missionaries met us in the morning and walked us there, where we met the elders and another American who has lived here for five years after serving his mission here. We totally hit it off with him and his wife, and it turns out: they live in the same apartment complex as us! We've already made plans to do some weekend traveling with them so they can show us around Changhua and beyond. Prepare yourselves for those epic tales soon to come.

A few other things of note:

I saw my first cockroach last night. It was vile and disgusting and I never want to see one again. Too bad another scampered across the floor this afternoon as I was watching the end of Inception. To my good fortune though- Ray saved the day with a can of Raid! Hopefully they don't make it up to our room on the 3rd floor, we've only seen them so far on the 1st. Bleh!

Our classes were small this week since it's summer holiday- hopefully this week they will beef up a little bit. I was so impressed with my students when they randomly broke into song: It's a Small World After All, followed by every verse and word to I've Been Workin' on the Railroad. Totally made my day :)

I figured out how to get pictures onto my new computer! So now we can share a little more of our experience with you all. For example: Here is how we feel about riding our bikes through terrifying streets of death.

Whichever face you look at, this is not okay. Even our dear friend's in the background staring so endearingly at us.