Last weekend was rather unique - and insane. I decided to meet up with some friends, former TAs(teacher assistants) in Taipei, along with other former King Car teachers, and another friend I had met randomly. Since I was going to Danshui, I thought of inviting some classmates along - foreigners who had never been to Danshui before.

Danshui is a fishing village outside of Taipei that has become a tourist attraction, lots of shops, food stands, and generally a fun place to just hang out. We got to Danshui around 1pm, walked around for a while, ate food, and hung out until 2:15, when I went back to meet the TAs and other teachers at the MRT station. We spent the rest of the afternoon in two different groups. The group from school went to the other side of the river while I was waiting for the TAs and other people I was supposed to meet. We didn't meet up for several hours, and spent a lot of time playing telephone tag, trying to find each other.

It was neat to see friends I hadn't seen in a while, and catch up with what's been happening in their lives. I had a lot of fun just talking, though the whole telephone tag thing was a little frustrating.

About 7, we all met up at Starbucks, and was finally able to see everyone at once. A little while later, everyone split up, and I went out to dinner with one of the friends who had come for the day. We walked around a bit, trying to find a decent place to eat that wasn't crazy expensive, and finally settled for the basement of SOGO, where they had decent food at decent prices. After that, we walked around a little more, and eventually found a tea shop where we talked a little more. By that time, I was supposed to meet up with someone who was supposed to give me a place to stay for the night.

Julie, another TA that I met last year, invited me to her church on Sunday. However, she asked a friend of hers, Earvin, if he could let me stay at his apartment. It took a little while for Earvin to find me, as I'm not too familiar with Taipei, and wasn't sure exactly where I was. He finally found me about 11:30, and I went back to his place. We were able to talk a bit, and I found out that he went through the VOICE program, a Christian intercultural program that was run by IBLP, the group in America that I had worked with, and who was the catalyst for me coming to Taiwan in the first place.

This being the case, he and I knew a lot of the same people - he pulled out a book, with names and pictures of all the VOICE students and staff, and I found a lot of names and faces of people I knew.

We eventually got to bed, and went to church the next morning. I went to an English Sunday school class, with an American missionary from Indiana. After talking to him a little bit, I found out that he's lived in Taiwan for 15 years, 12 of them in Taichung, a city in southern Taiwan. I found out that he knows an American missionary that I know working in Taichung.

The service was all in Chinese, which was ok - I followed along the best I could, but really couldn't get the gist of the message. After church, Earvin and I went to the Chen's house. They're the head of the IBLP staff in Taiwan. Earvin had told them that he was coming, and that he was bringing someone with him. When I walked in the door, they were quite surprised that we knew each other.

It was really neat to see the Chens, other friends that I wasn't planning on seeing.

Overall, it was a great weekend, and I was able to see a lot of friends that I hadn't seen for a while. On the other hand, I learned that it's not worth it to try to get 3 different groups together at the same time, especially if I'm the only one who knows all of them, and that I probably should have just done this in 2 or 3 different trips.

It's been a month since I've last blogged, but I've changed continents, languages, and cultures, which is kind of time consuming, if you think about it. I'm now at Chiao Tung University (交通大學) in Hsinchu, Taiwan. There are people from 15 different countries, with 4 Americans. I know it will be tough, but it will be good. After orientation yesterday, I felt like a guy in the middle of the ocean with no boat or land in sight. However, I know that this is what I'm supposed to be doing, which means that God will pull me through.

Last Saturday and Sunday, I visited a student's house an hour from the school in Yuan-li, Taiwan. It was neat to finally see Lucy, after I'd kept in touch with her while I was in the States. I did and saw a lot of unique things, such as oyster digging, reed weaving museum, and a tour of Yuan-li, the little town they live in. It was neat to be in a home, with a family, not in a dorm with a cafeteria.

Since then, I've been getting registered, setting up the things I need, and finding out what I haven't done that I need to do still. I've made some friends, and met people that i think will be a lot of help this semester.

Here are a few pictures from my trip to Yuan-li:


soft-serve ice cream


digging for clams


her dress is made out of rush


Mr. Lai's aunt is one of the rush weavers


hats, and roses - all out of rush


friends and relatives


David(Mr. Lai), Brian, and I