Taiwan: The Heart of Asia

I arrived to Taiwan safe and sound. Of course, there was some interesting things that happened along the way. I flew from Incheon to Qingdao at 8am. When I connected in Qingdao, I was put in a "time out" of sorts because I didn't have a Chinese visa. After I convinced the two officials as they examined my itinerary and passport that I will be leaving Qingdao in two hours and that I will not be leaving the airport, they allowed me to continue on my way. I never seem to have a dull moment at airports, even when I am prepared with everything I need, there always seems to be some misunderstanding or bump in the road. Oh well

I arrived in Taipei around 4pm Saturday. I waited at the airport for one of my fellow volunteers to arrive as well as two of the long term missionaries. While I waited in the "meeting place" area of the airport, I was able to watch the home run derby of the Taiwanese baseball league. It was very dynamic as the winner was able to hit twelve home runs. My fellow volunteer, Cana, arrived around 7:30. She is a Law student from Sheboygan (she was a student at my uncle's high school, it is a small Synod!) The two missionaries were late to arrive because one of them learned that his luggage was still in Chicago. Once they gave the airport information on where to send the luggage, we headed to the bus terminal.

The two missionaries, Kevin and Matthew, have taught in Taiwan for about seven years. They told me and Cana a lot about the school and Taiwan in general on our three hour bus ride to Chiayi.

When we arrived, we met the other two missionaries that are here, Amy and Ben, as well as the other volunteer, Ryan. We are staying on the campus of Concordia Middle School in the teacher dormitory. It has several rooms as well as a kitchen and a common room.

The next morning, we went to the Lutheran church in town for the service. It's quite interesting where God puts you at His determined times. A year ago, I was in Brochet attending the evening prayer Mass in Cree. A year later, I am in Taiwan worshiping with Taiwanese brothers and sisters in Mandarin. We were fortunate to have a translator summarizing the sermon and any other parts of the service that was not listed in the bulletin. The translator is English, so we all agreed it was like Liam Neeson interpreting. The pastor is incredible, he has so much passion for God that even though I couldn't understand what he was saying, I could feel his love for his Savior.

After church, we met our coordinator Callie to get some lunch. We bought some turkey rice to take back to where we are staying. On our way, we passed several groups of people participating in a Taoist ceremony for one of the deities. It was interesting hearing Callie discuss this type of ritual. She talked about how scared she was when she was young of these deities and rituals. Taiwan is a mix of religions: Taoism, ancestor worship, Buddhism, and a small amount of Christianity. Many Taiwanese will mix bits and pieces of the first three religions, a ritual here, an offering there. The Taiwanese people are so hungry for answers that they turn to every option hoping to find it. I pray that they will see that there is only one person who can bring them peace and salvation: Jesus Christ.

Later in the afternoon, we had a meeting about the camp. Before arriving, we were not given too much information about the camp, so we were excited to learn more about it. Each of us will teach a group of about twenty various English conversation skills. We will also teach VBS every Monday morning. I'm looking forward to tomorrow. It seems the motto for the week is "Be flexible and have fun." It is summer, I hope to make this experience fun for the kids. Learning should always be fun, especially in the summer.

After the meeting, we went to two different markets: the evening fruit market and the night market. At the first, we bought a variety of fruits including pineapple and papaya. The market was packed with local farmers selling their crop and people from the city eager to buy some summer fruit. One thing that I have noticed since coming here is there are scooters, a lot of scooters. As we walked the market, what seemed like a stampede of motors would fly past us. It is most definitely the means of transportation choice.

The night market was very dynamic. Joining us were Ben, Amy, Kevin, and Callie's two children Jeremiah and Meredith. I love markets, so I was beyond myself walking around this huge market selling various foods, clothing, toys, the list goes on. We walked around the market, viewing the kaleidoscope of colors in the clothes and other products, smelling the various Taiwanese foods, and listening to the yelling of the vendors. We stopped by the arcade area of the market, where several of us tried our hand at some of the games. Cana and I decided to try this one particular game where you throw soft plastic balls at a screen with moving characters. We were joined by Jeremiah as well as two other curious kids in trying to set a new record.

We then walked around the food vendors to pick up some food. I asked Callie to take me to buy some of here favorite street food. She first took me to buy this seafood pancake that had shellfish and shrimp fried with an egg and dough. We then found a vendor selling stinky tofu, which she told me tastes much better than its smell. It was very good, I liked that it was fried rather than boiled like most tofu I have had in Korea. I was also able to chat with Callie about her family. She is so sweet and accommodating.

The tourism motto of Taiwan is "The Heart of Asia." While I don't know if it could be considered the heart of the continent, the people of Taiwan have such open and warm hearts. The culture is quite similar to Korea in that people will go above and beyond to make sure you are comfortable in their country. I am curious in the next few days as I teach and explore more of the city what I will learn about this unique part of East Asia.