Day 10 - Tea, Taichung and Tidbits

Gday mates!
(Sorry. I had to say that... I was feeling so patriotic)

Food
For those of you who know me well, you will be accustomed to my 'fussiness' when it comes to food. In particular, I have a strong aversion to seafood. However, this kind of dietary selection is not compatible with the typical Taiwanese diet and so I have in the last 10 days made some radical changes into which foods I will begrudgingly 'allow' to consumed (not saying that I will eat them once I'm back in Australia!). On the weekend I ate wasabi (yes that really hot spicy Japanese stuff that Budweiser used in a famous TV commercial), tofu (they have a special kind of bean curd here called 'smelly tofu' which as its name suggest, emits a pungent odour that assaults your olfactory senses), fish (I poured so much salt on it to kill the taste) and salmon eggs (just the thought of that brings back bad memories now). We calculated last night, that out of 10 nights in Taiwan we had been 'taken out' for dinner by people for 8 of those evenings. The hospitality here is really indescribable; you have to experience it for yourself to understand it.
However, I have found my solace in the local 7-11 which sells me a 600mL Coca Cola for $25 NTD (which is $1 AUS). They also have hot dogs for a dollar and large packets of M&M's which I have on 'special occasions' (like the end of the week!)

7-11
That reminds me! I haven't told you guys yet about 7-11. Now in Australia, we have a few 7-11 convenience stores which are scattered around Sydney and other large cities. In Taiwan, 7-11 is EVERYWHERE! (and I mean everywhere!) In Puli (which is a small town) we have at least 12 of these stores on the main street and in places like Taipei they are on every street corner. They have saturated the market and apparently in Taiwan, they don't use the term "24/7" to refer to "anytime"... they use the term "7/11". So in Puli, you would say the doctor is on-call, "7/11". How bizarre!

Taichung
On our first proper weekend in Taiwan, we went to the nearby city called Taichung (which I think means 'centre of Taiwan'??) Taichung is a city of 2 million people and home to Taiwan's best pearl tea (this tea with milk and gelatinous globs and it's cold). Peter L the hospital computer guy arranged for us to catch a bus with one of the other hospital workers (Michelle) who lived in Taichung and he sent his 13 year old son (Edward) along with us to show us around Taichung. When we got to Taichung, Michelle took us to this amazing restaurant where we had another HUGE lunch and we sat in this lovely old wooden building which overlooked an internal pond which was full of giant colourful fish which you could feed. The food was amazing and the tea certainly lived up to its reputation as being the best in Taiwan.
Then we went to a science museum in Taichung for the afternoon where we walked around and walked through this dinosaur gift shop and acted like a bunch of tourists aided by our local guide, Edward. We bumped into a Westerner at the museum and it turned out he was a missionary kid who had been living in Taiwan for 15 years so we had a good chat to him and he gave us his contact details.
Then we headed back to Puli on the bus and got Edward to teach us some more Mandarin as we traveled.

Church in Taiwan
Joyce (the pastor's daughter) picked us up for church on Sunday morning and we went to Puli Presbyterian Church to fellowship. The church itself is made up mainly of older people and we saw only a few children. Joyce told us that a lot of the young people in Puli leave town to go to university (a lot like Parkes back home) and so the church here struggles to reach out to younger families. The church meeting itself was very similar to what I had grown up with at Parkes Baptist. We sang a few hymns (including "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty the King of Creation" in Taiwanese! I recognized the tune so just sung in English) then had a Bible reading and sermon. None of us understood what was being said in the sermon, but the preacher was certainly very animated as he talked.
The Bible reading was from Hebrews 11, talking about how Abraham left his 'home' in Paran to go to a land God would give him. The writer of Hebrews uses this to show how they considered themselves aliens and foreigners in their 'homeland' because God had promised them a home elsewhere. As I read this passage I was truck by its relevance for us today. Even though I am a foreigner in Taiwan, I have a home in heaven that is where I truly should long to be. This also means that when I am in Australia I am a foreigner too! My home is not in this world according to the Bible. It is with Christ! This encouraged me greatly. To be reminded that I am no more a foreigner in Taiwan than I already was in Australia. I don't know about you, but I think it's so easy to become a 'citizen' of this world and get caught up with the things of this world. Pray that we would all be setting our minds on things above. On God's plans and his purposes in this world!
After church, Michael (the 2nd in charge of the hospital) and Grace (his wife) took us out for lunch (again! Is anyone noting a recurring theme with eating out?) and then Grace showed us the Foundation where she works. The QIF Foundation was set up after the earthquake to help provide services to the community in Puli (like elderly rehab and after school care etc.) by the Christians. It has been amazing to hear how selfless the missionaries were as they struggled night and day in both providing for people's material needs, but also how they fought to tell people the great news of Jesus.
Keep praying for Puli! Apparently because of its scenery/geography, many people believe it to be a centre of 'spiritual' activity in Buddhist/Taoist thinking, so although there are quite a few churches in town, there are 300 (that's THREE HUNDRED) temples to false gods in a town of 60,000. People here need to know about the one true and living God!

Accomodation
As you may recall, we were living in a house that Peter L arranged for us once we arrived in Puli. Pete C and Jade and I were very happy there and it was really great because we were living in the community and it was a truly 'authentic' experience of life in Taiwan. However, there were some downsides to the place and Grace (Michael's wife) offered for us to move into one of the Foundation's rehab/respite houses near the hospital. So last night we packed our stuff and said goodbye to our little house. It was kinda sad cos we had made it 'our home' and we didn't want to appear rude to Peter L (especially as he had put in so much effort to get us that house) but he assured us he was happy for us wherever we lived. So now I have a big room with my own sink and bathroom and I am living next door to an elderly Japanese man who is having some respite. The new place is a lot quieter than our old place (which is good for sleeping) and closer to the hospital, but it feels more isolated from the community. I will put up some photos of our new place soon once we settle in.

My traveling companions
Many of you may be wondering who I am over here with; so I'll briefly fill you in (also because Jade was upset I hadn't really mentioned her in the blog so far):

Pete Chong
Pete is one of my best mates and he and I study medicine together at UNSW although I should probably not use the word 'study' because Pete is notorious for not turning up to hospital on time. Pete is a Christian and he and I have become good mates through our med Bible studies and also because we are exam 'study buddies' (no one else will study with us because we get too easily distracted). Pete recently got married in August this year (to Jade) where I was one of his groomsmen and he goes to Pennant Hills Baptist Church (go the Baptists!) Pete likes to arm-wrestle and work on his abdominal muscle strength and is constantly on the lookout for places to do chin up exercises. He also spends time each morning waxing his hair, as opposed to me who spends time each morning finding my hair. Pete also is good at beating primary school kids at basketball (I think his height may help him there) and calling them "punks". Because Pete is of Asian descent he oftenhas little old ladies in Puli talking to him and he just has to shrug his shoulders and mutter "Wor schwor yin wen" (which is Mandarin for "I speak English")

Jade Chong
Jade is funnily enough related to Pete (hence the similar surname). They got married earlier this year and Jade works as a physiotherapist in the western bit of Sydney (past Anzac Parade). Jade is our resident linguistic expert (her Mandarin is much better than mine and Pete's) and she is often to be heard commenting people or asking where you can buy vegetables. Each day Jade takes us through some stretches to work on our muscle groups (I think it's a physiotherapist thing - but it's fun!) and sometimes she likes to laugh at strange things (like when we saw this elderly man walk into a 7-11 store with a hospital drip still attached to him, she wouldn't stop laughing - I guess it was pretty bizarre!) Jade also showed me how to wash my clothes by hand so I'll be indebted to her for that. Unlike Pete, Jade and I don't have people assuming we can speak Mandarin. Instead everywhere we go, we get stared at as though we have 3 heads or something. It's definitely not easy if you're self conscious (like I am)!

Homesickness
Well, someone mentioned that I haven't said much about missing you guys at home and they were wondering if I was homesick. I'll have to admit I was a bit homesick at first but now I'm settled and feeling comfortable here. I do miss you guys though and can't wait till I get home to catch up with each one of you and find out how you all are, etc. etc. etc. But in the meantime, please keep sending those emails! They have been really encouraging and I've been less homesick because of them.

A special hello to all the people back home in sunny Parkes and may God bless you all!

Jimbo