Day 14 - 25% down, 75% to go...

Hi everyone!

I'll try to make this one short (sorry about the extreme lengths of the other blogs, but I thinks it's therapeutic for me to write all this down so years later I can remember what it was like). How is everyone is Australia? I hope that for those of you studying, that your exams are going well and that you are maintaining a certain level of sanity (and in the case of my flatmates, a certain level of cleanliness - have you washed the dishes yet this week boys?). I am now almost 25% of the way through my trip here and it's gone so fast!

Weather
You can tell I've hit the bottom of the barrel of things to write about when I start top talk about the weather. But I'm going to tell you about the weather anyway! For the past 2 weeks it has been really hot and humid and this came as a bit of a shock because we were expecting a nice winter and so packed lots of warm clothes and relatively few summer-type clothes. It has been so hot that we would regularly have an afternoon nap (to both escape the heat and catch up on our card-playing-induced sleep deprivation) and the mozzies (don't worry! Taiwan is one of the few Asian countries that has non-malarial mosquitoes) have been turning our legs into connect-the-dots puzzles. However in the past 24 hours the weather has decided it's time for winter and this morning when I woke up it was freezing! Finally, I think winter is coming and I can't wait!

Pay TV
Taiwanese people love their pay TV and it has infiltrated its way even out to the remote town of Puli. Our new accommodation has over 50 channels on a large screen TV and so at night we will often sit around and watch the English movies with Chinese subtitles. The other night they screened 'Zoolander' which was great because we all loved that movie and so we sat around laughing ourselves silly until it was time for bed ("What is this? A school for ants? It needs to be at least... THREE times bigger!")
Interspersed with the movies are these Taiwanese commercials which we love watching due to the fact that we cannot understand what they are advertising! We have great fun watching the comical antics in the ads and then we try to imagine or make up our own words to the ad to describe what's going on. One of our favourite ads involves this guy on a scooter who calls 3 girls and we think it might be about a pizza?

Shueli
Yesterday we finished hospital early and one of the resident doctors (Dr Lin) took us for a drive to Shueli which is a small town about 1 hour away from Puli. We went to this ice cream factory where you can buy ice creams for $0.20 (what a bargain!) and so we sat there and ate lots of ice cream. The view from the ice cream shop looked out over the valley in which the town was situated and in the distance the huge mountains rose out of the ground.Then he took us to this small food shop in the town which sold this 'famous food' which consisted of pork balls encased in sweet potato. It was not too bad, but not something I would regularly eat!Then we drove to a nearby train station which was disused after World War II. It was in the mountains next to a lumber mill and I think it used to supply timber. We got to walk around the little village and it was really quite quaint!
Dr Lin was very kind in taking us out to show us around, but his driving was quite scary! As we drove around blind mountain bends he would often cross onto the other side of the road and drive around the bend on the wrong side! Pete asked him if he had ever had a 'near-miss' and Dr Lin emphatically said "No!" but we suspect that what constitutes a near miss in Australia is vastly different from what constitutes a near miss in Taiwan.

Medicine
The other day on the ward round, it struck me that in one year's time I will be a doctor (God willing)! The last 5 years have gone by so quickly it seems like 1st year was only last week. I'm learning a lot here in Puli about medicine and its helping me 'sharpen' my skills (particularly in respiratory medicine). Dr Nathan keeps me busy by giving me an assignment each day to do. So far this week I have done 2 Powerpoint presentations to the doctors (one case presentation and one journal literature review), researched the management strategies for our hyponatraemic patient and started researching another thoracic problem for another patient. Each ward round can last up to 4 and a half hours and by lunchtime I'm almost ready to pass out from hunger (I don't know how I'm going to survive my internship). We worked out the other day that the doctors here get paid very little and the senior nurses get paid less per hour than I used to get paid washing dishes at Pizza Hut!

Christian stuff
Well this morning was Bible study with the doctors and Pastor Tsai (? I think that's his name?) and we sang another song ("In His time" in Taiwanese) and then the pastor spoke for about 20 minutes on Psalm 5. I know it's only been 2 weeks, but I get the impression that some elements of Christianity here are influenced by the religious culture around them. Since we have been here I haven't heard Jesus ('Yesu' in Taiwanese) mentioned once in a sermon or Bible study, which maybe is just because I haven't been able to understand what they are saying; or perhaps it is because they tend to focus on Old Testament passages. Man, I wish I could understand what they are saying!
I have been reminded as we have read about the cross, that the concept of Jesus dying in our place is both profoundly amazing and important, and yet profoundly offensive to our human ideals. The message of the cross IS foolishness to those perishing because in the gospel, we hear of the all powerful God lowering and humbling himself to become a frail man who willingly allowed himself to die a humiliating death to take our punishment. I think this is offensive to us in Australia, but especially in Taiwan where the concept of 'not losing face' (i.e. retaining one's honour and dignity and prestige) is highly valued and the notion of God 'losing face' by becoming human and dying a humiliating death is abhorrent. Keep praying for the people here, that they would know and understand the 'mystery' of God that has been revealed to us through Jesus!
In Psalm 5:11 the psalmist talks about the joy that comes from loving and trusting in God. Today, Dr Nathan asked me after the Bible study "Do you experience this joy here in Puli?" and my answer was a definite "Yes!" No matter where I am, or what happens, I have Jesus... and in Romans 8 we learn that NOTHING can separate us from God's love! God has given all of us as Christians so much to rejoice about in Jesus! So let's thanks Him daily and tell others about what He has done!

I have posted a lot of pictures in the email account and most of them are really big! If you wanna see a few nice shots of Puli, go to picture number 245, 189, 211, 202 (me and Pete at this traditional clothes washing place) and 235 (all of us at the railway station) and if you want to see what an eathquake can do to your house, look at pics 236 and 237.

Well I should sign off now and go get some lunch. I hope you all have a great weekend and as you go to church this weekend, try to remember just how much God has given you and how in Christ he has made one body of believers who are scattered all over the world! I miss you all heaps and thank God for all of you!

God bless,
Jimbo