Saturday, May 28, 2011

Our Experience Part I

Wrapping up our time in Taiwan (only 6 weeks left!)  is causing us to reflect on our experience living here. We thought it would be enjoyable (for us to write and you to read) to share our experiences categorically. To better do this, we are employing a star system:

***** We're buyin' a home and settin' down roots.
**** Rock on!
*** We don't love it, we don't hate it!
** Not our favorite but tolerable.
* Stinky cheese!

Weather
Ben * What can I say, the weather just isn't really to my liking. The summer consists of 4-5 months of 3-showers-a-day type weather, unless you enjoy that crusted sweat feel...Taiwan isn't for you. The winter is rainy and frigid; you seemingly can't get away from the chill. On top of that, you are sick for weeks at a time.

Beth ** My husband is clearly from Arkansas as he thinks that "frigid" is an appropriate word to describe Taiwan. My beef is with the heat and humidity... I have actually found the winter to be a relief, temperature-wise. But really, I miss the lovely four seasons of the Midwest. My two stars are slightly generous, but the Philippines taught me that it could be worse.

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Teaching
Ben **** After my initial molehills (more like mountains), I have enjoyed my time teaching, especially, to my surprise, kingergarten kids. The Lord was gracious in giving me a good job (most of the time) and that makes all the difference in one's evaluation. I'm not ready to sell the farm and make English education my career, but it has been a fun chapter in our lives.

Beth ***** I've loved teaching so much that it's caused me to reconsider my course of study for next year. I credit this love to an amazing school run by amazing people and classes filled with, mostly, amazing kids. If I could stay in this exact situation and didn't have other life dreams, I might consider selling the farm.

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Food
Ben ** Before coming to Taiwan, I thought I would really enjoy the food here. My thought was, "General Tsao's Chicken" every day. In the States, I really like Chinese food (well...Chineseish). Needless to say, I have yet to find my General Tsao's. I have found some things that I really enjoy but, on the whole, Taiwanese food has not been my favorite.

Beth *** While I've found that much of Taiwan's oily or fried food hasn't awakened a plethora of fireworks for me, I do love my local market where I find everything from produce to meat, from grains to eggs. We've also been able to cook many of our favorite dishes here, which has given our palate a good variety.

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Church
Ben **** Our church experience here has been a two part book. The first couple of months were spent in a congregation that we found was not for us, for a variety of reasons. However, the church where we have ended up settling in has been great! We are actually a bit sad to leave, as we have felt we are just now beginning to feel like it is family.

Beth **** We love love love our New Hope congregation here, and have just been blessed by it so much. Our congregation is a mix of foreigners and Taiwanese people, and it's been amazing to see a variety of worship in Chinese and English.

more to come...
(if there are any areas you are curious about...let us know)

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