Letters From Annie (Douglass) Lima

Breaking News!

2012-01-28T02:11:00.000-08:00

For the next five days only (i.e., until February 1st) Prince of Alasia is being offered for FREE on Amazon! Click on the link to download the ebook to your Kindle now. http://www.amazon.com/Prince-Alasia-Annals-ebook/dp/B0051UNBAU/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1327742157&sr=1-1
Though Prince of Alasia is classified as a young adult action/adventure fantasy, the story can be enjoyed by readers of all ages. Tell your friends that today's their chance to download their copy for free!

One of Those Days

2012-01-17T21:19:00.000-08:00

Monday was one of those days.

I knew it might be a little hectic because it was the start of the second semester and I was getting two new students (a week before Chinese New Year break, so the kids would be antsy anyway). I was also told I'd have a high school student aide, which I was really looking forward to; I knew she would make my life a lot easier. I wasn't sure what I'd have her do that first day, though, since a parent helper had made my whole week's copies the Wednesday before and there would be no homework to grade (I don't usually assign any over the weekend). But in any case, it would be great to have her.

I got to my classroom early that morning to make sure everything was ready. I was planning on teaching a lesson from a section of our new language arts curriculum that I'd never used before, and it involved a vocabulary chart that the teacher instructions assured me could be found on the CD-ROM that came with the new material. So before school started I put in the disk to make sure I'd have the chart ready to project onto the Smartboard later. Lo and behold, it didn't work. I tried again and again, but got nothing but confusing menus and error messages. Finally I ran out of time, but I decided not to let it frustrate me. The chart was a simple one; I could easily draw it on the board, and the students would have the same thing in front of them in worksheet form anyway. Just a minor setback.

Well, 7:50 rolled around and I let my 5th graders into the classroom. The new ones both seemed happy to be there, and the class was welcoming (I had let them know about them beforehand.). But because everyone was so excited at the change, they were noisier than usual. Add to that the fact that I had to explain every step of every classroom procedure to the new ones while those who already knew how to do things got bored and restless, and you'll see why my normally sweet class was a little unruly.

In retrospect, Monday was probably not the best day to try out a lesson from an unfamiliar part of the curriculum. But I'd looked over it long in advance and planned it all out, and I was sure I was ready, malfunctioning CD-ROM and all. I looked in the "Monday" folder by my desk where I keep all worksheets and supplies I'll need for the day, and was surprised to see that the student copies of the article we'd be studying (to practice infering the meaning of unfamiliar words) were not there. Neither were the charts. And when I hastily searched my shelf, I couldn't find the teacher's edition that had the blackline masters and lesson plans, either.

Yikes! I knew I had had all those materials last week. Where could I have left them? Normally I'm pretty organized. I don't usually leave piles of books or papers sitting around haphazardly in my classroom, and when I use something, I put it away in the exact spot where it goes. But the papers weren't in the folder, and the book wasn't on the shelf where I keep my teacher editions. And of course the students were getting restless once again while I looked.

I realized that the last time I had seen the book was when my parent helper took it to make copies from last Wednesday. Aha! She must have left it (along with the copies) down in the workroom. I would have to go get it at recess.

So, I hastily decided on a change of plans and announced that we would be doing math next. The math lesson went well, but as recess approached, I could tell we weren't going to finish. I normally don't like carrying over a lesson until after recess, but sometimes there's no help for it. The situation was further complicated by the fact that one of my students is in ELL and gets pulled out for one-on-one help in between recess and lunch. Normally she just misses language arts (which she can make up with her ELL teacher), but today she would have to miss part of math. Oops. (Not that she minded!)

About that time my new aide appeared in the doorway, and I realized that amid the chaos, I had not come up with anything for her to do. So I introduced her to the students and then had to ask her to please just have a seat on the sofa at the back and wait.

It was rainy and cold, so I gave the students the option of playing inside instead of going out to the covered play area for recess. Little did I know that every single one of them would choose to stay in (that was a first)! Ever tried to figure out what to have an aide do in a room full of noisy kids excitedly playing Twister and Jenga and Uno? Well, I ended up giving her something to photocopy for me for a few weeks later, and I asked her to bring up the papers and books my parent helper had left down in the copy room. Sure enough, she found them there and brought them all back up to me a few minutes after recess was over. (Yay!)

So I taught the language lesson after we finished math, and it went fine, in spite of not having a chart for the Smartboard. But it's always tiring teaching something brand new, especially something that involving. And it didn't help that part way through (when I was taking a quick breather at my desk while the students searched their Titanic article for unfamiliar vocabulary) I suddenly realized we were supposed to do a science activity about physical properties and changes that afternoon. There it was in my lesson plan book, necessary materials listed and highlighted in blue the way I always do it so I won't forget to look ahead and make sure I have what I need. But somehow I had completely forgotten the Friday before, and now I didn't have anything ready. The measuring cup, spoon, balance scale, zipper seal bag, beaker, plug-in burner and thermometer wouldn't have been a problem; I knew I had all those in my classroom cupboards. It would just have taken some time during my lunch time to dig them all out, and it didn't help that I had lunch recess duty that day. But the ice cubes and cold water would have been a little trickier. I would have had to run home at lunch time when I otherwise could have been eating, and I wasn't even positive we had any ice in the freezer at the moment anyway. I debated it mentally for the rest of the language lesson and finally decided to postpone the experiment until the next day and do Tuesday's science lesson (much simpler with no unusual materials needed) that afternoon.

The day was made a little more chaotic by the fact that one of the new students kept asking questions about things in the classroom (like the behavior and homework boards and the "Star Helpers" job chart). I'm pretty strict about requiring students to raise their hands before speaking out, and I could soon see that this one is going to need a lot of practice in that area, and also to learn not to blurt out answers to questions I've asked other students, or to "help" classmates by telling them what the hard words say when they're reading aloud.

What with all that had happened, we had been a little behind in pretty much everything all day. The students were still busily writing in their science notebooks when I realized that although we hadn't covered everything we were supposed to, it was time for them to go to music. After that they would go straight to P.E. and Chinese, and there wasn't even enough time for them to write down their homework assignments or pack up their backpacks before they left. So I had to tell them to come back to do those things right after school. The poor new kids were a little confused about where to go, especially for Chinese, since the class isn't all in the same group. The two of them hadn't taken their placement tests yet, but this week they're all having special activities in honor of Chinese New Year, so I figured the exact group didn't matter all that much. I just told them which other students to follow, and bundled them all out the door.

By the time I finally had the room to myself, my brain felt as fried and my voice as worn out as they usually do on the first day of school after summer. Then I had to grade the assignments my students had done that day... then someone came in with a stack of report cards for me to proofread before they got sent home a few days later... then I had to work on my Professional Learning assignment due this week... then school was over and the students came swarming back in to write their homework and pack up, and I realized I'd never explained the procedure for those tasks to the new ones... then both of their parents came in wanting to talk to me about how their first day had gone.

I had to stay longer than usual in my classroom getting caught up on lots of little miscellaneous things. By the time I finally headed home to make dinner, I really didn't feel like staying up late to have my Chinese lesson that evening. It had been a long day! But I decided that the good thing about Mondays is that there's a whole week still ahead of them. (Okay, so I know that's the bad thing about them too!) But I reminded myself that there were still four more days for the week to get better. Four more days to recover from Monday. And just four more days until vacation. I can make it!

Prince of Alasia, Chapter 1

2011-05-18T23:17:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, over eleven years ago I started writing a book called Prince of Alasia. It began as a short story, sat untouched for years, brought itself to my attention again with new ideas I just had to add, and then vanished in a cataclysmic computer crash. I retyped the whole thing from a hard copy printed from an earlier version, making changes and improvements along the way, and in the process the story evolved into a 16-chapter novel. I read it to my 5th grade class that year, thought of more ways to improve it, got friends and family to critique it for me, made more changes, and ended up reading it to my next six years' worth of classes, changing and adding to it every year. My students always loved it; one even made a Facebook fan page for it (of which I'm now an administrator), and their feedback encouraged me to keep polishing it a little more each time.

Now Prince of Alasia is18 chapters long and hundreds of times better than the early versions, and a couple of years ago I decided to pursue publication. For over a year I struggled through the process of trying to find an agent or a publisher who was interested - a slow and discouraging process, to say the least. Then this spring I attended a teachers' conference where I was introduced to the world of electronic publishing, where agents and publishers aren't necessary and writers can present their own work for sale as eBooks. Books in this format aren't actually printed on paper, but are readable on the Kindle, as well as on any computer (PC or Mac), iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, Windows 7 Phone, or Android device.

Preparing my manuscript for ePublication has not been an easy process either, but by the grace of God and after a lot of hard work, I'm finally just about done with the process. I hired a talented high school artist, Jack Lin, to create the cover, and I'm excited to say that Prince of Alasia is now available for sale! You can find it on Amazon.com, but in the meantime, I decided to make the first chapter available here on my blog. If you enjoy it, please consider recommending the book to your friends or family. You can even send it to others through Amazon's "gift" function.

Chapter 1

Jaymin knew he would never forget that terrible night.

He was sound asleep in his room in the palace when Erik, his youngest bodyguard and closest friend, shook him abruptly awake.

“Jaymin! Jaymin, wake up! Something awful is happening,” Erik had hissed in a frantic whisper.

Groggy and disoriented, Jaymin sat up in bed, clutching the heavy woolen blankets to his chest. For a split second he couldn’t understand what Erik was talking about, and then from somewhere in another part of the palace he heard muffled shouts and the metallic clash of swords.

Swords? In the palace? Suddenly wide awake, Jaymin shoved back the blankets and sprang out of bed, fumbling in the chilly near-darkness for his clothes. The fire in the grate across the room had died down to glowing embers, and at this time of year the air had a bite to it, even indoors. He shivered as he snatched up the garments a servant had laid out for him the evening before.

“Hurry,” Erik whispered urgently, yanking a coat on over his night clothes and gliding over to listen by the door. Outside, the sounds of swords and shouting were growing louder.

Why hasn’t anyone come to tell me what’s happening? Jaymin wondered, tugging his tunic over his head. Where were the guards who always patrolled the corridor at night? “Guards!” he called out just in case, raising his voice as he jammed his feet into his shoes. “Guards?”

“Shh!” Erik hissed, gesturing frantically at him to be quiet, his ear still glued to the crack by the door. There was no other response.

Suddenly Erik leaped back, and the next instant the door flew open, making Jaymin jump. Erik slid instantly into position, slipping into a defensive half-crouch with both hands in front of him, ready for action. He had no weapon, but he needed none. Erik was an expert in unarmed combat, and although he was just a boy, his skills made him the perfect bodyguard for the young prince.

Those skills were not needed now, however. Into the room swept Sir Edmend, a loyal member of the king’s Council of Advisors. He, too, wore only a coat over his night clothes, and his graying hair stuck out in all directions. He was followed closely by a nervous-looking young guard with a drawn sword, his blue and white uniform damp with sweat in spite of the night’s chill.

“Your Highness!” Sir Edmend, out of breath and looking anxious but relieved, hurried up to Jaymin as Erik slid silently aside. “Thank goodness you’re still safe – I thought for certain they’d be in here before now. Quick, come with us.”

“Don’t worry, Your Highness, I’ll protect you,” the guard added proudly, flourishing his sword with a dramatic flair. Though Jaymin couldn’t recall his name, he recognized the young man as the newest member of the palace guard. He had taken the oath of allegiance only last week, and was full of that enthusiasm and eagerness for action that new guards often displayed.

“What’s happening?” Jaymin demanded, as he and Erik followed Sir Edmend through the bedroom door, half-running to keep up with his swift strides. The guard paused to quietly pull the door shut and then hurried after them, his boots thudding in a staccato rhythm on the hard stone floor. “Where are we going?”

“This way.” Without answering the first question, the old advisor led them rapidly down the wide hallway, strangely deserted, though from just around the corner they could hear shouts and screams and crashing noises, as if doors were being broken down. His heart pounding with excitement and confusion, Jaymin hastened after Sir Edmend away from the sounds, following him into a smaller hallway used mainly by servants. The alarming noises grew fainter as the four of them hurried down back staircases and little used corridors, lit only by the occasional smoky lamp and by moonlight streaming through the windows. Now and again they passed frightened servants scurrying about, but aside from the young man behind him, Jaymin didn’t see a single guard anywhere. Had they all deserted? Been killed? Left their posts to go fight whoever was breaking down the doors? Or were the guards themselves the ones causing all the commotion?

From somewhere ahead and to the left came the bang of a door being flung open, and bellowing voices and heavy footsteps burst forth, startlingly close. Sir Edmend stopped in his tracks so abruptly that the others nearly plowed into him. Jaymin grabbed Erik’s arm for balance as the guard bumped into them both, almost knocking them over. They all glanced around frantically for somewhere to hide as the shouting voices drew nearer.

“In here!” Erik whispered, yanking open the door of a closet on their left and pushing Jaymin inside. The others crowded in after him, stumbling against mops and brooms and bundles of dusting rags as they squeezed into the tiny space. Jaymin knocked his head on a shelf in the closet’s dim interior as Sir Edmend backed in against him, trying to pull the door shut. But the little closet was not designed to hold four people, and the door wouldn’t quite close. They all held their breath and watched through the crack as half a dozen soldiers charged by brandishing swords and torches, shadows fleeing before them and sweeping after as they passed. Jaymin was hardly surprised, at this point, to see that their uniforms were not the familiar blue and white livery of the palace guard, nor the dark green of the Alasian army, but wine-red and black.

“They’re Malornians, aren’t they?” he guessed, frowning in confusion, after the shouting had faded and Sir Edmend had finally sighed with relief and let the door swing open.

His father’s friend swatted at a couple of brooms that had toppled over against him and gave a brusque nod as he peered both ways before stepping back out into the hall. “Yes, I think so. I don’t know how they got in, but there seem to be more of them than of our people in the palace now.”

“And outside in the city, too,” added the young guard grimly, pulling his boot out of the mop bucket it had been wedged in and ushering Jaymin out of the closet ahead of him. “Have you looked through a window lately? Almar seems to be swarming with Malornian soldiers. We have to get you away from here, your Highness.” A sudden volley of distant screams from the direction in which the soldiers had disappeared punctuated his words, and he glanced around nervously, gripping his sword hilt with white knuckles.

The four of them set off down the corridor once more, their steps even faster now. Jaymin tried to puzzle out what was happening as he followed Sir Edmend down another narrow staircase. Malornian soldiers in Alasia? Was this the beginning of a war? But why would the Malornians attack his kingdom? Alasia and Malorn had no official alliance, but they had gotten along peacefully for decades.

The neighboring kingdom had been ruled by King Kerman until his death several years ago, and was now under Kerman’s son, Prince Korram. Jaymin knew that Malornian law prevented the teenaged ruler from actually being crowned king until he turned eighteen, but he didn’t know much else about Korram. He had met the other prince only once, four years ago, but Jaymin would never have predicted Korram would someday send his army to attack Alasia for no apparent reason.

“Careful now,” Sir Edmend warned softly, motioning the little group to stand back as he paused before a door that stood ajar on the right, spilling torchlight into their corridor. “We have to get through the banquet hall here without being seen.” He leaned forward and peered in cautiously.

Jaymin could see the banquet hall in his mind. It was the largest room in the palace, with seating for over three hundred. Last night at supper it had been nearly full, but he knew it would be empty and bare now. They might be able to hide under the long wooden tables, he thought, if anyone came in before they got through. The room had five doors: this one, a matching one in the opposite wall, two small servants’ doorways leading to a kitchen, and the large double doors in the western wall, which always stood open to welcome guests on feast days.

Sir Edmend drew back and hastily stepped away from the door. “There are soldiers in there,” he whispered tersely. “Six of them. We’ll never get through.”

“Can’t we go a different way?” wondered the guard, casting anxious glances all around. “We can’t just wait here in the hallway. Someone’s sure to come along.”

He was obviously a little excited as well as scared, though he was trying hard to cover it, Jaymin thought. He looked young: probably no more than eighteen, and now facing a crisis his first week on the job. Jaymin would have to recommend that he receive a commendation for this later.

“There’s only one other way around, and it would take too long,” Sir Edmend groaned in frustration. “We have to get the prince out, and we have to do it now. They must be combing the palace for him already. It’s just a matter of time until....” He glanced at Jaymin and let his sentence trail off.

“But why –” Jaymin began, still confused.

“I know!” exclaimed the young guard in a sudden whisper, in his excitement probably not even realizing he had interrupted the prince. “We need a diversion. I know what to do.” Quickly but quietly, he pushed them all forward past the doorway, through which Jaymin caught a brief glimpse of tables and benches and a brightly tapestried wall, and stopped them just beyond the doorway, where the angle of the open door blocked their view into the room. Suddenly the guard seemed more nervous, his face paler than it had been a moment ago. “Wait here,” he breathed, shifting his sword from hand to hand as he wiped sweaty palms on his tunic. He paused, licked his lips, and glanced at Jaymin, looking as though he wanted to say something but couldn’t quite find the words. Then he forced a grin and bowed, straightened his shoulders, gripped his sword, and pulled the door wide open, stepping boldly around it out of their sight.

“This way, Your Highness,” he exclaimed in a loud voice, and then stopped short. “Oh, no! There are soldiers in here! Quick, go the other way! I’ll be right behind you.” He turned and they could hear him sprinting back down the hallway in the direction from which they had come.

Jaymin held his breath, frozen in place beside Erik, as voices roared from inside the banquet hall. “Did you hear that? He’s got the prince with him! After them!” There was the crash of a bench overturning and the thud of boots pounding across the floor. Jaymin, Erik, and Sir Edmend shrank back as the soldiers poured through the doorway and turned left, running full tilt down the hall. Jaymin risked a quick glance around the door and caught a glimpse of the young guard disappearing around a corner, half a dozen red and black clad soldiers in hot pursuit, before Erik grabbed his arm and jerked him back out of sight again.

Sir Edmend drew a deep breath as the booted footsteps faded in the distance. “Well, he’s cleared the way and bought us a little time, and I hope he lives to tell of it. Now let’s go.” They hurried into the banquet hall, staying around the edge to avoid having to weave between tables, and darted through one of the smaller doors into a shadowy kitchen. Then it was out of the kitchen through a back entrance and down a dark corridor through which they felt their way to an even darker staircase, half stumbling down its narrow, creaky steps.

Finally, the trio arrived at a low door in the wall of a damp cellar somewhere below the palace kitchens. Sir Edmend fished out a jingling bunch of keys from his coat pocket and inserted one into the keyhole. It turned reluctantly, as though the lock had not been touched for years, and the door finally opened with a grinding creak. Jaymin peered in, seeing only a low, narrow hallway, or possibly a tunnel, stretching into musty-smelling black nothingness.

“It’s a secret exit,” explained Sir Edmend, gesturing for them to enter. “It will take us out into the forest on the other side of the hills.” He groped around on a shelf just inside the doorway. “There should be candles in here somewhere.…”

“But we can’t just leave the palace,” protested Jaymin, belatedly realizing that they had not come here to meet his parents and make some sort of plan or at least escape together, as he had assumed. “Not if everyone is in danger. We’ve got to stay and help. I should be fighting beside my father. Where are my parents, anyway?”

Sir Edmend did not reply. He wouldn’t meet Jaymin’s gaze. “Your parents would have wanted you to leave, Your Highness,” he murmured. “There’s nothing you can do here.”

And then Jaymin knew. He drew in his breath, and the world seemed to reel about him. Erik caught his arm to steady him, and Sir Edmend placed a compassionate hand on his shoulder.

“No,” Jaymin heard himself whispering hoarsely. “It can’t be true. It can’t. No!”

Interested? To read the rest, search for Prince of Alasia on amazon.com. It's available for download as an eBook for $2.99 (that is, if you have a credit card with a US, Canadian, or UK address; otherwise it's $4.99).

House Rules

2011-05-08T01:57:00.000-07:00

My fifth graders recently completed a project where they created their own imaginary worlds. One section of the project involved writing a list of the rules that must be followed in their worlds. Here are a few of my favorites - as you can see, some of the rules give an interesting picture of what life in those worlds would be like!

Fasten your seatbelt when riding on a unicorn.

Don't refit the car.

If you murder someone then you will be tortured and all your money will go to the victim's family.

No road building in the mountain ranges.

You can only talk to the king on Fridays, Saturdays, Mondays, and Tuesdays.

Do not go slower than 200 miles per hour.

Parents are not allowed to tell kids what to do.

All assassins who do not work for the crown will be hanged.

Do not jump off a building. (It has its own consequences and the government will not pay hospital bills.)

Don't fight or you need to be in a box full of ice for 1 minute.

Everyone will have to discover new species of living things each month; if they don't, the time will change to each week.

Celebrate springtime.

The public library shall never be noisy.

Crimes are not allowed.

The area around your house must be clean, and your neighbor's too.

Obey the elders of our country; they are so wise that they can scare your wits out!

Killing is prohibited unless you are being paid by an important person.

Every sugar glider must follow the traffic signs.

No homework.

Do not fire people without any good reasons. If you do, ask the princess and prince first.

Obey the rules.

The Key to the Problem

2011-04-20T17:48:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been asking myself what the point of a blog is if I never write in it. It's just easier to post little updates in Facebook all the time than sit down and write something. Especially when life is pretty normal and there's nothing much exciting to write about. But I've decided I need to get back to posting in here at least a little more often than I have been, and yesterday Floyd and I actually experienced a blogworthy event, so here goes.

Floyd and I took the bus to Taipei Tuesday evening so we could spend Wednesday at the International Flora Expo there. Everyone we know who's gone has said how fun it is, and how worth it it is to see before it's gone in a few more weeks. So we decided we'd go during our Easter break when local schools wouldn't have time off so it wouldn't be too crowded. We would go up to Taipei on Tuesday, spend the night with our friend Linda Thorsen who teaches at Morrison's Bethany campus, get to the Flora Expo right when it opened in the morning, spend most of the day there, and take the bus back to Taichung Wednesday night.

A good plan, in theory, even though four hours in a bus is a bit much for one day of flowery fun. The problem started when Linda emailed us back and said that yes, we were welcome to stay at her place, but no, she wouldn't actually be home at the time. She was going to Thailand but would leave her keys with the Su family across the street (also teachers at Bethany) and we could make ourselves at home in her apartment in her absence.

That sounded okay to us, so we made the arrangements and showed up on Tuesday evening as planned. Alison Su met us outside their apartment and gave us an envelope with Linda's keys, which we promised to return the following evening. We found our way to Linda's apartment (where we'd stayed once before) and successfully let ourselves in. This may not sound like any big deal until you consider how complicated the locks on Taiwanese apartment doors can sometimes be. Like many local apartments, there was a metal security gate that had to be opened before we could open the front door, and each needed different keys which turned all the way around multiple times in different ways with loud clicking sound effects. But after a couple of tries we got them both open and then closed behind ourselves.

Well, the rest of the evening was uneventful, as we went almost straight to bed (it was pretty late by the time we got in). We got up early the next morning (well, early for being on vacation), planning to leave the house by 8:00 so we could take the subway and be in line for the Flora Expo in plenty of time before it opened at 9:00. We were running a little late, though, so it was about 8:15 before we were ready to leave the house. Only to discover that the house was apparently not ready for us to leave.

Floyd tried turning the knob that unlocks the front door (there's no keyhole on the inside) this way and that, and we heard the familiar clicking sounds from within the mechanism, but the door didn't actually unlock. There was a second little knob on the lock, so he tried that too, and then tried different combinations of turning one one way and the other the other way, but nothing helpful happened. I gave it a try as well, but it was as though the door didn't even recognize that we were trying to unlock it. That is, the lock kept clicking, but the bolt wouldn't turn all the way. And when we tried both knobs at once, it reminded me of that scene from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi when Han Solo is trying to hotwire the door of the bunker on Endor, and just as he thinks it's about to open, a second security door crashes shut in front of the first. Instead of unlocking the first bolt, the second knob eventually turned another bolt, locking us in doubly securely.

I was proud of us both for not getting more stressed than we were, considering that we were in a hurry, no one else was home to help us, we didn't know very many people in the city, and we don't speak much of the language. After 45 minutes of peering into what he could see of the lock mechanism with a flashlight and struggling with two butter knives to try to pry back the bolt, Floyd finally gave up. We decided against unscrewing the screws on the hinges and removing the door completely (we couldn't find a screwdriver anyway) and instead called the Sus to see if they could recommend a locksmith, preferably one who spoke some English. Alison said she'd call around and see if any of the mechanically-minded workers at the school were available (not necessarily likely since everyone was off on Easter break).

After she hung up, I had the idea that perhaps the door could be opened from the outside with the key. Of course there was no way to pass the key through the locked door to anyone, but maybe we could drop it off the balcony (Linda's apartment is on the 4th floor) to someone below. We decided to try this when the locksmith showed up so that we wouldn't end up with as big a bill from him having to pick or break the lock.

Well, we heard the guy come to the door, and Floyd tried to explain our idea in a mixture of English and a bit of Chinese. Unfortunately, neither of us knew the words for "lock", "key", "balcony", or "drop", which might have helped. And the other guy didn't speak a word of English. We had no idea what he was saying through the door, and I'm sure he was equally frustrated with our inability to communicate. Finally Floyd heard him get back on the elevator, so I hurried out to the balcony with the keys. (I should mention at this point that I wasn't sure where we had put the keys Linda had left for us with the Sus, but I found a spare set sitting on a shelf, so I grabbed those.) I saw the guy leave the apartment building, but he never even looked up, and I wasn't about to toss the keys down onto a public sidewalk if I couldn't get his attention first. I watched him get on a scooter and disappear down the road, and with him our hopes of getting out of there any time soon.

We decided to call Alison again and see if she would be willing to come over and try to unlock the door from the outside. She was, and I successfully tossed the keys down to her without getting them stuck on any of the neighbors' balconies below us. (Wouldn't that have made things interesting!) She got on the elevator and a moment later we heard her trying to unlock the doors. But she couldn't even get the metal security gate to open with Linda's keys, let alone the inner door whose lock was stuck. We conversed through the door while she tried all three keys on the ring, and I happened to mention that the locksmith had been there but had given up and left. So she called him again from her cell phone and convinced him to come back and that she would stay and translate for us.

The locksmith returned in just a few minutes. From the moment he stepped off the elevator, it couldn't even have taken him five seconds before he got both the metal gate and the door unlocked. Floyd and I had never been so thankful for the sight of a door opening in front of us! As he stooped to examine the lock, he handed us two sets of keys. It took a moment before it occured to us that he shouldn't have had two sets to give us. There was the one I had dropped to Alison, but where had the other set come from? On closer inspection, we realized it was the set we had been given in the envelope the evening before. But how...?

Oh. We had left it in the lock when we let ourselves in last night.

So that was why the lock had felt so stuck! Boy, did we feel stupid. It was a relief to hear the locksmith say (via Alison) that there was also a problem with a faulty lock mechanism. While we waited, he unscrewed the whole thing, took it off the door, and installed a new one, all at no charge (because he works for Morrison, and Morrison provides free housing for its staff, including certain basic repairs). (Here's a picture of the guy at work replacing the lock; you can see the security gate open behind him.)

He gave us two copies of the key to the new lock, and was nice enough to remove the old one from one of Linda's keyrings so we wouldn't get mixed up and end up jamming up the new lock with the wrong key or something. After he left, I decided we'd better throw away the old key just to be sure we didn't have any more problems with it. I tossed it in the kitchen trash can while Floyd tried out the rest of the keys just to make sure of everything. And boy, I'm glad he tried them before the trash got emptied! Turns out the locksmith had given us the wrong one to get rid of! It was the key to the security gate. So I hastily dug it out of the trash and reattached it to the keychain, thankful that we had realized in time.

Well, it was after 10:00 by the time we finally left the apartment. Neither of us could believe that we had just spent an hour and forty-five minutes locked in, mostly because of our carelessness in leaving the key in the lock. The key to the problem had been that the key was the problem, at least in part.

Well, when Linda gets home from Thailand she won't be able to get into her apartment. We left a note on the door to tell her so, not that she won't be able to figure that out on her own when she gets there. And before we left Taipei on Wednesday night (after a day full of lines and crowds and 95,000 people at the flora expo - but that's another story) we gave the keys back to Alison to give Linda upon her return. So, Linda, that's why your door might look a little different when you get back. Sorry about that... but at least you have a brand new lock!

Back in Taiwan

2010-12-30T22:33:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's been forever since I posted anything here. Almost a year! I much prefer Facebook, since it's so convenient to post short comments, and they make it much easier to upload pictures. But this afternoon I decided it was time for another blog post.

Floyd and I arrived safely back in Taiwan early this morning after a wonderful Christmas in California. It was great to spend the holidays with family for the first time since we came to Taiwan three and a half years ago. Our eleven days there went by far too fast, as we knew they would, but I think we did the best we could to really make what time we had count.

Our trip back went fairly smoothly, even though we found out a few hours before departure that our flight would be leaving an hour and a half EARLIER than our tickets said. Yikes! Good thing we had called the airline that afternoon to ask a baggage question, otherwise we might not have found out until it was too late.

Oh, and the answer to our baggage question was that the box containing the double stroller we were bringing to Taiwan for some friends of ours was too big to be allowed on the plane, period (not just that we would be charged for oversized baggage). The Malaysian Airlines representative Floyd talked to basically said that we would have to plead our case at the baggage counter and hope that they let it on the plane. Otherwise we (or our friends) would have to pay very big bucks to have it shipped separately.

Well, we scrambled to finish packing and get ready and say our last goodbyes, and somehow we even got to the airport with time to spare. We were praying all the way that God would have just the right person in place to give us grace with our luggage. There was no line at all at the counter, so we went right to the front. I think we were both holding our breath the whole time the lady checked our luggage in. She did put one of our other boxes back on the scale a second time, frowned at the digital readout, said something to another airline employee about it, and then let it through. (This was the first time that's happened to us, even though we usually pack each piece of luggage to just under the maximum weight allowance.) But she put the stroller box (which, though large, was not awfully heavy) through without a comment or a second glance. Praise the Lord!

Anyway, the flight was uneventful, and we arrived in Taipei a little after 6:00 this morning. We took the bus to Taichung and two taxis (with our luggage, we couldn't fit in just one) from the bus stop to campus, and are back home now. We finished unpacking and enjoyed a take-out lunch from our favorite little Chinese buffet (and a warm milk tea for me from a nearby tea shop). It's good to be back!

Oh, and the friends we brought the stroller for were very happy to receive it (and that they didn't have to pay any extra to get it here)! They've invited us to join them for dinner at a nice restaurant tonight or tomorrow to say thanks.

So, we're glad to be home once again. We have the weekend to get over jetlag, and then school starts on Monday. Here comes 2011, and shortly thereafter, the Year of the Rabbit. Happy New Year, everyone!

Chinese New Year

2010-02-17T20:06:00.000-08:00

It's officially the Year of the Tiger now. Here are a few pictures taken in the Shui Nan Market and a local park right before the new year (though because it's been rainy for most of the last week or so, I didn't get as many as usual).

A mini parade down one of the main streets of the market. The people were handing out flyers (in Chinese) for something or other, and candy to the kids.

Decorations for sale.

Tasty holiday snacks. Most of these were made of various nuts and seeds in a sticky nougat bar.

Hand painted paper lanterns on display in the park.

Christmas Travels

2009-12-29T00:01:00.001-08:00

My parents flew in from the States to visit Floyd and me for Christmas. It had been a year and a half since we'd seen each other, and we had a great time together! It was fun to show them around our home, school, neighborhood, and country. They spent a morning in my classroom, met many of our friends, and even had the excitement of a 6.8 earthquake on their second evening here.

Even though the Dakeng Scenic Area is only about 20 minutes' drive from where we live, Floyd and I had never been there. Now I was able to hike in these beautiful hills with my parents. I think we chose the most challenging trail! It was paved with logs the whole way, and in some places was so steep it was like climbing a ladder.

After school was out, we visited a must-see in Taiwan: Taroko Gorge. Getting there was interesting - we drove north to Taipei and then south down the coast. Beautiful scenery but a terrible road! Winding along on the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean much of the way, it often narrowed down to one lane. That wouldn't have been so bad except that the one-lane sections were usually in tunnels or where construction vehicles blocked half the road right before a hairpin turn. Speeding trucks, buses, and other oncoming traffic added to the excitement.

There are times in life when the only logical thing to do is scream. I lived through one of those times on that trip, when we had to swerve to avoid some road construction that completely blocked our view as well as our lane, only to see a huge, lacy-curtained tourist bus hurtling toward us like a pink and blue charging bull. I'm still not entirely certain how we avoided a head-on collision, but I'm pretty sure there were angels involved.

We arrived at our guest house in Taroko Gorge only to discover that there was no electricity and hadn't been for several days, ever since the earthquake (centered in that area). The caretakers (who spoke no English) were very apologetic and kindly gave us candles to use. It was cold enough to see our breath indoors, but we managed to sleep well anyway, and in the morning woke up ready to go hiking and explore the gorge.

Well, that plan didn't exactly work out the way we had expected. We did drive all around Taroko and spent the day enjoying the gorgeous scenery.

However, we were disappointed to discover that pretty much every trail was off limits. Thanks to the earthquake, there had been landslides everywhere, and we kept seeing signs warning us to keep away. Road crews were hard at work clearing away debris and repairing damage to the roads, but they hadn't fixed up the trails yet. And with the danger of aftershocks causing even more landslides, no one was allowed on them. Oh, well.

We took a different route on the way home, travelling west to Taichung on the Cross-Island Highway. It was fun to see snow in the high mountain passes - a first for us in Taiwan.

The day after we got back from Taroko, the four of us took the high speed rail to Taipei for some sightseeing. We toured Longshan Temple, which was beautiful - though as always, it was sad to see so many devout but deceived worshipers burning incense, bringing offerings of food and flowers, and praying to idols.

Our next stop was the National Palace Museum, home to probably the biggest and finest collection of Chinese art in the world. Floyd and I had been there before, but this time we were able to take an official guided tour in English. It sure helped us appreciate some of those ancient and beautifully crafted artworks.

That evening we took the world's fastest elevator up to the top of Taipei 101, still the tallest completed building in the world. We enjoyed a stunning view of the city at night, before partaking of a delicious supper down in the food court at the bottom.

The next morning the four of us visited the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial, which, with its decorative buildings and scenic gardens, is a great place for taking pictures.

Later we took the subway to Danshui, a little town outside of Taipei at the mouth of a river, where we toured the Red Fort.

Afterwards we strolled through a night market, where we had a snacky sort of dinner consisting of free samples of all sorts of things, plus a few interesting tidbits we purchased.

The end of the trip came all too soon. We said goodbye in the airport the next morning, after only a week and a half together. It had been a week and a half full of fun activities, but there was so much more that Floyd and I would have liked to show my parents. Well, we'll just have to save the rest of it for their next visit to Taiwan!

Gorgeous Gu Guan

2009-11-21T17:05:00.000-08:00

I had a fun weekend with friends in the little mountain community of Gu Guan. It was refreshing to get out of the city and actually see some green!

Peggy, Natalie, Fiona and I spent time hiking through the forest, soaking in the hot springs, and hanging out in 7-Eleven. Yes, even in Gu Guan!

"Recrotion" area?! Well, whatever it was, it was a great place to hike. We enjoyed the Bamboo Forest, the Cherry (or "Cheery"!) Forest, river, and waterfalls.

I found these ripe cherry tomatoes growing wild by the side of the road as we hiked. They made an unexpected, tasty snack!

Another unexpected treat was the sight of several monkeys up in the trees. It was my first time to see the elusive Formosan macaque (or indeed, any real wildlife in Taiwan (rodents and giant spiders don't count))!

As is often the case in Taiwan, there were some truly funny signs in the river area.

This beautiful mosaic of semi-precious stones (with the symbol for the hot springs) was inlaid in the floor of our hotel.

It's the Law

2009-10-24T05:18:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago my fifth graders turned in a project where they each had to create an imaginary world. My class this year was exceptionally creative: they came up with worlds populated by rabbits, robots, talking candles, stick figures, otters, ghosts, and only children under the age of 18. Their illustrations involved media ranging from colored pencils to computer graphics, cardboard models to cut-paper collages and stunning watercolor paintings. But as always, one of my favorite parts to grade was the list they each had to write of laws that must be followed while in their world. There were plenty of the usual ones I see every year: don't murder, don't steal, don't litter, don't smoke; but every year I get a good laugh at some of the more - shall we say - original ones. Here are some of my favorites from this year's fifth grade class at Morrison:

Do not step in lava. -J.S.

Always wear blue on Friday. -C.N.

Do not stay out after 2 a.m. All stores are closed. -I.Y.

You have to tie your hair in a pony or have it down. -K.S.

If anyone hurts you they have to take you to the doctor. You can't just leave them there. -B.L.

Never blow out a candle. -J.S.

Build with all your might. -L.N.

Plant a tree when a person dies or is born. -C.S.

Do not murder, with the exception of ghosts. -M.T.

You cannot tease robots if they are sad about something. -A.C.

Always go outside to get fresh air. -J.S.

Only use up to ten tissues a day. Don't waste. -C.S.

If you have a harmful sickness tell the government and they will put you into custody until you get better. -J.S.

Do not use powers or transform into a monster inside a house. -I.Y.

Everyone must have clothes/pants/dresses or any clothing on all the time. -C.S.

You cannot exit at the entrance or go in the city at the exit place. -S.H.

Be modest. -M.S.

You have to follow all these rules. -K.S.

A Trip to Taipei

2009-10-09T20:12:00.000-07:00

Floyd and I are enjoying our fall break here in Taiwan. We spent three or four days this week in Taipei and had fun playing tourist. Here are a few snapshots of our experiences there.

The Museum of Drinking Water! Yep, it was about as exciting as it sounds. But the building was beautiful, and you can actually touch the old pumps and water-purification machinery.

We spent a few hours in Danshui, an historical area outside of Taipei. Unfortunately, I didn't get any good pictures of the fort we explored, but this church - planted by pioneer missionary George Leslie MacKay over a hundred years ago and still holding services today - was interesting too.

Riding the Miramar Ferris Wheel for a twilight view of the city was a fun way to end the day.

We spent Thursday morning at the Taipei Zoo, where the pandas (donated by China last spring) are by far the most popular animals. We had to get a special ticket at the front entrance which said what time we were allowed to go to the panda exhibit (to reduce crowding). They were cute but a bit of a let-down after all the hype, and their enclosure was nothing to write home about. (Most of what you see is a mural on the back wall.) Now the tigers, THOSE were fun to watch. Almost as fun as the hedgehogs.

This was Floyd's favorite! The art museum had a special Pixar exhibit where we spent a couple of hours learning more about the making of Cars, A Bug's Life, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, etc. Floyd was like a kid in a candy store the whole time!

Another good way to end a day. We had seen the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial before, but never at night. The monument itself wasn't especially well-lit, but the gates were. They're especially beautiful with colorful skyscrapers showing through in the background.

So, who wants to come with us next time??

Impressions upon Returning to America

2009-06-13T17:58:00.000-07:00

We're back in California for the summer! Here are some of the things that have stood out to Floyd and me in the last few days since we've returned to the States:

Wow, everything is so much more expensive than it was last summer. You know it's bad when even the 99 Cent Store raises its prices!

Look at all the sidewalks everywhere! Why aren't there cars parked all over them?

There's so much sky visible (because all the buildings are so short)!

It's so quiet here. Sometimes at night we can't hear a single sound.

How does everyone manage without a 7-Eleven on every corner?

Most of the streets have only cars on them. Where are all the motorized scooters and wandering dogs?

Speaking of dogs, all the ones we've seen here are naked! (See my last post below.)

Speaking of cars, why are they so HUGE?

Why aren't there more vegetables on the menus at restaurants?

So many people speak English. It's weird to understand what's being said all the time, and to actually be able to read all the billboards and street signs.

The trash trucks are so quiet and boring. Why don't they play Beethoven's "Fur Elise" loudly enough to be heard for blocks away while everyone in the neighborhood comes running out with bags of trash?

Where can we get REAL Chinese food????

It's a Dog's Life!

2009-04-06T01:59:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder what a dog's life is like in Taiwan? I'll give you a hint: scooters and clothes both play a big part!

Chinese New Year

2009-01-28T17:59:00.000-08:00

The Year of the Ox is upon us, and oxen (in various forms) are everywhere in Taiwan. I took these pictures at the Shui Nan Market the Saturday before Chinese New Year.

Decorations (mostly red and gold and cow-themed) are for sale or on display everywhere. Even fruit (designed to be given as gifts) comes with bows and ribbons this time of year!

Tasty snacks are one of the most fun things about the season!

Christmas Dinner... Sort Of

2008-12-19T20:41:00.000-08:00

Our friends and co-workers, Dondi and Liana Peleo, invited us to their apartment building's Christmas party last night. It was in the form of a twelve-course Chinese banquet! The dishes were brought out one at a time - none was huge, but most were delicious, and several looked very fancy. I took pictures of most of them, so here they are.

This appetizer platter had a number of cold meats and fish, including sashimi. Floyd and I both tried some for the first time ever! It was better than I'd expected. The fish above was tasty too, although not much to go around for our table of eight. Oh well, when you have twelve courses, you don't need more than a tiny serving of each!

This crab and rice dish was one of my favorites. See the little white things on the fake leaves around the edges of the plate? They're sweet, glutinous globs with some kind of dark filling. I know that doesn't sound very appetizing, but I really enjoyed them. We were surprised to have a hot pot burner on our table - part way through the meal, the waitor brought a cast iron pot full of whole crabs, mushrooms, veggies, and some other seafood in broth for us to cook ourselves.

What an impressive lobster! To his left are some little fried lobster cakes; to his right is a pile of lobster meat smothered with mayonnaise and candy sprinkes. (Not an uncommon way to eat seafood here in Taiwan.) In the foil was a very tasty pile of lamb ribs in a flavorful sauce. Another of my favorite dishes.

This dish definitely earned the prize for the most unusual food item of the evening. Can you guess? That's right... it was snow pea and chicken testicle soup! As you can see, Floyd and Dondi and I each tried one... but only one. What was it like? Trust me, you don't want to know.

The final course of the evening was a typical Taiwanese dessert: a fresh fruit platter with oranges, grapes, and bellfruit. A tasty and refreshing way to end the meal.

Bizarre Laws

2008-12-19T18:54:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again. My 5th graders handed in their "Terabithia Projects" a few days ago. We just finished reading Bridge to Terabithia in class, and they each had to create their own imaginary world and write up a report about it. One section of the report calls for them to make a list of rules or laws that must be followed in their world. There were plenty of the usual ones that you'd expect (don't steal, don't kill, etc.), but like last year, there were some pretty unusual ones. Here are a few of my favorites:

No advertising. -Kent

Never take down other people's houses. -Ben

Never have more than one house in each family. -Ben

Do not argue. -David

NEVER eat plants or other unhealthy things. Only eat ice cream and fish. -Haven

Make sure to throw anyone who litters or breaks a law in the garbage can. -Haven

No kidnapping. -Judy

Kid's can't go out of the castle themselves. -Judy

You have to take good care of your garden. -Deborah

Do not go without clothes to other places. -Deborah

At war times, every male 18 and 40 must report to the army. -Benjamin

Defend enemies. -Joyce

Don't drink wine while you drive. -Joyce

No killing animals except for dairy products. -Selina

Kids can't do work (like at a restaurant) until they're 12 years old. -Austin

Look both ways before crossing the street. -Austin

Say hello to people you know. -Austin

If you are a dragon, no breathing fire for no reason. -Annie

Do not free the people in jail. -Jon Jon

No going to the king's palace for no good reason. -Hannah

You can't make too much noise. -Jonathan

Take discipline responsibly. e.g. If you get sent to jail that's what discipline you get so don't be whiney about it. -Malachi

Hong Kong!

2008-12-04T22:36:00.001-08:00

I just got back from a 4-day trip to Hong Kong to attend a teachers' conference. The conference was great, but Hong Kong was even better. It was my first time there, and I had decided I was going to squeeze in all the sightseeing and fun I possibly could in whatever spare time I could scrounge after and between conference sessions. Fortunately, Hong Kong has an efficient subway system, and almost everything is in English as well as Cantonese, so it was easy for me to get around. My favorite thing to see was the waterfront (see the picture above). It was more gorgeous than any picture can show - you just have to be there to see the amazing buildings with their multicolored lights, many of which flash and swirl and change colors like a Christmas light show. Everything I've seen in my travels has confirmed that big Asian cities are the best in the world when it comes to making buildings works of art, and I think Hong Kong has most of the rest of them beat hands down.

Speaking of Christmas, it was fun seeing all the decorations in malls, subway stations, and the airport, and hearing soft instrumental Christmas music in public places. Because of Hong Kong's British heritage, Christmas is celebrated as a big event there - unlike Taiwan, which puts up gaudy singing Christmas trees in some public places but doesn't do much else to acknowledge the season. Hong Kong had large life-size displays of various kinds all over the place.

Another thing I enjoyed was a brief visit to the Nan Lian Garden (picture at right). It was almost funny to have such a beautiful, tranquil setting located right in the middle of a bustling metropolis. (If you look to the left of the pagoda, you can see skyscrapers trying to hide behind the trees.) I spent an enjoyable hour or so walking around the garden on little paved paths, enjoying the flowers and ponds and trees, before I had to hurry and catch the subway to get back in time for the last session of the conference.

On my own one evening, I decided to visit Hong Kong's Museum of Culture. It was okay - not nearly as elaborate as most of the museums I've been to in Taiwan, but interesting none the less. I especially enjoyed the exhibit on Cantonese opera. (Note the life-size costumed figures on the stage behind me.) Yes, picture-taking was allowed inside the museum - the security guard herself took this picture for me!

One of my last little adventures was to find and ride the world's longest escalator. At least, the Guiness Book of World Records supposedly calls it that, but it isn't continuous, so I don't know if it really counts. But it's a covered escalator that goes up and up right through the city streets in a hilly part of town. There were some interesting views looking down, though my camera stinks at night shots, so I couldn't capture most of them. But here you can see one segment of the escalator (at the front right of the picture), and then another segment beginning below it. There was nothing in particular at the top, which was a bit disappointing, but it was fun to ride anyway. But the escalator only goes up, so at the end I had to take the stairs all the way down.

My last dinner in the country was in a wonderful little Chinese restaurant. I have no idea what most of the dishes were called, but every one was delicious, and the style was a little different from the Chinese food we get in Taiwan. The shrimp in the big dish at the front were wonderful, but my favorite was Peking duck. (It was the last item to arrive, so it didn't make it into this picture.) The waiter cut off little tender bits of meat and sizzling skin, and we wrapped them in things that looked like extra-thin tortillas. Add some slices of cucumber and green onions, and a dab of plum sauce, and it was just heavenly.

Autum Arrives in Taiwan

2008-11-08T17:44:00.000-08:00

The weather here is finally starting to get cool in earnest. When I say "cool", I mean it sometimes gets all the way down to 21 (degrees Celcius, that is) on our indoor thermometer. A couple times now we've even been able to sleep all night with the AC off and the windows open, and today I think I can get away with wearing a long-sleeved shirt for the first time this year. Last night we went out to dinner and I actually got a little chilly in short sleeves. It seems that autumn is finally arriving in Taiwan! Not that leaves are changing or anything, but we know it must be autumn because the fruit-seller guy on the corner wears a shirt nowadays.

It rained last night for I think the first time since the last typhoon, and right now I'm listening to the wind wail its way through the wind tunnel formed by our apartment buildings and courtyard. We like this kind of weather! If only it could last longer.... Another six or eight weeks and we will be gripped by winter's inexorable chill, followed in a couple months by the inescapable mosquitoes of spring, and a few weeks later it will be back to the sauna-like heat and humidity of Taiwan's long, long summer.

Oh well, we're enjoying the fall while it lasts!

Trip to Taitung

2008-10-09T23:06:00.000-07:00

Floyd and I enjoyed a brief but fun vacation in the scenic coastal town of Taitung (pronounced "tai-DONG") in southeast Taiwan.

Our hotel (which cost about $30 US per night) was pretty nice, with a unique "aboriginal" theme to it, especially out front. Taitung is home to one of Taiwan's aboriginal tribes, so the culture there was a bit different than what we're used to.

We walked across the eight-arched bridge in this picture and spent a couple of enjoyable hours exploring the island on the other side. Highlights included hiking up to a lighthouse and through a cave.

The next day, we rented bikes and rode around a forested bike park across the street from our hotel. At one point, the bike path went into a series of tunnels with sharp turns as it went under a main road. We got a big kick out of the sign below!

Crazy Day

2008-08-20T05:21:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had a day that wasn't just busy or stressful, it was absolutely insane? One of those days where nothing works as it's supposed to, and you barely make it over one unexpected issue that wasn't in your schedule before another one looms up before you? Today was definitely one of those days. In fact, it not only makes it to my top ten list of craziest teaching days ever, it may actually top the list.

First you have to understand that the whole last couple of weeks (basically ever since we got back to Taiwan) have been crazy. All of us elementary teachers have had a lot to deal with, what with moving into new classrooms in a far corner of campus because of the construction, and all kinds of scheduling and logistical issues that have arrisen because of the construction and new location. And this was only the third day of school, so we're all still trying to figure out how everything we discussed and planned is actually going to work now that there are real live students involved. One of the toughest parts is getting the students to and from their "specials" (P.E., Chinese, art, music, etc.). Now that our classrooms aren't within visual range of the specials rooms, we have to actually walk our students to and from everything, including recess and lunch, and the walk is even longer than it would be since we have to go around all the construction areas. That means that our breaks and prep periods are practically nonexistent, since almost as soon as we get back from taking our class somewhere, or so it seems, we have to go back across campus to pick them up. Add to that the fact that we're still trying to nail down our own classroom routines and teach them to the students, and figure out new, safe, routes to take them across campus because of the construction and new parking lot/road locations, and none of us even know all our kids' names yet, plus we're still expected to get through the same curriculum even though school gets out 25 minutes earlier this year on Wednesdays and Thursdays due to after-school meetings - well, you can imagine what life at Morrison Academy must be like right now already.

So today's extra craziness started small. Thankfully, it was before school actually started, when I was in my classroom looking at my schedule for the day, that I realized that there was a problem. I had it written down that the students' band/orchestra class, which they have along with middle school students as the last period of the day, started before Chinese/P.E. (the second-last period of the day) ended. So I looked back at the master schedule of specials, figured out that Chinese/P.E. both started and ended 15 minutes earlier than I had written down, and realized that that cut into our math time (the third-last period) by 15 minutes. Great. Yesterday we didn't even have enough time to finish the math lesson, and now it was going to be 15 minutes shorter?! And this came right after hearing the day before that I would have to change my schedule anyway, because my students couldn't do art at the time originally planned, because two classes with two different teachers had accidentally been scheduled to meet in the same room at the same time. That took away half my language arts time on Thursday, and now a big chunk of math was being taken away too (though this was my own fault for not realizing it sooner).

Well, even in spite of that discouraging realization, the next few hours went by fairly smoothly. The only snag was that we got behind in social studies because the kids took longer than I had anticipated making their geography posters, so we'll have to finish them tomorrow, even though I already have the next week and a half's lessons fully planned out. Oh well. By the time we stopped for lunch I was pretty exhausted, not having had any real breaks and having been on my feet all morning. But after the kids were in the cafeteria, I still couldn't really rest until I had set up the supplies for the science experiment they were going to do right after lunch. As I was trying to take care of that in between grabbing bites of my own lunch, some poor high-school age student aide came to my door looking worried and confused and timidly asking for help with a photocopying problem. I like having my classroom right by the elementary workroom, but now I'm starting to realize that that will make me a lot of people's first call for help if something goes wrong in there. So, I went to go help the boy clear up his paper jam, and still somehow managed to get back and get things ready before it was time for my class to return.

Well, the science activity went well, but it was designed for a normal science period, not a quick little time block squished in between lunch and an already-abbreviated math period in a way-too-short teaching day. We really could not go any quicker than we did, but by the time the experiment was over, we had long since used up our allotted science time and had completely taken over the next period to the point where there were only two or three minutes left of math. (There's just no way this schedule is going to work!) So, I made a quick executive decision to forget math just this once, and I told the students to get ready for Chinese/P.E. Those who were to take Chinese today (they alternate every other day) were to stay in our classroom now that there isn't any Chinese classroom (due to the construction). Those who were to go to P.E. I instructed to take their instruments with them, so they could go directly to band or orchestra. I wouldn't be able to walk them there as I was supposed to, though, since I would have to walk the Chinese group there, though come to think of it, I don't know how I could walk them to both band and orchestra (in different locations) at the same time anyway. But, I figured I'd cross that bridge when I came to it. It didn't help that a couple of students still weren't sure if they were supposed to go to band, orchestra, or neither, and most of them weren't sure where either class was supposed to meet. I realized that I had never been told, so when a few students said they knew, I told the others to just follow them when the time came. At the last minute, I told them all to leave their backpacks in the classroom and come get them after school, because they would have to write down their homework then as well, which they hadn't had time to do yet because science had taken so long. (Having specials at the end of the day, especially two periods in a row, really makes things challenging for us homeroom teachers!)

After the P.E. group left, and while we were waiting for the Chinese teacher to show up, I figured I should at least have those who were there start writing down their homework and packing their backpacks, so they wouldn't have to do it after school. That was when I realized I had pretty much nothing to give them for homework, since the math worksheets I'd planned wouldn't make sense without the math lesson we'd skipped. I know, I know, they would have been quite happy with no homework, but this first week we're really working on routines, like where and when to hand homework in, how and when to record assignments, etc. So I didn't want to just not do it. So I told them to write that there would be a math worksheet, and meanwhile I hastily went through my books looking for something I could photocopy that would go with what we had studied yesterday.

Well, the Chinese teacher came in and started his lesson, and I finally found a worksheet I could copy for homework. It was hard to concentrate on looking for one, though, because the kids were being so loud and disrespectful. I don't like to scold them when another teacher is in charge, but they were yelling, walking around the room, playing, passing toys around, and generally creating chaos. I was glad to get out of there as I slipped toward the door.

But the chaos didn't end then. I was still in the doorway when a middle school student messenger hurried up to me and said, "The band teacher told me to come ask if the fifth graders are almost ready to come to band and orchestra, because they're about to start." Before I could even wrap my mind around this, two or three fourth graders were standing there saying, "We're supposed to come into your class for Chinese," and another teacher had come up to ask me to proofread something she had just written, while all the time the chaos in the classroom behind me was growing louder.

I dealt with the fourth graders first, as the easiest issue to solve, and found out that they were new, had just been given Chinese placement tests, and had been assigned to the 5th grade advanced group after the last revised Chinese class lists had been emailed to me. So I let them in and introduced them to the teacher. In the meantime, the middle schooler was still waiting for an answer, and I couldn't figure out why she (and apparently the band and orchestra teachers) thought my kids were supposed to be with them now. I mean, I know I accidentally sent my students off to Chinese and P.E. yesterday when they were supposed to go to music, but this time I really had looked at my schedule carefully, and I KNEW I was right about this. Besides, the Chinese teacher was there, and we couldn't both be wrong, could we? (I found out later that the P.E. teacher was having his own set of schedule conflicts at that moment, as he was trying to teach a 3rd-5th grade P.E. class when all of a sudden the 6th-8th graders marched into the gym to do their P.E. with him as well... but that's another story.) Well, I sent the student back with the message that 5th grade wasn't scheduled to have band or orchestra until next period, hoping hard that the confusion was someone else's fault this time and that it would all get sorted out somehow. Then I proofread the teacher's article (she had been patiently waiting this whole time) and finally went to the workroom to photocopy my extra math worksheets. I did some grading, too, while I was there, since I knew I wouldn't be able to concentrate in my classroom.

I headed back into my classroom before the end of Chinese, but I think the teacher didn't know the schedule, because he kept teaching even after the period was supposed to end. Finally he came over to my desk and asked me about the schedule, and realized he was supposed to have stopped ten minutes ago. So he left for his next class, and before I let me kids out for band and orchestra, I felt the need to talk to them about their behavior and rudeness to him. While I was in the middle of explaining why that had better not EVER happen again, the door burst open and the kids who had been in P.E. came pouring in, all trying to talk to me at once about how they had gone to the band room and the band teacher had sent them back saying they weren't supposed to come today after all. I made them quiet down until I had finished my closing remarks to the others, then tried (with only partial success) to get one person at a time to tell me what they were talking about. It didn't help that none of them really seemed to know what they were talking about, except to say that they weren't supposed to go to band or orchestra, even though none of them had apparently been to orchestra, and I couldn't get anyone to properly explain how they knew there wouldn't be any orchestra if they hadn't actually tried to go there or talked to the orchestra teacher.

Finally I just told them all to sit down and put their instruments away, and resigned myself to the fact that there had obviously been (another) scheduling problem and there aparently would be no band or orchestra until next week. So here I was with twenty-five kids for a 45-minute time block in which I didn't have any lessons planned. Oh, wait! There was math!

To put it mildly, the students weren't nearly as enthusiastic as I was at the idea of having math (which most of them had been thrilled earlier to hear we were skipping) instead of band and orchestra, which they were very disappointed to miss. Someone came up with the idea that they deserved a free period instead, and that was much better received, but of course I nipped that one in the bud.

It was nice to have more time to teach math than I would have at the normal math time slot, but it was still hard to get the kids to actually focus enough to learn. The Chinese group was still wired from their earlier rowdiness, and all of them were off balance from the sudden schedule change and disappointed about band and orchestra. Half way through math, the secretary came in with an announcement that band and and orchestra had been cancelled due to scheduling issues, and that a new schedule would be emailed to everyone for next week. Then a few minutes later a student aide came in with a stack of school newsletters to be sent home. Somehow I managed to finish the lesson in spite of these distractions (though with less student participation than I would have liked), and I was able to give out the worksheets I'd originally planned for homework after all. I guess I'll save the others for the next emergency.

I was supposed to make sure all the kids left promptly at 2:50 because we had our elementary teachers' meeting scheduled for 2:55. But by the time we got the worksheets handed out, their homework written, backpacks packed up, instruments ready to go, most kids in line by the door, stragglers still digging through their desks, and finally everyone dismissed, it was almost 3:00. Of course, it wasn't until then that I realized I had completely forgotten to give out the newsletters, except to a small handful of kids who came running back in at the last minute for various reasons.

The funny thing was, I was still the first one to the meeting. The other teachers staggered in one by one, all looking exhausted, frazzled, stressed and overwhelmed. The main purpose of this meeting was to discuss any issues (related to the schedule, new classrooms, etc.) that needed to be "fixed", and boy did we have a lot to discuss. Every single teacher, it turned out, had had a day much like mine. We came up with a long list of issues to present to the principal later.

After finishing up a bunch of things in my classroom after the meeting and helping one of my students who came in again with his math homework, I finally escaped from campus. I was thankful to leave everything behind me, especially my schedule, which I had been trying to adjust on the computer with the new information I had. Things just weren't working out well, and I couldn't figure out any way to work in as much teaching time as I needed in pretty much any subject. So I finally just closed the document, closed my brain against it, and left, determined not to think about it any more before the next day. Floyd and I went out to dinner at the Prawn Palace with a couple of co-workers, and most of us spent the whole time venting about the day we had. It felt good to get it all out, and I have Josephine to thank for convincing me to write it all down like I just have.

As I was in the middle of typing this at 8:30 or so at night, the phone rang. Guess what, it was the orchestra teacher. Speaking of scheduling issues, now he was dealing with a new one. "Hey Annie, I need to know your schedule, because we're in the middle of planning what times we'll be pulling out the students who take private music lessons during the day...."

AAAAAAARRGHH!

Family Reunion in Wyoming

2008-07-22T09:15:00.000-07:00

In early July, Floyd and I enjoyed a fun vacation with his family in Wyoming. The Grand Tetons (above) were some of the most beautiful sights we saw.

We spent a day in Yellowstone National Park, where we saw buffalo and elk and lots more beautiful scenery. Old Faithful (left) was interesting.

The family rode a gondola from Teton Village to the top of the mountain, and then some of us hiked back down again. My sister-in-law Melinda, her fiance Miguel, and I made it all the way together - 5.2 miles! We were exhausted, but it was worth it. There was snow at the top, melting into delicious streams that flowed all the way down, feeding the gorgeous wildflowers and evergreen forests that covered the slopes.

One of the highlights of the trip was our ride in a hot air balloon! We were excited to see posters advertizing free balloon rides from 6-10 a.m. on the 4th of July. We got there at 5:50 so we would be the first ones in line before the crowds arrived. Well, I'm not sure when the crowds had arrived, but it was sometime way before 5:50. We waited behind nearly three hundred cold, tired people, some of whom had come with blankets and books and lawn chairs. It was interesting to watch the balloon being inflated, although we were disappointed to see there was only one, and that they were tethering it to four trucks. Apparently we weren't going to be floating gracefully over the mountains. We also saw that the basket was only big enough for three or four people, one of whom was the balloon operator, so our group wouldn't even be able to ride together. Well, after shivering in a very slowly-moving line for two hours, the wind came up and blew the balloon over. So they told us there would be no more rides unless the wind died down, and in the meantime they had to deflate the balloon. At that point, about half the line got up and left, and the rest of us stood around freezing and wondering if it was worth it. But after getting up so early and being cold for so long, we hated to just give up on the only free hot-air balloon ride we would probably ever have. Finally, our patience was rewarded: the clouds and wind passed, the balloon was reinflated, the one group still ahead of us in line had their ride, and at last it was our turn. All I can say is that it was quite an experience - all two and a half minutes of it.

My Trip to Malaysia: EARCOS Conference 2008

2008-04-03T04:58:00.000-07:00

I recently had the privilege of attending a teachers' conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The conference was great and I learned a lot, but I especially enjoyed seeing Kuala Lumpur. The Petronas Towers and Batu Caves were two of my favorite sites.

At 88 storeys, the Petronas Towers are the world's tallest twin towers. They're connected by the world's highest, longest double-decker skybridge. Stately during the day, they gleam like a fairy tale palace at night. Pictures don't do them justice, but if you ever go to Kuala Lumpur, you'll see what I mean!

The Batu Caves are a series of large caverns that have been turned into a Hindu religious site. The gold-painted statue in front is 140 feet tall! After crossing the courtyard in the temple complex, you climb 272 steep steps to get to the main cave entrance. There are cute but annoying nearly-tame monkeys all around the steps begging and grabbing for food.

Inside the high caverns are a number of shrines, statues, carvings, etc. depicting various Hindu religious scenes.

My 30th Birthday

2008-03-23T22:05:00.001-07:00

I guess turning thirty is one of those things that was bound to happen sooner or later. Well, it's better than the alternative! And I've had a good thirty years - I can't think of one I've had that I'd want to erase from my past, even the hard ones. So, I guess I don't really have much to complain about!

My students surprised me with a little party at the end of the school day. They had created a long "HAPPY BIRTHDAY MRS. LIMA" banner, and an artistic card, which they had all signed. One girl (Morgan, at the left) brought in two trays of brownies she had made. A few kids even brought in gifts for me. The ringleaders proudly informed me that they had been planning this for months. It really helped make my day special!

Another special part of my day was when Floyd took me out to dinner at an unusual restaurant called Outer Mongolia. (He had asked someone to recommend the most unusual restaurant in Taichung, and this is what they suggested.) We enjoyed great Mongolian food (the lamb ribs were the best) which we ate in a large red yurt. One of the most fun parts was reading the menu, which contained items like "mutton tendon salad", "roasts the pork", "shrimp paste low-quality vegetable beef", "hundred fragrant fruits fry the lily", "alcohol admix goaty milk", and "the unwearied effort however mutton clamps the cake".

Lantern Festival

2008-02-16T20:49:00.000-08:00

Last night we enjoyed celebrating Lantern Festival, the second-biggest holiday of the year, with the family of one of my students. A number of other teachers and their spouses were invited as well. The evening began with a delicious hot pot dinner at their house, which they had undoubtedly spent hours preparing beforehand (and hours cleaning up after!). There was a large pot of boiling water plugged in on the center of the table, with a few meatball-type things already in it. Around it were ranged a number of other foods waiting to be cooked, such as beef, pork, two kinds of fish, giant shrimp, mushrooms, noodles, etc. As the meal progressed, we all added whatever else we wanted to the pot, let it cook a few minutes, then fished it out and ate it with rice and sauce. Choices for the sauce included soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, thick barbecue sauce (no relation to the kind we use in the States), scallions, and hot chili peppers. At the beginnning of the meal everyone made their own mixture according to their own tastes, then took it to their seat in a little bowl to dip their meats into. Wow, what a tasty way to do a meal!

After lingering over dinner and conversation, our hosts passed out colorful paper lanterns for all who wanted them. These are a traditional style that aparently are hard to find nowadays (not surprising, since they're highly flammable, being made of paper with a real candle inside. Apparently the stores mostly sell plastic ones now). You fold down the sides, attach the candle to the bottom of the lantern, raise the sides again, then twist the wire handle around the end of a chopstick to carry it with. Watching the kids playing around with each other's lanterns outside the apartment, I kept praying none of them would burn down the neighborhood. Surprisingly, only one boy caught his lantern on fire, and his older brother stamped it out before it became a problem.

Carefully carrying our lanterns, we strolled down the street to a large public park, which is one of the city's major Lantern Festival celebration locations. It was basically a big fair, with colored lights and decorations all over, and a giant lit Mickey and Minnie welcoming us in (in honor of the Year of the Rat). There were booths selling colorful lanterns in various creative shapes (all with little bulbs inside, no real fire). The place was absolutely packed, and most of the people were either carrying or wearing or buying some sort of lantern or glowing object (picture the light-up plastic swords, necklaces, devil-horns, etc. that you buy at night in Disneyland). The park had a huge amphitheater where there was a colorful fountain show going on, but it was too crowded for us to get in, so we didn't see much of it. I think there were to be fireworks at some point, but it was late and we didn't want to stay all night, especially in crowds so thick we could hardly move. Finally Floyd and I wormed our way out of the throng in the park and found a taxi to take us home. What a memorable evening!

Chinese New Year

2008-02-08T20:55:00.000-08:00

It's Chinese New Year! There are decorations everywhere, it seems. The above picture is of entryway of our apartment building - notice all the red and gold velvety banners, and the hanging decorations of various kinds with long red tassles. The pictures to the right and below show a big display (from the front and back) just inside our apartment lobby.

Little shops and stands selling decorations have popped up all over the place. The most common kinds are rectangular or diamond-shaped, with a word or phrase in Mandarin in the middle, and elaborate red and/or gold designs around it. Most of the words are about prosperity or good luck for the new year. This is the beginning of the "Year of the Rat" in the Chinese calendar, and so many of the decorations we've seen feature pictures of cute mice.

The funniest thing, in my opinion, is that a lot of them have Mickey Mouse (often with Minnie or other Disney friends), dressed in traditional Chinese clothes! We've been told that this is perfectly legal; I guess the company that makes them arranged with Disney to buy the right to use Mickey this year. In any case, it's fun seeing "East meets West" in the Mickey Chinese New Year banners, which have rapidly become very popular here.

A Visit to the Earthquake Museum of Taiwan

2008-02-08T18:47:00.000-08:00

On February 2nd, Floyd and I had the chance to visit an interesting museum with some other missionaries. It's on the site of a large junior high school that was totallydestroyed in a major earthquake back in 1999. They've reinforced the ruins with steel and concrete to keep them stable, but kept them in their original ruined condition for the museum, which is partly indoors (in new buildings) and partly outdoors.

One of the interesting things is the school's track, which is right on the Chelongpu Fault Line. One end of the track sank down maybe six or eight feet, which apparently helped scientists study the fault. That's because the lanes were the exact width required by international track and field standards, so scientists can use the lane markings to measure exactly how and how much the ground moved. The track's polyurithane (or whateverit's called) surface has remained in great condition,so it's easy to see the lines twisted, broken and mangled in the two places where the track fell away to lower ground.

Anyway, it was an interesting place, though it was scary to see how totalled the buildings were. Fortunately the quake occured in the middle of the night, otherwise hundreds of students would undoubtedly have been killed. The three-story classrooms were smashed down to about ten feet high in some places, with the bottom floor only about a foot high throughout. In one of the indoor exhibits, there were TV screens showing original news coverage of the quake, and it was truly horrifying to see the damage in cities throughout Taiwan. Tall buildings crumbled and burned, with one skyscraper actually toppling sideways to fall full length across a road. (Apparently this earthquake helped inspire better building standards throughout the country, so there would be much less damage now if such a thing were to happen again.) One of the most interesting parts of the museum was the quake simulator room, where we sat on cushions on the floor and felt the room jerk and shake with the exact movements and magnitude of the original quake. That was pretty exciting, though Floyd said it didn't really feel authentic because there was no sound. The kids in our group said it was their favorite part of the museum!

Some of Our Favorite Restaurants

2008-01-15T03:00:00.000-08:00

Pretty much every restaurant we've eaten in since coming to Taiwan has been a deliciously delightful experience. We wanted to describe a few of them so you'll know what you're missing (and remember, come visit us any time - we'd be glad to take you out to all of them!).

Name: The Orange Grove (at least, that's what we call it)

Description: This is sort of a hole in the wall, painted bright orange, with indoor or outdoor seating. The cooks and waiters are friendly and helpful; there's a variety of tasty Chinese dishes. See the separate blog entry about this restaurant below.

We Recommend: cashew chicken or pineapple shrimp

We Don't Recommend: scrambled-egg-and-tomato soup

NEWS FLASH: THE ORANGE GROVE NOW HAS AN ENGLISH MENU! WOW, WHAT A WEALTH OF OPTIONS HAS BEEN OPENED UP TO US THERE!

Name: Teppanyaki

Description: About fifteen seats are arranged around a single horseshoe-shaped table. You order your choice of meat, and it comes with two kinds of veggies on the side, plus soup (order steamed rice as well). The chef cooks everything on a flat metal stovetop in the center of the horseshoe, then just leans over and plops it into your bowl.

We Recommend: buttered mushrooms or cuttlefish

We Don't Recommend: sirloin steak (it isn't bad, but not worth paying twice as much as anything else on the menu)

Name: ? (We don't know if it has one; we refer to it as the "onion cake place".)

Description: This little place right outside our apartment building probably opens at the crack of dawn (no matter how early we get up, we've never found it closed except during a typhoon) and stays open till 10 or 10:30. They sell various things we still can't identify, most fried, though there are also some bowls of soup/porridge and pre-prepared sandwiches.

We Recommend: ONION CAKES!!! These are incredibly delicious! They start with a round piece of dough similar to a tortilla but thicker (much like a Kenyan chapati, if you know what that is), but with finely chopped green onions in the dough. As they fry it, they pour a mixture of beaten egg and green onion over it, then fry the other side and fold it in half kind of like an omelette before they give it to you. Eaten hot with ketchup, it's out of this world!

We Don't Recommend: the round or oval things with meat in the middle; they're more expensive and the meat isn't as cooked as I'd prefer. Just stick with onion cakes and you can't go wrong!

Name: Shanghai Restaurant

Description: This is a classy restaurant in a nice part of town, not walking distance from where we live (unlike the other places mentioned here). The decor has a "Shanghai in the 1900s" theme.

We Recommend: stewed shredded swamp eel (I'm not kidding!); the roasted peanuts they give you before the meal comes are great too.

Name: The Prawn Palace (at least, that's what we call it)
Description: This was the first restaurant Floyd and I went to on our own after coming to Taiwan. Don't expect to be able to read the menu or communicate with the staff in English, but if you can get past that, you'll probably have a great experience. Floyd and I came up with a system whereby we randomly point to menu items, then keep track in a notebook of what kind of food comes. I guess you could say we're building our own English version of the menu. See the separate blog entry about this restaurant way below.

We Recommend: prawns with butter and garlic (column 1, section 1, item 5), spicy tasty fish with onions in sauce (column 1, section 2, item 10), or sweet and sour pork ribs (column 2, section 1, item 6)

We Don't Recommend: ginger squid (column 3, section 2, item 1) or bland bony fish and tofu soup (column 4, section 3, item 3)

Name: Ho-Yuan (but we call it The Tea Shop or Bambina's; I think that's Italian for "baby girl". They (sort of) have an attempt at Italian food, and there's an adorable baby girl who toddles around the restaurant in a walker while her parents cook and serve.)

Description: It's a little restaurant with about four small tables and a limited menu inside. The best part is outside, where they have a separate menu, mostly of beverages, especially the chilled, flavored tea drinks that are so popular here in Taiwan. (The picture is of the outside menu.)

We Recommend: funland juice (that's Floyd's favorite)... I'm not sure what my favorite is, but I love almost everything I've had there (including the weird Italian/Chinese combo casseroles and pizzas). The chocolate-banana smoothie I bought today was great!

Name: Uncle Jimmy's

Description: It's the only place in our neighborhood where you can satisfy that craving for Mexican food (or various other "American" type dishes); they sell a few imported grocery items and craft supplies, too - it's also the only place I've been able to buy scrapbook paper!

We Recommend: enchiladas or any sandwich on sourdough

Linguistic Misadventures at the Orange Grove Restaurant

2007-12-29T22:08:00.000-08:00

One of Floyd's and my favorite little restaurants here in Taichung is called the Orange Grove. At least, we call it that, because much of it is painted orange, and it has big round orange lanterns hanging out front. Maybe someday when we learn to read Chinese well, we can figure out what their sign out front actually says.

Although we love the food at this place, unfortunately, they have no English menu or pictures. Usually in the past we've gone there with friends who can translate and order for us, but this time we were on our own... but we figured somehow we'd manage.

Well, we stood there looking dumbly at the unintelligible menu and waiting for inspiration to strike while the three or four employees and one other customer watched us expectantly. One of the ladies remembered us from the last time we had come and asked in Chinese if we wanted the sweet and sour fish again (at least, I'm pretty sure that's what she was asking; I saw her look of recognition and heard the word for "fish"). However, we felt like something different this time. Finally Floyd asked for "gung bao ji ding"(kung pao chicken), which, as one of the few dishes we know how to say in Chinese, has become our standby for such times. Then I decided I wanted some cashew chicken, which we'd had before and knew they fixed really well. But I couldn't remember the word for "cashew", and all I managed to communicate was that I wanted a different chicken dish. They seemed to think I meant instead of the gung bao, and I tried to explain that we wanted both, and they kept trying to guess what other kind of chicken I might want, but of course I couldn't understand most of what they said. Finally the other customer stepped in to help, announcing that he spoke a little English. So we told him in English what we wanted, but he didn't know what "cashew" meant. Finally, in desparation, I took out a piece of paper from my purse and drew a cashew. The results were instantaeous! Immediately, every face lit up, and they all exclaimed, "Oh, yao guo! Yao guo ji" (a phrase which I have since carefully memorized).

We all laughed in relief, and nodded, and they ushered Floyd and me to a table. Well, we were delighted when the cashew chicken arrived, and it was just as good as we remembered. But the gung bao ji ding hadn't come by the time we finished, and we wondered if they had gotten mixed up after all and thought we'd changed our original order. So Floyd caught a waiter's eye and said "Gung bao ji ding," and he said something and walked away. We thought maybe he was telling us it was on its way,until we heard him repeat our order to the cook. We had to wait awhile longer while they cooked it, before our second dish finally came. And then, to our surprise - it was more cashew chicken! We managed to hide our reactions from the restaurant staff, but needless to say, we were somewhat confused! (They were too, obviously.) The best we could figure was that they must have thought that we thought "gung bao ji ding" meant "cashew chicken" all along. And the worst of it was, we assumed they'd remember us again, and next time we came, if we tried to order kung pao chicken, they would remember that we really meant cashew chicken, and that's what they'd give us from then on! Oh well, at least it was delicious!

Well, the sequel to that story happened the next week, when we went to the Orange Grove again, but with our friend Elaine this time (who speaks almost fluent Chinese). Not only was she able to order several different dishes for us, but she also talked to the serving staff and explained our last time's misunderstanding, which she had gotten a big kick out of when I told her. She had a long conversation with them, parts of which she translated for us as it went along. Apparently they told her how we've been in several times and that the last time especially was a communication disaster because they have no English menu. The main lady asked very seriously if we had liked the food we had just eaten, so that she could remember it and serve it again every time we come, to avoid further misunderstandings. Floyd and I got a kick out of that! We ended up settling on three particular dishes which the staff assured us they would remember, and agreed that unless we brought a translator or found some other way to tell them otherwise, they would serve us those same three things from then on whenever we come!

Is that funny, or what?! But so practical! It was touching how concerned they were for us. And I think it's fun that for the first time in my life I'll be able to walk into a restaurant and ask for "the usual" and they'll know what I mean! As we were leaving, I turned and said, "Yao guo ji shi hun hao chi" (the cashew chicken was very good), and they were all excited that I could say that (and say it correctly, apparently, tones and all). I was quite proud of myself! I know it sounds silly to make a big deal over such a small thing, but honestly, our language learning is progressing extraordinarily slowly, so I have to take my little triumphs where I can get them. And knowing we can go to the Orange Grove any time we like and to get a meal we're guaranteed to love is definitely a triumph!

Humor From the Classroom

2007-12-29T21:52:00.001-08:00

Recently I assigned my 5th graders a project where they each had to make up their own world. One assignment that was part of this activity involved writing a list of laws or rules for the inhabitants of their imaginary world. Most of these were what you might expect - no stealing, no killing, be kind to everyone - but some students came up with some truly creative (and even downright bizarre) ones. I just had to share some of my favorites! So here they are, edited for spelling and grammar:

Thou shalt eat pizza once a day.

Thou shalt not give any entertainment alongside the road that will cause traffic.

Do not kill flies. You may kill fleas, ants, mosquitoes, and other insects in the hunting season instead, or go in the market to get food.

You must not fight in battles. You must only defend yourselves, but you can fight in war.

Thou shalt not throw or leave vile garbage on the street, sidewalk, or anywhere else for whatsoever thy reason.

Thou shalt not give birth to babies before the age of 25.

Everyone in (the land) is equal; only important people are higher.

Thou shalt not throw dirt in people's ears.

If you injure or kill an earthworm, you shall be put in jail forever.

Thou shalt not smoke, become drunk, or chew betel nut.

Thou shalt not eat vegetables that are poisoned. Such vegetables I speak of are okra and broccoli.

Thou shalt not play dodge ball.

Thou shalt salute thy flag at 3:14:43 a.m. each day.

Every family has to take a health test every year, or they will be reminded to do so.

Factories shall not produce air pollution.

Thou shalt never wear jeans, for it is a sign of bad luck to wear such uncomfortable things.

Thou shalt not aggravate thy older brother.

A Day at Sun Link Sea

2007-12-27T21:41:00.001-08:00

Yesterday Floyd and I and some friends drove up to the mountains to enjoy a day in a national park called Sun Link Sea. Why is it called that? I have no idea! Though it boasts of some beautiful waterfalls, flowerbeds, forested mountain peaks, and even snow at certain times of the year, there is nothing remotely resembling a sea for miles around.

It took about two and a half hours to drive up from Taichung, counting a few pit stops and wrong turns. It was a beautiful blue sunny day, and we enjoyed some great mountain views along the way. It's always nice to get out of the smog and be reminded that there's more to Taiwan than city. For the last part of the journey, we drove through thick green forest, with strikingly bright poinsettias growing wild beside the road. Huge spider webs stretched from tree to tree or from branch to ground, but we saw no other wildlife. Once we were up at our destination, we enjoyed a picnic lunch beside a slow green river, near a few restaurants, gift shops, cabins, and a tourist information center. From there we decided to hike to the "Blue Dragon Waterfall" a mile or two away. (I hesitate to even use the word "hike", since we were on a paved path the whole way, reminiscent of some of the so-called "hiking trails" I remember in Yosemite. But it was a pretty walk, in any case, with the river on one side and forest on the other.)

As we were walking, the mist started to blow in up the river. We were all surprised at how quickly it was moving in. Within a couple of minutes, the sky was no longer blue, and we couldn't see more than a few yards in any direction. It gave the forest a mysterious, spooky look, and as for the river, we could barely see it at all. It was kind of fun walking through the misty woods. You can imagine our disappointment, though, when we got to the grand viewpoint, with the thunder of falling water all around, and were unable to get even the tiniest glimpse of the waterfall through the fog!

After walking back to where we'd started from, we decided to try to see another waterfall, but we were tired and unwilling to risk walking all the way only to be disappointed again. So we "cheated" and took a little tour bus a few miles upstream, where it dropped us off right by the other waterfall. There was less mist in this area, so we had a good view, and were able to walk right up to it. Once again, they had walkways all around, so it wasn't exactly wild and pristine, but it was beautiful nonetheless. We were even able to walk around behind the waterfall into a shallow cave, and look out at the river and the plunge pool from the other direction.

When we returned to base once again, we decided to enjoy the water for just a little longer before we had to leave. We rented two paddle boats for half an hour or so, and Floyd and three of the others had a great time peddling up and down the river, racing each other, feeding the ducks, and switching boats mid-stream. I ran along the bank, meanwhile, and took pictures and video.

We had to hurry back home so as to be off the mountain before it got dark. The mist was bad enough, but driving down that twisty road in the dark as well would have been a little too scary for some of us. We hated to leave such a scenic spot, but it was good to know we had discovered a place where we could go to retreat into nature again sometime.

It's all about Seoul

2007-11-03T17:27:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

This has been a crazy busy week for me, and it isn't
over yet, but I figured I'd take a few minutes to say
hello and let everyone know how Floyd and I have been.

This past weekend I had the opportunity to travel to
Seoul, South Korea, for a conference on teaching the
"Six Traits of Writing" at Seoul Foreign School. It
was great - I came away with a lot of ideas and am
eager to start implementing some of the things I
learned in my own classroom. It was also fun meeting
participants from international schools in various
other Asian countries, including China, Vietnam,
Cambodia, Thailand, the Philippines, and (obviously)
Korea.

Of course one of the best parts was the fact that the
conference was in a country I'd never been to before,
thus bringing my country total up to 15. Don't be too
impressed, though; I met an Australian lady at the
conference, Sheree, who teaches in Cambodia and has
been to over 40 countries. Her three-year-old
daughter has already been to 16!

Seoul Incheon Airport is right up there among the
great airports of the world, as far as I'm concerned
(not as good as Singapore, but much better than LAX).
The city's subway system is convenient and efficient;
some trains even have electronic maps with moving dots
to show you what stations you're approaching when.
The bus system seems good too, or at least it probably
would be for those who get on the right bus at the
airport. At least the sights of the city are
interesting to see while going the wrong way on the
wrong bus. And when the bus driver calls out the
names of the stops and none of them include Seoul
Foreign School, at least he responds in helpful and
friendly Korean to your concerned questions in English
that he can't understand any more than you can
understand his helpful and friendly answers. And when
all else fails there's always taxis, easy to hail from
any random bus stop that you choose to get off at,
though of course you can't expect the drivers to speak
English or read English maps. (Yes, we did make it to
the school eventually that night!)

Unfortunately Floyd couldn't come, but I really
enjoyed the few days I was able to spend in Korea with
two other Morrison teachers. Marcy and Kris and I
(along with our new friend Sheree) were able to go out
and see quite a bit of Seoul on Saturday and Sunday
late afternoon and evening after our sessions were
over. It's a nice-looking city, a lot like Taipei on
some ways, but definitely with its own distinctive
flair. It's far enough north that the climate is
quite different from Taiwan's: it was quite cold at
night, cool during the day, and the brightly-colored
leaves bore testimony to the fact that autumn is alive
and well there.

We took the subway to various places that we'd
researched earlier, and ended up in various other
interesting places too (some accidentally, others on
purpose). It was hard not being able to communicate
much; I didn't realize how much I've come to rely on
the few words and phrases of Chinese I can actually
say now, until I went somewhere where they don't speak
Chinese OR much English. It was still great, though,
and we found people there to be really friendly and
helpful. Several times we'd be stopped on a street
corner frowning over our map, and someone who did know
a little English would come up to ask if we needed
help. (In one case, the young man pulled up an
electronic city map on his cell phone screen to direct
us to the area we wanted.) And once as we were
walking down the sidewalk, I accidently dropped my
little decorated Taiwanese tissue pouch, which looks a
lot like a wallet, and somebody picked it up and came
running after us to give it back.

Saturday evening we had a lot of fun - Kris and Marcy
and Sheree and I wanted to eat somewhere really
Korean, not at one of the international restaurants
we'd seen, so we walked all over searching for just
the right place. We'd heard of an area called Insa
Dong that's supposedly full of traditionally Korean
stores and restaurants, so we went looking for it. I
know we got off at the right subway stop, but I'm not
convinced we found the right set of streets, because
we really didn't see many shops with anything you
couldn't buy in Taiwan, or the States, for that
matter. But we did find some wonderful-looking
restaurants, including one where we finally had a
delicious meal at one of their outside tables. Each
table had a little grill thing in the middle, and the
waiters bring you pieces of raw meat to cook yourself
there. None of them spoke English, and the menu was
entirely in Korean, so at first we were stuck. But
Kris had bought a phrasebook, so he looked up and said
the word for "beef", and the waiter nodded and went
away. Pretty soon he came back with a big platter of
raw beef, along with a large bowl of soup to share,
sliced onions, garlic, kimchi, several kinds of
sauces, and a bowl of cooked (steamed?) egg which was
almost like an unsweetened custard. There was more
than enough for the four of us, and we had a lot of
fun grilling everything and experimenting with
different combinations of flavors. Remarkably, it
turned out that the Korean waiter could speak Spanish,
having lived somewhere in Central America for several
years, so Kris and Sheree, who both speak it too, were
able to have a long conversation with him. We thought
that was pretty funny.

It's hard to see too many sights of any city in less
than three days (especially with most of two of them
taken up in a conference), but we were able to take a
look at a couple of Seoul's many ancient palaces. We
just looked at one from the outside, but I paid the
dollar entry fee to go inside the other. It wasn't at
all like I had expected, and probably not like what
you're picturing, either. Don't think of a tall
building with turrets and spires and battlements
surrounded by a moat. Think of a huge yard with a
complex of different-sized one-storey buildings, all
with fancy roofs in the Asian architectural style, but
otherwise not that exciting to look at. There were
guided tours going on, and signs explaining what each
building had been used for back in the day, but since
both were in Korean I didn't get much out of it. No
one was allowed inside the buildings, anyway, as far
as I could tell. Not to mention it was raining hard
at the time and I had no umbrella or raincoat, plus it
was starting to get dark and cold, and Marcy was
waiting for me by the entrance to go and get dinner.
Oh, well - at least now I can say I've toured a Korean
palace!

Well, it was a great trip, considering how short it
was. I was disappointed not to find many souvenirs
available, and that prices were for the most part no
lower than in the States, but other than that it was
all I could have hoped for. Now I've just got to go
back for a week or two sometime with Floyd, so we can
see and do everything as Korea was meant to be
experienced!

Floyd and I did have a chance to do a little
vacationing together a few weeks ago, though. We took
the train up to Taipei for our belated 5th anniversary
trip (postponed from back when he had his kidney
stone). We went to the zoo with some friends, and
enjoyed two great art museums: the National Palace
Museum and the National Museum of History. We also
saw the Sun Yat Sen Memorial and the Chiang Kai Shek
Memorial. Best of all was Taipei 101. The tallest
building in the world is really impressive! The bottom
few stories are a giant shopping mall, with a HUGE
food court at the bottom and one of the largest and
most thorough bookstores I've seen anywhere. Most of
the rest of the building is offices, except for the
very top. We took the world's fastest elevator (17
meters per second; that's 38 miles an hour!). As you
can imagine, there was quite a view from the
observation level near the top. We got there a little
before dusk, and stayed until it was dark so we could
see the lights of the city come on. All I can say is,
wow! You had to be there. For a little more info
about this fascinating building, though, you can check
out this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taipei_101 or take a look
at the pictures on our blog.

Our jobs have been going well lately. There really
isn't much to tell about them, except that the first
quarter of the school year ended last week. Wow, that
went by fast!

We've settled on a church now, after visiting quite a
few in Taichung. House of Blessing meets upstairs in
an apartment building, with a congregation of a few
dozen. The sermon is in English but translated phrase
by phrase into Chinese, and the songs on the
overhead/powerpoint are usually printed in both
English and Chinese. People sing them in whichever
language they choose. It's kind of fun to try to pick
up a little language in church.

Speaking of which, our language learning is coming
along surely but slowly. We can finally communicate a
few basic things, like telling a taxi driver which way
to go, but we can't hold any kind of conversation.
When we practice every thursday with our Chinese
teacher, I just don't always hear the tones going up
or down like they're supposed to, so that definitely
makes it harder. I think I'm finally starting to get
the hang of them, though. Floyd is much better at
tones than I am, although I've learned more characters
than he has. The simple ones are mostly fairly easy
to remember, although some of the complex characters
have about twenty strokes to them, so I may never
learn very many of those! We'll see. Even though I
can recognize a few, most of them still look to me
like elaborate houses, dancing stick figures, or
squashed bugs with their legs sticking out. (I don't
mean that derogatorily, but take a look at Chinese
writing and tell me it isn't true!)

Well, it's 10:15 on this Saturday night, and bed is
calling, so I'll sign off for now. Before I do,
though, here are a few prayer requests. Floyd and I
really appreciate your prayers for our lives and
ministry here!

1.) My students - some of them aren't from Christian
families, and although many have given their lives to
Christ, some are still made to visit temples with
their parents and offer incense to idols. It's a hard
thing for anyone, much less young children, to find
the right balance between respect and obedience toward
parents and exclusive faith in and obedience toward
the Lord.

2.) As always, language learning. We long to be able
to run errands more easily and to actually talk to our
neighbors beyond the usual "zau" (good morning) and
"ni hau" (hello).

3.) Floyd's health - his fibromyalgia has been acting
up lately. Praise the Lord, he has found a doctor
close by who not only specializes in fibromyalgia but
speaks English too. With our insurance, doctor visits
here are very cheap!

Thanks again for your prayers, and don't forget to
keep in touch and tell us how we can pray for you too!
God bless you.

In His love,

Annie Lima

Typhooning

2007-10-06T15:10:00.000-07:00

Advice for the week: never use an umbrella in a typhoon.

Dear Friends,

Greetings from stormy, windy Taichung. We're in the middle of a typhoon here! This is our third typhoon since we arrived in Taiwan, but the first two both veered off to the north as they approached, so we didn't get the full force of the storm. Actually, the satellite maps online show that this one is veering north too; technically its eye is a little off the northern tip of the island, though much of the storm itself is directly overhead.

For those who don't know, a typhoon is basically the same as a hurricane, just with a different name in a different part of the world. It's categorized the same way, levels 1-5, with 5 being the worst (this one apparently is a level 4). They name them alphabetically each year, too, just like hurricanes (this one has been named Typhoon Krosa). All last night we kept hearing the wind. It's often windy here, but typhoon wind is like no other kind. Floyd and I have nicknamed it the "Banshee" because of the wailing, shrieking, howling, whistling noises it makes as it tries its best to get into our apartment. We didn't get much sleep last night with the banshee roaring around us, and today it's even louder.

This morning (Saturday) we had to go to school for a professional development event (which ended several hours early because of the typhoon). Just walking to school was quite an experience. The ground was covered with leaves and sticks and in some places even entire branches that had blown off trees. It wasn't raining much at the time - kind of a heavy drizzle - but the gusts of wind were so strong that we had to literally lean into them to even walk, and once or twice I was physically unable to take a step forward until the gust died down. I discovered that it's no use trying to use an umbrella in a typhoon. First of all, the rain doesn't come straight down; the wind whips it all over so that it can come at you from any given direction at any moment, including horizontally, or even up, as the drops hit the ground and then splash and the splashes get blown up at you. And apart from my umbrella being next to useless anyway, the wind immediately blew it inside-out, snapped off a couple of the ribs, and then blew them away. I had to point the poor crippled umbrella in the other direction so the wind would blow it right-side-in again, and then quickly furl it up to avoid further damage.

At school there were branches all over the walkways and driveways, and even two or three entire trees that had blown over! It was the first time I had seen anything like that. Fortunately there was no damage to any of the buildings (nor had I seen any in the neighborhood on my way there). I did see a trash can, though, overflowing with the mangled remains of shredded umbrellas. Well, we rushed through our meetings so people could get home sooner. There were teachers there from all of Morrison's three campuses plus the satellite school, all in different cities, and the others all had several hours' drive to get home (they had spent Friday night here in Taichung). We were concerned about those from Bethany campus, in Taipei, since that's very close to the eye of the storm. People kept saying it's not good weather for a big bus to be out on the highways, and not a good direction for said bus to be heading. There was some talk about sending them by train instead, but the bullet-train isn't running, and I don't know if the regular train runs during typhoons either. Hopefully they've made it back okay by now.

Thankfully Floyd and I got a ride back with someone else who lives in our apartment building. We were especially thankful since the rain was pouring down heavily by then, and had been for several hours. When we got home, we were surprised to see that Krosa had invaded our apartment! The living room floor was wet where water had come through the sliding glass door to the covered balcony, but that wasn't the worst of it. The bedroom had a lot of leakage, both from the window and the air conditioning unit. My dresser and everything on it, two rugs, and a large section of floor were totally soaked. Not only that, but the water was dripping down from the window area inside the concrete wall to the floor. Or to be more specific, I should say it was seeping down UNDERNEATH the paint. So in several places the paint was bulging with rivulets of water underneath, pooling on the floor when it got to the bottom. That was weird! Anyway, we moved the furniture out of the way and got rid of the dripping rug, and used almost every towel we have in the house, plus a bunch of Floyd's old ragged shirts, to soak up the water. But of course it keeps coming in, so we have a load of towels in the washing machine right now, hoping they'll dry before the ones currently on the floor get totally saturated. The air conditioning unit is letting water in all around it, and there isn't much we can do about that except stuff paper towels in the cracks and change them every few minutes, and keep towels on the floor under it as well.

And of course this whole time the wind is howling and raging and trying to join the rain inside our apartment. Can you hear it? It's really something! We might have to run to the 7-Eleven on the corner and see if they have earplugs, if we want to get any sleep tonight. At least we don't have to worry about the roof leaking, though. That's one advantage of living on the seventh of twelve stories! Well, enough about the typhoon. Life here has been pretty good otherwise. Actually, I'm really not even complaining about Krosa. It's kind of exciting! But unfortunately it will probably mean the end of our camping plans. We have this next week off for a local holiday known as Ten/Ten (October 10th), and we were going to go camping with some friends on a dairy ranch near here. But even if the typhoon passes by Sunday night, it will most likely stay rainy all week (at least, that's what happened the last two times). Floyd and I are also planning on spending two or three days in Taipei for our anniversary celebration that got postponed when he had his kidney stone several weeks ago (from which he has long since fully recovered - thanks for your prayers and the many emails we received about that!). Much of what we had wanted to do was outdoors, like going to the zoo, so we'll see how we can re-arrange our plans.

Recently I had the opportunity to do a few interesting things which are pictured on our blog, if you'd like to take a look. I got to travel up into the mountains with some friends and visit Sun Moon Lake (Taiwan's largest body of fresh water). We also visited a sheep farm, which was a funny cultural experience for me. It was a green, hilly, grassy area with paved walkways for people to stroll on and watch the sheep graze. The place was full of Taiwanese tourists from the city, all eager and excited to see the sheep. Now, maybe it's my Kenyan upbringing, where sheep and goats are pretty much everyday sights even in the city. But the idea of going somewhere and paying money just to watch sheep strikes me as extraordinarily ridiculous!

It was a drizzly holiday weekend, too, so the place was absolutely thronged with people with umbrellas. I have to say that although I would have considered it a waste going there to watch the sheep, I had a lot of fun watching the tourists watch the sheep! The wind is screaming in through the air conditioning units, and we keep having to go wring out our towels. It's ridiculous! The rain is coming in so hard it's spurting up like little fountains under the windows. We can't keep up with it, and we're out of dry towels. Building a dike around parts of our floor would help us more than trying to sop up the water. I don't know how we're going to sleep tonight, because if we aren't there to keep wringing out the towels, the water will spread out all over the floor and get all over the apartment. Yikes!

Well, I'll close there so I can go help Floyd take care of Krosa's mess. Thanks for your prayers, and keep in touch! Oh, and if you want to see pictures of the sheep farm and pretty much everything else we've done in Taiwan, check out our newly improved and updated blog. Floyd has put a lot of work into it in the last couple of weeks, and it has a whole new format.

God bless, and remember to let us know how you're doing.

In Him,

Annie Lima

Adventures in a Taiwanese Hospital

2007-09-18T15:00:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

I wasn't planning on doing much emailing this weekend, because Floyd and I were going to take the bullet train to Taipei and spend a couple of days there for our 5th anniversary (which was yesterday). We had hotel reservations and plans to visit museums, the zoo, and the tallest building in the world. But, it seems we weren't intended to do that this weekend. I thought I'd send out an update to let you know what this past week has held so you can keep us (particularly Floyd) in your prayers.

It all started Wednesday morning, which began as a regular school day as far as I was concerned. Floyd was still asleep when I left for school (since he doesn't start work till a little later). I didn't know anything was going on until recess, when a friend of ours who's a nurse came and called me from my classroom, explaining that they thought Floyd had appendicitis and were taking him to the hospital. He had called in with pain in his lower right abdominalarea, and they thought he should get it checked out. The school secretary arranged for a sub for my class for the rest of the day, so I was able to come along to the hospital. Someone else from the school had called ahead, and there was an English-speaking doctor (the dad of one of our students) right there waiting for us. After a brief examination and some questioning, and later some other tests, it was determined that the problem was not Floyd's appendix at all, but a large, impacted kidney stone. Later that afternoon he went into surgery to have it removed.

The surgery, which they did orthoscopically (sp?) and under general anesthesia, took just under an hour and a half, and apparently went smoothly. He came out feeling pretty good, all things considered. Because they didn't actually have to make an incision, he ended up inrelatively little pain afterwards. It was arranged that Floyd would stay the night for observation (since it was evening by then), and leave the next day. We got a private room on the eleventh floor, where we settled down for the rest of the evening.

This whole time, we had been overwhelmed by the number of people who came by to help. Altogether, I counted twelve or thirteen different people who came by the hospital at different times to see if they could do anything for us. These included students, teachers, parents, and administrators from the school, as well as various other members of Taichung's English-speaking community, many of whom we barely knew, and a couple of whom we hadn't even met before. It was great because the whole time we were there, there was always at least one person who could translate for us. Most of the doctors spoke some English, but most of the nurses and other hospital personel didn't, and I don't know how we would have managed without translators. One lady's husband had gone to medical school with several of the hospital staff, and so she was able to arrange for the hospital's PR representative to come an see to it thatwe got extra-good care. (That's how things work here: it's all about who you know.) Several people even brought us food that evening, which was nice since the hospital didn't provide any. (The way it usually works is that patients' familymembers bring them meals.) Luckily there was a little fridge in our room, and it was soon well stocked with Subway sub sandwiches, crackers, cookies, a banana, salad, garlic bread, juice, soda, seafood pasta, abreakfast bagel sandwich, soup, potato chips, cake,and rice porridge, which ended up being the only thing Floyd could actually eat that night.

I had been planning on spending the night there with him, but by bedtime Floyd said he was feeling so much better that I might as well go home and get some sleep. Instead, Dwight Johnson, the computer teacher from Morrison, ended up staying over, so that he could help translate if anything came up. So I got a ride home with someone and came back first thing in the morning with someone else.Well, Floyd kept improving, and by early Thursday afternoon they let him check out. We took a taxi home and he's been resting in our apartment for the last couple of days. He's not quite back to full health yet, but he seems to feel better all the time, and is well enough to be bored with all the sitting around. I guess that's a good sign! We were even able to go out last night for our anniversary, to a little Japanese-style restaurant a few minutes' walk from our apartment.

Please keep Floyd in your prayers as he continues to recover. He's planning on going back to work on Monday, especially if he keeps improving at his current rate. In the meantime, please join us in thanking God for working everything out so well.Praise the Lord that there were so many people willing and available to help, from transportation to translation to bring food to subbing for me at schoolto holding us both up in prayer. The hospital was very modern and well-equipped, the doctors were experts in their fields, Floyd said the operating room was sterile and everything an operating room should be, and the total bill came to a fraction of what itwould have cost back in the States. We are very thankful that everything worked out as well as it did,and we are especially grateful for all the wonderful people who stepped up to help in so many ways. Hopefully I'll be emailing in a few weeks with the details of our postponed weekend in Taipei. In the meantime, please keep in touch, and keep us in your prayers for our jobs and health.

Love in Christ,

Annie Lima

The Prawn Palace

2007-09-03T15:00:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

Floyd and I have been in Taiwan for a little over fourweeks now, and honestly, it feels like months. Inmany ways we really feel at home here, and we are confident that this is where we belong right now.Thank you so much for your prayers for our transitionand adjustment. We love life in this part of theworld and thank the Lord for bringing us here! Life isn't without its struggles, though. One of ourbiggest has been regarding the language. Most peoplehere speak little or no English, and we speak little or no Chinese. That's not a good combination!

We have been taking "survival Chinese" lessons, but it's so hard to remember the words with their confusing tones. I actually find it easier to learn some of the simple characters and their English meanings than to speak or understand spoken Chinese. It's the other way around for Floyd.

A funny example of our struggles to communicate with those around us was when we tried to go out for dinnera couple of weeks ago. We knew there are a lot of little restaurants in our neighborhood, so we set off walking without any particular destination to see what good Chinese food we could find. The first few places we looked at had all-Chinese menus, and we weregetting pretty tired and hungry by the time we came toa crowded, partly open-air corner restaurant that wehad seen in passing before. As Floyd pointed out, if it's that crowded, the food must be pretty good, so wedecided to eat there whether there was an English menu or not. Sure enough, there wasn't an English menu, and we stared helplessly at the page full of Chinese characters that a waiter handed us.

People at thetables all around us were eating happily, and we had no idea what any of the options on the paper in frontof us were. Eventually the waiter came back to take our order. He said things in Chinese that we couldn't understand, and we said things in English that he couldn't understand, and all three of us were getting frustrated and hungry (or at least Floyd and I were hungry). Finally Floyd remembered how to say "kungpao chicken" in Chinese, and he said it, and thewaiter brightened up and replied happily, pointing tosomething on the menu. Then Floyd said the word for"rice" and randomly pointed to another menu item, and the waiter went off leaving us wondering exactly whatwe would get. Service in the restaurants here is always pretty fast no matter how crowded it is. They bring out one dish at a time as the food is ready, instead of waiting to bring the whole meal at once like in America. So first our rice was delivered, and then the wait or brought the kung pao chicken, which was excellent.Half way through that, he brought our mystery item,which turned out to be a dish of prawns. Floyd wastotally delighted, as those are one of his all-timefavorites. So we had a great meal, includingdelicious guava juice. (There was a cooler full ofdrinks, and you just go and get what you want, andthey add it to your bill at the end.) Anyway, thetotal for the meal came to the equivalent of aboutseven US dollars for the two of us. Not bad, huh?!(Thank goodness they write their numbers the same waywe do, so we had no problem reading how much we had topay.)Well, a few days later we felt like eating out again(with prices like that, we can afford to go out fordinner a lot more often here than back in theStates!). So we headed back to the same restaurant,which had we nicknamed the "Prawn Palace" since westill have no idea what its real name is. This time Ihad come prepared: I looked through our notebook of"survival Chinese" materials, and found a sectionabout ordering in restaurants. I had carefully copiedout the characters for pork, beef, chicken, fish,rice, noodles, and a few other basic items, along withtheir English pronunciation. I figured that way wecan choose something on the menu and at least have areasonably close idea of what we'll be getting.Well, we walked right in and were seated in the samearea as before, and the same waiter was assigned tous. He took one look at us and said something to hissupervisor that probably meant, "Aw, come on, boss,please don't make me serve these guys again! Theydon't even know how to communicate!" But he came overwith the menu anyway, and I proudly pulled out myhand-dandy little paper with the characters to seewhat we could order. But unfortunately it wasn't aseasy as I had expected. Every dish on the menu was written with at least three or four characters, and Icouldn't even find the one that meant chicken, thoughI knew it had to be there. Finally the waiter cameback to take our order, and we still hadn't figuredanything out yet. We tried to tell him so, and he tried to tell us something, and then he saw my littlepaper. Before I could stop him, he took it from meand read the characters I'd written, and I think hethought I had had someone help me write the things we wanted to order. I kept saying, "No, wait, that's notwhat we want," but he pointed at various things on themenu and said I don't know what, and finally gave thepaper back and left with the menu. Floyd and I were left looking at each other like, "Yikes, what did wejust order?"Well, apparently we had ordered some kind of spicychicken dish, because that was the first thing thewaiter brought. We discovered a big pot where we weresupposed to serve ourselves rice, so we were enjoyingour chicken and rice with the pride of those who havetriumphed over cultural or linguistic barriers, whenthe waiter brought a dish of prawns. We hadn'trealized we had ordered two items, but that was okay.You always have room for good prawns, even if they areinterspersed with chili peppers. We decided thewaiter must have remembered our taste for prawns fromlast time, though perhaps he thought we needed themspiced up a little now.Well, about half way through our meal, along cameanother dish. This one was a platter of boiledcabbage in a beef broth. We had ordered cabbage?! Well, okay. It was pretty tasty as cabbage goes, andbeing the only non-spicy item on the table, it was anice change for our taste buds. Just when we thought we were about done, the waitercame back with yet another dish: very spicy choppedbeef with peppers and vegetables. We couldn't believeall the things we were getting, and wondered what ourbill was going to come to this time, but at least wewere enjoying a great meal. As we sat back insatisfaction, surrounded by our leftovers and feelingthat we were doing pretty well at this restaurant, wehappened to notice the crowd of people nearby on thesidewalk. Idly we wondered what they were doing or if there was some event about to take place. Then wesuddenly saw a waiter handing out menus to them, andrealized they were waiting their turn to be seated.Just as that realization hit us both, so did the onethat we had just walked right in to our table. Youcan imagine our feelings of embarrassment, that we hadcut to the front of the line and marched in like wedeserved to be seated immediately, while people toopolite to call us on it probably watched inindignation, waiting patiently for their turns. Butof course there was nothing we could do about it atthat point except vow not to be so ignorant andculturally insensitive next time.I won't go in to the story of what it took to get abag for our leftovers (which they do all the time herebut we didn't know where to get or how to ask for).Suffice to say that finally we left full andembarrassed, with our wallet only about $10 lighter.We still love the Prawn Palace, but I think next timewe'll find a friend who speaks Chinese to come withus!So anyway, you get an idea of the struggles we facehere not knowing the language. At least Floyd and Iboth work on campus, where everyone speaks English andwe have no problems communicating! School has been insession for two weeks now, and it's going pretty well.I'm enjoying getting to know my 26 students, as wellas my co-workers. It's fun having such amulti-cultural class of world travellers. It's hardto get used to how busy I am here, though. I'm stilltrying to figure out why everything seems to take somuch longer than I anticipate. I'm sure having twiceas many students as I did last year in California hassomething to do with it, but I hope I can startleaving my classroom before 6 p.m. one of these days.At least I love my job!Floyd's job has been a little less interesting, as itinvolves mostly data entry and other tedious computertasks. At least there's a travel involved. LastMonday he and his boss took the bullet train down tothe city of Kaohsiung to take pictures and video ofanother of Morrison Academy's campuses. Tomorrowthey'll do the same at the third campus in Taipei.Next week he'll get a little busier, as he will startworking in my classroom. We actually arranged withthe principal that Floyd will be hired part-time as a5th grade aide. In the past he has always helped outunofficially with my class, so I think it's really funthat now he'll actually be paid to do it five hours aweek!In about half an hour we'll be joined by several otherMorrison staff who live in our apartment complex, fora potluck dinner. The fellowship we've been able tohave with the other missionaries here is great! Toomany to count have already invited us over or taken usout for dinners or lunches. Now that we finally had achance to buy plates, we're eager to startreciprocating, which was why we volunteered to hosttonight's potluck. For our contribution, we're buyinga couple of roast ducks that they sell in theafternoon market near here. I've also made a cake,since it's Floyd's birthday tomorrow.Well, I should probably go work on the last-minutepreparations for our guests, while Floyd is outpicking up the ducks. I'm attaching some picturesthis time, so you can get a glimpse of a bit of ourlives. One is of the menu on a "tea shop" nearby (werecommend the funland juice and mint green tea). Theothers were taken at a night marked the week after wearrived in the country. You can see more pictures(including some of our apartment) on our blog, athttp://fandalimafamily.blogspot.comHere are a few prayer requests, which we hope you willlift up on our behalf:1.) Language learning! This is definitely our biggestchallenge.2.) That we would be good witnesses to our Chineseneighbors (most of whom we can't communicate with inwords) and to my students (many of whom areChristians, but not all).Please keep in touch. Thanks for your prayers!

Love in Christ,

Annie Lima

Touchdown in Taiwan

2007-08-11T17:00:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

Greetings from the beautiful city of Taichung inCentral Taiwan. At least, I guess beautiful isrelative, but if smog and heavy traffic and trash onthe streets doesn't bother you too much, then Taichungis definitely beautiful! We like it, anyway! It's hard to believe we've been here less than a weekand a half. California seems a whole lifetime agoalready! We flew in a week ago Thursday, and theprincipal and his wife picked us up at the airport. The first thing we noticed (besides all the Chinesewriting everywhere) was the humidity. It was greatfor the first couple of minutes; the air felt so richand thick you could almost chew it, but the heat gotto us before we even got to their van in the parkinglot. You just have to get used to sweating a lothere, and then it's fine.At our request, we stopped by the school to see myclassroom before they even took us to our apartment. The school is great! Big, modern, hi-tech, greatfacilities. My classroom is huge - almost twice asbig as the one I taught in last year in the States. It has almost a living-room area in the back, withcarpet and couches, which I'm turning into a readingarea. (I've been in there almost every day since wegot here, arranging things and working on my lessons.)Anyway, it's a very nice room, and Floyd has helped alot with moving desks and bookshelves around for me,as well as re-wiring some stuff and getting the fourclassroom computers set up and ready to go, in alittle "computer center" beside the reading area. Our apartment is great too. The school has providedus with a four-bedroom, two-bath apartment on theseventh story of a twelve-story building in a typicalTaiwanese neighborhood. They are lending us somefurniture until we have a chance to buy our own,although we bought quite a few things already from theteacher who lived in here before us. There is nocentral air conditioning, but at least there arewindow units and ceiling fans in the living room andbedrooms. Even so, it can get pretty warm in here. For the first week or so, we ran the a/c on high everynight, with the ceiling fan on high too, and stillslept with only a sheet (if that) over us. Things gotmore comfortable when we discovered the other day thatwhat we had thought was the power level on our windowunit was actually the thermostat (in degrees Celsius).Now we know how to make it cold in there!We haven't seen too many gross bugs since we've beenhere. We've only encountered two hideously disgustinggigantic cockroaches, one here at home and one atschool, both of which Floyd heroically slew for me. Not many mosquitoes, either, although we hear theywill become more of an issue in the winter months. But everyone assures us that living on the seventhfloor will keep us out of the range of mostcreepy-crawlies.The apartment complex is nice as well. It's huge,with three separate buildings in a "U" shape, and acourtyard in the middle. The courtyard is nicelylandscaped with trees and flowers, and it even hassigns saying what all the plants are. That might benice if we could read Mandarin Chinese. There's alittle fish pond in the middle, too, and a swimmingpool and tennis courts. We usually take the elevatorup to our floor, although sometimes we use the stairsfor exercise. The stairway is narrow and steep andvery stuffy, and toward the bottom the ceiling getsreally low. We know we're getting close to the bottomwhen we start having to do the limbo as we walk downthe steps! Floyd says it feels like walking into acave. All our Chinese neighbors seem nice, althoughwe can't talk to them except to say a couple ofgreetings. Very few people here speak English, andalthough we've been taking Chinese lessons since thebeginning of the week, I'll just say that it's a verydifficult language! But at least we've been able tosay hello when we meet people around the courtyard orin the elevator. Almost all of our neighbors in ourbuilding have little shelves outside their doors wherethey take off their shoes before they go inside. Iguess they aren't worried about anyone taking them,but we take ours off just inside the doorway, just incase, although I'm sure it would be fine. Some ofthem also decorate the outside of their doors with redand gold banners, which I'm sure say somethingmeaningful in Chinese. I'm looking forward to beingable to read the characters someday.The view from our apartment is great too. We have abalcony off of our living room which looks out intothe courtyard, and another across from it off of thekitchen, which overlooks the city. I've never reallylived in the city before, and it's kind of nice,especially at night when all the lights are on. Wecan see a McDonalds from our place, as well ashundreds and hundreds of Chinese signs that we can'tread. There's a building under construction rightacross the street from our balcony, and it'sinteresting watching their progress on it every day. The other day the smog unexpectedly lifted, and we sawthat we have quite a nice-looking range of mountainsnot far away beyond the city. Someday we'll have togo check them out, although without a car that mightbe hard. We don't want a car, though, because we'rewithin easy walking distance of the school. Besides,traffic is crazy here! Every time we go out withpeople, it seems like we come within a couple inchesof being hit or of hitting another car or scooter. Nobody else seems phased by it, though. Scooters areeverywhere - more people drive them than cars, andthey zip in and out of traffic. Even walking doesn'talways seem quite safe (although we are getting usedto it). There are sidewalks on a lot of streets, butthey're usually full of people selling things fromcarts or stands, and scooters (and often cars as well)park there a lot.The weather actually has been fairly comfortablelately, or maybe we're just getting used to it. Probably some of each. Our first few days in thecountry were incredibly hot and humid, but it's been alot cooler recently. Or I guess I should say, morewarm than hot. Apparently a typhoon has been going bysomewhere off the coast, and it's brought cloudy skiesand pleasant breezes. Right now it's raining, whichis kind of nice. We just got back from shopping andexploring in our neighborhood, which was a pretty wetexperience, but fun. We checked out a stationerystore, which has all kinds of interesting things butvery little of what you'd expect to find in anAmerican stationery store. We enjoyed stopping by alittle "tea shop" that someone had taken us to before,where we bought delicious drinks. Teas are VERYpopular here, mostly chilled with various flavors. I'm normally not an iced tea fan, but these aredifferent. I ordered an almond milk tea (last time Ihad mint milk tea), which tastes a lot more likesweetened flavored milk than like tea. Floyd bought a"funland juice," or something like that, both times;it's tangy and fruit-flavored (a little like an orangejulius). They have dozens of interesting-lookingflavors, all of which I'd like to try sometime - forexample, mango milk tea, wheat sprout green tea,passion fruit black tea, and yoghurt tea. We alsobought giant mangoes and other fruit from a sidewalkfruit seller just outside our apartment. And we founda grocery store a few blocks away where we boughtcanned roasted eel in black pepper sauce, and a fewother similar delicacies. :-) We're determined notto be the kind of Americans who stick with theirWestern diet wherever they go, and refuse to try localfare!Local fare here has turned out to be really tasty (notthat we expected otherwise). We both love Chinesefood, which is a good thing, since that's most ofwhat's available, especially in restaurants. Thestaff at the school have all been really nice andwelcoming, and many have taken us out to eat already. (We've actually only had to make dinner in ourapartment twice since we got here! All the free foodhas been great!!) The restaurants they've taken usout to have all been as unique from each other as mostrestaurants in the States are, even though they'realmost all Chinese. None of them have providedsilverware, so it's a good thing Floyd and I know howto use chopsticks! The way it usually works is thateveryone orders a different dish, each of whichprovides a small serving size for three or fourpeople, and we each get a little rice bowl. Then weserve ourselves from the big dishes into our ricebowls or small (saucer-sized) plates, and shareeverything that way. It's been quite delicious, forthe most part, although I'll have to get used to thelittle cups of hot unsweetened green tea they usuallyserve with the meal. We actually went to a "tearestaurant" in a large mall last week, whereeverything was cooked in tea. Imagine soup with teaas the broth, and beef noodles in a tea sauce. I haveto admit that was a little strange. So was the greentea-flavored ice cream that came in the chilled,unsweetened tea drink that I ordered with my meal. Idon't think we'll be eating there again, but that'sprobably the only place we've been to that I'd saythat about.We've taken lots and lots of pictures since we've beenhere, and this afternoon we're going to try to putthem on our blog. We've been having some trouble withthat, because when we opened Google it somehow figuredout where we are and automatically switched to aTaiwanese version, which would be great if only weknew how to read Mandarin. But hopefully we'll getthat working soon and put our pictures up for you tosee. Take a look athttp://fandalimafamily.blogspot.com for a glimpse ofwhat our life here is like.Don't forget you can also call us.Or if you have Skype, you can video conference with usfor free (our ID is fjlima3). We'd love to talk toyou sometime! Please keep in touch! We reallyappreciate the emails we've gotten from some of youalready.Love in Christ,Annie LimaP.S. Here are a few prayer requests that we'd love foryou to lift up on our behalf. Don't forget to let usknow how we can pray for you too!1.) Language learning. Wow, Mandarin is reallycomplicated! Pronouncing the unusual sounds in someof the words is hard enough, but saying them in theright tone (there are four) gets really trickysometimes. Please pray that the Lord will help uspick it up quickly, at least enough to make ourselvesunderstood. We really want to make friends with ourTaiwanese neighbors, but it isn't easy when all we cansay is "good morning, how are you?"2.) Continued adjustment to the culture and local waysof doing things. So far neither of us have reallyexperienced much culture shock, but we do have toadjust to the way things work differently here. It'sespecially hard when it comes to wanting to buy things(like furniture) that are not readily available in theform in which we'd like them. Prices here are not ascheap as we'd hoped, either. Most things cost aboutthe same as back in the US, or even a little more. Please pray that we'll be able to buy the things weneed for our apartment without undue stress.3.) School! It starts a week from Monday, andalthough I've gotten a lot done in my classroom, I'mnowhere near ready. I'm sure I will be by then, butit will take long hours of lesson planning andpreparation. Please pray that my students (at leasthalf of whom are not from Christian families) willcome ready to learn, especially about the Lord. Morrison is a missionary school, but only about athird of the students are missionary kids. A big partof the school's mission statement involves servingmissionary families, but it also emphasizes theoutreach to the non-Christian families. Please praythat I will be a good witness to my students and theirparents.4.) Praise the Lord for bringing us here, continuingto keep us safe, and giving us the blessing of livingand serving Him in this wonderful place!

Last Stateside Update

2007-07-24T16:55:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

It's hard to believe that in just a few short days Floyd and I will be in Taiwan! We have lots to do before then, but I wanted to send off a quick email toupdate everyone before we leave.We really enjoyed the two weeks of training we had in Upstate New York. We made some great friendships in such a short time, and it was hard to say goodbye to everyone at the end. At least we know that we'll see some of the families again in Taiwan. Others are headed for missionary schools in places like Ethiopia, South Korea, Ivory Coast, Austria, the Philippines, Senegal, the Czech Republic, Malaysia, Niger, Nigeria, Spain, Ecuador, Thailand, Bolivia, Hungary, and Brazil. You can imagine how fun it was to spend two weeks with people heading for or returning to such a variety of countries! :-)In the last couple of weeks Floyd and I have also enjoyed spending time with friends and family members we don't see very often (as well as some we do). We have been officially sent off in prayer by both Granada Hills Baptist (where I taught 5th grade for three years) and our adult Sunday school class at Grace Baptist (our home church). It's humbling to have so many wonderful people praying for us and wishing us well in our missionary work.Don't forget that when we are in Taiwan, we will still have consistent email access (unlike the year I spent in Indonesia, where it was sporadic and unreliable). Hearing from friends back home is a welcome treat in foreign lands, so I hope you will stay in close touch! You can also call us through our laptop computer, so we can access it both now in California, and later when we get to Taiwan. So you can call us from your regular phone for no more than the cost of calling any other 818 number, and our laptop will ring wherever in the world we are at the time. We have a built-in microphone and speaker, so we can make and receive phone calls without even using a real phone. (Isn't technology great?!) So, I hope you will take advantage of that and call us often!! Of course, Taiwan is about 15 hours ahead of California, so bear in mind that we may be asleep or at work when you call. But we'll have the computer off whenever we're unavailable, so call whenever you like without worrying that you'll wake us up. It will just go straight to our voicemail, where you can leave a message and let us know how you're doing and whatever else you have to say, and we'll return your call when we can. At least that will result in quicker communication than playing "phonetag" by just saying "Hi, call me back."Another good way to contact us is through Skype, if you have it on your computer (you can download it for free). If you have a camera and microphone, we'll be able to actually see each other when we talk. (I could even pick up my laptop and walk around with it, to give you a virtual tour of our apartment or theschool!) Our Skype ID is fjlima3.Well, Floyd and I will head for the airport this Tuesday evening (July 31st), and our flight leaves from Los Angeles at 1:40 a.m. on August 1st. We'll arrive in Taiwan's capital city of Taipei at about 6:30 a.m. the same day, after a nonstop 14-hour flight (crossing the International Date Line). Someone from Morrison Academy will pick us up and drive us a couple hours to the city of Taichung, where an apartment has been provided for us. We'll be living on the seventh floor of a twelve-storey apartment building, about ten minutes' walk from the school. We'll have the rest of that week to settle in, then the next week there will be some orientation and training at the school for new staff. Floyd and I will actually be the only new staff on that particular campus (Morrison has four in different cities), so I guess it will probably just be us! We'll also have the first half of our ten-session crash course in Mandarin Chinese. The week after that consists mostly of in-services for all the teachers, so it will be nice to meet the rest of the staff at that time. Then the next week is when school starts. That doesn't seem like a lot of time to get my classroom and lessons ready, but I'm sure I'll manage somehow!I'm planning to send out another email within the first few days after we arrive, so hopefully it won't be too long before you hear from us again. We will also be posting pictures regularly on our blog (http://fandalimafamily.blogspot.com). (We already have some there from our time in New York, including a trip to Niagara Falls, if you'd like to take a look.) In the meantime, please keep in touch and keep us in your prayers! We really feel encouraged knowing we have so many friends back in the States (and a fewother countries too!) who are keeping us close in their hearts and supporting us in prayer. Your prayers will be an important part of our ministry, as we head for the front lines in God's service. Here are some specific requests that we would love for you to lift up:1.) For wisdom and efficiency in how we use our last few days here, and especially with our packing. We still have some decisions to make on what will stay in Floyd's parents' garage and what will come with us. Our luggage space and weight allowance for our flight is limited, and anything extra is expensive. Although some of our future co-workers have advised us, we still don't know what exactly will be available to purchase over there and what won't.2.) For safe and uneventful travels, both by air to Taipei and when driving to Taichung (I hear the traffic can be kind of crazy there!).3.) For quick recovery from jetlag and adjustment to the climate (hot and very humid, so praise the Lord we'll have air conditioning!) and culture.I can think of lots more, but I'll save them for my next email. In the meantime, thanks again for your prayers and emails. Keep them coming!

Love in Christ,

Annie Lima

Pre Field Orientation

2007-06-28T17:00:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

Greetings from beautiful upstate New York! Floyd and I are here for two weeks of Pre-Field Orientation, designed to prepare us for our upcoming missionary work in Taiwan. We're staying on the campus of Houghton (pronounced HO-tun) College, in a scenic small town area. The campus is full of forest, flowers, and creeks (home to turtles, noisy bullfrogs, and, I'm told, large fishing spiders). I'm not sure how the students can concentrate on their studies in such a beautiful environment! But they're gone for the summer, and now the college has been taken over by about a hundred twenty of us future missionaries, all headed for different missionary schools around the globe. It's been interesting meeting some of them and hearing about where they'll be going.The Orientation has only just begun, but we've learned quite a bit already. Yesterday the sessions focused on the results of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (personality test) that we had all taken earlier. For those of you who are familiar with this, we discovered that I am an INFJ (introvert, intuitive, feeling, judging; the rarest of the 16 types), and Floyd is an ISTP (introvert, sensing, thinking, perceiving). I know some of you have taken this test yourselves; we would be interested to know your results if you'd like to share them! Today the main focus of the seminars was on TCKs, or Third Culture Kids (those who were raised in a culture other than the one their parents are from, and thus have blended the two to create a third culture in their own lives). We will all be teaching TCKs in the various missionary schools we'll be in, so it's important to understand them and the unique issues they face. Since I am an adult TCK myself, I was asked to sit on a panel this evening to answer some questions about my experiences. There were seven other TCKs on the panel, all answering the same set of questions, and it was great to hear from all of them, most of whom had gone through pretty much the same types of things I have. When TCKs return to their "home" country, they often feel isolated, like nobody understands them or where they have been. Even though I have been here in America for many years and do know a number of people who (at least sort of) understand me, it was refreshing to hear from others with similar life experiences. The eight of us were able to remind each other that we are not alone in what we have been through (both the good and the bad). It was an emotional time, though, as several choked up while describing painful separations from people they were close to, and the difficulties they faced in adjusting back to American culture when they returned from living overseas. Many in the audience came up to us afterward and mentioned how much they appreciated hearing the things we shared.Now to backtrack a bit. The week before Floyd and I came to NY was really busy. School got out on Thursday (so sad to say goodbye to my students), and I spent Friday cleaning and packing up my classroom. Then we had less than a week to pack up everything we own and move it out of our apartment, not to mention clean the place from top to bottom. We would never have made it in time if not for the friends and relatives who came to help! But the job was finally done the next Friday night, and we got up early Saturday morning to catch our 7:00 a.m. flight to Cleveland and then on to Buffalo. From there it was an hour and a half drive to Houghton. One of the things we've enjoyed here at the conference is meeting some of our future co-workers from Morrison Academy, where we'll be working in Taiwan. Most are from Morrison's other campuses (there are four in different cities), but there are a couple who will be in Taichung with us, who have been there already. They've been able to tell us interesting things, like about the large flying cockroaches we can expect to encounter. Yikes! (I don't do well with big bugs.) Thinking of possible pets, I inquired half-jokingly whether there are any animals there that eat cockroaches. Alas, apparently the cockroaches' only real predators are gigantic (eight inch long) spiders. I wish I hadn't asked.Another challenge we'll face when we get there will be learning the language. Although the school functions in English, we will need to learn some Mandarin Chinese to be able to shop in the local markets andbasically do anything outside of school and home. I like languages, but Chinese, with its four tones and thousands of written characters, is starting to sound really daunting. A word can have totally different meanings depending on the tone of voice in which you say it, and any given sound can be written with several different characters depending on what it means in the sentence. Talk about confusing! On the bright side, Taiwan does sound like a beautiful place to live, at least in some areas. Yes, there are lots of big cities with smog and crazy trafic, but there are also gorgeous mountain ranges, forests, beaches, and idyllic farmland. The island is far from being nothing but a manufacturing/exporting center, which is how I would have thought of it not so long ago. It is also home to the world's tallest building, Taipei 101 (which, as you might guess, is 101 stories tall). Click on this link to see a picture of it: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dans180/16448967/ To get a true idea of its size, note that the "low" buildings around it are actually skyscrapers in their own right!Well, it's getting late and we have to get up earlyf or the morning session, so I'd better close and call it a night. Remember, if you have Skype you can call me at Valiera3, or Floyd at FJLima3. We'd love to hear back from you soon. Let us know howy ou're doing and how we can pray for you! Below are a few requests that we'd love for you to pray for.Sincerely, Annie Lima1. Please pray that we will focus and learn everything God has for us in this conference. We're still getting over jetlag, which makes it hard to stay alert in the morning sessions!2. I'm a little worried about learning Mandarin. Please pray that God will prepare both of our minds for this and help us pick it up quickly when the time comes. (There will be a seminar next week with tips for language acquisition.)3. Please pray for all of the missionaries in training here, that God would go before us and prepare the way, as well as preparing us, for the work we will be doing around the world.