Leaving California (Again) - Taiwan, Here we Come!

I wasn't going to write this for another couple days, but I was packing a box a few minutes ago and I somehow threw out my back, and all I can really do at the moment is sit still in a straight-backed chair with a heating pad. So I decided I might as well take care of one of the few things I can actually accomplish from a chair and write this blog post.

It's hard to believe how fast the summer has flown by! We've been here in California almost eight weeks already, and now Floyd and I are getting ready to fly back to Taiwan this Wednesday. It's been a whirlwind of visiting friends and spending time with family, and we really enjoyed the chance to see so many people we don't often get to.

Here are a few of our top highlights from this summer, in no particular order:

1. eating a year's worth of Supreme Moose Tracks ice cream
2. celebrating Thanksgiving four months early with Floyd's family
3. attending the annual Dragon Boat Festival in Long Beach (a Chinese holiday which we've never yet celebrated in Taiwan because it falls right at the time we're getting ready to leave for the States at the beginning of summer)
4. reconnecting with extended family at a pool party at my cousin's William's house (which was lots of fun until William bumped his forehead against the pool step underwater and had to go to the emergency room for 30 stitches)
5. worshiping at our own home church, Grace Baptist, in person again (we listen to the sermons by podcast from Taiwan)
6. scrapbooking with my sister and sister-in-law
7. going to two different tea parties with my grandma and other friends and family
enjoying a church concert at Granada Hills Baptist, the school where I taught for three years, and seeing former co-workers and students' families there
8. being with my old college roommate and her husband (coincidentally) on the day they adopted their baby son
9. dining at American restaurants like Souplantation and Mimis
10. watching Toy Story 3 in 3-D with friends at the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood
11. attending a former student's junior high graduation
12. watching another former student play piano in concert
12. celebrating Floyd's grandma's birthday with a large group of extended family in Acton

Now, all too soon, we're preparing to leave our families and many of our friends and return to Taiwan - back to our other life, our other friends, the other place where we belong. It's been a wonderful summer and I'm not sure I'm quite ready to say goodbye, but the other side of the world is calling, and we're eager to answer.

We'll (probably) be returning to temperatures in the triple digits and humidity in the 90s, where two minutes outside leaves the sweat dripping off you and your clothes sticking to your skin, so that a cool room holds all the appeal of the promised land and you're filled with the desire to break into the Hallelujah Chorus when you walk back into air conditioning. We'll be returning to mosquitoes and mangoes and milk teas, to the open-air market and singing trash trucks and possible typhoons. We'll be returning to our apartment on the first floor of Morrison's on-campus housing; to an empty school eager for the sounds of young voices soon to fill its classrooms once more; to friends and co-workers we've missed, who are ready to share about the summers they've spent in a handful of different home countries. We'll be returning to night markets where we can buy sweet red bean pastries, stewed eel, sizzling T-bone steak served with a fried egg sunny-side-up, papaya smoothies, squid balls, and candied strawberries on a stick. We'll be returning to the smells of ripe durian and stinky tofu and the world's best Chinese food being stir-fried in little hole-in-the-wall restaurants by the side of the road. We'll be returning home.

Our flight leaves on Wednesday night (well, Thursday morning, actually), just after midnight. We'll be in the air about fourteen hours, and we'll skip a day because we're crossing the International Date Line. What with that and the time difference, we'll land in Taipei at around 6:00 on Friday morning. From there it's a 2-hour bus ride to Taichung, where we live, and then a 10-minute taxi ride from the bus station to our apartment. Teacher Prep Week starts the next Monday (a week from today), and school starts the Monday after that. So, that's our time frame.

Some of you may remember that last fall we moved into a new apartment that had just been built for Morrison Academy's staff. We'll be returning to the same place this year; all our things are still there, so it will be nice not to have to actually move when we return. The apartment is right on campus, so it's very convenient. (It takes me exactly two minutes to get from my front door to my classroom door.)

One thing that we anticipate finding in our apartment is millipedes. Lots of them, probably: tiny critters about an inch long. We had quite an infestation of them last year. Apparently their eggs were in the sod that was brought in for the lawns, and since we live on the first floor, they somehow found their way into our home. We never actually saw any entering through doors or windows, but somehow they just kept appearing on our floors. There weren't as many when the weather got colder, but then as summer approached they started to appear in great numbers once again. For awhile we were killing about 30 of them every day. The school sprayed the grass for them several times, but they always came back.

So now that we've been gone all summer, the question is: will the millipedes have taken over the house, or are they gone now? Just for fun, someone suggested that we take a poll and have people guess. So here's how it works: if you want to participate, email me with your prediction as to how many millipedes (both dead and alive) we will find in our apartment on the first day we're back. We'll count them as we deal with them, and then I'll try to announce the correct answer within a couple of days. And we'll mail a small prize to whoever guesses closest!

Last Stateside Update

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/

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 type a quick update before we leave.

We really enjoyed our two weeks of Pre-Field Orientation with the Association of Christian Schools International in Houghton, 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 international 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.  At least we will still have consistent email access in Taiwan (unlike the year I spent in Nabire, Indonesia, where it was sporadic and unreliable). Hearing from friends back home is a welcome treat in foreign lands, so I hope everyone will stay in close touch! 

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 campuses 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 post in my blog again within the first few days after we arrive, so hopefully it won't be too long before you hear from us again. 

We really feel encouraged knowing we have so many friends here in the States (and other 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. Keep them coming!

We're Moving to Taiwan!

Floyd and I wanted to send out a note to let you all know how our Taiwan preparations are going. As many of you know, we're going to be moving to Taiwan  this summer, to work in a missionary school (Morrison Christian Academy in Taichung). I will be teaching 5th grade, and he will work in the development office. We have signed a two-year contract, but are strongly considering staying longer. We'll see how the Lord leads.

Well, our time in California is drawing short, and it seems like we still have hundreds of things to do before we leave. I have just over two more weeks of teaching left, and of course there are lots of  things to be done at school during that time besides teaching. I have to clean and pack out my whole classroom, and decide which of my teaching materials to take with me and what to do with the rest.

At about the same time that school gets out (give or take a couple of days) Floyd and I will be moving out of our apartment and in with my grandparents. So of course we have lots of packing and cleaning to do at home as well, and tough decisions to make about what to throw away, give away, sell, store, or take with us. We have decided not to take a crate (they're more expensive than one would be worth to us), which means whatever we want to bring will have to fit in two or three suitcases each of excess baggage on the plane. It's hard to know exactly what we'll need in Taiwan, what will or won't be available cheaper locally, and what we'll miss the most if we don't bring it. We don't want to store too much here, since we don't know exactly how long we'll be gone, so we're trying to find good homes for a lot of our stuff.

A week after school gets out, we'll fly to upstate New York for three weeks of Pre-Field Orientation, where we'll be briefed and trained and prepped for overseas life and teaching along with dozens (maybe hundreds?) of other future overseas teachers. When we return to California, we'll have just three more weeks here  before we leave for Taiwan (on August 1st).

One of the things we've been working on here (actually Floyd has been working on it) is creating this blog. We've decided that will probably be the best way to keep in touch with  family and friends and to share video and photos as well as text descriptions of our adventures (or misadventures) in culture shock and life transition.  So anyway, feel free to keep an eye on our blog. (It will get a lot more interesting when we have more overseas content to put in!) For those of you who want to stay up to date with us while we're overseas, check it often, and don't forget to post your comments too!