Noelle’s Taiwan Pictures in the KodakGallery.

This time, it was the hardest thing in the world. I didn’t sleep very well on the plane, I guess, and after arriving at LAX at 1.40pm on a Saturday (which happened to be 2 hours before I left Taipei, their time) I went to a friend’s birthday party. It was great to go and do that (although, I certainly didn’t need any more food from the Far East, Cantonese is different from what I was eating, though, but not different enough!) but when I returned home to a friend’s house, I was exhausted but could not sleep, to save my life! Eventually I fell asleep and then I woke up too early the next day, refreshed (or so I thought). I went to church and was suddenly very tired. I woke up in the middle of the day, to drive to Kuan’s, where I napped before my Starbucks shift.

My manager had asked me if I could work on the 9th, the day after I returned to LA and I said, “well, I can be HERE, but I don’t know how PRESENT I’ll be.” And she scheduled me. The three closers that day were all kind of out of it (me in the lead, I think) and I had to be back there too early the next day. I ended up with the beginnings of a cold. I tried to go to sleep very early the next night, and succeeded – falling asleep during FINDING NEMO and then going to bed around 8.30pm. I hadn’t shaken the cold, though, and find myself still trying to fight it, and it’s one week after I returned.

On the Monday after I returned, my common response to people at work when they said I looked out of it was, “I am out of it, I’m still someplace over the Pacific. I just returned from Taiwan and haven’t readjusted yet.” Which was completely true – it’s what I felt like. And I could not figure out where I was!
The trip itself was very life-giving, in asking me to really live out my faith in all parts of my life, but the return to LA was rough… here’s to hoping that my next halfway-around-the-world-trip isn’t nearly as bad on the return (that’ll be to Russia for those keeping track at home, in August).

Happy Easter to Everyone! Enjoy the day. If you believe or not, God Grant You Peace.

I also did not have the chance to really wander around on my own. There is much that I would have liked to see, but our schedule was so jam-packed with everything we had to do with the General Assembly office in TPE. You would not believe all the meetings they set us up with. The problem with this is that most of the stuff we were meeting about, we already knew about. We had been told what the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan was doing, through meetings with the General Secretary and a few others, Stone included. Stone is very well plugged in, so he knew most of what the church was doing. And our journey around Taiwan was designed for us to see what the PCT was doing.

As we used to say in the 8th grade after we learned the meaning of “saturation,” my brain was indeed saturated. I had never had as many meetings at the same time before. I have not been to General Assembly in the US yet, so I am not accustomed to it. Such is life. I’ll learn.

Needless to say, I was kind of frustrated. We were driven everywhere, and not given a chance to wander and explore, at all! I will get back to Taipei and make the most of it, the next time. Perhaps with Kuan or someone else! We went to the 228 Museum, where we learned about the events around 28 February 1947 – which is when the Kuo Min Tang party brutally put down a rebellion in Taiwan, which happened because of rules banning the sale of tobacco and the killing of a woman who was selling it. The museum wasn’t far from the YMCA and we were able to walk (hallelujah!) there and around the park the museum was in.

The streets are broad, at least the ones that Chiang Kai Shek had to drive down to get to work! They are fully “boulevards” in the truest sense. We made a journey to Carrefour, after the most delicious noodle dinner (our last with Steven), which wasn’t nearly as exciting as the one in Ping Tung. This one was much smaller. It boasted giant frogs, though, which I did not see in Ping Tung. At one point, while trying ot take a picture, one started ribbiting and hopping around. Scared the pants off this girlie!! The darn thing also splashed water onto my camera – it’s fine, though.

After our journey to the market, we went to find Laura a teapot. It was a wonderful experience, and we all received tea while there. Laura is a big collector of art or other things that come with a story. She likes to know the artist, or to know the story that is behind her artifact. She got the story with this teapot, and was given the teapot by this owner of the shop. It was a wonderful experience, even if we were all falling asleep.

We all went back to the Y and I went on my last journey to email before I returned to the States. This is when I discovered (as y’all did) that my blog had fallen down. And when I was greeted (upon entry) by the Taipei police when I walked into the internet shop. Very odd – I wasn’t sure what to think. I’m not sure what they were doing, but they all (four of them) had their flak jackets on and one was carrying a briefcase. It’s like they were writing out tickets. Someone said that it could be because of a curfew… very curious. The best part about this internet place was this, though: there was a guy who came in and went to use a computer in my sightline (thank goodness, I never would have seen this if I hadn’t been where I was!). When he sat down, he went about wiping down the entire keyboard and mouse and monitor with some sort of pad, I assume it was like an alcohol wipe, or an anti-bacterial wipe. At this time, I noticed his hair! He had one of the worst combovers I’ve ever seen! I think he was close to completely bald on top and combed the left side over the top of his head. And around the bottom of the back. When I saw his face at first, it looked like he had a super-slicked pompadour. Instead, it was an awful combover!! When I got back to my room, I started crackin’ up – it was so bad. And it IS so bad of me to still be thinking of it… such is life.

The final day in TPE, we went to a church that reminded me a lot of my own, in its Social Justice way. It deals a lot with various social justice issues of Taiwan, and its leaders are very vocal. Similar in many ways to my own… Yet another fantastic meal was to be had. There was only one thing I was unable to eat: pig knuckles. It was with sea cucumber, and that I ate. But the pig knuckle was too far outside my comfort zone. Our journey to the airport was long, longer than I thought it would be, and along the way we saw an escort of BMWs and unmarked vans. We had no idea what it was, but they were obviously very important.

I think our entire group was ready to get home, and our time at the airport couldn’t come to an end quickly enough. I had a window seat on the new Boeing 747 and there ended up being NO ONE between me and the person in the aisle seat – apparently there were 10 empty seats on the plane, and two ended up being between me and Laura and our aisle people! Good times.

Now I’m back and trying to catch up on everything!!

Maybe I have a love affair with Thailand because it was my first travel time alone – could be, I guess. Taipei doesn’t seem to have as much character – lots of plain office buildings. We did get caught in the crush of “cram schoolers” leaving their cram schools. It’s like super-study school. I think they go from like 6pm to 10pm. Crazy. There were MAD amounts of kids in the subway station. They seem to be obsessed with academics – not like I didn’t know this from secondhand, though.

Regardless, the South was much warmer and I like it a lot, better, I think. The Taiwanese words I’ve learned are spoken differently down there (a Southern accent if you will), so everyone tries to correct me now up here in the North!

I have more meetings tomorrow – woo – and I think I’m about done with them… enough meetings to last me like a month or two, at least!

I’m sitting in an internet cafe across from the Taipei YMCA, and it’s HOT. They’re playing either Taiwanese pop music, or old US pop music (I just heard an old N*SYNC song – hee hee hee!). The computer system is only Windows 98, so I cannot upload pictures at this time – I have lots, though!!

I have already visited a Starbucks here, and got a bear! And some other stuff for people who are interested. They even gave me a discount! (We’re not officially the same company, so it’s not necessary to do it – they were super nice, though.) I talked with a graduate of the University of Oregon in the store – how crazy is that?!? I go all the way to Taipei and meet a Pac-10 rival… how funny!

The last place we went was the Puli Christian Hospital, in Puli. They had an earthquake on 9/21/99 that was like 6.8. It was an extremely damaging one – it was close to the surface, and not in the water, like the one I experienced. The hospital was one of the few that survived through the quake – they had just finished the main wing, and were able to fix that building very quickly. The hospital is not affiliated with any specific denomination, which makes it possible for it to get money from anyone. The whole hospital was very clean and efficient-looking. It wasn’t as shiny as Bumrungrad, in BKK, but it was pretty nice. We met with the Superintendent of the hospital, who happened to be related to one of our group. I’m convinced that the whole trip was a reason for Jane to visit her family – but then again, the Christian community in Taiwan is pretty small. This allows for almost everyone to be related.

Along the route to Puli, from the East Coast, we drove the most famous highway in Taiwan – the East-West Highway. It is very narrow at times, but so spectacularly beautiful. I do have pictures, but like I said, I cannot post them now. I am going to have to do some sort of interpretation of the trip… I would like to combine Nica and Taiwan… we’ll see.

If anyone wants to sponsor a paid subscription to Flickr for me, I’d be game. That would allow me to upload more piccies… just a thought.

One of the things that I find most spectacular about Taiwanese Christians is how much the designation of Christian envelops their lives. Everything they do is with a faith mindset. It makes me want to be more like them – their faith is so strong. In LA, we can choose to be Christian or not – depending on who we are around. I find that, now, disturbing. For those of you who know me, I have long disregarded the “don’t talk religion or politics” phrase – I talk it all. And will continue to do so.

My time is up on this computer, and I need to go back across the street to get picked up to go to the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan’s General Assembly office. I’ll be back later, and will update y’all more. I’m going to try to see what the SBUX wi-fi sitch is.

Right now, there is a Rolling Stones song on the radio! A “new” one? Is there such a thing? Also, whoever wants a bearista bear needs to let me know. They ARE indeed different here!

Before I get to that, though, I need to tell you about the fun we had making spring rolls with a church in the Presbytery! They invited us to their fellowship hall to make spring rolls with them. These are soft ones, not fried, and apparently are mainly made around this time of the year, as it is “grave sweeping/cleaning time.” The main day to do this occurred on Wednesday, when the entire country seemed almost closed for the holiday. I guess they make them and then go clean off the graves and have lunch there too. It was great fun. Each person has their own preference with things they like to have in their spring roll and each person has their likes and dislikes. It was fun to see what each person, the children included, put in! I also experienced “pearl milk tea.” This is what we call “boba” in this country. Which they would never call it! That would be calling it “boob tea.” And that would never happen!

We were driven to Kiaoshiung to the Love River by an Elder at Stone’s church and his wife and daughter after the spring-roll-making party. They have a promenade along the river that is filled with all the locals walking, along with lovebirds walking. A man, his girlfiend and his sister approached me to take a picture of the sister, because they had forgotten the picture. So, I obliged, and thought that the sister and the girlfriend should both be in it. And then they wanted a picture with ME in it too! I obliged them, while someone in my group laughed at me! I still need to email them the picture! Strange…

While on our way to the East Coast, with our final stop being in a town where there was a Presbyterian Seminary for aboriginals, we had a guy from the General Assembly office in Taipei with us for a few days, and that was great fun. His name was Steven and we all became friends with him. He told us some colloquial phrases, or maybe it was just me, but it was fun to learn! All y’all know me – I like to learn colloquialisms. We drove on a road that had been pretty well washed out after a typhoon several years ago and was still being repaired, up and up and up. And then down the other side. The drive along the coast was phenomenal – the water was so beautiful! And just past there was our Presbytery… well, within reason. A few days’ swim, I would hazard a guess. It made me yearn to get back into the water, sooner than later, I tell ya!

Along the way we kept trying to stop and get some Sek kiah. Which are (I think) what we call cheremoya. Delicious with giant, black seeds. I accidentally spit a seed onto Jane – oops. She knew it was an accident, thank goodness, but I could not get enough of them! You can’t bring them back to the States (as you can’t really transfer much into the US now), so I was unable to fetch some and bring them back with me for y’all to try. This makes me very sad, and I hope you shed a tear with me!

As it got dark, we apparently took a wrong turn someplace and found ourselves lost on the road closest to the water. Which was NOT where we were supposed to be. Nothing really wrong with it, we weren’t in any danger, just that we were not going to end up where we needed to be. Eventually our way was found, as rain set in, and we found the Bunun Cultural Foundation Lodge.

The rooms were very nice and cozy, but not too much time was to be spent there before we were shuttled off to the HOT SPRINGS! This lodge and hot springs were built as a venture by a Presbyterian pastor and member of the Bunun tribe to keep the youth in the area and to create jobs for the tribe. The venture has created many jobs, and will be expanded in the not-too-distant future, and enables the people in the community to not have to go to the city to work dangerous jobs. The cultural center is great and the hotel rooms are very nice. The hot springs were wonderful – ranging from 38 degrees C to 41 or 42 degrees C. I wanted to crawl into bed afterwards, but instead had to settle for sitting at a dinner table (when there was no way I needed to eat ANYTHING) and have my legs eaten to death. Such is life (the bug-bitten legs) for Noelle when I travel, I suppose.

The next morning, we woke up to a beautiful view that we had been unable to see the night before, due to the whole pitch-black thing, and the rain. It reminded me so much of being on Molokai when I was in HS, it was so beautiful. We talked with Reverend Bai about his ministry there and then had to leave to head up to the Aboriginal Seminary. The road was nice, in a long valley, which had many fields and very broad rivers in it. Many fields were rice paddies and there were other crops as well. At one point, we passed a bunch of tea fields – that was interesting and neat to see. I’d only ever seen pictures before.

It is amazing how tired you can become, just from sitting in the car all day long. Our sleeping area for the night at the seminary was a JUST finished apartment – at the end of the earth. It was very high up the hill and closer to heaven. Hee hee hee. It was great.

The final day of travel started out with roasted potatoes for breakfast (I) and then rice soup for breakfast (II). It was followed by a journey through the most beautiful gorge – the Taroko Gorge. I saw more white people in this gorge than I had so far on the trip! The road was one lane, if not a half lane, in places and went through rock. It is an amazing road that was initially started, I think, during the Japanese occupation, and then finished by Chiang Kai Shek’s forces. CKS had complete disregard for safety, it seems, and many people died while trying to finish the road. We continued along the road (called the East-West Highway) and gathered elevation rapidly. We stopped for a minute at a beautiful little stop and enjoyed the view and some peach honey. We were so far up and the mountains in the distance were gorgeous! We continued the climb UP, UP, UP and eventually stopped at 10,000 feet, where we were above the treeline, and shrouded in clouds.

At that point, our journey started down and we went to Puli, where we visited a Christian Hospital that was a base of operations for the rescue and medical efforts for an earthquake of 6.8 magnitude several years ago. The epicenter for the quake was only about 12 miles away, and it was extraordinarily shallow! So, it made for much damage. The hospital had just opened a new building, and was able to recover fairly quickly, in order to help out with the wounded people in the area. We saw a warning sign about avian flu, not that I can read it, but it’s there! I know it talks about what precautions to take to avoid it (cooking poultry to a certain degree, etc), but that’s about all I remember from Jane’s discussion of it.
This was followed by a separation from Stone and from Ed & Jane. It made me sad, but what’s a girl to do? I know I’ll see them all again, Ed & Jane sooner than Stone, but I’ll see all of them again. Thus began our journey to Taipei.

Along the way, our driver stopped at a beetle-nut girl’s stand – very odd stuff. And he played a DVD – that none of us watched! We got to Taipei around midnight and the driver (who told Stone he knew exactly where he was going) had to ask several different cabbies where the YMCA of Taipei was. But we eventually found it, checked in and went to sleep!

I’m sorry this entry is so long, it’s just that so much happened between my times of email/internet connection. Enjoy!

But we’re all okay, and rode it out. Along with the aftershocks. Woo! Apparently Charles and Laura had been talking about how this was “earthquake country” earlier in the day. Linda said they weren’t to talk about anything else for now. Otherwise it might happen!

Last night, after dinner, we went to Carrefour – a French (I think) grocery store. I love going to grocery stores in other countries, just because they’re so fascinating! The stuff they have is great. While in Thailand last year, I was unable to thrill you with fabulous pictures of foodstuffs or other products (they won’t let you take pictures, apparently they think you are going to steal ideas or something – sheesh!), but this year, you can see Wine Kitkats!! There will be more pictures to come when I return – but Flickr has a limit to how much I can upload, since I’m not a paying customer. Maybe I should look into that…

Today, on Saturday April 1st, we went to see this GIANT Buddha. (The picture is NOT the Giant One – I think that one is sadly a little blurry – and I don’t want to upload that one w/o knowing for sure.) And all the stuff that goes with it. It’s very interesting to me – the Taiwanese Christians really don’t understand their own country-people’s religions. The folks we wandered around with were as clueless about the Buddha-related images as I was. I mean, even though I don’t always understand all of it, I try to know at least a bit, so I can explain to people. When I was in Thailand, Suthee was able to explain it all, but then again, he and his wife are Buddhist… The entire thing was gorgeous. It’s built on a hillside and we wandered up and up. Linda was unable to come with, as she still has her boot on, but she was privileged with being able to see a Buddhist funeral. She was also fed by a Taiwanese family, perhaps on a pilgrimage.

On the way to the Buddha, we went to a grocery store near the PingTung Presbytery office (which is where we are staying) and it had this fabulous little statue outside it – I don’t understand it, at all, but it’s great – dontcha think? Except that I’m now realizing that my feet are switched – I’ll have to correct that before we leave Pingtung on Monday or Tuesday. We drove through the city, saw some crazy cars (and crazy driving, let me tell you!) and saw these crazy things – kinda gross, in my opinion…

We drove back and on the way had lunch – we were purposely trying to have a light lunch, because the meals in the evening are so big. And tonight we’re going to eat with the General Secretary of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan’s General Assembly. So, it was a little late, as usual, but it was good. My goal was to have veggies – and I sure acheived that. Maybe it was more mushrooms than veggies, but I loved the selection of mushrooms. My meal was with a veggie soup, a sweet potato and then this delicious veggie/mushroom and noodle dish. Good times. At the grocery store, they have a huge wall of mushrooms – all kinds. It’s great. All the meals here, so far, come with drinks and dessert. Today’s was great – the dessert was like a green tea/chamomile jello – I know it sounds odd. But it was good and refreshing. And strange looking, but fine! At this point in my day, I know y’all are sleeping, so I will run away.

My presbytery (most of y’all know I’m an Elder at my Presbyterian Church, right?), Pacific Presbytery, has a sister relationship with a presbytery in Taiwan – Ping Tung Presbytery. A pastor (Stone) from Taiwan went to Nicaragua with my delegation, and told us all about his presbytery’s 40th anniversary celebration on April 2, 2006. He invited us all to come, and I thought about how great it would be to go! And then thought nothing else about it.

As you’ll read, if you choose to read really old news (i.e. the March 3rd entry), I was trying to figure out where to go the weekend before my potential microbiology class started when I received a phone call from my Executive Presbytery, Linda, asking if I would be available to go to Taiwan. I thought about it and called her back and said yes. I found out a little under a week later that my job would be to try to talk to the Ping Tung Presbytery’s mission committee about how to work out a mission partnership.

I was to leave on the 29th from LAX and fly with two other people to meet Linda in Taiwan. She is on an advisory council for SE Asia (drool) and would be traveling around there with others for a bit and then meet us. I found out that there was one other person from the Mission Interpretation and Promotion Committee (Charles) going with, and then another pastor from the Presbytery (Laura). I’m the only Elder – everyone else is ordained. At the next Presbytery meeting, I met up with the two other people I would be traveling with and then didn’t meet up with them again until LAX on the 29th.

So, that’s why I’m here. I received the itinerary on Tuesday and found out that we were going to meet with a seminary (the oldest in Taiwan) and then participate in the 40th anniversary celebration, talk with the mission committee and then go on a tour around the island. We will end up in Taipei to meet up with the General Assembly people and to fly out on the 8th of April.

It’s an amazing turnaround, and as my church’s Presbyterian Relations Elder, it’s fun to travel with the presbytery! I’ve learned a few Taiwanese words, and hope to learn a few more.

I just wanted to let all of you that I don’t talk to on a daily basis know why I’m here. It’s not that I quit my job and ran away like last time. Although, I’d like to run away and head back to Thailand right now. Anyone want to meet me there? My passport is just getting broken in!

I had the crappiest international flight EVER – a big girl was next to me and I was unable to sit as a normal person, and was sooo uncomfortable. She was all along my left side and I was smooshed into the window. Thank goodness I HAD a window… I watched movies, listened to music, all that good stuff that a new 747 has to offer!!

The food is good, the times are good. We’ve been to a Theological Seminary here, which is very focused on social justice and contextual theology. Very fascinating. I like it…

It’s Friday night, and I’m seriously exhausted (I know, weak), but it’s the 2nd night that is the worst… so here’s to hoping it’s not. I’ll try to upload pictures tomorrow, although I don’t think I can guarantee. But, I’ve arrived, and it’s good here… the Taiwanese are very friendly!

Oh, and there was only one thing I didn’t eat today – until I have the picture, I won’t share what it was… HA! Ask me what it was – let’s see if I give it up…

And no maitais for this girlie, David, I gave up alkohol (hic!) for Lent. Seriously… no alcohol since March 1st, I think that was the date…