April 20, 2005

My weekend adventures took me out to a place call Sunsiantia (threehill island), where a walking bridge takes you over to this littleisland that is cover mostly in rock and shrubs. I went on Sundaywith my roommate. We drove out on our motorbikes- took us like 2hours to get there- ohhh... the butt is sore after a long ride.(haha) We walked around this little island for about 1 hour- weclimbed up passed the light house (pictures coming soon) and wentthrough a cave tunnel (kinda scary.... not that I should admitthat). A beautiful day, a beautiful view. On Saturday I gottogether with two of my students and we went shopping and got ourpics taken at a photo store- they are sticky on one side and you canput drawing all over the pictures before you print them- very popularhere with the kids. In the evening, I attended a wedding banquetwith one of my Chinese teachers- it was her cousin getting married.It was an interesting event, the food at these mass gathering areless than to be desired for- a lot of symbolism in the things thatare served- will bring blessing to the couple in their future. Someof it I out rightly refused to eat- and I think most of you would tooif you knew what it was. They served 13 different dishes- so themeal lasts about 2 hours. In between the dishes the mother of thebride danced, then her friend danced. I think the wedding was moreabout the mother and the family than it was about the couple. Butthat is only my outsider opinion. But I’m glad that I got theopportunity to experience this- to say I did it.As far as my school work load, it is good. The thing that I strugglewith most is knowing how to teach 800 students conversation Englishin the 45 mins a week I spend with them. It seems an overwhelmingtask and the progress is slow. Some days it is such a battle to havestudents understand me.My roommate and apartment are great. We are still in the process ofcleaning, which may never get done- oh well. We have an extra roomfor anybody interested in visiting this beautiful vacation spot ;)I’m still trying to convince my ‘rents to come and visit.This coming weekend I am going on a little trip across the country toTaipei to meet up with the other Canadian teachers that I was intraining with. I am looking forward to hanging out with them. Thiswill be my first adventure on public transportation- the train.Hopefully I will get a seat on the train, because the trip is about 6hours long- standing the whole time would kill the feet.Well, I hope that you are all doing well. Keep me posted with whatzgoing on in your life.God’s richest blessings, Faith“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in theshadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refugeand my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Psalm 91: 1- 2