Hey friends! Merry Christmas and happy new year from Taiwan! I’ve got some hot cocoa and mint chocolate cookies on the table for you. Grab some and let’s settle in by the Christmas tree. =)

This year I caved and bought a few things that I have been desiring ~ one of this was a large Christmas tree. My apartment is feeling Christmas-y and homey! I also bought a 5′ tree for my classroom which the Cubbies decorated with handmade ornaments. A Bible story craft about God’s Good Rules turned into a cute little decoration. (Remember ~ you can click on the pictures to enlarge them!)

As Christmas was on a Friday, the Polar Bear class got to celebrate Christmas together. The first class was a music class in which we sang Christmas and praise songs. Our second class was story time where we learned about the birth of Christ. The final class was our gift exchange. I am very proud of these kiddos! They exchanged gifts with maturity beyond their years. They showed a thankful face to their friends, even when they got a gift they weren’t happy with. They helped clean up and took delight in their friend’s gifts. Even when a gift went missing, everyone jumped in to help find it.

My Christmas gifts this year were homemade. Here in Taiwan, bakeries make something called “snack boxes”. They are boxes filled with  little goodies ~ cookies, cakes, scones, little bread loaves, etc. As these are fun to receive and I love to bake, I thought it would be an interesting opportunity for me to give it a try. These boxes were filled with mini pumpkin pies, chocolate pumpkin muffins, sugar cookies, “Thin Mints”, handmade chocolates, and snickerdoodles.

As we were decorating our classroom for Christmas, I realized that I have never shared with you what the classroom looks like. As such, I welcome you to the Polar Bear classroom!

On Saturday I was invited to a local friend’s house for a Christmas dinner hosted by her Taiwanese parents. There was lots of Taiwanese food (including my favorite egg and radish dish!), lots of Taiwanese people (my co-worker and I were the only foreigners), and lots of laughter. I got to practice my Chinese and celebrate with friends. My friend’s mom wanted to make sure my co-worker and I had something American to eat for Christmas, so she made us a turkey. Which we ate with chopsticks. =) On Sunday I was invited to a Christmas dinner hosted by an American family. There were mostly foreigners at this dinner with one Taiwanese friend. We ate a massive dinner, played games, and exchanged gifts. It was fantastic!

It is hard to believe that it was only five months ago that the Polar Bears first came to JacksonFive. These children are fully verbal, expressing their thoughts, desires, frustrations, and learning at an avid rate. Each day there is an encouraging conversation, sweet moment, funny joke, or a cause for amazement. One of these amazing moments came yesterday when I was doing corrections at my desk during lunchtime. A student took her assignment to write a letter to a friend, “Dear friend. (draw a picture). Love, _____” and turned it into a masterpiece. Please keep in mind that this child is a first grader who’s native language is Chinese. I showed this letter to another teacher (who has been teaching for 9 years) and the response was, “This is as good as or better than something my year three’s would write.” I am staggered at this little girl’s grasp of the English language, her writing skills, and her detail oriented nature. Her picture is essentially a comic strip that she has detailed as 1.) swim 2.) run 3.) talk 4.) jump and 5.) God. The first picture is of a girl saying she can sing and swim. The second is of a running race with one person encouraging another by saying, “Go, go, go!”. The third is a detailed picture of a conversation while the fourth seems to be merged with the fifth. It appears to take place at a church with one person talking in front of lots of (detailed) people.

What an amazing letter!

New Years Eve was spent in bed while New Years Day was spent baking and celebrating with friends. While out with friends, I came across this striking sight.

I hope that you had a wonderful Christmas and have enjoyed ushering in the new year. May 2016 be a year of growth, a dependency on God, and full of love and laughter.

Please let me know how I can pray for you! May God bless you and keep you,
Tr. Ruth

Hi there, friend.  I’ve got some green tea and a few chocolate pumpkin muffins ready for you. Come sit on the balcony and enjoy the breeze. =)

Wow ~ it has been a while since I last posted. I apologize! My last post may have left you with a slightly sour taste with children acting like monkeys in class, a stressed out teacher asking God what the heck she was doing trying to be an English teacher to first year students, and God answering prayer by showing this teacher patience, encouragement, and a love for her students. I am pleased to report that the Cubbies are no longer unable to sit in their seats, speaking during class, or jumping up and running around the room whenever they feel so inclined. My classroom now feels like… a classroom. Yes! It is so nice to walk into my classroom and hear, “Hello, Tr. Ruth!”; a relief to be able to start and finish class feeling like I had a run in the park rather than tried to climb Mount Everest. After six weeks of class, my students were switched over to “No Chinese” while at school. The first few weeks were a struggle for some students while others were like fish in water. Now, if you heard the Cubby class, you would never know that 3 months ago they were unable to communicate in English or that they didn’t even know the basics of the English language!

For example, I have a student who came to my class having never heard English, seen the ABCs, or met a foreigner. This student (let’s call him Vinny) is in first grade and had never had an English name before. He had no idea that he was being called, was totally clueless in every single class, and loved to jabber in Chinese. The week we switched to “No Chinese” he struggled. He lost all of his points for speaking Chinese and became very quiet as he could not communicate. Six weeks later, he is chatting with his friends during break time, telling teacher about students’ poor behavior, answering teacher’s questions, and making jokes for the class. He can tell you all the phonics sounds of the ABCs and can identify most of the individual letters. He enjoys telling small stories, reading stories, and playing with teacher. All in English. If you, my friend, came into my classroom, I can guarantee you would not be able to tell which students had no English when they walked in the door that first day. Of this, I am amazed. God has designed such an amazing and adaptable organism in what we call the brain. What stunning adaptations! What brilliant and beautiful intellect!

The Cubbies have begun to practice their Christmas songs for the Christmas show on December 13th. I created a dance that I thought would be a little challenging but also visually appealing while also allowing each parent to view their child unhindered. After a few weeks of practice, I am beginning to think that I made the choreography a bit too difficult. The Cubbies are incredibly intelligent and have a wonderful memory as well as a cheerful disposition. We are working on listening to teacher’s directions and following them without playing or adding on to them. Catch up with me in a few weeks to find out how our practices end up going. In the meantime, please pray for us! My co-teacher is a new teacher this year and has never done the Christmas show. Please pray for her wisdom in knowing how much practice is appropriate, and how she can best help the Cubbies prepare. Hmm. Now that I think of it, please pray those same things for me! 😀

The Nemos have been going through some growth spurts lately. In the past few months, we have lost some key members of our class (students who had been in Nemo class from the beginning or were strong personalities that supported the rest of the class) and have gained new students. This has created a bit of a changed class dynamic and we have been working to find our new balance. The Nemos were really struggling with speaking English while at school. As you might know, speaking English at our school is encouraged and enforced with the use of a coupon system (kind of like our school’s own currency). To this system involved paying coupons for some things (i.e. borrowing a pencil or eraser, going to the restroom during class time, speaking Chinese, etc.) As speaking Chinese is not allowed, if someone speaks Chinese, they owe teacher 10 coupons. This is a lot of coupons! After taking many coupons from students, I felt so bad and began to look for a new way to get the Nemos to speak English. After conferring with my co-workers, I realized that I had gradually stopped having a time when the class could get together and talk about things (known as ‘circle time’). I had done this like clockwork the first six months of Nemo class, but with the added classwork, I fell out of the habit. Two weeks ago, I tried running circle time again. I expected the experience to be like pulling teeth – or in this case, pulling words from students. Surprise! The Nemos were ready to talk. It was like they had just been looking for the opportunity to express themselves. We began learning new words to express what we wanted to say about our weekends and school lives. The last two weeks we have not had any issues with Chinese being spoken in the classroom. Score!

So much has happened in the last few months. I apologize for not reporting to you sooner on this. On a side note, the air pollution has been pretty terrible here in Taichung the last few weeks. If you check this website, you can see the daily and hourly levels. The pollution has aggravated my asthma quite a bit. I invested in an air purifier and have seen some great results. A friend also thoughtfully gifted me an early Christmas present in the form of an air purifying mask known as a Vogmask.

For those of you who love cockroaches, I took a picture with my inhaler (palm sized) so you may see their growth here.

And now for a few photos from the past few weeks.

The last day of one of the Badgers. We got together for a goodbye photo and cuddle.

The Badger student left unexpectedly without time for me to buy her her own Bible. So I gifted her my personal bilingual Bible. This was her thank you note.

I love peanut butter. And now there is a rice milk drink that taste like liquid peanut butter! ^_^

I was able to meet up with a close friend in Taipei!

My Nemo shadows. They make the night more cheerful! They like to braid my hair and call me “Tr. Elsa!” (referencing Elsa from the movie Frozen).

Air pollution makes for gray skies. Can you see the buildings and mountains?

Until the next post (I will do my best to make it next month and not three!), may God bless you and keep you. Please let me know what I can be praying about for you. 🙂

Tr. Ruth

Hey friend! Want to see some cute pictures of Cubby Adventures?

During the month of August, the Cubbies go on a field trip every Wednesday. The first week we went to a fun place where the owner is passionate about organic foods and educating people on where their food comes from. At this place, our kids made cookies. =) Sadly, I don’t have any pictures of this as I was too busy organizing kids.

Week 2

The second week we went to the Art Museum where we made a mask of a face and got to play with different aspects of art. Here are some of the pictures from this week.

Listening to instructions.

“Look, Teacher! It’s my dad!”

Industriously working away…

Week 3

The third week we went to a historical farming village in Hsinchu where the people have gone back to their historical roots and farm like their grandparents did. We were taught the history of the area, shown an old Japanese bunker/arsenal supply that was built to shoot down American ships during WWII, rode a train that was build before WWII (and renovated after), made rice noodles by hand (which were then a part of our afternoon snack), and got to take a turn at husking rice. Here are some of the pictures from this week.

Listening to uncle’s history lesson.

De-husking rice!

Train ride through rice fields.

Rice noodle making is sticky work!

Crazy photo bomber. =)

Cubby cuteness!

Intricately painted mural wall.

Painted mural walls throughout the village.

Week 4

This last week of the summer program we went to a bakery where they specialize in making suncakes.

Suncakes are a Taiwanese sweet snack that originated in Taichung. At this bakery, the students were taught how to make their own suncakes.

Suncakes consists of two types of dough: one with lots of oil and one with a ‘regular’ amount of oil. This helps create the light and flaky crust that is so signature of suncakes. The filling of the cake is a patty of malt sugar.

After the cakes were formed, the kids were given flavored and colored dough to decorate their cake.

The shop had a few pre-made and decorated cakes to give inspiration. Aren’t they cute?

While the cakes were baking, the kids were shown a video on a Chinese legend.

It’s been a fun month of summer program! The Cubbies are picking up English phrases at an incredible rate and those with more English have started to translate for those students who don’t know how to express their thoughts. They are sweet, love giving hugs and high fives, and their faces light up when they see me outside of class. It has been a month full of challenges, depending on God, small accomplishments, and seeing these little Chinese speakers become comfortable in an English environment. Praise God for His work!

May God bless you and keep you,
Tr. Ruth

Hi friends! The weather is beginning to feel summer-ish, so here is an iced pomelo green tea. Pomelo is a Korean fruit that is quite refreshing in hot weather. Some don’t like it, so if you don’t care for it, I also have an iced black tea on hand. =)

Time is flying by so quickly! At this point, I have been in Taiwan for about 10 months. This life here is my life now. In every aspect, I no longer feel the uncertainty, the feelings of intrusion and being out of place. For me, moving to a new country and essentially walking into someone else’s life (their job, their class, their apartment/room, their scooter, their random odds and ends, other’s expectations for the person leaving) was quite difficult. The things that I thought would be helpful and bring comfort distanced myself from settling in to what would be my life. Due to this, it has only been within the past month or so that I have truly felt ‘settled’. This feeling is incredible, though. I belong here. God called me to this place at this time! Wow! What an amazing God we serve!

The end of the school year is fast approaching and the time with my students seems to go by faster and faster. The Honeys are doing well. We just completed a theme on endangered animals in which we learned about tigers, Galapagos Tortoises, Komodo Dragons, and pandas. The kids love learning about animals and always know such interesting (read: random) facts about them. This time we managed to surprise them as they had never heard of Komodo Dragons. They were impressed that they might be related to dinosaurs. 😉 This theme they learned five big words: endangered, extinct, education, entertainment, and preservation. I love their enthusiasm for learning and never get tired of listening to their stories.

Recently, during Bible story time, I have been reading Jesus’ parables. I found a fun book at the library called, “2-Minute Parables” in which Jesus’ parables are formatted into easily understandable children’s stories. Not only do the kids enjoy these stories and want to read them on their own, they have also sparked some good conversations in my class. One such conversation was based upon a student’s question, “Teacher, can bad people have friendship with God?” I cannot express to you how much I love watching these children grow in all aspects, but especially in their love and understanding of the Lord. So much so that when asked this week by a close friend via Skype, “What has the Lord been teaching you this week?” I had to reply, “To delight in watching God grow people.”

In my Progress and Redemption course at CIU (which goes through the Bible and shows how each story is a piece of the greater meta-story of God’s plan of redemption), we learned that, “God is not in a hurry. He grows things.” Although humans are naturally impatient creatures, God has His own timing and reasons that we cannot see. He plants seeds, and it may take months…years…or even decades for the seed to have the proper conditions to sprout. God uses people to help water and tend the seed, although we are often unaware of this process. In this year, God has given me a small and beautiful snapshot of what it is like to deeply love and care for people and to grow them in the way of the Lord. Students who did not know the difference between praying to God and praying to idols now regularly come to church, read the Bible of their own volition, and pray earnestly and fervently for others. Students who were afraid to speak in front of others now routinely ask to pray aloud in front of their classmates. Students who didn’t know anything about God now read 2 Minute Parables, pray aloud, pray often, and ask great questions about God. Truly, friends, I am in awe of our great, powerful, patient, and loving Gardener. If we have just a fraction of His love for others and it affects us this deeply, just how much does He truly love and care for us? How must it affect Him?

The beauty inside people is God’s beauty. It is often covered in coats of grimy pride, sin, and self, yet His beauty shines through.

In other news, my Nemos are beginning to speak in English a lot more. After the last PTA meeting a couple of months ago, we began instructing students to use no Chinese. In those 2.5 hours the Nemos are in the building, “No Chinese, please,” and “English, please,” can be heard countless times. In the past week, I have heard Nemo students beginning to remind their classmates to use English. Others are coming up to tell me, “(name) say Chinese!” We are now working on having students say, “Please don’t do that” if a student does say Chinese and for the Chinese-speaker to say, “I’m sorry”. One of my students was so excited in class this past Thursday that she accidentally said Chinese words. Her face when her classmates called her on it was precious. She was still quite excited but also quite embarrassed at her mistake. I had her apologize to the Nemos and had the Nemos forgive her. We then moved on with the exciting activity.

Something I have been struggling with a bit in the evening class is the jam-packed schedule. There are only 2 hours of class time and the pace is breakneck. By the end of the day I feel a little like a time tornado ripped through and placed me on the latter part of the day without my knowledge. As a result, I have no time to talk with the Nemos about God aside from our daily closing prayer. As the Nemos’ English improves, I would like to be able to do more with prayer/talking about God. Please pray that God would open opportunities and time for discussion and instruction that relates to the Lord. I love these students with all my heart, and it hurts that I cannot spend as much time with them and share our Lord’s love for them as often as I do with the Honeys. That being said, I will continue to be the Nemos teacher for another year, while the Honeys will most likely gain a new teacher as I begin a new afternoon year one class. This will *hopefully* give me more opportunities to talk to the Nemos and introduce them to more than rote prayer.

Classes end on the last day of June and will begin again on August 3rd. We have the entire month of July off, so I will be coming to the States for a visit July 3-16th. If you would like to meet up with me, let me know! I would love to see you, hear about your life, and pray with you.

This week I am touched by Psalm 37:4 which says,

Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

A month ago I made a conscious decision to continue to follow God and to trust in Him. Each day I am learning to delight in Him more and more, especially delighting in the things that He has done and made. My prayer is that as I delight in Him, the desires of my heart will align more closely with His heart’s desires.

Please continue to pray for:

• Water. Taiwan desperately needs water as many of the island’s reservoirs are emptying. Please pray for rain for Taiwan.
• My mother. Her new medicine seems to be working and helping her. Please pray that this would continue and the doctor would know how to prevent future episodes.
• My classes. The Honeys are learning to talk to God as a powerful and loving Father and Friend and the Nemos are going through some class growing pains. Please pray that God would be working in both these classes and that He would be brought glory and honor in our classroom.
• New teacher. We will have a new foreign teacher join us for the next school year. Please pray that God provides everything she needs as she begins her journey here. Please pray that God gives her an open heart and a teachable mind and impresses upon her how much she is loved (by all of us!)

What can I pray about for you?
May God bless you and keep you,

Tr. Ruth

Merry Christmas, friend! I know it is cold out, so I grabbed you a cup of hot tea. I hope you don’t mind. =)

The Thursday before Christmas, I had the wonderful experience with my Nemo class (the evening class) of having our first dialogue  initiated by the students. Before class and during breaks individual students would come up to me and ask me a question they had learned the previous week. “Tr. Ruth, what do you like?” I would pretend to think and then answer. I would then ask them in turn what they liked or ask them, “Do you like ____?” They would answer yes or no, then continue the question and answer cycle with me. Over time we expanded to asking other students and having them answer. It was fun to watch them start to interact with each other in English. Although Chinese is still spoken heavily between the students, I can already see it diminishing when they know the English word for what they want to express. After our break time, we came back to the classroom. The afternoon teacher has a small Christmas tree set up. The students pointed it out to me. I said, “Christmas tree!” Their eyes lit up and they said, “Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!” I asked them, “Do you like Christmas trees?” They all shouted back at me, “Yes, I do!” I asked, “Do you like Christmas?” Again they replied, “Yes, I do!” What an excited teacher I was when I realized that I would get to celebrate Christmas with my Honeys and Nemos ON the day of Christmas! I made Christmas cards for all the Nemos that had, “Dear (student), Merry Christmas! Love, Tr. Ruth”. On Christmas my co-teacher and I handed out chocolates and Pepperidge Farms cookies that I found at CostCo. Unlike the afternoon classes, the evening classes still had classwork. Therefore, I took the last ten minutes of class to dedicate to Christmas. The afternoon class had a day of talking about the Christmas story, reading the Bible, Christmas activity sheets and a special snack from teacher (the same Pepperidge Farms cookies).

Every day I am finding myself more and more adjusted. I have found routines that are soothing and help me maintain my self within the whirlwind of teaching and pouring into lives. In my teaching this is becoming true, as well. I have found routines that work for my classes, a way of teaching for each class that meshes with the class environment, and am learning little tricks that help students grasp the content. Without the help of the more experienced teachers around me, I do not think I would be doing so well. I will forever be grateful for their help, wise counsel, and support.

Despite having conquered much of the steep learning curve, each day brings with it small learning curves and challenges. Culture and language barriers have a way of making the simple things, like buying pillows and trash bags, into major hurdles that need to be dealt with. Usually these happen when one is exhausted, hungry, has a raging migraine, and can’t recall any of the language that they have learned to date. These can be very frustrating and miserable times and emotionally push one to reconsider living in another country. I know that I am extremely blessed to have only had a handful of these experiences. God has been so good to me and has truly paved my way here. Something I have seen in common with my difficulties is that they force me to interact with the people here. My fears of retreating back into myself or the expat community will be hard to actualize. God seems to be forcing me to jump outside of my emotional comfort zone and act upon my heart desires to make friends with locals and increase my language.

Some things I have learned this month are:

• one can buy trash bags in three sizes: 小(small), 中(medium), and 大(large).
• 小 bags are all I need, although I now have 小，中，and 大. I don’t know what to do with the medium and large. Maybe hide a body?
• Degradable trash bags (made from corn) are cheaper than non-degradable trash bags.
• Bronchitis is no fun. Even after the antibiotics and the coughing are gone, one’s chest hurts for a long time!
• Online clothes shopping is a major life savor! Although people told me that humid winters in Taiwan will make me cold, I didn’t believe them. There is no central heating here and the humidity makes the cold slide right into one’s bones. Thus, I am making several orders of cute sweaters as I refuse to wear a winter coat inside. As you know, sweaters and Tr. Ruth do not go together in a normal winter. 😛
• Essential oils are amazing! I used the Lime essential oil (good for respiratory issues) and my bronchitis cleared up in 3 days. (Well, except for that chest pain!)
• Friends are wonderful. I had a friend send me a package from the States. Now I am trying Juice + for four months! ^_^
• The Chinese word for rent is 租金 (zūjīn). My landlords are really patient with me. I’ll get there. =/ Eventually.

November and December were very busy and continuous months full of children, Christmas show prep, and work. A lot has happened in my life and I am sure in yours, as well. How may I be praying for you?

May the Lord bless you and keep you,

Teacher Ruth

Good evening, friend! This is an extraordinarily long post so snuggle up and sip on this cup of jasmine green tea.

First off, I want to say that this post will be both ministry related as well as personal. If you would only like to read about my ministry, only read the first half of the post. If you want to read both, well, be my guest! I love knowing that you find what I have to say worth your time to read. Your comments, either on here, Facebook, or through email are encouraging and sweet. Thank you!

These past few weeks have been great! My students and I are really getting to know one another well and classes have been going smoother and smoother (at least on my end). My Chinese co-teacher is incredible and thinks of solutions to things that I haven’t even thought of yet. She is great with the kids and inspires me to treat each student as a thinking individual. It is easy for me to play with kids ~ something God is growing in me is to talk to them on a deeper level. Today I was blessed with an opportunity to do so. Last week, one of my students moved to a class that is a grade higher. She is a very smart girl and I know that academically she will do great in this new class. I was a bit worried about the social aspect, and especially her emotional/mental standing. She was the oldest girl in our class, and the most academically advanced. As such, she moved into a class where she is amongst students her own age who are more advanced than her. She had several trepidations and I hadn’t had a chance to talk with her since she started the new class. Today I got a chance to talk with her. I was punching out paper stars for my afternoon class’s Bible Scrapbook project when I felt a tug on my hand. The girl had come over to see what I was doing. She wanted to help so I handed over the paper punch and showed her how to punch out the stars. While she was punching, I started talking with her. We ended up talking about her new class and how she felt about it. She didn’t seem excited and told me, “That question is hard to answer. I don’t know yet.” I know that she is used to finishing her work quickly with few mistakes. Now, according to her new teacher, she sometimes does not finish in class and stays after. It cannot be an easy adjustment. She is a hard worker, determined, and so very bright. Our Honey class has been praying for her. Would you please pray for her, too?

While the Honey class lost one student, we gained another as one of the first year students tested into the second year. Having attended an all-English pre-school, her reading, speaking, and listening are quite good and make her a very strong second year student. As she is quite young, though, her writing is in the lower-end of the second year. Although she has only been with us for a week, she is starting to warm up to the other students in the class. She has started to answer teacher’s questions, talking, volunteering for class activities, and even helping other students. The students in our class love to help others, so I am glad to see that she is joining in on this behavior. The Honeys have also been praying for our new student. Would you please pray for her, too? Please also pray for me, that I would include her in all class activities, be aware of her discomfort, and find ways to connect with her.

I am also still working on making the boundaries clear to my students. I love to play with them and sometimes it is only when things get out of hand do I realize I didn’t establish the clear boundary that was in my head. Please pray that I would be more consistent, clear, and vocal in this matter.

My afternoon class, the Honeys, have recently started working on a Bible Scrapbook. For those who know the Progress of Redemption class at CIU, you will know the basic premise of this project. For the Progress chart project, one outlines the cohesiveness (the main story, if you will), of the Bible. Through all the stories of the Bible, there is one main theme: God’s grace in planned redemption. It begins in Genesis and ends in Revelation. I made a scrapbook. Not sure I would ever use this scrapbook I made, I brought it to Taiwan upon my friend’s urging. Oh my word, how thankful I am she pushed me to pack it! I showed it to my Honeys and they were so excited to make their own Bible Scrapbook. Every week they look forward to our Bible time, and now they are excited to see their scrapbook come together. With the upcoming Christmas concert and the consequent music/dance practice, I am having to do some careful planning so that we get enough rehearsal but their Bible and scrapbook time is not sacrificed. It is truly a delicate balancing act!

My evening class, the Nemos, are still the cutest, sweetest things alive. We have currently learned up to the letter “P” in the alphabet and have begun learning shapes. My Nemos are constantly surprising me with how much English they have already picked up. I had a (very simple) conversation with one student yesterday! It was wonderful!! I am ridiculously proud of them and cannot wait to see what else they will surprise me with in the future! Last night we had our first prayer time. Although I used more English than they are accustomed to, they imitated me nicely. Before you worry that they had no idea what we were doing, I asked my Chinese co-teacher to translate my explanation on prayer. We asked the students if they had anything they wanted to pray about, and even got a response. Please pray that I would manage our class time well enough that we have time to pray before the end of class every evening.

Okay, friend. This is the end of the ministry post. Keep reading if you would like a look into my thoughts about life in Taiwan!

There are a few things that I have learned while living in Taiwan:

1. It is almost impossible to de-seed a sweetsop.

A sweetsop is also known as a sugar apple. When one buys them, they are hard. Leave it out in the air for a day or two and it will become quite soft. One can then peel it with their fingertips and begin munching. There are large-ish seeds inside nearly every fruit segment, so most people pop it in their mouth and then spit out the seeds. They look like this:

2. Jasmine green tea is an acquired taste.

The first week I started teaching, the teachers were bought tea. I went with one of my co-teacher’s recommendations and got the jasmine green tea (ordered without sugar). Oh. My. Word. I have no words for what that was like for me. Bitter. Dry. Kind of like ingesting the remnants of bitter flower petals that someone had chewed on. Part of this, I have come to realize, is that I was totally unused to green tea. Not only was I unaccustomed to it, I didn’t like it. Add to that that this particular tea was quite potent green tea, and you had yourself a Teacher Ruth who valiantly drank the whole cup while simultaneously wanting to vomit. (It took me the whole day to finish that cup of tea…) I have now had that exact tea three times (the most recent was today ~ the picture of it is at the beginning of the page). Each time, it gets better and more bearable. I do actually enjoy green tea, now, instead of putting up with it because it is the only one my body will tolerate. 😉 If you ever come visit, I’ll take you to some teahouses and introduce you to some yummy green teas! Although, maybe don’t try the jasmine green tea right away. We’ll build up your tolerance, first. ^_^

3. Danshui is a huge tourist destination.

When I visited Taiwan in 2011, someone took me to Danshui at night. We walked along the ocean, looked at the beautiful silhouetted mountains, had a portrait sketched, meandered through the few open shops, and then sat at the Starbucks for a cup of tea. My heart fell in love with the quiet, peaceful and beautiful place. So this past weekend when a friend came to visit, I asked if we could visit Danshui. We went on a Sunday and it was packed with people. Picture Six Flags on the busiest day of the park’s season and you have a vague idea of what Danshui (the entire town!) looks like during tourist season. There was a typhoon approaching Japan, so Danshui (being the northern most tip of Taiwan and closest to Japan) was taking a bit of backlash from the storm. What normally would be a bike path was covered in ocean water. Kids (and me!) took off their shoes and played in the water. My friend was quite patient with my six-year-old heart and watched over my things for me. 😀 The lesson learned from this, though, is to only go to Danshui on the off-season. Unless you desire feeling like you are at an amusement park. Then by all means, go during the season. =) Here is a small look at the ocean at Danshui:

Ocean view from the Danshui MRT.

4. I love night markets.

Yes, they are crowded, dark places with vendors on every inch of road selling similar items to their neighbors and greasy, many time strange foods being hawked by harried men and women. Sometimes, though, this is exactly what the doctor ordered. In terms of feeling outside of one’s culture, this is a great place to go. In terms of learning something about culture and cuisine, this is a wonderful place to go. In terms of having a fun night out with friends, this is a perfect place to go! When you go, be wary of the quality of the items you are looking at, and haggle. This is not a place to take point-blank value ~~ except for the food. 😛

5. Ladies, wear a jacket on your lap while driving!

Remember in middle school when we would tie our jacket around our waist and let it hang down our backside? That was so cool, then. Here, women who are wearing short shorts or a skirt wear a jacket tied around their waist down the front so to keep the wind from picking up their skirt and showing everything to the world. There are half-apron looking things that women also might purchase and wear. I am here to tell you that the jacket thing doesn’t always work. It’s just not a 360 protective shield. 😉 The apron-like things seem to work pretty well as they go all the way around someone’s torso.

6. When driving a scooter in Taiwan, make box turns!

This means that when you accelerate from a light, you don’t not make an immediate left turn. Instead, coast to the adjacent right-hand side road and do an about face so that you are facing the direction you want to go in. There are usually small boxes for scooters to turn into and wait in in front of the traffic.

It does take some getting used to, but it is kind of nice. No death defying traffic to maneuver around.

6. Death-defying traffic is a fact of life and you can’t change it.

So, learn to anticipate. This will be your best friend on the road. That, and your brakes. Well, and your horn, too. First of all, learn the traffic patterns. Scooters tend to drive in the right hand lane (and bicycles, and pedestrians, and wheelchairs). Cars like to double park in the right lane, so be careful that the car you see ahead is not actually a parked one. Cars also like to open their doors at random times. Steer as clear as them as you can! Cars typically drive in the left hand lane. If they are in your blind spot, you will definitely not be able to see their right hand turn signal, as they turn towards you. Just be careful of cars. Mmmkay? Also stay clear of buses and trucks, and you should be fine. =) That eliminates half of the traffic… Yeah. Just be careful. Second, go slow. The slower you go, the more reaction time you have to other ridiculous drivers. Third, beware of scooters carrying ridiculous loads of things. *Random driving story* Last night I was driving home and got stuck behind a guy who had a beautiful Chinese painting on his scooter. The painting was in the foot area of his scooter and his legs were at nearly 90 degree angles from the seat of the scooter. The painting stuck out probably 3 feet on either side of the bike. He was going slow and wobbled occasionally. The wind resistance must have been intense.

7. Traditional open air markets are where it is going on!

Sure the local grocery store and the bigger stores like Carrefour and A-Mart are nice (and remind one of a shopping center in the US), but their prices are generally higher and their packaging is much more…existent. I have found that, although one needs to have some Chinese skills when shopping at the local market (and haggling is also a skill you might benefit from!) the traditional market is cheaper, friendlier, fresher, and they give you free products to try. Cilantro and chili peppers are some of the freebies you might find in your bag. This is definitely one of my favorite places to go. Especially when I look around the streets and feel too much like I am in the West. Want a taste of life in the East? Go to the traditional market around butchering time. ^_^

8. Noise pollution is a fact of life.

Yes, there are curfews and people are generally respectful of others. However, they have these wonderful trucks that roll slowly through the streets blasting political ads or product advertising. If a restaurant is newly opened, there probably is a loud speaker outside the doors blaring an advertisement and/or incentive for someone to come try them out. I think the worst night I experienced was during the Mid-Autumn Festival. There was a giant barbeque in my apartment’s courtyard complete with karaoke. It was fun to walk through the mass of people eating, socializing, and singing at 8pm. It was not amusing to be kept awake until 11 by singing so amplified that I could hear every perfectly enunciated word in my bed with the doors shut and AC and fan on. That is when it hit home to me that I am now living in a very busy city.

There are so many more, but this post is already so long! I will leave you with some pictures, and a promise to post again soon. If you liked this post, let me know! I am not sure if you are more interested in the ministry side of my life, or the daily adventures that I am finding comes with living in a foreign country. Your feedback is much appreciated!

Please let me know how I can be praying for you!

May the Lord bless you and keep you,
Teacher Ruth

Hello, friend! It has been a while and so much has happened! Let’s sit inside (A/C seems best today as it is so hot outside!) I think I will go for some cold pomegranate green tea ~ what will you have? Ahh. Feels so nice!

The week after my last post, my boss approached me about my evening class. He proposed that my fellow co-teacher and I switch our evening classes (I had the older children and he had the beginners) as I do better with younger children and my co-teacher relates well to older children. How glad I am that he thought of, prayed about, and suggested this switch! I began teaching my new evening class (a year one class called the “Nemo” class) on September 1st. We have had four classes, now, and I am still as in love with them as I was from the first day. No matter how stressed or tired I am by the time class rolls around, they manage to make me energized, excited, and find new depths of love for my job. Evening classes begin at 6:50pm and run until 8:50pm. After class ends, I put away my materials, clock out, and then sit down to keep the last students waiting to be picked up company. Usually, this involves teaching year one students how to play UNO. With our afternoon students, we have several opportunities to play with the students and thus bond with them. With our evening students, however, there is very limited time as they are only at school about 4 hours a week. Thus, during break time between first and second period, I make it a point to play dodgeball with the Nemos. I figure this is good bonding time and also excites the students to have Teacher on their team. Plus, it is fun!

My Nemos are so fun! As many of you know, I am quite expressive and love to randomly sing words or make faces, or act out what I am thinking. My class seems to love this, but they take things a step farther and imitate me. When we are working on phonics, I will often say either the letter name or sound three times, with each vocalization a half step higher than the previous one. My students follow suite. If I say a sentence in a certain way, my students will do so, as well. If I raise the tail end of a word to make it sound questioning, they will, too. It is too cute and makes my theatrical heart glad. =) Can I say that I never thought I would enjoy teaching phonics? My problem, since starting Nemos, is that 50 minutes is too short of a time. 😛 I love making up silly games to help the Nemos get the repetition they need. By their smiles and giggles, I guess they enjoy it, too!

My afternoon class (the “Badger” class, nicknamed the “Honeys”) has been learning about reducing, reusing, and recycling. Throughout this, we have continued our Bible reading. We are working towards the Tower of Babel but returned to the topic of creation for a week. Why? We are talking about how we can take care of the earth God gave us, and what better way to do this than to show the Biblical example of God creating Adam and Eve to be stewards of the Earth! This week we talked about how each of us can make small changes to add up to big differences in the world. Strangely, our example came down to chopsticks: if we all use the wooden chopsticks commonly found, then they will make more wooden chopsticks. If one person uses their own chopsticks, it won’t make much of a difference in chopstick production, but will start to spread awareness. If one person, and then another person, and then another use their own chopsticks, it starts to make a difference. It was an interesting concept for them and once explained, they readily grasped it. They have so many good ideas on how we can take care of God’s earth, and how we can reduce, reuse, and recycle. (Their ideas for reuse are particularly good! I wish you could ask them ~ they love to tell their ideas!) Next Monday we will go to a recycling center. I hope the Honeys enjoy the experience and the idea of recycling really sinks in.

In terms of relationships, God is slowly bringing about potential friendships. There is a distinct difference between an acquaintance (someone you see but cannot really speak intimately with) and a friend (someone you may speak intimately with). I have many acquaintances here, yet no real friends. In time, I know this will change. God is faithful and gives us what we need. How grateful I am for technology which has allowed me to fill in the friendship gap! I *really* miss taking Bible classes! My brain is desperately hungry for complex, challenging, and stretching materials. So grateful to have learned to study the Bible on my own or I would be going absolutely crazy. (Who knew one could miss exegetical assignments? :P) Despite the emotionally challenging start to this adventure and the continuing search for friendships, there is nowhere else I would rather be. I know that I am exactly where God wants me for the moment, and I can see that in so many aspects of my life. Thank you for your prayers, support, and love. It means a lot to me to know that I have such a strong supporting family. You are wonderful! Please let me know how I can pray for you!

May the Lord Bless you and keep you,

Teacher Ruth