I have promised my little neighbors (my friend's daughters) that I won't work on the puzzle that sits in my living room if they are not there to help me work on it.
Oh, the temptation is just SO great!! It is hard to keep my fingers away from the pieces that are calling out to me to put them together.
My little neighbors better come over often so that I don't have to be tempted too long. :)
Here is all my stuff packed up before the move:
I kept asking myself where did ALL this stuff come from while I was packing. It is amazing how fast we accumulate stuff!!
The mover guys wrapped some of my furniture in plastic before putting it on the truck. They said this would help protect it.
Then, they loaded up the truck.
The one picture I don't have but would love to show you is how they moved all this stuff. They hoisted it onto their backs and carried on their backs. It's an amazing thing to watch.
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Ok, so moving day was Aug 15th. And, besides just not having time to write about it and not having the battery charger for my camera. . . it took me this long to write about it because it was a HARD day. And, I refused to write about it when the hurt was still fresh. I needed some perspective first.
I don't think a single piece of furniture escaped from the move unharmed. Each piece had a bump or scratch somewhere. The dinning table and chairs got the worst of it and the scratches are obvious, but the rest of the scratches are now minimal and you'd have to know where to look.
I kept telling myself over and over the day of and week after the move "hold loosely to the things of this world."
Even though I was warned, I was still caught in a scam. Not going to go into details, but do want to say, if you are moving in Taiwan and using a moving company . . . go only with a company that someone personally used and now recommends.
Oh, and it started to rain because a typhoon was coming in. So, there was lots of wet stuff and soggy boxes to take care of. Just more stress to deal with.
Moving day was just one long exhausting day--physically and emotionally! And, I'm glad it is now just history. :)
Thank you to all of you who expressed concern about how I was doing after hearing about Typhoon Krosa on the news.
Although she/he (?) impacted other parts of the island, she/he had very little effect on us here in Tainan (southern west coast). It was very mild here; almost like there was no typhoon. We didn't even have heavy rains here, just a constant drizzle.
However, Krosa was a super typhoon and did pound "the nation with powerful winds and torrential rains [Saturday], causing a small number of deaths and injuries, precipitating flooding in low-lying areas and cutting power to nearly half a million homes" (source).
Both Char on the east coast and my friend Stacy in central Taiwan (on the west coast, just further north) posted photos from the aftermath of the typhoon in their neighborhoods.
Please pray for those who were affected by the typhoon.
This weekend, before I saw my Japanese friend, I got to MIRL with a fellow Taiwan blogger!!! :)
Just in case you don't know . . . MIRL is an acronym for "Meet In Real Life." (For a history of the origin of this acronym look here and here.)
Charlotte and I met in Hsinchu for lunch on Saturday. We spent the afternoon talking and getting to know each other better.
She is the first (and so far only) fellow blogger I've ever MIRL-ed with. It was a unique experience because on one hand I felt like I needed to say "Hi, my name is Amanda," but on the other hand I felt like she was a long lost kindred spirit. Feeling both of these at the same time is rather odd. :)
Nonetheless, I enjoyed our time together, and I assume that the next time we get together it won't be odd at all!! :)
We tried out my xshot (my first time to use it in public), and it's a little tricky. The first one was TOTALLY washed out, and I look like a turtle in the second one. :)
If two foreigners together attract a lot of stares . . .then two foreigners together using an xshot attract tons of stares! :) Some people just stopped to watch our picture taking, and others walked by looking at my camera's screen. It was fun.
教師節快樂!!!
The only thing I am doing for Teacher's Day is going out with a colleague for lunch to eat Korean food. And, really, that is just because we want to . . . doesn't really have anything to do with the holiday.
But, I wanted to make sure I wished all the teachers out there . . . Happy Teacher's Day!!
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Here is a repost of what I wrote last year, explaining Teacher's Day:
Today is Teacher's Day in Taiwan. And, like so many holidays in so many cultures, Teacher's Day in Taiwan is a mix of both the religious and secular.
To many Taiwanese, Teacher's Day is a day to show respect to their teachers and to thank them for all their hard work (I like that).
Nonetheless, as Wikipedia correctly points out, "This date was chosen to commemorate the birth of Confucius, believed to be the model master educator in ancient China." At the crack of dawn in Confucian temples all over the island cermonies take place in honor of Confucius. These 祭孔大典 (or "Grand Ceremonies Dedicated to Confucius") start with the beating of drums. "54 musicians dress in robes with blue belts, 36 (or 64) dancers dress in yellow with green belts. They are led and followed by cermonial officers. Three animals--the cow, the goat, and the pig--are sacrificed. The hair plucked from these sacrificed animals are called the Hairs of Wisdom."
So, now you know some students simply give their teachers cards which say "Happy Teacher's Day," but others go to temples and make sacrifices to a dead man.
(Pictures above come from this and this photoset on flickr.)
Found: one battery recharger and all my socks!!
Yipee! I can share pictures and wear tennis shoes again. :)
Life is good.
Well, as you know, I've moved. So, I thought I'd show you my new place this week--before, during, and now. "After" will have to wait because it is still a work in progress. :)
Here is my new apartment before I moved in. I took these pictures during my second time in the apartment. The titles and captions below are really small, to see them better or to see larger versions of the pictures you can go here.
It is still raining!!! Right now, quite heavily.
And so for the last few days, like many others in the southern parts of Taiwan, all my neighbors have had their homes flooded. One told me the flood waters came up to her mid-calf. Another had waters up to her knee in their living area.
And what is the forecast for the coming week? Well, according to Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau:
Yep. Another WEEK of rain!!! Why? Well, because of Typhoon #3: Typhoon Sepat.
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I found this picture on flickr by Poagao, and while it is not my neighborhood nor from this typhoon . . . you can still get a feel for what's going on around here.
The third typhoon in less than a full week is coming Taiwan's way. We've had rain, rain, and more rain since Thursday. The sky has been dark and deary for the last few days.
Since I do most of my getting around by foot or scooter, rain makes life difficult. It forces me to stay home or get wet. If it is light rain, I totally don't mind getting wet. But, today it has been a constant, heavy downpour.
I have many things I need to be doing in order to be moving; otherwise, I would just sit back with a good book and enjoy the rain, but right now . . . I just need it to please go away!!
Oh, and this rain has come with thunder. Now, I am from Texas, so I know how to enjoy a good thunderstorm. But, let's just say thunder clapping and then reclapping through a maze of high rises . . . not quite the same as effect as thunder on the plains of Texas.
Remember when I wrote about waiting and how hard it is. Well, that was over two months ago and now the waiting is over. A decision has been made.
These past two months have been interesting to say the least. :)
Do you wanna know what is up? Well, I am moving.
I am leaving Kaohsiung--my home for the past four years and moving to Tainan. Tainan is still in southern Taiwan, and is only about 40-45 minutes north of Kaohsiung if you are taking the highway and is anywhere from 30-75 minutes by train.
This move also entails changing schools. So there are lots of changes ahead in the next month of two. Ahh . . . change.
This was not an easy decision as I love my home, my township, and my students. But, I know this is the right thing to be doing right now. The Father made that clear.
Anyway, this week and next week I will be packing up my current house and moving all my stuff into the new one. I have considerably more stuff now than I did at the time of my last move considering my very first home in Taiwan was furnished. Oh how very fast we humans accumulate stuff!!
But . . . for most of you my new location won't change anything because my home in the blogosphere will be the same. :)
Here is the beginning of my packing--thanks to my very helpful friend, Ellen. She came down this weekend and helped me to pack my nearly all of my living room and guest room.
As my sister always says whenever she is under the weather "i sick."
It's weird, but at the end of every semester, I always have a cold. It is like my body finally relaxes and gems have a party.
On a good note, I got all the papers graded right before the cold hit! So: Yipee! Now, if I can just get over this cold, maybe I can begin to enjoy summer vacation. Off to rest now.
Essays to grade that is. I've finished 80 and have only 36 left to read and grade. Oh, yeah, I also have journals, exams, and projects to grade.
Yeah . . . finals are over, so that means my work has only increased. :)
But, I can taste freedom--it is just around the corner. Summer break is a-l-m-o-s-t here!
In the last ten years, I've been in America to celebrate the fourth of July maybe only 3 or 4 of those years.
For my family, the fourth of July is a huge Adams Family Reunion--my grandmother's sisters and brothers and all their children, grandchildren, and now great-grandchildren get together for this holiday. The meeting place? Friendship, Arkansas, my grandmother's childhood hometown.
Holidays are probably the hardest times to be away from family. They are the days I feel most lonely or homesick.
On a side note, my mother has helped me keep my front door up date with cute signs for the different "seasons" of the year. The picture in this post is what is on my door right now. Thanks, Mom!!
Happy Independence Day!!
As I've read and visited blogs this past week I have run into so many "blogkitties" in bloggy world. Don't get me wrong, cats are cute, but come on . . . where are the dogs?
I even read--but don't remember where--that for every picture of a child posted to blogs there are 2.3 cat pictures posted.
I can't do much about the cat to cute kid ratio, but I can help with the question about where are all the dog?
So, without further ado, I offer you a few pics of my own sweet Gilby with his new haircut.
Cute right?
...
Here he is (pre-haircut) with Karen and Christine, some friends of mine.
...
And, last but not least, here is where I found him a few weeks ago after I finished putting away all the groceries.
Yeah, that's right--inside the newly emptied sack. :)
Last week, two of my students, Gilby, and I went to PengHu County--south of where I live--for an evening of traditional Taiwanese fun.
We ate some traditional foods for dinner and then tried the famous 冷熱冰 (literally translated: "cold hot ice") for dessert. "Cold hot ice" is a bowl of hot treats--red beans, taro chunks, glutinous rice balls filled with peanut powder--covered in shaved ice topped with brown sugar water.
Here are pictures of what 冷熱冰 (cold hot ice) looks like, as well as pictures of me and Gilby with my students outside of the famous restaurant.
Another cool thing about this restaurant is that just outside of the restaurant is a vendor who sells mantou (steamed bread) from a converted bicycle.
Here is a pic of me on the bike, and a pic of Julie pointing to what is inside the steamer on the back of the bike. (Yes, we had the vendor's permission to play with her movable store.) But, since the vendor was done for the day, she had already cleaned out the glass case in the front. (I found one on flickr taken in the daylight when her case was full.)
Picture Credits: cold hot stuff 1 and cold hot stuff 2.
I woke up this morning singing this . . .
I don't even know when is the last time I actually heard this song being sung or played, but I tell ya it was ALL I could think of this morning!!Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it!
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
Redeemed through His infinite mercy,
His child and forever I am.Refrain
Redeemed, redeemed,
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
Redeemed, redeemed,
His child and forever I am.Redeemed, and so happy in Jesus,
No language my rapture can tell;
I know that the light of His presence
With me doth continually dwell.Refrain
I think of my blessèd Redeemer,
I think of Him all the day long:
I sing, for I cannot be silent;
His love is the theme of my song.
A Maranatha Music song from the late 1970's has been running through my head all weekend:
We must wait, wait, wait on the Lord
We must wait, wait, wait on the Lord . . .
In His timing He will tell us
What to do, where to go, what to say
You know there are times when the path might be unknown, but there is only one way to go--forward--so that is what you do.
But, what about when the path has a "y" or comes to a "t"? Ahh, that is when life gets exciting. That is when faith is tested.
So, here I stand at a "y" in this unknown path waiting. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting.
It is, oh, so tempting to do things the Amanda-way. It is, oh, so tempting to apply Amanda-logic. It is, oh, so tempting to not be patient!
"Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long" (Psalm 25:5).
I found this sermon by James Smith (1869) to be of great comfort, encouragement, and exhortation. If you find yourself in a place of waiting--please do click over and at least skim if not soak in what he is saying.
Here is a not-so-brief clip:
Believer, you may be independent of all creation by realizing your dependence upon your God, and waiting upon him continually.
You must believe:
the love he has to you,
his watchful care over you,
his delight in you,
the promises he has given you,
the provision he has made for you,
the glory he will get by you, and
the honor to which he intends to raise you.
In so doing,
the fear of man will die,
joy in God will spring up,
the peace of God will fill your heart and mind,
your dependence on creatures will cease, and
you will be happy in looking only to the Lord."My soul, wait only upon God; for my expectation is from him." "Wait on the Lord, and keep his way, and he shall exalt you to inherit the land– when the wicked are cut off, you shall see it."
. . .
Before us are difficulties, seemingly as great as the Red Sea before Israel; behind us are obstacles, as fearful as the Egyptians behind them. Besides which, we have no Moses with the rod of God to make a way for us.
What can we do? Do as the prophet of old did, who said–-"I will wait upon the Lord, who hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him." Yes, wait on the Lord, who has given you this precious promise–-"I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go; I will guide you with my eye." He will point out the way, he will teach you in the way, he will guide as a loving Father or a faithful friend.
There are no difficulties with him. He sees the end from the beginning. He has directed thousands, millions, who have been in as great or greater difficulties than you are. What he has done for others, he will do for you. Hear his own word–-"I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known; I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them."
Wait, therefore, on the Lord, and say–-"Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God, until that he have mercy upon us." (emphasis mine; the sermon is public domain)
The entire sermon is good. Smith
covers in what circumstances we must wait, what we should wait for,
what we should do while we wait, and even why we should wait.
I wanna keep cutting and pasting more, but I will refain from doing so and just once again say: go read it if you find yourself, like me, in a place a waiting.
Oh, and when I am done waiting . . . I'll tell you which part of the "y" I was instructed to take.
Father, please help me to be patient as I wait upon you as I follow this unknown path. There are times, like right now, when I wish the path wasn't quite so unknown. But, I am ever so grateful that you are the one who is guiding my every step. It is upon you that I depend. And, so, I wait on you, trusting you, depending on you alone.
In the words of my little sister "I sick." (Yeah, my sister is 27 years old and married, but that doesn't stop her from whinning when she doesn't feel good.)
It is weird. For the last two years I've made it completely "cold free" all the way through "cold season." But, come May and June, I battle the colds.
This week is the worst possible week for me to be under the weather--grades are due Friday. I can barely make it through all my classes (I didn't go in at all yesterday and showed a movie on Monday), much less stay up late to grade midterm exams. uh oh . . . what am I going to do . . . .
My throat has hurt since Sunday. :( I have these huge sneezing fits that I inherited from my mom, and, I've slept till noon both Monday and Tuesday of this week--Gilby likes that (the sleeping, not the sneezing). :)
And you know what I'm craving? soups and plain hot water. Only drawback to my cravings is that it is in the high 80s with high humidity here! Yuck!!
Anyway, I am just ready to start to feel better. Maybe tomorrow. I hope.
(oh . . . and happy birthday, Dad! I feel the same way about you this year as I did last. Sorry I have no energy to write you a better birthday post on my blog.)
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