Always an Adventure...

Here is a song (click if embedded video doesn't work) that I love by a band called Gungor that I've recently started listening to. It's a great band and a great song! In talking about "beautiful things" or maybe colorful things, I went to the hairdresser today to get highlights. It's always a bit of an adventure to see what I'll come out with, with the communication gap and all, but this is one of the craziest outcomes yet. I decided to get blond and dark red highlights...but after the final rinse, the blond highlights turned bright pink! It's definitely a dramatic change...but I'm told it will fade after a few washes. Here's the result from today.....

Maybe this post should be entitled "You know you've become a Taiwanese driver when..." I made a couple of observations last night about my driving that may interest or alarm you. Scooters are the vehicle of choice in Taiwan, and as you know, I have my little 125cc "old faithful" that gets me around Yilan. I remember thinking my first year in Taiwan that the main goal when driving here seems to avoid using your breaks if at all possible, which sometimes involves coasting to a stop, or more often, running red lights. There are two main inconveniences when driving a scooter. The first is parking. You know those square puzzles with only one piece missing where you have to shuffle all the pieces around without removing them until you get the correct picture? Yeah, I've always hated those, but that's what parking my scooter reminds me of. Sometimes it takes quite a lot of maneuvering before you can get your scooter into a very small space, and other time...

Spring in Taiwan is really nice, and I'm glad it is finally here. This past winter was one of the coldest I've had here, and it seemed to last a long time. My grandma was here visiting at the end of March/beginning of April and she didn't get to wear most of the summery clothes she brought! But anyways, spring is here, and on Easter, I went out and bought some lilies to make my house a little brighter. 3 weeks on, and there is still one that hasn't dropped its petals yet, ah perseverance. It reminds me to keep working on my papers (the next of which is due on Saturday). There are also some beautiful white lilies at my church right now, and my pastor cut two for me to take home last week. I love the dramatic flowers like lilies and orchids. And since I was too busy to blog about it at the time, here is a picture of me and my grandma at an orchid farm here in Yilan! We had a great time when she was here, and hopefully I can share a few more of the highlights as they co...

It's my birthday!! Here is my best present so far, a picture of my new nephew, Derek!! In honor of embarking on my last year before age 30, I've decided that I'm going to try to write 30 posts in the next year, rather than what as been the norm of 1 a month! Here are two verses I read this morning: Psalm 16:5-8 L ord , you alone are my inheritance, my cup of blessing. You guard all that is mine. The land you have given me is a pleasant land. What a wonderful inheritance! I will bless the L ord who guides me; even at night my heart instructs me. I know the L ord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me. Psalm 29:11 The L ord gives his people strength. The L ord blesses them with peace. And here's one more picture just because he's SOOOO cute, only 3 months and a few days until I can hold him!! Derek Levi, Born April 5!

I have been teaching my students this proverb this week because March has really gotten off to a nasty start this year. We had a wonderful long weekend the last weekend in February, and the temperature got up to 30! But this week, it's chilly again..... now I know my friends in Canada will be scoffing at me for this blog post, and I must admit, I haven't seen snow or been in below freezing temperatures since... 2007 ! BUT this week riding on my scooter has reminded me of what WIND CHILL means..... brings me back to my Saskatchewan days...it's not -40, but hey my body has adjusted to a tropical climate now, cut me some slack! If you haven't heard this song yet, to listen to it, it's one of my favorites right now, and fits well with the title of this post!

For the first time this year, I went to Pingxi, a place near Taipei where the annual sky lantern festival is held. In past year's I've gone to see lantern festivals where the lanterns were in creative and sometimes quirky shapes. These lanterns were much more traditional. The government gave out free lanterns to the first 2000 or so people who arrived, and then they released them throughout the night. It's an amazing sight to see! Usually people write their wishes and hopes or blessings on the lantern and send it as an offering to the gods. I think it's a beautiful symbol of how our prayers rise up to God.

so, in hopes of trying to revive my blog (once again, haha) but i have received a few comments from people who missed my random updates, which i appreciate, so here's a story one of my high school students told me today. We were talking about pets, and I asked her if she had a dog. She said, "We're not allowed to because when my grandpa was young he had a little white dog that he loved. One day he was going to take it for a walk but he couldn't find it anywhere. One of the neighbors had eaten it. So he won't let us get a dog. I think it's because he's still sad about that dog." true story.