Always an Adventure...

is the natural number following 26 and preceding 28. Twenty-seven is the smallest  positive integer requiring  four syllables to name in English, though it can be unambiguously defined in just two: "three cubed."   It is also  the atomic number of cobalt. There are 27 books in the New  Testament. According to Google, Samuel Morse was also born on April 27 (1791).   Psalm 27 Reads: 1 The LORD is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid? 2 When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. 3 Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confident. 4 One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. 5 For in the day of trouble he will keep m...

Every year, schools have a big fair/carnival to celebrate the school anniversary. Each class puts up a booth and sells different foods, and all the clubs in the school do performances throughout the day. I always look forward to going, and this year was no exception. I spent a lot of money, ate a lot of free samples, and took a lot of pictures. Here are some of the highlights: Part of the "kung fu club" wearing traditional Chinese dresses (qipao) selling their wares dancing each class designs their own shirts

I probably say this every year, but I LOVE the Chinese translation of the word Easter - Fu Huo Jie, literally resurrection holiday. Last night I had a student who asked me if the word "Easter" was found in the Bible. He pointed out that Passover and Pentecost are in the Bible but not Easter or Christmas. I think he was trying to imply somehow that we shouldn't celebrate them. Actually there is a religious group in Taiwan that holds to this teaching. While I freely admit that you don't need to waste your time searching concordances for the word "Easter", there's certainly nothing wrong with celebrating the event of Jesus' resurrection from the dead. You won't find the words car, surgery, or Internet in the Bible either. Making cream puffs Here are some of the highlights of Easter celebrations this year: Our church had a carnival outreach event on Saturday. Over 400 people came throughout the day. There were 5 game stations which included reading ...

A song I've been listening to a lot lately: This is quite an appropriate song for the season, as we reflect on the ends God would go to rescue us from ourselves. Speaking of the season, an Easter post has been written, but it's kind of long, so I'll post it when I have some pictures to break it up!  

I had dinner with a friend of a friend who was visiting Taiwan the other night. Halfway through the conversation, she said, "You know, Charlotte, I think I've read your blog before!" Craziness, but it reminded me again of this huge Internet community we choose to take part in in varying measure. In the last week this blog has had readers from Ohio, Texas, Massachusetts, New York, and Georgia...but as far as I know I don't know people in those places! Feel free to say hi btw...or maybe I'll meet you someday in Taiwan!

Winter is strawberry season in Taiwan. People pay to go to little strawberry farms and "pick" strawberries. You're usually given a pair of scissors to cut the berries so you don't damage the plants too much. Juice vendors here think you're crazy if you ask for a strawberry-banana combination, it takes a lot of convincing before they'll make it for you. This generation of young people (born afer 1980) in Taiwan is nicknamed the "strawberry generation" because they have grown up in a time relatively free of hardship and are often over-protected by parents, which makes them less able to withstand hard work and pressure. Like strawberries, they are bruised or crushed easily.  This is also the generation I interact with most. A speaker I heard a few weeks ago pointed out that the strawberry generation was created by "strawberry" parents and teachers. A  google search  of "Taiwan strawberry generation" yields some very interesting resul...

I've been using iGoogle as my homepage lately, and you can add a lot of different boxes that update themselves daily. One I've been enjoying is "Poem of the Day". In the 4+ years I've been in Taiwan, I haven't really been able to indulge in as much literature as usual, as it's not really available, and since 90% of the time, I'm thinking of ways to simplify the English I use rather than turn it into metaphors, allusions or iambic pentametre.... But now that I have this fantastic feature on my homepage, don't be surprised if you see some fun stuff popping up on here from time to time. Today's offering, one of my favorite poets as a child: Shel Silverstein Where the Sidewalk Ends There is a place where the sidewalk ends And before the street begins, And there the grass grows soft and white, And there the sun burns crimson bright, And there the moon-bird rests from his flight To cool in the peppermint wind. Let us leave this place where th...