Taiwan Brit

As I blogged previously, the May retreat was the first time I chatted to Joelle. I knew her by sight, and that she was involved in the church's children's ministry on Sundays, taught kindergarten, and helped with the Powerpoint presentations during our Sunday evening meetings. Following on from the retreat, we had various other opportunities to chat, and also began to talk on MSN Messenger from time to time. I had also provisionally agreed to be a foreign teacher at her kindergarten a few days a week. By the time July came along, I was starting to really like her. Nothing much happened, though - I was terrified of saying anything at that point. I did, however, treat her to a meal on 25th July, her birthday. At the time, I thought I was being subtle; seen from her eyes, it probably looked like a pretty serious statement... She was real fun to be with - bright, optimistic, liked to laugh... and I really enjoyed her company. It was obvious how much she enjoyed working with child...

I traded in my mountain bike for a skinny-tyred road bike In January and, rather foolishly / bravely (delete as appropriate) decided to ride it around Taiwan during the Chinese New Year holiday. On paper, it looked pretty straightforward: start in Taipei, head down the west coast (fairly flat), around the bottom tip and then up the east coast and back to Taipei. I had ridden the new bike a bit, but had hardly been in training... Got as far as Hsinchu County on the first day. I'd stopped at the side of the road for a 'breather' and a man passing by stopped and started chatting to me. Long story short, he invited me to the family home for a cup of tea. Tea quickly became a meal (it was Chinese New Year's Eve) and, the sky having darkened, he and his family provided me with a bed for the night. An early start the next day, and I was on my way. Made it down to Changhua, pretty tired and pretty clueless about where I was going to stay the night. So I did what any sensible pe...

For most of 2002/3, it was a case of 'more of the same'. I decided to carry on teaching at Shane English School in Lujou for another year. Church life was going well, and I'd got involved with a few things at Evergreen Fellowship... Added to which, I didn't have a clue what to do if I repacked the suitcase and returned to the UK. Thanks to Chinese classes and (mainly) the help of new church friend, my Chinese was steadily improving. I did, however, travel back to the UK for Christmas 2002 - a great opportunity to see the family after a year and a bit away. Alpha? Having done the Alpha Course at university, I'd experienced first-hand how effective it was at explaining Christianity to unbelievers, fringe believers, confused believers or people like me (back in 2000) who couldn't decide which category they fitted into! I explained, rather tentatively, to leaders at church that I was interested in starting a course and they were very supportive. Rather oddly, money ...

Coming out to Taiwan was a big step, but one I was fairly relaxed about. Having spent a month of 1998 in St. Petersburg, Russia and my third year of university in St. Petersburg and Yaroslavl, I was used to living outside the UK. Russia had been quite a culture shock, not so much from a language point of view but because it was clear how hard life was for most Russians. In 1998, in particular, the rouble had been devalued and the shelves in the local supermarket were pretty bare. Buying a postage stamp required a pocket full of lose change in itself! Oh, and the language was pretty tricky too... I knew a little of the 'difficulties' between Taiwan and China (Beijing firing missiles into the Taiwan Straight during the 1996 presidential elections, for example); apart from that, I knew Taiwan had a strong, manufacturing-based economy and, thanks to the video I was shown at my interview in London, had typhoons in the summer. That was about it. Lujou in Taipei County was to be my de...

On 6th September 2001, I arrived in Taiwan for the very first time, knowing next to nothing about the place or how fundamentally it would shape my life. My intention back then was to spend a year teaching English / buying time while I worked out what to do with my life, then return to the UK. Well, I'm writing this in Taipei 8 years later, and my first few blogs are going to paint a picture of how I got here. I find it pretty hard to believe myself - I have gone from spiritually-confused 'singledom' to a being a married father of one, strengthened and inspired by my faith in Jesus.