FEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How are y’all doing? It’s been a pretty minute, and I apologize! As my title says, being busy “ain’t an excuse.” Can you tell that I’ve been missing home quite a bit? It finally hit me: severe homesickness. I thank God that He has put so many good people in my life, and they’ve given me love and support for this journey. But, they’re not my parents, my siblings, or my “twin.” I was especially missing home when we were dealing with Typhoon Dujuan.
That was the worst! It was crazy because I hadn’t even realized that we were having a typhoon…I went to religious services that morning, and my friend was telling me that we had a Category 4 typhoon coming through. I was totally blown. How had I not noticed?? Well, I still wasn’t too concerned, which is terrible. Then, I went to an anniversary party that night, and I realized, hm. Perhaps this is going to be worst than I thought, especially when I checked my email and had a warning. I got a few things at the store that night, and then I went back home. It’s serious when they cut off your drinking water :/ I ended up going back to the store for more water, which is good because I lost water as well as electricity. It’s messed up because we lost electricity pretty early during the typhoon, and my friends who live like…2 minutes away on foot did not lose power or water at all. I was the most upset when I woke up and didn’t have water. It was hard going through a storm like this and doing it alone, but I survived! It has made me stronger. It’s still amazing to me how so many people took this nonchalantly. There were people on my level who didn’t believe, and then there were other people who’s lives just continued. During hurricanes back home, life stops, but here, life continues on until it can’t. Businesses stayed open until they lost power, if they lost power, and opened as soon as they got it. Crazy. How about a video and a pic of the evening?
On the other hand, the next day was pretty awesome. We went for a ride through the area, and it was pretty awesome. I live in a really pretty place, and I got an unexpected treat! Traditional opera! I think of it as Chinese opera, but I feel like that isn’t accurate because we’re in Taiwan…but, I really do love this art form! It’s exciting to me. It wasn’t the best, but it was pretty close to it.
So my Typhoon Dujuan experience was hard, but I learned a lot about myself. I’m stronger than I think I am.
Classes are going well! I have a lot of work to do to catch up in Chinese, but I’m staying positive. Switching from Simplified to Traditional characters hasn’t been easy, but I’m staying hopeful. I can do it! Jiayou! I love my new congregation. One of the first things I did was find a place for spiritual support, and I have definitely been blessed. I think I’m really happy here. I’m still in shock that I am living my dream. I just hope that I can live up to it.
There was so much that I wanted to say, and I feel like I’m getting blocked in my mind. I’m definitely more emotional here! Every story, every person, everything just touches me. It is so crazy. I hope I get over that soon…or at least to the point of controlling it. I’ll let you know about that one.
We will meet again soon! Have a good evening, FEA.
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