Friday we took a train to Taichung. It took us 4 hours to get there so we used the traveling time to chat and listen to music and catch up on some sleep.
I love being on trains. I grew up on them and i have many fond memories of our family taking the train to go on holiday. I sat at the window listening how friends' snoring broke through the music that was playing in my ear. I sat there watching the picture in my window change every other second. At one station i watched an elderly man, wipe the hair out of his disabled wife's face. I was touched by the love this man showed his wife. I sat there wondering how long they have been married, where are they headed, do they have children and what did they look like when they were younger. I imagined them holding hands when they were younger...and then the picture changed.
When we arrived in Taichung we headed to the church of Rev. Lien. This pastor has such a kind face. He smiles with his eyes, he has the darkest hair with strokes of silver in it and he has the funniest sense of humor. His wife is the same. Her face captivated me as a whole theatrical play unfolded with every word she uttered. Neither of them spoke English so they communicated through the translator and hand gestures. I hadn't laughed so much in a long time! After a brief introduction we were rushed to the car to go and have some Hot Pot at a local Christian Restaurant. Hot Pot is sooooooooooooo cool. Each person is seated at a weird looking table. Each table sits 4 and at each seat there is a hole in the table fitted with a pot. In this pot is some soup liquid. They turn the heat up and then this soup starts to boil. Then they bring out a few small trays with raw goodies on it. One then sticks the raw stuff in the pot until it is cooked, pick it out with chopsticks and voila....food! Last night the pastor order everything on the menu...
Now before i proceed, it needs to be mentioned that there are 2 rules in this restaurant: each customer only has 2 hours in the restaurant, and no food is to be left on the plates! GREAT! A race against the menu!
So we started this raw feast being entertained but the 10 odd shrimps jumping up and down in the little plastic container that became their home. There is something weird about seeing these gray things turn pink in the boiling water.... Anyway...pastor and wife kept on putting weird fish things in our pots and we had no choice but to eat it! At the end of the night we had a few plates of squid left. I now declare squid: OFF THE MENU! I don't think i will ever eat it again. We finished the food and rolled out the restaurant and off to bed! Unhealthy i know but my word this was one meal that required a long nap afterward.
This morning pastor paged for us, in his broken English, to come and eat breakfast. (They had an intercom system that is linked up to each of the three floors in their house) We had toast and eggs and a few pieces of fruit. Lunch time was a different story. Pastor's Wife cooked 100 dumplings for us. Chinese dumplings are the size of a baby's fist and is filled with pork. For those of you who know me - i don't like eating pork and pork doesn't like me! So...in this culture where being polite is as important as breathing, i could not say - 'uhm sorry i don't eat pork'. I am also not the type of person to say that. I was taught that you eat what is on your plate - and as a missionary you do this not matter what is on your plate! So the non-pork eater was confronted with 100 pork filled goodies!YAY...not.
We had no choice but to eat these little sunshine-pockets. Man...i must say that i have never been so happy to eat a dumpling as i was the moment that last dumpling jumped into my mouth! RELIEF! I could hear the angelic voices sing HALLELUJAH!!
The train ride home was spent taking pictures of the millions of rice fields next to the railway while trying not to freeze to death. ( My team mate left her jacket at home so being the strong South African that i am, i lent my to her...)
So there you have it. But just before i go and waste some time on facebook...A few statistics of the week gone by:
* We have had 9 rice meals. Not SA sized portion of rice...no...asian sized rice portion where it is half the pot! STARCH=FAT!
*We have had 6 near death experiences. Here in Kaohsiung the motorcyclists are similar to the bullies that pick on little children at school. They don't seem to get that you slow down when you get close to people.
*We have had bubble tea 5 times! (Bubble tea is nice...milk tea with tapioca balls in it - mmmm goodness. I am inserting a picture so you can see!)
Till the next update. Be blessed as you bathe in the love of Jesus!
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