Tang's Taiwan: Setting Up

(Has it only been four days?)

Ni hao everyone, greetings from suddenly chilly Taiwan! Seriously, when I first got here four days ago it was humid and hot, but today it was windy, cold and raining! Still beautiful, though- from Taipei, you can't quite see the ocean, but you can look at the clouds and how they suddenly change when they hit the sea. Looking at the sky today gave me a great feeling of depth, from the mountains to the water.

So where did I leave off? Right, service in Taiwan. So how it works is on Saturday, you meet at the hall, but on most other days we meet just at a street corner in the territory. The Territory Servant's job, among other things, is to predetermine what territories will be worked on any given day.

This is why we don't always meet at the hall.

So you figure out where everyone's going to be, and meet them there. Then you break off into small groups, and you each grab an area. They don't really have regular blocks here, mostly, but they do have lanes and alleys you can use to divide the territory. So you and your partner work house-over with another pair, but not like back home, because easily 90% of all houses are actually apartment buildings. Big ones. So you stand on the sidewalk and buzz people over the intercom, and when they answer, give your presentation. That might not sound all that effective, but actually a surprising amount of people allow us to leave them literature in their mailbox (which is legal and ok here in Taiwan). Occasionally, someone will buzz you in, so you get to ascend to their floor (side note: Taiwan doesn't believe in elevators) and read them a scripture or two.

It was a lot of fun! I was able to take a few doors, or buzzers, or whatever, by myself, and place literature! The friends are very patient and without exception really try to help you along.

Afterwards, some of us went out to a "Jamaican" place. Well, it says it's Jamaican at least... I'm actually not sure what it was, but it was pretty good food!

They didn't have coffee, either! :-(

The brother to my right, your left, is Sasha from Switzerland. The other one, to my left and your right, is Nikolai of Holland. Together with GianCarlo of Italy, Michelin of Haiti, Terry of England and Joshua of Whittier (really!), and now myself, we make up the Foreigner Squad.

And also this guy!

Look! That guy!

The following morning, I woke up crazy early to pick Harry Sparks up at the airport. He had been on a plane for about the same length of time I had, except he had a seven-hour layover in Honolulu, so he got to lay on the beach and nap for a while. Not that I'm jealous or anything.... ahem, anyway, to mix things up we decided to take the high-speed rail back into the city instead of a taxi. And seriously, it's impressive. I don't have any pictures sadly, but it runs at nearly 200mph, can hold about a thousand people, rides as smooth as anything you've felt, and costs... $5. $2.50 for Harry, because he got the senior discount. Yeah, it was a good decision.

I also was invited over to the missionary home for afternoon tea and to play ping pong.

Kent and Huey Huang, two of the missionaries

They invited several people over, not just me, and also two of their studies, which was great. We had a very upbuilding conversation, and then I got destroyed in ping pong. These guys take ping pong seriously.

After that, I was invited to go play soccer with some of the brothers. I know this may surprise you, but I've played soccer about once in my life. They invited me anyway though, so I tried to come. I say tried...

When I left the missionary home to play soccer, I needed to go from the hall (which is, as I mentioned before, lost in a maze of alleys) roughly northwest, to Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. There's a public field next to it where the brothers were playing. I was feeling very confident as I boldly strode off into the night.

Two hours later, I admitted defeat. I had no idea where I was, I was a half hour late to the game, and my feet hurt. I had made my way to a major street, and figured if I just kept following it I was bound to run into some landmark, or a street I knew, or at least a subway stop. Nope, just more lights and people and Chinese signs. So guys, if you're reading this, I'm really sorry I couldn't make it. I tried, really I did. You'll have to wait until next week to find out how bad I really am at soccer. I eventually did find a subway station... far to the south of where I had started from, and the opposite direction of where I was trying to go!

I embarked on one more endeavor since last I updated: my quest to get my Alien Resident Card. Normally I wouldn't need one, except I have a scholarship, and they want me to get one before I can get my stipend. Okay, no problem; I filled out the application online, got some pictures taken, and went with Harry off to the Immigration Office.

Many long lines later, I walked away from the Immigration Office with no ARC, but a plan. You see, to get an ARC you need a residence visa. I applied for one back in San Francisco, but they game me a visitor visa and told me to get it changed here. In order to get it changed, you need to get a physical in Taiwan. To do that, you need to register with the healthcare system, and to do that, you need an ID number. So! ID #, then physical, then visa, then ARC.

The ID number was easy enough. Fill out a form, wait in another line, get assigned a number. It was even free! The physical was a bit more interesting. I went to Taipei City Hospital at just about 11 this morning. It was very convenient, right off the subway- but 11 is a bad time to arrive. Everyone in the hospital, apparently, has a two-hour lunch, from 11 to 1, so I had two hours to kill. I spent them eating some delicious fried dumplings and following the signs to something called Longshan Temple- there are pictures at the bottom of the post, it was actually really cool.

I am very impressed with Taiwan's healthcare system. When I got back, I registered myself into the system, got my physical, got a chest x-ray, and got two separate blood samples taken for two separate tests. This entire process, start to finish, during a very busy time of day, took an hour and a half, and cost $40- and I'm not even covered by their system yet! If I had been, it would've been free. Sorry Obamacare, I think Taiwan has this round.

So that's it for now. I still need to work on my ARC, but more pressing is a permanent place to stay. Tan Jiemei tells me that in nine days, the brother who stays in my room will be arriving, so I need to have a place by then. I'm meeting the group for service tomorrow, though, so I can ask around if anyone has seen anything.

And here's Longshan Temple: