The Joy of KTV

(Or, Why I'm Not A Rock Star)

Has it already been almost a week? Time passes very quickly! (日子過了太快了！)

This week has been mostly unremarkable, or as unremarkable as it can get here in Taipei. I go out in service, go to school, learn things. The large majority of my time here, actually, is dedicated to learning Chinese in some way or other, whether it's explicitly at school or implicitly in the ministry. One very useful thing I've been doing, outside of school, to learn Chinese is attempting to learn scriptures that I can read at the door. Most of the words I'm learning in this way are uncommon words; you don't need to use them every day... but then, I already know most of those, because I do indeed use them every day, and if I didn't know them we'd have problems. Nothing overcomes objections like a foreign guy reading Chinese characters; suddenly they have all the time in the world to talk to you.

Yep, mostly unremarkable... except on Wednesday me and Mason were invited to Karaoke. One of the young brothers, Xie, asked us while we were out in service if we wanted to come, and of course we said yes. (Although, I later learned Mason didn't know what he was agreeing to!) So that night, we go to the karaoke place, expecting a karaoke party. You know, twenty or so people, food, drinks, maybe some dancing.

Nope. Xie and his friend Li are already there... and that's it. Just us four, in a tiny dark room with a TV and a microphone. And I have to tell you, it was amazing.

We're totally forming a band now. Xie is next to me, Li on the right.

Most of their songs were in Chinese, obviously, and although they did have some English songs they were very.... eclectic. Frank Sinatra rubbed shoulders with Lady Gaga, with Smash Mouth and Prince bringing up the rear. They also had a synth-pop version of Born To Be Wild! Can hard rock be mellow? Either way, it was hilarious. 

Also, they didn't have the real music video; they made their own, and judging from the fact that their video was a Taiwanese girl blowing bubbles on a field, they didn't understand the song.

 Here's a test! I haven't tried to upload a video yet, but if this works, we will truly be able to say Xie's singing echoes throughout the world!

Okay, so it doesn't work. I've tried for a while, still nothing. Here's a link to my dropbox, you can download the movie and watch it directly: Xie Singing

This week, I also had probably the best meal I've had since arriving. We went to a Japanese restaurant right across the street from us, since we saw they had sushi. And man, did they have sushi. Not only did it taste amazing, after you ate it your mouth felt good... it had that slick feel of really fresh fish. And real Japanese wasabi, not the green-dyed horseradish we have in America.

This meal cost $9. I know, really breaking the bank.

Later on, we were invited to play ping pong at the missionary home. I had been before, but it was Mason's first time going. We had a blast! I really like all of our friends here. You know, many people remarked after our Annual Meeting how happy and jovial our Governing Body is. I've noticed that it's a trait shared between all of Jehovah's long-term servants, all of the missionaries I've met, all of the long-term Bethelites, the Circuit and District overseers... Jehovah is a happy God, and  his message is clear: We should be happy too. And honestly, we have no reason not to be! Although we might be facing problems, even trials, maybe beyond our capability, at the end of the day we know the truth. This world and its problems are temporary, not really real. The love we have between ourselves and between ourselves and Jehovah is very real. If we have love, and act on it, what else do we need? Everything else will take care of itself.

Anyway, right. Ping pong. It turns out that Asians are amazing at ping pong. Mason and I did our best to represent American ping pongers (ping pongites?), but first a pair of Japanese friends beat us... then a pair of Koreans destroyed us... then the Taiwanese missionaries themselves, Kent and Huey, pretty much wiped the floor with us. It was a lot of fun, though- by the end it had kind of degenerated, and we were bouncing the ball off the walls back onto the table while a sister drilled us on our Chinese.

The Japanese and Korean couple- Kent and Huey hadn't come up yet

Also, while walking one day, I saw this: 

I'm still really far away from it- it's huge!

That's the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. I gather he's actually buried in there! It was closed at the time of night I went by, but I hope to go inside soon and look around. It's in the middle of a beautiful park, too.

Here's another shot of daily life here in Taipei.

Trash collection!

How trash works in Taipei is this: every night, these trucks will drive around blasting Fur Elise by Beethoven, and every now and then they stop. That's your que to run outside with all your trash as quickly as you can, because they don't stop for long. You need to have things presorted- plastics go into one truck, metals, glass and paper go into another, food goes into a third and everything else goes in the fourth. It's actually pretty fun- your entire neighborhood is all clustered around these trucks, so it's a good time to kind of see who lives near you.

Yep, pretty uneventful! Except for all the events. :-) Tomorrow Jim and Fei Li Voglino, a couple from Sacramento Chinese, are coming up to Taipei to visit us- I'll keep you all posted! Gaitian Jian!