Resume 恢復

(Not like for a job application- the continue kind)

So. Hi.

It feels strange to be writing a post for this blog after so long. Strange to think it's been two years since I stopped updating. A lot has happened since then.

Foreshadowing!

I'm writing this post because I recently went back to the States for a brief visit, and while there more people than I could keep track of asked me when- or if- I would be writing my next update. It was flattering, really; I didn't expect many people to care enough to miss this simple record after it had been down for so long. I promised I would write more, and so I will. I am.

How to compress two years of life into a bite sized blog post? Impossible. There's simply no way I could do it justice if I tried to chronicle everything in the way I used to do. And, to be honest, I don't really want to. There's a lot I couldn't share anyway; it's difficult to tell half a story without making it sound limp, unless you start embellishing- and then what I've written is a novel, not a blog.

I'll summarize. The reason I stopped updating was because I went to Mainland China. As many of you likely know, a great many things are banned in China, including all Google services (which power this blog). I decided it would be too difficult to continue the blog in those circumstances, and so wrote that retrospective on my time in Taiwan. I made many friends in China, some old friends, some new, and was able to do good things for a large number of people. After some time, a little more than a year, I began having problems. These problems were affecting my health, physical and mental, and after careful consideration and prayer I decided to wrap things up and return to Taiwan for a break. I wasn't sure how long I would remain in Taiwan, but the initial plan was to stay long enough to get recovered, prepare a bit better this time, then go back to China.

There were many reasons to go back to China...

Not least of which are located around here.

Also, China is beautiful.

Even with my intent to return, however, I was agonizing over this choice. I enjoyed many things about China, and there was lots of work to be done- even if I left only briefly, it might negatively influence the outcome of many plans. This isn't to say that I'm so great I was critical to success; I'm not trying to inflate my own importance, merely saying that my company didn't have many people, and losing even one was a big deal. As things worked out, though, the choice was taken from me. I left China more quickly than I had intended, and it's not clear if or when I can go back.

So, I'm back in Taipei. Honestly, I'm happy to be here. It's good to be back, to see all my friends and to have a healthier, more balanced life. I've been busy since coming back, too, busier than I was before I left! I've been enjoying more methods of ministry and have had the chance to visit a variety of far-flung fields. And of course, working for money keeps me busy too, although I've recently ran into a bump in that area... maybe that will be the topic for a future post.

By the way, guess which one is China:

 (It's the big one.)

Thank you all for your kind words and encouragement. I hope to continue encouraging you through this blog. I think I'm not going to keep any kind of schedule, but instead write on various topics and events as they come up in my life. As you read them, try to imagine yourself here. And as always, you can ask any questions you like by using the comments feature underneath each blog post.

Good to be back! (Although we moved out of this hall already)

See you next time!

Taiwan 台灣

(It's a good place!)

You know when you need to do something that won't be pleasant, so you keep putting it off, but the longer you put it off the harder it is to do? This blog post is kind of like that. I've been meaning to write this for a couple weeks now, and finally... well.

Last post- last month (sorry)- I said I had some news for everyone, and the news is: this is the final post of the blog. I've been in Taiwan for 19 months now. Over a year and a half! I remember before I left California, before any of this happened, telling my parents that I would only be gone for six months, maybe seven... I had no idea I would like Taiwan this much.

Taiwan really is a beautiful place. If reading this blog hasn't convinced you of that, I don't know what will. The people are friendly, the scenery is great, the food is delicious, and the culture is really interesting. The ministry is fruitful- there aren't even 10,000 baptized publishers in the country yet, but last year over 600 new people were baptized as servants of Jehovah. And here in Taipei especially, the atmosphere is just about perfect for foreigners coming to learn Chinese, with lots of support coming from both our Taiwanese friends and those foreigners who have been living here a bit longer.

And so I'm a little bit sad to consider that I'm leaving soon. In fact, this time next week I'll be on the plane! Taiwan has been nothing but good for me, and I hope the feeling is mutual- but, things change. Life is change, and just because one good thing is coming to an end, doesn't mean there won't be even better things in the future. So, there it is. I'm leaving Taiwan, and therefore this blog- Tang's Taiwan- has to come to an end. After all, it wouldn't really make much sense to have a blog called Tang's Taiwan if Tang isn't actually in Taiwan, would it?

I know I've been putting out updates more and more infrequently as time goes on, and I apologize for that. I hope you all enjoyed my pictures and stories. I hope you were encouraged by the news from this little corner of the world. I hope you'll look at my story, and think, "Maybe Taiwan isn't so bad. Maybe I could learn Chinese. Maybe I should go visit Taipei for a month or two and see what happens." Since I've been here, I've seen probably fifty people come and go from different countries all over the world, and I can honestly tell you only two of them genuinely didn't like Taiwan. Give it a shot. Step on over into Taiwan. You've got a 96% chance of being happy you tried it out.

Of course, I'll miss many things in Taiwan. These last few weeks, I've been on a kind of farewell tour, revisiting some of my favorite places and seeing some things I didn't have a chance to before. For example, I finally visited the old mining town of Jiufen.

Fog rolling in from the sea...

Jiufen is in all the tourist brochures. People who only come to Taiwan for a week go to see it, but it took me a year and a half before I finally got to check it out! Jiufen was a really big deal back when Japan controlled Taiwan; they struck coal in the mountains not too far away from Keelung, and sent people to begin working on the rich veins. What they didn't know at the time, was that beneath the coal there also lay gold! So in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Jiufen was a Japanese-style boomtown, and just as quickly as it grew, it was abandoned just as soon as the gold ran out.

I find the history fascinating, but that's not the reason most people go to see Jiufen- it's the unique look of the town, especially at night, that draws crowds.

Old streets

Many famous movies- at least, famous in Asia- got their set inspiration from Jiufen, and not only is it beautiful, their tea tastes great. Seriously, just walking around the village was really nice. I can see why people travel so far to see it.

Old Japanese houses...

Beautiful gardens...

Mountain views...

To be honest, there wasn't all that much to do there; they have a mining museum, which was interesting to me at least, and lots of tea shops selling delicious snacks, and of course the scenic views of the city, but if you want excitement you should probably go somewhere else.

But then, in the end, it is all about who you're with, isn't it? Even the most exciting thing can be ruined if you go with the wrong people, and even boring things can be made fun if you go with good friends. I think that's what I'll miss most about Taiwan; my good friends. I have made so many friendships in the last year and a half; it's unbelievable how easy it is to make friends here. I mean, take Joe for instance:

Seen here stylishly holding a large snake

I had no idea who he was when I agreed to let him move into my house as one of my roommates. All I knew was, I had an empty room, and there were two English brothers- Joel and Joe- arriving in Taiwan in a few days. So, they moved in, and we became really good friends! Even after Joel left Taiwan, Joe stayed (to the relief of all our Taiwanese friends, who can't hear the difference between "Joel" and "Joe"), and has grown to become one of my closest friends. He's staying here for a few more years, he says, and then maybe he'll go to Malaysia.

Really, this congregation is very close, and we're always doing things together; it's hard to not have lots of friends!

Scott, Melissa, Ayaha, 吳姊妹，林姊妹，Ashleigh, Chatham...

Alix, Yunya, Brandy, Yunmei, Joe (again), 圤弟兄姊妹，Eddie, Marco, Hyunjik, Jingwen...

I can't make a full list of anyone, because I know I'll forget people and they might be sad. I'll miss all of you, and I hope we can keep in touch!

Even working in Taiwan wasn't too bad! I mean, no one likes to work; that's why they pay you for it. Still, I was fortunate enough to have mostly good relationships with all of my students and their parents, and I'll miss some of them, too!

Like Don and his mom Kate- not just English students, they actually attended Memorial this year!

It's a bit unfortunate, actually- I've been giving away all of my private students and handing over all of my jobs, so now I only have one last class before I leave, and that makes me suddenly have lots of free time; my friends, however, have to keep working, so it's been a little difficult organizing times to meet with them before I go! We still have a week left, though, and I hope I can see lots of people before I do finally take off.

Rounding out my farewell tour, I went to a beach in northern Taiwan called Baishawan- (白沙灣White Sand Bay). I still haven't gone to Kenting, the famous Hawaii-esque beach in southern Taiwan, and at this point I don't think I'll be able to before I leave... but that just gives me another reason to come back for a visit! Even though it was cloudy the day I went to Baishawan, it's been hot in Taiwan for about two months already, and it was a nice day to go play in the surf.

Glorious!

Baishawan is also, apparently, a good place to surf, and they even have all-day longboard rentals for NT$500- about US$15. I don't know how to surf, to the disappointment of everyone who knows I'm from California, but I have always wanted to learn... it's a shame the friends I was with didn't want to get some lessons while we were there! Still, beautiful clear water, nice surf, warm sand and nice trails make for a good day trip.

Speaking of trails, after hanging out on the beach for a few hours we found a trail that lead us out onto a little cape north of the beach, so we went to check it out. 

Off we go!

Apparently this cape was made the last time Yangmingshan, the volcano just north of Taipei, erupted- about 14,000 years ago. Incredible to think that a mountain over fifty miles away could affect terrain so far away, and so strongly! (Don't worry; the volcano is still active, but the scientists at the National Taiwan University say it won't erupt for another 100,000 years.)

Not as nice a beach, but a nice walk

As we walked, we talked about the past, the future, Taiwan and our lives. It's hard to not get a little nostalgic when making such a big change, but having friends can make everything better- even if you have to leave those friends behind. But nothing is forever. We'll see each other again. And although I'm going off to live my life, it's not like their lives will stop just because I'm not around, so in a way you could say they'll be leaving me behind.

I will miss them, though.

Although this is the last post I will make on this blog, I'm considering starting a new one- I haven't decided yet. If I do, it will be primarily pictures, without so much text. I'm not going to take this blog down, and as always, I get notifications when you leave comments, so please feel free to drop me a line whenever you want. I know that a lot of people who read this blog don't live in America, but if you want to know more, and you know her, talk to my mom.

If all this seems a little sudden to you, maybe you might feel comforted if I told you it seems sudden to me too. Although many things in our future remain nebulous and unknown, one thing is for sure- as long as we continue pursuing Kingdom interests, our future is bright. May Jehovah's blessing be with all his people.

Until we talk again.

I'm on a rock!

Macau 澳門

(What once was...)

It's hard to believe how fast time goes sometimes! I feel like I just got back from my trip to Kinmen, and already three months has gone by- so it became time for me to venture out from Taiwan once again.

For this Spotlight on a Strange Place, I chose to go to Macau. Macau is quite a bit more well-known than Kinmen, but it's still a very small place quite far away from most of my readers, so if you don't know where it is, let me help you:

See the little green peninsula on the left?

As you can see, Macau is very close to Hong Kong- just across the Pearl River Delta, which means that from Taipei it takes just about two hours to fly there. As you can also see, Macau is much smaller than Hong Kong, which is itself very small; and, Macau along with Hong Kong are both a different color than China. That's because Macau and Hong Kong have very similar backgrounds; where Hong Kong belonged to the British Empire, Macau was claimed by Portugal. Macau is about two hundred years older than Hong Kong, and it was sold to China at a later time; but right now they have very similar situations, with their own laws and passports but no freedom to make decisions separate from China.

When I arrived in Macau, I immediately noticed the many ways in which it is different than Hong Kong. Take this picture for example:

Just looking down a street

I took this picture between the airport and a bus stop. See the buildings, how they're short enough you can see the sky? And the flowers on the road? And the nice (I later learned, hand-cobbled) sidewalks? And the absence of millions of people? Immediately, Macau was a more comfortable place to visit than Hong Kong.

Many of those things are caused by the heavy Portuguese influence still felt in the city. Macau was established by the Portuguese in 1557. You might ask yourself, as I did when I first heard of Macau, "What were the Portuguese of all people doing in Asia in 1557?"

Back when the British were still stuck on their home island, the Portuguese were already excellent sailors and traders, having sailed around the tip of Africa, past India, and on to Ming China. For a while, they were content to use their bases in India to trade with China- in the process, discovering and naming Formosa- but after a few years, they realized the benefit a local settlement to repair and refit their ships could bring. They asked the Chinese if they could buy some land, and got a flat "No" in response. It didn't matter what they offered, the Chinese still said No.

Old main square of Macau- as you see, the Portuguese eventually won

According to a museum I went to while in Macau, one day a Portuguese ship heading into Canton was damaged badly by a storm and sunk near modern Macau. The Portuguese authorities arrived and found that although they had lost the ship, much of their cargo could be saved- if they could get it quickly and let it dry out.

They approached the Mandarin of Guangdong Province, and in return for a cut of the trade goods he agreed to not notice while the Portuguese landed on current-day Macau Peninsula and salvaged their goods. While he was still busy not noticing them, the Portuguese quickly build a fortress and stationed enough cannon there that the Mandarin of Guangdong could not move them!

The Mandarin requested Imperial troops to help him, but the Emperor informed him that the Portuguese were his problem- the Emperor had enough problems of his own. So, his solution was simple: Build a large wall across the peninsula and pretend the Portuguese weren't there.

An old Catholic church (and an apple)

Amazingly, this worked out pretty well for everyone. The local Chinese couldn't mingle with the Westerners, the Portuguese had a trading base and couldn't expand further into China, and after a few decades of pretending they didn't exist, the Chinese finally signed a treaty leasing Macau Peninsula to the Portuguese for 40 pounds of silver per year- which they continued to pay right up until they ended the lease in 1999.

Shops in the Senado

The official languages in Macau are Portuguese and Cantonese- not Mandarin, and not English. Since Mandarin and English are the two languages I know, communicating with the locals was a bit difficult! Still, they use the same written Chinese characters, and enough storekeepers knew enough Mandarin (still no English) that I could get by alright.

For the first three hundred years, Macau's main economy was trade with China. Traders from all over Europe would put into port at Macau while doing business with China, and many rich companies competed with each other for land to build warehouses and offices on. In the 1800s, though, Britain gained possession of Hong Kong, and afterwards Macau was never able to recapture the same prominence. Hong Kong was bigger, its harbor was better, it had more water, and to top it all off it already had Chinese people living on it, so it was easier to find workers. Macau still struggled along, but it was never the same.

Of course, now its main economy is gambling.

The casinos loom over the old streets...

Oddly for a culture that loves a good wager, gambling of any sort is illegal throughout all China. That doesn't stop small games of course, but for anything bigger than a game of poker or 麻將 the Chinese are out of luck...

Unless they go to Macau, where gambling is totally legal! 

Because China is so big, and because most Chinese people really do like gambling, Macau has become much like Las Vegas- except Chinese, and much bigger. In fact, last year Macau made seven times as much money as Las Vegas. Many of the local Macanese people aren't too happy about the changes the casinos have brought, but everyone has to admit that at least the extra money has reached all the residents of Macau- it's not just a few rich guys laughing to the bank.

After going to the old main square, I walked up a very steep hill to the Fortaleza del Monte, the Fortress on the Mountain, which protected Macau for nearly five hundred years.

And those old stones look every bit of five hundred years old...

According to the museum (which was actually built inside the fortress, as it was decommissioned in the 1980s), this was the very fortress the Portuguese built to initially seize control of Macau! It was expanded since they first built it, of course, finally attaining its current appearance in the late 1700s, but some of the original structure is still visible.

Guard tower overlooking the entrance...

...which is here, complete with the Portuguese coat of arms above the gate

Inside the gate

The Fortaleza is a nice place to spend some time. On a mountain, the breeze is very refreshing, and the views of the city are very impressive.

Aimed perfectly

On the current Fortaleza, there are no guns pointing towards Mainland China, as a gesture of peace and goodwill- but even the original structure has a smaller battlement and less defenses in that direction. Perhaps the Portuguese realized, if China ever really got angry there wasn't much they could do to defend themselves? If so, it makes sense that they would focus their attention against pirates- who did come a few times- and maybe use the lack of defenses against China as proof of good intentions.

A nice Chinese man helped me prove I was there

The museum inside the Fortaleza was small, without too much to write home about other than the storiy of Macau's origin I already shared with you. They did have a nice street built with facades of various Macanese houses, from a poor fisherman's house all the way up to the Governor General's mansion, which was pretty cool.

No pictures allowed... so be discreet

After I came down from the mountain, I came across this grand old ruin, the Cathedral of St. Paul, which was gutted by fire in the 1800s. The entire structure was so badly hurt by the fire it collapsed- except its front, amazingly, which still stood and continues to stand down to our day!

Iconic! (Get it? Because of the icons?)

Actually it is a pretty iconic building, I saw the Ruins of St. Paul's on souvenirs of all kinds- although most people now living in Macau aren't very Portuguese, they're still proud of their city's heritage!

From farther away

Looking out on the Cathedral's street- "Resurrection Rd."

During my trip, I had the good fortune to be on the same bus as an agent of Macau's Ministry of Tourism, who not only suggested several of the sites I went to but also enlightened me on Macau's current situation. The woman (whose name was Cinderella- really) explained that she herself was native-born Macanese, and since she was alive during the hand-off she's actually now a Portuguese citizen. (On a side note, that was really nice of Portugal to do. Many people in Macau didn't like the idea of becoming Chinese citizens, so Portugal gave them a way to emigrate if they wanted. Britain, on the other hand, completely ignored the people of Hong Kong's protests, didn't let any of them leave to the UK, and actually restricted travel before the hand-off to prevent people fleeing.)

Cinderella told me that before the hand-off, when Macau was still Portuguese, Macau had only 650,000 citizens; now, sixteen years later, it has close to five million. Offsetting this somewhat, the Chinese government has given Macau huge amounts of money to artificially enlarge their islands and even create new ones, so the people aren't as packed together as they might have been; but the effect on Macau's culture has nonetheless been immense. 

Obviously, these 4.35 million extra people weren't born in Macau; they came from China, and they brought their own Chinese culture with them. As such, most people who live in Macau cannot speak Portuguese, even though it's an official language; most cannot make or even don't like Macanese food; they listen to different music, think about different things and were educated differently. In fact, because Portugal gave all Macanese citizens Portuguese citizenship, the effect is even more pronounced than it might seem, as many of the remaining 650,000 people left Macau.

All that Chinese money, though...

I really, really like Macanese culture. It's a really interesting mix of Portuguese and Chinese, and although this might seem odd, it feels very... like home. Hospitable, maybe, is the word, very open and generous. But today's Macau doesn't really have that culture anymore; what's left of it is just on life support, propped up by the government to attract tourists and to keep the few remaining native Macanese happy.

Macau Tower; if you're crazy, you can bungee jump from it!

I only visited for a day. There's probably much that I missed, and surely many people are quite happy with the new way of life. Certainly, the extra money from the casinos has opened a lot of doors for many people who had very little options before- new schools, hospitals, roads, and houses are appearing very quickly, and even islands are emerging from the sea to provide comfortable living space for everyone. But I can't help feeling just a little bit sad for Macau- it seems it sold its heart for a nice job.

I killed time in this nice auditorium while waiting for my plane to leave

At least one thing is for sure, though- 蛋塔 danta are amazing.

Within two hours of taking this picture of delicious egg tart pastry, I was back home in Taipei waiting for a bus.

It's hard to say when my next post will go up, unfortunately- I have been very busy with a variety of projects lately, and I'm afraid I will have even less time in the coming weeks. I may have news for you soon...

Records 新紀錄

(Moving faster!)

A little while ago, when Daan and Taipei South congregations were just splitting, I mentioned that it was a time of great inner conflict for most of us. One the one hand, splitting into two congregations was a good thing; it proved we're having success in the ministry, it opened the way for future success, and it made the elders' jobs easier, as they have fewer people to look after. On the other hand, it meant we'd be seeing a lot less of many of our friends, as our schedules, service arrangements and meetings changed.

We officially split at the beginning of last month, which means that only about six weeks have passed- and already, at this early date, it has been overwhelmingly worth it! Although our publisher count has dropped to only about 85 (from 170-something when we were one big congregation), we have an average attendance for last month of 130, and we had 192 people attend the Memorial! Both congregations average bible studies have gone up; more people are pioneering, although that could be influenced by the Memorial as well; even the table we have set up at Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial hall broke its record not one, but twice! It's clear that Jehovah is blessing these new arrangements and helping us to move ever faster as time goes on.

I want to mention again the two times CKS broke its record, because I think it's really cool. 

As does Sr. Shen 神姊妹!

The first time was nearly a month ago, when in one seven-hour day the Witnesses manning the cart placed 70 books and 40 brochures, with three people applying for Bible studies. Wonderful! That was a record-breaker, but not by all that much; although on an average day we usually place only 20-30 books and brochures combined, we've had good days before that weren't that much lesser than this first record breaker. The second one came last week, last Monday in fact, when in one day we placed- get this- 193 books and 146 brochures, with seven people requesting a Bible study! I was there for the first three hours of the day, and while we were there I had to leave CKS twice to quickly ride to the hall and back with more literature, because we had run out!

At CKS, we predominantly talk with Mainland Chinese tourists who've come on vacation to Taiwan. Although China is officially the least religious country in the world, with many religious groups under heavy restrictions or outright banned- Jehovah's Witnesses included- it's easy to see that many of the Chinese people still have the spiritual need that Jesus mentioned in his Sermon on the Mount, and it's important that they too get the opportunity to learn the truth about the Bible.

Having a smaller territory is a bit more convenient for our regular door-to-door work, as well, since most of us don't have any kind of motorized transport- it's all bikes and feet!

The all-important coffee break, with Chongren studiously ignoring the camera

A small amount of the increase in publishers is because a few people have returned to Taipei South after a period of absence. For instance, Giancarlo has come back after being in Panama for six months. What was he doing in Panama for so long, you might ask? Good question- he was marrying his beautiful bride Sarah!

Seen here travelling in great style to lunch

Also, we've finally gotten through to Marco- he's been attending our Family Worship for a few months now, which is all in Chinese (well, Chinglish), he's attended a few meetings, he's even come with us to the assembly, and now he's finally moved from Taipei English to our Chinese hall. Good job man!

Also, he's not that tall, this door is just really short

Not only that- look who it is!!

Jerry!! (And me and Kuanzheng)

...unfortunately, Jerry didn't move back yet, he's still doing his Substitute Military Service. They moved him down to Chiayi, apparently, and he says his new job is incredibly, crazy boring. He's the manager for all the other guys doing civil service instead of the mandatory draft, and he says unless someone has a problem- which isn't often- he just goes outside and sweeps the sidewalks all day. Still, he's already a third of the way through (it's 18 months long), and he's in good spirits- he's doing it for a very good reason, and he knows it.

Afterwards, we went out for some Xinjiang food- try the "fried evil"!

A few days after taking that picture, Terry got really sick- he says he's got walking pneumonia or something- so he's had to call in a lot of us as substitute teachers lately. Personally, I filled in for him at a rich kids' high school out in Keelung for one day this week, which was a really interesting experience. Up until now, my biggest class has had fifteen kids in it, and I usually teach 7-13 year olds. This school, on the other hand, had classes of fifty or sixty kids, all 15 or 16 years old. Since I was a substitute, they had all the classes planned out for me already, and all I needed to do was get the kids through the material and tests without anyone dying- and in that I succeeded! Teaching one person is so different than teaching an entire classroom, you need a whole new set of skills... Terry deserves his reputation as a good teacher.

High schoolers asking their Confucian predecessors for help

And for one last record, our Family Worship has been growing. Now we're up to seven people in regular attendance; we're all single brothers and sisters who don't have families in Taipei, so we made our own! It was a bit difficult to stick to the schedule when we first started doing this in Taipei, but it's really paid off... Tuesday night is always fun now. 

Knights of the Red Table

And it helps when we order pizza and the pizza place slightly burns our pizza, so they give us the burnt ones for free on top of what we ordered! Double pizza night!! It wasn't badly burnt, easily still edible, but man... we were eating that for the rest of the week.

I'm going to Macau tomorrow for a visa run, I'll try to do another post about that interesting city soon! Who knows, maybe I'll break another record...