"To a heart formed for friendship and affection...

the charms of solitude are very short-lived."

So says a quote in my "Cryptogram a Day" puzzle book by a woman named Fanny Burney, who according to Google was a servant to the royals of England in the late 1700's. Well, I don't know what inspired her to write that quote, but I can say when I read it this week I could relate to it. I do enjoy a good bit of solitude, but this week I've found myself in the throes of cultural dissonance. (I know this because I became intensely annoyed yesterday by the giggling of all the staff at the drink shop I stopped at when I couldn't communicate to the guy behind the counter that I wanted an iced coffee with milk. He told me there was no milk, which is ridiculous since most of the drinks they offer come with milk. But since neither of us could communicate our thoughts, I just said, "o.k., coffee." And then I watched them make a large iced coffee with whipped cream on top. No problem...in the end, but I have to tell you, inside I was thinking "you folks better stop laughing at me, 'cause I could bounce over this counter and crack your skinny behinds! I know you don't want to see that, so you better stop!" That's about the time I realized, the honeymoon is OVER!) So, Fanny had it right, the charms of being on one's own in a strange place where you neither "know" others nor are you "known by" others has worn thin and I long once again for my friends and community, the place of peace and familiarity I call "home"..."163" ...and all that comes with it.

I know this is a natural part of assimilating to a new place, but knowing and liking are very different things, and right now I'm not liking the adjusting. Mainly this feeling may be brought on by two things...I moved into my new place on Monday, and I love it. It's clean, it's modern and beautiful and my roommate is very kind. Buuuttt...I keep getting lost every time I try to venture out anywhere and it's getting old very fast. I eventually find "a way" to where I'm going, but not until I've gotten really frustrated and annoyed that I can't seem to get the feel of this neighborhood. (For those of you who have enjoyed my navigation help around the city of San Francisco, you can really understand how this feels for me.) This gives me a daily reminder that I am helpless here and this is not a good feeling.

The second thing that I believe may have caused my "turn toward the abyss" is that my manager (not my boss, but the gal that manages my branch of the school) came to me on Wednesday to tell me I'll probably have to take another beginning class in the next few weeks since there are so many inquiries about the school from new students. The reason I get this is because one of my classes only has 6 students in it, E2, and the school has an 8 student minimum for a class to continue. I love E2, and although one of my students in that class, Neco, annoys me a lot with his silly antics and insistent "Teacher, me no" shouts at me when he wants to say "Teacher, I don't...(whatever it is we're doing at the time)", I love him! And I really enjoy that class. (Show me a teacher that wouldn't enjoy teaching 6 children eager to learn, right? Of course I love it!) I'll try to post some pics of this class before they break it up into other existing classes to make room for the new one...ugh! You know how I blogged about A11? Well, I think this one will be called A13...and I ain't feelin' like 13's gonna be a very lucky number for Mama! Alas, if this is part of the job, then I must do it, but I don't like it, and I'm really hoping there's another solution. As always, I covet your prayers around this and for my continued adjustment to life and living here...not only because it's a different place, but also because it's away from the people I love.

So, all in all, this has been a good weekend. Yesterday, I set my room up (pictures to come in future blogs) and prepared dinner for my two Canadian colleagues and my roommate. We had fun just eating and chillin' together at the new place. My roommate had to teach during the day so I felt like treating her to dinner. (Shout out to Anneloe, pronounced Annalu, for letting me stay here rent free for the last week. God is good!) We did a reconnaissance mission where we all four went out to the corner traffic light to video tape the count down of the little "don't walk" graphic. Here are two very short clips of me interpreting the little walking dude.



Today, I led worship at church, went to lunch with some of the folks on the worship team, and then had rehearsal afterwards. It went pretty well, and I can sense the team beginning to gel and trust one another. I'm so thankful for a new couple in our church from Pennsylvania, Phillip and Jennifer. He's on the worship team and can really rock the guitar, plus he's got a real heart for worship and for youth, so he's an amazing addition to what God's putting together at Victory English Fellowship (VEF)! After rehearsal, I rode out about 20 miles or so on the scooter with Ryno (pronounced Rrraino), another guy who plays guitar on my worship team, and another South African...I'm surrounded! He lives out near Chutung where I used to live, and he was showing me his special way to get into Hsinchu. It was fun, but after we had a coffee and I scooted back to the apartment, I was so dirty from the dust that was blowing around, I had to have a shower. I've been relaxing in my room ever since and now it's almost time for bed.

So, not bad, and tomorrow begins a new week full of fun and adventure teaching English in Taiwan. I really can't complain. There is never a shortage of things to blog about and it seems like several of my friends enjoy reading it. Thanks.

This brings me to my two last things to share with you. I recently purchased my own helmet for my scooter ventures. I had seen these helmets that had the name SCOTLAND on the side and something as a subtitle, and they always made me smile, for obvious reasons. But, when I found them for sale at the store I like to go to, I couldn't resist. And the subtitle reads "Every day is so nice." No doubt!!! As this is the first September in the past three that I've not been in Scotland, I can concur, "Scotland, every day is so nice!"





Lastly, I was alone in my apartment this evening putzing around making some dinner when I noticed the sky outside of the living room window. The sun was setting and it was beautiful.

So, that's all from me for now. Sorry I've been slow to post this week. For a short work week, it really felt very long! Work, huh? That's why it's called work, cause it's work. No more profound thought.

Until next time,
LC from TW