What to do during a typhoon

Today another typhoon has been blowing through... I personally enjoy them for the most part, because it means you don't have to go anywhere... which means you can stay home and get things done (in a relaxed day-off-feel sort of way). However, when you are a kid, it means staying inside the confines of one's apartment, and sometimes you just have to be creative finding things to do...:

Not only do we have lots of activity inside, there is activity outside too -- in the form of wind and rain. Sometimes during a typhoon the wind howls so loud we can't sleep through it at night. Sometimes it rains so much we have to bail water from the front entryway to keep it from coming in the house. Most of the time though it's just enough wind and rain to keep one inside for a day or two, but not enough to do too much damage in the immediate area where we live -- today was one of those. Here's a bit of video footage from outside our apartment:

A Trip through the Universe

Have you ever taken the time to really reflect on the magnitude of the universe??

We talk and sing about how great God is, but how often do we truly think about HOW GREAT He really is?

To help us get just a tiny glimpse of God's incredible greatness, let's take a little trip together...

Imagine we are traveling in a car together at 65 mph (105 km/h). If we keep at a steady pace, not stopping to fill up with gas or get food, how long will it take us to drive around the earth? A: 384 hours -- 16 full days! If we want to go to the moon in our car? 3,548 hours >> 148 days >> nearly 5 months!

Let's take a rocket. The fastest speed we have reached yet is 25,000 mph (40,000 km/h). But, this is still not fast enough -- traveling at this speed we would reach earth's nearest star in 112,657 years!

We're going to have to travel much faster than this! Let's pretend we have a "speed-of-light spaceship" to travel in. Light travels at 186,000 m/sec (300,000 km/sec)! It is impossible to travel at this speed. One scientist conservatively estimates it would take the output of the all the world's nuclear energy to push a golf ball to the speed of light!! But, even then, according to laws of physics, it would be impossible. Although it is completely impossible for us to travel at this speed, let's just imagine we could...

Blink your eyes for just a second. In the time it took to blink your eyes just once, light can travel around the earth at the equator 7 1/2 times!!! Now we're moving!!

So, traveling in our speed-of-light spaceship, how long will it take us to get to the:
Moon -- 1.2 sec
Sun -- 8 min 20 sec
Pluto (farthest planet) -- 5.3 hrs
Proxima Centauri (nearest star) -- 4.2 yrs
(remember we can travel the equator 7 1/2 times in the blink of an eye at this speed --
and it takes us over 4 yrs to reach the nearest star!!)
Sirius (brightest star in sky) -- 8.6 yrs
Polaris (north star) -- 432 yrs!
to get to the center of the Milky Way galaxy -- 30,000 yrs
to cross the Milky Way galaxy -- 100,000 yrs
Andromeda galaxy (closest galaxy to ours) -- 2 million yrs
Virgo cluster of galaxies (closest cluster to us) -- 60 million yrs
3C273 - a quasar (the farthest thing astronomers can see with most sophisticated equipment) -- 2500 million yrs!

Does that boggle your mind? What a humbling thing when we realize the magnitude, the Awesomeness, the Power, the GREATNESS of our Almighty God who created it all by His spoken word and holds it all in His hands!!!!!

Michael and I will be teaching in DTS this next week on the Character of God. The above is a small excerpt from Tues. morning's opening (that comes with powerpoint), when we will look at God being All-powerful, All-knowing, All-present, and All-wise.

I always have fun teaching this day -- the morning includes powerpoint pictures, music, blowing up balloons, God-stories, and lots of personal challenge as we consider what these aspects of God's character mean for us in our daily lives. Right now, I'd better go do some more preparing for tomorrow's class...!

Don't look -- you might cause an accident!

I was on my way home this evening from the vegetable market and slammed on the brakes as another motorbike turned onto the street right in front of me without even looking... a rather common occurence around here and something you get used to watching out for...

I asked a friend one time why this happened so frequently and she told me people here believe if you look before making a right turn you will cause an accident. I don't know if people really believe that or not, but based on observation and daily driving experience -- it sure seems like a lot do!

Ghost Warning

"Are you taking your clothes off the line tonight?" -- the question was voiced with concern from some Taiwanese friends visiting us one evening.

"We'll take them in later," we reassured them, not clarifying what later might mean.

It was still ghost month according to the Chinese lunar calendar, and during ghost month it is believed that if you leave your clothes hanging on the line overnight, the evil spirits will come and inhabit them. Then, when you do take your clothes in, the evil spirits will stay inside and come in too. When you put those clothes on, the evil spirits will come upon you (unless you are a really strong person, then they might just follow you around). They will control your fate, bring you harm, cause sickness and ill health, etc.

Well, to let you all know what “later” actually turned out to be: We didn’t end up taking our clothes off the line until 2 days following. It wasn’t on purpose, it was just that at first they weren’t dry (it’s humid here!) and then the next day I plain forgot :-P.

Numerous people here engage in many practices to appease and ward off evil spirits. What a privilege it is for us to share with our friends and neighbors the victory and power we have through Christ!

"Maggot Meat" Memories

Remember those school lunches you used to refer to with a name other than what was actually listed on the menu?

I remember the "maggot meat" lunch we used to be served -- hamburger meat (mixed with ?) mashed flat into the bottom of a pan, then baked and served up in a square "steak". It probably wasn't quite as bad tasting as the name we gave it, it did look awful though! Then there were "green eggs and ham", and no, this wasn't just a few elementary school Dr. Suess fans' term for them -- they literally were green! (made out of a powder mix)

When I used to pick Kenna up from last year's kindergarten, the teachers commented a few times, "Kenna bu gan chi zhu xie" (Kenna doesn't dare to eat the pig blood), and I smiled and nodded and thought to myself, "No, and her mom wouldn't/doesn't either!"

I'm not sure what Kenna has been eating at her new kindergarten the past two weeks, but apparently she often has to skip recess as she's a bit slow gettin' it down. Poor thing, it has brought her to tears a few times at home already. She loves school itself, it's just the food she doesn't necessarily look forward to everyday (different style to what she's accustomed to). Oh well, she'll get used to it and eventually grow to like it -- her school friends do. :-)

Kenna -- Jia yo!

Kenna does Runway!

Kenna just got to do her first runway fashion show for "DAKS" -- held at Taipei 101 (currently the world's tallest building, located here in Taipei).

It was quite a lot of fun -- first going to the hair salon to have hair & makeup done, and then on to 101 where she got to practice just a little bit before joining all the professional models backstage to get ready for the half-hour show.

She was a bit nervous, but very brave -- having to walk all by herself. There were only 2 kids, Kenna and another 8-yr-old boy and the rest were all professional adults. Kenna wasn't sure she'd have the confidence to take off her jacket at the end in front of all the cameras, but we practiced backstage, and she did it! (though she kinda forgot to pause and smile at the cameras while counting to 4 -- oh well)

The video isn't the best quality (hard to see because of the bright spotlights) but thought we'd post it just for fun.

This other picture was taken after the show -- wearing their second outfits.

Back to School!

Elise & Kenna are back to school!

Elise is in 2nd grade and is so excited to see her teacher again (she gets the same teacher for both 1st & 2nd grade) and catch up with all her friends. There are about 350 2nd-graders at her school (one of 8 elementary schools in our area). A little bit different to home! She loves learning (especially Chinese) and overall enjoys school very much.

Kenna is in the local public Kindergarten (attached to the same elementary school Elise goes to) and is very excited to be at school where she gets to play quite a bit and do lots of activities with all her "best friends" (she came home with 5 new "best friends" after just the first day of school). The food however, is not her favorite... but she'll get used to it. At least this kindergarten doesn't serve quite as much pig's blood for lunch as last year's kindergarten! :-P