Random Summer Summary 2016

HOTNESS

You know it is hot when you have to travel to Thailand to cool off.

The heat index got up to 126 degrees Fahrenheit one day here where I live in the Middle Kingdom. Most evenings the heat index has been at least 100 degrees. Not every summer is this hot. For instance, any summer I am not here, it is not that hot. It wasn't that hot here last summer.

THAILAND

I am not in this picture and I did not wear a swimsuit, so don't be wondering which one of these Russian exhibitionists is me. 

Some day when I am full of energy, I will get the good photos off of my good camera instead of just showing you my phone photos.

Honestly, while in Thailand I saw the beach for about five minutes every day, usually just before the sun set, but I wasn't at the beach much. 

I have been on three trips this summer. I have been to Taiwan, Thailand, and a desert area of China. I did fine on each trip, but when I got home from the trips I had trip recovery issues. Maybe when the weather cools down, I can recover more quickly. My health still drags me down. 

FRIENDLY MUSLIM LADY

One day near the end of Ramadan, on one of my trips, I was out in a public park and the Muslim lady above invited me to her house for dinner. She was very friendly and insisted. I told her I would visit her house, but I wouldn't eat because I'd already eaten dinner. I got there and she started cooking, because she didn't believe I'd really already eaten. I wasn't really planning to eat her food, and she wasn't planning to eat it either because she was still fasting. So finally we just took photos and laughed and talked about things. Here she is at the sink washing the food she planned to cook for me. Her hat is what Muslims wear. Sometimes they wear scarves, but the purple hats are easier to throw on. 

She told me that her husband was staying with their daughter for a few weeks, because he wanted to eat and his daughter would cook for him. So this lady was willing to cook for me but not for her own husband.

UNFRIENDLY MUSLIMS ... OR NOT?

One day, in my own city, I went to eat at a Muslim restaurant. The Uighurs who work there are very conservative, cover up with scarves, and are very unfriendly. You can say hello to them and they won't even acknowledge your existence. People go there to eat because the food is good, not because they want to be acknowledged as human beings. 

So imagine my shock when I went to the restaurant one day and one of the women came over to TALK TO ME. She wanted schooling help for her children and thought I would have information to help. Her husband came over and we exchanged contact information. I texted a Chinese friend to say I was at this restaurant, and that Chinese friend wrote back asking if they were being mean as usual. I wrote back and said "NO, WE ARE FRIENDS NOW!" My Chinese friend thought I was being sarcastic and didn't believe me! Haha.

I've been back several times. The last time I was there, a torrential thunderstorm came up. The sidewalks became rivers. I had to stay at their restaurant a really long time. I thought I could chat with them more, but they were busy running the restaurant. 

COFFEE SHOP IN THE RAIN

When a mild break in the rain came, I ran across the pathway to a coffee shop and hung out until the storm ended. It was one of the most beautifully decorated coffee shops that I've ever been in.

                  

I felt bad that Mimi was home alone during the storm though. Poor dog child.

IN CONCLUSION

Besides going to the doctor for appointments, these are the sad little highlights of my summer so far. Thank God I've been able to do this much!

I've tried to write blog posts more often, but the internet always seems to cut out when I have time to write. Thanks to the Great Firewall of You-Know-Where, I have to use a VPN to write on this blog, and VPN slows down the internet and doesn't work at all sometimes. I do the best I can with what I have.

Please pray for good health for me and my family (my parents in particular). And, as always, please pray that cancer stays away from my body forever, please.

That's one big tree

This Christmas tree was in the middle of one of the terminals at the Taoyuan Airport in Taiwan. I had no idea that Taiwan people (many of whom have animism as their religion) were so interested in Christmas until this trip.

Snapshots of Taipei

In the 60 minutes I wasn't attending meetings in the past three days, I hit the streets of Taipei, Taiwan to take a few snapshots.

 The city is decked out in a big way for Christmas. I love this part of being here.

Taiwan has a much larger middle class than China does. But the buildings reflect the 60s era, are generally old looking and boxy, and are crammed in close together. The buildings look a lot like the ones in Hong Kong. China's buildings are generally more modern looking. You can tell that Hong Kong and Taiwan had their building heyday about 50 years ago.

The shops may not look like much on the outside, but they are pretty high-class looking on the inside. There are also modern shopping malls in another part of town; the shopping area above is across from a major university.

 Just another view from the streets.

This neighborhood has lots of classy small restaurants (the Christmas tree above was in a cute little restaurant), but college students like their street food too. The barrels above are full of meat-filled buns.

It seemed to me that a lot of people in Taipei have cars, but there are also lots of motorbikes and bicycles, especially in the college area. (You can vaguely see me in the mirror in the above photo.)

Walking path.

I am in the Taipei airport, flight delayed by one hour. I'll teach you some Chinese. Here's how to say airport: feiji chang (fay-jee-chong). Just keep in mind that "chong" rhymes with Hong Kong, and you'll say it perfectly! 

Adios Taipei, I'm heading back to the big country!

Another trip

I am off to Taiwan today for a quick 4-day trip. Mimi has been preoccupied with bowing down in front of the heater, so she hasn't noticed yet that I have packed my suitcase. (She lets out a whine when she sees me packing my suitcase.) When I travel, a dogsitter comes to my place to stay for the night and a good portion of the day, so Mimi's life is not terribly disrupted by my travels. Mimi doesn't visit other homes much because she sheds, and also thinks she has been given away to a new owner. If her intelligence was just a little higher, I could assure her that I am not giving her away.

Last night I contacted all my friends to let them know about my Christmas party next weekend. One will be in Japan and Oscar will be taking his mom to the hospital that day, but it sounds like everyone else can come.

I like going to Taiwan because (a) they speak Chinese and (b) unlike Thailand there are lots of shops and restaurants near my lodging in Taiwan. For example, within a block I'll find a McDonalds, a Starbucks, 4-5 locally-owned restaurants, a church, a Christian bookstore, a pharmacy, and a university.  In usual times I would like to stay there a few days longer, but this trip is scheduled too closely to my trip to America, so I have to hurry back!