October 16, 2009

A day in Taipei

Friends,

We’ve now been here a month, and are starting to get the hang of things, so we thought it might be helpful to share a recent day in Taipei.

6:00 a.m. Sam wakes up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Emily often wakes with him, but now it’s my turn. For the next couple of hours I feed and change him, play with him, and watch Peipei the Pig (in Mandarin) to give us both some language practice. Sam eats cheerios, half an egg, and some fruit. 

Emily with the GA’s ecumenical officer, Rev. Hu Hong-Chi.

8:45 a.m. We head off to language school. I drop Emily at Taipei Language Institute. Sam goes to “Three Jade Nursery School,” which is government-run community daycare. He is in the “grape class,” which includes 1-2 year olds. He has three classmates and three teachers. He cries when I leave. He doesn’t usually do this (and sometimes he’s having so much fun at daycare that he cries when we pick him up). He’s adjusted well. He now loves fish balls and sticky rice, beef noodles and fried fish, seaweed crackers, and apple milk. He speaks neither English nor Chinese, but in a few years he’ll have much better Mandarin than we do. Each day his teachers fill out his “baby diary” to tell us how he ate, slept, and played.

9:15 a.m. I take Sam’s stroller and hop a bus to the General Assembly Office of the Presbyterian Church of Taiwan. A committee there oversees legacy property from the PCUS, and they usually have a member from the PC(USA). The committee administers a large “mission” building in Taizhong and also runs a school (at least, this is what I gather in my limited Chinese). Since we’re the only PC(USA) workers in Taiwan at the moment (our colleagues, the Lims, are on interpretation assignment), I get to sit in on what is probably the first of many committee meetings. After the bus I get a subway to the Taiwan Power building, and walk five minutes to the GA office. I arrive just as the meeting is beginning.

Evangelist Chen Yi-Min (who was a student of Jonathan’s) and Joyce Shih, the administrative assistant to the PCT's general secretary.

10:00 a.m. The meeting is held in Mandarin, since I don’t understand any Taiwanese. The committee chair is Pastor Chen, whom I met two weeks ago, and he kindly introduces me to the people on the committee. He shares the news that my predecessor, John McCall, has been called as the new head of staff at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Greensboro, North Carolina.

I do my best to follow what is happening. I don’t know a lot of the vocabulary. They discuss fee schedules for tenants and rules for workers. I learn how to say things like “sick leave,” “personal leave,” “grieving leave,” and “maternity leave.” The committee discusses how to assign university students to rooms and talks about the best configuration. They want to spread the word about the building and decide that they will advertise it in one of the church newspapers. I am catching maybe 50 percent of what is going on, even though I have been studying Mandarin on and off since 1995. I’m in a different context than the one I know. While my vocabulary for daily interaction and historical research is pretty good, I struggle when we get to government occupancy rules and regulations. Still, it’s great practice. During the meeting, my cup of tea is regularly refilled and we are given fruit. It helps a lot to have people who want to see us thrive here.

Carys Humphreys, a Welsh missionary who works with ecumenical affairs and mission work, shows Sam some gifts from partner churches.

12:15 p.m. The meeting ends. We’ll meet again in Taizhong in November. As lunch comes in, Emily arrives from language class, carrying Sam in a front carrier. Today she tried the advanced beginner Chinese class and really liked it; she plans to change classes. Sam slept on the rides over, which is a good sign for all of us.  Everyone greets her, and she greets them. We meet with several people from the Presbyterian Church of Taiwan Ecumenical Office.  Carys Humphreys, a Welsh missionary serving with CWM, helps us figure out some of our questions about finances and logistics. “Tina,” an accountant, changes some money and helps us open a local bank account. We can only do this now because we received our area resident cards arrived just a few days ago

In the meantime, Sam charms the office. He plays football during lunch, saying “uh ohhh” when the ball goes off the table. I’m vaguely terrified he will destroy some of the gifts (like teapots!) in the office from partner churches, but actually he is well guarded here. A worker at the door has bought him a toy airplane to match the toy truck she gave him when we visited last time. We’re often thankful for the kindness of strangers. We leave the meeting a little clearer on expectations for our work, and we’ve received some help on figuring out how best to relate to the three main institutions that are responsible for us (PC(USA), the Presbyterian Church of  Taiwan, and Taiwan Seminary).

The Seitz family with Hu Hong-Chi, Joyce, and Carys Humphries.

3:30 p.m. We catch the subway to the bus back to our car.

5:00 p.m. We get dinner at a noodle shop and buy some groceries. After a long day, Sam is starting to tire out.

6:00 p.m. Emily drives us home. Driving in Taipei is a big adjustment. Mopeds, often carrying several people (sometimes pets as well), race around us on both sides, buses stop suddenly, and drivers switch lanes abruptly. Emily handles this with a fair amount of grace. She’s not ready to make the trip alone, but is considering the possibility.

6:30 p.m. At home we get Sam bathed and things put away. We’ll have a couple of hours after he goes to sleep to do Chinese homework, catch up on email, or plan the week. It’s been a good day.

Jonathan and Emily