Saturday, December 8, 2007

Taiwanese Gecko Trivia

This past week in language school I learned the Taiwanesgecko2e word for the house geckos which are so prevalant here (In the highly unlikely event any of you are interested, copy the chinese name 壁虎  here).

These guys are helpful in that they eat mosquitos. However, when I lived for four years in Taipei and especially when I lived the same amount of time in Taichung, these critters could be especially annoying when they'd start chirping in the middle of the night from some hidden location inside the apartment. A few times I got up to hunt them down. Strangely though, in the time since I've been in Yunlin, I've not heard a single gecko chirp in spite of the fact that there have been many more in my house here than ever before.

My teacher passed along to me an interesting tidbit of Taiwanese trivia. He said that north of the Zhuo-shui river ( 濁水溪) which passes through the towns of  Xiluo and Mailiao in Yunlin County, the geckos chirp but south of the river they don't chirp. Anyone here in Taiwan have a conflicting experience?

Alas, the geckos here have seemingly removed themselves from view in recent weeks, so I can't test this theory until the spring perhaps.

Rest in Peace

This morning we find ourselves grieving yet again over another celebrity death. Alas, yesterday marked the passing of Asok the Intern. May he rest in peace.

Friday, December 7, 2007

Eastern Versus Western Cultural Values

I just got an interesting chain letter forwarded to me from a coworker which relates strongly to the cultural context of this blog. Rather than uploading her e-mail here, I'll  just include a link to another page online that already contains the pictures. Thanks Fungyee!

"North Harbor" Prayer Rally

Last Saturday I rode over to to attend a prayer rally in BeiGang ("North Port" or "North Harbor'). beigang3. I didn't stay very long because things were a little crazy for my taste during the time I was there. However,I heard great things about the morning session and had hoped to go back for the evening but for a prior commitment. May God answer the prayers that were offered up that day!  beigang1

The organizers chose to hold the rally there because this area is arguably the least-reached and least-penetrated by the gospel in all of Taiwan. That's why we're here and not in some more convenient locality further north. As we sometimes need to be reminded, our mandate is  to "establish wholistic communities of Christ among the least reached where all the odds are stacked against us." For us, that's here.

Coworkers' Innovative Son

David Iverson, Taiwan MK now going to school in Minnesota, hagrocerybike_1s a new bike to help out with his grocery shopping. His folks here tell me he's looking to upgrade the wheels on the cart so that it steers a little better! 

My Neighbor is Getting Some Good Press Coverage

My neighbor two doors to the right mentioned in my post below on October 9 got some press coverage earlier this week. I sure would like to send some more business his way!

Here's a second article (in Chinese) and here's his blog which shows a lot of his work pictorally.