Dream in the Night

I deleted this post and moved it to a new blog:

http://meismarkdream.blogspot.com/


Be sure to take the dream poll!

We dream dreams all the time.... but few people are able to recall them the next day. I believe God has wired us in such as way so that dreams are a way for the brain to resolve outstanding issues we confront during the day.

As a follower of Jesus Christ I believe some dreams are simply a product of what we had for dinner, although others can sometimes be directly from God and still others result from demonic oppression.

Years ago when I was once asked to give a talk on dreams, I cultivated the habit very quickly of remembering and journaling several dreams a night, usually by training myself to get up and write them down immediately after they concluded, or by asking myself and God before I got on with the day if I'd had any dreams. Then, to reflect and pray to God about them a few minutes.

However, in more recent years I've rarely remembered my dreams. Maybe I can start retraining myself how to remember and interpret them again. The new blog will be an attempt.

Eastern Light Elementary School K's and Flying Sands School Field Day

Here are a few pics of the kindergartners I see on Tuesdays as well as the 1st and 2nd graders from the other school, who participated in their field day yesterday. One big difference between field days here and back home (or at least my recollection of them) is the emphasis on several group activities, as well as the importance of the opening ceremony ("ceremony" and group/family orientation are important cultural values here in general).  I had things to do so only stuck around for the first hour and a half, joining the principal and 2 other "dignitaries" on the platform.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ruby

This afternoon when I arrived to teach my first and second graders, I found out somewhat belatedly that the two classes needed the time to prepare for the school's field day tomorrow (a phone call would have been nice... )

I spent the first hour hanging out with two sidelined 2nd graders who aren't able to participate tomorrow. The first child told me he couldn't participate because of asthma, but I don't know if that's true because he spinned a number of tall tales in a very short time (like traveling by bicycle to Taipei in northern Taiwan in a 2 day, 1 night trip...).

The second asthmatic child, English name Ruby, is much smaller than her classmates. Ruby is  one of the brightest kids I see every week when it comes to English. When I asked about her family, Ruby shared flatly and matter-of-factly that her mother had abandoned them. Her mother is not a foreign Vietnamese or mainland Chinese bride (as one might expect when one hears about a mom who has left a Taiwanese family) but a local from a nearby city. I told her later in the conversation that God loves her very much and she quickly added that her father loves her and takes her for walks to the school every weekend. Out of the blue I asked her when her birthday was, and was surprised when she said it was yesterday, a fact evidently lost on her teacher and classmates, as she was very shy, hiding behind me when I told two other teachers (unless this was a tall tale too!). Bless Ruby Lord! I hope to have a chance to drop by and say hello to her father since I know now basically where they live. I'll also be back at the school first thing in the morning for at least for all the pomp and circumstance of their field day opening ceremony (much more ceremonial that what we would have in the States).

April 16: Went back today for the field day. Ruby (on right) and her classmate asked me to take a picture with them!

Countryside Delicacies?

One of the unfortunate aspects of living in Taiwan is that whenever I go back to America, I don't have any crazy stories to tell about wild animals like international workers in Africa do. Nor do I usually eat anything all that unusual.

However, this morning one of my neighbors invited me to go out for breakfast this morning. We each had  a bowl of noodles ... and a small plate of dolphin meat on the side. I could only eat a few small pieces. Afterward, a few other acquaintances told me they find dolphin meat too "offensive" (new word for me in Taiwanese as well as Mandarin). I more or less agree with their assessment. Dolphin meat has a horrible aftertaste that sticks around long after the eating is done!

Tonight the same neighbor invited me over to his house for dinner, which I already ate, but I still joined them for a small bowl of beef tendon in soup. The soup was excellent, but it was hard for me to crunch away on the tendon, which you are supposed to eat all of. Then I was introduced to the speciality for the evening: rat meat from his family's farm! I only ate 3 or 4 tiny pieces. The way his wife prepared it, it was actually much more savory than the dolphin. If I hadn't known what it was, I could have eaten a lot.

I think my stomach is beginning to hurt. I hope I don't get sick tonight.

Next up: rabbit (which my neighbor raises back on his parents' farm) and venison, also available just down the street.

Neither my neighbor's wife, who is a Hakka from Northern Taiwan, nor their three daughters had anything to do with the rat meat. Nor do they eat the rabbit.

It Stinks Here

One of the distinguishing characteristics of my home here is that the glass face of my first floor with its sliding/screen doors faces south. In the winter my front porch basks in warmth because the harsh winter wind comes down from the north. In the summer it is cooler because the wind switches direction and blows in softly from the south. This, in contrast to other team members, whose homes face north and perhaps have more dirt blown in during winter.

All this took a nasty turn for the worst yesterday when I got home late in the day from my working day trip up to KeeLung. Before settling in for the night, I opened the sliding door of my second floor bedroom, but recoiled in disgust at the odor that was reeking in from outside. I figured at the time it had to be from the dogs across the street.

However, I learned today from an inquiring neighbor that the disgusting smell emanates from a large quantity of rotting crops that were dumped a few kilometers from here. Until yesterday that folks that lived to the south were the blessed recipients. Now, the winds have turned. The stench is amazingly intense in spite of the distance. I have to keep my first floor doors closed. And I suspect the smell might well endure into the hot summer. I feel sort of like Jonah after the Lord took away his shade tree:

Then the LORD said, "You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow; it came into being in a
night and perished in a night. And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?" Jonah 4:10-11

April 12 Update: After the local branch of Taiwan's Environmental Protection Agency intervened earlier this week by issuing a fine and a threat, the people responsible for the above have been cleaning up. No smell for a couple of days now!!!