News from the Island | Simone, Joe, Amy & Anna

Trip to Yilan

Posted on March 19, 2014 by Joe

Last Saturday we went with a group from our church to a trip into the area of Yilan in North Taiwan. We went to a village which is mainly inhabited by the Atayal people, an aboriginal Taiwanese group (our pastor’s wife comes from this village). First we wandered around and then got some delicious lunch, including wild pig hunted by the Atayal. After lunch we went for a short hike into the mountains. It felt really good to get out of the city for a while and to enjoy the beautiful nature in Taiwan! In the afternoon we had Chinese tea and visited at a tea plantation in the mountains. Before we went back home in the evening, we had dinner in a nice restaurant. The food was tasty though we ate many things we have never eaten before. Well, we still have to get used to these big oysters 😉 …

It was a really nice day and it was great get to know the people of our church a bit better.

Vacation in Kenting

Posted on March 3, 2014 by Simone Schmid

After Chinese New Year, we were able to have a few days of vacation in the South of Taiwan, in Kenting. We went together with a German-Taiwanese family which we got to know at language school. Kenting about 250 miles away from Taipei and means a 6 hours dirve. The weather was great. At about 80-90 degrees fahrenheit, we were able to spend every day at the beach. Amy really enjoyed playing in the sand with the two children or swimming in the water with daddy. We also enjoyed the rest and the sun very much (apart from the sunburn ;)). Every evening there was a “night market” right outside our hotel door. On the length of about half a kilometer there were a big variety of food stalls, where we found pretty much everything to eat that you can get in Taiwan. Starting with different seafood, pigeons’ eggs , different meats, (sweet potato-) fries, fried Snickers and Twix, pizza, … , up to fried milk we have (almost) tried everything ;). Most of the food was really very, very tasty, but the rice with pig’s blood is not our favorite 😉 . We really enjoyed our time in Kenting and could, well rested and remotivated, start language school again.

Chinese New Year

Posted on February 19, 2014 by Joe

In early February Chinese New Year was celebrated here in Taiwan. Is Christmas not an official holiday, Chinese New Year are even six holidays in a row. The exact date is determined by the lunar calendar, which is why Chinese New Year is on a different date in January or February each year. Normally it is celebrated with the whole family and so they all meet at their grandparent’s house. Many people, who come originally from rural areas to work in Taipei therefore go home to their (grand-)parents over Chinese New Year. So in the area we live in, almost no people were left on New Year’s Eve. Almost all the shops and restaurants were closed, everything was dark and there were hardly any people on the street. At midnight Joe walked through the streets to see fireworks or any other celebrations, but other than a few people who brought sacrifices at the temple in the street behind our house, nothing was going on. In the street next to our house, he then saw two young men sitting in front of an oven. Joe asked them if they also were bringing offerings, but they were just barbecuing together and invited Joe to join their midnight barbecuing. It was really very nice and tasty :-). We also were invited twice to have nice meals during Chinese New Year. Once we went together with a family from our church to have a great dinner in a nice restaurant. There was quite a lot of delicious Taiwanese food (“all you can eat”), which meant that we did not sleep quite as well that night :-). We were also invited to have lunch with a Taiwanese family of friends that we got to know at language school. That was also very tasty and great to get a little insight into traditional Taiwanese family life.

Amy on the way to language school

Posted on February 9, 2014 by Joe

Everyday Mom goes to language school early in the morning. Amy, therefore, has breakfast with Dad and around noon we leave towards language school. First, we have to walk about 10 minutes and then we go by MRT (subway), which Amy likes a lot. At language school we meet Mom and then we all 3 together eat lunch at one of the many small restaurants. After lunch Daddy has to go to language school and Amy returns home with Mom.

Happy New Year

Posted on January 11, 2014 by Joe

This year New Year’s Eve was very different from the last years … There was no worship service and we couldn’t eat Raclette, which many people in Germany eat at New Year’s eve (it’s pretty hard to get good cheese here…). As a family we ate a delicious roast together. Then we went to our church for a while where the young people’s group celebrated New Year’s Eve together. Then, at midnight, we watched the fireworks from our roof terrace together with the students from the 5th floor. Although the people here do not have private fireworks, some public places here have public fireworks. The biggest is at Taipei 101 (the big skyscraper in Taipei). From our roof terrace we can see the Taipei 101 quiet well. So we had not to go to the very crowded place and still had a nice view ;). January 1st was in Taiwan also a holiday and we went with Amy to a large park nearby. The park has a nice playground, which even has a sandbox (quite uncommon in the little parks around us). The sandbox was slightly overcrowded, but Amy was nevertheless very pleased …
Even though the new year started already a few days ago, we wish you all a blessed New Year 2014! “Xin Nian Kuai Le”!

Christmas

Posted on January 2, 2014 by Joe

Advent celebration with the girls from 5th floor and Christmas service

German Christmas Eve service

Getting the Christmas tree ready

Christmas Presents

Despite the many Christmas decorations that can be seen here in Taiwan, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are normal working days. In most churches, therefore, no Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services are celebrated. Normally there is a celebration on the weekend before or after Christmas. Our church also celebrated on the Saturday before Christmas.

On Christmas Eve, however, we have not been lonely: Each year our fellow German missionaries organize a German Christmas service here in Taipei. This year we also joined the team. The service has been attended by about 50 Germans who live and work or study in Taipei. It was really nice to have a bit of German Christmas here, singing Silent Night with candles in a big circle, just as we do normally in Germany. After the service a Taiwanese friend (who studied in Germany and therefore speaks German) came to our home and we had dinner together.

On Christmas Day in the morning we celebrated as a family. We sang Christmas carols, read the Christmas story and unwrapped gifts. Thanks for all the packages we got from Germany. Amy was really happy. In the afternoon another German friend, whom we met at language school, and his Taiwanese wife and their young son visited us. And as Christmas is not a holiday in Taiwan we had to go back to language school already on December 26. We really miss the lengthy German Christmas break..

Advent in Taipei

Posted on December 15, 2013 by Joe

At the moment there is a nice Advent and Christmas atmosphere in Taipei. Everywhere are Christmas lights and Christmas trees and in the supermarket you can even hear “Silent Night” playing in the German original. We are of course delighted about the lights and the atmosphere. However, it is surprising that Christmas is so visible here, since the vast majority of Taiwanese people does not celebrate Christmas and does not really know what is being celebrated – namely that the God of the universe came into this world as a little baby.
Also at home preparations for Christmas are on their way. Simone and Amy are baking cookies and Amy is looking forward every day to open the advent calendars she got from her grandmas in Germany. Every night we light the candles on our Advent wreath and celebrate together as a family. We read a short poem, move Mary and Joseph one field further on their way to the stable and sing with Amy an Advent song. If you want to see Amy singing, just click on this link.

The translation of Amy’s song is:
“One candle shines, whispering ‘Jesus comes’,
Two candles shine, whispering ‘Jesus comes’,
…
Jesus comes as baby, comes into this world,
Jesus comes into darkness and makes darkness light.”

Missionary Meeting

Posted on November 23, 2013 by Joe

Last week the annual meeting of all the missionaries of Marburger Mission who work here in Taiwan was held. The meeting took place in the city of Hualien in Bethesda, a home for handicapped people that is run by the Marburger Mission. From Taipei it was about a 5 hour drive along the steep and beautiful east coast. Two representatives of the mission leadership of Marburger Mission also came from Germany, which was nice as they also brought us a few things which we were not able to bring when we came to Taiwan. The meeting consisted of biblical study times, discussions on themes related to the ministry in Taiwan and a lot of time for fellowship. One of the highlights was also a trip to the Tarroko gorge. It was really nice to have the opportunity to get to know our new colleagues here in Taiwan and we enjoyed the time together. On the way back we did not drive along the sea, but took a road over the mountains, which was very nice and impressive. In the middle of the mountains we came through Lishan, which is translated as “pear mountain”, where pears, other fruits, and tea are grown on nearly 2000m/6000ft.

Amy’s birthday

Posted on November 8, 2013 by Joe

Yesterday we celebrated Amy’s 2nd birthday. Together we were on a small playground and in the zoo here in Taipei. By metro we can reach the zoo within 20 minutes. Amy was very happy to see the animals. Her highlight were the panda bears. We have not been able to look at everything, because the zoo is so big. But there will definitely be a next time soon. For dinner a couple of students joined us who live one floor below us in a dorm. Amy was super happy to have visitors. She quickly became friends with them and even if the girls did not understand her, she told them a lot of things in German. She is definitely very sociable ;). We also got some phone calls from Germany.
We are truly grateful and happy to have Amy.

Our journey to Taiwan

Posted on November 8, 2013 by Joe

Last Sunday we started our journey to Taiwan. A lot of people came to the airport in Frankfurt to say goodbye to us. It was nice that our parents, Joe’s siblings, friends from our church and Helga from the Marburg Mission were there, even if saying goodbye was not easy … We could take more baggage than we thought for free. That was really a miracle for us and a affirmation from God.
After a long and tiring journey we arrived safely in Taiwan on Monday afternoon. We were picked up at the airport by fellow missionaries of the Marburg Mission. They brought us to our apartment and we had dinner together. In the street behind our house there are a lot of very cheap and good restaurants. We will definitely not starve here ;).
Right now we are still trying to set up and orient ourselves here. We have already unpacked our suitcases , explored the area a bit , signed up at the language school , went shopping , … Aside from some language barriers it works quite well so far and we have already met some nice people. We are curious about what we will experience in the near future …