Monkeying Around

You can add age to a boy, but no matter how grown up he gets, there will always remain a shadow of youthfulness. Jake is no longer a little boy, but the urge to climb trees still lives on.

Need proof?

He was always like a little monkey. Can't even begin to count the number of pictures I have clicked with him in a tree, among the leaves, dangling without a thought of the consequences of falling.

I guess that's just the way God programmed him.

Not long afterwards, we found some other creatures that climb and swing. These were a bit more hairy. They were "resting" at the mountain roadside rest stop.

Not just one or two, but a whole troop!

I have seen monkeys before, but never this many at once.

While I am not positive, I think this hefty fellow was the alpha male. He kept pacing back and forth, carefully watching the humans. At any movement or sound, he would stop and investigate the source and asses the possible danger.

Monkey Video

As we were only ten feet from him and his family, I kept a close eye on him. At one point he started sauntering towards me. I decided it was time to move to a different observational point!

That's when the mom came out of the trees with her baby.

I started to take a video, but my camera ran out of memory. All I got was a second long recording of this macaque family. 

Baby Monkey Video

I feel so very blessed to have been at the right place at the right time!

"Treemendous!"

Alishan

It's not the tallest mountain in Taiwan, but at 8,736 feet, it's definitely worth visiting.

 And for those who are willing to navigate the ever twisting up hill roads, the reward is a significant drop in temperature! Not a bad thing when the average temperature and humidity currently leaves the air feeling like a hundred degrees.

Plus, I might add, the views are pretty awesome!

The view from our lunch table.

Afternoon clouds rolling in.

Life down in the valley.

A  rock slide on a neighboring peak.

Waiting for the sunrise.

While the views,  like many other places in Taiwan, are breathtaking, it was what was growing on the mountain that I found inspiring.

Trees!

Lots of trees.

Lots of big trees!

Lots of big, old trees!

This tree's age dates back to the lifetime of Isaiah!

After two lightning strikes took out the previous sacred tree, this tree received the most votes to take its place of "honor".  I had to chuckle because the placement of the structures behind this tree don't give off an aura of sacredness!

When the original tree fell, the second generation grew off the right side. The third generation sprouted from the top.

The peace I felt while hiking among these giants is hard to express. A poet I am not. 

The late afternoon sun, softened by the low clouds created the perfect atmosphere for this pond. 

During our hikes through these majestic forests, I had a reoccurring desire to buy some wood, nails, and rope. A tree house would make a great retirement home!

My Brain Hurts

School is out.

No lesson plans.

No professional development.

No staff or team meetings.

No students to supervise.

So, why in the world is this blog entitled My Brain Hurts.

The answer is simple.

In 

just 

one 

word....

Chinese.

Yep, that's right. After living in Taiwan for five years, Carl and I have bitten the proverbial bullet.

Or have we bitten off more than we can chew?

I guess only time will reveal that answer.

You would think that just by living in a foreign country, the language would naturally sink into our brains. That's what I would have thought six years ago. But, I was wrong.

While I do know some phrases and words, I wouldn't even begin to claim fluency of any sort.

Allow me to explain.

I live and work in an American bubble. Morrison Christian Academy is an American school. Our business parents spend a lot of money for their children to study and learn in an English environment. In addition, our apartment is located on the same campus. All my neighbors are my coworkers- English speaking coworkers. My daily life is centered around speaking English.

Carl does all the shopping. His Chinese is way more advanced than mine. He can read signs at the market and know if a fruit or vegetable is sold by piece or by its weight. He can ask how much something costs and figure out the answer. His immersion factor is much higher than mine.

Learning Chinese takes time; time that has not been readily available the last five years. For every hour spent in class, three hours of studying is the norm. By the time evening rolls around, I am exhausted. I have nothing left to give. As a result, I simply have not made learning Chinese a priority.

It's so easy to let someone else do the talking. It's more convenient to let Carl order my favorite tea. It's quicker to let my Taiwanese friend order our food.

But, the time has come. 

 It is summer. I am here. I have time. I have the energy.

No excuses.

I can do this!

But, it makes my brain hurts.

Learning Chinese is not an easy task; learning any new language is not easy. But, Chinese adds a few extra hurdles. First of all, reading Chinese is completely different than speaking Chinese. You can't just look at a character and be able to figure out how its sounds.

Even harder, are the tones. I think this is the part I struggle with the most.

If I pronounce the words correctly, but use the incorrect tones, at best I may be misunderstood. However, I may accidentally call someones mother a horse. Each "word" can have up to four different meaning according to the tone that is used. 

By the end of our 90 minute lesson, my tongue and lips are worn out. My neck is sore from bobbing my head up and down trying to get the right tone. And basically, my brain just hurts!  

I have such a great respect for my friends who are fluent. I can only begin to imagine the time and effort that must have went into that fete. I also have a new respect for my kids. Ben studied three years of Chinese. Abbi had four. Jacob wins the reward for enduring five years so far.

So, I will buckle down and force this old brain to keep on working, to not give up, to overcome.

Just like that little engine, I will say...

 

And, so I will!

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Taiwan has seasons.

They are not like Ohio's four seasons, however. An Ohio winter can be brutal with subzero (F) temperatures, blowing snow, and even worse, freezing rain. Spring is always a welcome sight after winter's hardship. Summer starts out pleasant and heats up till August. Even then, weather forecasters make a big deal about above ninety degree (F) days. But compared to the winter temps, ninety is sweltering 

An Ohio fall is a wonderful thing to experience. Of all the seasons, this is the one I miss the most. Sunny days, warm breezes, comfortable temperatures; warm during the day, but cool enough to sit around a bonfire at night. What's not to love?

Taiwan's seasons have things to offer, as well. For example, during the winter months, the temperature can easily be in the seventies (F) for days on end. Its the kind of weather where you start off with a light sweater, lose it during the lunch time hour, and put it back on as the sun begins to set. Its the time of the year you can wear both long sleeves and short sleeves. 

Don't get me wrong, there can be cold snaps when the temperature drops into the fifties (F) and if the thermometer decides to say there, life can become downright chilly. Now I know fifty doesn't sound cold to my hardy Ohioan friends and family, but there are some factors that play into that chilliness.

The majority of buildings are manufactured with concrete. Concrete likes to hold in the cold. Taiwan buildings have tile floors as well. There is nothing as cold as a cold tile floor. 

If I was in Ohio, I would simply turn the furnace on and pump some heat into the cold walls and floor. Unfortunately, most Taiwanese homes and buildings do not come equipped with this capability. After several cold days, the inside of a house becomes just as cold as the outside. We have experienced only one winter where it got cold and stayed cold. That was the winter it snowed in Taichung and many people lost their lives due to the coldness.

Between winter and summer comes the rainy season. Technically, this is spring, but the temperatures can be chilly or they can be hot. The predominant factor is the rain. It rains a lot. Not all day, but every day. There is still sunshine, but you can expect liquid to fall from the sky during some point of the day.

Except this year. I kept waiting for the afternoon thunderstorms to arrive. Two springs ago, a thunderstorm with torrential downpour and lightning thunder would arrive every day just in time for the students to be dismissed. 

But, not this year.

I think it just forgot.

Until this past week.

It has rained every day, almost all day for the last four or five days. 

Yesterday, in Taichung 5.3 inches of rain fell. 

That's nothing compared to Taipei. On Friday, 4.72 inches fell in just two hours. The northern part received a total of 12 inches in a twenty-four hour period.

Elementary schools all the way up to universities were forced to close due to flooding.

Flooding in Taipei.

More Flooding!

Taxi caught in flood waters.

The rains that come in May and June are called the plum rains. These along with the rain that comes with typhoons make up Taiwan's rainy season. They offset the drier seasons of fall and winter. 

Besides the obvious benefits of rain, it also helps clean the air. We have experienced an increase in air pollution this past year. But, when it rains, the air is cleaned and fresh air is the beneficial result.

I guess after all this rain, we will have squeaky clean air!