so, the strange english i see on scooters and clothes seems less appealing than it did at first. beside, who plans subject lines anyway. only a girl that lives for lists and "real simple" magazine. who knows what they'll be the next 14 months. this one is a sufjan song on repeat in my head this morning.
family, i'm happy to hear about all you're doing. i'm sad to have missed the luau! i'm sure you were all amazing. and dad! way to go! you have to send pictures of you and the rest of the family soon. i might be starting to forget what you all look like. just kidding! i would never.
so, i'm in pingdong. it is so cool. i love it here. it's a lot a lot a lot more rural. like moving from salt lake city to lindon or spanish fork. sister juang and i cover two branches. our area is so big that to get from one end to another would take about 7-8 hours on bike. there are definitely parts that i will not see while serving here. our district is so great! elder lancaster the district leader is a former a.p. i think he was in the office for 6 moves or something like that; it can be assumed that he is a favorite of president and sister hsu. elder swenson is from salt lake and went to east. he knows a lot of people i know. he graduated with chelsea price. then there's elder chen. he's from northern taiwan and is only 18 years old. his english is amazing. when i first met him i thought he was american. he's really really funny. his companion is elder mickelsen from washington state. he's funny in a different way. kind of goofy. he always plays babylon songs on the piano and gets us all distracted. on saturday we had a big fireside about the power of preach my gospel and how members can and should use it with both of the branches we cover and all of us missionaries sang, so to get ready we practiced a lot. our medley of "a poor wayfaring man of grief" and "because i have been given much" turned out "moving" and it was fun to get to know everyone really well early on.
so, my first day in pingdong will make you so happy. it made me chaoji kuai le, exceedingly happy. we went straight to a university about 45 minutes away. i was kind of bugged that my letter writing time was being impeded until i found out what we were doing... watching the english department do they're graduation play... HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL. what? you all know how i live for the love story of troy and gabriella. it was so good. they all put so much work into it. they sang and danced and spoke english through the same thing. it got even better... when the play was over they played "the final countdown", the song that g.o.b. on arrested development does all of his illusions too. could i have been thinking about my favorite aspects of american pop culture even more? only if sufjan had walked on stage and started singing from the michigan album. needless to say, it was a great start to the love affair that his been growing more intense by the day.
(chloe- they are playing "this is why i'm hot" in the email place. i'm think of you and how you're hot 'cause you're fly and i'm not 'cause i'm not.)
my companion is sister jean juang. oh my word! she's spectacular. we have so so so much fun together. we are really similar and we have had the most engaging conversations i've had in a LONG time. we've discussed everything from politics to email providers to couple dynamics to books and movies. we're alike enough that our conversations flow but different enough that they stay interesting. i know that we'll be friends post mission. i am so excited for the things we have planned (a c.s. lewis book club, luv it's frozen custard, hsm viewing party and more). i think she figured out early on how incredibly awkward i am, and how i sometimes fumble with the words inside my head. for example, on thursday, our second day together, as we left the church after being stood up, entwined in conversation about the corruption of the two party system in america, i said something to the effect of, "i need to find a male version of you to marry." whoa! am i a super creep or what? almost as bad as the missionary that asked dad if he had ever considered homosexual relations. but she laughed and agreed.
on sunday night i met my new favorite taiwanese family, wang jiating (the hongs are still close to my heart and always will be). you would love them too. the dad breeds birds and fish. he has a ton of the fish that lauren used to have with the big eyes and the bubbly heads. and, dad, he has a TON of orchids. there are actually orchids all over the place here. they are all over the trees at elementary school where we run and the other day we passed a floral shop with nothing but orchids. i thought of beloved small paul instantly. anyway, they have two children. the oldest is a fifteen year old girl that helped me a ton with chinese. she and i chatted the whole time we were there. she's learning japanese, korean, french and english and i think another language so i taught her some icelandic. she's really cute and really nice. the second is her eight year old brother. he is the most flexible creature i've ever met. and i think he loves me. he hung on me the whole time. he and i did a pokemon i spy book together and he rubbed my ears phoebe makalea style and gave me a throat massage out of nowhere. i was so confused, i thought he was going to try to choke me. when his mom asked him what he was doing he said he was massaging my throat for me. funny kid. we weren't able to teach a lot because they are so chatty, but i know they feel something. they are such great people already. i know the gospel could really bless their family. they are so kind. they fed us pickled mangoes (so good) and flying fish chips which are ground up flying fish meat mixed with flour and water then fried. they offered the two sisters before me the spare rooms in their home, now or if they ever return to taiwan. so awesome! many taiwanese people are truly examples of charity.
what else...
on saturday i met my first taiwanese prostitute. after a singing practice we headed to an appointment and rode past the elders stopped and talking to a woman. that was the first sign of weirdness, elders don't contact women. we stopped at a light and they whistled for us to go back. we did. elder swenson said, "she says she wants to get baptized. i don't know what her problem is." the woman looked rough but nice enough. the elders said they were late to an appointment and told us to talk to her. she got really rude as soon as they left. the kept saying the name of another elder and some president. she wouldn't look at us. she'd always look past us. when we tried to talk to her she would just say "i want to get baptized. give me your card." then she left without saying anything. the feeling was really weird. not like something bad was going on, but the spirit was definitely not present. my companion said that she had eye contact for a moment and got a really weird feeling. later we talked to the elders, they said that she followed them after they left. and then told us she was a prostitute. crazy!
on sunday i tried thousand year old egg. it's a traditional taiwanese dish. it used to be made with horse urine but now they use ammonia. somehow they cook the egg in ammonia and it turns black. a lot of missionaries are scared to try it. i thought it was so good! it has a really interesting texture and taste. i also ate fish the way you think of it being served in taiwan, a whole fish on the table, being picked at by chopsticks. and coagulated pig blood, i like duck blood more. all of this was served by the qiu family. they are so awesome, really really kind to the missionaries. they have a 16 old daughter that is so great! i love her. she comes to our lessons a lot. she's going to add me, lauren and chloe on facebook, so keep your eye out for her (courtny chiu).
so, in closing... life as a missionary continues to be great, but i do miss home a lot. i can't wait to get to talk to you all. dad, i don't think you realize that calling on sunday means at 6 in the morning, versus 3 in the afternoon on saturday. saturday would be better for me i think so plan on that. mom, have a pen and paper because i'm going to tell you somethings i need sent and some things you need to go find and eat in chinatown. thank you all for being great! i love love love you!!!
love,
jade, zeng yu xin
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