Attached (and out of order but still relevant) Thanksgiving Post

Thanksgiving 2011

This week for a field trip, our students (ages 2-6 years: about 30 of them) went to a place called Bethany Home.  It is a home for the disfigured and mentally ill here in Taiwan and it sits on an animal farm of sorts with ostriches, goats, a cow roaming freely eating grass from the pathway with no regard for human presence, ducks, geese, peacocks, a few turtles, and a few beautiful Koi ponds.

The residents were all wearing red T-shirts saying, in English, “Outreach Taiwan Jesus Loves You.”

It was a special American Thanksgiving themed program as inside residents were wearing various costumes, wigs, make-up and being led by the volunteers in various Christian Praise songs.  I found myself quite unprepared for my emotional response to the very touching scene that played itself out.  I clapped and sang along (as much as could in what I can only describe as my own awkward “Paul Benz prefers traditional Lutheran Liturgy sort of way”) in Praise of my God- joined by residents who were being cared for in His Name and in the name of kindness, decency and compassion.  They had a program with skits, a magic show, and our kids even preformed a few of their own songs they had been preparing for their parents later in the week.

There is not yet enough distance from the event to get too eloquent or insightful: all I know is that it was a morning I was very proud to say that I am a Christian.

With priests molesting children, Pat Robertson, Fred Phelps and many like them who spread so much hatred and division in the name of Christ I often am on the defensive with my Faith, calmly explaining that, “No, I’m not that kind of Christian.”  But that morning I was so proud to say, “Yes, members of my Faith do things like this.  They are helping ‘the least of these’ in the Name of the God I Worship and Love.  

Paul's Overdue Update and 2011 Christmas Letter all in One =)

HIGHLIGHTS FOR PAUL IN 2011

=)

           A little long this year, but the good news is you don’t have to read it all at once.

·      JANUARY-  Started the year out with a trip to Massachusetts to visit Mike, Sherrise and the Family.  Plenty games of “Monsters,” “Legos,” and “Droids” with Liam and Elliot in addition to a couple trips out into the snow for sledding with Sherrise and Megan.  Megan took me out to see TSOL in Boston. A proper punk show in a bar with room on the floor for only about 60 people to thrash around to music from dudes who’ve been doing it for 30 years.   

 Another really special moment on the trip came when I took a train out to New Hampshire to see COUSIN TOM!  Spent the weekend with him, Melissa and got to play with little Brook Ashley (so cute!) Tom took us out to brunch and on a real nice drive up the New Hampshire Coast. If I’d ever seen snow on a beach before that day I don’t remember when.

·      FEBRUARY-  Was paid a visit by Turid and Endre all the way from Norway! So I had the opportunity to show members of the Haga/Vange Clan some of the same hospitality they showed me when I was in Norway, while at the same time getting to see some things in the American Southwest I’d always wanted to and just never had despite living there for the better part of ten years. (What’s the saying Niall, “if you want to really see a place then visit, if not- live there?”)  So we headed up the Pacific Coast Highway, stayed with Ryan and Sayer in Paso Robles and saw Hearst Castle with them the next morning before going to Peidras Blancas to see the all the Sea Elephants and then enjoying a beautiful sunny drive up through Big Sur and into Berkeley where they had a friend studying there and I got to see my old friend and Confirmation Brother Andy Gilbert…always a blast. Walking across the Golden Gate Bridge, Sourdough Clam Chowder at Fisherman’s Wharf, a cruise around Alcatraz and a stop by Amoeba Records before pushing on to stay a night with Haley in Visalia and making our way to Death Valley. (I recommend February to visit the hottest place on earth- the sand dunes were awesome!)  We stopped in Vegas for a couple hours to see all it’s abbreviated glory and then pushed on into Arizona headed for the Grand Canyon.  As for the Grand Canyon… there was snow there and I’d never been before. We floated part of the Colorado from Lake Powell and it (my brief glimpse of this massive Natural Wonder of the World) was more than I could than I could adequately describe in a sentence or even several pages so I will just echo Chris McCandles’s admonition that it “is something that every American should see at least once in their lifetime.”  So we stayed our final night at a hostel in Flagstaff and headed back to LA the next morning: it was an epic roadtrip.

MARCH-  Returned to Las Vegas for Dane Johnson’s (another Confirmation Brother) Wedding… Picked up Corey Edwards at the Vegas airport and well… it was all three Johnson boys, some of Dane’s buddies from South Dakota, Corey and me.  I was coming up on 3 years of sobriety at the time and while Vegas may not be a top destination for an alcoholic in recovery, I honestly had so much fun with Dane and the guys, it really didn’t bother me- although I have to confess I made a conscious decision to smoke cigarettes while I was there, but all the guys were so amazed I wasn’t drinking they made sure I at least never had to buy my own pack =).  From there I drove with Corey out to Chandler, Arizona for Dane’s wedding.  It was a beautiful ceremony.  I may not have made it my ten-year reunion for being in Taiwan, but seeing all 3 of the Johnson boys, Corey, the Greens and Johnson’s that made it out from South Whidbey more than made up for it.  I don’t remember the last time I laughed as much as I did those few days in March with the Johnson Boy’s.  Corey and I were ushers and even though I’m a true doof with things technological, Dane asked me to cue all the music and sound for the ceremony, “You’re the only one I trust with this,” he said.  With the cooler of Bud Light in the dressing room that was stocked full for the Groomsmen at the days start I knew what he meant, accepted my task, prayed and managed to not screw up the music cue as Dane and Michelle walked down the aisle.  Got to meet up with Megan and Patrick Jennet while I was out there too as Chandler, AZ is his hometown where they both live now.  Patrick suggested I take a route back to LA where I could see all the Swarro Cactus as this is the only part of the world where they grew in the wild.  If you’ve never driven that stretch of road en route from Phoenix to LA it is really something to see and my pictures on Facebook do not begin to do it justice.  Made it back in time for the President’s speaking engagement at USC. I waited in line and even snapped photos of the crowd, but as bad as I wanted to see the President speak it wasn’t important enough to be late to work for. I think he’d understand ;-)

·      And at the end of the month back in Thousand Oaks I met Jana… I’m writing this in Taiwan where she is across the Pacific Ocean in LA so I don’t want to make myself all bummed out by thinking to much about how much I miss her here, but I can tell you that I am very excited to go spend Christmas with her and her family on Maui in a couple weeks!

·      APRIL- Was paid a visit by my cuz Dan Benz! Any of you who don’t know him just imagine a much taller version of me, goofy and caring with the same deep Benz voice, but who speaks computer, can fix just about anything and rides motorcycles. Love you Dan.  Drove down to San Diego with Jana and saw the Mackie Girls who drove down from South Whidbey to drop Devon off at her new home.  Jana and saw Ray Manzarek play for a small crowd at a former Border’s location.  Getting to hear him do all the old Doors songs interspersed with Q and A and stories about Jim Morrison was way more than just pretty cool.

·      MAY-  Cody Johnson saw fit to fly me out to South Dakota for a reception in Hot Springs for Dane’s wedding so all his friends who couldn’t make it out to Arizona for the wedding could have a proper celebration. Lots of guitar playing and singing, riding four-wheelers and even made it back out to see the progress on Crazy Horse Mountain. I hope I live to see that finished. Took me back to memories of all our roadtrips with Dad growing up.  There’s nothing like seeing a buffalo up close.

·      JUNE-  Went back to Massachusetts for Liam’s 6^th Birthday!  Mike and Sherrise hosted me, Mom, Dad, and Jana.  It was really, really special.  Got to go back to the Montessori where Liam and Elliot go for their End-Of-The-Year Ceremony.  Lots of time with the boys splashing around in the pool, taking walks to the park, and Dad was there to share some of the “Monster” duties, which the boys really seemed to like (I know I appreciated the assistance).  After Mom and Dad flew home, Sherrise took us to Walden Pond on Father’s Day.  We walked around the lake with the boys and saw the site where Thoreau built his cabin and wrote about Civil Disobedience.  The boys made it half way around the lake before having to be carried the rest of the way, but I think the ice cream afterwards made up for it.  Mike and Sherrise even got us tickets to Fenway Park!  Dad and I had never been there before so… well Fenway Park for baseball fan is like sacred ground and I couldn’t tell you who the Sox played, but I do remember that they killed ‘em and the whole crowd sang Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” when Boston made real big plays.    Before flying back to LA Jana and I spent a week on Cape Cod out in Provincetown where Jesse (yet another Confirmation Brother- there were only five of us after all) put us up at his Aunt’s Hotel.  One day we even went out whale watching and saw a pod of Humpback Whales. 

·      JULY- Had a truly Americana 4^th of July experience at Malibu Lake with Jana where the whole community gathered for barbeque, frog races a pie eating contest, egg toss and a three legged race.  That weekend was also the Western States Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s High School Youth Gathering.  Pastor Scott (who left the same seminary in the spring with his wife Melissa that my parents began their studies at in the fall) asked me the previous fall if I would be a featured speaker at the Gathering and told me the theme was “In the Balance.”  When I told him that I didn’t have much experience with balanced living, but had lots to share about what happens when things are out of balance he smiled and said, “That’s what we were hoping for.”  I’ve never said so many personal things in front of that many people, but I received a lot of good feedback, so I can only hope that my prayers that God would help me help someone with my words were answered in some way.  A week later I packed up my truck, said goodbye to Dale (the best room mate I’ve ever had) and some close friends that came together for a little farewell gathering at Holy Trinity and drove up to Washington to make final preparations for the year in Taiwan that was set to begin on July 21^st!  About the only acting I did this year was a project with Jordan that turned out really well.  On my way up I stayed at a hostel in Berkeley roomed with a young guy from England who was bummed he couldn’t buy beer in the US.  I was doing my best to console him and in the midst of a conversation about Bruce Springsteen, Jordan called and told me he was shooting a video in Bellingham right when I would be home and asked if I wanted to be in it.  It was a blast and I got to work with ole Patrick Moote and Taylor who I’d met and become friends with on Jordan’s first feature.  If you want to check it out on youtube the link is…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPvdhcXKX7A.  The only other acting work I got this year was actually a small part on a Taiwanese Soap Opera as an American Businessman that my room mate’s wife helped me get.  It was a day’s work, everyone there spoke Chinese and I don’t know when the episode airs, but at least I can say I’ve been on a Soap Opera now for whatever that’s worth.  As far as the work that actually generated somewhat livable wages my job as a Clinical Assistant at the rehabilitation facility in Malibu, where I’d worked since December of 2009 ended in February.  After almost 4 years I left my job at Trader Joe’s in order to come to Taiwan, but was assured, much to my comfort and delight that I could receive a strong recommendation for rehire upon my return. 

·      TAIWAN- I sent out an initial update on my experiences in Taiwan after the first 6 weeks and will do my best to avoid redundancy.  Seeing Banana Trees as part of my daily life is pretty cool.  The memories that stand out the most are watching the sunset on a small island (the island’s name translated literally means small island) with Jana after we drove the scooter around it for most of the day, hiking Taiwan’s second largest mountain with Jana Kara, George and Lauren, sleeping on the beach at Fulong with my sister and spending the next day rock climbing (really just bouldering I found out later) at her favorite spot and picking up trash between snorkel dives, hiking a centuries old trade route in the North with Jana where we encountered butterflies and spiders considerably larger than I’m used to, and then spending my Birthday with both Kara and Jana up in Wulai amidst waterfalls, hot springs and a beautiful river in the green mountains.   The Pacific Ocean is so warm here! Megan came to visit in September and I only wish she could have stayed longer, but I was still excited to have a visitor.  Then Kara and Andy came down right around Kara’s Birthday.  A couple weeks prior to their visit I was befriended by a Taiwanese family who own and operate a small sushi restaurant right next to my apartment building.  Upon learning that I was a Christian they invited me to their church.  Their sanctuary is a room that could fit no more than 40 people with an old wooden Cross hanging in front of a red tapestry on the wall behind a simple Altar with a keyboard in the corner.  They have an overhead projector with transparencies for their hymns and although it’s a small room they have a few microphones and guitars.  On my first visit I was asked to stand and speak.  I uttered the few Chinese phrases I knew and was greeted warmly and asked to sing a song.  They handed me a guitar and I went blank.  The only thing that came to mind was “Just a Closer Walk With Thee,” but I couldn’t remember the chords.  So with guitar in hand I made my way through the song a cappella and was joined by a clapping congregation.  It was quite an experience.  The next Sunday I was invited back by the father of the Family who makes the best Dan Bao Fan I’ve ever eaten.  This hard working chef and small business owner in his late 50’s with 3 grown children wanted me to be present for his Baptism.  The refrain for Ben Harper’s song, “Blessed to Be a Witness” comes to mind a lot when think about it now.  

·      Now here I am on December 9, 2011 in their restaurant writing to all of you.  Kara left for Thailand after having spent her last week in Taiwan down here with me.  My Chinese is still limited to about a dozen phrases and I am hoping to take a class in January around the same time I hope to get a scooter so I can get out of the city on the weekends.  Pingtung is not a large city by any means (about a million people), but at night I can’t see any stars and most days the air quality is so poor I can’t see any of the dark green Mountains in the distance.  The food has a palate that is so different from what I’m used to that there are a few local dishes that I like and I eat them all the time.  At my job I’ve found that I really like children, but without a highly structured curriculum or firmly established and effective system of discipline, I get frustrated a lot.  That was to be expected though.  I came for a challenge, an adventure and something completely different and I got it.  While I have no natural talent for disciplining large groups of small children I do love my role as Mr. Paul and really have fun being silly with the kids and throwing them around a bit.  I have 13 in my 5-6 year old class and there are now 17 in my 3 year old class although several of them of them are still months away from their second birthdays.  A lot of the kids really just want to be held.  It’s crazy sometimes and I’m there roughly 55 hours a week.  I wrote a blurb on our experience at a home for the disabled where we took a field trip, which I will attach to this.   The only other highlight that’s coming to mind right now is the dozen or so times I’ve been back to visit the Monk Hue Shou at the Buddhist Monastery in Kaohsiung.  He’s a real hoot and his candid sharing about Buddhism has been quite interesting as I’ve been making my way through Thich Naht Hanh’s book Living Buddha, Living Christ.  Still trying to meditate every morning and still finding prayer to come much easier to my loud and busy mind.  

·      Some of the experiences precipitated by my identity as a Christian and my attempts to practice that identity daily are lengthy reflections all their own. I’m sending one with this letter and will put the others up on my blog as well as include them in future updates once I get them articulated on paper.  I miss Pastor Frank and Pastor Janet and all my Friends at Holy Trinity back in Thousand Oaks, but my experience here with my adopted family and their Church (where I often get translations of the pastors message) is one that I believe I will be able to learn and draw from for years to come.  

I hope that this finds you well and that 2012, the year of the Dragon, might be one where we can all work for and experience more peace, progress and prosperity.

Peace and Blessings and Love to You All

Paul Benz “the younger”

Education in Ideals and Pragmatism Continues in Working at School

To say that one never desires to be the beneficiary of inequality is a wonderful, ego-stroking platitude, but to put such an ideal into action in one's own work place is very, very uncomfortable.  To risk fowling one's own comfortable nest, at least for me today, is intensely nerve racking, but I think in a small way it was one of the most mindful things I've done in years.  I only hope and pray (and I prayed today... a lot) that I will have the courage to keep it up.  I guess the stakes are higher now that we are actually adults, huh? So much more to come, but I'm tired. Chinese for I'm tired is, "Wo UH Luh."

September 10, 2011 Southern Taiwan. A Mountain Breeze

Mountain Breeze________ Thank God for my Guide

We ate in the clouds        as the Eagle and the Wheat Chaff joined the the wind for a midday dance.
                                           Eagle to Hunt                Chaff        to be.

A lunch gathering of 20 or so in the jungle mountains after a morning swim in the waterfall pool.

The language I hear: voices- chattering music spiced with laughter...  only in the laughter do I understand with my ears.

The language of smiles and faces flashing with animation, the sort that can only come from excitement and freedom-  that I understand     and it is as filling and refreshing to my soul as the mountain breeze is to my body.

A mountain breeze never felt so good than after an ascension from days in a valley of humidity- thick as soup.  The valley's air below from whence we came is congested with people- working amid scooter exhaust.

Go and find your own jungle mountain with a waterfall for swimming and a breeze to sooth you as you eat and laugh some afternoon.  Go and find it while you are still breathing- maybe I will meet you there.  

First Post in Taiwan

August 15, 2011

Greetings to you, my friends and family; from a train on Taiwan’s western coast.   I’m en route from Taipei where I dropped Jana off at the airport this morning, to Pingtung, about 5 hours south by train, where I will be living and working for the next 12 months!

Fast forward 2 weeks and now it is Sunday night and I’ve just been told there is no school tomorrow because of the typhoon.  I got caught up in some rain yesterday on the way back from the monastery, but I have yet to see anything that would warrant school cancellations.  However, who doesn’t relish a day off work?  Immediately after hearing news of the cancellation I thought to myself, “Four years ago this would be a great excuse to get really good and drunk, but now you can use this time to actually write that letter to all those people you love who said they wanted to hear how you were doing.” 

I landed in Taipei Thursday, July 21 and stayed for two weeks with my sister Kara and at the initial writing of this letter I had trained one official day at Chiba Language School.  It is a small private school with roughly forty students between the ages of two and seven.  There are another twenty or thirty students aged eight through fifteen who attend Chiba in addition to another regular school.  At least that’s what I believe; there is a lot about my school, and my job for that matter, that remains vague to say the least.  This is frustrating, but I’m told that’s just the way it is here with the way westerners are communicated with so I say the Serenity Prayer and just behave as if I was a substitute teacher.  My roommate is the other English teacher and tells me he will be only the second English teacher in SEVENTEEN YEARS to complete a one year contract at Chiba. Yikes.  However, knowing that, I really am like a substitute teacher.  The students are here to learn Japanese and English, there are three Japanese teachers, and two English teachers.  There are two Taiwanese teachers designated to assist the Japanese teachers and two assigned to the English teachers.

The school provides a three-bedroom two-bathroom apartment with a balcony and washing machine for me and the other English teacher (Adrian- he’s been a huge blessing out here) to stay and only charges for utilities (roughly $100 USD a month unless we use more electricity.)   The school has been very generous and arranged a tour of a Buddhist Monastery while Jana was here, took us out to dinner and even prepared a translation/direction booklet for us when we went to a little tropical island off the coast for a night!   So I take some of the frustrations, like gaping holes in the curriculum that I don’t find out about until a day before or 10 minutes before the start of class, in stride…or at least I try to =).  They also gave me a cell phone that I just buy my own minutes for and a bicycle so, it is what it is and it’s only 11 more months.

Observations about Taiwan: 

The humidity is not as bad as August in New Orleans or Florida, but the sun is punishing and respite from the heat only comes from showers in the afternoon or an occasional glorious breeze (often manufactured by a bicycle ride) and I don’t know how I’d get by without air-conditioning in my room.  My third night in Taiwan, Kara and I slept on the beach under the stars with nature’s AC and that was awesome, but bugs do like to nibble.  

If you’ve ever seen a movie shot in Southeast Asia where there are tons of people milling about in street markets that have an organization that can only be observed by the rhythm through which everyone moves, and the buildings seem to sweat dirt, and there are plants everywhere and almost as many scooters as people…yeah it’s like that.

Architecturally, the buildings are (all sweating dirt by outward appearance) either soviet style and very boring with a lot of concrete (the walls in my room… yup concrete), thrown together with no apparent design for longevity or structurally supportive code approval, or in some state of abandonment.  Many of the buildings here that collapse partially for whatever reason are just left there so little plants can grow there and look interesting without being flattened for something new to take their place right away.  In a way some of these dilapidated buildings remind me of seeing New Orleans’ Lower 9^th Ward last summer (five years after Katrina), however in New Orleans it was infuriating tragedy and here it seems to just be the norm.   Parts of Taipei are very nice, generally wherever there’s a lot of money among the people the buildings don’t seem to sweat dirt anymore.  Taipei 101 was a sight to see.  Massive; a very impressive architectural accomplishment and aesthetically pleasing, but the mall inside was a big swanky, slick, and expensive mall full of overpriced designer goods from Europe and the US and frankly I’m a little unimpressed and, on a bad day, disgusted by the disease of materialism so Jana and I went straight to the book store when we visited Taipei 101.  Chang Kai Shek Memorial Plaza was equally massive and aesthetically pleasing in a way one might associate with Eastern culture’s unique beauty more so than another gaudy, towering skyscraper.  Here too I was reminded of the beauty this building shared with the temples that can be found literally ANYWHERE there are people in a 20 km radius.  The temples are beautiful in every way. Ornate, billowing incense and in the mornings you can hear nuns chanting prayers at the larger temples.  They usually have a public restroom too!

And there is another small yet huge difference:  toilets.  You know how we sit down on a “seat” to conduct our affairs in the bathroom stall?  Yeah, they have squatters here.  Little more than a sophisticated hole in the wall that flushes somehow.  I don’t think I could ever get used to that and, no, the bathroom in my apartment (the one that counts most of all) does not have a squatter.

Just like they love scooters here they also love 7 Elevens.  Similar to Starbucks on the west coast or Dunkin Donuts on the East Coast in the US, in any metropolitan area in Taiwan, it would not be surprising to find a 7 Eleven for every five blocks, sometimes less.

Palm trees are plentiful and, as far as I’m aware, native (sorry California).

There’s nothing like being able to see coconuts in their original green shell sold at the street vendors, or seeing pigs and chickens right on the rack fresh from or about to be butchered and sold.  Not friendly for vegetarians or anyone squeamish, but at least we are not shielded from the process by which we eat here.

The garbage truck here comes every night and makes a sound with its siren nearly identical to our ice cream truck back home.  I’m not kidding; no exaggeration and I will never hear that tune without thinking of Taiwan again.

The garbage casually tossed upon beaches, streets and parks and often deliberately thrown into the forest is a very sad and very upsetting thing here.  I suppose more than anything else though it is ugly.  At Chouliocho (a small tropical island in the south) I went from a small temple, which had immaculate and shiny floors to the beach not ten yards away which had garbage strewn carelessly all over it and locals just sitting at the top of the beach selling as much to whoever would make a purchase. Vendors hand out a plastic bag with EVERYTHING here.  And if you buy something that can be drunk you better believe you’re gonna get a straw.  People can trash the beaches and forests and even parks, but their temples are super clean.  Makes me agree with the sentiment that humans really are a pestilence to this earth when we can’t treat the temples of nature with the same sanctity that we so readily and actively reserve for our hand made monuments to religion.

Kara actually started a group on Facebook called keep Taiwan Beautiful after getting so upset by swimming in garbage on one of our outings that she stared fishing trash out of the sea while others snorkeled away not even noticing when their head brushed by bits of garbage.  By the end of it she had half a dozen people picking up with her and guess who got to carry the garbage bag full of trash back to civilization in the hot, humid sun over the boulder covered beach? Might have been the longest two miles I’ve ever walked, but it was worth it to see my sis so motivated for a good cause.

The general kindness and generosity of the people here is remarkable.  I really can’t count the number of times I have been either lost or just given off the appearance of being lost (apparently) and someone has come up to offer help.  The willingness to engage a stranger in conversation among so many of the people here is astounding to me.  It is just as refreshing as the incense that wafts through my window or out of buildings here throughout the day.  They are a deeply spiritual people and seem to include their ancestors in their many shrines.  Many people have a room in their home that has a shrine in it. 

Having Jana here was a joy and an adventure.  We traversed the island by train, watch the sunset on a tropical island that minutes before we had cruised all around on a scooter.  We hiked the second largest mountain in Taiwan with Kara and a couple friends.

In most stories, not all- but most, there is a guide of some sort.  For me in this journey, there have already been a handful of them.  My guides here have been a poignant reminder of God’s consistent presence through the kindness of other humans. These guides themselves have been touchstones for a journey that has only just begun just as mush as the places and experiences they have guided me through.  Adrian, my roommate, who is a Navy vet and a graduate of Evergreen in Olympia (crazy combo right?) has already provided invaluable perspective on the ins and outs of my school and the frustrations that come with the job.  Beyond that he has shown me good places to eat and is genuinely good company, a great conversationalist and a clean and tidy roommate; I may even learn how to properly iron a shirt under his tutelage.  He worked on computers back in the states so my technological incompetence has yet again been met by grace and aid.   Betty, a friend of Bill’s, who has been teaching here in Pingtung for ten years I found by checking the website for friends of Bill.  Hers was the only number listed for Pingtung and I’d been told by a couple expats I met in Taipei that the website may not even be up to date. But God saw fit for me to have a buddy in recovery for a guide and she has driven me down to Kenting, shown me good local markets and even taxied me home from the train station in the rain with a bag of groceries to boot. George is our Taiwanese friend who took us up the mountain and brought us to Shuifen, a mountain town where we stayed at a hostel and I played guitar and sang for the townspeople by the sidewalk and shop-lined train-tracks before I took the show out to the footbridge under the shooting stars and above the river.  The next day he took us out to the Waterfalls and a section of the River that no one else seemed to know about. It was just like a lagoon from some really sweet movie.  Nothing beats having a local who speaks the language and knows all the cool spots show you their favorite places.  Learning Mandarin maybe rough as they speak a distinctly different dialect of Taiwanese down here and my job is to speak and teach English everyday for a year, but one day at a time right?  And last but certainly not least, is a guide named Hue Shou (pronounce WHEE shao).  Originally from Austria, he became Buddhist when living in South Africa and came to Taiwan in order to be ordained as a monk.  He has been living here in the monastery (roughly an hour from my apartment by train and bus) for just over 11 years and among his duties there are to give tours to westerners as he speaks fluent English and German as well as Taiwanese.  He was the guide for my tour with Jana and when I came back for a second visit he said in a wonderfully thick Austrian accent, “It seems so unnatural to speak English to a man with the name Benz!”   He has helped me in my efforts to practice meditation.  Between, Worship, Fellowship, Service, Scripture Study, Prayer, and Meditation- meditation has always been the weakest link in my faith life and journey.  I’ve heard more than once that Prayer is talking to God and Meditation is listening.  Me, bad at listening?  Imagine that!  It’s not at all easy for me to shut my mind off and be silent with no thoughts, not to mention that the meditation pose is not easy for me, but meditation does seem to be an important part of one’s relationship with God and good hygiene for the brain.  We’ll see how it goes.  We’ll see how this whole thing goes.  I love you all very much and may Peace be with you always.