Rebooting Seitzseeing

Emily with I-Hung, a friend in Princeton and Taipei

This blog dates back to 2005, as Jon began preparing to go to Taiwan. This is a new start to the blog (sadly, old blog was accidentally deleted). At the time, Jon was doing research on his PhD. He had an old friend, Chen Shang-Jen (below), who had worked with him at Grace Taiwanese-American Presbyterian Church. (Jon was the youth director for two years.) After some serious conversations he was invited by Taiwan Seminary to study and teach during the 2005-2006 year. Jon taught theological English, ecumenics, and mission. He also had the chance to develop his “church Chinese” and to get to know the Presbyterian Church of Taiwan.
With Chen Shang-Jen at a beach and at Taroko during an alumni trip, Aguust 2005

This blog was at that time primarily a travel journal. Jon was a hermit in the fall of 2005, writing two chapters and getting his first dose of serious teaching. Emily arrived on an especially beautiful week in January 2006. We had all manner of happy adventures on the beautiful island (Portuguese: Ilha Formosa), including trips to Taroko Gorge, a waterfall, Kending, Tainan, and elsewhere. Jon and Emily helped start an English service at Suanglien Presbyterian Church. Emily began intensive Mandarin at NTNU and worked with some SCILS grads in Taiwan.

With leaders at Suanglien, including Elder Chou and Pastor Chen

Emily samples some squidballs in the food court of Taipei 101

Many of those lost posts focused on what was new and different to them. They described the friendly family of “step dogs” who lived nearby and were affectionately named Scruffy, Tawny, Boy Dog, and Girl Dog. We were impressed by this pink Hello Kitty car, and discovered that there was a local Bow-Wow Meow-Meow store, selling pet memorabilia. We ate squid ball at Taipei 101, the world’s tallest building. We visited the Presbyterian Mecca of Taipei, Danshui, and saw this picture of the founding missionary in northern Taiwan, George Leslie Mackay. (Famous quote attributed to Mackay: “better to burn out than to rust out.”) We went to the Taipei Zoo with I-Hung, Shang-Jen’s daughter, and went to the Imperial Palace many times. Jon heard Jürgen Moltman, Michael Welker, Max Stackhouse, Moonjang Lee, and others speak at the seminary.
Taipei 101 is famous for its architecture, which resembles a pagoda or a length of bamboo

We dealt with some culture shock, but not as much as we expected. In some ways the hardest work was the involvement in a congregation, since this meant more direct interaction and shared decision making. Here we were challenged by competing cultural values. We also learned that the preferred way of resolving disputes in Taiwan is through meals. We ate a lot of good meals and learned a great deal from the leaders of the church. Taiwan has some of the best food in the world. Taiwanese noodle making leads, in my opinion, to an improvement on Italian food.

We visited Hong Kong for a few days. Jon did some research at HKU. We also shopped (but, being students, didn’t buy). We saw the world’s largest seated Buddha and ate great dim sum. We saw family members, including Jon’s cousin, Jenny, and Emily’s family. We stayed through June and July and enjoyed the heat of the city.

Emily walks a bridge on a trip to local waterfalls

This is our second go at Taiwan. For a while it didn’t seem like it would work, so we are glad that it reappeared. The wait was worth it and we bring a third member of the family with us, our son, Samuel. I have another degree, rustier Chinese and some more teaching experience. We have shipped a lot of books and clothes and electronics and hope to be stocked up for the start of classes. More news to follow! Jon, Em, and Sam