I wake up next to a smiling face. I peer out the third story window to see a sunny day, blue sky, and Kaohsiung's landscape: hills, subway, apartment high-rises, clothes hanging out on the balconies to dry, the stray McDonald golden arch signaling that no one is safe from globalization. And I look to the windowsill and I notice the scratch paper I wrote "Live and Let Live" on is propped up catching the morning sun just so. A token saved from when I taught Hao Shu this English 成語 "idiom."
I go downstairs bracing my whole emotional-self for an awkward situation. I know Chinese culture is more conservative....shouldn't have spent the night...his mom will think I am a whore...I am corrupting her son...why do these foreign devils have to bring their immoral culture to Taiwan....just when my heart is getting ready to close off on the defense I think I hear my name. I am hearing my name---my Chinese name. And it is Huang Ma Ma (what I call my boyfriend's Mom, Huang is their surname) and she sounds just like every Mom I have ever heard calling loved-ones to eat. Granted it is different because my brain is working twice is hard to understand the language; but the feeling is exactly the same. She gives me 豆漿 soy milk with some kind of seasoning. And it really rocked my socks. She also gives me what I like to call Chinese bread because I don't know what it actually is. But is soft and white like bread...but NOT bread...more like an awesome roll of an insane texture. Then she insists on me trying on a pair of Nike shoes, they fit so she gives them to me. She said she worried my feet were cold because I was only wearing sandals.
Go to order a coffee and watch the woman at the counter's face go from fear, to relief (when I start ordering in Chinese) to amusement (as I probably sound a bit like a 4 year old ordering coffee and look like one as a drool over the chocolate cake in the desert case...then I proceed to do a little "I am happy to get coffee" dance).
I get home and go running in beautiful 60 degree weather with not a cloud in the sky. The track is bustling with life. I help folks retrieve run-away balls...and wave at the curious on-lookers and say hello. A young boy around the age of 8 comes bounding next to me. And I say, 比賽好不好？ How about a race? He happily yells 比賽！And he sprints ahead of me. 你真的贏了！You win! I say as I continue lap after lap. I get done and realize I finished 4 miles. My body feels good...and I look to the sky and thank the lord for my health.
I really never expected I would have a day like this in Taiwan. A day that nothing spectacular happens---just an ordinary day in life, but it is totally and utterly life-affirming. It makes me feel like myself. Like I am capable of loving and being loved. And that...that in itself is most important. When I was going trough my worst times here in Taiwan I was pretty sure my soul was dying. I think now that it is because I wasn't feeding my soul anything. I am so thankful now that I have come to a phase where I capable of opening my heart and getting some "soul food," if you will. I really will say it with emphasis now 我吃飽了！"I am full!"
So I had to change the name because weekly just ain't happening. Doesn't mean that I don't stop seeing strange English on people's shirts weekly it's just I don't have the time to post them. So maybe this will more quarterly...or monthly. We shall see. Enjoy!