Trips with Dr. Tien

We got to skip school again on Friday! I'm loving these 3 day weekends :-) Dr. Tien picked us up in his 11 passenger van from the clinic. His youngest daughter Ester came with us (she's 11 and one of my 6th graders) and brought her friend Sarah who is 8. They both have amazing English. We all piled in and headed to Nantou, in the mountains. The 2 kids and I sat in the very back and played games and talked. I finally found someone on my level! I was getting tired of being around people my own age and older all the time! Being with Sarah and Ester reminded me of being with some of my little cousins. I helped take care of them throughout the trip and Ester told me I was a good babysitter! I learned a lot of things about kids here. Apparently High School Musical and the Disney Channel are international crazes!

Anyway......What I thought was going to be a 2 1/2 hr drive turned into 4 hours. When we finally arrived, it was beautiful. We were greeted by the pastor of a church there and that's where we stayed. They had rooms set up for us because part of the church had once been a small hotel to help raise extra money. We went to the hot springs. I could really get used to these hot springs around here! These were fresh water hot springs, but they were so relaxing.

We went back to the church and had a praise service. It was at a Christian church but it was all in Chinese. It was a little overwhelming, but at the same time it was nice for me to be able to sit in a pew with a cross infront of me and pray for a while. Later that night some of the aboriginal women performed native dances for us and taught us some. We even got to try on their native clothes. I must admit, when I heard we were going to an aboriginal village I was expecting a fire with people dancing around it. Much like the Native American reservations we visited out west, I was a little disappointed. These aboriginal women were just normal Asians who were Christians but just knew the native dances. Their ancestors were "true aboriginals" but just like actual Native Americans they live a modern life.

We had tea and then went to bed (which is a habit I could probably get used to). Us 5 college girls with our 2 little friends in one room. We had to be at breakfast at 7 in the morning, so needless to say we didn't get tons of sleep at our slumber party. After breakfast we went hiking for a while. The water was very low and peaceful looking but there were rocks all over the place. This is the dry season, during the rainy season the water runs wild. The Pacific Ocean is also on the other side of the mountains so when typhoons come these people get all the rain. We walked by houses that had the whole bottom floors filled with rocks. The rocks come down from the mountains and are washed into houses by the water. In addition to the water and rock damange, earthquakes are common in these areas. The church has been damaged several times and many of the homes in the area have been destroyed. Taiwan (much like Hawaii) sits on the Ring of Fire. There are volcanoes, earthquakes, and hot springs because of it.

We just visited Dr. Tien's new orphanage he is building. It should be done in a few weeks. It's really big. We are now sitting in his new clinic using the computers. When he used the term "clinic" this is not what I had imagined I would find. It's a 6 floor hospital with 3 doctors who work here, 50 nurses, and 2 floors of patients who live here permanently. This is not just a small clinic. Dr. Tien owns it all. Here in Taiwan you pay 40% of your income in taxes. He pays 6 million NT in taxes, so he makes over 12 million NT (at least 4 million American dollars) a YEAR! It's so nice to see someone with that much money doing such great things with it. This new orphanage he is building from the ground up. He's also starting a cram school for kids who can not afford it. A cram school is extra preparation for college. The whole family really is so nice! We are waiting here at the clinic until 7 tonight. He is taking us to a violin concert.
In the morning he is picking us up and taking us to Kenting. It's a beautiful beach on the southern tip of Taiwan. It is at the same latitude as Hawaii and is known as the Hawaii of Taiwan. Needless to say I'm really looking forward to it......I hear it is freezing cold back home. Getting off the airplane next week will be quite a shock to my system!