China, the President and board games

Alright...here comes another somewhat random post. I must confess that I am having a hard time blogging lately (even though I have had an increase in free time), and I think the biggest reason is because I am struggling with what to write about. Hopefully I will have some inspiration in the coming weeks and months. I am currently on vaction for Chinese New Year, and am looking forward to a trip to China. I am heading to Beijing on Sunday for 5 days of vacation. It's supposed to be cold(although not quite Iowa cold), with the lows dipping below freezing, which I have not experienced in years. I think the most exciting thing about this trip is the chance to see some truly historical sites, such as the Great Wall of China, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and possibly Mao's body. Too much excitement for a history major. I'll take lots of pictures. :)

Speaking of history, I would like to recognize the historic step that took place in America this past week, when Barak Obama became the first African American president. I do think this is a great thing and deserves recognition, I also was pondering this week the extent to which President Obama is feeling pressure by being in this position. I was contemplating that being he is carrying the torch for African Americans into the White House, and that this could bring extra pressure as he sets the tone and breaks the color barrier. I think back to people like Jackie Robinson and the pressure and challenges he faced being the first high profile African American in Major League Baseball. As a president, Mr. Obama's actions will be scrutinized and examined under a microscope, as his popularity with the country and media dwindles. Is it possible that him being the first black president will further intensify this? Or is the presidency enough of a challenge in itself and will race not be in the forefront of his thoughts? I don't have an exact answer, but I would imagine being the first black president would bring some extra pressure...I just don't know how much. Just something to ponder.

Either way...I am cautiously optimistic. I know that I don't agree with Mr. Obama on ever issue, especially ones regarding the rights of babies...however I feel like he is a president that genuinely wants to help the country and find solutions to the problems. I believe that he wants to be practical and work in a bi-partisan manner to meet the country's needs. Partisanship is one of my biggest concerns with American politics and I really believe Mr. Obama when he says he wants to go across party lines. I feel our country needs leadership like this during times of war and economic hardship.

I was able to stay up and listen to his inagural speech. It was 1:00 am out here, but I am on vacation and thought it was worth losing the sleep over. I think what I appreciated most is how he called on Americans to individually take responsibility and do their parts. He followed this by outlining acts of kindness or hospitality that can be done in every day life, and I am glad he outlined the importance of this for the individual.

To me, this is a great parallel to what God calls us to do. We need to carry the torch of Christ into our cities, communitiies, and neighborhoods. It is easy for us to depend on others to do this, when we ourselves could make a difference. We can share Jesus through actions of love, caring, and kindness...through words of encouragement and comfort. And most importantly, through sharing the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Like President Obama said, our work of sharing love should not be something we "grudgingly accept", but rather be something we "sieze gladly." I pray that Christ will fill us with this desire to gladly sieze the opportunities to spread His love to this dark world.

Ok...that's all for the deep stuff. Today was a fun, lazy day of watching TV and playing board games. The highlight would have to be the 3-4 hour game of monopoly, which finally ended with a victorious Kevin Foley bankrupting me...sort of. I had taken over for Michael when he got bored of playing, but I represented his monopolies strong until the end. But alas, it was not enough to gain total monetary control of the board. As we were playing, I remembered all of the board games I played as a kid, Sorry, Clue, Candy Land, and of course Monopoly. Good memories and a good chance to relax on vaction. Praise God!

New News

It's a new year....2009! Hopefully a new commitment to writing on this blog and sharing stories about my experiences here. I feel like I say this every 4 months or so...so all I can say is that I will do my best.

Here in Taiwan I am gearing up to end the first semester and head for New Year's break. This is the most important holiday here in Taiwan, and is the only source of significant vacation in the school calendar. Starting January 21, we will have vacation until February 2nd. This break will provide a good time to relax and take a break from the busy school year.

For this new year's vacation I am going to visit Beijing, China. I am really excited because this will be a chance to see the old and the new. The old, historical sites of the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square will both be walking distance from my hotel. I also plan on traveling to see the Great Wall, hopefully being able to walk and spend significant time there.

New things: Beijing is a modern city, one of the biggest in the world, and has recently been re-modeled because of the Olympics. I hope to see some of the new sites that were put up for the Olympics.

Another highlight will be the chance to see snow (hopefully). I have not seen that wonderfully cold and cruncy powdery substances since the Februay 2005...just before I went to Puerto Rico for student teaching. While I don't miss the cold of an Iowa winter, I do miss the chance to see and play in the snow.

While I look forward to the Chinese New Year vacation, I have some exciting news to share from here in Taiwan. First, we have a new restuarant here in Chia-Yi...Subway! It all came out of left field when one of the teachers was driving in the city and saw the sign up advertising the reastaurant, and upon a closer look it was discovered that it would be opening in the next week. And sure enough, the end of December brought fresh, tasty, subs with the marvelous smell of the fresh baked bread. In the 3 weeks that it has been open, I have gone 4 or 5 times...delicious!

Finally, the other news is that we finally have a Pastor here at Salvation Lutheran Church. Pastor Alex Wu will becoming to serve as our pastor this spring. We have been vacant since August 2007, so this is such a blessing and we are all excited to have Pastor Alex as our pastor.