Fellowship Taiwan

My bosses finally dragged me to church with them. I was apprehensive about going. We're all protestants, but protestants can have disparate ideas about how church should be done:

Actually, it was pretty fun. Songs were lead by half a dozen lively guys and girls who looked like high schoolers or college kids. The congregation clapped along exuberantly. People clapped on beat, clapped double time, clapped on off beats, and clapped to their own beats. The important thing was the enthusiasm. My parents' congregation is equally devoid of rhythm, but much more self-conscious. You can practically hear the telepathic pleas when the worship leader strikes up the band: "Please, please, please don't make us clap. Maybe next week. Just today, no clapping."

I understood three words throughout the sermon, "Jesus," "thank you," and "Amen." But then, Amen transfers directly. At one point I heard "O-ba-ma" and "change." "Change" was said in English. I leaned over to Boss Lady for translation.

"She talking about change. And how Obama is change. He is black man, right? So that is change. The people think they can maybe get more from black man. So change."

"Okay."

A couple minutes later: "I don't understand why she say that about Obama. No relevance."

"Okay."

I'm sure the untranslated message was more nuanced.

There was also one English word, in parentheses, in the church bulletin - Ahmadinejad. For this, I also turned to Boss Lady for explanation:

"You know who is that?"

"Yeah, president of Iran."

"Yes. He say he want to kill all the Jews. So we have to pray for the people and the country."

Israel, you have a friend in Taoyuan.

I'm glad I went and saw how they get their church on in Taiwan. The biggest difference was when the pastor called for a moment of prayer everyone prayed aloud. Back home we do it silently.

Afterward, my bosses, their two kids and I headed to the car. Their oldest stepped in fresh dog poo before we got there, much to the delight of his sister.

"Taiwan has so much shiiiiiiiiit." Boss Lady remarked as we pulled away from church.

We drove to the coast for a seafood lunch - the kind of seafood lunch where you pick your fish at the market and take it to the restaurant to have it cooked. I still get a kick out of the way Chinese kids' eyes get big when they see a table stacked with raw squid, "Oooh! So yummy!"

After lunch we strolled on the jetty and looked at fishing boats. Then we drove back to Nankan.

Going to church. Eating out. Having a walk on the jetty. All likely activities for a Sunday back home in Oregon. I'm just on the wrong side of the ocean with someone else's family. Funny how things can be so foreign and familiar simultaneously.