The School with Seven Floors, Glass Walls, and All ipads

I was nervous; very nervous as I hopped of the moped and walked through the automatic glass doors, into my new school. On my right was a security guard (!), straight in front of me was an elevator that goes to all eight floors of the school, and all around me were Chinese students milling around and talking to each other. I noted that I was the only white American student there. Everywhere around me they were openly staring at me and whispering to their friends. Talk about awkward! I pulled out my schedule. "Looks like I have History first on the 3rd floor,"I thought. So, I hopped into the elevator and made my way to room 304.
I picked a seat in the second row waited for class to start. My heart was pounding but I wasn’t exactly sure why. Maybe I felt alone. I could feel all the classmates’ eyes on me. Soon, class started. First, we did a little activity so the teacher could learn our names. Of course they all had a hard time pronouncing mine, Enjoli. In the middle of class, the principal came and said he’d like to say a prayer for our class and for anyone that was new. I thought that was neat and I really appreciated it. Very slowly, but surely my nervousness started to melt away. Our teacher then had us play 20 questions on a history object or place. None of them had played it before so I gave a lot of answers.

By my next class, I was feeling a lot more comfortable. After math class I thought, “No homework yet. Yay!”

Next was lunch, so I hiked up to the seventh floor, grabbed my lunch and sat at a table. Soon, a girl came over, introduced herself, and invited me to sit with her and her friends and their table. I agreed and was happy that I didn’t have to eat alone.

At the end of school (It ends at 4:30…) they had some chips and soda upstairs for everyone like a welcome back party or something. By then, I wasn’t so nervous and they weren’t so afraid of me anymore! They approached me, asked me my name, commented on my long hair, ask if I was from America, and the usual questions. A bunch of people wanted to be friends with me on facebook.

I decided that the first day of school had been good, besides a bunch of butterflies in my first class.

I am making new friends and slowly get used to everyone and everything in my new school. I am actually enjoying it. WHAT?! Did Enjoli just say she’s enjoying school?! Yes I did. Surprising, huh? I’ve never hated it, but I’ve never necessarily liked it either. The Taiwanese are all very friendly and I’m liking it here so far. :) 

 

Next Adventure: Taipei, Taiwan

           My emotions toppled and tumbled over each other as I took my first look at Taipei, the capitol of Taiwan. This city was soon to be my ‘home’ for the next two years. I gazed up at the towering sky-scrapers and the unique buildings with their cool Chinese-style roofs, I looked at the Chinese characters pasted over everything in sight, and I stared at all the traffic and the hundreds of mopeds stopped at the stop light.  I admired the beautiful, rolling hills of jungle right outside the city. “What an amazing place!” I thought. 

            “We are here!” someone from our ‘welcoming party’ announced. We walked over to the second van that was packed to the roof with our luggage. The heavy, dense humidity made it hard to breathe for a second. It reminded me a lot of the Philippines. Now, we had to somehow lug 20, 50-pound suitcases our carry-on and backpacks out of the van and down the 97 steps that led to our house. Phew! Was that a job! Thankfully, we had a team of 11 people to help us (counting our family).

            Inside our house we were encountered with a pleasant surprise. Some of the church members had bought us all sorts of important stuff; towels, silverware, dishes, pots and pans, food, and lots of other necessities. We were touched by their kindness. 

            After they left we went right to work. I walked in my room and started unpacking … and thinking. The house was really nice, the people were really nice, and the city and all that I had seen of Taipei was beautiful. “I think I’m going to like it here” I thought. At the same time though, I was very homesick for my family in Wenatchee. I had had mixed feeling over the whole trip. I knew this was God’s will, and Taipei was wonderful but … Wenatchee was my home and I missed it and all my friends.

            That night as I lay in bed under my fan, I told God, “You know what? Taipei is a wonderful place filled with wonderful people. Even though I didn’t necessarily want to move, thank-you for telling us to. There must be a reason why I am here. Even though I miss Wenatchee terribly, I know it is Your will that I be here and I’m going to make the best of these two years. Thank-you for being a great God that cares!”