Well, I can't say they didn't warn me...

So they say that pride cometh before the fall. And it did this lunch hour.

I went to the local home and garden store, B&Q, to purchase some little pots, soil, and seeds for our Bible lesson today on Jesus' parable of the sower. (I also thought a planting activity would go along well with the end of our holiday unit and Arbor Day... at least our curriculum said that today was Arbor Day... but I guess I don't know if that was true or not.)

While there, I decided to also purchase some plants for the apartment. The ones I got last summer have died in the dry winter... oops. I wanted a second chance and the plants were on sale. I knew it would be a little bit of a challenge getting all of these things back on my scooter, but I didn't think it would be anything a sturdy box and a clever mind couldn't handle.

The nice check-out lady showed me my box options, people behind me in line were commenting on my plant choices and asking where they could find them. I was pleased I had apparently picked out impressive specimens.

Walking to my scooter, I realized I wasn't going to be able to fit the box in front of me like I had originally thought. I wished I had the tools to somehow strap the box to the back... that was it! I had some bungee chords in my scooter seat, and I managed to just make it work with the box balanced on the little ledge hanging off the back of my scooter. I poked at it and it didn't move. I figured I was all set. I was pleased as punch, patting myself on the back, proud of myself that I had mastered this art of scooter-transporting. I pulled out my camera and took a picture of it. (Maybe I can get that posted here later.) Then I rolled out of the parking lot and started merrily along my way back toward campus.

I wasn't a block away when *splat*... I heard dirt hitting the pavement behind me. It was ridiculous. I was in the middle of a road, and the box, though still connected to my scooter, had flipped backwards and dumped its ENTIRE contents out. I turned around and beheld floral carnage. I pulled off into the median, unhooked the box, and ran back to attempt to throw everything back into it.

I was so mortified by the idea of losing all those plants I had just so painstakingly picked out that I wasn't really paying that close attention to traffic. Thankfully it wasn't a terribly busy section of the road, but even more so I think God showed me some grace and protection. This continued on the trip back as I drove with the box in front of me which limited my steering. I went slowly until I reached another store I had hoped to stop at. It dawned on me that I knew what had caused the spill and that another bungee chord could resolve that flaw in my original engineering. I purchased another chord at this store, attempted to strap on the box again (not worrying this time about damaging the plants since they were already broken and spilled with roots, flowers, loose dirt, and leaves mangled together) and it worked! I drove carefully and stopped to check it a couple times, but it worked.

I did drop another little bag off my scooter along the way that I stopped and went back for also... salt to the wound.

I eventually did make it back to campus and took a survey of the damage, adding soil, pulling off the broken plant parts, and giving them a drink of water. I had Amy, the resident plant doctor, make a house call on the plants as well, and the report is that all will survive the tumble.

So, I think I learned a lesson today of humility and grace. And please remember - if you're ever strapping something to the back of your scooter, three bungee chords work better than two.

Alishan

A couple weekends back, I had the opportunity to take a famous old train up a nearby famous mountain for the weekend. I went with some Taiwanese teachers and their families as well as a couple other foreigners like me. It was an exciting experience riding the old train for four hours each way, curving around mountain sides, even a couple of switchbacks, getting out to hike at a part where the tracks had been destroyed by a typhoon in the fall, and waking up at 3am to go farther up the mountain to see the sunrise! It was also breathtakingly beautiful! What a marvelous creation God made. If things can be this beautiful in this sin-stained world, I really look forward to seeing the beauty of heaven and God's new creation!





A picture of our group at the Alishan train station:


Some aboriginal dancers that performed outside the train station:

Field Trip... Literally :)

A few weeks ago, I was able to tag along on a kindergarten field trip to.... fields! We spent the morning hiking through pineapple fields and at one point stopped under some fruit trees to eat a snack. Here are the students, all lined up and ready to go!