Communication gap

Well, we're back in Taiwan after 6 weeks in Canada and it feels great. This is home for now and as everyone knows if feels good to be at home. Vacations are great but it's tough to live out of a suitcase for too long.

Today I shaved off my summer beard. It's a sad thing as I like to have a beard but my beard just doesn't come in that great and makes me look older and fatter. Not to mention the heat of having a squirrel's worth of hair on your face. The next step was to get a haircut. I had grown my hair all summer and was looking forward to growing it out a bit longer. However it needed a trim because it was bushy and shapeless. So I went to my normal place, Yellow Ted, where they give me decent haircuts for a good price. I sat down and gave my usual instructions, "I want it a little shorter here and here, and leave this part long". This is the extent of my haircut Chinese. For the most part it usually works out...today was not like that. The first couple passes of the scissors through my hair took off a whole lot more than I expected. And before I knew it it was too late. She cut and cut and buzzed and buzzed...and all of a sudden I basically had a mohawk. Now I dig a unique haircut as much as anyone, in fact I've been known to experiment a lot with my hair but as a grown up with a public role i can't mess around too much. It's not the best move to look like a punk teenager. Luckily my hair grows quickly and this hairdo will see recovery in about a month but for now I'm looking a little funny. This is yet another reason why I need to bone up on my Chinese skills. God has been speaking to me about my life here in Taiwan. If I'm going to be here, living here as my home, I need to work at immersing myself more. Eat the food, speak the language etc. It's ok to be an outsider with a genuine interest in the place but to be effective and really connect with people here I need to jump in with both feet. My hope is to work on my Chinese and take some bolder steps in connecting with the community around me. It'll be tough but the rewards will be worth it. God is faithful.