Day 5: A trip to Tainan

Well, firstly I must apologise for the lack of blogging due to having no internet at the house where I have been staying for the past 2 nights so this is a catch up one! We started Monday with firstly driving down to Tainan where we firstly visited a theological college. Here we met the president of the college and she gave a talk about the history of the school and an introduction to what they do. We then went into the chapel where we heard the organ being played by one of the students studying a degree in Christian Music. This gave us time to reflect on our journey so far and I began to think more deeply about the disasters etc and what I could do about it when I get back to England. After this, we took a walk around there grounds before going next door to the Christian Newspaper offices. They also explained briefly the history of the newspaper and how they liked to involve evangelism within their publications. We were shown samples of the newspaper before being taken to their bookshop where we could purchase various gifts etc. Next was dinner time! We picked up an elder from the local church and went to the oldest street in Tainan where we ate (apparently) traditional Taiwanese food. I avoided all fish this time as every time I’ve eaten it, I have been ill! We all sat around on little chairs very close to the floor and I felt like I’d gone back to primary school! After dinner, the elder from the church took us on a history tour of Tainan as it is the oldest city in Taiwan still to be in good condition. It is where the country began. This was very interesting but also very hot as it reached around 32⁰c. We later went for iced coffee as we needed a chance to cool down. The next stop was at something known as “the old tree house”, this was a winding tree which forced itself around the house to make it look like a tree house(pictures on facebook are probably better to explain this!). It had been transformed so you could walk up into the trees and also across the pond, which was fascinating. Also with the tree house, was an exhibition on how Taiwan began with the trade and immigrants etc. We were soon rushed off to meet the president of the local Christian hospital and also some surgeons etc. When we arrived, again we were treated very fondly and we were given our own honory member seat badge. We heard the history of the hospital before being given a tour of the medical museum. Next, we were taken out to dinner by these medical experts in a very posh Japanese restaurant where we were in a private room being waited on by staff. Felt very humble to be there and wondered if they had the wrong person! Finally, we left the restaurant and went to a church where I was picked up by my host family. They are very friendly but don’t speak a lot of English which is interesting. Bed is very uncomfy so looking forward to going back to the hotel on Wednesday!!