A Warm Welcome

The sky was clear and the sun was shining on my walk to ORTVs main office.

Today was to be the beginning of my journey at ORTV. I had no idea what to expect, but luckily there was no need for low expectations here. The people of Dazhi (the area where I live and where ORTVs office is located), are unbelievably nice, and since so many of OTRVs teachers live here, they are accustomed to seeing foreign faces. I said good morning to a few locals before I turned the corner and saw the ORTV building.

I walked through the front door and received nothing but smiles and friendly hellos. Everyone at ORTV speaks impressive English, which is expected at an English teaching media company, but welcome nonetheless.

I immediately recognized several people. Cindy Tu, a mother of one of the students that attended the summer university program that I have been involved with at APU, greeted me with a big hug, and a thank you for taking care of her daughter. I also ran into Jack Kao, a former classmate and friend of mine also from APU. In fact, I discovered that there are many connections at APU, which is a welcome treat.

After chapel, I got to meet just about everyone in the building, and then it was time to see my desk

No complaints here.

I have a desk with a beautiful view of the city and a balcony on the third floor in the English department. This is where I will be working on articles and other projects that I am assigned outside of the TV department, which is located across a small street.

In fact, as soon as I was situated, it was time for me to head over to the studio. ORTV has a state of the art film studio with a virtual set, so the actors are filmed, and then placed inside a 3D studio through a blue screen. I will be "teaching" using this set starting on Tuesday, which means I will be one of the actors for Studio Classroom.

Very cool.

I've already been put right to work at ORTV, and I've gotten pretty busy, but it feels nice to always have something to do, and it feels even better knowing that the work done here is for the glory of God!

"All of these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country - a heavenly one. Therefor God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them." - Hebrews 11:13-16

The Moon Festival

The morning of September 22nd, I woke up and prayed like I have never prayed before. Having felt so much angst over what is surely the craziest thing I have ever done in my life, I still somehow felt at peace. While I am still yet to see how God will work through me, I have no doubts that He will.

Wednesday was the moon festival in Taiwan. It celebrates the full moon, or the coming of autumn, or something. All I know is, everyone got a day off work, which means I got to meet a bunch of my new friends. 

Brandon invited me to go hiking with a bunch of the other teachers and, in my quest to be social, I obliged. I did NOT, however, anticipate hiking one of the most calf-straining, toe-scraping, sweat-inducing hikes of my life. I decided that I wanted to make a good first impression, so I wore jeans and a polo shirt. I will never wear either of those things again! After the first few minutes of walking around outside I looked like I was slapped in the face by a typhoon, and was dripping with sweat.

I'm standing just to the left of this picture.

Brandon and I walked over to the MRT station (or as I now like to call it, "Mr. T's"), where I met some of my new coworkers.

Naomi is a super nice, super thoughtful girl. Originally from Canada, she's been in Taiwan for five years, working for ORTV the whole time. Being a conversationalist, she spent a lot of time asking me about my life, and in turn, I got the chance to get to know her a little as well.

Next there's Gabe. Gabe is very tall, very thoughtful, and he has subtle sarcasm, but a caring heart. One word I would use to describe him would be "chill". I recognized him from some of the ORTV material where he played a nerdy bow tie-wearing  character named "Tom". Luckily, in real life, he is extremely down to earth. Gabe is also an APU alumn, so we had the chance to talk a little about our favorite professors and hot spots. He was also born in Taiwan and has lived most of his life here, so he is very in-touch with both cultures.

Kayla is one of the newer ORTV teachers. She has been here for about seven weeks, and it's possible that I may be co-hosting with her on Studio Classroom. She is very outspoken and friendly, and she has a good sense of humor. She is very much a conversationalist, and she has already played an important part in making me feel right at home.

Rachel, if I'm correct, only volunteers at ORTV on the side, and is actually an English teacher at a nearby school. She is friends with most of the ORTV teachers, and like everyone else, is a very devout Christian. She has also been in Taiwan for a couple years, though the story of how she got here is an interesting one. Rachel is absolutely a servant at heart, and I look forward to getting to know her more as well.

Once we all met and everyone took the opportunity to mock my attire, we set off for the endless stairs (self-named) over by the grand hotel. One minute we were walking down the busy streets of Taipei, and the next, we were in a thick lush jungle, split only by stairs that seemed to never stop going up. The hike was grueling and miserable, due mostly to the fact that it was 93 degrees and humid beyond belief. The trail was absolutely beautiful though. Up ahead you could see the randomly placed stones of the stairs climbing up through the overgrown jungle bush. 

Turning around revealed a different picture.

Along the trail you could see beautiful vegetation and interesting people doing yoga on specially built platforms designed for that purpose. There were also spiders the size of your face, which are pictured below. If you can't see it, try looking on the right side of the picture. If you don't think that thing looks big, just know that my hand is much closer to the camera than the spider is, and it's web was about 10 feet tall. Let's just say that falling in this things web would most certainly make me cry harder than anything else ever could!

I call it "facespider"!

Anyway, along the trail we met an old man named Andy. Andy approached us because he recognized the teachers from the show. Little did we know that Andy would become our tour guide, and self-proclaimed best friend. After leading us up and along the trail, he helped walk us to the main road, where he started singing worship songs. Turns out, Andy is a devout Christian.

After we said our goodbyes to Andy, we walked past a temple of some sort where they were doing the changing of the guard, and then I made my way over to see Doris Brougham (the woman in charge of ORTV) in person. She is a beautiful woman of God. Exceptionally welcoming and very giving, it is easy to see why ORTV has turned into such an amazing ministry.

For lunch, we had breakfast. We went to a place called New York Bagel, which served much more than just bagels. It was extremely nice, and classy, and we were all abled to get to know each other a lot better over some french toast.

Later in the afternoon Brandon again invited me to go with him and Rachel to a moon festival at an orphanage nearby. the kids are among the most sweet, and loving kids you could ever meet. Many, if not all of them, suffered from a parent that had an addiction of some kind. We had a barbecue on the roof for the moon festive, and several people from a nearby church came and attended with us. The experience was extremely rewarding, and I look forward to spending more time with them in the future!

That's it! My first full day in Taiwan. It's not all written down, mostly because I've been suffering from jet lag and I'm extremely tired, but the major points were hit. 

Since then I have started my job at ORTV, so stay posted for a taste of life in ORTV

The First Day

This is it. The first day of school. 

Mom would do everything in her power to make sure that you were ready. Were your shoes tied? Did you bring your lunch? Did your clothes match?

Of course nothing could prepare her for that moment. The moment you get out of the car. The moment you see your new classmates. The moment you wave goodbye.

I looked into my families eyes as they stood there in the terminal, and I gave them one last "I love you" sign before I rounded the corner. I knew that I would not see them again for a long time, but I also know that God has a plan, and I knew that I was about to embark on one of the most epic journeys of my life.

The engines hummed and eventually roared as I watched LA disappear into the fog. I eased back into my very comfortable seat when the man sitting next to me, one of the only other caucasians on the plane, introduced himself as a Canadian Electric Car Designer. Not knowing how to respond to this, I gave him the polite nod, and almost immediately fell asleep.

While I was awake though, the flight was very nice. The seats were soft, the engines were quiet, the movie selection was good and so was the service.

They even had flowers in the bathrooms!

As my plane touched down into Taipei, I prayed a deep long prayer. A "this is it" moment passed over me as the reality of it all sunk in. I got off the plane and headed over to customs, where they let me through without a single question. I got my things, and walked outside not knowing who I would find, or rather, who would find me.

Finally, I was found by my new roommate, Brandon. Brandon, though a little quiet at first, has a lot of wisdom and is completely selfless. I have a lot to learn from him. He's been a teacher for ORTV for two years, and he's been in Taiwan for three. He graduated from Liberty college, and his family from Tennessee, has never visited him in Taiwan.

We took a van down a freeway which I had taken only nine months prior, so I easily recognized where I was. That alone made me feel more at home, as I didn't feel as much like I was going somewhere new, as I felt like I was returning somewhere familiar.

Our driver turned down a narrow alley lined with scooters and people barbecuing. My heart stopped when he pulled up in front of one of the most ghetto-fabulous buildings I had ever seen. This would become my new apartment.

Ugly though it may be on the outside, it is actually quite nice on the inside. It's quite roomy, there is a kitchen, a living room, and two bathrooms, and I get my own bedroom, which is awesome!

I rolled my only remaining possessions into my new room, and plopped onto my bed, and when I say plopped, I mean shattered. The mattress is about as soft as a Die Hard movie.

"Yippee kayay!"

Unfortunately, we don't have wifi, so communication will be difficult, but I am working to get it. We do, however, have a TV, which gets a bunch of English channels. Brandon turned it on, and we proceeded to watch animal planet until we couldn't stay awake any longer.

I wandered into my room and sat in bed spending a lot of time in thought and prayer. This is a whole new world, but I know God has a plan, and through every challenge, there's a reward.

Welcome to Bowman's Corner

I decided to go with the cheesiest name I could think of... it somehow makes it easier to remember! Anyway, I'll be using this blog throughout the course of my journeys as a place to share my experiences, thoughts, and prayers. There will be a lot more features to come in the future, but in the meantime, please feel free to forward this blog to whomever you think might take interest, and please take the time to share your thoughts in the comments section!