Hi all,
We've been in our new apartment since last Friday. Even though we weren't at the hotel for very long, it is nice to have a place (and people in the neighbourhood) where we can call home. There's been a lot of getting used to - new rules for garage, recycling, etc. (more on this in a separate blog). All of these things relate to adjusting to life in a new culture with new rules, regulations and ways of doing things. The theme of "being flexible" and adjusting to the new environment (and not expecting the new environment to adjust to you) continue to be important concepts.
We also recognize and continue to see God's blessing and provision in all that we have here. We're reminded of this time and time again. Even with all of the frustrations and annoyances of the new environment, it's even more clear than ever before that God will take care of us here.
As we've posted in the past, the house hunting journey has been a very educational and difficult process. We chose location and local environment as the prime decision criteria. We knew that with this meant living in a slightly more expensive neighbourhood. It would have also meant sacrificing for a smaller and older place. The result of all of this is a place that is bigger than we would have ever expected for a place in Asia. It's an older building (I have no idea how old, but would be surprised if the building was 40+ years old), but well kept. The apartment itself has been recently renovated and there's lots of new furniture (including IKEA furniture of all things!).
We struggled at the last moment as to whether we needed this place, and decided that we would take the responsibility of having a larger, more comfortable place. This means, that we now consider ourselves stewards of this place and are committed to using it to minister to others - local friends (or friends to be) and of course any of you who would like to visit and experience Taiwan with us. That's the only way we could justify having a ... three bedroom, two bathroom, large living room and kitchen place! So.. lots of room to visit. The only drawback that had was being on the fourth floor (of a five story building) with no elevator. However, with the culture so focused around food, this could turn out to be a good thing.
We live in an area called DaAn. There's an "okay" Wikipedia entry on Daan. In the interest of time, you can read a little about DaAn using this link. We live on DaAn Road (on top of a Pizza Hut actually) just south of XinYi Road. XinYi Lu is a major road in Taipei and I just take the bus across to work every morning - 10 minutes or less! On DaAn Lu is a little market with lots of locals and food stands.
Our landlady SF and her family have been great to us so far. A big tipping point in our decision. We hope to develop a strong friendship and relationship with them over the next few years.
I'll end the blog here and redeem myself a little for those of you critics who are screaming for more pictures. DKF even took a video for us. It's quite empty now, but we're in the process of picking up essentials. It's a "big" apartment. This is the most dense area of Taipei - over 27,000 people per square km - the most dense part of Taipei city. Thinking about Luke 12:48.
The journey from our hotel to the new apartment. Sandra is impressed with the GPS system on the hotel mini-van. For the record, Ray came back for his lunch break to help move everything up to the 4th floor - no elevator!:
Open concept dining room and living room - hopefully a place of many dinners, discussions, hosting, etc. The large couches was a big attraction! The furniture came with the place - including the brand new LCD TV with free cable - over 100 channels. We have a tube TV in Toronto with 4 channels if the attenna is pointed in the right direction!
Master bedroom with more new IKEA furniture.
We've been in our new apartment since last Friday. Even though we weren't at the hotel for very long, it is nice to have a place (and people in the neighbourhood) where we can call home. There's been a lot of getting used to - new rules for garage, recycling, etc. (more on this in a separate blog). All of these things relate to adjusting to life in a new culture with new rules, regulations and ways of doing things. The theme of "being flexible" and adjusting to the new environment (and not expecting the new environment to adjust to you) continue to be important concepts.
We also recognize and continue to see God's blessing and provision in all that we have here. We're reminded of this time and time again. Even with all of the frustrations and annoyances of the new environment, it's even more clear than ever before that God will take care of us here.
As we've posted in the past, the house hunting journey has been a very educational and difficult process. We chose location and local environment as the prime decision criteria. We knew that with this meant living in a slightly more expensive neighbourhood. It would have also meant sacrificing for a smaller and older place. The result of all of this is a place that is bigger than we would have ever expected for a place in Asia. It's an older building (I have no idea how old, but would be surprised if the building was 40+ years old), but well kept. The apartment itself has been recently renovated and there's lots of new furniture (including IKEA furniture of all things!).
We struggled at the last moment as to whether we needed this place, and decided that we would take the responsibility of having a larger, more comfortable place. This means, that we now consider ourselves stewards of this place and are committed to using it to minister to others - local friends (or friends to be) and of course any of you who would like to visit and experience Taiwan with us. That's the only way we could justify having a ... three bedroom, two bathroom, large living room and kitchen place! So.. lots of room to visit. The only drawback that had was being on the fourth floor (of a five story building) with no elevator. However, with the culture so focused around food, this could turn out to be a good thing.
We live in an area called DaAn. There's an "okay" Wikipedia entry on Daan. In the interest of time, you can read a little about DaAn using this link. We live on DaAn Road (on top of a Pizza Hut actually) just south of XinYi Road. XinYi Lu is a major road in Taipei and I just take the bus across to work every morning - 10 minutes or less! On DaAn Lu is a little market with lots of locals and food stands.
Our landlady SF and her family have been great to us so far. A big tipping point in our decision. We hope to develop a strong friendship and relationship with them over the next few years.
I'll end the blog here and redeem myself a little for those of you critics who are screaming for more pictures. DKF even took a video for us. It's quite empty now, but we're in the process of picking up essentials. It's a "big" apartment. This is the most dense area of Taipei - over 27,000 people per square km - the most dense part of Taipei city. Thinking about Luke 12:48.
The journey from our hotel to the new apartment. Sandra is impressed with the GPS system on the hotel mini-van. For the record, Ray came back for his lunch break to help move everything up to the 4th floor - no elevator!:
Here's DKF's amateur home video of our new place. If you right click and do "show all" I think you can view full screen? Here's a link to the video if you can't get it to work.:
Open concept dining room and living room - hopefully a place of many dinners, discussions, hosting, etc. The large couches was a big attraction! The furniture came with the place - including the brand new LCD TV with free cable - over 100 channels. We have a tube TV in Toronto with 4 channels if the attenna is pointed in the right direction!
Master bedroom with more new IKEA furniture.
This is the guest bathroom.
First day in apartment after work. Ray reflecting on Luke 12:48.
Our first guest in our DaAn apartment as we share about our dreams and pray over our new place (yes, that is a bottle of Chardonnay to celebrate!)
This is the view from the "nice" side of the apartment looking over the little park area.
This is the back side where our laundry balcony is located - very close to the other building!
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