My last day at Taipei Language Institute (TLI)

My last time at TLI was this past Friday, so I brought my camera with me to take some pictures. This first picture is Mr. and Mrs. Chen. They have a little tea shop on my way to school, so I always stop here and buy a green tea. He is Taiwanese, and she is Philippino. I talk with him in Chinese and with her in English. I often wonder how they talk with each other - but I guess they have worked out a system. :)

This next photo I took of Keith as he was cramming for his first hour of class. His first hour on Fridays is with his hardest teacher, who demands perfection on tones. Isn't he cute?

This picture is of the green tea I buy each day from the Chen's. I wanted to show you how cool the cups are here - they seal them with a special machine so that even if you turn them upside down they won't leak. You just poke your straw through the top and you're ready to drink!

My final photo is of me and my favorite TLI teacher. Her name is Teacher Xiao (pronounced shee-aw). She taught me my very first language class, starting all the way at the beginning with the first Chinese phonetic alphabet sounds - and she has taught me every day since then! She taught me how to write my name and address in Chinese. She also taught me Taiwanese cultural things. She, too, is a believer in Jesus. I will never forget one day studying how to say "every" - everything, every person, every year, etc. She said to me this sentence in Chinese - "Every person needs Jesus." I knew right then we were kindred spirits! On Monday, I told her (in Chinese), "When I move to Taichung, I will miss you." Then I went into the bathroom and cried! I am very thankful God has placed Teacher Xiao in my life. I am also thankful that she is from Taichung and will hopefully come to visit me when she is there!

This week will be our last week of spiritual language study here in Taipei with Teacher Lu. I will blog again after our last lesson with her - I hope I won't cry then, too!