Squinting, I peer through the sheet of rain
to see if the light has changed. The
minute it turns green, I put my full weight on the pedals, hoping to quickly get
out of the torrential downpour. The rain
bounces off the pavement, but flows in streams down the disposal yellow raincoat I had hastily thrown on and
stopping only at boggy land—my jeans! The
plastic raincoat hugs my skin like saran wrap, sweat on the inside, rain on the
outside. When I go full speed, the rain
pelts harder, and I can barely keep my eyes open in the liquid
assault. I breathe in air in short gasps
like a swimmer surfacing for precious air and sputter to ensure I don't swallow any water. I pass a few bikes and even a slow scooter. Biking beside scooters and cars and dodging buses pulling into their stops
has given me the right amount of adrenalin.
Finally, I arrive at my destination to wait for 908, the bus that will
take me to Sanxia for my 90min par-time job.
The bus arrives. I swipe my
wallet (it contains a magnetized transit card) against the machine and stand
beside an empty seat. I carefully peel
off my yellow plastic skin without dripping onto the seat and plop down for a
long ride to Sanxia. I become a human humidifier in my air-conditioned classroom. My jeans dry by the
time I finish class, but my raincoat is still dripping away. Ironic, eh?
Why did I take this job? Why do I spend so much time travelling for
such a short time of teaching? Before I
took the job, the verse from 1 Thess really spoke to me: "make it your
ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with
your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of
outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody. "
(11-12) I told God that I'm willing to
go anywhere to work, but He had to open doors for me.
The next day, I got a follow-up call from
the English academy I had an interview at earlier that week. The wanted me to teach for 90min a day. I quickly accepted, as I knew this was the
job God wanted me to take despite the fact that it didn’t make sense to travel
for around 2 hours to teach for 90min. I know I can trust in Him even when things don't make sense the way a child trusts his/her parent even though medicine might taste funny.
Thus began my daily trek to Sanxia. The fare for a roundtrip bus ride was $3
because I had to take 2 different buses, but to save $1/day, I decided to ride
to the bus that took me straight to Sanxia. If I save a dollar a day, I can afford to feed a child for a month in India or I could pay for fruit for 8 kids for a month. And thus began my trek to Sanxia.
I like biking to 908 because I get exercise and I can save time not
having to wait between buses. The fun
begins when it rains though. For
whatever reason, there are frequent afternoon showers in Taipei. For whatever reason, more often than not,
these showers begin when I’m in the middle of my bike ride or just half an hour
before.
I’m gonna miss the feeling of
accomplishment of getting to safety—the sanctuary of the bus—and having my jeans dry quickly
because of a combination of body heat and AC in the classroom.
