Nantou

Yesterday I realised that I need to learn to read the Chinese characters.  Well, I need to at least learn the ones on menus!  It's a bit frustrating having to rely on restaurants that have pictures on the menu or the things that I can remember.  

2 days ago we travelled to the middle of Taiwan to play 2 concerts.  The first was a youth conference that was being held in a university campus.  The campus was on the top of a mountain so we had to drive through a massive sequence of valleys to get there (a little bit like Switzerland except the mountains were covered in jungle and not snow).  It's a relief to get out of the concrete jungle of Taipei and find some vegetation and nice clean air.  On arrival we felt very welcome, we were fed well and even given a sound check!  The 300 youths (people up to 25 are youths here so I'm still technically one!) were so mad.  The concert was one of the most crazy I have ever played.  There were some powerful moments of worship as everyone sang together and rocked out in the 'rock out' moments.   I felt as if it's the reason we've written some of these songs, they come alive when people engage with them.  

So post-gig we went to a night market and ate some junky food.  Mine was Japanese fried something or other.  All I could tell when I ate it was that whatever it was was fried!  The woman who cooked it also couldn't understand my Chinese so instead of adding just a small bit of sugar like I asked, I got wasabi sauce, soy sauce, pepper, and something that looked and tasted like wood chippings.  If there's one thing I've learned in Taiwan it's trust your instincts and never be too surprised!  

The next day I was pretty inspired.  We were given a tour of a friend's factory.   Her Dad is an inventor.  He loves triathlon so loads of the products are designed for athletes.  The company came up with the idea for Air cushions in shoes that Nike is famous for.  I got given an air pad for my guitar strap.  It makes having my guitar a lot more comfortable.  

Skipping a few episodes (I have to get up and shave, have breakfast and try to look presentable and my time is running out for writing this blog) - we had a street gig outside in another town the next night - it was outside and the whole town came out for the event.  It was set up by the church and the government was also involved.  The combination worked well and we played to 700 -800 people in a big street party.  I think we did well because we got 3 encores.  Either that or it's culturarl!  I haven't been so sweaty for a very long time!  Well, we have a radio interview this morning - our 7th or 8th followed by a tv show that involves 7 hours filming.  I hope I'm still alive after that!  As long as I eat enough I'll be ok!  

Julianne is doing so well.  I'm very proud of her.  She's' been engaging with all these new people all over Taiwan and lugging equipment around on trains, planes, taxis and buses all in the 35 degree heat.  We've had fun together and I'm sure there's some more shopping in store!