SQJ Taipei

Blog owner’s note: Jordan had some help on this… and also it is only a little true… don’t worry about Jordan or the other kids… all is well! –SQJ

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Hi my name is Jordan Wallace Stables and I really love being here in Taiwan. My team is the greatest ever. My favorite is this one girl named Melisa. She is just fantastic. I really don’t get along with Isaac, so if you could pray about that it would really be great, also if you felt like sending a care package with a toothbrush and some shampoo in it we’d really appreciate it because he is getting smelly. We’re watching Bugs Bunny right now and I’ll probably find some way to tie Jesus into that later, but for now I’m just enjoying watching Bugs Bunny dance around in a tu tu. We learned a song in Chinese last night and that was my personal favorite…I enjoyed it so much in fact that I stood up in front of everyone and belted it. Everyone clapped for me and it was a really fun time. Plus a Taiwanese kid named Dinosaur gave me a hug and some milk tea with tapioca in it. YUM. I’m really excited to take a shower tonight because then Melisa is going to braid my hair and it is going to be gorgeous. I told her she could play beauty shop with me. Oh and the other day some of the girls went to the Laundromat to do our laundry. We all got really close that day because the girls washed my underwear. And now we’ve been hanging our laundry out to dry on some lines, so I really have no shame anymore. We were all a little uncomfortable at first, but our relationships have really just gone beyond that. I mean Isaac and Daniel are even sharing toothbrushes. Oh and we went to an aboriginal dance the other night when we were in Hualien. I made pretty good friends with one of the dancers, so they invited me on stage and I got a chance to show off the awesome dance skills that the Lord has blessed me with. What a great opportunity!! Everyone on my team is really annoyed with me by now and they always have to tell me to be quiet, but other than that we’re getting along like peanut butter and jelly. And one time when we were leaving the orphanage I was sitting in the front seat and William, with bad hand placement choices, put his hand in the door and then Zach or maybe I shut the door on his hand. We’re still not sure who the responsible party is. But I wouldn’t have really minded shutting his hand in the door except for the loud wailing that followed. He just wouldn’t stop screaming, “OW,OW,OW,OW!!!!!!!!!!” But come on, it couldn’t have hurt that badly. It was just a couple of fingers. But at least in all his whining he was practicing the five Chinese language tones, so it wasn’t all a waste of breath. So after about ten minutes of William wailing, we just couldn’t take it anymore so we had to open the car door. Then William leaped out, and my ears were ringing a little from all that screaming. But it’s all good because later William apologized for screaming so loudly into my eardrum. At the beginning of last week we stayed with the Pagels’ I got to spend some priceless time with Zachary and Joshua! They really enjoyed climbing all over me and generally hanging on me. They enjoyed it so much in fact that they gave me a nickname. This nickname has its roots in Josh-Colby language, which is a made up language between two five-year-old boys. My nickname was Chicken Doo-doo. In Josh-Colby language this means attack Jordan. It’s probably my favorite phrase to hear because after yelling, “Chicken doo-doo!” I suddenly have two little boys attacking me and calling me doo- doo, which is short for Jordan. It’s definitely one of my favorite nicknames and when I get home I expect to be greeted with a very enthusiastic, “Welcome home Chicken doo-doo!” From whomever happens to be picking me up. I’ll leave you with one last story that has really made an impact on me. While we were in Hualien, we stayed in a cute little apartment and the girls stayed on the top floor while we boys stayed on the bottom floor. So, remember the fantastic girl, Melisa, I was talking about earlier? Well, she needed to brush her teeth so they wouldn’t get scummy and crusty like Isaacs’, so she came down stairs to use the sink and I was standing there brushing my teeth, wearing no shirt I might add. So off the bat it was really just a little bit awkward. So, she asks if she can brush her teeth with me, which I thought was quite polite, so I said yes, then we brushed our teeth. Then I asked if it had been two minutes yet because of course that is the set length for pearly whites brushing. She said sure, then I spit in the kitchen sink and she did, then she went upstairs. So later when we were in Taidong staying in the hostel, the same place as the aboriginal dancing by the way, I was just about to get in the shower when Melisa walks in and asks if I want to brush my teeth with her again. I say, rather hesitantly, “Well, I already brushed my teeth,” which I felt bad saying because you know last time we brushed our teeth together was one of my favorite experiences. Then she says, “Oh, well, that’s okay….I usually brush my teeth by myself anyway.” So I said, “Me too.” And then she left and that is the conclusion of our awkward bathroom experiences and when we get back to Taipei we plan on brushing our teeth together many more times. But you know, some people say it’s only awkward if you make it. That’s all for now.

J Dub.