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At the end of my missions trip to Manila last summer, I wrote down one of my prayers and stuck it in my Bible.  Here’s a piece of it.

My God, I confess that I turn a blind eye when I buy clothes or food, not thinking about the wages of the people making the clothes in sweatshops.  Give me discernment to know where to shop and where to buy things to better support them rather than supporting companies which [do the opposite]…help me to steward my money wisely, give generously, and use it to the support the poor in their situation.

One of the verses that really stuck out to me was James 5:4 – “Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you.  The cries of the harvesters have reached the Lord Almighty”.  There were a lot of things that God taught me that summer, but one thing that I really took home was how to better steward my money to further God’s kingdom.

So, how does this have anything to do with being a Steazer? And what is a Steazer anyway?

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I remember my first introduction to bubble tea was when I visited my brother for the first time in Houston.  I was amazed at the list of different fruity flavors I could choose to mix with black or green tea and large black chewy tapioca balls (called boba or bubbles).  When I returned to Maryland and Nashville where the bubble tea scene is severely lacking, I was disappointed in the lack of selection and the outrageous prices.

Little did I know that there is so much beyond even the best bubble tea shop in Houston.  Oh, so much more.  Here in Taiwan, you almost literally can’t go an entire street block without walking past a tea shop.  In more crowded areas, usually even more than just one tea shop.

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Lately, I’ve been checking out a lot of new coffee shops.  When I’m not in school, I like to study Chinese.  Unfortunately, if I’m anywhere near my computer or in my bedroom, I get absolutely nothing done.  So, I’ve been trying to find some good coffee shops where I can study Chinese and sip on some deliciousness.

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Before taking the HSR (High Speed Rail) to Kenting for the Fulbright Mid-Year Conference, FSE had us stay in Taipei for one night.  Since we were close to Ximending, we decided to go there for dinner and to meet up with our friend Kat.  We at dinner at the famous Chang Zi Mian Xian restaurant where you eat noodles in a bowl standing up.  There are no tables or chairs, instead there’s just a bunch of people crowded around this shop holding their bowl of soup.

As we slurped down our noodles, Eric realized there was something white and chewy in his bowl.  He asked, “What’s this? Squid?”  The Taiwanese lady standing nearby replied, “No,” paused to think and then continued, “it’s intestines”.  After discovering the true identity of the mysterious meat, Eric refused to eat any of his intestines, leaving them all to gather at the bottom of his bowl.

When he finished, Eric turned to me and Deborah and asked, “Do you want my intestines?” Charming, isn’t he?

Meeting up with our friend Kat one last time before she headed back to the States

Woops. I guess I wasn’t supposed to do that.

So, not only is it embarrassing to always need to ask for help reading the Chinese menus we are handed at restaurants and overall not having any knowledge of normalcy in Taiwanese life, I make things worse. So, we went out to eat at this Japanese restaurant and we were filling out the menu (at many of the smaller restaurants, you order by filling out a piece of paper).  Since we made an error on one, we got another one and I decided to keep the other sheet so that I could later look up the words to figure out the other half of the menu that we couldn’t read. Little did I know that was a big no-no.

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