Farther up, further in!

For those who don't know, the title of this post is a reference to The Last Battle, the last book in C.S. Lewis's "Chronicles of Narnia" series. (If you haven't already, GO READ IT!) In the book, it's an admonishment not to stay on the edges of something, but to plunge into its center, full-force.

I'm kind of in love with the expression, actually.

It also happens to be the best thing I can think of to say about my time in Taiwan right now. I've long since gotten over the initial culture shock and established a daily routine; even my language skills have evolved to the point where I can at least get around okay. The challenge now comes in not staying at the edges of my world here, but to drive forward to experience it at greater depths.

The depths I plumbed today: the non-compatibility of US-made DVDs with Taiwan-made DVD players (I think I was as disappointed as the kids that we couldn't watch Up...); a scenic route home complete with the discovery of a cute shopping area behind the main one at Central Park (amazing what you can find in search of Burger King!); the impossibly long task of checking receipt numbers for their bimonthly lottery (no wins, after sorting my fat pile of receipts by month, then first digit, and then checking to see if all 8, or even just 7, or 6, or 5, or 4, or 3 numbers matched. They didn't.).

So, not exactly the sort of profundity Lewis usually inspires. Pretty mundane, really. But the little mundane things pile up on each other and build into life itself. So I say, farther up and further in!