The past few days have been a whirlwind of emotions, but I am Taiwan now, relatively settled and excited for the journey I am going to embark upon with the new friends I have met. Saying the flight here was long is a vast understatement, but once I got to the TPE I got a second wind. It was around 6:30 am when I landed and I could already feel the intense humidity. Spotted Cha Hung and we proceeded to drive back to the shelter. I was a little nervous about meeting him just because he is such a prominent individual, activist, fighter, superhero--the list goes on and on, but he was so warm and friendly that those feelings dissipated immediately.

Got to the shelter around 7, just in time for morning mass. I was there with a few of the women, and later sat down to breakfast of jam and bread with them. My Vietnamese was actually better than I anticipated (thank God) and it was a very pleasant experience. I then went to Cha Hung's office for a very informal 'orientation,'--he basically went over the nature of work at the office, what my responsibilities would be etc. Throughout our conversation, one thing in particular stood out to me, which is very simple, but still, I think, a very important thing to remember during my time here--that we are here to EMPOWER the victims, and not to shelter them. It will be my job to, in any way that I can, to instill a sense of confidence in these individuals, to let them realize that they can and should be fighters in these harsh circumstances they find themselves under. Cha Hung was concerned that I was tired and asked if I wanted to take the day off to rest, and I was tempted, but was very anxious to soak up as much of the culture of the office as I could on the first day.

I washed vegetables with some of the ladies, watched Taiwanese dramas, ate some delicious cooking, played volleyball...it was a very full and fulfilling day. Vanessa, Vinh, and Trinh, many of the victims talked about their experiences with you and went on about how great you all were and how appreciative they are about your time here--it just goes to show the great/difficult work we are engaged in, and that it is making a difference.

Now, my only complaint is the humidity...