There's everything... except perhaps dingos, kangaroos & wombats... you get the drift...

Alright, alright. So I said I'd show you food piccies. The row down the right hand side are most of what was served for my 'wind receiving' lunch. Yeah, it was yummy. And what's with the heading? Thought I'd tell you I haven't seen any animals since I landed, but have been bitten by a loathsome mossie in the apartment several times. It's too clever for me to catch it with the electric mossie swatter. (Argh!!) Somehow insects in high density population are really good at hiding & dodging. (Just you wait...) So never mind about the dingos, kangaroos etc. You won't find them here. There're plenty of souls aggregated on the island country though–all of 22.9 million people of which 2.6 million live in Taipei the capital city. Taiwan is an island about one fifth the size of Victoria State (or a quarter of Tassie). Imagine the entire population of Australia (a continent) getting cozy on an island country this size! 


Taipei–the city of cheap gourmet eats, armies of scooters, yellow cabs, high altitude mountain tea, the 101 skyscraper, and much much more. Can anyone run out of things to DO here? The street level of my apartment block is filled with boutique stores (shopping, anyone?), cafes & eateries as well as roadside vendours. During day time, men and women roam the streets on business and home errands. At night and on weekends, the young and beautiful parade the streets, some taking pictures of their trip out to the 'xoxo' shop or restaurant made famous by 'xoxo' tv program / magazine. 
Yes–my neighbourhood is a tourist destination.

Gourmet meals in Taipei are about half of the Australian price tag. Anything 'shopping' or 'work' related is within walking distance (or a few MRT (Metropolitan Rapid Transport) / bus stops). The sea is a mere 25 minutes' commute, as are the mountains of evergreens. Taiwan is an island country surrounded by coral reefs and layered with granite and fertile volcanic soil. The agricultural produce is a delight; flavour-some, sweet, and generously priced. If you've seen the recent Iron Chef episode that featured Valentines Day theme desserts (where the French challenger won), you'd have seen a variety of bananas, of which a batch were Taiwanese bananas. (Yay, we're famous!!!)

Once upon a time, a trip to Taiwan in my childhood was synonamous to eat-till-you-pop and shop-till-you-drop. With age, shopping's become more of a necessity than an event for me. But I still enjoy the food and appreciate having a plethora of 'stuff' within easy reach (should I ever have the need for them). Most importantly, I love being able to see the faces of my family every day. I'm not so sure about the smog though. There're quite a few environmentally friendly projects around the city, but I really miss being able to roam around the beach and the grass fields (which by the way, are sectioned off for 'viewing' purposes only' in the cities). *Sigh*... Can you imagine 2.6 million people stomping on a few patches of grass scattered throughout the paved city?

For a Taipei-Melburnian-Novacastrian woman, I'm okay with taking a walk through the underground shopping strips (yes, you can eat, play, drink, and shop... and live a life underground if you choose to), but only for so long. I might just loose all inhibitions and roam around barefooted very soon (as long as it's somewhere clean–doh!). I was brought up to wear slippers indoors, but my heart longs to run through a field of daisies... (Yes, I knew it! I've always been barefooted at heart!) Whoa, what a bold thing for someone born in Taipei to say!!! ;p

Oh by the way, I got a birthday haircut from lovely Aunty Lisa (Dad's sister) on Tuesday. God bless Aunty Lisa!! I feel spoilt and have no complaints. She always gives me a new haircut when I'm in Taiwan. My hairdresser's a celebrity beauty stylist who also me my last hair cut, which I kept for 2 years & almost 4 months because I've never had a more manageable hair cut before. I spent 4.5 hours at the hair dressers... And the good news is, I still look like a girl! I mean, I haven't cut it all off. I've kept it at shoulder blade length to fit in with the style in Helen Keller's era (1880-1968). I get all excited just thinking that I'll be in the production A Miracle Worker in Indiana, USA very, very soon! *Irenehappidance*

From one motherland to another...

I have a sneaking suspicion that some people are expecting an update. Well if it pleases you, then blog I shall ;)

One of my main objective before the three-month sojourn was to get my MasterWorks Festival 2010 audition videos done. I auditioned for the role of Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan in The Miracle Worker which will be performed during the last weekend of the festival. Megan helped me with a run through mid week last week, but I was wasn't sure who'd be able to find helpers to play the other three roles. That mission was fulfilled on the eleventh hour, thanks to Asher, Skye & Megan. I had no idea how He was going to provide, so it means a lot that it got done. Here are the fruits of our labour: Irene as Annie Sullivan & Irene as Helen Keller. Enjoy the drama! :D

I arrived Melbourne on Sunday, and re-shot my Saint Joan Monologue (another audition monologue for the festival) for my bewildered house mates. I managed to get Rich Swingle (co-director) had a look at the audition videos, and found that my facial expression were hidden in the dark in the Newcastle shoots. Fret not, I sent out an SOS! email to former theatre ministry friends in Melbourne. And the very next day two of them came & blessed me with an hour of their time. Isn't God good?! Thank you, Chris and Jess!!! Here are the re-shoots: Irene as Annie Sullivan - New & Irene as Helen Keller - New. Sadly, the one for Annie turned out blurry because the camera went out of focus. But He's provided for my every need! I'm praying that the videos give both of my directors John Kirby and Rich Swingle sufficient information to cast me in the role He's prepared for me this Summer!  

The day before I left for Taiwan was a mini madness. I stayed up till 2am getting most of my luggage sorted on Friday morning. Managed to get up for brekky with an old friend, had lunch with Jayden (my almost 10 month old nephew) & his Mum (my sister Jen), visited a friend who's expecting in September, and celebrate my brother Ben's birthday (a couple of days in advance) over dinner. This is your typical 'Irene tried to pack too many things in & shouldn't ever do that again' kinda day. But hey, it worked out okay. I even managed to pick up Ben's cake and prepare a salad for dinner. He's quarter of a century old now :) Congrats, Ben! 

I flew into Tao-Yuan airport on Sunday at 5.35am (local time is a couple of hours behind Sydney) with the heaven a-drizzling, my body aching, and the city awakening. I haven't seen Taipei this quiet before. Dad's in Shanghai on business, so I caught a 6.10am bus into Taipei, and hopped onto a taxi to get to the doorsteps of the family studio apartment in a back street lane way in a busy business/shopping district. On the way I saw several large sized temples, including a very famous temple called 'Xin2 Tian Gong'. My translation is 'Path to the Heavenly Pavilion"... Oh, and something else also caught my eye... A red business banner that offered face reading (clairvoyance) for pets!!!! It was a jaw drop moment in the spirit for me. I took pictures. I had to remind myself: "Okay Irene. Nothing's weird. You've seen it all before, haven't you? You lived here for 10 years!") Only I realised I'm not seeing things the same way I used to... 

My gran greeted me around 7.20am. Normally, she'd be doing some dancy exercise at the Sun-Yat-sen Memorial Hall down the road. It is sweet to meet her on the other side of the hemisphere. After some R&R time Aunty Carol (my step mum) shouted my gran, my Aunty May (who lives in Seattle) and I to a Japanese feast at Mitsui Cuisine. She said that the meal was to help me 'Jie Fung'. The literal translation to help receive / catch the person's wind. Haha, wait! Let me explain! When a person is going on a long journey, people would politely say 'Ju4 Ni3 Yi Lu4 Shuen4 Fung', which means 'Have a smooth sailing (winded) journey'. Make sense to you now? I imagine the root of this saying must've come when ships provided the main mode of long distance travel. 

I'd show you pictures of the foooooooooooooood but how about tomorrow?

My cousin Karen whom I grew up with in Melbourne and her hubby Marco came and picked me up for a Cantonese style dinner (menu's like Yum Cha). I've missed them. We used to hang out every other weekend in our Melbourne days. I wasn't hungry. But I still ate. This is probably going to be the norm until I head for the USA mid June as there are many, many, MANY lovely relis to catch up with. Good times!!!

The Paris Mosque - Wednesday 18 Nov 2009

So the Lord led us to minister around The Paris Mosque area on Wednesday 18 Nov.

And it started rather dramatically ...

The team of six + guest visitor from Honduras (that our leader met in Honduras) got stuck in a lift at the metro station for about 10 minutes. The lift was for eight people, weight limit of 640kg. There were seven of us, and there's no way that we'd have had an average weight of 80kg ... or did we ... The French station masters excused their lift, saying, 'You Australians are strong'. =D

We walked past a train station for a bathroom break. AND ... the bathroom was blocked off due to a bomb threat. Someone had dropped off a suspicious bag in front of the bathroom door ...

We paired up, went for a walk about (as the Spirit leads) and agreed to meet back together after an hour and half to dine at The Paris Mosque Restaurant for lunch. Never done the 'walk wherever the holy spirit tells you to walk and talk to whoever he tells you to talk to' in a public / foreign place before. Daryll and I = team. We explored the block next to The Mosque and saw lots of students that attended the National University. The Spirit didn't prompt us to start a conversation with them, so we prayed for them quietly from afar.

As we walked around, we saw a couple of acupuncture / reflexology massage parlours. Do you know what that means? It means Irene gets discipleship time from good old Daryll! So I learnt that these therapies tap into a 'chi' (a concept of 'Zen') which is a spirit, for healing. It is important to ask WHAT spirit it is tapping into. Anything that isn't led by the Holy Spirit reaps bad fruits in a believer's life. 'Chi' / 'Zen' is a spirit of anti-Christ, and hinders believers' growth into maturity, such as taking authority in Christ.

It's not the first time I've heard this, as I've had to get rid of a lot of ungodly practices from my culture over the past year (there are ungodly practices in EVERY culture). I felt a little indignant because acupuncture and reflexology is so much a part of the Taiwanese / Chinese culture that I grew up in. But c'est la vie! All it takes is to identify & acknowledge the sin, ask the Lord for forgiveness for committing the sin and walking in its fruits, forgive ourselves for it (and on behalf of our forefathers), turn away from those behaviours, and be SET FREE by the blood of Jesus!!! (If you have any questions about what this deal is all about, talk to me or email me.)

Apart from the discipleship session I had with Daryll, we also spent some time resting on some seats on a pedestrian walk way. Funnily, a nervous looking lady hurriedly walked to us and sat down next to us from across the road. She went through her back pack as if looking for a needle in a hay stack. We asked her whether she understood English, she replied 'a little', and paused as if expecting to be asked a question. We didn't have a question, but gave her our 'Love from Australia' book mark. She looked amused, said a brief thank you, then scurried away back in the direction she came from - across the road. She could've sat on other seats in this area (and there would've been a lot more space), but the Lord brought her TO us. It was a crack up.

We also ventured in a French patisseurie, which attracted three other team members. I bought a crepe, a meat pastry; cheese pastry and a berry tart, and had a chat to the ladies serving us and gave them a book mark each. They were so warmed to us that after I left, they gave the other team members some marzipan sweets.

We then met up to have lunch at the Mosque. It was jam packed, but the staff fussed over us and made sure we had lots of room for our seats. The meal was gorgeous and we were able to reconnect with some of the folks we met a couple of days before. It was a humbling & delightful experience. The Lord sure knows how to plan our trip.

Combinations: The suitcase story

I remember flying back to Melbourne for a week after I finished working at Compassion ... It's been a while since I've been able to stay for a whole week (outside Christmas time). Coming back to Newcastle in mid March I came to the sinking realisation that I didn't know the combination of my suit case. I had a swine flu (H1N1) vaccine before flying to Melbourne and have been feeling a bit short circuited in the brain. As I tried to open the suitcase, I hit the brick wall. Clues? Nup. Zilch. Nadda. None whatsoever. The idea of going through all of the combinations was like an impossible mountain. 'I don't have the patience for this!' I thought. My house mate suggested some mnemonics she uses. I gave those a go ... nope.

I humbled myself and started going through all 1000 combinations that afternoon. In the evening I had cell so I asked my cell to ask the Lord for my combination (with me). Everyone wrote down on a piece of paper what they heard the Holy Spirit say about the combination. I went home, semi-excited. But when it didn't work, I started going into a place of unbelief, thinking that my suitcase locks' been broken. In that suitcase was my 30th birthday dress, and some oranges my grandma picked from the garden. Not a great combination to be be a suitcase for an extended periods of time. It felt like I'd been given gifts that I couldn't unwrap.

The situation humbled me. I know that God is a giver of good gifts. Matthew 7:11 and Luke 11:13. But what's the use of having gifts if I couldn't even use them?

Has He given me gifts that I have kept somewhere 'safe'? I sure hope not.

Insights from Healing the Wounded - Pastoral Prayer Counselling course

I've been a bit quiet but it's because so many things have happened over the past weeks and months ... Let me update you bit by bit, post by post. 


Over the past seven weeks I've been on an adventure every Wednesday night.  Daryll is a super anointed teacher, and I'm learning with a class of wonderful, insightful, discerning Believers. I'm so grateful that God opened this door for me to learn from him. What I've been learning applies to all my life experiences till now, it will be helpful for the rest of my life! It's also helpful for developing characters in my performances ... More on that later. For now, I've been pondering over some deep learnings ... Care to read the following tid-bit?


I’ve learnt that specific wounds from the specific incidents need to be acknowledged individually and receive His healing. I’ve also learnt that the feeling from the wounding is what we’re left with when someone behaves in a way that brings up the feeling. But the key is to find the root cause for those feelings which may have occurred in an incident earlier on in life (or over several incidents in your life). He alone knows our hearts and why we feel the way we feel. Sometimes we’re so convinced that we know the truth about a situation. Most of the time, it’s our hearts / feelings that perceive the situation, and not God’s perspective.


Selah. Pause and think of that!

Mon 9 Nov - 2 castles & Shakespeare's birth place

If you ever get to check on the map ... we've got a pretty ambitious itinerary. We started the morning at Cardiff Castle, and ended our day at Warrick Castle. Am I castled-out yet? Not yet. Not until I've seen the Edinburgh castle. Heard it's rather exquisite :) I will say, however, that the Warrick Castle is rather extravagant. They even had ice-coolers that would keep ice up to 2 years, and their own electricity generator (water mill / hydro-power).

Shakespeare's birth place was a quaint, quaint town ... I'd go back and spend more time there though, as we only budgeted under an hour there. I bought a couple of shirts from the souvenir shop. The print on one of the shirts says, 'Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?' ('Tis a gift) (Romeo & Juliet, Act 2 Scene ii.) and the other '....will you woo this Wild-cat?" (The Taming of the Shrew, Act I Scene ii.) The latter would be worn with good humour ... ;)

(Part 2) Mon 23 Nov 09 = Perfect timing, TYPICAL!!!

It was´t long before I invited Renee and Leon to join the rest of the group on the balcony. And that´s when Renée shared his story about Leon, his faithful pup ...


Rene was born blind but never warmed to the idea of owning a guide dog. To him, dogs were slobbering beasts with gnawing teeth and ate little children. He was perfectly content getting around on a white cane. But his friends kept encouraging him to adopt a guide dog. After careful consideration he decided to 'give it a go'. He thought that if it doesn't work out, at least he could tell people he's given it a go. A friend had a black Labrador in mind for Rene, and he named it Leon, a reflection of 'the Lion of the tribe of Judah'. And so their romance began ...

Rene & Leon had a shaky start. For starters, Rene found it extremely challenging to trust a slobbering beast for directions ... And Leon felt it. The distrust of his master made Leon anxious. He threw up his food, malted, did his 'doggy business' in surprising places around the house, and slobbered even more profusely. Rene considered giving up Leon. After consulting his friend, Rene was convicted that needed to change his attitude. 'One cannot be led by one whom he does not trust.' Rene decided to learn to trust.

One of Rene's favourite hang-out places was Starbucks. Rene had a friend often hung out there with him and helped teach Leon commands. I was delight to learn how Rene taught Leon pseudo-Italian commands - ones that only Leon would respond to, and the only ones that Leon would respond to. Somewhere along the way, sitting in Starbucks cafe, Leon began to learn Starbucks as a command. Today, wherever Rene is, be it in his hometown Bern or a different city, if there was a Starbucks nearby Rene could simply give a 'Starbucks' command, and Leon would take him to Starbucks! As you can imagine, their relationship had taken quite a turn ...


It is hard to imagine the obedient, confident & loyal Leon who now adorns a thick shiny coat of fur ever being a slobbering, nervous wreck ...  Rene is undoubtedly learning to trust in and be guided by his furry friend each day. When asked who decides where they should go, Rene lets out a broad grin and replied 'a bit of both'.

Rene shared with the team that he has a friend from Newcastle, Australia. It turns out that his friend lives just 5 minutes away from one of our team members. Our leader also felt to ask him whether his thoughts of being a baristar at the YWAM base in Newcastle, Australia was a dream or an idea. Rene asked for a definition so he could answer truthfully. Our leader gave it. Immediately Rene confessed that it's it´s been a dream that has now become an idea ...  

Our team surrounded Rene and prayed for him before we parted. It was evident that the Lord's stirring up Rene's dreams, and that he was very dear to His creator. As we parted, Rene looked moved & pensive. But he wasn't the only one. We were all rejoicing in the Lord for a rockin' testimony.

On a side note, I ordered a cold chai tea, but ended up receiving a hot chai tea. When I mentioned it to our host, he explained that he was thinking in multiple languages when he was ordering our drinks (because Bern is the Swiss-German part of Switzerland). In German the word cold is sounds like 'hot' in English. And hence my hot chai tea! I realised the Lord was being sweet to me though. We were sitting outside on the porch in the cold, and I would've needed a hot drink after all!

Ah, the joys of being used by the Lord~~~