One of the most touching and sustainable experiences of living in a country far away from home is the global importance of Christianity. In Taiwan, despite its character as a mainly buddhist and taoist country, there are more catholic and protestant churches than one may think. However, they are small, especially the catholic ones. Not surprisingly, this is true for the two churches you will find below, the first one located in Tianjung, a small town in Central Taiwan:
and the second one situated in Kaohsiung, the second-largest city in Taiwan:
This small size, which is often combined with a remote or rather hidden location, sometimes makes these churches difficult to find. As you can see from the pictures, a Christian church in the countryside is not necessarily larger or architecturally more important than one in a big city. Unline the situation in Western countries, there is not the slightest link of this kind to be noticed.
Once, however, we can find Christian churches, they emit an expecially cosy atmosphere in which (not only) the believer does feel at home. Inside, we often find relatively sober, but warm settings which reinforce the impression of homeliness.
Even if the normal Westerner is not able to follow the religious services, often not only held in Chinese, buteventin Taiwanese, linguistically, he or she can follow them liturgically: it is amazing to notice that as a Christian, you are fully oriented in terms of the chronological order of the mass, although you may not understand a single word. This experience, made for the first time, changes your vision of the world, it changes what you have heard before in theory - that Christian belief is a matter which goes far beyond your own country - and applies it to practice, and is a true, undeniable fact: Christian religion is an extremely important factor of life, if you believe it or not. And if you believe it (to use this formulation so as to play with language), this will make your life way easier.
After any religious service, there is a gathering in front of the church, and people have a hot meal or a soup together. This is the rule in Taiwan and not only applicable to special holidays or specific situations like parrochial celebrations. In these moments of enjoying togetherness after a service, those Taiwanese who master more than three words of English will deliberately contact the Western visitors, opening up a conversation with them. In these moments, the Westerner, who may at times feel a bit estranged in a country whose culture is not his own, feels integrated: he is part of the community, an active part of life. In these moments, the worldwide character of Chrisitanity pairs up with the friendliness of Taiwanese and forms a more or less perfect combination - one which will surely not easily be forgotten and one which should be transferred to Western countries; a character of humaneness and warmth.
