A New Way Home

Saturday morning Daniel left for a summer camp in Ilan at 6:00 am, and I joined him that early to take my morning hike. I so enjoy mornings on the mountain. On my way down the trail back home again, I met a man I see almost every Saturday. He watches both of our English TV shows, and usually greets Rachel and I with something he learned from that morning's show. He is an older gentleman who hikes with a walking stick but still has lots of energy. When I met him on Saturday he started talking about “archery” as that is something we had featured on our show that week. He also offered to show me another trail to take back down to our part of the city. I was a little hesitant at first as I'd been on the mountain for much over an hour already, but I had that little nudge in my heart to do it.

Bruce and I went back up the trail to find a little path off the big set of stairs. I felt like a real adventurer again. Bruce kept saying how honoured he was to show his teacher a special part of the mountain. He is a darling man. We came to a clearing with banana trees and pomelo trees. Then we came upon some pineapple plants. We kept walking up the rugged trail to a beautiful lookout of the other side of the mountain. Then we meet a family in what looked like a little make shift shelter. Bruce knew them so we chatted a bit. They had a full spread of food on a table, offered us to join them, but we kept walking. I was touched by their kindness. We did however look around their garden where I saw rows of eggplants growing and many of my other favorite vegetables. They also had a little fish and duck pond on what seemed to be a farm right there on the mountain. Then we started the journey down and came to an altar that someone had built. Bruce and I had a good chat about what the statues mean, and that sparked a good opportunity to share. For that I am very thankful. We kept walking and came along a creek and enjoyed the sound of the water going over the rocks. Bruce kept taking and talking I learned a lot about his family and experiences.

Then just as we were coming down the last part of the trail, I totally bit it. It was a little slippery and I was down for the count. It was actually hilarious as I haven't done that in a while, and thankfully I wasn't hurt at all. Just found bruises on my knee today and a few scraps. But Bruce felt so bad, bless his heart. He seemed to blame himself for my “bo hao izi” moment. Thankfully I assured him that is wasn't his fault. And I was so thankful for this new discovery! Taking this one side trail opened up a whole new view and venture I had not known about on the mountain. I've been hiking this mountain for almost five years now. Bruce made me promise that I would not take this trail on my own again. I have to go with Rachel or Daniel. Funny how he knows so much about me :) He's a faithful student. I was so thankful for our time on the mountain together. It was a good reminder of what discoveries await when we take a new trail.