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First of the pictures -
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=97086&id=588464198&l=cb1a8
Something of a gag essay - this is the bear the people at work gave me on Wednesday. Since at least one of my coworkers has a Facebook, I thought it would be a good thing to document with.
Still kind of shaking in my boots - but better. Cold enough to go get a jacket, which was an experience in itself. I ended up with a discount, a tote bag and wet to dry slippers gratis with it. And paperwork to file for VAT refund when I leave.
Wish desperately for my peeps. We'd be having such a good time right now - Jim is great to have, don't get me wrong. (He's been an absolute rock, to be blunt.) But the bakery goods are to die for, and while everything sounds strange (I confess, I prefer listening to Japanese than Chinese, hope that will change. Might not ever....) this place is easily as lovely as Japan, and friendlier. And much more accessible to folks like me.
Ah yes. Privilege showing. They see me, they speak English. No problem. I have not seen another blond head since leaving Los Angeles, either. This is working in my favor, so not knocking it. Have I been stared at? Of course. Mostly by the smaller kids, and we just engage and are friendly, and it's all good. We haven't made a secret of why we are here (it started on arrival at Taipei...waiting for Jim at a bathroom break, and taking pictures of the terminal lobby was the first one), everyone to a person has praised us for coming here to adopt, and complimented me. Last night was probably the sweetest one - our waitress was very kind and gracious, and said I 'would make a very good mother, you just have that feel about you' - yes, people can hold that level of conversation right away in English, and they do - and when we waited patiently for our check without getting impatient...well, why would we?...they sent us home with some extra cookies. Which reminds me....it's about 3:25 AM right now, and those cookies sound pretty good. We'll probably crash again this afternoon, right now we are slept out. So we both have the laptops out and updating things.
Oh, I want to come back. It may be some years, but I will come back. With peeps.
I have one more day to banish the butterflies. As soon as the front desk opens downstairs (probably after breakfast opens at 6:30), I'm going to see what I can do about getting to Donggang to take some pictures.
Going to go upload some more pictures under a different album - and try to catch up a bit.
Something of a gag essay - this is the bear the people at work gave me on Wednesday. Since at least one of my coworkers has a Facebook, I thought it would be a good thing to document with.
Still kind of shaking in my boots - but better. Cold enough to go get a jacket, which was an experience in itself. I ended up with a discount, a tote bag and wet to dry slippers gratis with it. And paperwork to file for VAT refund when I leave.
Wish desperately for my peeps. We'd be having such a good time right now - Jim is great to have, don't get me wrong. (He's been an absolute rock, to be blunt.) But the bakery goods are to die for, and while everything sounds strange (I confess, I prefer listening to Japanese than Chinese, hope that will change. Might not ever....) this place is easily as lovely as Japan, and friendlier. And much more accessible to folks like me.
Ah yes. Privilege showing. They see me, they speak English. No problem. I have not seen another blond head since leaving Los Angeles, either. This is working in my favor, so not knocking it. Have I been stared at? Of course. Mostly by the smaller kids, and we just engage and are friendly, and it's all good. We haven't made a secret of why we are here (it started on arrival at Taipei...waiting for Jim at a bathroom break, and taking pictures of the terminal lobby was the first one), everyone to a person has praised us for coming here to adopt, and complimented me. Last night was probably the sweetest one - our waitress was very kind and gracious, and said I 'would make a very good mother, you just have that feel about you' - yes, people can hold that level of conversation right away in English, and they do - and when we waited patiently for our check without getting impatient...well, why would we?...they sent us home with some extra cookies. Which reminds me....it's about 3:25 AM right now, and those cookies sound pretty good. We'll probably crash again this afternoon, right now we are slept out. So we both have the laptops out and updating things.
Oh, I want to come back. It may be some years, but I will come back. With peeps.
I have one more day to banish the butterflies. As soon as the front desk opens downstairs (probably after breakfast opens at 6:30), I'm going to see what I can do about getting to Donggang to take some pictures.
Going to go upload some more pictures under a different album - and try to catch up a bit.