Travels and the first week

The flights were truly uneventful. I spent a total of 32 hours traveling from door to door. I left the house after 2.5 inches of rain overnight during a flood watch. The suitcases weighed as planned and I paid for the extra bag and took the allotted 2 carry-ons with me. They put me on an earlier flight, that was then delayed. We finally left at noon, only 30 minutes before my regularly schedule flight and the first one out of CC of DFW that morning. WHEW!

DFW was uneventful, but they changed the gate 45 minutes before we were to board...another trip around the airport, but enough time to make it.

LAX was a pain as always. I lined up for EVA's check-in at 6:15 PM as soon as I walked around to the international building. They opened two windows for all the cattle class people at 7:15. No problems again, but they made me check one of my carry-ons...it weighed over 7 kilos...who knew that mattered? Another $96 and I was not happy. She told me she got me a great aisle seat, which turned out to be next to the bathroom! We listened to loud "whooshes!" all night...lovely smells...never mind...the seats were comfortable, I had a new book, and I'd already seen the movies so I did sleep most of the way.

My bags were the VERY LAST ones off the plane, but going through immigration was not ever a hassle. K & A met me with a hired car ($US 35...much cheaper than a taxi), and off we drove to Tien Mu.

K & A went to the Father-Daughter Dinner Dance on Saturday night, then K & C went to a very posh 25th wedding anniversary celebration and partied well into the night. I was treated to a Chinese breakfast gathered from a shop in the neighborhood.

Ch was at a birthday sleep-over, then worked on a project all afternoon with a friend. He finally arrived home, and we were clearly a bunch of sleepy heads. We had two kinds of curry and noodles with veggies for supper. I am clearly back in the land of hot chilies and curries, and it makes me very happy!

My jet lag has been a little weird, but I just keep going until I drop to take a nap. I thought I was going to be sleeping through the night, but tonight is an exception again.

I have been walking the kids to the bus every morning. The tour bus that takes them to TAS (Taiwan American School) stops half a block away at the ubiquitous 7-11. Everyone must have their temperature taken before they are allowed on the bus. ..pictures will follow as soon as Ch teaches me how to upload them.

I walk to Tien Mu park as soon as the bus leaves for my morning exercise (again, pictures will follow). I do my usual 3.5 + or - miles, then return for coffee and the start of the day. The park is a fascinating place to watch everyone who lives in the 'hood. The dog lovers are there with pets that are meticulously shampooed and fluffed. The dogs know they are beautiful, and prance around showing off and playing with each other. They are often brought to the park in their own padded baby stroller! The church group is still exercising on the park stage in their matching purple, shocking pink, and turquoise sweatshirts. I know it is a Christian group as a I catch "hallelujahs!' and "HO-sannahs!" among the Mandarin hymns. I even sing along with some of the hymns...in English, of course. There is a Tai Chi group that meets that I would love to join, but that is on the list of things to do. Pick-up basketball and tennis lessons and games are going on. The street sweepers and toilet cleaners are all busy. There is a wonderful children's playground, but I am out too early to see any of the kids playing. They were re-modeling the park the last time I was here, and it is really very nice. I like the way they put their seasonal plantings on the wall surrounding the park (another picture!). The water truck drove thought yesterday, but they will clearly soon be put in the ground as spring and summer plantings.

The walk to the park takes me two blocks through the neighborhood where the vendors and restaurants are located. I actually went to the fruit seller yesterday. He used to operate off the back of a truck, but he has paid his dues to the local mafia and now has a very nice location in a corner building. Tuesday was "big garbage day" and I couldn't use the sidewalks. There were GIANT piles of garbage at every corner. I was quite surprised as re-cycling is heavily emphasized here. The neighborhood looks much better that my last visit as they have put in new sidewalks. There are already splashes of betel nut juice on the new walkways, so it will look normal very soon.

Time to put on my exercise clothes and start the day...