Got up *late* today. Got the car jumped by the realtors and had to turn down an offer to go playing with them because they were going to get back after dinner and we had plans with Helen for dinner. We went driving and bought some gas. Also went and parked near the university and had lunch and bought some coffee for Jeremy. Then we bought some dessert for Jeremy’s birthday and headed home. Spent some stressful hours working on our expense report and then Helen called and said she had just come home from Tai-Chung and wanted to rest before coming over, so we went shopping just the three of us. We headed back home without finding black bean paste, but our security guard, Mr. Hong found other tenents in the building who had some for us! Then Helen came over and we played for hours. It was fun. She seemed surprised that Jeremy was 34. She thought he was 40 at least. Hee hee, she didn’t realize that Jeremy was only 2 years older than her. Vince *loves* Helen. Stayed up late and smiled and smiled at her. She’s teaching Jeremy how to cook lots and lots of dishes.
Author: Doris
Today we waited and waited for typhoon Sinlaku to come. She never made it here, actually, it barely rained. We spent most of the morning indoors. In the afternoon, we went to the RT mart to buy some food and supplies. We also hung out in the realtors office and saw their hamsters. Jeremy tried out his new Chinese vocabulary. “Too fat!” They are moving into the office for 3 nights because Droopy’s owner is going on a business trip and won’t be back until Wed. They are so sweet :). They also helped us order Chinese food for dinner. Man Fai came over and we watched “You’ve Got Mail” on HBO. Vince is very loud these days. We are both tired and it’s only 8:30.
Waiting around for the typhoon. Jeremy got off work at 11:30am. It’s 10:30pm now and no rain yet.
Today I went to the fish market with Kay Dee. Also went to RT mart, Home Box and Orange. I had a nice time, although Vincie was tired. Also had a ride home with Fran and we talked a bit, which was also nice. Trying to learn Taiwanese from George, the driver. Vince and I took a long nap. Jeremy had dinner out tonight.
Today I spent the morning going to the post office, bookstore and the Orange Mart. The post office is weird, they have 6 counters and you are suppose to take a number, but then when you get to the front of the line and say you want to mail packages, they point you to another counter which doesn’t require any numbers. Also, they seemed shocked that I wanted to mail 5 letters to the US. Go figure. Spent the afternoon with Ms. Liu and Ms. Ong. Also met Olivia’s mom, who had funny stories about Olivia waking up in the middle of the night, not for milk, but to sing songs
Today we got a car! Tonight, Man Fai, Jeremy, Vince and I took an inaugural trip to the Science Park and tried to park near a night market. No luck. Also had a tuna casserole as a memorial to the Yeagermeister. I had to go to SOGO to get the tuna. Ha!
When we got there, we reveled in the air conditioning and found out it was Charlene’s last day in Hsinchu, so she came over and played with Vince. That’s Charlene and Selina in the blurry photo. We had a good time there and had a bit to eat in the food court downstairs. Then we went home and I tried to participate in the Holland Village water olympics but I didn’t have a cap on, so I got kicked out of the pool. Who knew you had to wear a cap.
The we walked through a crap fair, I think it was still early, so not a lot of stands were set up, but there were some turtles for sale. Then we kept walking towards the Ambassador.
Today we went and climbed the local mountain here in Hsinchu. The name starts off “18-something mountain”. I’m not sure what it means. We had a nice time walking up steps and seeing everybody out with their kids. We saw a bunch of people playing the chinese flute. Then we decided to wander down the mountain towards the Ambassador hotel. It was only 10:30, but I was dying of hunger, so we stopped at a 7-11 and I bought this seaweed-wrapped rice triangle that I’ve seen advertised on TV. The packaging is very clever, they wrap it in a way so that there is plastice between the rice and the seaweed, so the seaweed stays crispy.
So today was a sad day. We found out from Emy that Yeager passed away early this morning. Emy sent email a few days ago saying that Yeager was doing OK and was still purring. It’s nice to think that Yeager was feeling OK enough to keep purring. I hope he wasn’t in too much pain in the end, I’m super glad that he wasn’t traveling or in quarintine as his health declined. So on that sad note, we started the day.. Jeremy came home earlier than expected. He flew on EVA which is the airline that all the UMC guys take and it was fun for him to talk to all of his Chinese collegues. He bought all this cool stuff for everybody and for me he got pajama bottoms, a timer an a cool, cheap digital camera, which I used today. I have a picture of Mr. Hong, our building’s security guard, and of the noodle shop where we had lunch today. We went to town today and went into the movie theatre where we got the whole grand tour. Turns out it was built in 1933 by the Japanese and in 1945 after WW2, a bomb landed in the center of the theater and destroyed the roof and seating. Just 2 years ago, the theatre was refubished with nice modern seats. Luckily, none of the stage area was damaged by the bomb so all that is circa the Japanese era. (I had just wanted to ask how to buy the tickets and we get a whole tour!) The two gentlemen also recommended a noodle place a few blocks away and we had some yummy lunch. Then we bought some dried shrimp and dried mushrooms from an alley vendor. This afternoon, I went to the wet market for the first time and saw beautiful produce, I’m definately going to shop there for food over the RT mart. Everything is so much fresher. Then we came home and had a quiet dinner of buns. Jeremy was teaching the bun maker some English. Bun is not the same as bum. We also gave Leah an Abercrombie shirt, Droopy was so excited to see Jeremy and now V-man and J-man are out like a light.