So today we got a fish! Ms. Liu went to the petstore and got a small aquarium to put their beta fish in. Apparently their beta fish is not too well loved at their house. I’m trying to figure out where to put it so that Vince can’t gets his paws on it. His name is Luther Deux.

So I’m trying to be a bit more proactive, hahaha! I dropped Vince off at the nanny’s and I went and walked 3 kilometers at the gym. Bumped into Olivia’s (a cute-as-a-button 4 year-old) mother on the way there, she promptly told me the gym I joined was going to go under, their business isn’t too good. I *love* that it is within walking distance of my house. Anyways, after the gym, I bought dinner and was feeling pretty sorry for myself. I called Kay Dee to vent, which was nice. I got Vince from the nanny’s and I tried to squeeze through a tiny, tiny space between two cars with my car. I’ve seen George do it a million times, I hit both side mirrors. Luckily they are on hinges so I only have to bend them back. Then I went to the realtors and talked about the spa some more. They seemed to think it was very expensive. Oh well, at least I’m using it… Anyways, they invited me to lunch again, and discovered that they put yellow mustard in their soy sauce and eat raw garlic. Will gastronomic wonders never cease. Then I got George to drive me to Bei-Pu where there is a lot of ethnic food. The place was pretty quiet on the weekday. We also went to buy the famous Hsinchu peanut butter and strolled around the newly-opened pet store. They sell crocodiles (tiny ones…), hedgehogs, albino snakes, scorpions…. Crazy.. Otherwise, it looks just like the PetSmart.

So I’m feeling like I’m the queen of the lame-Os these days. I’m doing nothing except sitting on my hiney, not exploring the whole wide world which is Taiwan. Sigh. Jeremy has been under the weather, he’s caught Vince’s cold, so he came home early to rest. I’ve been really focused on watching a lot of Chinese TV. They have the cool subtitles on all the programs, so if they say a word often enough, and Vince gives me a few minutes, I can look up a word. I walked about 20 minutes to a major intersection where Helen and Ms. Liu told me there was a wet market, but I couldn’t find it. I wound my way back home. I have to say, walking for an hour in Hsinchu is like smoking a pack of cigarettes. Ugh, I do not like pollution. I like governmental regulations on pollution. People in the US do not know how bad it can get with a zillion two-stroke scooters zooming around. And I also like ADA regulations. Nothing like a good sidewalk with ramps, that would really cheer me up! I think Jeremy’s office has packed enough cubicles in their space so that the hallways between the cubicals are too small for two people to pass side by side. They are as wide as an airplane aisleway. Talk about a fire hazard. I also accidentally set on of our kitchen towels on fire today. (Can you tell… I’m a bit weary of being an immigrant today)

Got up and ran about 3 kilometers today. I’m as slow as a hippo through molassas. Ugh. Got Vince from the babysitters and went over to the realtor’s to say hello. I ended up eating lunch there! Yummy. They had this delicious beef noodle soup, yummy. I also tried seaweed, chicken’s neck, stomach and pigs ear. Voila. We got into a long conversation about how Americans and Taiwanese people eat their lobster and crab differently. I’ve always thrown away all that weird goopy stuff in the head and body of the crustaceans, but they *love* eating the yellow parts. Apparently next month is the best month for crabs because the yellow goop is at its ultimate peak.

This weekend we went with our friends Asuka and Carrie to Taizhong to see the Kong Zi (Confucius) temple. Saturday was his birthday. He should be about 2553 years old now. The temple was quite grand, and very peaceful. We understand that there was a big ceremony there at 6AM, but we could not make it quite so early. Next year I (Jeremy) am determined. It is on Sunday, 9/28/2003 at 5:30AM and anyone else who is interested in very invited to join me. In addition to our visit with Kong Zi we went to the night market at the big university there. It was very lively and crowded, and quite a lot of fun. Vincent was strapped to my chest, and there must have been at least 100 people who said hello to him as we walked by. He loved it, and we all had a great time and tried many different good foods. We also visited Carrie’s cats, who are in quarantine in Taizhong. That was a bittersweet event for us, and reminded us how much we miss Yeager, but it was nice to see them reunited. We may cat sit for a week or two once the quarantine is over until their apartment is ready. This morning we toured around Taizhong a bit more, and visited the big Japanese department store Sogo. The store reminded Asuka of his childhood visits in Japan.

Today I went to Taipei to see Carrie. I took the van up with Kay Dee and Fran and got dropped off at the Formosa. We went to the zoo. Pretty cool zoo, with the regular zoo inhabitants. Hippos, elephants, camels, rhinos, ducks, zebras. We went through a whole nocturnal exhibit, but I think it freaked Vince out a bit, he was in the stroller in a dark place and I think he couldn’t sense where I was or where he was going, so he shrieked a lot. Vince did pretty well, but I should just ditch the stroller. He doesn’t like it, and I end up hauling it all around with me hitting people in the face with it. We spent some time in Carrie’s hotel room where Vince crawled and crawled around on the floor. He’s getting harder to travel with now, if he doesn’t get enough crawling time, he starts to get really fussy. I ended up taking a bus home and Vince fell asleep. Then we had a dinner of buns at home with Man fai. I finally got the books that Mom and Dad shipped, thank goodness. I really needed the reading material, it turns out that the address was practically invisible. So I’m glad that it made it here

Rained a lot this afternoon, Vince slept for about 4.5 hours this afternoon! We went out to dinner at our local Chinese place down the street. Watched the beginning of MI:2 on HBO and played a short game of Trivial Pursuit.