The Park Near our Apartment

Just around the corner from our apartment is a very interesting neighborhood park. Anna gave me a tour yesterday -- she had already been there with Eric. There is an unsightly fence at one end, but it has been covered with artwork advertising the Taipei Expo. I don't know what that is, but apparently it is going on now so maybe I will find out.

It looked to me as if a lot of life is lived in this park. There were lots of old men sitting at tables talking, near what must be some type of religious shrine. There was a lovely smell of incense coming from the building.

There were old men exercising. We saw a very old man doing pull-ups on a monkey bar - type thing. The old man in the blue jacket below was doing squats.

This old man was tidying things up with a very interesting, natural broom.

There was this rose garden which didn't seem to belong to anyone. It did not appear very well tended, yet it was beautiful in its "naturalness".

Here and there at the perimeter of the park there are some housing units. They are sort of integrated into the park, not set back by any type of boulevard or anything. Some of the units looked like they were just one room. I tried to get a good look and wanted to take pictures, but there were people in front of most of the places and I felt like I would have been invading their privacy. I am guessing that their living accomodations are very minimal, and so the park is where they gather to socialize.

The ground behind most of the housing units rose sharply. There were gardens behind some houses. Just above the roof line in the next picture you can see a woman in red. She was tending her garden.

Just after passing the very modest housing area I came to this, which I believe is a private house. (it is very pretty.)

The park includes a basketball court where many young men were playing basketball, and a children's play area. It looked as if there were many grandparents taking care of the little children. The park was full of very old and very young but not too many people in between. It was a weekday so I suppose the "in between" people were all at work.

There are chickens roaming the park. Anna thought it was fun to chase them.

And there is this stone area which, according to Anna, is supposed to be a foot massage. She tried walking on it but it didn't feel too good.



It looks like torture to me!

I very much enjoyed the park because it seemed I was viewing a slice of real life, Taiwan style. It is so different from anything I've experienced in America. Our parks are clearly set apart from our homes both in location and purpose. But here it all seems to mesh into one. I cannot tell where the private home area ends and the park begins. Similarly, it doesn't appear that people take time to "go to the park" like we do in America. The park seems to just be an extension of their home and it is where they "live", with their neighbors.

Quick facts

It's 9:30 in the morning and we are eating cheetos and m&m's and drinking coke. Blame it on jet lag?

First Impressions of Taiwan

I've heard from family that my Mom is stable and apparently out of danger, so I am calm enough to write.

Before my first impressions of Taiwan I will write a bit about my trip.

I was, of course, not ready to leave. I had kicked into high gear on Saturday but, alas, it was too late. Everything that HAD to be done was done -- well, almost everything. I remembered the passports and the paperwork and everything deemed necessary. I did forget to turn on the security system though! I was washing dishes when the cab driver arrived so I panicked and in my rush to leave forgot the security. Thankfully I had given a key to the neighbors so I called and asked them to go in and turn it on. I am thankful for good neighbors!

The only glitch in our trip was at LAX security. It took forever. They moved us to a special line for families with children and I thought "Isn't that nice!" Then we stood there for a long time with no one moving an inch. I don't think there was any staff for our line at first. When we finally got within view of the security apparatus I learned that a TSA screener was going back and forth between our line and another. Just as we were getting close a lone man walked past all of us straight to the front of our line, put his bag on the screening belt and walked toward the scanner. (The family in front of us had finally managed to get all of their bags through screening - it took 2 tries. The only thing left was to get their stroller through, then they would be good to go. Most of the family had passed through the scanners but TSA said 1 family member had to stay on our side until everything was through, so one man remained holding a boy who was about 2 or 3. The rogue line jumper was instructed to remove his bulky sweatshirt. He said he could not do that. I think TSA was trying to get the father and son through, but the rogue said "I'm going to alarm anyway" and walked through the scanner. It alarmed, the TSA agent asked him why he alarmed then sent him a few steps ahead to a holding area. The agent then stood with his back blocking the scanner, watching the rogue. No one could go anywhere until they got this guy checked out. I don't know how long we were stuck there but it felt like a long time. While waiting, the little boy ahead of us started peeing - first apparently on his father and then, as the man held him out, all over the floor. I couldn't be mad, the poor little guy had nowhere else to go. The floor was carpeted so there was no puddle, it just soaked right in. I told the kids to be sure to walk wide around that area when it came time to go through the scanner. (We were shoeless for security!) At long last someone came to deal with the rogue and we proceeded through rather quickly.

From then on the trip was uneventful.

We arrived in Taipei (Taoyuan technically) at 5:00 a.m. We breezed straight through customs and into a taxi. I took some pictures from the cab. Most of what we saw was modern or western style, but Anna and I were on the lookout for Asian architecture. We saw this:



Our first glimpse of Taipei 101, in the distance:

It had rained overnight and was a bit foggy when we landed, thus the hazy looking photo.

Transportation is a mixed bag of everything. Well, I haven't seen anyone riding on animals yet so not quite everything. But along with the familiar car brands there are lots of tour buses - usually double decker and always with curtains. Most that I've seen have frilly lace curtains and the outsides are often painted pink or purple or both. My kind of place! The primary mode of transportation is scooter and I will eventually show pictures of that, but here is another which is mixed in with buses, trucks, cars and scooters:



I've seen lots of people on bikes, but I am thrilled that I got this picture because the man was wearing that old Asian style hat. The street was empty other than him, but it was not yet 6:00 a.m.

I told Eric he had better be waiting in the lobby for us or he would be in TROUBLE. Well, he wasn't in the lobby. Our flight arrived early and he never expected us to get through customs so quickly, so we caught him very much off guard. The apartment complex we're in has 2 towers and I wasn't even sure which tower we were in. I didn't know the apartment number, nothing. And I hadn't changed any currency to NT$ so had no way to pay the cab driver! Thankfully, this apartment is very upscale with 24 hour security at the door and 24 hour concierge service. The concierge paid the cab driver for me and called Eric to let him know his guests were here.

Here is a quick perimeter tour. The view from the kids bedroom:


The view in one direction from our bedroom:


And the view in the other direction from our bedroom:


We are literally one block from Taipei 101.

Anna and I went on a little exploration around the neighborhood in the afternoon. There is a surprising mix of new, upscale apartments and older housing just within a short distance of our apartment. I have pictures of the swanky, but honestly am much more enthralled with the old. That is the way the real people live and it is fascinating to me. If I am unable to sleep (which is very likely) I will put those photos together and get them posted tonight also.

In closing, please pray for my Mom and Dad - Mom to remain stable and be comfortable and Dad that people will come alongside to help him. Mom has always done EVERYTHING on the home front so I cannot imagine how he will function without her there. Thanks.

A twist in the road

Well, this is not the post I thought it would be. We arrived safe in Taiwan. Everything went great. I took photos on the way from the airport to the apartment and photos of the views from the apartment. Eric took the kids to the pool to give me time to call my parents and blog; however, my brother called to say my Mom is in the hospital. No real details yet. She is ready to meet Jesus, I would say she has been anxious for some time now for her heavenly home. So... I don't know. Too many thoughts swirling around right now, and it certainly is not the time to post photos and talk about Taiwan.

I am a Procrastinator

Let's see, today is Thursday, we're leaving Saturday, am I ready to go yet? Actually, no. Not even close. I work best (or maybe I ONLY work) under pressure. I haven't felt the pressure kick in yet. I have managed to pack clothes for the kids. I am seriously amazed by how few clothes Ethan has. Boy clothes aren't fun, and boys don't enjoy shopping for them, so this is the result.

I need to start pulling out my clothes. This is a serious issue because Eric took our 2 large suitcases when he left. I am left with 2 small suitcases and 2 duffle-type bags. I need to figure out if I need to purchase another suitcase. But hey, plenty of time.

THANKFULLY I checked online last night to see if the camera connector is available yet for my iPad. Without it, I would not be able to put pictures here and, honestly, what good will this be without pictures? For instance, last weekend Eric went to some restaurant by the ocean (I think he said it was by the ocean). The location was "cliffy". (okay, I made that word up. Lots of cliffs.) there was no room to build OUT, so everything was built UP. He said the restaurant was 5 stories, with just a few tables on each level. A picture of that is necessary, don't you think? The good news is the camera connector is now available. The other good news is I still have time to get to the store to buy it. I had assumed there would be an Apple store in Taiwan, but I found out last night there is not. GOOD THING I CHECKED!

The other accessory that I plan to purchase is a docking keyboard. This gizmo has an on-screen keyboard which is cool, but a REAL keyboard it is not. I have decided to wait to buy the keyboard until I return because I don't want to haul it with me. So here is my official typing disclaimer: I make a lot of mistakes using this keyboard and sometimes fixing them is just too much work. So if things are not capitalized or even sometimes if they are misspelled you will have to look past it. I cannot help it. Focus on the pictures, hopefully they will be great!

We're leaving soon... I think

Finalizing flight arrangements has been a rocky road. This morning I sent an e-mail to one of the transfer coordinators saying we would take the flights they proposed a few days ago. I haven't heard back to confirm that we actually GOT the seats, so I am still not 100% sure, and we are supposed to be leaving in 3 days! To put it mildly, I was unhappy when I first saw the itinerary. None of it matched what we asked for. Most of the changes don't matter too much, but the one huge problem is that we will be sitting in the LA airport from 9-12 p.m. That probably doesn't sound like a big deal. The problem is, 9-12 LA time is midnight-3 a.m. Virginia time. I cannot imagine how the kids are going to handle being awake at that time. Nevertheless, it is the best we can get at this point so we are going to have to make it work.

I went to my BSF group's monthly fellowship today. We talked about how amazing it is to see the way God put each one of us in a group together. A large percentage of us have husband's who travel quite a bit, and several of the ladies have invented terms for this condition. One said she is a married single Mom, another a computer widow. The point is, there is a great deal of empathy amongst the women for the others situations. I am sad to be leaving this great group of ladies, but I will look forward to seeing them again next fall when BSF launches a brand new study - the book of Isaiah. I will not have to wait until fall to see the woman who became my best friend in BSF: Gloria is from Taiwan and she will be there for 1 month while I am there! We will get together while she is "visiting" her home.

The hostess asked me to stay behind because she wanted to pray over me. Two other ladies stayed also and they all prayed over me; awesome prayers, I was in tears.

I apologize that once again this post is not well-written. I hope it is at least readable. I am supposed to be packing right now. Guess I'd better get to it!

Countdown

I don't have final confirmation yet, but I think we are leaving for Taiwan on Friday the 17th. Eric's Mom and Aunt are here until next Monday so no time to write. Or think...