I Can't Wait!

Our friends Chris, Sokoun and Lyn are coming from San Diego to visit this Friday for a few weeks! Yay! Sokoun's mom was also going to come, but her mother (Sokoun's grandmother) is quite ill and is not doing well. I am very sad to hear about this, and I'm sure it will be difficult for Sokoun to be so far away at this time.
Still,we are all SO psyched about the visit. It's fun here (at times), but we really miss home and especially our friends, of course. We need more people in our house...we've been at eachother's thoats lately! (Ok, I'm really to blame there. I have to admit. I'm having anger issues...I think it's still a culture shock/adjustment thing).
I promise to liven up this blog again soon with more pictures. We're going on a road trip to some gorgeous areas. We're even going to stay in a national park and take a lesson in aboriginal art. Wonder what that will be all about? I'm really looking forward to driving along the east coast (the Hualian highway). It looks a little hairy! We've hired a mini-bus (Magic Bus!) and a driver. We'll spend one night in a beautiful resort-like hotel. Sounds like massage time to me! Our friend Alice made all the arrangements...THANK YOU ALICE!!! She and her husband Thomas are going also - so it will be eight of us all together.

Today Anjoli and I had to go for a battery of tests at the local hospital, as part of Sujoy's work permit requirements. One of the requirements was an AIDS test. Poor Anjoli - she threw a fit! Crying her little eyes out...I felt badly. It took three of us to hold her down! In addition to a physical, we were checked for, among other diseases: leprosy (!), parasites (guess how?) and I had to have a chest x-ray, which I'm assuming was for TB. The amazing thing was, including the time it took to draw Anjoli's blood, we were out of there in a little less than 2 hours. That would be unheard of in the states! The bad news was, the woman who drew Anjoli's blood wasn't wearing gloves. I told her, "you're not wearing gloves!" and she said, "Oh, sorry." I didn't push it (and yes, I should have) but Anjoli was causing such a ruckus, I just let it go...she swabbed Anjoli's arm with alcohol...oh man what a morning!

I can't wait to get back home, in all honesty...Maybe things will perk up when I start taking Chinese classes (twice a week). It would be nice to have coffee or tea with some ex-pats in one of the trillion cafes here! Fingers crossed I meet some cool people...all I seem to attract are people who want to take me to Church or Bible study classes! (I love Jesus in my OWN way and I believe that there are MANY paths to enlightenment).

Last weekend we went to the Taipei Museum of Art. We went mainly for an art fair outside the building. It was pretty cool - Anjoli made a few crafts, including a block print. After we went to the fair we went inside - admission was less than a dollar. We saw a wonderful photography exhibit. Beautiful black and white photos of people from both Taiwan and China from the 1900s- present. Some of the modern art photography was very very cool...some of it was disturbing (children were not allowed to view it).

Here are a few shots I took at the fair and outside the museum.