Kelly Times Two

If you live in the United States of America and are reading this, will you please do me a favor? Be thankful for large, spacious parking lots and parking in general. It's practically impossible to find a place to park here in Hsinchu, Taiwan--except at Costco. I can always count on Costco. I'm learning to adapt to my new surroundings, but I'm craving a big giant parking lot (just to go park and sit in my car) and a plate of enchiladas about now. I'm also very irritated that we still don't know whether or not we can move into our apartment tomorrow due to the owners adding some legal mumbo jumbo to the contract, so now the company is tied up reviewing it with attorneys before giving it the okay for us to move in. I'm going nuts in this hotel room. Patience is a virtue that I'm lacking today. To that end, I'm not even going to add a picture with this post. So there. P.S. There was a 5.2 earthquake here yesterday, which apparently doesn't concern anyon...

His first day of school went really well. He loved it. In fact, he said he wishes he could go to school at Hsinchu American School until he graduates from high school. I suggested that he just make the most of this school year and enjoy every minute of it while he's here. This very small private school accommodates mostly Asian kids. In fact, Christopher is probably the only Caucasian student who attends. There are six elementary students, 16 in middle school, and 34 in high school, a total of 56. Twenty-five of them are new to the school this year and two more are expected to arrive next week. They meet on the 4th floor of an existing school, Sagor Bilingual Elementary. The new students met for an orientation meeting in the morning when school first started. One interesting change to us was that as the three in our family escorted Christopher to drop him off, there were staff members waiting to take everyone's temperature before we could walk in the door, then they squirted ...

With our new GPS, we took a new route to church and had another excellent sabbath day. We have such a friendly congregation. We stayed cool since the air conditioner at church wasn't broken any longer, luckily. Christopher, the balloon artist, has entertained himself with a Rubic's Cube, Jenga, Tsubasa Chronicles videos, and playing cards in the hotel room, eagerly awaiting his first day of school tomorrow. We devoured this petite chocolate cake to honor our daughter on Lindsey appreciation day, and each of us said what we love about her. It's a family tradition that we've done each year on the kids' appreciation (adoption placement) days. We are all counting down the days to move out of the hotel and into our apartment, which is within walking distance of Christopher's new school. We're very tired of eating out for every meal and anxious to be able to move about with more living space. September 1 is the proposed moving date.

Our girl loves the beach, so we took her to the nearest one here in Hsinchu to explore for the first time. The unbearable heat left us wishing for November or December temperatures, but we still enjoyed looking around, scoping out fun activities to do here in Taiwan a few months from now. Bicycle rentals seem like an excellent option in the fall, but not during the moist and muggy August heatwave. The Tropic of Cancer runs right through Taiwan. To give you an idea where that latitude lies, picture central Mexico or the Bahamas. Yeah, that hot. Christopher stuck his feet in the water and said it was as warm as our swimming pool back in Texas on a hot summer day. Traffic along the beach-front was practically empty. It must not be the season for the locals to soak it all in either. We decided to go downtown and explore the city after this. Too bad we cannot swim during typhoon season, that's always my favorite time. :-) This surrey looks like an excellent way to at least get a...

So many things about the following pictures absolutely resonate with me. No, they're not Oompa Loompas in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory, or a group of doctors in the operating room. These professionals are pooling their resources to create an Asian masterpiece--the magnificent, delicious, and artfully constructed, steamed dumpling. Allow me to let the photos tell you the story. Like players on a football team, each person had a particular task that he was responsible for. Each one was highly skilled and dedicated to doing his best. It was awesome to watch. The server delivered our hot tea, like always, no matter where we dine, then we politely declined the typical hospitable offer since Mormons don't drink tea (or coffee or alcoholic beverages). Usually warm water is delivered as an alternative. This restaurant scored points with us when they brought us ice water instead. That's our favorite, so we were thrilled. Kelly tells me that many Taiwanese people feel that c...