our first city weekend

Over the weekend, John and Ching took us to Yang Ming hot springs, north of Taipei.  It was a WINDY drive on a narrow road with many switchbacks, men and women went their separate ways, Japanese style dress (birthday suit), mud baths and electric massage (pulses of electricity flowing into a small hot tub).  It was an Experience, with a capital E.  Our hosts have been so generous and accommodating.  They have a primary goal of exposing the kids they teach to the world and its citizenry…broaden horizons, and they walk the walk themselves.

This is my first time traveling in another country where I haven’t lived a cushy life with hotel amenities and familiar food etc…and it’s different!  Harder beds than usual, different cleanliness (and everyone who knows me, knows I don’t have very high standards), very different foods-obviously, and it’s just disorienting to not recognize anything with being surrounded by Chinese characters-more English in Taipei than Jhong Li. 

Sunday, I was ready for some familiarity, so we went to church (the first building we landed at in Jhong Li).   A former American missionary now married and going to school in Taiwan translated for us (thank you Malachi!).  It was a lovely testimony meeting and uplifting to sing in English along with everyone else in Chinese.

We spent the remainder of the day exploring Taipei…228 Memorial Park, Chiang Kai-shek statue, and the Botanical Gardens.

This is a rock garden where you try to walk along barefoot.

This is Longshan temple, a Buddhist temple in Taipei built in 1738.  

Adoption Update: We’re still working on being able to skype little number 3 who is in foster care as opposed to the older 2 children who are in an orphanage.  We cannot see them until the judge’s first ruling which will come… when it comes.  They are trying to find birth mom; it is unknown how many letters the judge will want sent out to find her.  We have our hopes that it can move along of course.  Meanwhile, we see so many little Taiwanese children and ask ourselves, “Is he 3", or "She looks 4” and we are amazed to think of what life will be like.  DIFFERENT but oh so fun!