2007.06.02 - A long time gone Greetings everyone, It seems to have been two months (almost 3) since our last correspondence from these foreign lands. Kathy loves this time of year when it’s hot enough for days at the beach and mango bing (see previous post for further explanation. In short, it is a huge bowl of shaved ice topped with mangoes and ice cream—delicious!) but the rainy season hasn’t started and the sky is actually blue opening a view to the mountain from our balcony rather than the foggy outline of a building next to us through the haze we like to call pollution. Mangoes are IN Season and can be found on a blue truck (standard shipping method) at any given street corner. Kathy’s record is 5 mangoes in one day; eaten of course. Mangoes are great for mango ice cream, mango bing(ice), mango bread, mango milk, mango juice and on and on...did we mention that Kathy likes mangoes? We spent the weekend at a church retreat near Kenting — Taiwan’s “premier ocean beach getaway” if Taiwan had one. Both of us took a massive pummelling at the beach visit; Mike from the massive waves, Kathy from the volleyball. Too much sand in our underpants is all we have to say! Take a look at the pictures on our website. http://www.taiwanchu.com/pages/gallery/retreat/retreat_index.html There are some pictures from the National Marine Biology Museum as well...a bit too much by Kathy’s liking. Other than that, the rest is quite “surface interesting” as most people say when first meeting Mike. So here are the highlights (from least to most recent): We attended two anniversary parties of friends here who got married in Taiwan (pictures are up on our website). Mike attended a Taiwanese wedding of his secretary. The experience was most enjoyable and so nastalgic that Mike felt as though he was 10 years old and attending a wedding with mom and dad. But this time he was at the “freak” table with the people that couldn’t speak Chinese. FREAKS! Like cousin Benny! AIR RAID! Taiwan practices random Air Raid drills where no one can be on the streets. Imagine 2.2 million people not allowed to drive in the city. It’s pretty eerie. Mike was pulled over and had to wait it out for 30 minutes. Of course he was late for his pastoral meeting only a block and a half away. Teacher, how I say “me is sit on friend dog so because they is go play?” We dog-sat our friend’s dog. It was good fun. Nothing like having to take your dog down the elevator, down the street to the park, around the block just so it can do its business. Cherish those back yards North Americans. Until the dog can press elevator buttons and swipe security pass cards...cherish those back yards! Finally, Mike has been spending a lot of time updating the website. So if you are interested, jump over to the site and check out the updates. http://www.taiwanchu.com Pictures Pictures Pictures! Until next time, so long for now,