"Double 10 Day", or "a day off in the middle of the week!!"

It's Thursday morning here, the sun is trying to break through the clouds, but there is a beautiful breeze coming through the windows, and it's nice. I'm so happy to report I've not had to sleep with the air conditioner on in my room for three nights now. Hopefully this means the weather is becoming more bearable. We use Centigrade here and the thermometer in my room reads 26* at the moment, which is pretty pleasant. Weather report over, the reason I'm posting this morning is to tell you about yesterday, Double Ten Day, which was a great excuse to have a day off in the middle of the week.

The South African posse had a "slumber" party at my place on Tuesday night, to which I arrived after 10 pm when I finished work. They had already gorged themselves on snacks and were contemplating all sorts of ways to lose weight. Seems this conversation bridges the cultural gap and is universal amongst women of all ages. One of the girls dyed her hair, another was talking to her friend from home on the computer, and another to her boyfriend via text on her cell phone. Gadgets aplenty, all were happy. I made some hurricane popcorn*, which they loved, as did I (thanks to all the Hawaiian influences in my life over the years Lisa, Lani, and Lori to name a few), and we settled in to watch a movie around 11:30. *(hurricane popcorn is a Hawaiian original. it's a mix of seaweed bits, little sesame seeds with salt and sugar and soy crackers. very tasty!) After watching about an hour of Zach Braff contemplating cheating on his pregnant live-in girlfriend in a movie I don't wish to name since it's not recommendable, I could see the writing on the wall for this "winner" of a pick, so I "pulled a Lisa". (Lisa loves to disappear up the stairs while we have guests at the house and never return, leaving the rest of us wondering if she's died up there, gotten on a major phone call, got mad at us, or in fact just gone to bed without saying so. It's always the latter, but we still wonder ;) My bed was so comfy, I couldn't get up to go say goodnight, so I just turned off the light and fell asleep with a guilty smile on my face. (Lis, I do understand.)

Wednesday morning, my roommate and I thought the crew was taking a day trip to Taipei departing at 9, but when I emerged out of my room at 9:30, they were still here. Indecision also seems to be a universal issue amongst the young, so they discussed all the pros and cons of going or staying, and ultimately stayed. When they put yet another movie on at 2:00 in the afternoon, I went grocery shopping. Always an adventure, one of my favorite things is to buy whatever I feel I want or need, THEN think about how I will transport it all home on the scooter. As always, yesterday's trip did not disappoint. I came out with a huge jug of water, which went at my feet in the middle, and two huge bags, which I balanced on either side of the jug. Although the bags were hanging off the bike's platform a bit on each side, the faithful bungee cords skillfully wrapped around all of it and strapped to the bike seat made it possible for me to drive home without too much fear. I was amused though. (Sorry no picture of this. Maybe next time.) It made things slightly more challenging when I took a text message order for tea drinks from the slumber party-ers and ended up riding home with a bag of five ice teas hanging off the acceleration handle of the scooter. They were dangling and sloshing around every corner, however, since this is a scooter culture, the drinks are sealed with a plastic wrap that makes them spill proof. When I arrived home, the girls were ready to go up on the roof to look at the city from the 21st floor of our building and enjoy our tea. (Photos below.)

All of the girls took off to do various things around 5, except my roommate and I. We cooked dinner and ate, went for a walk around the complex where we live (it's gorgeous), and arrived back to one of the girls, Marichen (we call her Marie, thankfully) waiting for us on the doorstep. She had downloaded the first two episodes of Grey's Anatomy, henceforth known as Grey's, and we watched it together before bed. I capped the day off with a couple of phone calls on Skype and went to bed happy.

And now, I'm off to teach the children for two more days before the weekend. Yea!

Hope you're well.

Until next time,
LC from TW

Anneloe (left) and Noeline enjoying
the rooftop view and the wind in their hair.

Marichen enjoying the view of Hsinchu on the roof.

The view of Hsinchu as the sun is setting, from our roof.
My tea is in the picture for perspective.

Speaking of perspective...this is an avocado
I bought in the store yesterday next to my camera case.
I know my camera is small but shouldn't the avo
be about the same size as a digital camera?
Wow! I think I'll invite the neighborhood over
for some guacamole. Chevy's has got nada on Taiwan!