Our first day in Taiwan

We are back in Taiwan, this time from Dec - Feb. It is always an adventure here. Simply going to the grocery store or taking a walk is exciting. It is always a challenge getting on the schedule though. It is 3:00 am as I am finally finding time to post these pictures but luckily the kids are still sleeping. The apartment above us is playing game of Mahjong, yes, it's almost 3:00am and they are up too. Mahjong (má jiàng) is popularly played as a gambling game using tiles. The tiles are quite loud when they hit the floor. Maybe it's pretty common to stay up late and play the game...the apartment above us last year did the same thing.

Well, I spoke too soon...Evie just walked into our room.

We tried to lay down with Evie but she wouldn't fall back asleep. After about two hours Joel finally just got up with her. As they left the apartment Ethan woke up so we all decided to go to McDonalds which is open 24 hrs. The crazy thing is it's almost 5:00am and our neighbors above finally went to bed.

It's now about 9:00am. Ethan is down for a morning nap and somehow Evie is playing nicely with her polly pockets. I don't know how she isn't completely worked. I have already had two cokes this morning and I'm exhausted. I can hear her singing to herself about unicorns and magic shoes...

From yesterday:
We're in our new car and on our way to Carrefour, a grocery store open 24 hrs. We bought a Formosa Matiz from some friends of ours who recently moved back to the US. The kids were having fun holding hands on the way to the grocery store.

Evie said "I can't hold your hand anymore Ethan, it makes my arm hurt".

It is already such a different experience driving vs walking. Usually we are walking on the street like the lady in front of us and as you can imagine, it's not very relaxing walking in the street with the kids...

We just arrived at Carrefour

Our cute little Farmosa Matiz

The Matiz is pretty spacious for how small it looks, even for a big guy like Joel

Shopping is always more fun when you can do it in style

Ethan is pretty chill with his big sister behind the wheel

And of course - the import section.

We were pretty happy to see some familiar spices. Last year we were able to find salt but had a hard time finding pepper. The small container of pepper is about $3.50

The import section is mostly pasta, pasta sauce, ketchup and salsa

This is NEW...how about that...Eggo waffles (which just happen to be Joel's favorite). Of course we bought them but we don't have a toaster. I'll have to let you know how pan fried waffles are...

After we got back to our apartment Evie and I headed out for a walk while Ethan took a morning nap. Our apartment faces into the courtyard. This view is heading to the lobby from our apartment.

This is looking at our apartment from across the street. We are on floor nine and our apartment is facing the courtyard instead of the street. It is noticeably more quiet than last year when our apartment faced the street.

Looking up the street from our apartment. Our apartment last year is only a few buildings away from ours this year. It is about where the blue truck is on the left.

Evie brought her pink flamingo with us on our walk. She is so proud of herself for finding the perfect nest for her bird, KuKu.

We are back in the land of lost shoes. I am still surprised that we find so many matching pairs.

KuKu in a new nest

KuKu was finding a new nest while I waited for our lunch. This place makes what we call 'Triangle Rice'. It's basically a triangle shaped sushi. The kids love it too.

Evie is introducing KuKu to some kitty friends.

And back home again. This view is just leaving the lobby looking into the courtyard. Our building is just behind the cool glass enclosed gym on the right.

A few pictures of the apartment: This is our bedroom

Our living room/dining room

The doors behind the kids are their bedrooms and one of the two bathrooms

How a big guy does dishes in a small Taiwanese kitchen? If Joel stands he hits his head on the upper cabinets. We actually have a huge fridge and a lot of storage space. No oven, microwave or dishwasher but as we have learned over our past trips it is much easier and affordable to dine out. We almost always eat breakfast at home but almost always eat out for lunch and dinner.