The quest for Beef Noodles...

I forgot to mention that after we had our feast for lunch yesterday we were a bit disinclined to have a heavy dinner as well. Colby had already eaten, so I went out to get "something light" and unfortunately found myself turned loose on the bakery with a pocket full of money. We pretty much had "Saturday night special" without the ice cream...well...or donuts. We had a slice of Chinese "Hawaiian pizza" (no sauce), a roll a piece, and a piece of cake a piece. Carb crazed for sure! It was very tasty though!

After his lengthy (I'd say attempt here, but that was the problem - there was NO attempt on his part. Is there a noun for that? Dis-attempt? Un-attempt?) failure to attempt to go to sleep last night, my darling son awoke at 5:30 for a bottle and then excused himself to sleep until nearly 9am!! We almost didn't make it to breakfast by 10am when they close!

Back to today... the late wakeup on Colby's part meant that Steve didn't get to shower before breakfast or he'd have missed it. Colby ate a banana in the room before we went down and was therefore less than thrilled with the idea of sitting through breakfast with us. Steve ended up having to scrap the end of his breakfast (again) and take Cranky Crankerson back upstairs. I offered to take him for a walk instead, but after discussing it, we both decided that a nap in the pack 'n play would serve him better than one in the carrier. It took him a LONG time to fuss to sleep, but he slept nearly 2 hours, so clearly he needed it. Steve showered and when Colby woke up we headed off to the jade market - but not before my darling son allowed me to pick him up off the bed and hold him WHILE Steve was in the room AND while he went to the bathroom WITHOUT fussing or asking to go to back to Steve. I was truly sad that I needed to use the bathroom before we left and had to put him down.

Taiwan is famous for beef noodles. We haven't yet found any and I decided that time is quickly slipping away from us and it was time to act. I asked at the desk if there was a good beef noodles place near here or if we'd be better off looking while we were out and about. It turns out that there's a place near here and the desk gave me a card so I could help get directions when I got close. We decided to have beef noodles for dinner tonight!

We caught the bus to the MRT and took the red line to the blue line to the brown line and then found out we could've just gotten off on the blue and avoided the brown altogether! Good thing the whole trip only cost us $2.60 for both of us. 7-11 stop for a drink and a "Guts" bar - we couldn't resist. It was yummy and hard to describe. We walked to the jade market and Colby fell asleep again! We had a good time looking at all the wares and this time we bought some gifts, some art for us, and I got a couple of things. I said "excuse me" in Chinese to a woman who responded in English and then engaged us in conversation - turns out she is from Iowa! She's visiting Taiwan on extended stay and would like to convince her husband to retire here. I can't say I blame her! Colby was getting fussy so we decided to skip the flower market since we couldn't have bought anything there anyway. We strolled along the same tree lined street as we did the day we went to AIT, but today it was sunny and humid with scattered patches of downright sultry. The trees were still beautiful to me, but not as striking as they were the day it was grey and cloudy. I guess that's a good reminder to be thankful for the beauty in all days!!

There are park benches amongst the trees and we thought it would be a good idea to grab Colby a steamed bun at a 7-11 and get ourselves some drinks and take a little break on the park bench and enjoy our not so scheduled day. To put it in a word - it was wonderful! We let Colby sit on the ground whereupon he immediately commenced to straightening up - removing all the leaves and twigs in the area (just one of the many things he and Kailin have in common). We enjoyed our beverages and he ate bits of steamed bun. I took these pictures and I know they will always strike a warm chord in my heart. When the mosquitoes arrived and tried to carry us away we knew the time was nigh to move on along. I picked Colby up and he let me carry him all the way back to the MRT station and change him before he asked to go to Steve. We are surely doing better today. He laughed and giggled and played games with me the whole time we walked. I adore his laughter and am so glad that he's finally ready to let me in a little.

We took the MRT back to the bus stop and then grabbed a bus to the stop nearest Carrefour. I decided that doing laundry here is futile so we stopped and got enough t-shirts and socks to last us the rest of the trip. All told, including 5 t-shirts, 6 pairs of socks, 2 binks (he took the orthodontic one today - so we bought 2 more to be sure!), and some crackers for Colby for the trip home, we spent $35. Not horrible - and probably doing the laundry at the dry cleaner would have been half of that, I bet. Colby was crashing quickly, so we headed home to the hotel. I got the boys settled and then set off in search of the beef noodles. I thought I understood precisely where I was going.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - the people here are nothing short of helpful to a fault. When I was about where I thought I needed to be, I asked a passerby for help finding the restaurant. She and her boyfriend didn't know where the restaurant was, but she said she'd ask someone for me. She did. And they didn't know. So she asked again. Same result. I told her to nevermind, but she was persistent. Third try's a charm. She got directions and then told me it was "a little bit far". I told her not to worry about it - but she was insistent on helping and in fact, showing me the entire way AND helping me order. It turns out that I entirely misunderstood the directions. I got the beef noodles, some steamed dumplings, and when I stopped at 7-11 for drinks, I picked up some bizarre ice cream bars Steve had been drooling over earlier (although I'm sad to report that they do not have a stick.).

I returned to the hotel room to find that he and Colby had been playing the whole time I was gone and that Colby was toddling around the room like a champ. One of his favorite games seems to be bringing me trash to see if I'll tell him "Xie xie" (thank you in Mandarin). I was dripping with sweat and it was past time for the little man to be in bed, so I hit the shower and Steve gave Colby a bottle and put him down. We finally dug into the beef noodles and they were really tasty! A bit like beef roast meets beefed up (no pun intended) ramen noodles minus all the salt in the broth. And the ice cream bars - well, I wish 8-ball hadn't been sleeping or I'd have taken a picture. It was like a thin waffle wrapped all the way around the ice cream. We both thought that maybe we'd have to have another before we go, so I'll try to snap a picture. Speaking of - I saw a sign in the park today that forbids clothes drying there - so be advised!

Tomorrow we have our final AIT appointment. It should be a quick in and out to pick up Colby's passport and visa, but I won't breathe easily until we have both in hand. Then we'll hit the fabric and clothing markets and then meet a couple arriving tomorrow for dinner. I can't believe we're down to 2 days left. I've fallen in love with Taiwan and will be very sad to leave.