Yesterday...the sequel

Okay, before I start where I left off I should say that our little prince was up til 2am night before last (probably due to the fact that we had family 3 hour nap into the early evening) and was quite displeased to be woken at ~8am to begin the day. We vowed not to let that happen again!!



Picking up in the Subway.... This child will eat nearly anything you put in front of him UNLESS it is a food that should appeal to a baby. He has rejected rice cereal and all add-ins there of (who wouldn't, come on - have you tasted that stuff??), yogurt (which he made a horrendous face about and then tried to remove from his mouth with his index finger. I really wish I could give you the whole picture on that one - it was nothing short of HYSTERICAL albeit a heroic effort on his part to rid his mouth of the foul stuff!), and other assorted baby type snacks. He loves cookies (so we know that he truly is my son) and other sweets, rice, noodles, and SUBWAY. He ate every part of our sandwiches - bread, meat, cheese, all the veggies... I was impressed especially given that his info sheet indicated that he'd only ever had steamed buns and fruit mashes outside of baby cereal.



Anyway, our plan was to ask someone for directions to either the handicraft or fabric market (which is another reason we picked Subway - the chances of finding someone who speaks English is greater), but when we finished our lunch, all of the attendants had gone elsewhere. I gathered my courage and asked a young woman sitting at the counter if she spoke English. She turned and said, "Yes, but I'm afraid it isn't good enough!" I asked her if she would mind if we gave it a try. She agreed. I showed her our taxi cards and she was deep in thought for a moment before determining that we should actually take a taxi rather than walk or take the MRT. (As it turns out it's right near the next MRT stop from where we were, but this woman was trying so hard and was so helpful that I couldn't care less if it cost us $2 more to go by taxi!) She then proceeded to abandon her lunch and go out in search of a taxi so that she could talk to the driver and tell him exactly where we needed to go. All the while apologizing that her English (which was far better than a lot of English I hear spoken at home!) wasn't good enough. I finally told her that it was FAR better than my Chinese and that she spoke very well! We loaded into the taxi and a few short minutes later arrived at the handicraft market.



I wish I'd been able to take pictures in the handicraft market. They had some beautiful things!! It's 4 floors. The basement is pretty much kitschy souvenir type stuff with a few nice things thrown in for good measure. The second floor is stoneware, jewelry, and some glass - BEAUTIFUL things. There are a couple of things I'd like to go back and get if we have money left to spend at the end. There is something called rainbow jade and it's dark green with a mix of pinks, yellows, and blues swirled into it. There was a blurb about how it's formed, but it's escaping me for the moment. They had beautiful vases made of this stone and I would love to have one. Then there's another stone native to Taiwan that is pink with black and grey veining in it. There are some beautiful framed pieces of it with calligraphy where the thin slice of stone actually looks like a landscape. I would love to have one of those as well! The third floor is a lot of artwork and there again - I could go hog wild. I saw a few scroll paintings I really liked as well as a painting of two men who appear to be preparing for battle (I know - doesn't sound like my style, but it's a soft water color and I love the colors and it's not overtly vicious or anything - they're kind of crouched down...hard to explain). There are tea sets galore and that's one thing I regret that I didn't get in China. I got a tea set for Kailin there, but none for myself (a space concern). The fourth floor is mostly fabric items. I found a purse I really really liked, but it was $30(US) and I wasn't convinced that it'd be a good "mom purse" so I put it back. We'll see. The place is easy enough to get to via MRT, so I think we'll head back on Monday or Tuesday and see what we can pick up. We did get a hand puppet for Colby for later that is something unique to Taiwan culture. They had some really nice ones for $60, but he'll have to make do with a "sedan" model instead. ha ha. I could seriously spend everything we brought between there and the jade market (although we haven't made it to the fabric market yet so we'll see!).

Colby was getting pretty restless so we decided to skip the fabric market and head back to the hotel. We asked at the information desk and found out that the MRT stop was not far at all from the handicraft market, so we set off. We had no trouble negotiating the MRT and when we got back to the station nearest our hotel (it's still a good piece - not walking distance, and surely not so with an infant strapped to one of us and a 40lb pack strapped to the other (maybe a slight exaggeration there...)) we asked at the desk for the right bus. They gave us the same bus numbers as we'd had in the morning, but then directed us to precisely the same stop where we'd arrived. Hmmm.... With no alternative but to trust the information (and with no bus stop visible on the other side of the road) we embarked on what will be referred to as "the bus odyssey" from now on. Of course we were on the wrong stop - the bus we boarded was indeed bound for Tien Mu, but only after it toured the rest of the city to the tune of an hour or so. We saw a lot of interesting stuff and thankfully Colby slept, but there was one mystery that remains unsolved. When we boarded the bus, I plunked my change into the paybox just as I'd done in the morning, but the driver tried to slap my hand away. I was confused, but then noticed that most people were paying as they got off. Okay, my cultural faux pas. But then about midway through the route, he started INSISTING (loudly!) that people pay as they got ON. So I'm totally mystified as to how one would determine when to pay the bus fare. Any guesses??

Got back to the hotel and found a note from our friends the Echols accepting our invitation to meet up for dinner, so we gave them a call and decided to head off to Fang's together. It was raining lightly and we had 2 umbrellas between the 6 of us, but we were fine. Dinner was fantastic - the steamed buns are just phenomenal there! They brought us some complimentary tapioca and taro soup (it was actually pretty tasty) and we were joking that they said, "Look! Those fool Americans got some kids - and boy do they look haggard! Better throw 'em a bone..." We really don't know why we got the soup - but we were glad of it and enjoyed it all the same. Poor Steve didn't get to eat a single bite for having to feed Colby the whole time and keep him in the high chair (no straps or tray). We had to bring his share back to the hotel.

We decided to wimp out and take a cab back to the hotel as it was pouring down rain by the time we finished dinner and we knew that some of us would be soaked by the time we got home if we hoofed it. It was only $2 and split between us - well worth it!

Colby was deep in grief, I think, and had a rough day. He had a rough time falling asleep and a rough night overall. He was very restless no matter where he was - in the pack 'n play, in our bed, or even on Steve's chest. Finally about 3 he had a dirty diaper and we gave him a bottle and he and Steve were able to get some rest (this rejection bit has it's perks....guiltless sleep for me since there's not anything I could do anyway!). All too early the alarm went off (5:30 am) and it was time to begin a new day....

(Thanks everyone for your words of encouragement. I truly have felt at peace with things after praying about it and giving it over to God. I know that Colby will come around in time and that this will all be a distant memory, but your words of support have helped me through for certain.)