So today we drove home from Tainan to Hsinchu. We saw an old Dutch fort and a beautiful temple in Tainan, the temples are the most beautiful there! Then we had a tortuous trip home. Vincie had pretty much had it for this car trip. He fussed and fussed on the way home, we finally had to turn the car seat to rear facing and I had to entertain him all the way from Taichung home. As soon as he got home, he delighted in hanging out the Ms. Liu, Mr. Hong. He hadn't eaten any solids for days but as soon as Ms. Liu gave him a huge wafer cracker, he promptly ate it with a huge grin on his face and asked for another. Ha!

On Thursday, we left Hsinchu and visited Tai Chung and as the Natural History Museum's orchid garden. They also had very large fish in their aquarium. Then we drove to Jay-yi where Bob gave a talk about his career in philosophy and music. We checked into their guest house and had dinner at the campus steak house. Jeremy spoke to a gentleman who went to school in Iowa and served in the Taiwan military for 25 years and is a specialist on things which do not exist. The next day we drove to Kenting, on the way we stopped at Kaoshioung. It was raining so we didn't stop for long, but we did eat at Uncle Bob's. In Kenting, we checked into the Youth Activity Center and it was really, really cool. All these swallow tail buildings in the traditional chinese buildings. On Saturday we ate breakfast in the canteen and saw my uncle! Mom's brother and wife and their youngest child. It was really nice. We toured the aquarium together and saw the fire pits (where they sold roasted eggs) and one of the gates around the town. That evening was really long, Vincent had been having a low fever and the effort to get him to sleep was titanic. Today we drove to Tainan. We saw a parade, young girls, free tea and walked around to the Confucius Temple. The weather was beautiful.

Christmas! Woke up late and went to RT-Mart to get some treats, mainly ice cream. Then we went with the realtors and Helen to an all-you-can-eat restaurant where they had this towering, steaming hot pot contraption. Then we came home and invited them all plus Droopy and Olivia over for gifts and stockings. We got a bowling set for Vincie and played bowling. Then naps all around. Then we got buns for dinner and played Trivial Pursuit. Merry Christmas to all!

Today we went to the Nan-liao and the Science Park to see UMC. We had lunch with Jeremy's Chinese teacher, Annie, at her favorite restaurant. They serve this delicious won-ton-like dish. I'm eating so much with the family here, snacking my way through all the sights. After lunch we went climbing on 18-point mountain. The weather was really nice and comfortable. I also saw a loose-rock acupuncture path that has inspired a garden design for our future house. After the climb, we went home for naps and a visit to the realtors. Ordered out from the Chinese restaurant next door and started decorating our walls with the Christmas tree lights. Happy Christmas Eve!

Katherine, Bob and Ben showed up today at 8 am. We spent the day puttering around Hsinchu. Ran some errands, first to the bank, then the post office. I introduced my whole family to my yoga class. Then we went to the temple for lunch and kept eating and eating. Afternoon was shopping and napping and then we went out to dinner.

Went to Taipei to pick up the Bonser's van. Although it seats 7, it has no space for luggage. It's actually quite tiny. It has a DVD player and a rear view camera so you can watch your butt as you go in reverse.

Today we went to get Jeremy's new glasses. They are black-rimmed and got a negative response from Ms. Liu when she saw them. We also bought some Xmas decoration supplies. I'm sewing stocking together.

Our house is SOLD! Sheila did so much work for us, we are eternally thankful. We are officially homeless.

So Vince is living a different life at the nanny's. He's able to hold a bottle of formula himself and down about 8 ounces. Crazy.. He's *never* had more than half an ounce at home. Jeremy came home early. We got Vince's vaccination, some pillows, got some eyeglasses for Jeremy and got my eyes checked. No glasses for me!

I had lunch at the realtor's today. My appetite is not so good these days and with nursing, I'm steadily still losing weight, I can't believe how much Helen and Ms. Liu eat and still weigh 45 kilos. Crazy. This evening we went to the bun place and had a good time. They taught us how to wrap our own buns (ha ha). It's so hard to make them pretty, they invited us to wrap dumplings with them any day at about 3 pm. Jeremy is so sweet and funny, his Chinese is really improving.

Nothing interesting happening today. I'm researching stuff on the web. Ballet, karate, marriage, baking, Christmas.

Yesterday we went to the new mall in town, Warner Village. It was pretty snazzy. I thought we'd be there early to get a parking space, but it turned out we had to climb to the top of an 8-story garage before we found space. We melted a pipe in our apartment because I had the water temperature turned up too high. They are going to fix it tomorrow.

Mr. and Mrs. Lin arranged a bus for us to take up to Taipei today. We went to Tamsui and took a boat across the river. For lunch we had some nice fish balls with meat inside and stuffed tofu. Then we took the bus to Yangminsan and saw the sulfur vents. Then we went to the Shilin night market.

Today Jeremy came home from work a bit early and we had a fun night out on the town with our friends. We all went to a Japanese Seafood restaurant in Nan Liao. It is bery close to the harbor, where the fishing boats land, and facing he street are big tanks and trays of ice, from which you pick your dinner. The party included Liu Shao Jie, her husband Lin Shen Sen, their daughter Leah, their business partner Ju Shen Sen, Our mutual friend Helen, Jeremy's colleague Man Fai, and the three of us. We had deep fried squid and deep fried oysters, stir fried clams, a big fish that was made into sashimi and soup (one half each), shrimp, shark skin, asparagus, and noodles. All of the food was really delicious, and the company was a lot of fun. It was a taxing week, and it was really wonderful to unwind with our friends, and to not think about events at the office at all. One major source of entertainment was Vince's eating. He ate a huge quantity of fried noodles. He has figured out how to suck them up, so we can just grab a few noodles with the chop sticks, put one end in his mouth, and he just sucks them right up. He must have had three small bowls full.

So today I went to lunch with AMD. All the wives showed up in Hsinchu and we all met with the big head honchos. Then we all went bowling in Hsinchu. Jeremy was a bit tired, so I rolled for him. I'm not a very good bowler, but Carrie is. It has been an exhausting week

So I'm starting to get back to my routine. Went to Chinese class today with Mr. Hong and then went to yoga with my Japanese friends. I really didn't want to go since Vince is still not over his jet lag and we got up at 3 am. I was really anxious about today's announcement at AMD, so part of my routine was to distract me from waiting. At yoga, a student I never saw before came in all disheveled and distracted. I didn't think anything of it, but in the middle of class, she broke down in tears and pretty soon, the whole class was listening to her tale of sorrow. The teacher explained that she was suffering from depression for many, many years and that each day was filled with tears and anguish. Vince and I spent the rest of the day trying not to sleep to nip the last of the let lag.

Still jet lagged. Bleh. Did nothing today except mail a bunch of thank-you cards to the US. Vince had a tough time going down for a nap today. So many things are happening now, tomorrow is the *big* meeting with the AMD high ups, presumably by this time tomorrow, we'll know where we'll be going soon.

Back in Taiwan, struggling with jet lag. A relief to be home.

walked ruby moved out lunch at the children's museam gordana dinner at jessica moved out

jasmine tower green mesquite

had dinner with steve and pat and james and katie dutchess humped vince Ha ha

Flew to Austin on Saturday, the roughest flight so far, Vince was awake and active the whole time making it a struggle to keep in his seat. But I'm surprised that everyone is so nice and understanding. I was afraid of the horror travel stories, but nothing like that happened. Sat, we came and saw the Strickers and Emy late at night and went back to our house to sleep. On Sunday, we had brunch with Christine and Josh who talked about Boston and how they might have to move to Pasadena. We picked up Ruby from Veroniques, the horses are amazing and Ruby is so fit. She's been sleeping a lot at home, I think enjoying the warm suburban house and calmer pace. Last night we had dinner with Emy, her friend Chris, and two friends of Jeremy's parents who just moved from NYC. Two cellists with a 6 month old baby Bailey.