Ahh, fall

It's almost cold here. I really had forgotten what it felt like to be less than overwhelmed by heat. I like it a lot. So, we can now safely invite people to visit. I thought we'd need a couple of weeks to get settled and then I'd have some blog about helping people visit and see another culture and so forth, but that heat and humidity just makes it unfun. But now, it's fall cool and it's nice to be here. So all of you without new children can... um. Okay, Heather, d'you wanna visit?

But even more importantly,


















I got new shoes.

I had this whole conversation with my brother about how to pack and what to do about running shoes when I was expecting to be in Armenia.

He told me that I might have to take some off brand or it might cost and arm and a leg, but I'd be able to find running shoes. So it's pretty funny to come to Taiwan and get the new model of the shoes I've come to enjoy, for about the same price as the U.S.

Personally, I think it should be cheaper. I mean, I came to the shoes. It even says on the box "made in China." Don't I get anything for saving them all that shipping? But I'm pretty pleased with my shiny new trainers. I even have a roadrace next month to break 'em in on. It's a nine kilometer, so I can't really compare it to anything, but it's Nike's race (the Nike 9k) so they can do what they want.

In another completely unrelated note, I thought I'd illustrate laundry here in Taiwan.























This is the dryer. Why, yes, it does look like a closet, and that is my head. That's because it is in fact, a closet. There are no dryers in private homes. You can go to a laundromat and use a dryer, but otherwise you wash your clothes (in cold) and hang them to dry. We have a dehumidifier which helps a lot, but you really have to plan ahead with clothes. You can't just wash something in an hour. It only takes 15 or 20 minutes to wash something small, but drying it's a project. So things go on hangers and we wait. Good for preventing set-in stains, bad for getting things without wrinkles. I do miss the simplicity of laundry in the U.S.

And I think we're moving into feeling like we miss things. We're starting to talk about holidays here. No one has a serious oven, so no turkey. We're talking about where to go for dinner, and what to do for leftovers. On the plus side, everything's open on Thanksgiving. The down side is we don't get the day off.

So, it's like everything else here, things are different. Maybe not better, but really not worse, just different.

Oh, and I wanted to at least ask, in general (let's see if this gets many comments) if anyone wants anything for Christmas from Taiwan. Marie and I realize it doesn't mean much to get something that says "made in Taiwan" but we've seen a fair number of inventive or locally made things that are interesting and exotic. And of course, they're momentos of us. I'm thinking of fans, and tea sets, and tea that might be fun to have in the U.S. And of course we can send you one of those gold kitties that's always waving a paw.