Jason--Sleeping Problems

The time change is really being a problem for me.  It is 5:30 am on Saturday.  I have been up since 4:30 am.  I am tired but not sleepy.  I keep getting up to look in the crib just to make sure this is real.  We are supposed to meet  Holly and Trena and their families and Lance, Leslie and Caysen @ 9:15.  I guess we are going to the beach about 2.5 hours away.

Taiwan is really neat.  It is not much different than America.  They use all space possible and build very tall.  The House of Hope was 4 or 5 stories tall but had only 1or 2 small rooms on each floor with Kitchen on 1st floor.  Wherever there is land available there is a rice field.  It's crazy!  There are rice fields in the middle of downtowns in between buildings.  They evidently have no silly regulations about landscaping.  They just use the space for growing crop instead of having shrubs to just look at.  The Hotels' decor is very futuristic.  All the people here are extremely nice.  Its kind of funny because you have so many people wanting to help yet we Americans are afraid to let them because we fear them wanting to steal our stuff or want money for their assistance.  However, they just want to help and don't expect anything in return and seem offended if you try to do it yourself instead of asking for help. The driving is insane!  Much like big city driving in America except much friendlier.  Drivers are very aggressive yet very watchful.  People whip in and out of lanes even into oncoming traffic.  Everything is a go as long as you make eye contact.  They have very few accidents here and the majority of those are 1 person scooter accidents.  (We saw one yesterday).  They have fire extinguishers everywhere!  The food is not so bad.  We ate at a noodle place for lunch yesterday and it was very good.  The kids were kind of weirded out but they ate pretty well.  It all had good flavor.  They had for appetizers these cucumbers that looked like small pickle spears.  They were much like a pickle but yet so very different.  They were good I think.  I ate several and could not decide if I liked them or not.  The tea...oh the tea...  We had two different kinds.  One was passion fruit tea the other is what they call bubble tea.  The passion fruit tea was awesome!  The bubble tea..well...not so much!  I am pretty sure Devin would have loved it.  It was a tea and milk mixture with a bunch of Tapioca seeds.  The seeds looked and felt much like really small blueberries.  We used this really big straw and as I drank, my mouth was inundated with these seeds.  I instinctively began to chew and these seeds seemed to reproduce right in my mouth.  Needless to say...I was not a fan.  I figured out how to drink without the picking up of the seeds but it was still a weird taste.  Much like watered down milk with ice.  (Melissa may have liked it...minus the seeds).  Last night we ate at Subway.  Not quite the same but good.  I had them put Italian dressing on my sandwich but it was a very sweet Italian dressing.  It is definitely not what I expected but it was really good.

We are having lots of fun.  So much so that i feel somewhat guilty for being away.  It is kind of like a vacation with a very weird sleep schedule and we have already picked up the best souvenir you could ever have.  We can't wait to show her to you!


Love all of you and miss you and wish you were here to enjoy these moments with us!