Our eventful evening! April 9th

Michelle stopping to smell the flowers.












Me in the mdist of many more flowers.













Jeff, Michelle & Michelle












All the girls looking at the flowers.














Tiny tree/shrub with a very odd root system.

April 8th
Thinking that Mark & Karen would be away exploring, we thought we would do the same. So we e-mailed Michelle and Julia (our great new friends) telling them we were taking the bus and train to Yuanlin to have supper at The Maple Leaf Bar & Grill again. They called us we were getting ready on Saturday to say that Julia would pick us up and drive us there. Very cool!!! So at 4:30pm Julia, and her adorable son Will (he’s a year and 10 months) picked us up and we headed to Yuanlin in comfort. Will has very weary of us white folks getting into his vehicle. Julia reminds us all the time that her English is “no good,” but we communicate just fine. We have a lot to talk about.

Soon we arrived at Julia’s parent’s house. Her parents were full of smiles and very friendly, offering us a tray of fruit….have I mentioned that I’m addicted to pineapple…I LOVE IT!! We all sat in the living room..with fans blowing…yikes it’s getting hot here!!! Yet they keep reminding us that summer isn’t even here yet! Man, I’m in trouble.
We looked through some photo albums and just hung out, it felt really good.
Then when Michelle was ready, the four of us headed out.

Yuanlin is a very beautiful city. There are tons and tons of flower gardens, cactus shops, all sorts of floral, shrubs and rose gardens. When I say a lot I mean a lot, like within a 15 minute walk you could find at least 6 huge flower/garden centers. All of them are also very affordable. Apparently this is where people come to….all over Taiwan for their floral needs.

A friend and co-worker of Michelle’s lived in the area, so we stopped by and met Stella and her mother, both very generous and nice people. Stella’s mother owns a confectionary/beetle nut shop that is between 2 big flower/garden stores, and near several others. It seemed like a very nice neighborhood. Stella came with us as we walked around looking and taking pictures of the scenery. Stella speaks good English as well….and is learning Spanish.

At one of the cactus gardens we tried this purple cactus ice-cream. It was pretty good; I’d definitely try it again! It was fun and relaxing just walking around and hanging out, and being somewhere new. We headed back to Stella’s shop stopping at the flower shop on the corner. Stella treated Michelle to a dozen bright beautiful gerber daisies…Michelle’s favorite. Julia bought 2 dozen roses, and her sister Michelle also bought a dozen. All of the flowers came to $240NT….WOW---that is super cheap!! That’s under $9 Canadian.

It was getting dark and most of the flower shops were closing, so we said our good-byes to Stella, and her mom, and headed off for supper. Since we had already eaten at the Maple Leaf Bar & Grill before, we decided to try a different place…and boy was it delicious. We went to this great little hot-pot restaurant. It was very filling, and tasted great. I hadn’t had a hot-pot in a long time, so this was a great change. We all ordered the beef hot-pots. Michelle and I each ordered our own, and Julia and Michelle shared theirs. I didn’t realize how big it was…it’s a lot of food…but of course I finished it off…and helped Michelle, that’s what husbands are for right.

After supper we walked around the downtown shopping area of Yuanlin. It was buzzing! Cars, scooters and people everywhere. I have been really wanting to find a cheap pair of sunglasses for walking in the mornings…so we looked around…no luck, but Julia found a very funky pair of shades. What I did purchase was a toothbrush, Michelle and Julia had asked us if we wanted to stay the night at their parents house, so that in the morning we good go to the mountains, and keep exploring. How could we say no to such generous hospitality?

Then we hit a little coffee and dessert café. We sat outside, it was beautiful out. This place had an English menu, but we couldn’t believe how many spelling mistakes it contained. I enjoyed some cheesecake and later a corona, while the ladies had coffee.
The act of making new friends is so comforting and enjoyable, it was another wonderful weekend already.

Then we headed back to Michelle’s house. We hung out in her room, watching TV, checking e-mail and showed them our blog site. Julia explained and showed us what her factory makes. They make various scrapbooking supplies. She told us how an American company had asked to see some samples of their product, and that then the American company sent them to a company in China to copy it, and make it for them. I couldn’t believe it. Apparently there is not much they can do about it. Julia is trying to reach more Canadian and American customers. We are in the process of helping her with a website design. This isn’t our specialty, but Michelle helped design the website for the Saskatchewan Co-operative Youth Program, with the help of a computer technician. She’s gonna try to get in touch with him again via e-mail, and see if they can start an English website, to help grow their business.

It was a long day and we were very tired. Our room had these great sliding bamboo doors. However once in bed, I soon realized that cheesecake and corona is not a good mixture. So I tossed and turned all night. Maybe it was being in an unfamiliar place, but Michelle had a rough sleep all night too. But one uneasy sleep is worth all the fun we had that day, and the fun that lay ahead!

Jeff
(ps: I've been getting a lot of e-mails from the nursing home gang--I will be writing to you very soon--thanks you for all your comments and e-mails--we love them all. I miss you all very much, staff and residents! give a big Hello to Pheobe and Hilda and let them know I'm well, staying outta trouble, and msissing them. XOXO)