home from home

Am I homeless or multi-homed? I don't think that's actually a word, maybe I should coin it? Homed to perfection?
Anyways, if this entry doesn't make sense I'll blame it on jet lag ;)

Here I am, back in Yilan, and unfortunately didn't blog much about my trip while I was there, but I did get some pics up . Overall it was a great (albeit expensive) time.

From Caronport I spent some time in Regina with Kaia and Vanessa, also seeing Krista and some family.

We went mini-golfing, which I don't think has come to Taiwan yet. At least I've never seen a mini-golf course here. If anyone knows of one, please enlighten me!

I also watched a number of movies including Memoirs of a Geisha (excellent, hope the film doesn't catch fire when you go see it), Syriana (not bad, but really heavy - make sure you're in the right mental space if you decide to go see it), and Pride and Prejudice (sigh...timeless).

I saw a ton of people and had some great visits, though most were way too short. I was particularly blessed to be able to visit with Shantelle for a bit, who is still undergoing cancer treatments.

After I got back to my parents house (my grandparents came for the last few days too), my next task was to dye my mom's hair. Now I'm no hairdresser, but I've dyed hair before (cut someone's hair once too, but I probably wasn't the best choice for that) and I was quite happy with the end result. I think my mom was, too.
On my last Sunday in Canada, I had the pleasure of hanging out with my friend and faithful blog reader, Sarah, and attending her church, my last English worship service for probably awhile.


The day before I returned to Taiwan, I went to my brother's Social Studies 6 class and talked about Taiwan. I had a bunch of pictures on powerpoint, answered questions, and had a little competition to see who could use chopsticks to pick up an assortment of items the fastest (one girl kind of gave up and held one stick in each hand). It went extremely well, I was happy with the way the class interacted and responded, and I was invited to give the presentation again next time I happen to be in the country. I think I'm a "cool" big sister, doesn't that rock? My brother and I also watched Kung Fu Hustle (hilarious) together on my laptop.

I flew out of Calgary at 6:15pm on Wednesday and (after a bit of a mix up) got to hang out with Johnny in Vancouver for a couple of hours. Finally at 1:00am I was on the 13 hour flight to Taipei. I think I'm getting used to the length of the flight, because each time I don't remember it being nearly as bad as the first few long flights I made. Though on this particulary flight there were loads of families including a 1 year old (i guess) who would periodically wake up and begin screaming. I managed to sleep quite a bit on the flight, thanks, I guess, to the inflatable pillow I got in the Vancouver airport. I just have to say, it cracks me up that they serve instant noodles as a snack on the flight to Taipei (both times I've had it). I guess they were invented in Asia. I arrived in Taipei at 5:45am on Friday, and proceeded through customs with a massive headache which progressed to nasuea on the way back to the office. Fortunately some air and a shower did worlds of good.

Well you don't need to be bogged down with the further details of my trip from Taipei which are slightly fuzzy anyways, so here's a list:

10 Things I Brought Back From Canada:

1. Cinnamon Hearts (many of which have been consumed during the writing of this entry)

2. Angel food cake mix

3. Pudding mix

4. A box of tea from London Fruit and Herb Company - arguably the best fruit tea in the world

5. Skor bits for baking

6. Canadian paraphenalia and maple syrup

7. Size 10 women's shoes

8. A pretty new bathing suit (among other clothes - yay for Value Village)

9. Blindside, Cold Play, Tim Hughes and Jars of Clay (cd's of course)

10. Two increasingly ragged suitcases that have now been across the world a number of times and may or may not make it one more time