The World is Your Oyster

It's July 4th and I spent the day recovering from Germany's loss to Italy in the semi-finals of the World Cup. Although I'm disappointed not to see Germany win it all on their home turf, their loss today is no grand matter as I'm still on a giddy high from France's victory over Brazil on Saturday. Enough of the cup, and on to Taipei. I was there May 1st through 7th, a good two months ago, but it's never too late to share.
Taipei, Taiwan... the land where wine flows like water, where travelers instinctively flock like the swallows of Capistrano... NOT! (I'm trying to bring the early 90s expression back. NOT! Sorry this must be annoying to read, I'll get back on track.) Taipei, admittedly, has its share of smog and perhaps too many people to retain my American standard of personal space. My brudda Michael has lived there and taught grade school for 3 years (demonstrated in the above photograph), and I was delighted to see the land he discovered. He and 2.63 other million people, that is. We had so much fun together. Not only was it wonderful to reconnect with my one and only sibling after spending years apart, Michael welcomed me warmly into his life in Taiwan and I treasured every moment of it. He's a Uvelli, meaning he loves food, meaning we get along great. M has several regular breakfast places he frequents, and conversed in seemingly fluent Mandarin with the shop keepers he knows always ordering an interesting dish (for breakfast I came to love the tuna burrito type things, they were much more Asian tasting than the way a "tuna burrito" sounds, however), and introducing his "mei-mei," the Mandarin word for "little sister." I say he was"seemingly fluent" because I'm no authority on Mandarin, but Michael spoke and listened without straining or hesitation. I was impressed to hear Chinese coming out of his mouth! And even more impressed when people responded to what he was saying! Everyone was incredibly warm and kind and thought Michael and I look very much alike, except for his beard which they didn't seem to be fans of. But we laughed it off.

Taipei, as I alluded to previously, is not a typical tourist destination in Asia. But I would go back to visit Michael in a heart beat. He took me to his Tae Kwon Do class twice in the one week I was there, and I received special instruction from his teacher and classmates. As you can see in the photo to the left, I'm working on my kick. Although my technique was miserable, I AM wearing a gi, the pants portion anyway, and that made me feel like I was good. I'm not sure how to put this exactly, and I'll be modest in saying this, but M's Tae Kwon Do instructor is the greatest person in the world. He's an approachable father-figure-like TKD expert, with a great sense of humor, patience for and love of foreigners (thank goodness), and an overall delightful character with whom Michael has grown fairly close. Lucky Michael! On the right is a picture of the three of us. In the photo from left to right is Kate, GOD, and Michael.

That's only the beginning of the Uvelli (x2) Taiwan adventures. Stay tuned another few months and perhaps I'll get the patience to blog again. Until then!