What day is it?

Good morning!

Today is Thursday and the only reason I know this is because I asked Amingo. Anna and I left at 4:00am Tuesday morning and arrived in Taipei 10:30pm Wednesday night. You do the math, but I think we travelled for over 30 hours real time.

We flew from Minneapolis to Dallas and had a one hour layover before boarding the plane to Tokyo. The plane was nine seats wide with five seats together in the middle, and our seats were right in the middle of the middle. I was relieved to see two things when getting on the plane. Firstly, each seat had it's own tv monitor for viewing movies, tv shows, flight path and information, etc. Secondly, Anna was sitting next two two nuns. I took this as a good sign!

Thirteen hours later, we landed in Tokyo for a layover before boarding Japan Airlines to Taipei. The plane was a double decker and our seats were on the second level. (A note to Neal...I did not find the pool, but I am positive it was somewhere!)

The only time I was really concerned about our travels was when we landed in Taipei. I wondered if we would be able to find Jess and her family amongst the masses of people waiting for friends and loved ones to arrive. Fortunately, they saw us first! Jess, Amingo, and Gary were there to greet us!

When Jess came to the U.S. she had commented that everyone looked alike to her when she got off the plane in Minneapolis. I laughed as that is what most Americans think of Asian people. Jess tried to explain the differences between the nationalities, and as I scanned the passengers on our flights and in the airports, I tried to notice the slight differences between the dark haired, lightly golden individuals.

Driving about an hour south from Taipei, we finally arrived at our final destination of Hsinchu City. Pandora - now calling herself Connie - greeted us with a large, bright smile. It felt good.

It is hot and humid, but not overly stuffy - comparable to August in Two Harbors. We have walked to the Science Park (more later about this beautiful place) and Connie is out getting breakfast. She asked if we wanted Starbucks or traditional Taiwanese breakfast...hello?!

Anna and Jess are playing the piano and singing from Rent right now. There's so many differences, yet so much the same.