Day 6

not a lot occurred today. erin and i made our way back from South Taiwan in a car and a fast train. by 2:00pm we were checked into our Taipei hotel. leaving our friends, Song Meifang and Lu Yanmei wasn't the highlight of the day.

both were sad to see us go as were we to leave them. it is both a blessing and a curse to have such amazing friends here in Taiwan. the blessings are obvious, but the curse is that we don't know when we will see them again ~

this evening we met up with my good friend from High School, Sarah K Tarbox. she has lived in taipei now for almost 20 years. she teaches English and generally enjoys it here. it was delightful as ever to be with her ~ an evening wasn't quite enough. but we ended up seeing the 101 - currently the world's tallest building. it cost $400 NT to ride to the top and i just didn't see the point in spending that on an elevator ride. so we enjoyed it from the outside and did some shopping in the area.

tomorrow we will attend a temple session in Chinese, have lunch with Sister Huang and her kids then spend the afternoon/PM in Ilan - on the east side of the island. this was Erin's last mission area. our friend Bao Meiyi is taking us over there with her family in tow. i've never been there so i am looking forward to seeing another part of Taiwan.

what an excellent choice it has been to stop by here on my way to China. i can't get enough of good friends, good food and generally Taiwan. it feels as though i have returned home.