Day 5! Going home!!

Day 5!
TODAY WE GO HOME!!
We were all up early and finished packing! It is somewhat sad to leave knowing we may never return. Overall our trip has been great! I had to much anxiety the first two days! We really enjoyed yesterday. I think we were all more relieved to have Brooke! Brooke has done wonderfully! Now for the long trip back home.
HOME:
We had great seats coming home. We had more legroom and were all on the same row. Byron, Andrew, and Brooke slept most of the time on the long plane ride. Brooke was fussy on the plane from Detroit to AL. It was very emotional to be back home. It felt so good to finally be in Huntsville! We had many family and friends to great us. In addition, Chuck, Amy and Morgan (From Taiwan Oct 08) were there! We hope to have some great pictures of Morgan and Brooke. We were all so tired! Brooke did not go to bed until 4 am!

Day 4

Day 4:
Just like clockwork, Andrew and I are up at 3:00 am.! Today we will be going to Taipei 101. For breakfast, we had honey buns (from home) and cold pizza. Brooke slept until 7 am. She is a good sleeper! We hope this continues. She hardly moves all night long. We went to out AIT appointment. This took four hours! They were very nice. There were many Taiwanese trying to get a Visa to come to US. They were also waiting along time. I don’t think our government is very helpful to others wanting to come here. You could tell that they were all frustrated!
We then headed to Taipei 101. It is huge! We went to the food court first. Andrew and I ate at KFC, They had a picture menu that made it easy to order. I had chicken wings and pop corn chicken, which was very good. Andrew had chicken nuggets with a special Asian sauce, which was also good. Byron ordered a chicken sandwich, but said the sauce tasted funny. He and Mei-Rue also ordered some kind of chicken and noodle soup. Andrew and I both tried it. It was not that bad! Taipei 101 is the tallest building in the world and has the fastest elevator in the world! From the top, you could see all of Taipei! Mei-Rue went to a bookstore called Page 1. They have earphones you can get to hear everything in English. The man giving these to us said, “Many people have come to him saying Byron looks like John Travolta!” After Taipei 101, Mei-Ru took us to the market. She showed us various things. The fish here comes whole. She said this is how they can tell how fresh it is by looking at the eyes. They have lots of food that is the same, like the cereal. Then we went to the produce section to see different types of fruit. Some are the same. We really enjoyed the bread store and looking at the different types of breads. Squid bread, seaweed, ect

Next, we went to the Martyrs Shine. It is very big and beautiful. Andrew enjoyed the pond. Byron and Andrew climbed the 85 steps up to the shrine. While I stayed down with Brooke and Mei-rue. We talked about the different things about Taiwan vs. America. We also purchased some souvenirs.

It was getting dark so we headed home. Brooke did great the entire day! For dinner, we had cold pizza and M & M’s, and Pringles! Brooke had her first bath, cried for about 10 mins, and went to sleep. Brooke started smiling at us today! She has not smiled since we picked her up. She has not seemed unhappy, but not happy either. Andrew is doing well and has been playing and reading to her. Byron and I started to pack and went to bed about 10pm.

Day 3

Day 3:
Our AIT( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Institute_in_Taiwan )appointment did not go well at all! This is an American agency that issues the visas. The AIT informed our guide that we did not have an appointment and to come back tomorrow! Our guide was very upset and made several phone calls. She told us we may not get to leave until Tuesday. Andrew said “I don’t want to stay here till then!” We had to go back to the hotel to fax several documents and made plans to go shopping and to the Martyrs Shine at 1:00.
We stopped at a store and bought several small things to give to Brooke when she is older. Then we went to the Grand Hotel. It is very beautiful and large. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Hotel_(Taipei_City) Later we went to the Martyrs Shine ( http://www.taiwan.com.au/Envtra/Taipei/report37.html) to see the changing of the guards. See video (not ours) http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=2jCuZ7UAIsE . Our guide was helpful in explaining the importance of this place. While there a group of school girls came up and ask to take our photo. They were about 10 or 11 years old. They continued to come up and say HI and Bye! Later we ask if we could take their photo. This made them very happy. We had noticed several people taking our photo while we have been here in Taiwan. Andrew finds this very strange. One of the students spoke some English and she would tell the “brave” girl to say something to us. At one point she said to Andrew “You are very handsome”! Brooke did really well during the outing. We were all tired and went to the hotel room. On the way back Mei-Ru received a call and informed us that AIT was going to issue the Visa tomorrow. She said she was going to have to apologize to AIT, even though it was their fault. That’s our government for you!! Mr. Ru from AIT called to apologize stating “My boss said for me to call and say I am sorry” I’m sure this will be how Mei-Ru will apologize tomorrow. Andrew and I did not eat lunch, so we were starving!! So we decided to try another restaurant in our neighborhood…..Pizza Hut. We made Byron take the first bite! Andrew and I are afraid to eat anything. Byron made a face that said it was not good. Andrew and I said “Oh no what are we going to eat!” Luckily he was just kidding. The pizza was great, just like it is in the U.S.!!!
I went to bed at 6:00pm and woke up at 8:00 pm to hear Brooke screaming. She cried for about 2 hours and finally went to sleep. Andrew slept thought the entire melt-down. Brooke maybe getting sicker. She seemed better yesterday, but last night began coughing and sounded congested.
Here is a video of the Temple we went to the first day: http://www.mefeedia.com/entry/998921/
Day four:
Just like clock work, Andrew and I are up at 3:00 am.! Today we will be going to Taipei 101

Day Two in Taipei

Day one continued:
Today we were able to meet another JOH family. They picked up there daughter Alanya yesterday!
We went to dinner with them. We ate at our hotel restaurant. We ordered drinks and they took our menus. Then we had to tell them we wanted to order food. I tried to order a ham and cheese and made the mistake of asking , if that came on toasted bread! I think he thought I wanted toast. When the food came out, I received a hamburger with Ham and cheese on it! Andrew had speggitti (Yuk) and cheesecake (great)! I thought our friends Chuck and Amy (traveled here in Oct) said the hamburgers were good and steak not so good. Therefore, everyone ordered hamburgers, which were Yuk, Yuk. I just took the hamburger off mine, had ham, and cheese which was ok. Chuck later emailed us to tell us that no it was the steak that was good and hamburgers were not good. OH WELL!
Day Two:
We had gone to bed at about 11:00 and all of us were up by 3:00 a.m. We went to Breakfast at the hotel. Byron tried several new things. We left to go to TWCA (agency) at 10:30. We stopped at a rest stop on the way. Our guide assissited us with selecting lunch. Andrew and I had chicken nuggets (yuk) and Byron
He had some kind of very adventurous pork plate. He even ate with chop sticks! When we were back in the car guide Mei Ru said “You are very American”! She said most families will try different foods. Later in the drive, I ask her what she thought was strange in America. She said “ I really have a problem the food…and started laughing. I said see you know how I feel!!

We stopped by agency, and then went to foster family. The foster mother was waiting in the door with Brooke. She looks just like her last photo. She was smiling and happy. I held her first and then Byron and then Andrew. She is very active. We were also informed that she has been sick with a cold and is now on medication. The foster mother provided a lot of information of Brookes schedule ect. She then fed Brooke before we left. Well….Brooke has a reflux problem like Andrew did!! And milk was coming out everywhere!! The foster mom states she feeds Brooke and then places her in the stroller in an upright position. Then we left after about 30 mins. We went back to the agency to sign some paperwork. All the things that we sent were returned to us. In the car on the way to the baby store (Brandy you will like this) Brooke spit up again….Andrew started gagging and started talking about the night everyone was sick in your car!! We quickly handed him a zip lock bag and begged him not to throw-up in our guide’s car!!

It has been an amazing experience!

We went to the baby store and bought bottles, diapers, formula, and some baby books. Brooke loves the small board books. They have English and Chinese and came with a small CD. Brooke slept most of the two hour ride back.
When we made it to our hotel we were all very tired!! We played with Brooke, fed her, gave her yucky medicine. She was a little fussy, but not to bad. Andrew and I took a short nap while Byron watched Brooke. Byron ordered pizza from Dominoes. Byron said it was better than his lunch. Andrew and I (YUK)! We had beanie weenies! Byron went to bed at about 10:00pm and I stayed up until Brooke went to bed at 12:30 a,m I put one of the CD’s in the computer to play for her/ Our computer played it with graphics of various lights. She liked watching this. She is still asleep at almost 7:00 am!! Almost no crying last night. Most families report babies cry all night the first night. Well Byron is off to pick up our Breakfast…at McDonalds! I hope it is good or Andrew and I will be very hungry.
We are off to AIT to get Brookes Visa. Then we are going to one of the tallest buildings in the world: Taipei 101. Our guide says there are lots of American restaurants!!!

First Day in Taipei

Our flight was very long..... will post more about this adventure later.
First Day in Taiwan!
We woke up early to eat breakfast at our hotel. They did have a western breakfast. When I was helping Andrew with his breakfast, I mistakenly put soy sauce on his pancakes!!!
We did not have a guide today, so we toured the neighborhood on our own. We first went outside and walked around the block. It was a little nerve racking. There is lot traffic and hundreds of scooters. We are staying in the downtown area. Later, we decided to brave it again. We headed off to see the Temple and find some American Restaurants. We also made out a currency chart so we would know how much things cost. (JOH friends; current for today may change in future)
US $ NTD
1..00 34
2.00 67
3.00 101
4.00 134
5.00 168
6.00 201
7.00 235
8.00 268
9.00 302
10.00 ` 335
15 503
The money comes in coins of 1=$1.49; 5=.15; 10=.30 ; 50=1.49; Bills 100=2.98; 500=$14.92 1000=$29.84
Our first purchase was a Pepsi under $1.00.
We also found a Subway sandwich shop, Pizza Hut, Dominoes, Starbucks, and Dunkin Donuts!
We walked to a temple a few blocks from our hotel. There were people outside selling items used in the worship ritual it looked like some kind of food, fruit and incense.
About one block from the temple, we found a large park. Andrew played with a two-year-old boy for a while. This park had a small playground, basketball court, pond, and large fountain.
At one point, two teenager girls ask if they could take our picture! Andrew thought that was neat.
We ate lunch at McDonalds for $329 NTD or about $10.00 for three meals. All of the food tasted like that in America except the Diet Coke
We really did quite well. We found most her know some English and Byron is good at making gestures about what we need. Byron brought his GPS and used it to mark our hotel, as well as restaurants that we may want to goes back to.

Tomorrow we pick-up Brooke tomorrow!!

Preparing to Leave for Taiwan.

We have been busy preparing to travel to go pick up Brooke!! We have purchased tickets, booked our hotel rooms, purchased gifts for foster mother, guide, TWCA staff and most importantly Brooke's Birth mother. Byron and I have also been struggling with the stomach bug this week. We are praying that Andrew does not get this while we are traveling. We still have a lot to do and will try to post pictures and updates as we go on this Amazing Journey. It will take us over 24 hours to reach Taiwan from Alabama!! We will first fly to Detroit, then to Toyko, Japan then then onto Taipei, Taiwan!! This is our 1st international flight, so we are not really sure what 24 hours of airline travel will be like. We know it can't be good!! We do know the end result will be worth it!