The past few busy and wondrous days!

It's been an amazing past few days. We've been so busy doing so many things! Tuesday, Fion and I went to the AIT office to apply for Kaiya's visa. We pick it up tomorrow! While waiting at the office, I ran into another JOH family from Seattle! They were picking up their 6 month little girl.

After that, Kaiya came back and took a long nap. That night we met out with Anson and Fu Fleeting, our friends that we met recently through our close friends in Aurora! Thanks Mark for the introduction! Anson and Fleeting took us out to dinner then on to the Shilin Night Market. This was an experience! It was jam packed with people, tons of vendors selling clothes and accessories. Susan wanted to buy Bubble Tea, so we stopped at a vendor and she was in heaven. I, on the otherhand did not like it . . . unless you like tapioca.

Today, we visited the National Palace Museum. The grounds were gorgeous-a beautiful park w/ Koi fish and bridges. After that we headed over to the Handicraft Market which is 4 floors of authentic Taiwanese gifts. It's GREAT! I highly recommend going there when travelling to Taiwan, you can find anything and everything Taiwanese! I was able to find beautiful Chinese dresses for Olivia and Kaiya and a Chinese outfit for Graham-too cute!

I met another couple from Sweden that was adopting their 5 month old baby girl. They were very nice and the two babies were fascinated w/ each other.

This trip has been an amazing experience, from the food to the people to the sights to Kaiya!!! Everyone here is so respectful and courteous. Many speak English so there was never an issue w/ the language barrier. It is so clean from the airports to the streets. Our guide, Fion has been wonderful-couldn't have done it without her.

Kaiya is just opening up more and more. Very chatty, giggly and happy little girl. She will fall asleep anywhere, preferably on me. :) We're so looking forward to coming home tomorrow to meet her new brother, sister and daddy! As you can see we've been wearing her out! Sleep little girl!


Sleepy head!

We love the little GREEN MAN! He is at all the crosswalks and starts out really, really slow, then at about 17 seconds, he gets faster and faster and FASTER! Fion, our guide said she's even seen the little green man fall over at the end! TOO CUTE! We love our little green man!

Wednesday, October 10th is Taiwan's National Holiday. It is the equivalent of the 4th of July in the USA

Taipei 101

Susan was CRAVING Bubble Tea, and you can tell she LOVED IT!

My face after trying the bubble tea-NO THANK YOU!!!

Scooters everywhere! Even little children ride on them!

Shopping at the Shilin Night Market


Dessert in Taiwan: Shaved Ice! It has tofu, beans and ice. The food here has been wonderful! Very tasty, and very healthy. Even the dessert is healthy!!!

The Gardens at the National Palace Museum

Ginormous Koi Fish!

Kaiya making friends already!



National Palace Museum

More Kaiya!

GOTCHA DAY!!!

Today was the most amazing day ever!!! I was a BUNDLE of nerves driving to Taichung, but as soon as I stepped out of the car and saw the foster mother holding little Tsai-Yi, the nerves disappeard! She is a total bundle of joy!!! She has so much personality!!! She smiles and laughs and is soooo close to walking, literally in the few hours we've been back at the hotel, she's almost mastered it! She loves to crawl under her crib and the desk. She gets into everything!!! So curious!
I couldn't have asked for a happier, healthier more inquisitive little girl!!! I would love to post pictures with the foster mother, but due to privacy I will not . . .but she is the most amazing person!!
As I walked into her home, there was a beautiful shrine set up with incense burning and she was sooo loving towards Kaiya. Tears came to her eyes as I hugged her and we had to say goodbye. I couldn't thank her enough as she kept smiling so big and you could tell she really loved Kaiya. She kept telling me how Kaiya is such a "happy little girl, so happy!" She even said she loves music and likes to dance!
Fion, our guide has been wonderful-soooo helpful, soooo patient and sooo kind! I was able to go upstairs and sign the infamous JOH wall, I will post those pictures later since they were taken on Susan's computer.


Samantha from TWCA, Fion and I w/Kaiya. They are
wonderful help and are wonderful people!!!











At the infamous "baby store!"





She's going to walk any day now!!! Taking lots of steps!!

What a busy day . . .

We visited the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial today which was very impressive. This Memorial was built to Taiwan's one time dictator. There are 89 steps to the top of the Hall which is the age Chiang was when he died. It is massive in size and very spread out.












We took a walk down an alleyway that was crammed w/ small shops and many food vendors selling live chickens, pigs feet and we even saw a man selling birds in a bag!!!








Today we ventured out since the rain had finally stopped. First we visited the LongShan Temple. It was beautiful and very spiritual. People would light incense and pray to their god, any god b/c this temple is multidenominational. The Temple enshrines 165 other deities. The temple dates back to 1738.






Yummy! Dim Sum! Susan introduced me to a delicious restaurant called Din Tai Fung, it served dim sum and many soups. We also ate delicious cabbage-yummmm yummmm!

And of course, there's always a Starbucks! Even in Taiwan! Fion, our guide also took us to the Jade Market where we bought some jade jewelery and good luck charms!Tomorrow is THE big day, so I'm going to sleep early to get a good nights rest. Fion told me something I thought was very sweet. She said the foster parents tell the children that their parents are coming to pick them up and the children sense this. She said the babies wake up early in the morning and don't go to sleep b/c they're anticipating their new parents to arrive! :) Kaiya, mommy's coming!

What to do while stuck in your hotel during a TYPHOON!

We did venture out once to a "foot massage parlor" which was quite the adventure. We got a foot and body massage, Susan loved hers, mine left me a little sore. ouch!






The view from our hotel room is Taipei 101 building! We tried to go into it today, but of course it was closed as was everything else due to the typhoon!!

















Here are some pictures of our hotel. It's very elegant, very grand. There are about 8 restaurants and a night club. The restaurants and food are delicious! We even hit the night club and listened to a great band from Montreal!

I'm very excited for the typhoon to pass and drive to meet our little one! I miss you brett, olivia and graham!!!

We have landed!

Whoooo-We made it! The trip was fine-no layovers, no delays. The Eva flight was wonderful! Brand new plane-nice service. I highly recommend it.

Bad news is . . . a TYPHOON is coming! The Government has shut all businesses and schools down today and most likely tomorrow. It's supposed to hit later tonight into tomorrow. We are thankful we caught the flight we did, or else who knows when we would have gotten here.

The first thing i thought of when stepping into the Taipei Airport was how clean it was! So pretty, clean and quiet-no loud speakers, everyone moved so efficiently-got through immigration rather quickly and Fion, our guide was waiting for us. Poor thing had to pick us up at 11pm and didn't leave our hotel until about 1am!

We're staying at the Grand Hyatt and it's beautiful! Our view outside is the Taipei 101 building. We're excited to see what it looks like in the daylight-right now it is pretty quiet and very, very dark.

Fion told me as we were driving to the hotel that the birth mother will not be meeting with me. I am very sad to hear that, but can understand and respect her decision.

So, it looks like we're in for a wet few days at least . . . hoping to get some sight seeing in! :)

Going to try and go to sleep for a few hours!
Nicole

And then there was one night left . . .

Well, this is my final blog for awhile . . . at least until I get there! I will be leaving tomorrow morning to pick up our little girl! I can't wait-I'm soooo excited. A little nervous as I'll be flying to the OTHER SIDE of the EARTH!!! It really is odd to think how far I'll be travelling. That's the hardest part, being SOOO far away from Brett, Olivia and Graham. :(

Luckily, with today's technology they can track my trip via the blog! I will try to update it as much as I can. I was telling Brett as I was packing that I have more chargers in my suitcase than clothes! I swear, someone should invent one charger for the video camera, ipod, digital camera, lap top, cell phone and head phones! Because that's a lot of chargers! :)

I have to send a "shout out" to my fellow "JOH Yahoo Board" gals-I swear, I don't know if I could have made it through this whole adventure without all your help, support and advice! I've made some great friendships via this group: Laura from NY, Cat from Boston, Jennifer from Denver, Jen, Anne Marie from Chicago, Andrea, Tara, Melanie, Lisa, Tish, Bethany, Kristie, Abbey & Jeff, Sheila from Naperville, I-Chwen & Kevin, Anna . . .ohhh, the list could go on. I just love you guys-you've been soooooo great!!!

And, of course Lisa!!! I've had so much fun talking w/ you all the time on the phone about our adventures-Hajime is sooo cute and I'm so happy you're on your way home now-happy travels!

Lastly, I want to say I'm sooo happy my mom is doing well-her results came back looking Great, so we are all truly blessed! I wish you were travelling w/ me, but really, you are in my heart! :)

Love,
Nicole