第一天 : Day 1 // Landing

你好!

Once the wheels hit the runway, I was overjoyed! Not that I had been anticipating for months to come experience Taiwan in all senses - most of all taste - but that I could finally stretch my legs and ease my sore bottom after the 12-hour flight. 

We landed 5 in the morning where I almost got detained (not really but pretty close) and found the day to be cloudy and rainy. Eric's mother and older brother picked us up at airport.

The rest of the day was a daze for this sleep-deprived, caffeine-running duo. But here are some highlights and definite non-highlights.

Non-Highlight:

• First mosquito bite after getting out of the car from the airport - BOOOOO to you! Killed it immediately though - YAY! 

• Rain. Lots of rain, though I didn't mind it :) Unfortunately forecast said rain for a week :( 

Highlights: 

• Family Tea Time:  Meeting all the aunts, uncles and cousins from Eric's dad's side.
• Huang Yeye and Nainai, who are by far the cutest grandparents I've ever met! (Mine would count too but in my lifetime there was only one grandma who was alive). 

Grandpa is 97 and Grandma is 95 years old but they are pretty strong! They eat by themselves and I'm amazed to watch them use their chopsticks and pick out what they want - talk about fine motor skills! But the cutest thing must be how much Grandpa loves and cares for Grandma. Grandma is in a wheelchair and isn't as strong as before but Grandpa will sweetly pass over plates of food that are out of her reach to her, take off her towel bib, give her medication and gruffly tell her to eat it but, most of all, always linger around to make sure she is doing well or to see what she's up to. I can't express in words how thoughtful Grandpa is towards Grandma but it is the cutest thing.

The entire Huang clan - or Empire as Eric likes to call it - are adorable. They all love to make faces and do silly things to Grandma even Eric's father who rubbed his hair against her face to show her how wet it was outside. But in comparison to their ages, we really are kids to Yeye and Nainai.

I didn't take too many pictures since I was a little shy around his family to go all out with my foreign tourist syndrome but here's a few from Tea Time at a Japanese buffet. It was so beautiful there and so good! I will say I have had 4 meals since I've arrived here and skipped dinner because I was too full...

 再见!