so i am here in Taiwan. i made it safe and sound.. although i do think that i'm coming down with something. ugh.. i don't know if it was from the plane or just around - but i'm starting to get the sniffles and have a little bit of a sore throat. yuck. it's not as cold as i thought it'd be. i'm glad that it's not sweltering hot.. but it's not like snow mountain cold. it's just a little chilly - kind of like how so cal was lately. actually i think that freeze wave was actually colder than this. i spent last night at my grandmother's in taipei and today took the train down to dou lieu where my grandfather's house is. the whole coffin in freezer thing wasn't as bad as i had anticipated. it's a giant tent kind of thing, and it's shielded from everything and decorated pretty well. there's a little shrine with offerings and everything. i haven't seen the coffin part yet.. i don't know if i'm "allowed" to. so many customs and all of that, i just learned today that there's a part of the funeral that i'm not allowed to watch. and my sister isn't coming because it's bad luck.. to her or from her i'm not so sure.. haha.. but i keep telling her that she's bad luck :P

i don't think maurene read this, but she has a friend who is teaching english in taiwan. i kind of want to contact her and go meet up with her. is that weird? i dunno.. i just wanted to say hi. haha. i might go the night market near my grandfather's house later on. maybe have some shaved ice. yum. buy some fake bags and other random crap. any requests? :) i'm already on a mission for a hello kitty umbrella. heheh. i'm sorry i couldn't go to the adopt-a-family get together beth (and others)!! i hope you guys had fun with the good-doing. but i gotta get going, my mom wants to use the phone, plus it also costs money to be on the internet. yikes. remember when we used to have to count our internet minutes.. sooooo long ago :P