Home at last, with blogger back in English and my own keyboard. Much easier to post.
Tuesday was AIT day, that is the day we had an appointment for the American Institute in Taiwan to apply for a visa for Cara Hsiu-Wen to come to the US and become and American citizen. In most countries this would take place at a US consulate, but since the US doesn't officially recognized Taiwan as a nation there is an alternative organization that serves most of the same functions. Again we were happy to have Mei-Ru's help to navigate the different forms and lines, especially in our sleep-deprived state. The immigration official we spoke with was extremely friendly and seemed genuinely happy to be helping us bring our daughter home. For future information, the men's bathroom at the AIT does have baby changing facilities - yes, C is becoming quite the pro.
The rest of our stay was comprised of trying to figure out how to parent Cara Hsiu-Wen, and a bit of sight-seeing and shopping. The Taipei subway, the MRT, helped the later two enormously. We carried our daughter in the sling which made manuevering easy, and people were very friendly. And of course the MRT is air conditioned, a necessity for us heat wimps.
At times I regretted having scheduled an extra day beyond the necessary picking up Cara Hsiu-Wen, but in the end it was a real blessing. The second day was probably the hardest - we think that she finally started to figure out that this wasn't just an overnight, and that her life had been totally turned upside down. By Wednesday we had gotten better at soothing her and she seemed to be feeling more comfortable with us. And by Thursday we were having a lot of good quiet, interactive play time and better still finally deciphered the sleep key - the proper application of the binky.
We didn't get to see a lot of Taipei, but enjoyed what we saw. We visited Taipei 101 a second time, simply for having a sizable air-conditioned space to wander through, and a bit of quiet. Taipei is definitely a bustling city. We also made a visit to the hospital Cara Hsiu-Wen was born in, to get some photos for her lifebook. Trips to the handicraft center and the Longshan Temple rounded out our tourist experiences. Travelling with an infant definitely changed my perspective, for instance family bathrooms with changing areas suddenly appeared on my radar. We're looking forward to returning to Taiwan when our daughter is older to explore more of the country.
