Romi woke up at 6:30, and following breakfast, entertained his parents by playing, laughing, rolling around and generally just being the cutest baby ever.
After his morning nap, we had breakfast and got ready for our final bit of business at AIT. It only took about five minutes to pick up Romi's Taiwanese passport and American immigration visa. He will officially be a citizen the moment he makes it through customs in L.A., but we will do all the necessary paperwork to readopt in the States so he has an American birth certificate.
Following AIT, we joined the Richards family (Maddy and her parents) and Kai and his parents (Kim and Kent) for an afternoon of sightseeing with Mr. Yeh and his sidekick Carrot-top. We learned two important lessons that afternoon: Mr. Yeh drives a magic bus (not only did we escape SEVERAL near misses, the babies all sleep really well in his car), but you should never doubt him (he knows Taipei like no one's business and can get hot water for a baby bottle literally anywhere). If we had known about his powers before we left, we would have gotten him a cape as a gift instead of a bolo tie.
Our first stop was the Handicraft Market, which is pretty much a four-story building with all sorts of Taiwanese products, everything from beautiful jade jewelry to teapots to a putter made from jade to authentic Taiwanese outfits. As you all know, I'm not much of a shopper, so it sorta stressed me out. We didn't end up getting much. I figure Romi's the best thing about Taiwan and we've already got him.
Next stop, the Grand Hotel. This is one fancy place, done in a very Asian style, with an amazing interior and exterior. There's lots of red, stairs, and decorations. We saw the famous brass dragon, which had been plated in gold. Go figure.
Next stop was the Martyrs' Memorial. Somehow Mr. Yeh got us there just at the changing of the guard. We tried to stop and watch but he wouldn't let us. Instead, he urged us to the middle of the plaza (using hand motions, he doesn't really speak English). Never doubt Mr. Yeh; the guard processional marched right up to where were standing to do some fancy soldier footwork, twirling bayonets and all. The building was beautiful, but it was really hot and muggy out. The guards stand at attention a la Buckingham Palace, but at least these guys have an attendant to spray cool water on the back of their necks.
But our day was not yet done. We set off for the National Palace Museum, which was air conditioned--yea! We began in the Neolithic period and made our way through the many Asian antiquities. The people here are all wonderfully welcoming, but I do wonder what they thought of three white American couples, each with their own six-month-old Taiwanese baby.
A group of French Jews stopped my kippah-wearing husband to ask him some questions, so I did the supportive thing and jumped in an elevator with the baby. We enjoyed the museum, but what we got most out of the afternoon was spending time with two other families just like ours.
As we headed off to dinner to meet Gongzhan and the fourth Gladney family here, we got to see yet another Taipei neighborhood. The scooters which are everywhere do not abate at night, and this area of town was quite crowded with cars and people. At one point I looked up to see a women wearing a full white western wedding gown, complete with veil, crossing the street.
We ate at a traditional dumpling restaurant. I loved the seasoned cucumbers and Rob thoroughly enjoyed the mushroom dumplings. I was a bit freaked out at dinner; the restaurant was hot, crowded and noisy and pretty much constituted treif city. Even though I know our veggie dumplings were handmade, I couldn't really enjoy them thinking about their neighbors in the steamer. Gladney generously took us all to dinner, just another thing for which to thank them.
We returned home and learned that if you play peek-a-boo with Romi he will literally belly laugh. It was an excellent ending to a very full day.
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