It's the little things:

I love that my bed is always rearranged - usually with hugabear on top of the covers and my alarm clock hidden somewhere - from the way it was when I got up in the morning. Suspiciously small foot-indents in the covers lead me to believe that the culprit is of a rambunctious size, charming, and blonde.

It cracks me up that my alarm clock has become a telephone that Ingrid can make international calls on.

It amazes me that there is a mountain out my backyard. And that I am beginning to learn how to run up it.

I also enjoy the teeny old men that are beating me up ad down the mountain. In bare feet. In the rain.

I have become personally attached to the god of that mountain area. I bow every time I go past and thank him. He (they?) sit at the base of the mountain, under a rain cover where it is always warm and dry, and they are always shiny, golden and smiling. It's a good afterlife.

The fashion here. Oh my goodness, I feel like I should have my camera out and on every second of every day. Yesterday I saw a girl wearing a panda hat. (They got pandas in at the Taibei zoo, and every day they sell out of tickets by about 2 pm. During New years the zoo was filled to capacity. Every day. There were lines to get into not just the panda area, but the zoo itself.) Today I saw the guy who dresses up as a native outside the shmancy shopping mall district, dancing to "hey mickey". This alone would have been good for a little giggle. But the fact that he was wearing a fringe loincloth...and nothing else....well that was just beyond awesome. Down the walkway about two meters a man was casually strolling around with a bunny dressed up as Speed Racer - complete with a little vinyl helmet and coat - on his shoulder as he looked at straw art (as in you drink things through them), and the living statues. Oh yeah, this place is just COOL.

Multiple times a day, I get to eat wonderful things. In case you were wondering, pineapple juice and kiwi blended is pretty tasty. A little seedy and chunky though, and a very suspicious shade of green...

Multiple times a day, I also get to do things like dance around the room twirling a two year old in a quasi-waltz, while singing "tiny bubbles" or "the prince philip song" from sleeping beauty, wearing anything from my enormous electric blue sunglasses, to a sun hat or electric pink boa that I think has the face of a sheep or goat on one end. I also get to write incredible run-ons

basically, my life here is pretty cool. more specific sensory details to come...*wave*