TAIWAN: One Lucky Girl!

Since I've arrived in Taipei, my relatives have been spoiling me to no end. My uncle and aunts have made wonderful arrangements for my visit. I've enjoyed an incredible sashimi meal at a 5-star restaurant and a 2.5 hour full-body massage at a nearby spa... followed by a shampoo and impromptu haircut at another local spot. Two of my cousins have been driving me all over town to eat great food, meet up with people, and see things, including the GuGong museum. Two more cousins have made me feel so at home in their cool apartment. I am so appreciative to all of my family for such an incredible welcome.

I have also received wonderful treatment from another Taipei couple who invited me to tour the headquarters of the organization they work for, which teaches English by way of television, magazine and music productions. Very impressive studios! The next night, these new friends brought me to a concert, to which they had VIP entrance. The performer was an internationally reknown singer from Taiwan--Chin Tsai.

This coming week I will travel south to Hualein where I will volunteer at the hospital where my parents worked when we lived in Taiwan (over 20 years ago). Then the following week I will return to Taipei to volunteer at the Eden Social Welfare Foundation. Eden is a large charity organization founded in 1982 to serve people with disabilities, and has grown to develop programs to help other marginalized groups as well, both here in Taiwan and abroad.