no photos today, just some updates:

survival chinese class: oh my goodness, mandarin is hard. we had our first hour of essential mandarin and we're spinning. however, we did learn hello, how are you, i'm fine, my name is..., thank you, and goodbye. so that's a HUGE gain compared to our measly two words we knew when we arrived. our teacher, ping ping, is extremely patient - praise the lord. we have the class all week so hopefully our vocabulary can grow a bit more.

tours: we also had tours of the school and a more in depth tour of our neighborhood. the school is lovely (i'll get some photos this week). all outdoor hallways, big open courtyards, huge gym and outdoor pool. though over half of the school was torn down for reconstruction, so this year should be interesting - lots of make-shift classrooms. and the neighborhood tour was the best part of our day. our tour guide, a jovial science teacher named bill, quickly scooted us around pointing out the best tea shops, the places that'll scam you, all the restaurants with english menus, etc in our 4 block neighborhood. so i wouldn't say that we're familiar with everything, but at least we have some insight and aren't walking around like blind bats.

our luggage: yesterday, when we returned home, i received an e-mail from our airlines saying our bags would arrive in taipei this morning (monday) and to please call them. we called and they should be arriving this evening or tomorrow morning at the school. HOORAH! we are getting a little tired of our clothes which we have now been in for almost 6 days.

our address: some of you have been asking for our address. and here it is!:

Liz Dvoracek
c/o Diane Chase
136-1 Shui Nan Road
Taichung, Taiwan 40679
Republic of China

so if you send mail, it should get to us now. :)

alright, time for round two of survival chinese. again, wish us luck!

zai jian (good-bye)