An Unexpected Trip Home

It’s finally check-out time

After a surprise visit home a couple months ago I assumed that I wouldn’t be making a trip back until next Christmas, but there were other things in the works that would bring me back home a lot sooner. Unfortunately my dad was suddenly admitted to the hospital for double bypass open-heart surgery. Fortunately, he made it through the surgery and is making a very quick recovery.

Sister, sister and brother

We bought the tickets while we were on our HK weekend trip and I headed out the day after we got back to Taipei. It was a relief to see my dad awake and recovering from such a big operation. This trip home turned out to be one of the most relaxing trips in a long time. Of course the hospital visits were frequent, but it was sad to see my dad in pain and tethered to instruments with tubes everywhere.

Hanging out with dad

The trip was also a little different, because it was more focused on staying home and taking care of my dad. There weren’t the daily trips to U-village and miscellaneous errands to pick up things we are missing in Taipei. That said, we capped off the visit with a trip up to Osteria da Primo.  If you want Italian you must go see these guys.  (btw – thanks for the ride to the airport)

When Laura and I decided to take teaching positions in Taipei one of the biggest factors was that we were nearly half way closer to home compared to when we lived in Singapore. With two quick trips home in three months I guess it’s been a good choice.

Seattle Surprise Visit

Nothing better than being a total geek on the couch

Someone was very surprised

After returning late one night from Phuket I jumped on a plane early the next morning to surprise my dad with a quick birthday visit. I would have flown around the world two times just to see the look on his face when he walked in the door and saw me sitting there in his chair. It was priceless. It was a short visit, but we managed to get a lot done including two trips to the Apple store in U-village, two trips to Fry’s electronics, a trip to Best Buy and a trip to Circuit City. I guess you can imagine what was on my shopping list.

Hanging out with my little sister making monkey bread

Enjoying the freshly baked monkey bread…..delicious!

I hadn’t been home for a year and half and it felt good to be back in the cool, damp Seattle air. It’s nice to see familiar places and be surrounded by English speakers and English writing. I like the challenge of learning Mandarin, but not being able to read a single label at the grocery store or being able to carry a conversation with someone can be difficult.

My shopping list included runs to every computer and gadget store, Laura’s was taken care of at Barnes and Noble

It’s always nice to see good friends

Making connections in Tokyo is easy

A little inflight nutrition to keep me going

Sunrise as I reach the west coast of the United States