homeward bound

We left Taipei on a bright and beautiful Sunday morning. The sun was blazing, the cicadas were calling, and we crammed all of our suitcases, carefully weighed to meet the 50 pound weight limit, into the back of a van. Binbin hadn't slept well the night before. Since Friday, he has been telling everyone that he is "going to take a plane to America to visit his grandparents 坐飛機去美國看爺爺和奶奶." He doesn't understand that you can't catch a plane in the same way that you can walk out to the street and catch a cab or a bus. Why did we have to wait until the day after tomorrow?

Binbin received more than the normal quota of hugs from his teachers and the staff at Elite's on Thursday and Friday. He was well loved, and we will all miss Zengzeng laoshi, Yiwen laoshi, Miss Shaun, and Eric Shushu as well as the little friends 小朋友: Buju, Qiqi, Weiwei, Pangpang, Chenyan, and Joshua. If Binbin was sad to go, his sadness was sweetened by a parting gift from Zengzeng laoshi and others...a set of oversize animal and vehicle stamps with three stamps pads in orange, green, and (his favorite) purple. He was all smiles bringing that gift home. And in the evening, he and our neighbor Jiaxuan purpled their fingers as they stamped up scrap paper with purple roosters and purple bicycles.

We will also miss Yigong and Yipo 姨公姨婆, who treated Binbin like their own grandson, visiting on the weekends and bragging about his new skills. We spent much of our last day together with them. We also got a last visit from Aron Shushu and Chelsea Ah-yi, who by now, are taking their summer holiday in their Canadian homeland.

We didn't get to say goodbye to many folks we saw day in and day out in our apartment building. Some of the old grannies would habitually tossle Binbin's hair and dole out stern pieces of childrearing advice in Taiwanese to us the strange, foreign trio. They're sure to notice that the little didi who looked like a little meimei, along with his parents, are no longer living in their neighborhood.

We are now in Rockford, Illinois visiting Yeye and Nainai. Though the jetlag hasn't been terrible, Binbin is a bit disoriented. But he is pleased as punch running around on the deck and lawn, which are for him a novelty, since such things simply don't exist in Taipei city. And, Binbin is discovering tne Tonka cars and trucks from Jack's childhood, which have been carefully stored in the basement awaiting him.

Pictures to come soon.