Get Well Soon, Mong-Han!!!

Leaving Taiwan

The time has come - we have to say goodbye to Taiwan...

The year flew by with such incredible speed that it is hard to believe that we are leaving already. It was a great year (14 months to be exact) for us, we met so many nice people, found new friends, got to know a completely foreign culture, learned a new language (well, a few words at least), learned a lot about the fascinating geology of this island, had a very fruitful year in scientific aspects and above all were blessed with a wonderful daughter!

Before leaving, we had several farewell dinners to enjoy the delicious Chinese food and to spend some last evenings with our friends.


Mong-Han gave us a book about Confucius and - which touched us deeply - a hand-painted calligraphy of our Chinese names:




Here is En-Chao with his sweet little daughter, who at the beginning was a bit shy with all these 外國人 (wai-guo ren = foreigners), but finally gave us a wonderful smile.


A relocation company was picking up our boxes to send them to Germany:


And after the last farewell from all our friends, we mounted our airplane from Taipei to Hongkong. There we had enough time for Kamil to enjoy a beer, before continuing our journey to Zürich and from there to Berlin.


Anna was an angel during this long journey! Except for the first flight from Taipei to Hongkong, when she cried sometimes (might she have felt the parting from her birth place?), she slept a lot and was completely happy. A true globetrotter she is!?

Blooming NTU

Our departure from Taiwan approaches very fast. In less than a week we will depart already to Potsdam/Germany! Thus, we have started to pack our stuff in boxes. And as out apartment gets more and more bare, the campus seems to bloom more and more. On my (Micha's) daily walks over the campus grounds with Anna tightly wrapped in her baby-sling, I discover every time new plants, which start to flower. And as moving to Northern Germany will bring not only a drop in temperature of over 30 degrees, but also a harsh change in the state of flora, I decided to dedicate this blog entry to the flowers on the NTU campus!

With great care, the gardeners of the campus attach orchids on the trees along the main roads:


Many of the smaller side paths are lined by busily flowering scrubs:


The Japanese cherry trees show their delicate flowers even before any green leave finds its way through the dark bark:


Another large bush full of flowers (I think it is some kind of plum or pear tree):


And the rhododendrons compete with each other for the most flowers and the brightest colors:

... I will miss all these beautiful plants of Taiwan!

Happy Birthday!

When Kamil awoke yesterday morning, his birthday present was sleeping right next to him!
Once again, Happy Birthday, my dear husband!!!

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As temperatures are forecast to reach 28-29 degrees Celsius today, Anna enjoys wearing just a loose body! What a difference to the weather we had at the very same time last year (see our blog entry on February 13th 2008: Living through the winter monsoon)!!!

Grandpa's romper suit and the blue yeti feet

For her birth, Anna has got a perky dark-blue romper suit from her grandpa. Now that she has grown almost 10 cm, the suit finally fits her. Look, how happy she is in her new clothes:


After changing her diapers, we discovered that the brand new fluffy romper suit has one minor disadvantage: it gave Anna blue furry yeti feet! (Click on the image to see enlarged photo!)

But aren't they cute, these little furry feet?!

After the bath

Happy after her bath!