Welcomes, Farewells, and Birthdays - just a regular Saturday night

Saturday night was a real mash-up of a night! It started off with an MRT trip to Luzhou to see Chris and Irene who just welcomed baby Kiyomi into the world a week ago. Chris is actually the person who helped me get a job at Lakeside when I first arrived in 2006. He was friends with Mike, the guy I was staying with, and told Mike his school was hiring. On the Monday of my interview, Chris came to pick me up on his motorcycle and drive me to the school. It was my first motorcycle experience in Taiwan and it was so fun! Since that first day we became good friends and I consider him the older brother I always wanted. Awwwww.

It's been 4 years since I last saw Chris, but when he picked me up at the MRT station it was just like no time had passed and coincidentally, it was my first scooter ride in Taiwan since arriving! Annnnd it all comes full circle! haha

After a visit with Irene and Kiyomi, Chris and I headed back into the city to grab dinner and meet up for a friend's farewell party. Since we didn't get downtown until about 9:30, many of the restaurants were starting to close in that area. We walked around for a bit, then turned into one alley and there, glowing like a beacon, was a Domino's pizza! We ordered a pizza, bought a bottle of wine, and set up shop in the park. One thing I love about here - you can buy alcohol everywhere, AND drink it everywhere...except while driving.

Our picnic in the park

It was Jennifer's farewell party that night at Maybe bar, so we met up with her, and also Dominic who used to work at Lakeside as well. It's crazy, but there must be something here to prevents people from aging!

To show you what I mean, he's a pic of Dom and Chris in August 2006

And here's a few more that were taken on Saturday - 6 years later!!!

Jennifer, me, Dom

Chris, me, Jennifer

This was also Chris' 36th birthday celebration, so we headed to On Tap for some more drinks where the owner shared the same birthday. Ohhhhhh jager bombs! Then somehow it was 4am. Time flies when bars never close - fun times!

Chris, me, Johnna - clearly surprised that Chris is still out and functioning ;-)

In other news...jetlag has now started to kick my butt. I was doing so well for the first couple of days, but now it`s after 3am and I`m wired!!!