My kingdom for a nine-grain loaf

I withdrew Nora from preschool today. It went fine. When I said, "Ta hai tai shyau" (she is still too young), they were quick to agree, but also eager that I bring her back when she's a bit older to try again.

Yesterday the new babysitter, Su Ruong, come by to meet the family and see how Nora likes things done. We covered snacks (rice, plums, kiwi, tortillas), music (Boney M, nursery rhymes), and amusements (books, swings, her favorite Spot movie). I think they'll get along fine; we'll find out on Thursday, I guess, when I go to my morning Bible study.

After leaving the preschool today we headed down to main street to find a bakery. I had run out of bread and still needed to make lunch for Cole. We found a nice store -- the smells wafting out were wonderful -- but after going in and picking up a tray (which, I feel, commits you to buying something), I realized they were out of bread. Well, they were out of sandwich bread. Chinese breads abounded: savory loaves full of chicken and sauteed onions, purple-swirled taro breads, and the ubiquitous coconut-scented sweet bread that often disguises itself as a western loaf until you get home and open it up. (It works with PB&J, but it's a no-go with tuna. It also happens to be what we use at church for communion, which is unfortunate. The Body of Christ shouldn't smell like Coppertone.)

I left a short while later with a bulging bag of pastries, then came home and made a ham-n-cheese on a hamburger bun (from our freezer) for Cole. I don't think he'll complain; I threw in half a creamhorn, too.

After Nora wakes from her nap we'll head down to Costco to pick up my new glasses, drop off some books with a friend, and stop by Dollars, the grocery store I like in downtown Kaohsiung. With the heavy traffic and our location so far from the city, errands take forever here. I think it's worth it, though, to be out where it's quiet (well, quieter -- Taiwan is never quiet). And I love our view -- the picture above is looking SE from our deck. It's very peaceful, considering 3,000,000 people are bursting the seams of Kaohsiung. It's just a hazy collection of apartment towers and smokestacks on my horizon.

Sunday's typhoon petered out on us. This is not a complaint. Preparing for the storm forced us to get our books unpacked, plus we didn't have any mopping up to do. The storm did cause some damage up north, but we were spared here -- just lots of rain, and some random gusting winds. I think typhoon season should be wrapping up soon. October is the month that the weather gets better: cooler, drier, but with enough wind to keep the air clean. I can't wait. It was only 82º (but still humid) when I went out at 9:30 this morning, so we're getting there. I hear there's snow on the Olympics this morning -- that seems a million miles, and a hundred degrees, away.