We made it through our first week!

We're settling in slowly but surely. Last night was the great shining moment we've been waiting for all week: EVERYONE SLEPT ALL NIGHT. No children up requesting food in the middle of the night. No grown-ups checking email or talking on the phone at odd hours. We all slept, though I somehow passed out watching TV at 10pm and thus, slept peacefully on the couch. I even had about an hour of quiet this morning before the rest of the household awoke. I used this to laugh on the phone with our moving company contact regarding our air shipment problem and to reassure her that we are managing ok without our things but looking forward to them like Christmas.

Nutshell: air shipment hasn't left the U.S. yet because it turned out to be too bulky. A portion is having to be re-crated for a sea shipment--a.k.a. the slow boat to (Republic of) China. We're managing fine except that the kids have watched the same 5 DVDs one too many times and our clothes are literally wearing out as evidenced by the fact that due to a critical waistband elastic failure, our four-year-old son's pants fell down while walking to dinner last night.

We're in good shape though, thanks to the wonderful woman who furnished our apartment and also left us a generous housewarming gift including kitchen basics, toiletries, towels, snacks and a couple of celebration beers in the fridge. We packed bedsheets, so all I had to buy for our first night in the new apartment was some pillows.

So... How did the kids do on the flight?
And the answer is...they did great! Our 13 hour flight from San Francisco to Taipei was amazingly easy, though certainly long. We flew a Taiwanese airline, EVA Airways, and went ahead and maxed out the credit card to fly business class. ("DISCOVER the card that pays you back" with a pittance that you can apply to your gigantic balance and at least feel like you are doing something positive about it!) It was completely worth it to have the roomier seats, better food, and fewer passengers to climb over during the roughly 30 trips to the bathroom by our family. The highlight for the kids was receiving Hello Kitty and Dear Daniel backpacks from the flight attendants just after take off. These contained stickers, crayons and coloring books. Caroline still carries hers with her everywhere, so I've now turned it into her own little diaper bag for our many trips around the city. Hello Kitty and her masculine counterpart Dear Daniel are without question THE reigning couple here in Taiwan. Remember the Beanie Baby craze? Middle-aged women stalking McDonald's workers to get the promotional Teeny Beanies? A bit more orderly than that here, but Hello Kitty plastic cell phone strap charms are going like hotcakes at the Taiwan McDonalds... So, yes, the backpack from EVA Airways has the added bonus of getting my rosy-cheeked, very American daughter even more attention from the curious locals, which, of course, she loves.

Shine on, Shine on, Harvest Moon
Upon arrival, we spent two days at the Grand Hyatt. We got in at about midnight, and McLeod and I were completely zonked because though the kids slept a good portion of the flight, we didn't. So when we finally stumbled into the hotel room, we did what every good parent would do: made the kids a bed of pillows on the floor in front of the portable DVD player and loaded up Madagascar. At least that way we could half-snooze until they got tired enough to fall asleep on their own.

Honestly, I can't tell you much about those first 36 hours here except that at some point we got the keys to our apartment and gave the kids the grand tour of our new home. Highlights for them are the L-shaped sofa, which has a divan-style section for watching TV and (for me) snoozing, the cool view from their room, and the indoor play area on the first floor of the building. It truly is a lovely apartment and feeling more like home every day. The view is spectacular--we're on the 23rd floor--and I'm getting used to the appliances with all the buttons in Chinese and the little quirks like how NOT to blow the fuses (only run one thing at a time) and how NOT to get shocked by the dryer (get it properly grounded asap).

One neat thing that stands out from the past week is that we moved into the apartment on Friday, which coincided with the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday here. The festival celebrates the Harvest Moon and the legend of the goddess Chang E. One version of the story, which I read to the kids that night from the Discover Taipei magazine from our hotel room, is that the earth was once scorched by eleven suns until an archer named Hou Yi shot down ten of them. The hero then ascended the throne to rule the earth and married the goddess Chang E. Over time, Hou Yi grew selfish and evil, a despot instead of a noble ruler. He also became obsessed with gaining immortality and set his wise men to find the magic elixer of life. A kind and noble goddess, Chang E feared what her husband would do to earth's people should he become an immortal like herself. When the wise men discovered the elixer, she stole it and drank it rather than let Hou Yi have it. The potion made her float high above the earth (indigestion, perhaps?) until at last she came to rest upon the moon, where she looks down upon the earth to this day.

Of course, after I read the story we had to sing the kids favorite bed time song:
I see the moon and the moon sees me.
The moon sees someone that I'd like to see.
God bless the moon and God bless me.
And God bless the someone that I'd like to see.

And we do take comfort in the fact that you all see the same moon that we do, even if it's 12 hours later, and that the same God watches over and blesses all of us.