Connie happily removes the black gown she’s been wearing over her clothes in 35 degree temperatures on a sunny day. 

Here I am with Connie’s co-worker Apollo, I gave him flowers but he apparently wasn’t interested. Oh well, c’est la vie! 

The event ended with a nice liesurely meal for our friends and family at the Skylark Restaurant, which was quite impressive. This particular Skylark had done an amazing job of duplicating a Spanish garden restaurant inside the 4th floor of a downtown Taipei department store. After the meal Connie and I went back to her place and watched DVDs for a while, then went out to dinner with her mom. (Pictured here with Monica.) A great day all around. 

Two weeks ago Connie and I attended the book signing for a an acquaintance of Connie’s who goes by the english name “Forever”. He was getting his book on pictures of Switzerland published. They had a big signing event on the 5th floor of a local bookstore, and the woman above was a representative of the Swiss Trade Office (is Swiss Embassy) in Taiwan. She gave a very long opening speech about coming to Switzerland to travel and visit, people were pretty much ready to fall asleep when she finally finished. 

As you can see, Forever’s book kept them turning pages. This poor guy is going to be in trouble later when his wife next to him gets mad because he’s hogging the book! 

David here was one of several of Forever’s friends running around documenting the event. Unsurprisingly, when a photographer has a public book signing, all his photographer friends show up to take pictures of it! 

While answering questions about his book, suddenly Forever found himself facing a Taiwanese who had recently returned to Taiwan after 31 years of living in Switzerland. He had a few comments about Forever’s book, mostly about how Forever transliterated the Swiss into Chinese. Forever handled him well, but it was a shock to find such a knowledgeable critic in the audience. 

Here I am shaking hands with the man of the hour! 

http://blog.xuite.net/harry88/pinkangel/6817222?st=c&re=list&p=1&w=351846

If you have a high-speed connection click on the above link and see if you see anyone you know. ^_-

Rob

So, on the May first holiday weekend, I joined Connie and her assorted friends and co-workers in a trip to the legendary Ching Jing tea farms in central Taiwan. Getting up bright and early Saturday morning, I hopped a taxi to meet Connie and the others, and then we piled into two cars for the trip to Ching Jing. This Hello Kitty car belongs to Connie’s friend and manager Monica, and despite it’s small size it has a lot of power. (Just like Monica!)