i'm finally home!!!

well...i'm finally home. let me first start off by saying that it was absolutely wonderful to open my eyes in the wee hours of the morning to look directly out a window watching the leaves gently blowing in the wind, hearing them rustle...and then hearing a loon out on the lake. sounds like i'm making it up, but i'm not...my cousin jim and his wife's house has a very nice yard, lake and surrounding woods. versus waking up to the sound of scooters racing past and the occasional yelling or shouting by someone...in chinese.

the flight went fine...long and boring of course, but fine. the flight attendant's were cat friendly, so my cat spent most of the trip sleeping on my lap. my bestest friend in the whole world, my brother and his family were all waiting for me at the airport. of course i started crying when i saw amy and the rest...who wouldn't when you haven't seen your family in two years. i got to meet the two babies too. amy and i went over to christi's (my niece) house for a little. i was absolutely exhausted, but i wanted to visit for a little bit before heading out of town.

after visiting my first stop was to culver's. i've been waiting for over a year to eat there again and was ready to order. the first thing i thought was "damn...this burger is huge!!" no wonder american's are so fat with the size of portions here. i couldn't finish the sandwich nor did i want to but it was soooooo good. on the drive home i kept looking at all the wide open spaces and the huge vehicles driving past. it was weird looking at the flat land...i used to think the drive home was nice rolling hills but after living along the most active fault line and seeing all the mountains everday....northern wisconsin is flat. i'm not going to miss those damn earthquakes. every time one hit...i became more scared of them every time. i don't like hearing the earth rumble and feel the building swaying. i like only having to deal with tornados.

my first impression on driving back into minocqua was to wonder where all the people were...it felt empty. it's dark, quiet, and cold. it's at least a 30 degree difference in temperature from taiwan. i stopped at the local wal-mart to purchase a few things i had left behind in taipei...and was ambushed by my cousin jim. there was almost a fatality in the store cuz amy was standing between us. it was really good to be bear-hugged by my most favoritest cousin. after that, it was on to the house to see karen and erv...da boy. all i can say is that is was wonderful to see him and it didn't feel like two years had passed between us at all. he was taller than i remember....

anyway, i can't sleep and we're off to do a few errands and putz around for the day. of course, a nap is in the near future...my head feels funny already. i'm enclosing my new contact info. below....email is still the best option to get hold of me. i still have one more update to do on my taiwan blog...so, keep your eyes open for an update. see most of you soon!!