fireworksless fourth

after christmas, i think the fourth of july is the best holiday. it's just a day of barbecues, flip flops and hanging out. even though we don't have fireworks here, it felt like the fourth of july hanging out with a bunch of americans at a bar last night. the owner, a canadian, had strung up american flag garland from the ceiling. margaritas were 100NT. that's why i'm posting 12 hours later than usual.

no kuo's yesterday. they were in kaohsiung visiting their son, steve, who just started his 2 years of mandatory military service. just as i was walking over to their house and saw the big garage door was down, mr. kuo called to tell me they weren't there. i don't know if what i've said about them gives you a clear enough sense of how much i love that family. i'd bet that if you could see how my brain chemically reacts to hanging out with them and hanging out with my own family, it'd be the same. we have the bestttt time.

and the more chinese i learn, the more we can talk about. the other day we had a big conversation about religion and the mormon church down the street and how it's not cool that they offer "free english lessons" to kids when they're really just talking to them about religion. and mrs. chan and i talked about our underwear color preference for a long time last week when i was learning clothing. (she prefers pink and purple, which you would never guess.)

oh! did i mention that tess, katie and i are signing an apartment lease today? it all happened kind of suddenly. they started looking at places and then we found one we liked that was unfurnished, but the woman offered to buy a tv, couch, fridge, 2 beds and a washer for no additional cost, so we said OK. if i get the internship, one of the other girls here will move in instead. i need to go wake them up actually, our appointment's in an hour. allen's coming to help with the chinese.