i`m big in japan--on the way back from taiwan

blogging from nagoya international airport at the free computer station in the free business terminal in the boarding area. sweet! a whole bunch of free computers and cables for those with laptops. can i brag a little and say that my minimal knowledge of traditional chinese characters has been maximally helpful here in japan.

nagoya is kind of a nifty airport--it`s in the middle of a bay and so i keep wondering if it is the entirely floating airport i once heard about many years ago before i ever started traveling, but it may also have been hong kong or tokyo. on my way over i decided to spontaneously ditch duty free and go into japan and walk around the welcome garden, and it may have actually been my 20th country. eek!! i meant to plan for my 20th, but hey--a spontaneous run through japanese customs to walk around a weird garden with lots of stone piles sort of artfully (like crop circles) arranged might be exactly right for me. anyway, there are dozens of cargo ships laden with goods floating in and out of the bay. flying in we saw lots of pretty japanese hill/mountains with foliage that looks from the sky as if it is sort of rough and fuzzy deep green moss. the most distinctive feature i saw though were literally hundreds of golf courses. seriously. one place must have had like 10 courses to choose from. the japanese love them some golf. they also love them some din tai feng as melissa and i found out. speaking of which, i have determined that the din tai feng xiaolongbao followed by dessert at chocoholic is one of the worlds best culinary one two punches. seriously.

right now i am celebrating my victory of ordering an iced americano with white mocha sauce from starbucks workers with whome the only common language was a picture menu and some convenient coffee words that have just been transliterated into japanese *whitu mocha sowsu* and may i just say that for those of you who have been wishing starbucks made vietnamese coffee, the iced americano with white mocha sauce is the fulfillment of your/my wishes.

some of you may be wondering why i have just spent valuable time describing an airport in an industrial japanese city and coffee when i have just been back to taiwan for 10 full days which included the wedding of two of my favorite people, linda and campbell?!?!?! the answer is that i am sleep deprived and am pacing myself. there is no way i will be able to finish writing about the 10 days in taiwan before i go and moisturize and use up duty-free expensive anti-aging products before i board my flight.

in short: i had a very wonderful and warm time in taiwan meeting up with old friends and coworkers and helping campbell and linda. the wedding was gorgeous and oh my gosh, even made me cry multiple tears at the sappiest part when campbell surprised almost everyone by singing linda a song he wrote himself and arranged with someone from his church, and which was so good that i basically thought he had just found an existing song and used it, but no, and you could tell because he choked up and he was singing it straight to her and it was so personal and how he was so glad she sticks by him through everything even though they are the most dramatic couple in the world and they know it and they are still best friends and i was like "oh shit" and i was suddenly really glad i had stolen a kleenex from andrea earlier just in case...and really glad we had bought some waterproof mascara. in vain news, i am still unsure of my decision to wear red lipstick, everyone kept saying it was very "me", but i was sort of hoping to transcend me and be more gorgeous than "me" usually is. i think the red makes me look very white which defeats the purpose of using self-tanner. i will try to remember to post pictures when i receive them as long as i look tolerable in some of them.

ahem. there is ever so much more, but i have to go to duty free and get to my gate. hope everyone is well.