Friends From Afar

I was 30 minutes late for the morning rehearsal of Mamma Mia with Sophie, Lisa, and Sky on the double tenth, at the Golden Arches near Taipei Train Station, because the surrounding streets of the Presidential Palace were completely blocked for the purpose of National Day Celebration. And I got lost in Taipei, the city I called home.

After one and half hours rehearsal, I hopped on the Express Train to Taoyuan, coincidentally Toastmaster Masaki Oshiumi and Michelle Chen were on the same train. As soon as we checked in Room 1416 of ChinaTrust Hotel, I showed Masaki how to use my laptop to rehearse Ode to Joy and left the most popular movie "Cape No. 7" for him to see if he felt bored by himself at night.

We three had a quick light Taiwanese lunch near Taoyuan Train Station. Being a shopping queeen, I bought a brown trilby hat at a boutique nearby. How could I ever forget to wear a hat in such a sunny day? I needed to cover my face from the sunshine badly, I'd just had a laser resurfacing treatment a day before.

It was before two o'clock when we arrived at Yingge Station, 30 minutes ahead of schedule to join Toastmasters from Kumamoto to visit Ji-chou Kiln. While we were having coffee and desserts, I received a phone call from Success Club member, asking us to go to Ji-chou Kiln by taxi by ourselves. We three arrived at the Kiln before the rest members and had an opportunity to chat with Master Hsu, the owner of Ji-chous Kiln for twenty minutes.

It was the first time I knew porcelain vessels "sing" when the door of the kiln opened. The sudden drop of temperature made the vessels contract and produced unique cracking sounds like the wind bells in the summer breeze. Master Hsu was kind enough to lead us to visit his studio full of his creative and prize-winning masterpieces for two hours.

We headed for a famous Hakka restaurant for dinner. We were divided into two tables, I sat with four members from Kumamoto. Three of them are female toastmasters, and we exchanged many ideas about Hakka cuision. Success Club President Emily Yu who sat next to me, is Hakka. She explained how to make each dish in details. After dinner, I asked the owner to pack the doggy bags to take away all leftover home. Michelle and I took the Express Train from Taoyuan at 9PM back to Taipei.

As soon as I arrived home in Taipei, I started burning the midnight oil to finish compiling the joint anniversary party program. At 2AM, I didn't finish my work yet, but I was so tired and I couldn't focus on what I was doing. I set the alarm clock at 6AM. It is going to be a long and exciting day in front of me.