After three months in Taiwan, Manyu is finally back in La Crosse. This does not mean we necessarily see each other much. Because of jet lag, my wife’s sleep patterns are like someone on third shift. She falls asleep after lunch and gets up about the time I go to bed. She creeps around the house most of the night, and each morning I wake up to find that another part of the house has been cleaned. Because I am not willing to give up my writing time or my exercise regimen, our uncommitted hours awake barely overlap enough to watch a movie together. Still I’ll take what I can get, as a little bit of time with my wife is better than having her half way around the world.
Our time apart would be easier if I joined Manyu in Taiwan for some of the time she is away, but we both agree that one of us needs to stay home to care for our aging dog. Everything around us (our moms, our dog, our bodies, our home furnishings) is getting old.
One of the perks of Manyu’s travels is that she brings me gifts. This year I actually got two things I like. One is a bottle of Taiwanese single malt whisky called Kavalan. Clare gave me a bottle of Kavalan when she returned from Taiwan two months ago. I said that I liked it, so Manyu’s best friend, A-li, wanted to give me a second bottle. It takes me about a year to go through a liter of hard liquor, so I should be good until early 2026. I mention this gift only because it actually tastes good. When I lived in Taiwan twenty years ago, Taiwanese hard liquor was undrinkable. The most popular brand was a sorghum-based alcohol called Kaoliang. Drinking Kaoliang is like drinking cheap tequila, but without the lemon and salt.
The second gift was a new case for my iPhone13. My old case did not cover the screen, so I was unintentionally calling people at least once a day. I tried to find a better case here in La Crosse, but the tech nerds at Best Buy, Target, and AT&T all told me that they don’t sell accessories for outdated phones. They only carry stock for the most recent model and one model back, so as soon as the 15s came out, everything for the 13s became obsolete. Maybe all of their old inventory got shipped to Asia, because Manyu said that half of the night market vendors in Taipei had exactly what I wanted.
I am writing this blog three days after Manyu’s return. It will be a full week before I get around to posting it. Maybe she’ll be on a normal sleep schedule by then.
Recent Comments