French cheese eaten, moped driver clobbered, and Emily leaves forever

To celebrate Bastille Day, the French "trade and culture office" in Taiwan (i.e. embassy) threw a great lunch-party in a hotel near Taipei 101. I've always felt that there were a lot of French people in Taipei, and the overwhelming attendance at the event today only added to that impression. They don't eat cheese very much in Taiwan, so the chance to gobble up slices of French cheeses was especially memorable. At the party I had a chance to talk briefly with the "security coordinator" of the Israeli bodyguard that protects their representatives here in Taipei; he said he had also noticed my attendance at the Randy Schriver speech on Tuesday. He's returning to Israel in August -- he's one dude here I don't plan on pissing off.

However I did piss off someone else today -- namely an irresponsible, unfortunate moped driver. I'm always careful about opening taxi doors onto busy streets, and today was no exception. I had been waiting for about 20 seconds to open my door as cars and mopeds passed by, when I finally saw that traffic had cleared up, and I opened the door. Unfortunately, this driver had been idling out of view behind our taxi, waiting for the same free moment to dart past us, and he collided with the door. Thank God, he seemed alright, and only sat their dazed for a few seconds before resuming his trip without a word to us. The taxi driver received a small two cm dent that I may have to pay for at a future date.

Most importantly, though, today, tragically, was Emily Drew's last day in Taiwan. It all happened so quickly: just last week, after a year spent in Taipei, she left her job at the Taipei Times and decided to seek new adventures in New York. Although we tried to figure out a time to have lunch or dinner, her packing schedule was so tight that it didn't work out, (she only had about a week to get her affairs in order and get out of the country) so it may be some time before I ever see her again. Since she's fearless and real smart, I bet there will be new adventures to come for her soon.

In other news, Bryan returned from his adventures in Thailand and Japan today, and we had dinner tonight.

The pictures are all from the Bastille Day celebration; the younger women is Evelyn from the DPP office, and the older women on the left in the last picture is the French "ambassador" to Taiwan (technically trade and culture "representative", since France, like most countries, does not recognize Taiwan).