So, we spent the better part of our waking weekend in Taipei. While my wallet is most certainly lighter now, we’re also pretty happy with our purchases - a birthday present for Seth (I’ll let him write about that one - it’s a doozie), some new shoes for me, a new backpack for me, some new pants for me (seems like I got around to picking out my birthday presents a bit late, but am making up for it now). I’ll take pictures soon and write up a nice show-and-tell post.
We also picked up a bit of a gift for our new NST. See, yesterday, we went to Taipei with a coworker to meet up with some of her friends for dinner but N. (the new NST) had asked to come over to our place to do laundry. Of course she was more than welcome, but I haven’t been a model housekeeper in the past few weeks, and warned her about it. Before we left, we realized she had been quietly doing our laundry as well as her own! We protested, of course, but she said it made her feel better, and well, shoot, I’m just not too good at protesting when it’s something that needs doing that I hate doing. We did ask if there was anything she needed still, and all she mentioned was a mug, for her coffee. So, we stopped at Starbucks and picked up a nice travel mug, as well as a single-serving French press and some Christmas blend (as she’s been getting by on instant - ewww) for her. I don’t really feel like it’s enough, since when we got home last night, she hadn’t just done our laundry. She had cleaned our entire apartment.
It’s incredible, and I was (and am still) gobsmacked. I don’t know how to truly thank her - I mean, it was like if Mom came over and said, “Sheesh, Lisbeth, you are living in filth. I know you are working too many hours, though, and I love you, so I’ll clean it all up - happy random clean house day!” A coffee mug seems insubstantial, somehow. But for now, that and about a million thank-yous is all we’ve got.