Luckily, Shu Mei was within three blocks of our home, so she didn’t have to walk far. She called her sister-in-law and a repairman. We walked to the van together. Shortly after we reached it, both the repairman (and his son) and Shu Mei’s sister-in-law arrived on the scene. The repairman didn’t know what was wrong with the van and said he would need to tow it to his garage. Luckily, he had driven a big truck to the scene for this very purpose, if need be. As he (and his son) readied the van for towing, Shu Mei and I drove with her sister-in-law to Shu Mei’s parents’ house.

We ate lunch at Shu Mei’s parents’ house. It was typical Chinese food, many vegetables, fish, and pork. In addition, there was watermelon, the yellow kind that is so popular recently. It must have a different season than the red kind, which was abundant last month. On the other hand, maybe yellow is just “in” and red is just “out”.

Shu Mei’s father let us borrow his car. Actually, her mother said that it was okay to borrow it, before asking him. She said that he was going on a trip tomorrow, anyway, and would not need it. “A trip?” I thought, “I wonder where that man is going now.” It seems that he is going somewhere every other week. I mean, just recently he got back from India. Before that, he was in Tibet. He loves to travel. Unfortunately, he does it with big Chinese groups and eats only Chinese food wherever he goes. That is somewhat sad that he does not get to experience the food of the world, as well as the sights.

Shu Mei’s mother likes to travel also. She was in Canada last week. A few weeks before that, she was on “an island off of the coast of China,” according to Shu Mei. “Hmm…” I thought, when she said that, “Aren’t we on an island off of the coast of China?” Many times, the natives here forget that Taiwan is an island. For the most part, the majority of them have traveled abroad; it is just that they are caught up in their own little world from time to time. I’m certain that Shu Mei’s parents don’t forget they are on an island, as they fly more than most of my former coworkers, airline employees, do.

Speaking of flying, we heard a sad report today. A China Airlines 747 jet crashed with 225 people aboard. It crashed into the ocean, just off the Pescadore Islands. It was flying from Taipei to Hong Kong. Apparently, there was no SOS and it looks like they have found debris and an oil deposit from the jet in the ocean. Obviously, there have been no survivors. What a sad story. Unfortunately, it is not an unfamiliar one for China Airlines, as their safety record is among the worst in the industry. Still, as the saying goes, it is safer to fly in a plane (even a Chinese Airlines planet) than to ride in a car.