A day with Al and May

On Friday March 18th, Bryan and Lauren went on their first vocational visit.  The first stop was UBS bank where we were treated to a presentation about the company.  When we arrived, we were offered tea and coffee and our hosts were shocked to find out that some Americans do not drink coffee!!!!  When Bryan turned down tea as well, they guessed that he was Mormon!  We had a little break so Al and May took us to the National Martyrs Memorial.  We then proceeded to an investment company call KGI Investments where we ate lunch in their cafeteria with the president of the company, Mark Wei.  He invited us to his office where we met both of his assistants and he gave us a special bottle of 40 year old Chinese vodka.  We stayed for a short time as Mark was preparing to leave the country.  He was headed to New York of all places to speak at a conference. 

After our visits, Al and May showed us some of Taipei City.  Our first stop was a huge ferris wheel that Lauren was not too crazy about.  It was very slow moving and also very high for excellent views of the city.  Then it was on to the famous Taipei 101.  In 2006, this building was ranked #1 in three categories for building size including the worlds tallest.  It has since been passed by Burj Khalifa in Dubai.  This building was incredible, and we went to the observation deck on the 89th floor in the fastest elevator we have ever been on.  It travels from the 5th floor to the 89th floor in 37 seconds.  Our ears were popping on the way up.  There are 2 elevators in the building and each one cost 2.5 million dollars to construct.  The building has a huge shopping mall on the lower floors as well as offices and the Taiwan Stock Exchange.  There are also many restaurants.  At dinner with May and Al, Bryan decided to try some of the Chinese he had learned.  Unfortunately because Chinese is a tonal language, he intended to say "the food is good", but instead said "I am very angry"  Our Taiwanese hosts thought this was quite comical, as did Lauren.  We then traveled back to our host family's homes and went right to sleep as we were exhausted from the long day. 

                                                        National Martyrs Memorial

                                            
                                                                      Taipei 101

                                                       Our view from the 89th floor!!