I know it's been nearly a week since I've returned and I haven't updated everyone on my travels home. I'll explain why later, but first, the travel home.
Thursday morning we awoke at 2:45 to dress, grab our breakfast and get to the train station by 3:15. This day had to go perfect or I would miss my flight. I caught the right train to St. Pancras. Due to Jon's wonderful planning, I knew exactly where to walk and how to get to my Eurostar train. We even got there earlier than the gates opened to check in. They told us we had to be there an hour before we left and the train that we chose got there exactly on time, without the walk time included. But we did great. We went through customs and had a little rest time before we boarded. Thomas did great during all this seeing that he was woken up early. He did want to play with the elevator buttons and threw a fit when I wouldn't let him, but besides that, he did great.
We loaded our Eurostar train and it was really full, and we were in economy class this time. The good news was that we were at the same coach as the baby change station so I didn't have to walk far when I needed it. Thomas actually played nicely for a bit and then took a small nap. When he woke up I took him to the dining car so he could stand up and walk around. The people there thought he was so cute they even gave him a free bread roll. Then we changed his nappy and sat next to the luggage with another mum so we would be the first ones off. Our connection if France was very important.
I came off the Eurostar in Paris and followed the signs. I found I had to go downstairs and had to ask where the lifts were. They were all the way at the far end so I took off walking fast. When we got there, the lifts didn't work. I got very good at going down escalators with two large bags of luggage and a pram by a very neat balancing act. I could have joined the circus. Wasting time to find the broken lift did end up saving us time, because there was a loan ticket machine with no line. And Thanks to Jon again, I had the correct change in Euros so I didn't have to worry if my card would work or not. The last flight of stairs to the platform didn't have an escalator so I recruited a nice lady to carry my luggage while I carried the pram. I arrived on the platform 3 minutes before the express train to the airport. What timing.
The express train ride was uneventful, I ended up just standing in the end of a carriage where they had a big space open by the fire safety gear. The express train got us to Terminal 3 and we had a bit of tricky navigation to get to the shuttle and to terminal 1 but managed. We got to the correct terminal and couldn't find which "hall" to check in at so had to ask a few people. We got to EVA Air an hour before the plane was due to board so went to the premier class station with no line and asked if we could check in there. The attendant was really good and even gave us an express pass to skip all the customs and security lines to go first. We got to our gate and even had time to change Thomas out of his Jammies, use the toilet, fill our water bottles and have a bit of a run before we boarded 10 minutes later.
Thomas didn't like sleeping on the planes this time. Thankfully it was a day time flight so not everyone was trying to sleep. He slept about 2 hours in the middle of our 12 hour flight. He was really happy about it though, and most of the people were Asians who can't resist a blond headed kid. I was so happy that we had a hotel and bed waiting for us when we got to Taipei. We had to find something to amuse ourselves with for an hour before we could check in so we found a play place and Thomas had a blast with another little boy that was there. Then it was time for a bath, a bottle and bed. Thomas let me sleep for 6 hours solid before the kids next door woke us up. We watched a bit of the Italian Job, did a yoga workout, took another shower, watched a bit of The Last Holiday, then we checked out, got a bite to eat and were at the gate and ready to check in right on time.
The last 8 hour flight went well, but again Thomas didn't sleep but a tiny short nap in the middle. There were these 4 Asian girls who were trying to get his picture but he was being shy so they were giving him bits of cracker to come to them for the photo. It's amazing sometimes how much our children are like dogs. In Brisbane we got through customs fine and Michael, Sophie and Rocky were waiting to pick us up.
Now the reason why I've been too busy to update the blog. We arrived home at 11am. I had arranged an Announcement Celebration Party to start at 10am because I thought I arrived on Friday instead of Sat. So everyone was waiting when we got home. I was still high on adrenaline so didn't mind people there. My Tupperware Lady was great and even made us lunch before she left. I went to bed early that night of course. Sunday we had church, then a picnic by the lake. It was great to catch up with everyone. I did fall asleep before I could make it to small group that night.
Monday I started my new career as a Tupperware Demonstrator. I went to my pre-kit training at 6pm, then the sales meeting and release night at 7. Tuesday I got my products kit. Wednesday I went to my first training party, Thursday I had my first party, Friday (today) I am doing my 2nd and last training party. So my evenings have been very busy. My mornings fell back into the routine I had before I left. Bible Study on Tuesday, playgroup on Wed and Thurs. And I did my first mother's group Tupperware party on Friday. I know it seems like a lot, but that's the beauty of Tupperware. I worked really hard this week so I have the whole weekend free to be with family. We get to go across the city to meet our new cousin tomorrow.
My two Tupperware parties went great considering. I've got another one next week and then we hit record breaker week. It's the biggest week in Tupperware for the whole year. I've got 3 parties booked in already and want two more. Then I'll be done with Tupperware for the whole of December and maybe only do 1-2 parties in Jan. They give you great gifts and incentives and I'm making lots of friends and feel great about it.
Thomas playing at the Hello Kitty play place in the Taipei airport. I guess Hello Kitty is really big down there because they had this pink phone and painted wall that everyone was stopping at to get a photo of.
Thomas eating yoghurt. Watch the video if you can and you will see why his face it like this.
Glad you made it!
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