The ULA Café

Anyway, It seems the ULA Café has turned out to be something of a haven for expats. Joe, a Canuck, and I meet here every Saturday to shoot the shit about politics, philosophy, life experiences, etc.

Anyway, here you can see a couple shots of "the gang." Can you spot the Canuck? Good! Wei Chi, the proprietess is in the smock, and Claire, her sister, is the other young lady.

I could give some background on Claire (a little less on Wei Chi), but I'm not so inclined. Suffice it say these are good folk. Very good. Oh, I did mention some Interesting Claire Facts elsewhere in these pages, so that will have to do. Heck, I'm just remembering something interesting Claire told me about Wei Chi; she studied Interior Design. I don't know much about these things, but it seems that she has succeeded in creating a warm, fuzzy ambiance here. The only downside is that the front of the café is "open end"; no wall or door; so it can get muggy in the summer, and a mite chilly in the winter. That's cool w/ me, but I do wonder how other folks recieve this. I tried to get my "Ladies' English Auxiliary" to meet here, but they were unanimous in prefering a place with a little more climate control <sigh>.

Joe is what you might call a "complex" guy. I think I've figured out that middle-aged people teaching English in small town Taiwan are going to have closet skeletons—I certainly have mine—and Joe has his. I like Joe a lot. He puts his guts out there, on the line, and you have to admire that. And, he's enjoying the heck out of teaching; perhaps it's panning out for him as it has been for me.

And, I'm saving the best shot for last. This is a very fortuitous shot of the sisters. I was hamming it up behind the camera, and you catch them both at their very best; lit up like sisterly Christmas trees!