asyncio - How to properly implement an async pub/sub client

[ghost]

I read through the issue posted by @F483 here, which was ultimately solved by making the blocking wait() call on recv() for 1 second. Given that this is still a blocking call, how would one properly implement an asyncio version (or any type of simple asynchronous methodology) on the code below with limited library exposure? I am having considerable trouble finding a reasonable and simple example for what seems to be a straightforward question. Days of searching. Any help would be greatly appreciated - I'm new to socket development and especially to async frameworks.

Here's F483's example code:

import time
import threading
from socketIO_client import SocketIO


class TestSubscribe():

    def connect(self):
        baseurl = "http://v1.livenet.bitcoin.chromanode.net"
        self._socketIO = SocketIO(baseurl, 80)
        self._socketIO.on('new-block', self.on_newblock)
        self._socketIO.emit('subscribe', 'new-block')
        self._socketIO_thread = threading.Thread(target=self._socketIO.wait)
        self._socketIO_thread.start()

    def on_newblock(self, blockid, blockheight):
        print "new-block:", blockid, blockheight
        # add to input queue for further processing

    def disconnect(self):
        # XXX works ... badly
        print "disconnect before:", self._socketIO.connected
        self._socketIO.disconnect()
        self._socketIO_thread.join() # takes quite some time
        print "disconnect after:", self._socketIO.connected # still connected?
        self._socketIO = None
        self._socketIO_thread = None


testsubscribe = TestSubscribe()
testsubscribe.connect()
time.sleep(10)
testsubscribe.disconnect()

My attempt below (skeleton code..similar to what I have implemented in a project) simply stalls upon calling _socketIO.wait()...

import time
from socketIO_client import SocketIO


class TestSubscribe():

    async def connect(self):
        baseurl = "http://v1.livenet.bitcoin.chromanode.net"
        self._socketIO = SocketIO(baseurl, 80)
        self._socketIO.on('new-block', self.on_newblock)
        self._socketIO.emit('subscribe', 'new-block')
        await self._socketIO.wait() #stops here, if I get it to end, then returns None type (bad). how does one properly coroutine this?

    async def on_newblock(self, blockid, blockheight):
        print "new-block:", blockid, blockheight
        # add to input queue for further processing

    async def disconnect(self):
        # XXX works ... badly
        print "disconnect before:", self._socketIO.connected
        await self._socketIO.disconnect()
        print "disconnect after:", self._socketIO.connected # still connected?
        self._socketIO = None


testsubscribe = TestSubscribe()
testsubscribe.connect()
time.sleep(10)
testsubscribe.disconnect() #can't get anything out of here...