I think we are just too busy...
We’ve been so busy. It amazes me how busy we stay! While I was doing dishes this afternoon, I told myself that I really do need to have one day where I stay home all day and get stuff done around the house! Our cleaning lady did not come this week, so our place is beginning to look rather bad. Although I vacuum the floors every other day, they really HAVE to be mopped at least once a week, along with the dusting of everything in the apartment. It’s looking quite bad right now and I’ve been so busy running around, I haven’t had a chance to do it myself.
Thursday we took Ashley to school in the car – Anthony ran her inside while I waited out in the car with Liz. This seems to work well since he was able to just walk her in, say goodbye and leave, whereas I always need to stick around with her and play puzzles and visit with the hamster and read stories for about 15-20 minutes until she’s ready for me to leave. I then drove Anthony to work, dropped him off, and then met with Angie who showed me the way to her house. Her place is about a 10 minute drive from his work, so very convenient after dropping him off. We hung out for a bit, letting the kids play and letting Liz’s clothes and car seat cover dry – she had spilled water ALL OVER herself in the car when I gave her a water bottle to drink from – OOPS. We then ran over to the Costco in XiZhi (different from the usual one in Neihu) and picked up a few items there. I got Ashley a Christmas gift, along with a few snacks and a very cute decorative Santa Claus. I really liked that Costco better than the Neihu one – it’s laid out like the ones back in the States and is only one floor, which makes shopping there a bit easier. It’s only about 5 minutes from Anthony’s work, so we’ll probably start heading there more often than the one in Neihu.
My Chinese lesson is at 12:30 on Thursdays, so I quickly headed back to our apartment, feed Liz and put her down for a nap right when the teacher showed up. My lesson was on asking for Chinese names and introducing oneself. My teacher gave me a Chinese name based on my maiden last name and her “vibe” that she got from me at the first lesson. So, my Chinese name is “Bei” (for Bates, means ocean shell) Ning Xin (this is the first name and means calm joyful). Interesting, I thought. It was a pretty good lesson, although again, I still can’t remember hardly any of it. But I am understanding more when other people talk Chinese, so that’s good.
Liz woke up right after my lesson and refused to go back to sleep again – so she was pretty cranky for the rest of the afternoon. I picked up Ashley from school, brought her back home where we played for awhile and got stuff ready to go to Angie’s house that evening. We went and picked up Anthony from work and headed to Angie’s place for dinner and to decorate her Christmas tree. She thought it would be fun for Ashley and she was right. We ate “hot pot”, which is basically a boiling pot of water that you put a ton of stuff in (tofu, beef, chicken, mushrooms, baby corn, clams, taro, tomatoes, etc) and fish out with your chopsticks and eat. The pot is divided in two, so there is a spicy side and a no spicy side. It was very good and we just kept eating and eating until we were stuffed. I liked the clams the best and the chicken. I didn’t even try the tofu, just can’t get a taste for the stuff, even though it’s in EVERYTHING here. After dinner, we put up the tree and everyone helped decorate. We had a lot of fun, with Ashley probably having the most fun, throwing garland around herself and dancing and singing. Joseph and Liz had fun too, getting into stuff and messing with each other. The girls were exhausted when we left and slept well last night.
Today was our observation time at Ashley’s school along with parent-teacher conference. I also got a late invitation (Thursday afternoon) to a birthday party for one of Ashley’s classmates for Friday afternoon. So, Anthony stayed home in the morning, did a little work while I took Ashley to school. Then midmorning, we both headed up to the school for observation time. This was very interesting. We sat in Ashley’s classroom and just observed the class. For the most part, the kids ignored us and continued doing what they normally would. Ashley said a few words to us and tried to get us to play with her, but she did well continuing to do what she normally would do without us there. While we were in the room, Liz was upstairs in the younger kids room playing with them – she had fun and got soaked from playing in the sink. It was great watching Ashley in the classroom and seeing how the teachers interact with the children in a Montessori type school. Ashley polished silver and glass for a while, then got some big flashcards out and played with them, then started sewing some paper. She didn’t really seem to interact with the other children much, just occasionally she’d talk to them. She did seem to understand some of the instruction the teachers would give in Chinese. After our observation, we had a parent teacher conference and spoke with her teacher about our questions we had written down during the observation period. Ashley is doing well in the class and Ms. Christy said her use of the English language is really good compared to the other kids who also speak English. She said Ashley communicates her needs, thoughts and feelings well in English and they can understand her very well compared to other children. She has no discipline issues and actually goes to take a nap on her own with no prompting by the teachers – sure wish she’d do that at home! It was reassuring to us that Ashley is doing so well at school.
I took Anthony to work after this, then drove to AsiaWorld, which has a ToysRUs in it. I was very proud of myself since I did not use the GPS and managed to make it there without getting lost or making any wrong turns! Liz and I did some shopping for Ashley for Christmas, along with a birthday gift for the little girl’s birthday party. I then ran home, put Liz down for a nap and cleaned up a bit. It was around 3:00 and Ashley had gone with one of the other moms from the school to the birthday party at noon. Their apartment is very close to ours and to school. I woke Liz up early from her nap, then we headed over to join Ashley at the party. It was a fun time, visiting with friends and letting Ashley and Liz have some fun play time with other kids. Some of the other moms complimented me on having such well behaved and polite children. I really do think I have somehow lucked out on having great children. Even with all the temper tantrums Ashley throws when I’m around, she’s a wonderful child when I’m not around or in group settings and I am still very proud of her. She is such a girlie girl too. For some reason, I always had assumed Ashley would be a tomboy, but she’s definitely not. She didn’t really play much with the other kids at the party, she just found other things to keep her occupied – baby dolls, play makeup bags, play hair combs, etc. While the other kids were running around the apartment chasing each other, Ashley was quietly brushing her hair or “putting on lipstick”. We went home around 5pm. I was exhausted once we got home, so I put a movie on for Ashley, then tried to keep Liz happy until Anthony got home, around 6:30! Liz went to bed at 7:00 – she was so tired. And Ashley went to bed shortly thereafter. She was sitting at the dinner table, and I asked if she was tired and she said yes, I’m going to bed. She put her pj’s on and said goodnight and went into Liz’s room and went to sleep. It was too cute. Anthony was upset she didn’t want him to put her to bed, so he went and tucked her in good night. Thank goodness she’s gotten past the fighting bed every night – it’s so much nicer!
The Taiwan government elections are tomorrow – it’s been interesting here, with trucks driving around town shouting words in Chinese – political ads. There are also banners everywhere displaying the picture and voting number for the politicians here. It’s supposed to be a pretty crazy ordeal here and some of the foreign committees have advised foreigners to be cautious over the weekend due to demonstrations and political fights that can sometimes occur. Should be interesting!
Thursday we took Ashley to school in the car – Anthony ran her inside while I waited out in the car with Liz. This seems to work well since he was able to just walk her in, say goodbye and leave, whereas I always need to stick around with her and play puzzles and visit with the hamster and read stories for about 15-20 minutes until she’s ready for me to leave. I then drove Anthony to work, dropped him off, and then met with Angie who showed me the way to her house. Her place is about a 10 minute drive from his work, so very convenient after dropping him off. We hung out for a bit, letting the kids play and letting Liz’s clothes and car seat cover dry – she had spilled water ALL OVER herself in the car when I gave her a water bottle to drink from – OOPS. We then ran over to the Costco in XiZhi (different from the usual one in Neihu) and picked up a few items there. I got Ashley a Christmas gift, along with a few snacks and a very cute decorative Santa Claus. I really liked that Costco better than the Neihu one – it’s laid out like the ones back in the States and is only one floor, which makes shopping there a bit easier. It’s only about 5 minutes from Anthony’s work, so we’ll probably start heading there more often than the one in Neihu.
My Chinese lesson is at 12:30 on Thursdays, so I quickly headed back to our apartment, feed Liz and put her down for a nap right when the teacher showed up. My lesson was on asking for Chinese names and introducing oneself. My teacher gave me a Chinese name based on my maiden last name and her “vibe” that she got from me at the first lesson. So, my Chinese name is “Bei” (for Bates, means ocean shell) Ning Xin (this is the first name and means calm joyful). Interesting, I thought. It was a pretty good lesson, although again, I still can’t remember hardly any of it. But I am understanding more when other people talk Chinese, so that’s good.
Liz woke up right after my lesson and refused to go back to sleep again – so she was pretty cranky for the rest of the afternoon. I picked up Ashley from school, brought her back home where we played for awhile and got stuff ready to go to Angie’s house that evening. We went and picked up Anthony from work and headed to Angie’s place for dinner and to decorate her Christmas tree. She thought it would be fun for Ashley and she was right. We ate “hot pot”, which is basically a boiling pot of water that you put a ton of stuff in (tofu, beef, chicken, mushrooms, baby corn, clams, taro, tomatoes, etc) and fish out with your chopsticks and eat. The pot is divided in two, so there is a spicy side and a no spicy side. It was very good and we just kept eating and eating until we were stuffed. I liked the clams the best and the chicken. I didn’t even try the tofu, just can’t get a taste for the stuff, even though it’s in EVERYTHING here. After dinner, we put up the tree and everyone helped decorate. We had a lot of fun, with Ashley probably having the most fun, throwing garland around herself and dancing and singing. Joseph and Liz had fun too, getting into stuff and messing with each other. The girls were exhausted when we left and slept well last night.
Today was our observation time at Ashley’s school along with parent-teacher conference. I also got a late invitation (Thursday afternoon) to a birthday party for one of Ashley’s classmates for Friday afternoon. So, Anthony stayed home in the morning, did a little work while I took Ashley to school. Then midmorning, we both headed up to the school for observation time. This was very interesting. We sat in Ashley’s classroom and just observed the class. For the most part, the kids ignored us and continued doing what they normally would. Ashley said a few words to us and tried to get us to play with her, but she did well continuing to do what she normally would do without us there. While we were in the room, Liz was upstairs in the younger kids room playing with them – she had fun and got soaked from playing in the sink. It was great watching Ashley in the classroom and seeing how the teachers interact with the children in a Montessori type school. Ashley polished silver and glass for a while, then got some big flashcards out and played with them, then started sewing some paper. She didn’t really seem to interact with the other children much, just occasionally she’d talk to them. She did seem to understand some of the instruction the teachers would give in Chinese. After our observation, we had a parent teacher conference and spoke with her teacher about our questions we had written down during the observation period. Ashley is doing well in the class and Ms. Christy said her use of the English language is really good compared to the other kids who also speak English. She said Ashley communicates her needs, thoughts and feelings well in English and they can understand her very well compared to other children. She has no discipline issues and actually goes to take a nap on her own with no prompting by the teachers – sure wish she’d do that at home! It was reassuring to us that Ashley is doing so well at school.
I took Anthony to work after this, then drove to AsiaWorld, which has a ToysRUs in it. I was very proud of myself since I did not use the GPS and managed to make it there without getting lost or making any wrong turns! Liz and I did some shopping for Ashley for Christmas, along with a birthday gift for the little girl’s birthday party. I then ran home, put Liz down for a nap and cleaned up a bit. It was around 3:00 and Ashley had gone with one of the other moms from the school to the birthday party at noon. Their apartment is very close to ours and to school. I woke Liz up early from her nap, then we headed over to join Ashley at the party. It was a fun time, visiting with friends and letting Ashley and Liz have some fun play time with other kids. Some of the other moms complimented me on having such well behaved and polite children. I really do think I have somehow lucked out on having great children. Even with all the temper tantrums Ashley throws when I’m around, she’s a wonderful child when I’m not around or in group settings and I am still very proud of her. She is such a girlie girl too. For some reason, I always had assumed Ashley would be a tomboy, but she’s definitely not. She didn’t really play much with the other kids at the party, she just found other things to keep her occupied – baby dolls, play makeup bags, play hair combs, etc. While the other kids were running around the apartment chasing each other, Ashley was quietly brushing her hair or “putting on lipstick”. We went home around 5pm. I was exhausted once we got home, so I put a movie on for Ashley, then tried to keep Liz happy until Anthony got home, around 6:30! Liz went to bed at 7:00 – she was so tired. And Ashley went to bed shortly thereafter. She was sitting at the dinner table, and I asked if she was tired and she said yes, I’m going to bed. She put her pj’s on and said goodnight and went into Liz’s room and went to sleep. It was too cute. Anthony was upset she didn’t want him to put her to bed, so he went and tucked her in good night. Thank goodness she’s gotten past the fighting bed every night – it’s so much nicer!
The Taiwan government elections are tomorrow – it’s been interesting here, with trucks driving around town shouting words in Chinese – political ads. There are also banners everywhere displaying the picture and voting number for the politicians here. It’s supposed to be a pretty crazy ordeal here and some of the foreign committees have advised foreigners to be cautious over the weekend due to demonstrations and political fights that can sometimes occur. Should be interesting!
posted by The Armstrongs at
12/10/2004
