It's just life
Tuesday was my first day of Chinese language lessons, or at least my first one here in Taiwan. I had taken a few weeks of language back home in May and June of this year. I am so thankful I did because I wouldn’t even understand what they were trying to teach me at this first lesson, which is supposedly beginning Chinese. If I didn’t have a basis from my lessons in Texas, I would be completely lost, as it is, I’m just a little lost. The first lesson was how to say I am from America and how to ask what country someone is from. I have a VERY hard time remembering the language and words used, but I’ll learn eventually. I have the same teacher as Anthony, she goes to his work 2x a week and comes here to the apartment on Tuesdays and Thursdays for me. I have to remind her to not compare the two of us because he is SO much better at foreign language than I am. He’s truly very good, he gets many compliments by his teacher and by his coworkers.
After I picked Ashley up from school yesterday, we walked over to Taipei 101 and had some ice cream at McDonalds – for only 10NT, you can get an ice cream cone there! She’s just been so good this week; I thought she deserved a little treat. We also went to Jason’s and did some grocery shopping. Anthony picked us up in the car on his way home from work, so we didn’t have to get a cab. Once we got home, I made garlic shrimp and fried ice – they were both pretty good. The fried rice was a bit greasy – the cooking instructor doesn’t give us measuring units for cooking in recipes, just the ingredients, so we kind of have to play around until we get it right. The girls liked both of the dishes a lot though and the shrimp was so easy to make!
The Dallas Cowboys played on Monday football – which means it aired LIVE here Tuesday morning, but because of my language class and I had gone to Playspace in the morning with Angie, I missed the game, which is good, since then I didn’t know the score and wouldn’t give away the ending to Anthony. We ended up watching it last night – they usually replay the game again later in the day. We got to watch the whole game and it was a GOOD one. Anthony even made nachos during half time and they were yummy! We stayed up until the end of the game, which is really good, since Dallas ended up winning right at the very end. Great game! Go Cowboys!
Ashley has decided that she enjoys sleeping in Liz’s room – so they pretty much share a room now – no fighting her to go to sleep – she walks right in, lays down and closes her eyes. I think she likes being close to her sister. I thought that our kids would always have their own rooms, but looks like they may be sharing one at some point. Too bad our landlord won’t store some of the furniture here – they have really cute bunkbed sets here that would be great for them in about 6 months when Liz is ready for a real bed. Knowing them, they’ll probably just end up sleeping in the big bed together. Of course, this is all on the assumption that in a few months they still like each other!
Today was good – it was playgroup day, so I got the car – I took Anthony to work and then came home for a few minutes. After getting everything ready, I headed off for the Taipei Transportation Museum, which is pretty far away from our apartment. Luckily, Anthony was able to program it in again on the GPS, so I had directions on how to get there. I only took one wrong turn and made it there fairly quickly – of course, a screaming child in the background helped in the quickness factor. Liz wasn’t too happy to be riding in the car and was tired but wouldn’t fall asleep. After I took the one wrong turn, these scooter guys came roaring past me, definitely speeding. After a block though, they wiped out on the road – thank goodness no one was around them, just two of the speeders wiped out together. They didn’t seem too injured and as means as it sounds, they deserved what they got! Guess that’s the way it goes sometimes.
Liz and I had fun at playgroup. She ran around playing in the ball pit, down the slides, in the little cars, in the playhouses, etc. We even sat in this little “earthquake” room that shook as if an earthquake was happening. All I can say after that is that I hope to God that I never experience a REAL 7.0 earthquake! Angie and I walked over to Grandma Nittis for lunch since it is in the same neighborhood as the Transportation Museum. The kids were good, ate a bunch and were very tired on the way back to the cars. Joseph was asleep by the time we got back and Liz was asleep as soon as she was in the carseat.
Anthony had a business dinner tonight, so I took the girls to the Living Mall, where they played at the indoor play area and shopped a little with me. We had a lot of fun and it made me miss the days when I used to do stuff with both of the girls during the day. I am so glad that Ashley is in school, but I still miss her. This was the first night/evening that I’d been out with the girls alone without Anthony and with no real agenda, except for them to have fun and they did. It made me feel so good, having a relaxing time with them and having the freedom to hop in the car and drive home, without having to lug everything into a taxi and fight Liz to sit down, etc. Having a vehicle has really helped me feel better about living here.
We have been confirmed for our trip to Phuket, Thailand from December 20th – 25th. I am really looking forward to it! We’ll be in close quarters – one room for all of us – but it’s at a beautiful looking hotel, from the pictures anyway, with a kiddie pool, complete with slide and a kid’s playground and a secluded beach. I’m sure it will be jam packed with people, but that’s the way it goes. It’s supposed to be absolutely beautiful with excellent snorkeling and nice beaches. I hope so! If you want to check it out, here are some links:
http://www.phuket.com/island/beaches.htm
http://www.phuket.net/photo_gallery.htm
http://www.phuket-photos.com
http://www.phuket-photos.com/frameme.php?page=merlin-beach.htm (Merlin Beach resort, where we are staying!)
After I picked Ashley up from school yesterday, we walked over to Taipei 101 and had some ice cream at McDonalds – for only 10NT, you can get an ice cream cone there! She’s just been so good this week; I thought she deserved a little treat. We also went to Jason’s and did some grocery shopping. Anthony picked us up in the car on his way home from work, so we didn’t have to get a cab. Once we got home, I made garlic shrimp and fried ice – they were both pretty good. The fried rice was a bit greasy – the cooking instructor doesn’t give us measuring units for cooking in recipes, just the ingredients, so we kind of have to play around until we get it right. The girls liked both of the dishes a lot though and the shrimp was so easy to make!
The Dallas Cowboys played on Monday football – which means it aired LIVE here Tuesday morning, but because of my language class and I had gone to Playspace in the morning with Angie, I missed the game, which is good, since then I didn’t know the score and wouldn’t give away the ending to Anthony. We ended up watching it last night – they usually replay the game again later in the day. We got to watch the whole game and it was a GOOD one. Anthony even made nachos during half time and they were yummy! We stayed up until the end of the game, which is really good, since Dallas ended up winning right at the very end. Great game! Go Cowboys!
Ashley has decided that she enjoys sleeping in Liz’s room – so they pretty much share a room now – no fighting her to go to sleep – she walks right in, lays down and closes her eyes. I think she likes being close to her sister. I thought that our kids would always have their own rooms, but looks like they may be sharing one at some point. Too bad our landlord won’t store some of the furniture here – they have really cute bunkbed sets here that would be great for them in about 6 months when Liz is ready for a real bed. Knowing them, they’ll probably just end up sleeping in the big bed together. Of course, this is all on the assumption that in a few months they still like each other!
Today was good – it was playgroup day, so I got the car – I took Anthony to work and then came home for a few minutes. After getting everything ready, I headed off for the Taipei Transportation Museum, which is pretty far away from our apartment. Luckily, Anthony was able to program it in again on the GPS, so I had directions on how to get there. I only took one wrong turn and made it there fairly quickly – of course, a screaming child in the background helped in the quickness factor. Liz wasn’t too happy to be riding in the car and was tired but wouldn’t fall asleep. After I took the one wrong turn, these scooter guys came roaring past me, definitely speeding. After a block though, they wiped out on the road – thank goodness no one was around them, just two of the speeders wiped out together. They didn’t seem too injured and as means as it sounds, they deserved what they got! Guess that’s the way it goes sometimes.
Liz and I had fun at playgroup. She ran around playing in the ball pit, down the slides, in the little cars, in the playhouses, etc. We even sat in this little “earthquake” room that shook as if an earthquake was happening. All I can say after that is that I hope to God that I never experience a REAL 7.0 earthquake! Angie and I walked over to Grandma Nittis for lunch since it is in the same neighborhood as the Transportation Museum. The kids were good, ate a bunch and were very tired on the way back to the cars. Joseph was asleep by the time we got back and Liz was asleep as soon as she was in the carseat.
Anthony had a business dinner tonight, so I took the girls to the Living Mall, where they played at the indoor play area and shopped a little with me. We had a lot of fun and it made me miss the days when I used to do stuff with both of the girls during the day. I am so glad that Ashley is in school, but I still miss her. This was the first night/evening that I’d been out with the girls alone without Anthony and with no real agenda, except for them to have fun and they did. It made me feel so good, having a relaxing time with them and having the freedom to hop in the car and drive home, without having to lug everything into a taxi and fight Liz to sit down, etc. Having a vehicle has really helped me feel better about living here.
We have been confirmed for our trip to Phuket, Thailand from December 20th – 25th. I am really looking forward to it! We’ll be in close quarters – one room for all of us – but it’s at a beautiful looking hotel, from the pictures anyway, with a kiddie pool, complete with slide and a kid’s playground and a secluded beach. I’m sure it will be jam packed with people, but that’s the way it goes. It’s supposed to be absolutely beautiful with excellent snorkeling and nice beaches. I hope so! If you want to check it out, here are some links:
http://www.phuket.com/island/beaches.htm
http://www.phuket.net/photo_gallery.htm
http://www.phuket-photos.com
http://www.phuket-photos.com/frameme.php?page=merlin-beach.htm (Merlin Beach resort, where we are staying!)
posted by The Armstrongs at
12/08/2004
