Ballet

Yesterday, I took Ashley to see the Russian Children’s Ballet perform AliBaba at Sun Yet Sun Memorial Hall. It was her first ballet performance and 2nd live show (first was FantaSea in Thailand). She enjoyed it although at first she kept asking me “when will it be over?“. I explained to her that it was like a movie, you had to wait until the end. She was tired, but managed to stay awake and see the whole show. The performance was pretty good, costumes were nice, some good teenage dancers. We had fun and I’m glad that I took her.

A few weeks ago, Anthony and I went to see the Moscow City Ballet here and it was ok. I haven’t been to many ballets and enjoyed seeing that one. The costumes were bright and fun. The dancers weren’t the best and the music was a recorded track, not a live orchestra – so you’d hear the track stop and start again after a few seconds pause (I think expecting applause?). That was interesting. We had gone with a few other couples and all of them stated the ballet was horrible, the costumes gaudy, the dancers not good. I guess I’m just not “sophisticated” enough to have known any better since I actually enjoyed it.

Most of the families here are starting to get ready to go home for the summer. We’ve already said goodbye to one of Ashley’s friends until the end of August and two of her other friends will be gone in a few weeks. She seems to understand though that she will see them in a few months and doesn’t seem too upset by it.
There is a big convention in town this week – Computex – put on by Intel, I think. Anthony is pretty busy this week going to meetings and dinners because many people are in town for the convention. We had an enjoyable dinner last night at a new place called The Windmill – out by Miramar in Neihu – Italian food, although not pure Italian. Anthony had chicken parmesan and it was just chicken with cheese on it, no spaghetti noodles on the bottom. The girls enjoyed the place since it was some Koi fish outside. They were pretty active last night and did a lot of running around the restaurant – Ashley even sat at a table next to us for a while – playing with some toys another family had brought. She’s so outgoing and because people here think she’s cute – she gets away with just about anything – going to be hard on her back in the States when people won’t exactly appreciate her pulling up a chair while they’re out dining

Ashley's new hairdo

Haircuts

Ashley got her hair cut (again!). This time, she got bangs. She looks so cute and grown up too. It just kept getting in her eyes and didn’t stay up all the time, so we thought we’d give it a try. Liz is also sporting a new hairdo – little bangs too. She wouldn’t keep her hair up so I went the easy way and just cut little bangs. I did her myself, so they are a bit crooked with little stray hairs, but oh well. I took Ashley to MingYao again and she did really good – even closed her eyes when the hairdresser cut across her forehead. She understood everything the lady said in Chinese – so she’s really improving on that.

We are cat-sitting for another expat here in Taipei who’s visiting family back in Ireland. The cats name is Moguai and he’s a white Persian. Very pretty, although he’s had a trim recently, so he looks a little funny – big head and little body. He’s a very good cat, walked all around our place as soon as he showed up, no hiding for him. He’s taken to sleeping in our bed and playing with the kids. He’s been really good with Mack, who tried to put up a fight in the beginning, but now they play together. We can see what’s in store for Mack as he gets older – lots of tail pulling and neck hugging by Liz – she LOVES the cats and even has to hug and kiss them each goodnight.

It’s been pretty hot and humid here lately. I’ve been doing quite a bit of walking around, trying to get some exercise. Liz is doing really well sitting in the stroller for the most part – she’s even taken to sleeping in it if we’re out for a long time. She isn’t doing so well walking around on her own. I’ll take her to Ashley’s school and not bring the stroller and she’ll throw herself on the ground crying because she doesn’t want to walk. My arms have gotten quite a workout carrying her. I’ll try the whole leave her on ground and walk away thing – it doesn’t work – she could sit there all day whether I’m around or not. So I end up carrying her. Hopefully it’s just a phase and she’ll start doing some more walking on her own. She’s fallen in love with one of our security guards. Everytime we walk through the front gate, she has to stop and give him a hug or at least say hi. She’s so good with him and will just sit in his arms for a long time. He told us he has 2 boys at home, so he enjoys having a little girl around. It’s really quite cute.

I’ve been watching American Idol – they show it on Star World here the day after it airs in the States. Of course, for the finale, our digital cable was all messed up – the sound kept going in and out, along with green squares showing up all over the screen. Not good, especially for a show that’s musically based. I still made myself watch the whole 2 hour show last night so I could see who won. Was hoping Bo would win, but oh well. About a month ago, the digital cable was doing the same thing – and we brought a cable guy in to look at it. Of course, when he came over, it was just fine, no problems. He said it’s probably the cables in the building and they can’t do anything about it. When the building was built, they put in cable wire for each apartment, but apparently, they use cheap cable wire, so eventually it goes out or you have cable issues. And they can’t replace it all because it’s run through the whole building in concrete. Nice, huh? We’ll see if it continues and if so, we’ll have to give up digital cable!

They are going to start showing “Lost”here on AXN (regular cable) on June 6th. Anthon and I are looking forward to that since it started right before we left the States and we never got a chance to see it. We’ve heard great reviews about it, so we’re looking forward to seeing it. It’s the little things here that keep us happy.

Birthday Fun

Ashley’s birthday was this weekend. She is now FOUR years old! I just can’t believe it. It’s amazing how fast they grow up. She had a birthday party on Friday afternoon. About ten of her friends – mostly girls – it was interesting. They were quite a rambunctious group, thank goodness Anthony was around to chase them and help them expend some of their energy. We rented out a room downstairs in our building that has a piano, bar, tables, chairs and couches which also opens up to the outdoor patio/fountain area in our complex. It was a good location for the party (although the air conditioning was broken, so thank goodness there was a breeze that day!). I made a ½ chocolate, ½ yellow butterfly cake for the kids, along with lots of fruits, snacks, etc. Ashley had a blast running around and playing with all her friends. They sang happy birthday to her in English and Chinese. The present opening was interesting. In Asian culture, it’s not normal to open gifts at the party – you are supposed to save them and open them later, when no one is around. Ashley was too excited and looking forward to opening presents, that we decide we were going to keep the American tradition. I don’t think the girls were used to having someone open gifts as they all seemed to just go crazy and all wanted in on the opening action. Thank goodness Ashley is a sharing soul and didn’t seem to mind too much over the chaotic ness of it all. Anthony and I tried calming the kids down, having Ashley sit down, but that didn’t really work. Ashley still had a blast and was very excited about her presents. After the party, Ashley and Liz spent most of the evening playing with the new toys. Liz enjoyed them all also, especially a little stuffed dog that Ashley got.

Ashley opened the rest of her presents from family and friends back home on Saturday. Both girls had fun doing that. She got some great stuff for her birthday and we've had to do a bit of organizing/rearranging to fit it all. Thanks to all the grandparents and Uncles/Aunts for her presents (and Liz's too :) - she was so excited to get stuff from "the States".

This weekend was gorgeous weather – although a bit hot. We didn’t really do anything. Sunday, Anthony had a business lunch, so we couldn’t really get out of town (it would have been a good day for the beach). After his lunch, we did take the girls over to the Miramar mall (Anthony had to buy tickets to see Stars Wars, he’s taking his work group today) and we ended up riding the worlds 2nd tallest ferris wheel. The girls and Anthony enjoyed it. I’m not into heights that much, so I really didn’t enjoy it much. Would rather have stayed on the ground.

My helpful hint of the day

Whatever you do, if you must cook with a red chili pepper, WEAR GLOVES! I had never cooked with one, had no idea that touching it would cause severe pain, like my hands were on fire. Silly me. I thought I'd try cooking some Kung Pao Chicken - chili peppers are used here all the time, I'll use just a little to spice it up, not too much, so it won't be too spicy. I cut them up, rolled them in between my fingers to get the seeds out and cooked with them. The meal itself was good, a bit spicy, but edible. My hands though - they are suffering! It's HORRID! I'm sure it will be better tomorrow, but, wow - don't think I'll be cooking with any chili peppers anytime soon.

Introducing our newest member of the family - 4 week old Mack

Isn't she just the cutest? 

Mosquito Zapper Tennis Racket 

66 Villa Motel Love Inn

This is the name of a new hotel/motel/inn that has been built close to Anthony's work - we drive by it everyday and I just laugh at the name.

Liz woke up with bug bites all over, I think mosquito’s, so I went out this morning and bought a bug zapper – hope it works! We also have a portable bug zapper given to us by a friend here. It looks like a tennis racket, but turn it on and swing at the bugs – it zaps em – pretty cool, but I’m sure completely illegal in the states – I’ll try and remember to take a picture of it soon.

The other day, I went to playgroup, which was at a place called “Alladin’s castle”. Right next to that place, is a movie museum for kids – it has a ticket booth outside and then you go in and there are rides and stuff that they do in movies (like fake snow). All the signs are in Chinese and I had never been, so I didn’t know that Alladin’s castle is different than the museum and you have to buy separate tix. Of course, I bought a ticket to the wrong one, walked in, realized no one was there and I was at the wrong place. Found the right place, bought another ticket there and had no money left for parking. I tried to get my money back from the other place, I argued with the lady as much as one can argue with a language barrier – she refused to refund my money – even though she’d just sold me the ticket about 5 minutes earlier – she saw me walk in and out. I was so frustrated, but just gave up and went to play with Liz. About an hour went by, I’m standing next to Angie talking to her and this guy in suit comes up and starts saying stuff in Chinese to her, then she points to me, he hands me my money back and says “I’m sorry”. Very cool, that made my day.

Ashley had a weird thing happen the other night – she was in our bed asleep and I was on the computer. She started wimpering, then crying out. I went to her and she wouldn’t wake up, she just kept crying. I tried waking her, she wouldn’t open her eyes and she started shaking. Her legs were stiff and shaking and her arms were stiff. It was so scary. It lasted a few minutes, then she woke up and we talked and she calmed down and went back to sleep. She was fine the rest of night. I ended up taking her to the doctor after school and she said that she doesn’t think it was a seizure (which is what I thought it was) but probably a dream that she couldn’t be aroused from and she may have hyperventilated by crying so much and having trouble breathing so she was shaking. I really hope that was it and not a seizure. She wants us to keep an eye on her and if it happens again to videotape it. I also took her to an orthopedic doctor for her leg pains, which still continue a few times a week – and he thinks it’s just growing pains. He said it can last until age 6 or 7, so guess we’re in for a long couple of years. She let him manipulate and massage her legs and joints, which she wouldn’t do for the doctor in the States.

Anthony has been working quite a bit this week – he’s had several late night (at least what I consider late night!) interviews (past 7 or 8 pm), along with lots of email at night and conference calls. At least it is only occasionally that this occurs as I would hate seeing so little of him and I know the girls wouldn’t exactly be happy either.

We went out to Miramar last night to eat at TGIFriday’s. We had their TexMex appetizer platter with fried jalapenos, quesadillas and nachos. It was really good with ranch dressing, sour cream and guacamole! MMM…tasty. Anthony and I both ate the jalapenos, which neither of us would have touched back home. We are starting to become used to and for me, at least, actually enjoy spicy foods. The girls had fun at the restaurant, running around and getting tons of attention. I don’t know how many pictures there are out there of our kids. Liz had the couple next to us take several pictures of her over the course of our meal. It’s just too funny and something I don’t really understand, but oh well, I’ve learned to just take it in stride and not get too upset.

At the zoo

Small Chinese Civets secret special smells by their scent glands

Try repeating that 5 times! We went to the zoo last weekend and saw this on an information sheet about civets. We laughed pretty hard at that one – especially next to the picture of a civet’s scent glands.

The weather has turned hot and humid here. It’s hasn’t been too bad, as long as we stay indoors in the air conditioning! Last week, on Thursday, we joined some of A’s coworkers for KTV night at The Living Mall. Very interesting place. It looks like the whole floor has been converted into KTV rooms (private Karaoke rooms). Apparently, there are even VIP rooms that are themed, such as Vegas Room. We had a standard room, seats about 10-15 people – 3 mikes, 2 computers, 1 screen for showing the words. It was interesting. They had a small selection of English songs, most of which we’d never even heard. They would load up an English song and give the mikes to us and want us to sing, then be really surprised that we had no idea what it is (saying it was really popular in Taiwan) – pretty funny. Anthony sang a song or two – adding his own lyrics and rhythm – they really seemed to like that and cheered him on. It was a fun night, although hard to go out at first with the kids screaming as we left them at home with Ms. Wu. They freaked out and although she said they calmed down shortly after we left, it was hard to go.

Saturday, the girls both woke up at around 5:30 am and were in bad moods. I think it gets light here too early and they wake up, thinking it’s time to get up. We are looking into getting some room darkening curtains in their room so they will sleep later, we hope. They have started sharing a room now – Ashley in big bed, Liz in crib still. Ashley seems to enjoy it, Liz doesn’t really seem to care, except if Ashley has a stuffed animal that she wants. Anthony and I went out Saturday night – again, the girls screamed and screamed when Ms. Wu showed up – Anthony had to literally pry Ashley off of him and snake his way out the door. It was awful, so hard to do, but we really needed to go out – we haven’t done enough of that lately. The girls are beginning to not like us to leave at all because we are always with them. We saw Ashley in the window peering down at us as we walked away – it was so sad. We had dinner and went to see “Sahara”. Anthony really likes the author of that book, so he was looking forward to the movie. We both enjoyed it, I thought it was a fun movie. We got home to a quiet clean house and the girls were fine.

The zoo was on Sunday, but apparently, everyone else decided to go too – it was crazy busy. We only stayed for a bit, saw a few animals, then went over to the “zoo mall” and hung out there for a few hours. The kids rode rides, ate and played in a jumpy castle with slide. They had a blast. We had friends with us, so that was very enjoyable since we don’t get to see them as often as we would like to.

Last week was Ashley’s observation day and parent/teacher conference. It was nice to sit and watch the kids in their classroom environment for a bit. The conference went well – apparently, Ashley is a good student. Ms. Christy said that Ashley enjoys learning and often tries to do things that are too hard for her. She likes a challenge is my take on that. She works hard, puts everything away, interacts with others well, cleans up after herself, very independent and is learning Mandarin from other kids in the class. She isn’t really speaking much, but she understands much more. She sings songs all the time and reads books, making up her own Chinese words. Sounds like Chinese to us, but it is just made up stuff – very cute. I asked if Ms. Christy has to discipline her and she only gave one example of Ashley talking during story time. She has a friend that she sits with and they are both talkers and enjoy having conversations (in English) all the time. Ashley really seems to enjoy her friends and is SUCH an extrovert – who ever would have thought our children would be extroverts – with 2 introverts as parents. She constantly invites herself over to other peoples houses – asking “can I come over today?”. It’s cute, but can be very annoying sometimes as it makes me feel like she doesn’t like home.

Elizabeth is growing up so fast, I just can’t believe it. She has hit the potty training age and doesn’t enjoy wearing a diaper or clothes for that matter. If she could run around naked, I think she would be in heaven. I am constantly putting clothes back on her or trying to prevent her from being naked in the store. We wake up to a naked child in her crib and often have to wash the bedding. She loves sitting on the potty and is constantly doing that, but not actually using it – only once has she actually gone in it and that was when I was in Hong Kong! I wasn’t even witness to it! She’s talking more, adding one or two new words a week. She LOVES babies and will go up to them in public and caress them and kiss them. She holds her baby doll, rocks her baby, feeds her baby and tries to change baby’s diaper – it is so cute.

Our living room flooded the other night – wasn’t too happy with that. The small drain hole they have out on the balcony wasn’t working and it rained pretty heavily for a few hours and water came seeping in through the door to our balcony – at 1 in the morning. We were trying to clean it up and dumping buckets of water over our balcony. Not fun at all. It is fixed now, thank goodness.

We are starting the process of getting a live in helper (referred to here as AMAH). That’s one of the reasons the girls are starting to share a room – so the amah can have her own room. The process will take a few months, so hopefully, by summertime, we’ll have some help. We’ve debated this for awhile and it took some time before we actually decided to do it. It is so common here and women come from Indonesia and the Philippines to work. They make more money here as an amah than they would there as professionals (and they don’t make much here – a few hundred US a month!). Many of the Amahs actually have college degrees and choose to come here to work instead – isn’t that crazy? Anyway, we are trying to figure out what kind of amah we want right now – someone experienced who’s raised kids or had experience with another family or someone who is new, inexperienced, easily trainable – there are advantages and disadvantages to both. We’ll have a bunch of resumes to go through – hopefully sometime in the near future. It will be very strange having someone living in the house with us, but I’ve heard that feeling goes away fairly quickly.

I’m doing quite a bit of reading up on the culture here – trying to figure it out. There are so many places here in Taipei that we haven’t visited yet that we need to before our time is up. My impression of the people of Taiwan is that they have no unique identity and I’d liked to try and figure out why or what their past history is since I don’t know much about it. The people here are so friendly and open – I have experienced that first hand here and many others have written about how easy it is to be a foreigner here compared to other Asian areas. Not necessarily how easy it is to get around or live here day to day, but how easy the Taiwanese are in accepting foreigners. It seems though, that there isn’t much in the way of “This is Taiwan” attitude. They import everything it seems and use really cheap products lacking in quality. Maintenance seems to be an issue too – they build beautiful parks and buildings, with lovely gardens and water features, only for the weeds to overgrow and the water to turn icky brown and stay that way. Sidewalks don’t last very long – the tiles become loose (some due to earthquakes) and dirt/weeds overtake them. Trash begins to litter areas and starts to pile up, attracting rodents and bugs. The part of the city we live in, XinYi, wasn’t even developed around 10 years ago – yet the buildings, the sidewalks, the parks – they all look REALLY old. People seem to see the new stuff and then forget about the old.

Guess I need to start posting more often – this is pretty long! I’ll try to blog more often so they don’t get this long.