"No, Mack, No!"
** The title? Well, it's the most common refrain heard in this house, yelled over and over again (even on the street by Liz, without a Mack anywhere to be seen - I guess she likes to practice...). -antny**
Wow, I haven’t written in a long time! Everyone is pretty much back to being healthy, for the most part. We seem to be just passing around a cold – at least one of us has the sniffles or a cough at any given time. I think it’s just the weather and being in Taiwan – seems everyone has this right now. We haven’t really done much lately. Wish I could say we’ve been exploring or adventuring around Taiwan and discovered some great new places, but we haven’t really been out much. Lots of our friends have been heading home for the summer, so we’ve been saying a few goodbyes. Ashley has been in school for 2 weeks now with just the summer kids. She’s actually enjoyed it and been in a good mood most days. She talks about her friends that “have gone to the States for a while” but she knows she’ll see them in a few months, so doesn’t seem too worried. She also knows that we are heading home soon and is VERY excited! She can’t wait to see granddad and grandmom. We have less than one week left before we leave and we are getting ready. Although I haven’t actually started packing, I have begun to think about what we’ll take and we’ve started a list of things to buy.
The Romano’s Macaroni Grill opened last week and we had dinner there over the weekend. It was SO good! MMMM!!! They had a waitstaff and kitchenstaff from the States to set up and train everyone here, so everything was close to what it would be back home. The test will come once all the Westerners go back home, whether the recipes change and become more Taiwanese. The bread was ok, not as salty as we would like, which we didn’t realize until one of the guys told us they use less salt here than in the States. We knew it was off, just didn’t realize why. We ordered dessert, chocolate cake and our local server asked us if it was too sweet. Anthony and I had a good laugh over that – it’s chocolate cake, how can it be too sweet?! I guess that’s another Western way of food.
We joined in a rummage sale last weekend to try and clear out a few things we had over here that were just taking up space. A few toys, some clothes, etc. The playgroup here used space in a small schoolyard and set up a rummage sale. Many people donated items and the money collected was used for charity (I believe towards tsunami victims). The items not sold were then given to a local charity also. It was good fun for everyone.
Yesterday, as I was driving to playgroup up in Shilin at the Park next to the Science Museum, I saw a cab driver scraping his tongue with scissors. Yes, that’s right, scraping his tongue with scissors. They weren’t little scissors, they were the big handled shears, like the kind used to cut cloth and he was using it to scrape his tongue – it was quite strange.
And tonight, we decided to go eat at a local Teppenyaki place – we’ve eaten there before and it was good. It’s within walking distance, so we took the girls (who were VERY cranky) there to eat. Not the best idea, since both kids refused to eat anything and were whiny and cranky. But, while there, Liz was sitting in a high chair with a tray and I glanced down and saw a roach on the tray – Anthony killed it – and we went on eating. Don’t really think that would happen much in the States. But here, well, it seems to be quite normal to see the little buggers everywhere. Pretty gross. I’ve only seen one in our apartment, but from what I’ve heard, roaches can be a real problem here. We had tape over all our floor drains (they have circle floor drains in the bathrooms and kitchens) to prevent this problem and to prevent smells from creeping up into the apartment from down below. They don’t use typical U type pipes here underneath sinks, like in the States, so it’s a straight shot down into the sewer system. Ewww.
I’ve been a bit emotional lately and am now seeing a counselor here in Taiwan. I had a panic attack a few weeks ago and have noticed how on edge my nerves seem to be. It happened quite suddenly and took me awhile to figure out what was going on. I’ve been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome from the December Tsunami. It’s amazing what our minds and bodies go through when faced with that sort of event. I can’t imagine what it’s even like for those who live in the affected areas, who lost loved ones and some even their whole way of life. I think often of how fortunate we, as a family, are. It’s been almost 6 months to the day – seems like such a long time ago, yet, at the same time, seems like it happened just the other day. I am learning how to deal with it, along with other feelings that I am having. It will be an interesting journey, I’m sure, and one that will only make me stronger as a person.
Wow, I haven’t written in a long time! Everyone is pretty much back to being healthy, for the most part. We seem to be just passing around a cold – at least one of us has the sniffles or a cough at any given time. I think it’s just the weather and being in Taiwan – seems everyone has this right now. We haven’t really done much lately. Wish I could say we’ve been exploring or adventuring around Taiwan and discovered some great new places, but we haven’t really been out much. Lots of our friends have been heading home for the summer, so we’ve been saying a few goodbyes. Ashley has been in school for 2 weeks now with just the summer kids. She’s actually enjoyed it and been in a good mood most days. She talks about her friends that “have gone to the States for a while” but she knows she’ll see them in a few months, so doesn’t seem too worried. She also knows that we are heading home soon and is VERY excited! She can’t wait to see granddad and grandmom. We have less than one week left before we leave and we are getting ready. Although I haven’t actually started packing, I have begun to think about what we’ll take and we’ve started a list of things to buy.
The Romano’s Macaroni Grill opened last week and we had dinner there over the weekend. It was SO good! MMMM!!! They had a waitstaff and kitchenstaff from the States to set up and train everyone here, so everything was close to what it would be back home. The test will come once all the Westerners go back home, whether the recipes change and become more Taiwanese. The bread was ok, not as salty as we would like, which we didn’t realize until one of the guys told us they use less salt here than in the States. We knew it was off, just didn’t realize why. We ordered dessert, chocolate cake and our local server asked us if it was too sweet. Anthony and I had a good laugh over that – it’s chocolate cake, how can it be too sweet?! I guess that’s another Western way of food.
We joined in a rummage sale last weekend to try and clear out a few things we had over here that were just taking up space. A few toys, some clothes, etc. The playgroup here used space in a small schoolyard and set up a rummage sale. Many people donated items and the money collected was used for charity (I believe towards tsunami victims). The items not sold were then given to a local charity also. It was good fun for everyone.
Yesterday, as I was driving to playgroup up in Shilin at the Park next to the Science Museum, I saw a cab driver scraping his tongue with scissors. Yes, that’s right, scraping his tongue with scissors. They weren’t little scissors, they were the big handled shears, like the kind used to cut cloth and he was using it to scrape his tongue – it was quite strange.
And tonight, we decided to go eat at a local Teppenyaki place – we’ve eaten there before and it was good. It’s within walking distance, so we took the girls (who were VERY cranky) there to eat. Not the best idea, since both kids refused to eat anything and were whiny and cranky. But, while there, Liz was sitting in a high chair with a tray and I glanced down and saw a roach on the tray – Anthony killed it – and we went on eating. Don’t really think that would happen much in the States. But here, well, it seems to be quite normal to see the little buggers everywhere. Pretty gross. I’ve only seen one in our apartment, but from what I’ve heard, roaches can be a real problem here. We had tape over all our floor drains (they have circle floor drains in the bathrooms and kitchens) to prevent this problem and to prevent smells from creeping up into the apartment from down below. They don’t use typical U type pipes here underneath sinks, like in the States, so it’s a straight shot down into the sewer system. Ewww.
I’ve been a bit emotional lately and am now seeing a counselor here in Taiwan. I had a panic attack a few weeks ago and have noticed how on edge my nerves seem to be. It happened quite suddenly and took me awhile to figure out what was going on. I’ve been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome from the December Tsunami. It’s amazing what our minds and bodies go through when faced with that sort of event. I can’t imagine what it’s even like for those who live in the affected areas, who lost loved ones and some even their whole way of life. I think often of how fortunate we, as a family, are. It’s been almost 6 months to the day – seems like such a long time ago, yet, at the same time, seems like it happened just the other day. I am learning how to deal with it, along with other feelings that I am having. It will be an interesting journey, I’m sure, and one that will only make me stronger as a person.
posted by The Armstrongs at
6/23/2005
