Where did December go?

November and December flew by.  What happened? Moses' Mandarin has been rapidly improving and by December he began speaking to us in Mandarin for much of the day. He now goes back and forth between the two languages. He can express himself quite well on a conversational level and was even chosen project leader by his classmates. He was to lead the designing(yes, they are doing this in preschool) of a advertising placard for the breakfast shop that the class was going to open. They designed the pictures, drew, them and then Moses presented it to the class. Pretty good for a four year old in a foreign language!

We attended his school Christmas party which was nothing like what we'd have in the States. The kids stayed after school until 6:00 upon which parents and families arrived for the potluck dinner and performances. There was an opening ceremony drum performance and the school was completely decorated in student work.  Then families joined the students in their classrooms for Bible readings, music performances, and a talent show. We had dinner together and then Santa came to visit and passed out presents. We did not leave until close to 9pm! 

School does not go on holiday for Christmas, but we did. We spend a few days in Taipei going to the big city zoo (we saw pandas), the Flora Expo, and Baby Boss. It was very tiring but fun.  I'll try to post some pictures. 

The weather here has been unusally cold, and grey and just terrible. Finally bought a heater today and that is why I can actually sit down and type without my fingers freezing. I was literally malfunctioning for days and weeks because I was so cold. Darkness enveloped me. 

 Seraphine is up from her short nap. So I must go now. She ran around Carrefour the entire morning in her squeak squeak shoes, but I guess that did not tire her out enough.  Seraphine now says MaMA in a very Taiwanese accent. It is so very cute. And bao bao (for hug).  We bought her a japanese blanket wrap around robe which is working well this winter.  We call it her snug snug. That's all for now. 

--Tina