Joined and English speaking playgroup today and felt so much at ease just speaking English.
Speaking Mandarin all the time has become tiring and I feel like my Chinese is getting worse. My cousin Andrew gave me his itouch and I now have a program that helps me read and write Chinese. I just draw the character on the screen and I get the translation immediately. Can do the reverse. So now I am suddenly far more literate! I am probably more literate than most of my American born Chinese counterparts, but there are still so many words that I do not know! Anyway found out one of the moms adopted her son from Home of God's love in Luodong! What a small world. Another mom, Beth, who invited me started a unique English immersion student ministry training program in Taichung 4 years ago. Here's a link to their school: www.taiwan.wolsyme.com. Met another mom who also studied at TaiDa many years ago. Her husband is also Morrison graduate, like Steve. My friend Apple joined us with An-An. We had a great morning. I tried so hard to live like a Taiwanese and not have only foreigner friends, but I did miss the connecting in my own language so am glad to join this group.
This afternoon we went sampling cakes for my sister in law Jasmin's engagement party. It was great fun. We were given some tea and asked to sit down. We could then sample all the Chinese cakes we wanted. I have never seen anything quite like this, for the samples were self-serve! So Seraphine, Steve's mom and I tried (black) sesame mochi, taro mochi, redbead and mung bean mochi, butter green bean, some other ones, traditional meat, vegetarian, sesame mochi, sesame mochi, and taro mochi, and I guess we like the sesame mochi the best! We were getting so full but needed to try them so we knew which was best! End up buying a couple and bring back for Dad and Steve to try and the resounding favorite was the black sesame mochi! By the way Jasmin and Lawrence are coming to Taiwan end of February for their engagement! This is all Steve's mom talks about all day. It is a lot of fun.
Went to yoga class this evening. I go M and W nights. Some moves are impossible but I do feel improvement and much less pain in neck and shoulders. Best thing was I came back and the kids were all washed and in bed! Nothing is better than a clean smelling child to hug! Stayed up late with Moses to read his history book. Decided to make an exception to the schedule on my exercise days. Moses prays in Chinese now and I enjoyed those bedtime prayers. Seraphine fell asleep fast. Her new blanket wrap is just wonderful. I need to take a picture of it.
Tomorrow one of my favorite people to hang out with is coming: Susan Chen. She is an Engineer with a computer science degree from Syracuse University who works in Hsin Zhu. She was my bosom buddy years ago when I lived in Taipei. I am going to to go to small group tomorrow and then take Susan somewhere nearby for lunch while Seraphine naps.
--Tina
The daily life and adventures of a Taiwanese-American family during their extended stay in Taichung, Taiwan.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Schedule a Success
It's 8:31. Both kids are asleep. Pushed through with the schedule and it worked great. I am so proud of myself.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Not Too Different from Days at Home
There are days that are not too different from days at home, except for our location.
For example, wake up, get Moses to school, clean up the rooms, do laundry, change Seraphine because she spilled milk all over her new outfit, try to make an outfit out of the leftover clothes, admire her cute new boots, look for a few lost items, tell Seraphine she may not play with the suitcase, let her cry and then distract her, realize she is hungry and go out to buy lunch, get a call to pick Moses up because he is sick, pick up Moses and take his temperature, ask Steve to buy lunch, bring the kids back home, feed Seraphine, put Seraphine down for nap while singing a Chinese song and helping Moses memorize the words, help Moses get into bed for his nap, do more laundry, download some pictures, pick up and comfort Seraphine from truncated nap (brother woke her up), eat snack, help Moses with setting up his new sorting recycling chore, let Seraphine go crazy with markers (used to label our recycling boxes, pick up the markers and look for the caps, make snacks for the kids, do poetry homework with Moses, get lessons from Steve's mom so I can help Moses with the homework, draw with Seraphine, resolve a couple of fights, teach Seraphine not to bite, pinch, or pull hair and teach Moses not to push his little sister, watch a few minutes of TV, explain what a chef is to Moses, correct his Chinese ( he was calling chef a piece of toast), eat dinner, clean up Seraphine's huge mess, put away laundry and do laundry as Steve gives baths, pick up laundry (we go to Steve's dad's clinic to do laundry so this takes a lot of time), make hot drinks, clean up mess, talk with Cousin Tony on phone for a few minutes, threaten Moses with a time out if he doesn't respond to request to go brush his teeth, floss Moses' teeth, put on Seraphine's snugsnug wrap, give Seraphine more milk, wait while she eats apples with grandma, wait some more as she eats duck with grandma while Moses and dad are reading a story, get both kids into bed, sing out family song, pray, let Steve pray some more, because I am too tired to talk, give Seraphine to Steve while she cries for more milk, take her back after she cries for a few minutes, start praying very loud and singing worship songs from college(this usually works), put sleeping Seraphine into her crib, send Moses to his own room to sleep, take a shower and wash my hair (finally!), read book of Matthew and Master Your Money with Steve, try to convince Steve to do the financial goal setting with me, wonder if he is on board, go away and journal a little, read the news and look up Tunsia (it's the northernmost country in Africa) on wikipedia, and then make a couple household schedules and checklists, such as the following: Our NEW and IMPROVED Bedtime routine which I will post for all to see: 6:45 Bath 7:15 PJs and ointments 7:30 Milk and Story 8:00 Family Prayers 8:25 HUGS 8: 30 Lights Out. I am pooped. I have to be at school at 8:30 to cut turnip cakes for our big Chinese New Year celebration at school. Hope Moses is well enough to make it. Hope Seraphine sleeps through the night tonight. You see, today the day is just like one at home. For us stay at home moms with very young kids, this is what life is like anywhere I suppose. Good night!
For example, wake up, get Moses to school, clean up the rooms, do laundry, change Seraphine because she spilled milk all over her new outfit, try to make an outfit out of the leftover clothes, admire her cute new boots, look for a few lost items, tell Seraphine she may not play with the suitcase, let her cry and then distract her, realize she is hungry and go out to buy lunch, get a call to pick Moses up because he is sick, pick up Moses and take his temperature, ask Steve to buy lunch, bring the kids back home, feed Seraphine, put Seraphine down for nap while singing a Chinese song and helping Moses memorize the words, help Moses get into bed for his nap, do more laundry, download some pictures, pick up and comfort Seraphine from truncated nap (brother woke her up), eat snack, help Moses with setting up his new sorting recycling chore, let Seraphine go crazy with markers (used to label our recycling boxes, pick up the markers and look for the caps, make snacks for the kids, do poetry homework with Moses, get lessons from Steve's mom so I can help Moses with the homework, draw with Seraphine, resolve a couple of fights, teach Seraphine not to bite, pinch, or pull hair and teach Moses not to push his little sister, watch a few minutes of TV, explain what a chef is to Moses, correct his Chinese ( he was calling chef a piece of toast), eat dinner, clean up Seraphine's huge mess, put away laundry and do laundry as Steve gives baths, pick up laundry (we go to Steve's dad's clinic to do laundry so this takes a lot of time), make hot drinks, clean up mess, talk with Cousin Tony on phone for a few minutes, threaten Moses with a time out if he doesn't respond to request to go brush his teeth, floss Moses' teeth, put on Seraphine's snugsnug wrap, give Seraphine more milk, wait while she eats apples with grandma, wait some more as she eats duck with grandma while Moses and dad are reading a story, get both kids into bed, sing out family song, pray, let Steve pray some more, because I am too tired to talk, give Seraphine to Steve while she cries for more milk, take her back after she cries for a few minutes, start praying very loud and singing worship songs from college(this usually works), put sleeping Seraphine into her crib, send Moses to his own room to sleep, take a shower and wash my hair (finally!), read book of Matthew and Master Your Money with Steve, try to convince Steve to do the financial goal setting with me, wonder if he is on board, go away and journal a little, read the news and look up Tunsia (it's the northernmost country in Africa) on wikipedia, and then make a couple household schedules and checklists, such as the following: Our NEW and IMPROVED Bedtime routine which I will post for all to see: 6:45 Bath 7:15 PJs and ointments 7:30 Milk and Story 8:00 Family Prayers 8:25 HUGS 8: 30 Lights Out. I am pooped. I have to be at school at 8:30 to cut turnip cakes for our big Chinese New Year celebration at school. Hope Moses is well enough to make it. Hope Seraphine sleeps through the night tonight. You see, today the day is just like one at home. For us stay at home moms with very young kids, this is what life is like anywhere I suppose. Good night!
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Home of God's Love - An Orphanage in Luodong
I took last Friday off to travel to Luodong for a visit to the "Home of God's Love" orphanage. Luodong is a city in the northeast of Taiwan in Illan County. One of my high school classmates grew up there as her parents (Ted and Bev Kiles) are missionaries running the orphanage. Tina and I have an interest in adoption so we thought we'd go up for a visit as we have some 'guan shi' (relationship) there through my classmate. We also had some friends visiting from back home who are quite serious about the adoption process and have been on the wait list for a China adoption for some time now.
In the end, Tina decided not to go as Seraphine had a bad cough and it would involve leaving Taichung quite early. Thus Moses and I got up at 5am and headed out to the HSR station to take the first train to Taipei. It was a smooth trip up there and we met our friends at the Taipei Train Station for a 'normal' train ride down to Luodong. That part of the trip took 1 1/2 hours but time passed by quickly as the boys (our friends have two boys about Moses' age) played and I enjoyed the beautiful scenery despite the gloomy weather. (We traveled through a mountain pass along a river for half the journey and then along the coast.) Arriving in Luodong, we took a 15 min cab ride as the orphanage is actually out in the countryside by a place called "May Hua Hu" (Plum Flower Lake).
The orphanage is on a relatively large plot of land located near the lake and hills and surrounded by rice paddies. I think the orphanage has been developed organically as the Skiles have been serving here for forty years having some here in the late 60's / early 70's and raised their own seven children here as well as countless local kids. The first thing we saw were the seven or so infants that were currently in the orphanage. They ranged in age from 3 months to 10. We got to 'play' with them and hold and feed the little ones while Mrs. Skiles gave us a tour of the orphanage. The older kids were all in school but we were able to see their desks and play area. The facilities are quite good and the staff (both paid and volunteer) are extremely caring and loving. We learned that actually a small percentage (20%) of the kids at the orphanage are actually available for adoption. Many of the birth parents refuse to relinquish their parental rights though they are not raising the kids themselves thinking that the kids will eventually grow up and be able to provide support for them. ("Yeah, right.", I thought ... But who knows?) Domestic adoption placement is pretty low due to cultural stigmas (unfortunate as domestic takes priority) so most of the adoptions that do happen tend to be international. The Skiles do screen prospective parents closely as they only place children to Christian families. They also do not charge fees makes this easier for parents involved in ministry. Due to the low birthrate in Taiwan and great demand for adoption, this particular orphanage is not taking applications right now. However, we found out the adoption process in Taiwan, unlike China, is not centralized so other orphanages may be more open. (Like they say ... being at the right place and right time ...)
We spent a few more hours there and had lunch at the orphanage before heading home. I'm glad I went as it was an eye opening experience and I think our friends were encouraged and felt renewed to press on with the adoption process. Moses liked visiting the orphanage as well and said he wanted to come back a second time and show Mommy. :-)
Steve
In the end, Tina decided not to go as Seraphine had a bad cough and it would involve leaving Taichung quite early. Thus Moses and I got up at 5am and headed out to the HSR station to take the first train to Taipei. It was a smooth trip up there and we met our friends at the Taipei Train Station for a 'normal' train ride down to Luodong. That part of the trip took 1 1/2 hours but time passed by quickly as the boys (our friends have two boys about Moses' age) played and I enjoyed the beautiful scenery despite the gloomy weather. (We traveled through a mountain pass along a river for half the journey and then along the coast.) Arriving in Luodong, we took a 15 min cab ride as the orphanage is actually out in the countryside by a place called "May Hua Hu" (Plum Flower Lake).
The orphanage is on a relatively large plot of land located near the lake and hills and surrounded by rice paddies. I think the orphanage has been developed organically as the Skiles have been serving here for forty years having some here in the late 60's / early 70's and raised their own seven children here as well as countless local kids. The first thing we saw were the seven or so infants that were currently in the orphanage. They ranged in age from 3 months to 10. We got to 'play' with them and hold and feed the little ones while Mrs. Skiles gave us a tour of the orphanage. The older kids were all in school but we were able to see their desks and play area. The facilities are quite good and the staff (both paid and volunteer) are extremely caring and loving. We learned that actually a small percentage (20%) of the kids at the orphanage are actually available for adoption. Many of the birth parents refuse to relinquish their parental rights though they are not raising the kids themselves thinking that the kids will eventually grow up and be able to provide support for them. ("Yeah, right.", I thought ... But who knows?) Domestic adoption placement is pretty low due to cultural stigmas (unfortunate as domestic takes priority) so most of the adoptions that do happen tend to be international. The Skiles do screen prospective parents closely as they only place children to Christian families. They also do not charge fees makes this easier for parents involved in ministry. Due to the low birthrate in Taiwan and great demand for adoption, this particular orphanage is not taking applications right now. However, we found out the adoption process in Taiwan, unlike China, is not centralized so other orphanages may be more open. (Like they say ... being at the right place and right time ...)
We spent a few more hours there and had lunch at the orphanage before heading home. I'm glad I went as it was an eye opening experience and I think our friends were encouraged and felt renewed to press on with the adoption process. Moses liked visiting the orphanage as well and said he wanted to come back a second time and show Mommy. :-)
Steve
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
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