HK Asia Women's Conference 2011

Last weekend I was able to go to Hong Kong to attend the Asia Women's Conference again. It is kind of like a Time Out for Women but specialized for expatriot women in Asia. Since I have spent the last 9 months, at least, chasing after Ander during church and never getting to hear more than two sentences strung together, it was so nice to get to choose which classes I got to go to and what I wanted to learn about. It was great. 

We had one lady who spoke, tell us all about this orphanage up in the mountains outside of Cheng du, China. She had video of the children and some of the English songs and things they have taught them. I felt so humbled and privileged to be able to do a service project while at the conference, for these sweet children. We spent quite a bit of time making alphabet cards (among other things) so that each child would have their very own set. I love how living over seas seems to bring more opportunities to be involved in things like this. 

What was not cool, however, was the frantic text I received from Nathan shortly after 5pm on Friday. He had tried to call but for a time all of the lines were busy. After the earthquake hit in Japan it was only a matter of minutes before Nathan received multiple texts and emails from TAS and our car leasing company etc. warning us of the tsunami warning that had been issued for Taiwan. 

There was also one for HK and Nathan new that our plans likely involved being somewhere around the harbor that evening... Thankfully we were able to confirm shortly thereafter that although Japan was just beginning to understand their crisis, we were in no real danger in HK or Taiwan. 

Largely unaware of how bad things were in Japan, we headed out for a girls night in HK.

Ahh, there is just so much to love about Asia. Here are two puckered examples.

 This is a store we found in a night market that had all these wigs and hair pieces...

 I would've pimped out my girl's dress ups if the stuff hadn't been so expensive. It was almost like they were selling this stuff to be worn seriously...     Curious.

 Aly saw this picture and told me that our hair looked "lovely".

 One thing about Asian Night Markets is that your poor nose will be subjected to all manner of offensive smells. By far the worst offender would be Stinky Tofu. That stuff will burn your nose hairs out. And it's unavoidable. So at dinner that night I received a special gift in the form of a lemon wearing panties. The original purpose of the "panties" is to keep the seeds from falling in your food when you are squeezing the lemon juice onto your food.

 But, because I am resourceful I brought the lemon wearing panties out on the town with us. Every time there was an offensive smell, I sniffed away unabashedly. It worked like a charm. Except with the Stinky Tofu. The lemon didn't even take the edge off.

 Saturday after classes we headed to the Hong Kong temple. It was a great way to end the conference.
Nicole? Um, how is it that this is the only picture I have of you from the whole weekend?! Not okay!

Me with Lori, my roommate this trip. You know, if you stay up late enough in the night you really get to know your friends a lot better. You are welcome to use my lemon, Lori ;)

PS~ Nathan gets the father of the year award because two of the kids had the stomach flu while I was gone and the other two had nasty cough/colds. The flu resulted in a lot of carnage. It was gory and Nathan was exhausted- but I still came home to a clean house and children in bed. How is it that he does my job as well as, if not better than me?! Thank you and I Love you Nathan!!!! xoxo

Kohen's Angry Birds

Are you familiar with the new craze that is Angry Birds? Well, shortly after Nathan discovered it, our children were introduced. In the game the birds are angry because the pigs stole their eggs and so now you sling shot different birds at different structures with pigs inside, and try to knock it all down. It's fairly addictive.

 Last week when Kohen was home with a cough/cold I came upon his own home made version of Angry Birds. Everything was there, the different sized and colored "Birds" ^....

And then his elaborate structures with "pigs" (represented with knights) that he would then try and knock down with his "birds". He spent forever setting it up and knocking it down over and over.
You can accidentally waste a lot of time playing Angry Birds on your phone or iPad. Turns out you can do the same playing it in real life. Somehow I'm fine with that.

Moments

I looked out the window the other day to check on the kids and look what I found. One of those moments, those rare moments in parenthood where you let yourself think, hey, we might actually be doing alright.

Aaand then those moments eventually melt into some sort of sibling scuffle, so I was grateful to have captured this one for my own memory.

Curls and a Quote

 *Curls are thanks to Curlformers. Love em.
    (view courtesy of our farmer neighbors)

A recent conversation with AlyCat at dinner:
Aly:   Mom, where did Sammy go? You know, the one from Child's World?
Me:   She lives in China now, remember?
Aly:   (Horrified) They put bandages on her toes and bent them off?!!!


(I believe she would be referring to a time when she overheard me explaining what foot binding was to Kennedy... woops)

Never Quite...Right

This picture is the perfect visual of expat life in Taiwan.
In the mood for some good ol Nachos? Too bad. This is as good as it gets.
I saw the real nacho cheese first and I was thinking, no way, real nachos? What are the chances that cheese isn't disgusting? Mmm, slim. But I decided what the heck, and ordered some.
Imagine my horror surprise when they loaded them up with Doritos.
What? Why?! I know there are tortilla chips on this island so why can't I have some with this (not so bad) cheese?! Where is the disconnect?
It's like they almost get it... but just not quite.
What don't they understand about the definition of Nachos being tortilla chips and cheese sauce? Did they think it was fine cuz they are the same shape? Or did some one think the cheesiness of the cheese sauce just wasn't enough? That using Doritos would take things to the proverbial next level?
Because it doesn't.
Not only does it not look right- therefore I was already prejudging on the taste- but the cheese sauce is almost canceled out by the taste of the Doritos.
THIS IS A CRIME AGAINST NACHOS, nay AMERICAN FOOD, even AMERICANS!

Moral of the story: Never get excited about comfort food from home (or anything). They don't "get it" here, therefore, neither do you.

Kohen Quote of the Day

Tonight during Friday Night Movie Night there was a preview for The Man From Snowy River. It was an emotional, moving preview. Kohen was entranced. As soon as the preview ended Kohen jumps up and says to me, "Can I be a man like that?!!! Can I be a man like that?!!!"
Surprised by his excitement I say, "Yes, of course."
Without hesitation he follows with, "But where will I find my horse?"

Strawberry Farm

 Kohen recently had a field trip to a Strawberry Farm and I was able to go with. I was curious about said farm seeing as Strawberries are really quite expensive here. I brought over all this Sure-jell thinking I could continue making delicious strawberry jam only to be bitterly disappointed to discover they are hard to find and super expensive.

 The farm was really well kept considering what we are used to around these parts. I was impressed. There was a pig that Kohen had no problem communicating with, he'd snort and the pig would snort back, endless fun.

 Not the best pic (he had his neck all scrunched down) but this bird was with chickens who had laid eggs recently, and it strutted around just like a rooster but that's as far as I am willing to venture in my guess as to what it is.

 When it was Kohen's class's turn to pick they were each given a little pair of scissors and a basket and they started out. While I was trying to help Kohen's buddy get the right number of the right size berry that he had chosen to pick, Kohen was clipping happily away. Before I could barely turn around he had clipped a dozen of the smallest, most jaundice looking strawberries. Luckily I knew when it came time to eat them,  Kohen would be up for it.

There really were some gorgeous berries, and they were delish. I ended up picking 12 large strawberries and by weight they cost me 200NT which is somewhere around $6. And though I felt fine about it at the time, upon reflection, it was not an amazing deal. About average, though I have never seen such large and red strawberries in the markets. 

But it's the experience we're supposed to remember, right?! And I think being out of school, eating good food, and being with Mom, is always a good time for Kohen.

Gone Shrimpin'

 On one of our days off we decided to look into "Shrimping". We had heard about it before and decided we needed to try it out. On this one random road there are a whole bunch of little shrimpin places. Apparently, the one we went to was the nice indoor one.

We got a couple of poles and some ^ bait, which was disgusting. Little dried baby shrimp and some sort of liver... or other... part. I dunno, but gross.
I will say though, that of the families that came with us, Nathan was the only one man enough to bait the hooks. I was proud of my Idaho Boy, not gonna lie. Do I want any part of baiting the hook? No. Does it kinda turn me on that my hubby just digs in with both hands? Disturbingly, yes. It must be my Idahoan roots behind that attraction.

 Anyway, after your 2 little hooks on the end of each line are baited by my Man, you simply throw your line in, sit back and wait. and wait.... aaaand wait some more. It was a very full house the afternoon we were there and I think that had to do with our lack of luck. But after a while, Nathan of course snagged one.

 Dang these are ugly creatures. Can I get an "AMEN!"?

 But it was still really exciting to pull one up out of the water. Kohen, of course, was absolutely in the middle of the action without hesitation.

Aly experienced some... hesitation. 

 To illustrate the classy- ness of the joint, I had to get a picture of the owner puffing away like a chimney right next to the giant "No Smoking" sign. Unfortunately, actions speak louder than words as the patrons had no problem lighting up either. Yuck.

 In the end, at two different times I had a shrimp on the hook but right as it came out of the water it escaped. Dang! Nathan caught two and our friends son caught six. He was the Shrimp Whisperer. In the end he was just showing off when he pulled up a shrimp and there was a second shrimp just hanging onto the first shrimp! It was crazy.
But that was it. No one else in our group had luck.

 The owners must've felt bad cuz they just gave us some more shrimp before showing us how to rinse, skewer, and salt the still live shrimp. eew.

 Kennedy was surprisingly okay with this portion of the process. I think she was glad to finally get her hands on some shrimp one way or another.

 We threw the shrimp on the barbie (said with my best Australian accent) and let em roast for a while.

 Pretty soon it was time to dig in....
Or was it?
Let's just say they also got a firsthand lesson on when a shrimp is not fully cooked. I say "they" because I  had no part in the eating. Shrimp and I are tentative friends and I only can handle them under certain circumstances. Eyes and antennae still attached is not one of them.

 Eventually the shrimp were fully cooked and a small shrimp feast took place.

 Though his face here may lead you to believe otherwise, Kohen LOVES shrimp and even ate his fair share of these questionable ones.

At the end of the afternoon there was only crustacean carnage left to show for the whole adventure. I think next time we will come back when all the Chinese are back at work and we will catch them but pass on eating them there.
I mean, it's not exactly a Bubba Gump caliber operation but it made for some memories.

Swimming at the "Spa"

On our CNY break we did lot's of fun stuff just hanging around town. We went to the high school to cheer on our team in the Rugby championship games- can I just say, that is one brutal, physical game? Honestly, I'm not sure I'm even man enough to watch the games- the way they just crash into each other with out pads or helmets *cringe* But I loved learning all about the game, I like it a lot.

Tangled also came out in theaters here (FINALLY) so we obviously went and completely loved it. The fact that it only played in English and 3D is a vent I'll spare you but hello! way to rip off the foreigners. 

One afternoon our friends invited us to go swimming at an indoor place they had some passes to. The warmer pool where the kids could pretty much touch was where we spent our time. It was the pool with all the spa/water features.

As 5 kids cannon balled into the "spa" pool, I'm sure the quiet relaxation for the other patrons quickly drew to a close. Our kids had to try out each of the water features, of course.

They had fun with all of them but I tried to steer them clear of the one at the far left of ^this picture because, frankly, I was suspicious of just what the water was massaging. 

After a while the newness of the pounding water features wore off and they enjoyed themselves just swimming around.

These bubble bath bed things were the favorite and were how they finished off their swim. It was a great afternoon with friends.

The Year of the Rabbit

For Chinese New Year the Kindergartners do something called The Red Market. Lot's of fun food and all sorts of activities in all of the different rooms. I got to work in the "Beauty Booth" and I did lot's of little heads of hair which was fun.

As usual Ander was an amazingly good sport. I was asked to do hair at the last minute so Ander had to just hang out in his stroller for a looong time. He entertained himself for quite some time with Kohen's hat, and Kohen would bring Ander a piece of pizza every 15 min or so and that helped a lot.

 Each class had made a dragon out of all of their hands which looked neat I thought.

 They had Chinese character painting, dragon tatoos, Fishing, musical chairs, a chopstick and M&M game, face paintings etc. I was impressed, it was really well run and the kids made some good memories.

Fun to see the different outfits, and I especially love Kohen's impromptu "Rabbit paws".

We have this week off for Chinese New Year so there will be more to come. But for now let me be the first to wish you Happy Chinese New Year, the year of the Rabbit. Xin nian kuai le!!!!

Don't Play With Your Food

My sister Natalie is a funny, funny girl. Not a coincidence then that she gives funny gifts. She is the responsible party behind the Handerpants, and she hit it out of the park this Christmas with my kids. Remember Wooly Willie from back in the day where you would put magnetic hair shavings on his face and head?

Well he has inspired the Fred Food Face Plates.

 Nathan made us this delicious Sunday Roast Dinner (that's right ladies, I said Nathan) and it was the perfect meal to pull out the Fred plates.

 They took so much time creating their plates I was a little concerned about what they'd actually eat. Instead, they would announce, I'm eating his hair now! I'm eating his carrot ears! or, He needs more beard! They thought it was hilarious. Nathan and I got a kick out of them too.

 Aly... well, she got stuck. She insisted she only wanted Fred to have mashed potatoes and proceeded to spend 15 minutes carefully patting down gobs of them on Fred's head. I didn't complain because she pretty much ate them all.

 The plate probably helped but the meal was pretty delicious on it's own. This is a gesture Kohen does when he is eating food and it is just sooo good. He bounces his hand up and down while doing it and it reminds me of something very Italian. Maybe it's that 1/16th Italian in his blood showing through. Makes you feel pretty good though when you made a meal and he does this. It's the ultimate thank you.

Of course what is a Sunday Dinner without Brown Sugar Muffins? Which is exactly what I am holding next to the camera that elicited a dimpled response from Ander. He's a fan.

Bend It Like Beckham

You know, I did try. I tried to find something that Kohen could do after school that he would enjoy. Unfortunately even with all of the after school options at TAS, I was trying to coordinate with what Kennedy wanted to do so that I would only have to drive back extra, one day a week. 

I put Kohen in gymnastics.

 Now before you manly men shake your heads in embarrassment, let me just say that there are lot's of boys in the class and it is plenty rough and tumble. 

But over the last month or so Kohen has made it clear he is no longer enjoying himself. So I now look forward to the weekly complaints. They should last through, oh, about the rest of the school year. 

Due to some of the struggles Kohen has had this year, we were strongly encouraged to make sure he had something that he enjoys and excels at outside of school. I believe it's important too but I have to admit I have selfish thoughts about how to accomplish this, it's just more $ out of pocket and more muddying up MY schedule and MY responsibilities. Bad I know, but I'm being honest. 

So when Nathan suggested soccer -which started in November, has an involved sign up process, and I knew was already full- I kind of said, Good luck with that babe. And left it to his persistent Nathan ways. 

Two days later Kohen had special permission from the coach to join the team.

(Kohen yuckin it up with his friends on the field)

 Nathan, being proud of his mad Dad skills, made a grave mistake in telling Kohen on Wednesday that he was going to get to play soccer on Saturday. Kohen enjoys anticipation about as much as constipation, and we got to listen to him nag, whine, and complain that Saturday was taking too long to get here! every hour of each day. How can you even nag and complain about something you are totally excited to do? It's a special talent.
Finally Saturday arrived and by the grace of God- truly- soccer wasn't rained out. I could not have been held responsible for what I might have done to my husband and/or son if it had been canceled.
Do I even need to write how much Kohen loves soccer? How much he loved the game? How excited he is to be playing SOCCER!!!

He's not too shabby either.

Not Your Mother's...

...Lemonade stand. Why? Well, for starters, I'm pretty sure your mom didn't live in Taiwan. Kohen and the girls have been nagging us for months to let them do a "lemonade stand" out front. We live on a ginormous hill and people walk the hill all day long for exercise, especially on mornings and weekends. Lot's of pedestrian traffic. So after me pushing it off on "Dad", I was surprised to come down stairs on Saturday morning to find the operation in full swing. 

 There were a few hiccups initially, like Nathan trying to 'keep an eye on them' from inside whilst his eyes were actually on his laptop. I look out the window to see Aly and Kohen holding the product in their hands, running up to innocent passerby's, essentially begging them to buy their wares. I was mortified. So Nathan was heavily encouraged to go out there and at least give them a few tips of the trade.

There was also the language barrier. But they got by. When Kohen came inside proudly holding someone's 100NT bill, Kennedy was outside realizing she needed to give the guy change. So they managed and figured things out.
 I am pretty sure we were running an illegal operation anyway. I am not positive what the rules are but I do know my kids don't have say, work visas, so I hoped that the 3 root beers they sold over 3 hours wouldn't be grounds for imprisonment.
They had a little luck out of the gate but then things slowed down as the morning wore on (they kinda had a late start) and what do ya know, one of the cans fell so many times on the ground it sprung a leak, so they did what any good sales person would do, and they shared that spraying, leaking can of soda.

I think we will try again soon with a little more preparation. Perhaps I will actually brush their hair, they may even wear clean clothes. And maybe we can find something better than soda to offer people after their arduous walk up our hill. Though rootbeer is a rare treat here. I fear part of the problem is that few people bring money with them. But we shall see.
In the end we don't even know if "Lemonade Stands" are something children do here. More likely they just work at their parents vegetable stand for real all day. So we are trying to figure out the market. And no matter how much Asians would like it, we are not offering the gross tea drinks with big floating jelly globs in them. Sorry to disappoint.

My Little Song Bird

Aly is my little song bird. She is forever energetic, happy, silly, chatting and singing in her adorable little voice. So when Tara caught this totally candid moment (as in, this is really what she was wearing/doing) where you see a very rare side of my little lark, I fell in love.

2010 had a few rough patches for Aly and I worried. I worried she might lose her little song bird song. But she is a resilient one. She is still our same spunky Alyroo. And amazingly, even this little ball of moxie has moments where she just...sits. But they are rare. Which makes this picture as special as a Rembrandt to me.