One thing you must know: Josh as been gone these last few days. I've been by myself (well, sort of...) once Emma goes to bed, so I've been a lot like my friend paul, whose spouse is also otherwise occupied and find myself mindlessly surfing the web and updating my blog. So it's fair to assume the blog may not be updated QUITE as frequently when josh returns. But, I ramble.
Today was a great day. My friend john (who is married to my friend Rachel) offered to keep all four of our children (who are all under the age of 2 - yikes!) so rachel and I could go get foot massages. We had a lovely morning full of uninterrupted conversation, and then decided to tackle the oven business together this afternoon.
You may be asking yourself what the big deal is about this oven. Well, essentially, all the foreigners who live in this asian country somehow meet all thier baking needs by using a toaster-oven type thing. Not only is it small, inefficent, and horrendous to try buying pans that will fit inside it, it requires events like birthdays, thanksgiving, and christmas dinners to be planned with military precision so that everything can get cooked inside its tiny shell. So, I figured that since we've got a big apartment, at least one foreigner in this city should make the plunge and get a full-size oven. Rambling again.
So rachel and I go to the appliance store and lo, and behold, the oven section is under renovation and NONE of the ovens I so carefully inspected were anywhere to be found. I asked the saleslady, and fortunately she remembered us (of course, we were identified as the people who were carrying the baby and with the cute kid). After some lightning fast discussion with a guy who appeared manager-ish, I am told that the oven I selected is being discontinued, and the only one they have left is the floor model. If I were willing to buy it, I would get like a 40% discount, saving me over $250! Of course, they warned me, it won't come in the box and we can't teach you how to use it since the instruction manual has been lost. Ummm...no worries, guys. I think I can handle that!
So, my friend john encouraged me to see the silver lining in my rainy cloud of yesterday - perhaps today was the PERFECT day for me to get the oven, and the discount, and so on. So, I paid my money and should be getting my oven on saturday!
In other, more interesting child news...Emma has four new teeth coming in, but they are all teeth in the back, like molar-type teeth. As far as front teeth go, she still only has her top four and her bottom three. We really wonder if that last bottom one is actually going to come in or not. She as also learned the word, "whoa", which she uses frequently if a loud noise happens, or if she is about to fall, or if the taxi hits a bump. Sometimes, she'll even ascribe the "whoa" to a certain person. If mommy drops something, she'll say, "whoa, mommy", and so on. What's really great is when samantha starts to cry, or drop her pacifier or something like that, she'll say, "Whoa baby!" :-)
I think samantha is going to be the strong, silent type. She's a great baby, don't get me wrong, but she seems to be pretty much content just watching everything around her. When emma was a baby, she seemed to be content being the one everyone was watching, and getting thier attention. but samantha doesn't really do much (yet, I suppose) to garner attention. She likes to hold her hands together now, which looks so precious, and she recently has started trying to hold the butterflies on her little bouncer seat. She does like it when emma bounces her bouncer for her (though mommy thinks emma does it a little too mercilessly!) and she gives emma almost as many smiles as she gives her food source!
Josh is coming home tomorrow, and we're all excited for him to come home soon. Emma has gotten the concept of actually talking to people on the phone, and since she has talked to josh a few times on the phone during his trip, she eequates the phone with daddy. She will see our cell phone sitting around and she'll bring it to me with big, hopeful eyes: "daddy?"
East or West, following Christ is best..
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
the cutest girls on the planet
I know, this is why you guys REALLY read my blog...you are hopeful for more pictures! Well, here are the cute ones from our travels out here and the few weeks we've been here so far. Hope you enjoy them!
the adventure that was today
well, the day started out innocently enough. In fact, it was quite a good day. Rachel and the girls came over, so Emma and Clara Anne had a lovely time playing (as usual). We ordered Western food for lunch, so we had chicken wraps and spinach and artichoke dip - with a hershey bar for dessert! We chatted away as the girls played, and Rachel asked me what my plans were for today. "Oh, simple enough," I told her. "All I really need to do is go the atm, order an oven, and get milk."
"Wow," she said. Then, as if offering a bit of foreshadowing, she said, "Shall I keep emma for you so you can run around get that stuff done?" Well, I was thoroughly convinced I could handle it myself, so I declined her thoughtful offer. Trying to make the most of the time, I planned to leave as soon as emma woke from her nap.
4:30, emma wakes up. I look out the window and see that the rain from this morning has died down to a weak mist, and seemed very do-able. BUT, just to avoid the added stress of millions of asian grandmothers chiding me for failing to dress my children appropriately, I decide to bundle both the girls in shoes, socks, and hooded jackets (which neither of them have worn in thier lives, until today). I double-check the rain status before we leave, put emma in the stroller, grab my umbrella and head out the door.
As we walk down the block, I am clumsily balancing the umbrella in my left hand while at the same time cradling samantha's neck as she is riding in the snugli, and using my right hand to navigate emma's stroller down the bumpy sidewalk. The mist is still misting, but nothing unbearable. The 15-minute walk to the ATM goes by quickly, and we go inside and get our cash.
The moment the ATM spits out my card and I step outside, the heavens open and a downpour begins. But I dismiss the rain, figuring once I get inside a taxi, I will be well on my way to the appliance store and out of the rain. But, alas. After 10 minutes of standing in the downpour trying to use my body and the soaking umbrella as a human sheild for emma, I realize I forgot to take into account the fact that it was now 5:15 and everyone was getting off work. There was no taxi to be found.
Getting more soaked by the minute, I try my best to calmly weigh my options. I've already committed to the outing by loading everyone into thier respective carriers, emma in her stroller and samantha in the snugli. I've further committed by makign the jaunt to the atm and getting money. I'm already half the way done, right? So, I walk to the next corner, thinking maybe it will be a better spot to flag a taxi. Wrong. Full taxis fly by me, as I desperately try to wave down an empty one.
Then, I see it - the bright red sign in the taxi that signals it is empty. I wave my hand firmly in the air, trying to help the driver realize that I have two children with me, am soaking wet and am interested in getting out of this situation at any cost. He glances over at me, hesitates a minute, and DRIVES OFF!!! I stood there, not sure whether to cry or yell. I'm sure it was one of those random "no-taxi's-allowed-to-stop-here" parts of the street, but he could have invoked the "damsel in distress" exception. EVERYONE knows about the damsel in distress exception, even mean-spirited taxi drivers and policemen who give traffic tickets.
but, since he didn't stop, I figured it was time to bail on my plan for buying the oven today. I sloshed my way back home, this time making no effort to avoid the puddles I had previously avoided, because the street is pretty much all puddles by now. Emma's stroller is literally taking on water at this point, though samantha is nice and dry. As I ignore the stares of curious on-lookers, hold the umbrella and samantha, and push emma, I realize with a grimace...the walk home is uphill. The age-old, shania twain question surfaces in my mind: did i really shave my legs for this?
we make it home, eat dinner, give everyone their baths, emma is now in bed, and here I sit...nice and dry, with my coke and chocolate covered almonds. I guess life is not so bad after all.
"Wow," she said. Then, as if offering a bit of foreshadowing, she said, "Shall I keep emma for you so you can run around get that stuff done?" Well, I was thoroughly convinced I could handle it myself, so I declined her thoughtful offer. Trying to make the most of the time, I planned to leave as soon as emma woke from her nap.
4:30, emma wakes up. I look out the window and see that the rain from this morning has died down to a weak mist, and seemed very do-able. BUT, just to avoid the added stress of millions of asian grandmothers chiding me for failing to dress my children appropriately, I decide to bundle both the girls in shoes, socks, and hooded jackets (which neither of them have worn in thier lives, until today). I double-check the rain status before we leave, put emma in the stroller, grab my umbrella and head out the door.
As we walk down the block, I am clumsily balancing the umbrella in my left hand while at the same time cradling samantha's neck as she is riding in the snugli, and using my right hand to navigate emma's stroller down the bumpy sidewalk. The mist is still misting, but nothing unbearable. The 15-minute walk to the ATM goes by quickly, and we go inside and get our cash.
The moment the ATM spits out my card and I step outside, the heavens open and a downpour begins. But I dismiss the rain, figuring once I get inside a taxi, I will be well on my way to the appliance store and out of the rain. But, alas. After 10 minutes of standing in the downpour trying to use my body and the soaking umbrella as a human sheild for emma, I realize I forgot to take into account the fact that it was now 5:15 and everyone was getting off work. There was no taxi to be found.
Getting more soaked by the minute, I try my best to calmly weigh my options. I've already committed to the outing by loading everyone into thier respective carriers, emma in her stroller and samantha in the snugli. I've further committed by makign the jaunt to the atm and getting money. I'm already half the way done, right? So, I walk to the next corner, thinking maybe it will be a better spot to flag a taxi. Wrong. Full taxis fly by me, as I desperately try to wave down an empty one.
Then, I see it - the bright red sign in the taxi that signals it is empty. I wave my hand firmly in the air, trying to help the driver realize that I have two children with me, am soaking wet and am interested in getting out of this situation at any cost. He glances over at me, hesitates a minute, and DRIVES OFF!!! I stood there, not sure whether to cry or yell. I'm sure it was one of those random "no-taxi's-allowed-to-stop-here" parts of the street, but he could have invoked the "damsel in distress" exception. EVERYONE knows about the damsel in distress exception, even mean-spirited taxi drivers and policemen who give traffic tickets.
but, since he didn't stop, I figured it was time to bail on my plan for buying the oven today. I sloshed my way back home, this time making no effort to avoid the puddles I had previously avoided, because the street is pretty much all puddles by now. Emma's stroller is literally taking on water at this point, though samantha is nice and dry. As I ignore the stares of curious on-lookers, hold the umbrella and samantha, and push emma, I realize with a grimace...the walk home is uphill. The age-old, shania twain question surfaces in my mind: did i really shave my legs for this?
we make it home, eat dinner, give everyone their baths, emma is now in bed, and here I sit...nice and dry, with my coke and chocolate covered almonds. I guess life is not so bad after all.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
when it rains, it pours!
It's an interesting thing about life over here. We've been on the run lately trying to purchase all these household necessities, like couches, microwaves, beds, curtains...and things like that. The strange thing is that everything must be ordered from somewhere (which I have no idea where that might be) so it takes days and weeks for you to actually enjoy the purchase you made. Maybe they do it that way so you won't have buyers remorse - you know, getting home with your big ticket item and then second guessing yourself for the rest of the night. No, once you finally get your purchases, you are so happy to finally have them, there's no second guessing at all. That's how it was with us yesterday.
We'd been waiting on our microwave, our curtains and our couch for 4 days, 5 days, and 10 days, respectively. For some odd reason, they all decided to conspire together and come at the exact same time yesterday afternoon. It all started at 3:45 when our landlord and her son "dropped by" to give us a gift she bought us. Body count: me, josh, emma, samantha, landlord, son - 5. She's sitting on our folding chairs, when the doorbell rings at 4:02 - the curtain people for emma's room. Body count: 7. 4:05 - the curtain people for our room. Up to 8 now. 4:12 - the couch people, making the body count 11. Then, 4:15 the microwave man finishing the body count at 12, all within the space of 15 minutes, all needing different things (what kind of curtain people don't bring thier own ladders to install curtains?) and jabbering to us about questions, wondering why the baby is crying, looking at emma's toys, asking for placement position of the couch...yeah, you get the picture. It was ultimate chaos for about an hour, until everyone left but the lone curtain man in our room. He was by himself trying to hang huge curtains, so it was slow going for a while with him. BUT, in the end it all got done and we now have our great couch and can walk around without feeling our privacy is being invaded. Woo hoo!
Today, emma discovered that she has "tiptoes". She stretched out her toes when she was walkign this morning, rocked forward and accidentally took a step forward. She looked questioningly toward us, like "was I supposed to do that?" When we clapped and gave her our enthusiastic affirmation, she decided that today was walk-on-tiptoes day. But she does it so funny - she spreads her legs way out and holds out her arms for additional balance!
We also decided it was time for emma to start learning to eat with a spoon and fork, like the rest of the human race. Anticipating that we would make this transition, we planned ahead and bought some Dora forks and spoons that we brought with us. Two nights ago, when we introduced the fork and spoon (josh and I were eating nachos - how's that for setting an example to not eat with your hands?!) emma made her first complete delivery. We clapped and cheered her on, and we said, "Yay, emma!" emma smiled really big and said, "yay, dora dora!" What a humble girl, giving credit where credit is due! haha!
We'd been waiting on our microwave, our curtains and our couch for 4 days, 5 days, and 10 days, respectively. For some odd reason, they all decided to conspire together and come at the exact same time yesterday afternoon. It all started at 3:45 when our landlord and her son "dropped by" to give us a gift she bought us. Body count: me, josh, emma, samantha, landlord, son - 5. She's sitting on our folding chairs, when the doorbell rings at 4:02 - the curtain people for emma's room. Body count: 7. 4:05 - the curtain people for our room. Up to 8 now. 4:12 - the couch people, making the body count 11. Then, 4:15 the microwave man finishing the body count at 12, all within the space of 15 minutes, all needing different things (what kind of curtain people don't bring thier own ladders to install curtains?) and jabbering to us about questions, wondering why the baby is crying, looking at emma's toys, asking for placement position of the couch...yeah, you get the picture. It was ultimate chaos for about an hour, until everyone left but the lone curtain man in our room. He was by himself trying to hang huge curtains, so it was slow going for a while with him. BUT, in the end it all got done and we now have our great couch and can walk around without feeling our privacy is being invaded. Woo hoo!
Today, emma discovered that she has "tiptoes". She stretched out her toes when she was walkign this morning, rocked forward and accidentally took a step forward. She looked questioningly toward us, like "was I supposed to do that?" When we clapped and gave her our enthusiastic affirmation, she decided that today was walk-on-tiptoes day. But she does it so funny - she spreads her legs way out and holds out her arms for additional balance!
We also decided it was time for emma to start learning to eat with a spoon and fork, like the rest of the human race. Anticipating that we would make this transition, we planned ahead and bought some Dora forks and spoons that we brought with us. Two nights ago, when we introduced the fork and spoon (josh and I were eating nachos - how's that for setting an example to not eat with your hands?!) emma made her first complete delivery. We clapped and cheered her on, and we said, "Yay, emma!" emma smiled really big and said, "yay, dora dora!" What a humble girl, giving credit where credit is due! haha!
Sunday, August 27, 2006
and then there was pizza hut...
For all westerners traveling abroad, there are certain things that bring warm fuzzies and thoughts of home. Generally, they center around food, but I suppose other things could qualify as well. Where we live, those familiar Golden Arches, Colonel Sanders and his chicken company (who emma thinks is her pawpaw), and Pizza Hut provide a welcome break from asian stir-fry.
Thanks to increasing globalization and western domination, we can enjoy these tasty morsels just as if we were in America. But, there is one disconcerting issue with Pizza Hut. For me, it's not so much of a problem, but Josh is the kind of guy that likes lots of pizza sauce on his pizza. The pizza huts here just don't give you an abundance of sauce, so occasionally, when the sauce is REALLY sparse, he will ask for a small bowl of extra pizza sauce. We were out the other day with some friends enjoying our American special (pepperoni and cheese) and the guy we were with was commiserating with josh about how little sauce they put on the pizza. Emboldened by their shared misfortune, they asked the waitress for an extra bowl of sauce. But, they clarified, it's not ketchup. (ketchup and tomato sauce translate almost the exact same way) She gave them a puzzled look and said, "I'm sorry, we can't do that." They explained that it's been done before and if she just goes back to ask the cook for an extra bowl of sauce, it shouldn't be a problem at all. She goes back to the kitchen and comes back, even more confused.
The cook, she said, doesnt' know what you mean. So, josh and andy ask for the assistant manager and explain their plight to her. What was originally just a small request has turned into a store-wide drama to figure out what exactly it is that the foreigner wants and why they want it. The manager thinks she has it figured out, so she scurries back to the kitchen. She returns, emptyhanded, and asks (this time, she too is puzzled) if we want it raw or cooked. The four of look at each other, totally not following what is happening, but we agree that whatever she's talking about we probably would want it cooked. Then she emphatically says, "It's called (.....)" We had no idea what (....) was, but we figured she was just telling us the correct name so that next time we wouldn't have this drama. So we, like good language students, repeat it multiple times as she trots off to the kitchen.
She returns just a few minutes later, with a proud look on her face as she presents to us a plate of fried cheese. Just mozzerella cheese, put on a plate and sent through the oven. We didn't have the heart - or the energy - to tell her that something was lost in translation. We thanked her superfluously for her efforts and ate our pizza with the extra cheese with quite a lot of gusto, to give her face in front of all her coworkers who watched the drama unfold. We have never received so many strange looks as we did that day!
Thanks to increasing globalization and western domination, we can enjoy these tasty morsels just as if we were in America. But, there is one disconcerting issue with Pizza Hut. For me, it's not so much of a problem, but Josh is the kind of guy that likes lots of pizza sauce on his pizza. The pizza huts here just don't give you an abundance of sauce, so occasionally, when the sauce is REALLY sparse, he will ask for a small bowl of extra pizza sauce. We were out the other day with some friends enjoying our American special (pepperoni and cheese) and the guy we were with was commiserating with josh about how little sauce they put on the pizza. Emboldened by their shared misfortune, they asked the waitress for an extra bowl of sauce. But, they clarified, it's not ketchup. (ketchup and tomato sauce translate almost the exact same way) She gave them a puzzled look and said, "I'm sorry, we can't do that." They explained that it's been done before and if she just goes back to ask the cook for an extra bowl of sauce, it shouldn't be a problem at all. She goes back to the kitchen and comes back, even more confused.
The cook, she said, doesnt' know what you mean. So, josh and andy ask for the assistant manager and explain their plight to her. What was originally just a small request has turned into a store-wide drama to figure out what exactly it is that the foreigner wants and why they want it. The manager thinks she has it figured out, so she scurries back to the kitchen. She returns, emptyhanded, and asks (this time, she too is puzzled) if we want it raw or cooked. The four of look at each other, totally not following what is happening, but we agree that whatever she's talking about we probably would want it cooked. Then she emphatically says, "It's called (.....)" We had no idea what (....) was, but we figured she was just telling us the correct name so that next time we wouldn't have this drama. So we, like good language students, repeat it multiple times as she trots off to the kitchen.
She returns just a few minutes later, with a proud look on her face as she presents to us a plate of fried cheese. Just mozzerella cheese, put on a plate and sent through the oven. We didn't have the heart - or the energy - to tell her that something was lost in translation. We thanked her superfluously for her efforts and ate our pizza with the extra cheese with quite a lot of gusto, to give her face in front of all her coworkers who watched the drama unfold. We have never received so many strange looks as we did that day!
Saturday, August 26, 2006
lessons in language learning
It seems that everyone in my family is trying to learn a new language. Josh went out yesterday with a foreign friend to go buy a wireless router for our house (making our internet access much more convenient). His friend needed to buy a paper shredder. So, off they go to the electronics plaza place where you can pretty much buy anything that has a cord on the end of it. Josh finds the router easily, so they go look at some shredders. At this one particular store, they are conversing with the shopkeeper (not in english, of course) about different features of shredders. (this scenario is vastly beyond my own language ability; I'm so glad it was not me there!) The lady asks a question that is unintelligble to josh and the accompanying hand signs are no further help. The vocabulary she was using was obviously specific to shredders, a topic seldom studied in language school. :) Finally, she asks in cautious english "You want paper like noodles or like rice!? this one like noodles, this one like rice." So it must be true that asians can relate anything to rice!
Our daughter emma is also learning a new language, and she is constantly amazing us with how fast she says and imitates things. She has started putting two-word phrases together a lot: "mommy's toes", "samantha sneeze", "dora-dora hurt" (that's when she throws dora on the ground). But our recent favorites have come when she gets her consonants mixed up: bug becomes gub, boogers become goobers, and book becomes goop. Tonight emma pooped in the bathtub (our brand new bathtub) and she said, "oh dear!"
Our daughter emma is also learning a new language, and she is constantly amazing us with how fast she says and imitates things. She has started putting two-word phrases together a lot: "mommy's toes", "samantha sneeze", "dora-dora hurt" (that's when she throws dora on the ground). But our recent favorites have come when she gets her consonants mixed up: bug becomes gub, boogers become goobers, and book becomes goop. Tonight emma pooped in the bathtub (our brand new bathtub) and she said, "oh dear!"
Friday, August 25, 2006
Jumping on the bandwagon
So, I've been a little hesitant to start a blog, mostly because it's just one more thing to keep up with. But since most of my friends have them and I, of course, want to be seen as cool, hip and trendy, I decided to start one too. Actually, the more acute problem was that living in the States afforded me no interesting events to blog on. My life was pretty mundane and not really blog-worthy. Now that I'm back living overseas again, the blog factor is kicked up a notch.
Our transition back to our asia-home has been harder on my girls than I thought it would be. Well, that's not entirely true. Samantha is pretty much ok as long as she gets to eat and gets hugs, cuddles and smiles every day. Emma has been another story. If Emma doesn't get her afternoon nap (remember, she's 18 months now) everyone's day is history. Since arriving, her naptime has been really sporadic and we just pray that she goes down each day with as little fuss as possible. After having so many issues with going down for the nap peacefully, I was surprised when I put her down the other day. I gave her her kisses, her blanket, and this little stuffed animal she stole (but was then given to her) from her friend Clara Anne's house and left the room. I didn't hear a peep. I waited and waited, but all was quiet. I started doing the laundry and cleaning our floors (which, in our dusty and polluted city, seems to be a never-ending task). I breathed a sigh of relief, glad that at least one day came and went with no drama. Then, thirty minutes into her "naptime" I hear a mysterious thud from inside her room. I send josh to go in and check on her. When I hear nothing from him, I walk in to see for myself.
There sits Emma, our little "sleeping" emma, in her pack and play, covered in baby wipes. Somehow, she managed to pull the dispenser of baby wipes from a nearby shelf, and during those thirty quiet minutes she must have thoroughly enjoyed herself, pulling the wipes out one by one. For all the emma advocates out there, the story does not have a happy ending. Emma was flicked multiple times for the infraction (made much more serious because she has been told many times that wipes are off-limits). Well, anyway, she actually went to sleep after that. Amazing.
Our transition back to our asia-home has been harder on my girls than I thought it would be. Well, that's not entirely true. Samantha is pretty much ok as long as she gets to eat and gets hugs, cuddles and smiles every day. Emma has been another story. If Emma doesn't get her afternoon nap (remember, she's 18 months now) everyone's day is history. Since arriving, her naptime has been really sporadic and we just pray that she goes down each day with as little fuss as possible. After having so many issues with going down for the nap peacefully, I was surprised when I put her down the other day. I gave her her kisses, her blanket, and this little stuffed animal she stole (but was then given to her) from her friend Clara Anne's house and left the room. I didn't hear a peep. I waited and waited, but all was quiet. I started doing the laundry and cleaning our floors (which, in our dusty and polluted city, seems to be a never-ending task). I breathed a sigh of relief, glad that at least one day came and went with no drama. Then, thirty minutes into her "naptime" I hear a mysterious thud from inside her room. I send josh to go in and check on her. When I hear nothing from him, I walk in to see for myself.
There sits Emma, our little "sleeping" emma, in her pack and play, covered in baby wipes. Somehow, she managed to pull the dispenser of baby wipes from a nearby shelf, and during those thirty quiet minutes she must have thoroughly enjoyed herself, pulling the wipes out one by one. For all the emma advocates out there, the story does not have a happy ending. Emma was flicked multiple times for the infraction (made much more serious because she has been told many times that wipes are off-limits). Well, anyway, she actually went to sleep after that. Amazing.
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