Maita was so happy yesterday evening that she decided to read a book aloud to show her Mom. This was the first time I saw Maita read a book all by herself. I suspected that she already knew how to read but this was the very first confirmation of this suspicion. We are very encouraged by this as Maita is probably one of the few finishing the 3 year Montessori program who has picked up the ability to read. We hope that this gives her a good background for learning English as she grows up here in Taiwan.
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Ready for school
Probably two weeks ago, Erika went along on the car ride to Maita’s school. We sometimes do this as one of us needs more time at home to get ready. In this case, I just got back from Europe and needed more time to get organized for work.
When Erika came back home I noticed that she had a new toy, a music box. I asked L how much it cost and it was a whopping NT$ 500 for the new toy from the convenience store. We normally don’t buy toys anymore for our kids and there had to be a special reason for this purchase.
It turns out that Erika went into Maita’s classroom and did not want to leave anymore. She left the school crying and kept saying, “I want to go to school,” in the car. L had no choice but to take her to the nearest convenience store to buy whatever she wanted. Unfortunately, she picked an expensive toy.
We think that Erika should now be ready for pre-school. She’s basically already toilet trained and she can do most things by herself now. She’ll probably go starting summer this year. We hope that she’ll show similar progress as Maita but recognize that they are different and might have different results.
When Erika came back home I noticed that she had a new toy, a music box. I asked L how much it cost and it was a whopping NT$ 500 for the new toy from the convenience store. We normally don’t buy toys anymore for our kids and there had to be a special reason for this purchase.
It turns out that Erika went into Maita’s classroom and did not want to leave anymore. She left the school crying and kept saying, “I want to go to school,” in the car. L had no choice but to take her to the nearest convenience store to buy whatever she wanted. Unfortunately, she picked an expensive toy.
We think that Erika should now be ready for pre-school. She’s basically already toilet trained and she can do most things by herself now. She’ll probably go starting summer this year. We hope that she’ll show similar progress as Maita but recognize that they are different and might have different results.
Dance
Maita’s teacher from school called yesterday to ask whether they could let Maita join a Hsinchu city program this Saturday. From what I understood, the program allows Maita’s school to send two Da Ban (Big Class) students to perform a dance. Apparently, Maita’s dance teacher selected Maita and another student to represent the school.
We got the call while we were driving back to the office from a customer. L and I had a discussion about why Maita was chosen. From the previous yearly school programs, all the students had to get on stage to have a song and dance performance. Maita always struck us as being very concentrated and at times comical because she had the most exaggerated movements among her classmates. It shows that she concentrates quite well and is quite serious when she sets her mind to it. And, we think that’s the reason why the dance teacher picked Maita. She takes instruction well when she sets her mind to it.
L also remarked that if the choice was left to her normal teachers (the dance teacher is part of an extracurricular activity), Maita would not have been picked. When I asked why she thought this, L said that Maita had her own mind (and often strong opinions) and the other teachers might not like this in a student.
At the end of our working day, we went to pick up Maita. She was in a euphoric mood and this extended all the way to bed time! We’re guessing that she’s so happy she’d been picked to dance for the school.
We got the call while we were driving back to the office from a customer. L and I had a discussion about why Maita was chosen. From the previous yearly school programs, all the students had to get on stage to have a song and dance performance. Maita always struck us as being very concentrated and at times comical because she had the most exaggerated movements among her classmates. It shows that she concentrates quite well and is quite serious when she sets her mind to it. And, we think that’s the reason why the dance teacher picked Maita. She takes instruction well when she sets her mind to it.
L also remarked that if the choice was left to her normal teachers (the dance teacher is part of an extracurricular activity), Maita would not have been picked. When I asked why she thought this, L said that Maita had her own mind (and often strong opinions) and the other teachers might not like this in a student.
At the end of our working day, we went to pick up Maita. She was in a euphoric mood and this extended all the way to bed time! We’re guessing that she’s so happy she’d been picked to dance for the school.
Friday, February 10, 2006
Distances can be deceiving
Distances can be deceiving. From looking at a map, one would think that it would take only X amount of hours to travel a Y amount of distance. One thing I learned from our vacation to the east coast of Taiwan is to ask other people how long it takes to get from point A to point B. Before we embarked on that trip to Hualien, I asked my nephew and he told me it would take us 5 hours. I was a bit skeptical as the distance did not seem that far. Boy, was I wrong. Here’s a summary of the driving time and distance from Taipei to Hualien. I also include the time and distance for Taipei to Hsinchu for comparison.
Taipei to Hualien
Distance: approximately 200 kms.
Driving time: 5 hours minimum
Taipei to Hsinchu
Distance: approximately 90 km.
Driving time: 1 hour maximum (no traffic)
It actually took us 6 hours to get to Hualien with frequent stops because of a carsick child. The way back from Hualien to Taipei took 7 hours despite only one toilet stop. The traffic on the mountains increased the traveling time.
Taipei to Hualien
Distance: approximately 200 kms.
Driving time: 5 hours minimum
Taipei to Hsinchu
Distance: approximately 90 km.
Driving time: 1 hour maximum (no traffic)
It actually took us 6 hours to get to Hualien with frequent stops because of a carsick child. The way back from Hualien to Taipei took 7 hours despite only one toilet stop. The traffic on the mountains increased the traveling time.
Our Chinese New Year's Vacation
It has now been a week after the recent week-long Chinese New Year holidays. By now we’ve hopefully recovered from our slightly stressful vacation. In hindsight, the vacation was interesting but we’ll probably not repeat it again unless we have a much longer vacation time.
We spent 3 days in Hualien’s Ocean Park Resort. These 3 days were more like 2 days driving with one day of rest. Before we embarked on the drive to Hualien, we spent the night at L’s sister’s apartment. We left Taipei at around 8:40 am and drove towards Ilan using the new Pei-I (#5) highway. Part of the highway was open and it shortened the travel time a bit before we had to hit the mountain roads. It took us about 2 hours to get to Su Ao in Ilan. Upon reaching Su Ao, I was thinking that we would reach our destination in Hualien in about the same time of 2 hours. Eventually it took us another 4 hours before we got to Hualien. By the time we checked into our hotel room, all I wanted to do was stay in the room till about dinnertime. I’m glad I brought along my laptop and spend the time reading emails and internet surfing. The rest of our party – four kids, a set of parents, L, and our domestic helper, Nehriza went swimming in the hotel’s swimming pool.
We had reservations at the Chinese restaurant at the hotel and I waited for everyone to come eat dinner after their swim. We sat at a table right next to a small stone fountain that had no water. This small stone fountain was like a magnet to the two younger kids, Erika and Kenny. Both Erika and Kenny went up the fountain’s edge and walked around and around. Unfortunately, Kenny fell in and hit his head hard against a sharp edge. He had a small hole in his forehead that needed two stitches at a nearby hospital. To the hotel’s credit, they took Kenny and his parents to the hospital and back to the hotel later. Kenny was a bit shaken but otherwise fine.
The next morning was the high point of the vacation. We went down to Hualien Ocean Park and enjoyed the rides and the dolphin, sea lion, and mermaid shows. The place was jampacked with people but the main thing is that the kids enjoyed themselves. I don’t know about the other parents but I was there just to take pictures of my kids and my nephew and niece. At night we had dinner at a Japanese restaurant at the hotel and went swimming at the hotel’s pool. This time I went to enjoy the pool. It was quite interesting as there were three pools with different temperatures. The kiddie pool had 34ºC water, another Jacuzzi like pool had 39ºC, and the main pool for swimming had 30ºC.
On the third day, we had to drive back to Taipei then to Hsinchu. We had a heavy breakfast and packed along some food to eat on the way back to Taipei. We did not plan on stopping for lunch along the way. We left at a little over half past ten in the morning and got to Taipei at around 5:30pm – 7 hours of driving. We drove the van and it had enough space for all of us, plus our luggage. Maita displayed her special talent by sleeping for most of the trip to Taipei – she must have slept 4 or 5 hours.
We had dinner in Taipei before driving home to Hsinchu. This trip home took approximately one hour of driving.
We spent 3 days in Hualien’s Ocean Park Resort. These 3 days were more like 2 days driving with one day of rest. Before we embarked on the drive to Hualien, we spent the night at L’s sister’s apartment. We left Taipei at around 8:40 am and drove towards Ilan using the new Pei-I (#5) highway. Part of the highway was open and it shortened the travel time a bit before we had to hit the mountain roads. It took us about 2 hours to get to Su Ao in Ilan. Upon reaching Su Ao, I was thinking that we would reach our destination in Hualien in about the same time of 2 hours. Eventually it took us another 4 hours before we got to Hualien. By the time we checked into our hotel room, all I wanted to do was stay in the room till about dinnertime. I’m glad I brought along my laptop and spend the time reading emails and internet surfing. The rest of our party – four kids, a set of parents, L, and our domestic helper, Nehriza went swimming in the hotel’s swimming pool.
We had reservations at the Chinese restaurant at the hotel and I waited for everyone to come eat dinner after their swim. We sat at a table right next to a small stone fountain that had no water. This small stone fountain was like a magnet to the two younger kids, Erika and Kenny. Both Erika and Kenny went up the fountain’s edge and walked around and around. Unfortunately, Kenny fell in and hit his head hard against a sharp edge. He had a small hole in his forehead that needed two stitches at a nearby hospital. To the hotel’s credit, they took Kenny and his parents to the hospital and back to the hotel later. Kenny was a bit shaken but otherwise fine.
The next morning was the high point of the vacation. We went down to Hualien Ocean Park and enjoyed the rides and the dolphin, sea lion, and mermaid shows. The place was jampacked with people but the main thing is that the kids enjoyed themselves. I don’t know about the other parents but I was there just to take pictures of my kids and my nephew and niece. At night we had dinner at a Japanese restaurant at the hotel and went swimming at the hotel’s pool. This time I went to enjoy the pool. It was quite interesting as there were three pools with different temperatures. The kiddie pool had 34ºC water, another Jacuzzi like pool had 39ºC, and the main pool for swimming had 30ºC.
On the third day, we had to drive back to Taipei then to Hsinchu. We had a heavy breakfast and packed along some food to eat on the way back to Taipei. We did not plan on stopping for lunch along the way. We left at a little over half past ten in the morning and got to Taipei at around 5:30pm – 7 hours of driving. We drove the van and it had enough space for all of us, plus our luggage. Maita displayed her special talent by sleeping for most of the trip to Taipei – she must have slept 4 or 5 hours.
We had dinner in Taipei before driving home to Hsinchu. This trip home took approximately one hour of driving.
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Van Break-in!
Someone broke into our van last week. We did not use it for about two weeks and it was just parked on a road outside our office.
This is already the second time that something like this has happened to our van. The first time the van was broken into, the person tried to steal the van. He was unsuccessful and I had to spend money to fix up the damage – some wires were cut, a side window broken, and the lock on one of the doors was removed. I changed the locks as I suspected that the thief took the lock to make a key that would open and start the van.
On this second break-in, a window was broken and the engine hood was opened. I learned later from the shop that the thief was probably trying to steal the van’s computer. On gasoline VW T4s, this computer is located just next to the car battery. Fortunately, our van is a diesel and on this model there is no computer. This computer costs about NT$40,000 new. And there were a bunch of vans in the shop waiting for the suddenly out of stock computer which had to be shipped from Germany.
We reported the break-in to the police and were advised to park the van near a residence area instead of just anywhere. Thefts are also probably up because Chinese New Year is just around the corner. Everyone needs more money for the holidays.
This is already the second time that something like this has happened to our van. The first time the van was broken into, the person tried to steal the van. He was unsuccessful and I had to spend money to fix up the damage – some wires were cut, a side window broken, and the lock on one of the doors was removed. I changed the locks as I suspected that the thief took the lock to make a key that would open and start the van.
On this second break-in, a window was broken and the engine hood was opened. I learned later from the shop that the thief was probably trying to steal the van’s computer. On gasoline VW T4s, this computer is located just next to the car battery. Fortunately, our van is a diesel and on this model there is no computer. This computer costs about NT$40,000 new. And there were a bunch of vans in the shop waiting for the suddenly out of stock computer which had to be shipped from Germany.
We reported the break-in to the police and were advised to park the van near a residence area instead of just anywhere. Thefts are also probably up because Chinese New Year is just around the corner. Everyone needs more money for the holidays.
Hsiang San
This past Saturday, we took Maita and Erika to the nearby Hsiang San (Fragrant Mountain) train station. This train station is said to be the oldest wooden train station still being used in Taiwan. It was interesting to see as this station was built during the Japanese times. The station itself was small and it was manned by only one person. I could see some beams infested by termites. I hope someone is aware of this and will someday fix or replace these termite infested beams. It would be a pity to lose this historical site.
The highlight of the trip was the train ride to a nearby stop – Chunan. Maita and Erika were both very excited to be on the train. You could see how difficult it was for Maita to suppress her smile while she was on the train.
The ride to Chunan was short but had good scenery. The train tracks were near the sea and we saw a lot of those new windmills for generating electricity. When we got to Chunan, we looked for a place to take lunch. We had some noodles and rice at a nearby food stall. Then we went back to the train station to wait before taking the train back to Hsian San. While at the train station, Erika kept wanting to ride the orange train. The particular train that we took was blue and the orange train was another line. A new word for Erika that day was “cargo” train. Cargo was the word that came to my mind when Erika pointed out the black train that looked so different from our passenger train.
The highlight of the trip was the train ride to a nearby stop – Chunan. Maita and Erika were both very excited to be on the train. You could see how difficult it was for Maita to suppress her smile while she was on the train.
The ride to Chunan was short but had good scenery. The train tracks were near the sea and we saw a lot of those new windmills for generating electricity. When we got to Chunan, we looked for a place to take lunch. We had some noodles and rice at a nearby food stall. Then we went back to the train station to wait before taking the train back to Hsian San. While at the train station, Erika kept wanting to ride the orange train. The particular train that we took was blue and the orange train was another line. A new word for Erika that day was “cargo” train. Cargo was the word that came to my mind when Erika pointed out the black train that looked so different from our passenger train.
Saturday, December 31, 2005
The Magic Words
For some reason, Erika seems terrified of this particular illustration of Blackbeard, the pirate. It is on one of the picture books that we often look at and read. When she first saw the illustration she just got off my lap, ran away and stood a distance from me and the book. She’ll probably get over this fear in due time.
But in the meantime, I was able to use this fear as one of my magic words to convince her to follow me. One use of this was during bed time last night. Maita was long asleep as she’s a bit sick and she normally gets to sleep earlier than Erika. Erika wanted to go out of the room to play. I told her that the pirate is out there and she decided to stay in the room.
This afternoon, after coming back from lunch and grocery shopping, it was time to put both girls to sleep. I tried to convince Erika to go to the toilet before sleeping. Her mom also tried but was not successful either. The use of the magic words allowed me to finally get her to go to the toilet to pee. I told her that if she needed to pee the pirate will help her. She said she didn’t want that and I told her that she better let me help her then. She dutifully followed me to the toilet to do her thing.
A similar thing happened at dinner time. We tried to convince Erika to eat dinner but anything we said seemed to fall on deaf ears. She just ignored us and continued to look at her book. She did eat one yellow kiwi and some apple when she woke up at 5:00pm. I asked if she wanted to eat some Hwo Long Kuo (Dragon Fruit) and she pretended not to hear. The magic words that finally worked were Honey Crunch (the honey and nut coated breakfast cereal).
As I write this final post of the year, I think about the challenges in raising our two young daughters. For Erika the current challenge is to teach her to visit the toilet in a timely manner. Given that she’s three and learning to assert herself, we hope that eventually we are able to instill the habit of regular toilet visits. Hopefully, we can reduce the scrambles to the toilet whenever Erika gets that tingling feeling that’s a certain sign that she can’t hold it in anymore.
For Maita, the challenge is a bit different. She’s quite headstrong and she has to learn to compromise and share. She ends the year slightly sick. We remind her that she should have taken an extra jacket to wear in school yesterday. Her classroom is a lot colder than our home and she needs to wear more when she’s at school. We hope she sees the cause and effect of her actions.
I end this post with a picture of Maita when she’s about Erika’s age. I think it's a fitting end to the year. I like her smiling face when I picked this photo of her. I’m glad that I was able to improve it with photoshop.
18 Peak Mountain
We had two nice weekends before the cold weather came. During these two weekends, I took Maita and Erika to a popular local destination for walking – 18 Peak Mountain. This hiking trail is popular with many locals and is located quite near the Hsinchu city center. It’s a nice 20 minute walk to the top. I hesitate to call it the top of the mountain as it is more of a hill.
On the gentle slope up to the top, you can see lots of greenery and also flowers. On previous walks, we would even see squirrels scampering around some of the trees. I was looking out for squirrels to point out to both girls but unfortunately no squirrels were in sight.
Both trips to the top were rewarded with a taste of locally made ice cream. On both of these trips, Maita and Erika each had one ice cream cone. They quickly finished the ice cream cone then promptly asked for another one. As it was close to lunch time, I just obliged and got the second ice cream cone. They were able to try different flavors such as strawberry, taro root, and pineapple. In their eyes, these were the pink, purple, and yellow ice cream.
Monday, December 05, 2005
Merry Go Round
Yesterday was a cold and windy day. The weather has turned cold due to an approaching cold front.
I took Maita and Erika to the nearby Hsinchu Zoo. The objective of the trip was to see the hippopotamus, orangutan, and other animals. I did not find a parking place at the park so had to park under the overpass. This meant that we had to pass the flower market on the way to the zoo. It was then that Erika saw the merry go round. She wanted to ride it immediately but it was not possible as the old lady manning it was still setting it up. I managed to convince her to go to the zoo first and ride the merry go round when we come out.
The wind was quite cold and I was worried that Erika didn't have enough clothes. So we quickly finished looking at the animals and came out to ride the merry go round. These are the pictures I took using an old digital camera.
Friday, December 02, 2005
Maita's Stories
This week Maita asked her mom to help her write down her stories. She prepared three cards with some drawings and each card had a story to tell. These recent activities (the card drawing and storytelling) are a reflection of what Maita has been doing in school. I'm not sure whether it is a combination of two activities or just one main activity. I do know that Maita attends an art class once a week and the teachers for the storytelling and the art class are two different ladies.
Story 1
Long, long ago, there was a boy who ran up the 18 Peak Mountain. He climbed up to a very high place where it is very cool. At the top, he ate an ice cream cone. The way down was very steep and he was afraid he would fall down. Later, when he went home he ate lunch then played with his toys. After playing for awhile, he took a nap. When he woke up from his nap, he went to Hoping Hotel to eat dinner. After dinner, he went to skating class. Christmas is here and the boy got ready to go to sleep. When he woke up, he saw that there were three presents under the Christmas tree. One present was a train, another was a book, and the other present was a toy.
Story 2
Long, long ago, there was a girl who ran into the forest. In the deep forest she met a flower, a really beautiful flower. She also met a beautiful apple tree. There was an apple in the apple tree. She met a beautiful butterfly and also a beautiful bumblebee. She saw a boy and girl get married. When she went home she did her homework. After doing her homework, she played with her toys. After playing with her toys, she went to skating class.
Story 3
Long, long ago, there was a girl who ran up the mountain. She went too high and she needed to find a way to come down. At the top of the mountain she ate an ice cream cone. Then she went home and ate lunch. After lunch, she took a nap. When she woke up she had dinner then played with her toys.
It's interesting and funny to read these stories. For they are a combination of actual places and activities that we've done together. I've been taking both girls to a nearby place called 18 Peak Mountain. At the top they have each eaten ice cream. We were there again last weekend and we climbed down a very steep staircase on the way to the parking lot.
Thursday, November 24, 2005
More pictures of Maita
These pictures of Maita were taken earlier this year before Maita lost her two front teeth. The close-ups were taken in our apartment while the picture of her back was taken in Windance, a nearby shopping mall.
You've come a long way baby!
This picture was taken probably around 2 years ago. Erika is now a 3 year old and is learning to assert herself. She likes to pick out her own clothes. It's constantly a challenge to try to steer her to pick more appropriate clothing. It has been a bit difficult these past few days as she's been picking her dresses. With the increasingly cold weather, it is not the best choice. Thank goodness for stockings!
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Hsinchu's East Gate
I believe this picture was taken with my Yashica rangefinder. I spent quite a bit of time working on this image in Photoshop. I'm still not sure whether this is the best version of the picture.
Some pictures of Erika
These two pictures were taken in the Holland Village outdoor playground.
This was taken at home right after in-line skating. This is one of the few flash shots that i really like. I used my Nikon FM2 for this shot. The two shots in the playground must have been shot with the Minolta rangefinder camera.
This is Erika drinking her milk on the sofa. Despite just turning three this month, Erika still drinks her milk just before going to sleep.
Some pictures of Maita
These two pictures were taken at Hsinchu's East Gate. Sometimes, the door to the gate is open and you can actually walk up to take a look. These were taken while Maita was on her way down the ladder.
Monday, November 14, 2005
Manila ice cream
On Saturday morning, I took the two girls down for a walk to the convenience store. They wanted to buy some ice cream and I needed to go buy the morning paper. Maita chose the chocolate ice cream while Erika picked the vanilla ice cream. I told Erika her ice cream was Vanilla flavored. "Manila ice cream?" repeated Erika. "No, no, not Manila ice cream! Vanilla ice cream! Vanilla ice cream!" "Lola is in Manila and you are eating Vanilla ice cream!," I repeated on the way home. Erika repeated, "Vanilla, not Manila ice cream. Lola is in Manila"
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
In-line skating
After dinner Maita declared, "I want to roller roller skate." She took out her in-line skates and padding then asked me to help her put everything on. Erika then also said that she wants to roller roller skate. While helping Maita put on her padding, I tell Erika to go get her socks. Erika ran to their room to get her socks. When she came back out I notice that she changed from her red T-shirt to a pink T-shirt. But no socks. "Erika, go get your socks," I tell her again. Erika runs back to the room and comes back with a pair of socks. While helping her put on the socks, I notice that she has again changed. This time she changed to a white T-shirt.
Skating around the apartment while waiting for their mom to get ready, I notice how good they've become at in-line skating - the direct results of the almost daily skating and the once a week skating classes.
Monday, October 31, 2005
Eri-eri-alaka
"Eri-eri-erika, Eri-eri-alaka," called the big sister Maita. And so that was how our second daughter got her names. Maita used so many variations of Erika's name that most of them just stuck. Erika, Kala, Alaka - these are among the most commonly used names that we call the baby in our family.
I also sometimes call her my little princess. But she was, literally, a little witch last night. She kept me up till about midnight before she went to sleep. She was so in love with her witch costume that she took her pajamas off to change to her normal clothes. I then had to help her put on the witch costume which she wore to bed. So she woke up this morning as my little witch!
I also sometimes call her my little princess. But she was, literally, a little witch last night. She kept me up till about midnight before she went to sleep. She was so in love with her witch costume that she took her pajamas off to change to her normal clothes. I then had to help her put on the witch costume which she wore to bed. So she woke up this morning as my little witch!
Happy Halloween!
Yesterday, instead of going to market, we decided to go to B&Q to do our shopping and have lunch at the MacDonalds in the basement. B&Q is located in the same building as Geant so we are able to conveniently do all our shopping in one place. Although we were still early for lunch, we decided to beat the rush and take lunch before doing all our shopping. The highlight for lunch was the free toy from MacDonald's.
The next activity after lunch was the hardware shopping for the new car. We had to get some sun shades and a box for organizing the trunk. The main highlight here was the halloween costumes that we bought for our two girls. Erika got the witch costume together with a hat and matching broom. Maita got the wizard costume complete with the Harry Potter glasses and wizard hat. After paying for the B&Q purchases, I had to take all the stuff to the car before continuing the shopping trip for food items at Geant.
We finally finished all the weekly shopping and was back home at around 3 pm. My two little girls were tired but couldn't resist trying on their halloween costumes. They took their naps a half hour later and it was quiet at last.
The next activity after lunch was the hardware shopping for the new car. We had to get some sun shades and a box for organizing the trunk. The main highlight here was the halloween costumes that we bought for our two girls. Erika got the witch costume together with a hat and matching broom. Maita got the wizard costume complete with the Harry Potter glasses and wizard hat. After paying for the B&Q purchases, I had to take all the stuff to the car before continuing the shopping trip for food items at Geant.
We finally finished all the weekly shopping and was back home at around 3 pm. My two little girls were tired but couldn't resist trying on their halloween costumes. They took their naps a half hour later and it was quiet at last.
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