Children free weekend!

This weekend I had a children-free weekend, starting from saturday morning around 9 am until sunday around 10 pm!!! It's so nice to have a couple of days on your own, I don't want or need it every day, but sometimes I do and then it's really great that both kids can be with their father (they went to his parents) and I can have MY TIME.

So....what did I do with all that free-time?

Well, saturday morning I had a ”date” with Michele at the The European School's Christmas Bazaar. We were there to sell some of Michele's stuff. It started 11 am and we arrived with style....a little after 11 am..... ;)

It was really nice to hang out with Michele that day, just her and me with no kids wanting their mother's attention. We could talk, gossip, eat and drink. We DID, of course, also sell a good amount of her stuff too! When the bazaar was finish around 5.30 pm we went back to Michele's place with the rest and I went home – I recently dicovered that one of the busses near my building goes to Michele's area, so I wanted to try this route home. Me being a bit ”stupid” again, took the bus the wrong direction! Yep....bravo...but in all fairness, the bus don't say which direction it's headed, it has BOTH directions listed, so you really need to know which side of the road, you want to jump on the bus. I think I rode the bus maybe 15 min in the wrong direction before getting off and on the mrt (metro) the RIGHT way! When I finally was back home, it was almost 1½ hours later than expected ....

On my way home I passed a street puppetshow, I took a quick picture and walked away. I was too tired to stay and watch....and to listen. It's kinda loud :) But I actually want to try see one longer than just 3 min. I remember the first time I came here to Taiwan, my friend Joney (husband's sister) took me out and we passed a street theater, I didn't understand one word of what they saying but I understood the meaning (the lost love and getting it back). It was a really good experience and the performance was exellent! Yes, I do know there is a difference between humans and puppets... ;)

I showered and ate my dinner (wanted to get curry but it closed 8.30, I was 5 min too late -damn bus 257) and watched Tropic Thunder. Funny, funny movie!

I wanted to go to bed around midnight, but I've been trying to make a bag the last couple of days, so I really wanted to finish it – and I did! It took me an extra 1½ hour (slow, I know, but I took my time, since there weren't any kids to look after) but I think my proto bag look nice. There are some details I need work on, but it's still a little funky, don't you think?? ;)

Sunday I slept until 11.30, boy, that was nice! Then I got up, went for lunch (CURRY), ate and watched a Miss No Good (episode 11, Tang Men kisses Xiao Hua, YAY!) and then I cleaned the apartment while listening to music (I really dig NKOB new album, check it some of it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw8RBL5_auk&feature=iv&annotation_id=event_774569 ). And because I was listening to music the cleaning took about 5 hours – I had to dance a couple of time, right!

Hope you guys, like me, had a nice weekend!!

Shopping with Karri and Annabel

My friend Karri is back in Taiwan for 2 weeks vacation and catching up, so we did just that – and some shopping. We (Me, Mila, Karri and her lovely daughter Annabel) went to a place called Wufenpu commercial area in Nangang, Taipei City where there are heaps of clothing-stores. Most of them only sell by the bulk, which mean you either have to be a family of 30 people or you have your own store! We did find stores that would sell a more suitable quantity and it was still cheap! I bought 5 pieces (pants and sweaters) for Mila and Victor and paid only 100nt$ pr item (about DKK 18).

My canon ixus camera broke a few weeks ago, so I found my older one again and it works...sort of. It can only take somewhat good pictures in black & white, so until I get a new one at some point (no rush, since I still have my big canon EOS 400D), you'll have to settle for these b&w blury photos. We went there around 12 and only a few stores were open at that time, so we walked around (for a while) for some lunch. We had some nice beef noodles and wonton noodles. Yum! And by the time we were finished most stores were up and running, but I forgot to take pictures then......

Video clip of the little girl

Mila is walking. For real now, not just a few steps, so she is all over the place!

17.th November 2008. Victor 3 years old

This is the day after Victor's birthday party. On his actual birthday he got an extra present from my family – a digital camera for kids. He LOVES it, so he click and click and click – he even had to bring it to his kindergarten!

The day after I had to have some extra help to get the big trash downstairs. I used the double stroller we've got.

Baichi wai guo ren!

Yes, that would be me – stupid foreigner!

So....here I am, a simple housewife doing the laundry for the four of us. Doing the usual routine, stuffing the machine and adding some soap, pushing start and leave to do other stuff.

After an hour or so, I go check on the laundry, since it should be finish by now. But no...still haven't tumbled the water out. Hm.

Try to start over. Completely. Press stop af few times (it's already at full stop. Not moving AT ALL) and then start again. Water starts to fill up. I'm confused. The machine actually look broken to me, like the inside tumble-thingy have fallen down!!!! And come to think of it, it DID make some loud noises earlier. Better call husband – so I did, and he had a guy come to look at it.

After 15 min of looking at the machine, he came back and said: OK. Nothing is wrong. Just wrong programme. That will be 300 Nt$...

DOH! So apparently I've pushed some wrong buttons so it wasn't set correct and the tumble inside is just fine, the reason why it looked like it had fallen down is simply because of the weight (water and clothes) and it's ”back to normal” when there is nothing inside.

I'm so stupid and feel SO embarrassed that I've actually had to have a handy-man (not even good looking!) to come and tell me it's JUST FINE!

Ai yo....wo yige baichi....

Luckly this don't happen so often!

Victor's first birthday party

Today is the day before Victor's birthday, so we invited some of his friends over.

The guestlist were:
Brendan & Michele
Conrad, Rita, Leo & Kate
Ian, Aidan, Brian & Carol
Brandon, Kaylee & Sherry
gu gu Leona & Antony

I told Victor we would have a party in his honour today, but he keep saying "hurray" followed by "Thomas & Lene". Last time we said hurray was when my older brother got married to his girl, and we tried to teach Victor to say it. I keep telling Victor that today the hurray is for him and not Thomas & Lene, not sure he really understood untill the cake arrived!

We had lots of food to start of the day, some home cooked and some special delivered from Mac D to 10th floor. I was afraid there wouldn't be enough. Husband made 4 chinese/taiwanese dishes and they were eaten in like 2 seconds!!! He is now known as The Bamboo King!
(it's really good and spicy, and it's one of my favorite dishes, but it's ONLY husband who can make it....of course.....)


After eating and kids runing around making lots of noise (laughter, screaming, singing and some more laughter), it was time for cake and presents. Victor looked so happy when the cake came and was placed in front of him. I had put more candles on the cake, so all the kids could help Victor blow. I had to lid them up again, since first time not all the kids were ready, but they liked it just as much as first time!!! :)

When opening presents each gift were recieved by joyfull outburst from pretty much all the kids, so we all knew the gifts were a good pick.
He got a big Thomas trainset (thanks guys!), music instruments (thanks guys!) and a cash register (thanks guys!) - and he will actually get two more presents tomorrow on his acutal birthday (but don't tell).










After playing for while, it was time to burn off some MORE energy (is that really possible!?) so we went downstairs at our playarea in the lobby. There's 3 slides and some hide & seak tunnels for the kids to play on. And all kids love that stuff and can spend hours after hours runing around, sliding, climing and jumping.


The party ended around 4.30 and we send them off by
givingeach kid a small party-favor-bag, something I had wrapped the night before containing a few snacks, note-pad and crayons.
I think it went well, but I might wanna hire someone to clean after next year!

Thanks to every little soul that was there today at our party today, it meant a lot and we wont forget - xie xie ni men

Time on my hands

No. Not really, but just to let you know how I did on the sewing machine, I'll show you my first cotton-wallet. With Hakka print fabric.
Yea.....Mila gets to play with it, now stop laughing!!!!!!!



The other day when outside walking I was looking for my cell-phone in my new little handbag and guess what, it was a hassle to find it?! How is that possible? If I have a big bag, I can't find anything. If I have a small bag, I STILL can't find anything. Except for those extra diapers I have to bring in case of emergency...
Well, so I wanted to find something to put on my cell-phone. One of those gadgets thingys, young kids have....All I could find was this:

SHOOT ME NOW!!!!!!!!

Sleep over

Last week (sunday to monday) we had visitors for a sleepover. Michele and Brendan.
We had fun! -Allthough this first photo of the kids shows "otherwise". Fighting over a toy. Boys....
Especially the following day, since the evening went with eating dinner, playing and then trying to convince the kids it REALLY is time for bed. I had to run to kids room godzillian times and Michele had Bren stuck on her untill midnight.Then the girls had some time to gossip, look tv and even chit-chatting on the msn. Of course that was just to bug each other...


Eventhough it was a school day, I decided to keep Victor home, because he wouldn't have gone to kindergarten with a good mood anyway. So the boys played and then they did art. Two pretty butterflies, nice done boys! And thanks, Michele, for always being fun and creative, it's good to know at least ONE mama is on the top of her game.........


After dinner, they had to go home. Michele is the proud owner of 7 cats. They had been "mia-owing" all day for her. Could hear it all the way from Taipei to Sinjhuang. For sure!
M & B - I hope you'll come visit again!

Kethup

Today Mila and I went to the fabric market to look at........surprise....fabrics! Since I got the new sewing machine, I think it'd be worth the money, if I actually made something! I just bought some samples because buying large pieces would be kinda risky. What if I'm a disaster, then it would a a waste with all that fabric.
The fabric market is huge! There is SO much pretty fabrics, so I might go again for a second, third, forth.....hundredth look!!
This is my favorite of today's buy:



Moving along - before we went to the fabric market we had some lunch. Burger King on 2nd floor at Taipei Main Station. There is only food and drinks on 2nd floor and a lot to choose from. We went for burgers today - Burger King IS the best fast-food-joint comparing with Mac Donald and KFC.
Mila had some fries and she had her first taste of kethup today. What do you think, did she enjoy the taste???


Last week, I went to Mingyao department store just next to Zhongxiao Dunhua mrt station (exit 3!). There is on 11th floor a store called Daiso, where you can get almost anything (not food, though. Only if you consider chocolate at food!!!) at nt $ 39, which is DKK 7. This is similar the danish store, TIGER (the difference between Daiso and Tiger is, at Daiso IS IT 39 for 1 item, no matter how small or big the item is, oh, and that Daiso is japanese). I went to buy things for Victor's upcoming birthday party. I want to make a birthday cake, like I always do in Denmark for birthdays, so I need a few things.
These places I go to - I usually go with my friend, Michele. She is my navigator to this city!!!
Maybe I should give her a flag next time. "Michele's guided tour to Taiwan's shopping-treasures". I'll give her a hat too, then I won't be lost from the tour-group....
Last weeks tour-group: Mila, Mama T, Michele and Brendan!!!

Today's buy

So.. today I went out to buy lunch, I was craving for some nice chicken curry (with rice) and I know of this place in the area called curry888. It should be curry namnam because it's really goooooood.
Right, mom?? My mother loves this dish too - she just prefers it without the rice, though.


I also picked up something for mila, since the curry is a bit spicy, not much but just enough for my kids anyway. So I bought her "ru rou fan" which is braised pork meat with gravy on plain rice (usually plain rice). This one taste a bit different from the rest I've tried, there is not so much gravy on this one. I like ru rou fan a lot, it's such a simple and tastefull dish.


Then I bought dessert.
It's zhen zhu with some sort of black jelly (please, anybody who knows what it really is, correct me) and shredded ice. It is also very good, but I guess you have to like eating the zhen zhu because there is a lot in this dessert!! These are the small zhen zhu I was talking about in my other post, the ones I like the most.



Oh yea...
And then I bought this:A sewing machine! Let's see if I can make something or if I have to sell it to someone who can actually do some real sewing!! Hahaha
Well, I've been to the fabric market in Taipei with my dear friend, Michele, and I've got lots of samples, so I might just be able to make a little thing.
I'll let you know how THAT goes!!!

zhēnzhū nǎichá

Or Bubble Tea or Pearl Tea. It's the same just with different names and let me tell you - it's addictive!!! The first times I tasted it, first time being the first time I sat foot on this island 12 years ago, I thought it was aweful, just aweful.....

I don't know what happen, but I really like it now. I have to tell, though, it's not from every tea-shop/stand I can enjoy this tea from.

There are a small handfull shops that makes it the way I love it: Orange being my favorite shop and it so happens one just open right down the corner from where we live. Yum yum yuuum. They also have lot of other teas, fruit, regular black/green tea, hot, cold and even chocolate and pudding drinks.

I have yet to try more, but for now I just order what I know I like - since the menu is in chinese and hub haven't translated it yet - zhēnzhū nǎichá.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubble_tea

The best milk pearl tea is with the smaller pearls/zhēnzhū, they taste so good (same taste, really.....). But Orange don't have the smaller ones :( I have to go to my No.2 favorite tea shop, "50", to get them - but since they are not nearby, I settle with the big ones. They are soft as well, which I like. Can get them more hard (to chew) but I prefer them soft almost like very soft gummy-bears! Or more like a mix of jelly and gummy-bear, though it don't taste like yummy-gummy-bears....

Victor likes it too!! (yes , he looks VERY tired on this photo, it's because we just got home from Kindergarten and he IS VERY tired!)

I know some have asked what in the world zhēnzhū nǎichá is, so here you have it. It's milk pearl tea!!! You will have to try it next time you come for a visit.

Halloween

Today we went to a halloween/bbq party at Illing who lives in Taipei City/Dazhi.
We arrived at 4, husband drove us, and had some "entry"-problems.
All day I've been telling Victor we would meet Brendan (his best friend) later. After the nap we'll go, I told him, so when we arrived, Brendan wasn't there yet. Victor went all shy and didn't wanted to come inside.
I tried talking to him, tried to close the door leaving him in the hallway alone, tried to "threaten" about having Ba Ba come and take him home again.
Nothing really worked eventhough all the other kids, there were already there, he have met before. So I put Mila down (as long as there are plenty of new toys, she don't mind strangers!) and carried Victor inside. It didn't take long for him to see, there were nothing to be shy or scared of. And only 30 min later Brendan arrived - today with a face of a cat. Miau...cute!!








We started off by playing music, dancing and singing to songs that Michele had with her. Songs to be played on the DVD of course, otherwise it'd be really hard to have all kids playing along. The toys would just distract too much :D
So the tv helped out alot!!! :P



Then we had some dinner. Some very yummy dinner. Taco's, Burger's, Pasta (I made that one. I say yummy, because I liked it, but somehow I ended up bringing almost the whole portion back home again. Yay. Pasta for three days on!!!~sigh) and loads more food. I had a Corona beer with my food. It was nice cold and was long overdue, if you asked me!! :)
After the dinner, the parents need to burp and let out their stomachs for awhile, so the kids went back to play. Overall they all played very nice with each other. With about 11-12 kids all under 6 years old (right?) it'd be really, REALLY amazing if there weren't any "fights", especially considering most of those 12 kids 2/3 is all boys!

Just to show how some parents relaxed - I'd say they had an easy job that night, haha:Then it was time to more fun. All the kids (and some parents) put on costumes. I didn't bring any for Victor, but Florian had two (his mom are so smart!!) so Victor could try on the one Florian didn't wanted. Which was of course a Devil outfit. Perfect for Victor!!!!
We then gathered all the kids up in a line (well...that WAS the idea, but not all have understood the concept. Victor!) and they went for the treats. Parents hiding in all the rooms with the candy. It was over pretty fast!!! But the main point was, that all the kids got something in their little bags. They ate and ate untill time was 8 and time to go. It was a really nice evening, hecktic and loud as well, but all seem to be having fun. Which is the main goal, right?


This is Victor's bag (someone actually gave him this one last year at some other event, he just liked the bag and I had completely forgotten it was a pumpkin untill I got the invitation for tonight! See how much Halloween means to me :P ) and this is his harvest of candy!














As for the candy, you got crackers, chocolate cookies, lollipops, gummiebears, chips and then you got the taiwan-style candy: Sea-weed! Guess who brought that!!!



HAPPY BE-LATED HALLOWEEN!

Ps. Thanks to Iling and Alen for having such a big crowd crashing your place!!!