Use It or Lose It, Man

posted by Kristie
26 Jan 2012

I started taking yoga classes again last week. Four classes in four days. It turns out what they say is true: going for 18 months without doing any real exercise to speak of (aside from walking to do errands and toting my children around, that is) really will turn your muscles into mush.

I am S-O-R-E. I wanted to write about starting up yoga sooner but my brain has been too busy processing the lactic acid built up in my muscles.

Now, I only took a few yoga classes back home so I may not be a true expert, but there is a difference between Chinese yoga teachers and western yoga teachers. American yoga teachers say things like, “Only do what feels comfortable,” and “You should feel a gentle stretch.” Chinese yoga teachers say things like, “Let it ache a little,” and ”You are going to curse me when we are finished.”

Did I mention I am sore?

Hoping to be able to move in the morning, I decided I should take a soak in the hot tub after my yoga classes. My gym has a very wonderful women-only spa that offers a hot tub, cold tub, sauna and steam room. Women-only, of course, means no bathing suits.

I find this slightly disconcerting, but it’s the norm in Asia and I try to roll with it as I do many disconcerting Asian customs. So I go in, hang up my towel, and try to act all being-naked-in-front-of-all-you-strangers-is-no-big-deal.

Of course, my desire to cross my arms is not helped one bit by the fact that the other ladies are checking me out. Not even very subtly, I might add.

And then they start commenting on my body!!!

Even after they know I can speak Chinese they keep commenting. Skin color, size, shape. And talking about me. And peering at me. While I am naked. (Which reminds me of another locker room experience I had several years ago…)

One of the ladies at the spa is also in my yoga class, so she helpfully informs everyone that I have three small children. They are amazed by this new revelation. And they have questions. Questions that I have to answer.

So who is taking care of your children while you are here at the gym? Oh! Your husband! That is amazing!

(Most Asian husbands don’t help out very much at home. This is improving with younger generations, but these ladies are mostly in their 50s or older.)

Now, Jason is fully capable of taking care of all three of our children by himself, but this yoga class is a 9pm—well after bedtime—which means he is more guarding than tending the little ones.

This little factoid creates yet another onslaught of questions.

So what time do your kids go to bed? 7:30!!! And they sleep until morning??? Un-be-lievable.

(Most Taiwanese children, even young ones, go to bed after 10pm.)

It was as though they had just noticed a third arm growing out of my back. The news starts spreading through the spa.

Hey Joanie, come check out this foreigner! Her kids go to sleep at 7:30 and don’t wake up until morning!….What? Really? I’ve gotta see this for myself!

Which means I have to tell my story over and over and over. And everyone in the spa is looking at me. And I’m NAKED.

Not the most relaxing spa experience.

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A Flower for Sunday

posted by Kristie
22 Jan 2012

So teach us to number our days
that we may get a heart of wisdom.

Psalm 90:12

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!

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An Ode to Yogurt

posted by Kristie
13 Jan 2012

I started making my own yogurt over 6 years ago. Back when we first moved to Taiwan.

As a newbie expatriate I was rather dismayed—heartbroken, really—to discover that plain, unsweetened yogurt is not to be found on this island. (Although, they do have it in some shops here in Taipei. For the tidy sum of $8 a quart. But back then we lived in Taichung, which is a touch less…international.)

Praises be! A wonderfully dear, seasoned missionary from England taught me how to make yogurt by mixing milk powder with 1 part boiling water, three parts cool water, stir in a bit of yogurt and wrap the whole thing in blankets to keep warm while it incubates for 12 to 24 hours.

When we moved into the seminary I didn’t have room for my blanket-wrapped yogurt making scheme. And so I broke down and bought a “yogurt maker” and started making my yogurt with regular milk instead of the powdered kind. I use quotations because while it is labeled a yogurt maker, but it is essentially just a small cooler. I fill up a jar with some milk, add in the starter bacteria or just a bit of yogurt, and sit the jar in my yogurt maker that is filled halfway with boiling water (you want the hot water high enough to warm your milk, but not so high it covers your jar). Again you wait 12 to 24 hours for your little bacterias to turn the milk to lovely yogurt.

For anyone who has wanted to try making yogurt but felt overwhelmed, feel overwhelmed no more. 1. You don’t need any special equipment. An old blanket or a cooler (even a styrofoam cooler) will suffice. 2. You don’t need to heat your milk. 3. You don’t need special yogurt starter. Just a small spoonful of regular old yogurt will do the trick. 4. It is really not difficult. There is an incredibly huge margin for error.

In our house we go through a quart of yogurt a day.

Perhaps that isn’t really true. The truth is that I only make a quart a day. Then we ration it out to make sure everyone gets some. I’m fairly positive that Abram could eat the entire quart by himself if we let him have as much as he wanted. And I know I could.

Of course, John Amos has joined the ranks of yogurt lovers.

These pictures reminded me of another cheeky baby boy enjoying his favorite snack.

Which kind of, but didn’t really, remind me of this baby girl and her yogurt.

Ellie always has been one to go for it with gusto.

(Although, Abram has also been caught doing the very same thing…)

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Wait just a minute now…

posted by Kristie
5 Jan 2012

Here is John Amos. And I took this when he was 10 months old, but now he’s already gone and turned 11 months. That’s just one little month away from being one. When he went and turned 11 months he also decided that he was ready to start pushing at the edges of toddlerhood.

He now believes he can stand on his own. And he can, a little. When you go to put him down he will lock his legs and straighten out his body and just stand there for a few seconds before slowly sitting down. With control, he doesn’t just plop.

He also has manners now. Instead of just flinging his uneaten food off the highchair tray and crying to be taken out he will place his leftovers in my hand. When he finishes clearing off his tray he signs “all done”. He also signs “more” and “eat”.

He waves and says “hi”, waves “bye”, and even blew a kiss today.

He also says “Da-da” and “ba(th)”.

You know, the problem with babies is that they are just so darned determined to grow up.

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Sparkly Squishy Good

posted by Kristie
3 Jan 2012

When you make your own playdough you get to add cool things. Like sparkles. And lavender oil.

You also get to choose your favorite colors, which around here means green and blue or pink and purple.

Abram also wanted brown and black. Of course, with my kids’ propensity to mix colors we always end up with brown soon enough.

I used the standard playdough recipe: 1 cup flour, 2 tablespoons cream of tartar, 1 tablespoon cooking oil, 1/2 cup salt, 1 cup water, and food coloring mixed in a pot over medium heat until playdough comes together.

Cream of tartar is hard to come by in Taiwan. Mine was lovingly imported from Australia. It had been six long years without any cream of tartar. Snickerdoodles fans, you know this is a problem. (Although, Anna—I saw some at the Wan Long MRT bake shop.)

Just about the only thing my kids love more than playing with playdough is getting to help mom make it. Not to mention the fact that this is ever so much nicer than the stuff you can buy. I ended up asking the kids if I could play with them.

Oh, and perhaps my favorite part is that when (not if) John Amos eats the little bits that get dropped it’s really okay. Beyond non-toxic, this playdough is actually edible….although that much salt probably wouldn’t do you any good. But the salt actually works as a deterrent and John Amos was spitting this stuff out.

Really. You should try it. It only takes 5 minutes to whip up a batch of this soft, sparkly, squishy fun.

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