July 2008 Archives

Taiwan has a few rules in their visa granting procedures that frankly don't make a lot of sense and, to put it mildly, make life difficult for me. 

The first rule is that language students can't have wives that are just here being a wife, she needs to be a student herself or have a job. There is something called a "relative visa", but they won't give me one because Jason is a mere language student. Women whose husbands work or are enrolled in graduate school or college can get this visa, but not those of us whose husbands are in language school. This means I have to earn a visa in my own right, and this is why I am taking a full load of Chinese classes when I'd really like to be taking none or just a little. 

The second problem rule is that a language student can't study Chinese longer than two years. Again we are confronted with the fact that clearly Chinese people don't understand just how difficult it is for us poor Westerners to learn their language. This rule isn't yet uniformly applied, but if you bump into Strict Immigration Officer, like I did, they give you the chop.

Last Friday I went to apply for a resident visa because the visitor visa I currently hold had almost run out. My application was beautiful. I had all the right documents, I had all the money I needed (annoying rule #3: they want proof that you have the equivalent of $3000 US), I had even made all my own copies because I remembered that the ladies get a little annoyed if they have to copy things for you. I was so confident that my application would sail through without problem.

Then she starts flipping through my passport, looking at all my stamps and asks me how long I've been studying Chinese. She can see from my passport that I first came as a student in 2005, so I answer honestly that I've been studying almost three years. That's when it happens, she shakes her head. Then she explains that my application will be denied because I have exceeded two years. She says my Chinese is good enough. I plead with her, explaining that I only want to finish the summer semester, but she won't even accept my application because she wants to "save me" the $150 application fee. I'll bet the person before me didn't have their copies already made. She says if I leave the country and come back before my visa expires I can get another 60 days.

Enter: Hong Kong.

Hong Kong is where most foreigners in Taiwan go to take care of visa problems because it is close and cheap. We've done this song and dance before, last January to get my current visa after I lost my former resident visa because I took a break from classes after Ellie was born. Now I'm sure Hong Kong is a wonderful place, but our last trip to Hong Kong included the flu and a lot of rain, and was pretty much the most miserable three days in recent memory. Because of the flu I couldn't even enjoy the food, and I've heard that's a real shame.

Plus, when you factor in plane tickets for two people and a baby, plus hotels, going to Hong Kong isn't really that inexpensive of a proposition. So we decided that I would go to Hong Kong for half a day only. One plane ticket. No hotel. Price tag: about US$250.

Exactly one hour from touch down to take-off, that's how long I was in Hong Kong.

I didn't even go through customs. After I got my boarding pass and found my gate I only had time to hit the bathroom and watch 10 minutes of CNN before my return flight started boarding. My time there was so short that the airline specifically sent someone to my plane when it landed with a sign that said, "Kristie Truell wait here." She was a very lovely lady who said nothing but, "This way," directing me to the proper counter to get my return boarding pass, and then showing me to my gate. Good thing too, because the airport in Hong Kong is large and confusing and I never would have made it through in time.

I was only out of Taiwan for three or four hours, but it was enough to earn 60 more days until I finally get a "wife visa" when Jason starts seminary. What's the moral to the story? I don't know, maybe, "Be nice to foreigners because you don't know what kind of grief your government gives them." I do know that the one good that came out of this is that while I was gone Ellie went to bed without me for the first time in her life. And you know what that means: FREE! I'm free, oh yeah! Anyone want to go see a movie while Jason puts the baby down?

The three of us are on our way home from a hamburger fix at Chili's, we took a taxi because it had started to rain.

Ellie: (points to a raindrop on the window) That! (translation: Tell me what "that" is!)

Kristie: That's a raindrop.

Ellie: Dwah (translation: drop)

Kristie: (channeling my inner Julie Andrews, singing) Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens, brown paper packages tied up with string, these are a few of my fav...

Ellie: Ball !

Kristie: (stops singing, jaw probably dropped)

Ellie: Pool !

Kristie: And those are Ellie's favorite things, indeed.

(Jason and I are both stunned speechless.)

 
Sing praise to the LORD, you saints of His,
And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.
For His anger is but for a moment.
His favor is for life;
Weeping may endure for a night,
But joy comes in the morning.
Psalm 30:4,5

This girl loves her cheese. It is the only food she ever specifically requests and she has even started opening the fridge herself to get a piece of cheese. We try to limit her to only two slices a day, but this usually gets stretched to three or even four. It's a major "uh oh" moment when we realize we forgot to buy more cheese, because this is the food we most often use as a bribe: to keep her occupied while I make dinner, to keep her happy on the bus, and to hold her off when she wants to nurse before it's time. Almost always works. We're all smiling :)

This conversation is over a year old, from back when Ellie was just a 3 month old little bean, chubby and round, and not yet getting anything but her mamma's milk. I laugh every time I walk by this particular neighbor's house.

Neighbor: Hi!

Kristie: Hi! (heads over to let Neighbor get a peak at Ellie, knowing this is why she said "Hi")

Neighbor: Ooh, look how nice and fat she is! So much meat! (this last part is a literal translation from the Chinese, I just love the phrasing)

Kristie: Yeah, she can really eat.

Neighbor: So what are you feeding her anyways?

Kristie: Breastmilk.

Neighbor: No! It's not possible.

Kristie: Why isn't it possible?

Neighbor: (looks pointedly at my chest with raised eyebrows) You're too small.

Kristie: Well, they seem to be working out okay, look how fat she is. (Ellie rescues me with a timely wail) Oh! Looks like we need to be headed home. Bye.

Neighbor: (clearly still doesn't believe me, and is planning to talk about me to all her other neighbor friends) Bye.

I just want to...
    glance at my email.
    run to the bathroom.
    chop up these things for dinner.
    pour myself a glass of water.
    lie on the floor with my eyes closed for 30 seconds.



But you just want me to...
    pick you up.
    read you a story.
    find your ball.
    take you outside.
    explain the world to you.

"The LORD bless you and keep you;
The LORD make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The LORD lift up his countenance upon you,
And give you peace."
Numbers 6:24-26

There is a great Chinese saying, actually there are millions of great Chinese sayings, but one that I like in particular is a way to say you are tired that literally means: "I am so tired I feel like a fish that has been half eaten and needs to be flipped over so the other side can be consumed." (This is because fish are often cooked and served whole in Chinese cuisine, head, tail and bones included. When you finish you have a nice Garfield-style fish skeleton.)

"Why are you so tired, Kristie?" my concerned reader might ask.

This time Ellie can't be blamed because...she's now sleeping through the night !! I can't say it too loudly lest I jinx things back to the way they were.

The blame for my current problem lies with my Chinese classes. And the intense amount of brain power required of me. I have two classes: one is easy, one is hard. The easy class is there to give me the number of credits required by the Taiwanese government and to allow me half a chance at keeping up with the hard class. The hard class is hard because the materials are difficult and because I am at the bottom of the heap as far as Chinese ability goes.

But I love it! It is challenging. It is interesting. It is tiring. But I love it. We are reading a real novel, no more cheesy textbooks and practice sentences. The novel (台北人) is a collection of vignettes--snapshots into the lives of people who lived through the Sino-Japanese War, World War II and civil war in China, then came to Taiwan with the defeated Nationalist Army. Sounds exciting, right?
 
Unfortunately, due to excessive dictionary use it takes me about half an hour to read each page. This slows the excitement a little.

Which brings me to the second reason the class is hard. My classmates. Two are brothers, they were born in Taiwan and lived here and went to school here until they were 10 and 12, when their parents moved to the US. Ten and twelve!!!! They can speak Chinese. They can read Chinese. They can't write very well, but then neither can I. When one of The Brothers reads I always find myself suddenly 3 or 4 lines behind, then just doing the best I can to figure out again where they are. Then there's my other classmate, a guy from Switzerland who has a photographic memory and has used it to memorize a large portion of the Chinese dictionary. My final classmate is closer to my level, but she is also native Taiwanese, only her parents moved her to South Africa when she was 5 so she got less schooling.

And now we come to my real problem. I've never been the slow reader, and I don't want to be the slow reader now. So I look up all the words I don't know, that way when it's my turn to read in class I don't have to stop and ask, oh, about every 7th character (in some sentences 7 out of 10 characters!). With Chinese characters if you don't know it you don't even have a chance, it's not like you can sound out characters. (Okay, sometimes you can, but it's rare). Because my classmates have such stellar Chinese we can cover 6-8 pages in a class period. At 30 minutes a page that's a lot of reading time every night.

It's too much.

Because even though Ellie is going to sleep easily now, and staying asleep, 3-4 hours of reading each night is just not manageable. Not if I ever want to do anything else. Like blog. Or house chores. Or take a break. Plus, despite our 360-degree-sleep-turn-around, things still aren't perfect in that department and Ellie is now waking up at 5am, sometimes even earlier. You know 5 am is nice, and quiet, and cool, but it's a tad on the early side. Then you have to factor in how incredibly tiring it is to do that much reading in a second language. Tiring. If you've never done anything like it, imagine reading a Calculus textbook for 3 hours, it's about like that. Tiring.

So I'm trying to learn how to be a bad student. I'm already working on it in my other class, the easy one. One day when we had a quiz I tried coming to class 10 minutes late so that the quiz would be over by the time I arrived. Too bad all my other classmates had the same idea and the quiz got postponed to the next day! (These are different classmates, happily mostly at or below my level. I was originally in a newspaper reading class with The Brothers, but got out of that one fast.) I tried asking the teacher to let me off the hook for tests, but she wasn't giving in to that one.

With my novel I've started trying to look up fewer words. Last week I only looked up 4/5 of the words I don't know, saving the ones I thought seemed most uncommon to ask during class. Maybe a good goal would be to work down to only looking up words that I need for understanding the meaning of the story. It's hard to zero in on that place of understanding versus extra descriptive details, but I need try.

Now, dear reader, you know, why I feel like I'm half-eaten, ready to be flipped over so the diners can get at the meat on my other side. I've really got to make some changes before the other half gets gone too.

I told you all about how Ellie now loves to wear her swim cap around. This one is the rubber kind, and she needs help getting it on because it is tight. One day she brings me the cap so I can put it on her. Then she comes back with the goggles. (She was raiding the swim bag.) I assume she wants to be in full regalia and start to put them on her, in response she falls on the floor screaming. I'm not kidding. Or exaggerating. She was on the floor. Screaming. And Crying. Because I tried to put the goggles on her.

Then it dawned on me that I was supposed to wear the goggles. She was including me in her game. (Aw) So I put them on, went over to where Ellie was on the floor, turned her over and showed her that I was now dutifully wearing my goggles. Once we wiped away the crocodile tears she was all smiles, happy that mom learned to play along. (This picture was taken about 30 seconds after the floor-crying incident.) So now when we can't be at the pool we play "pool". I just wish my goggles wouldn't keep fogging up.

The first week of July was also our first week of summer classes. But we got a little extra vacation because it also happened to be the week of the children's gospel camp hosted by our church.

We were *somewhere* in the rural, mountain-y part of Taiwan. I wasn't really paying attention, but this is the retreat center:



There were over 50 kids at the four day long camp. For organizational purposes the campers were divided into 7 teams, with a member of the church's youth group in charge of each team. I thought involving teenagers from the youth group in running this children's camp was a wonderful idea. For starters, it gets them involved in the life of the church and gives them a sense of ownership. Plus, teenagers have silliness and energy reserves to spare.


This is one such youth group member sounding the reveille, calling everyone out of bed and down to the basketball court for some morning prayer and calisthenics.



After morning prayer and exercises we all ate breakfast, where I learned that Ellie loves rice porridge (or congee or xi fan). I might just have to try my hand at making it, and buy the funky (but tasty) add-ins like Chinese pickles, peanut gluten, and shredded dried pork.

After breakfast was finished we sang praise songs in Chinese. This was followed by English class where the campers learned English praise songs: Deep and Wide, Jesus Loves Me and Jesus Loves the Little Children. Jason was in charge of teaching the older kids and Ellie and I were assistant teachers to the younger group. Ellie was great on the motions to "Deep and Wide". The would-be-highlight of my week was singing "Jesus Loves Me" a cappella in front of a bunch of kids, the assistant pastor, and two teenagers. "Would-be" because I can't carry a tune in a bucket. Thankfully I remembered my middle school choir training and smiled through it so I look happy, not nervous. During the next class I got to sing "Jesus Loves the Little Children", again a cappella, and learned that all these years I've been singing the tune wrong. Oops.

My other main job was watching Ellie, trying to keep her from being a complete distraction.

I'm tickling Ellie to try and make her smile. Ellie's doing her best not to smile.

After singing class and lunch we moved on to the afternoon activities: relay games and crafts. Then it was time for dinner. Because of limited showers they had half the kids shower before dinner and half shower just before bedtime, which meant half the kids were wearing their pajamas for dinner and all the evening activities. (Note to self: When Ellie goes to camp make sure she takes substantial pajamas that could almost double as clothes.)

The evening activites included a skit performed by the youth group kids, more singing, a talk from the preacher and probably some prayer. I'm not 100% sure because I took Ellie to bed directly after dinner and can only guess based on what I could overhear through my window.

So that's camp, in a nutshell, now I'll let the adorable kids do the talking:


Like these adorable kids! Taiwanese kids are trained from a young age how to pose in pictures.


Having cheek-aching-fun during the rice-sack race, and just plain having fun.


"Just call me Miss Blue." We didn't see many smiles out of this girl. She was a little cranky about a couple of new teeth she's getting and annoyed with all the constant attention, and constant touching, and constantly having kids in her face.


The children were completely enamored with Ellie, and really wouldn't leave her alone. I think the two sentences I said most during the week were: "I think you should get back to your group." and "At least let her finish eating (before you start touching her hair and playing with her)." By the time Ellie is 4 she is going to be fully adept at running an entourage.


One activity was knot tying, and the campers were all so cute and earnest at learning their knots.


Another craft/activity was kite making. They really flew, but the kids didn't get very many breezes to test their kites out with.


They made this cross craft out of yarn and twigs.


Jason was in charge of a cooperation jump rope activity: two kids jumping with one rope down to a chair about 20 ft. away and back.


Getting ready to start jumping. And does it get any sweeter than this?


These two had their timing down right.


Pure jump rope joy.


More cuteness at the jump rope station. There's no end to the cuteness.


Having a blast playing another group cooperation game.

The last night of camp was your standard bonfire, with candles and singing and special songs and skits performed by each team.


And that's the end of our fun week!

This conversation is from our week at the Children's Gospel Camp.

Ellie: (pointing randomly and wildly) Da(t)! Da(t)! Da(t)!

Xiao Qiao: What is she saying?

Jason: She's saying "that", "that" means "[Chinese word for 'that']".

Xiao Qiao: (smiles, then points in different directions) That. That. That.

The works of His hands are truth and justice;
All His precepts are sure.
They stand fast forever and ever,
And are done in truth and uprightness.
He has sent redemption to His people;
He has commanded His covenant forever:
Holy and awesome is His name.
Psalm 111:7-9

Our neighbors have a puppy. A cute little thing, all white fluff and puppy energy, named "Snowball". Sometimes we can hear Snowball barking from our apartment, and every time Ellie barks in response then asks to go outside and see the doggie.

The boys of the family across the hall are responsible for taking Snowball outside every day. And whenever we happen to be outside at the same time we, of course, must take that opportunity to pet and play with the little guy.

The other day Ellie and I pass the youngest boy out with Snowball, and stop as usual. Except this day Ellie was a little wary, maybe because Snowball--in all of his puppy happiness--is still *exuberant* in greeting new people. I thought a sitting Snowball might be less threatening, and summoning my best speaking-to-little-kids-and-animals-Chinese, said, "Snowball, Sit!" Snowball looks at me, tail wagging, tongue out, ears up, eyes sparkling, as if to say, "That was fun! What are we going to play next?" I try again, "Sit! Sit!" Nothing.

Finally I ask my young neighbor, "Can he sit?"  The boy doesn't say anything, only nods, then demonstrates, "Snowball...Sit!" Obedient and prompt, Snowballs little fluffy puppy rump drops to the ground. "Oh," I say, "He's a good boy!"

Maybe Snowball is only loyal to one master? This is my best hope, because the other explanation is that the dog couldn't understand my Chinese. Sigh.

Teacher Lai: So how did Jason do on his entrance exams for the seminary?

Kristie: He passed! All three parts!

Teacher Lai: That's great! So you're moving to Taipei?

Kristie: Right, we're moving to Taipei. (hooray!)


CONGRATULATIONS JASON!!!!!

O LORD, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup;
You uphold my lot.
The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;
Yes, I have a good inheritance.
Psalm 16:5,6

Swimming caps are the rule in Taiwan. Ellie loves to wear hats, and her swimming cap is the new favorite. She wears it around. All. the. time. I often strip her down to only a diaper in this heat and recently to help some bad heat rash. Then she wanted the swim cap on. Then she put on those red slippers. Then she sat down and started talking to her blocks. Or hopefully to the animals drawn on them. Oh Ellie!

We've all heard the talk about how much magazines, Hollywood, TV ads and all other media bombard girls and women with images of skinny minnies, thus shaping our own thoughts about body image: what we think "pretty" means, what we want ourselves to look like, etc, etc, etc. Different people are affected by this on different levels and with different results, which I'm not really going to go into here because I'm not even close to half an expert.

Personally though, I never felt myself to be overly influenced by these kind of images. Honestly, I think the stick skinny legs on supermodels look kind of gross. I know I am influenced on a subconscious level, but (still being young and all) have for the most part felt happy with how I look and felt like being healthy is the most important thing, and blah, blah, blah...

[As an aside: While looking at magazines doesn't necessarily make me feel fat per se, living in Taiwan does. There are tiny girls, real girls, everywhere, and this hot weather makes one painfully aware of every place your body touches itself.]

Now let's think about weight from another angle: the mother of a new baby angle, emphasis on the baby. Most mom's with newborns worry that their babies aren't gaining enough weight. (While simultaneously worrying that they aren't losing it fast enough!) I have heard this is especially true for nursing moms because you can't physically see how much they are really eating.

I say, "I have heard" because I never really had to worry about this either. When Ellie was first born she spent about 14 hours a day sleeping and the other 10 eating. And she gained weight really fast. Really. Fast. She was always at 95% for weight and at her two month check she exceeded 100th percentile! (whatever that means, just goes to show you can't really trust growth charts, huh) She gained weight so fast that until she learned to crawl, thankfully on the earlier side at 6 months, I had perpetually sore arms. Oh the ache! As soon as my muscles caught up to her, she packed on the pounds.

The perverse thing is, I was always worried that she was too fat. You'd think I would be happy with a perfectly proportioned baby: both height and weight around the 95% range, but I somewhat wished for a skinny baby with weight in the 60% and height up in the 90% range. I sometimes would even round down her weight, justifying it because in Taiwan they weigh babies with their clothes on. I mean, who knows how much a wet diaper weighs? Right?!? And then, at her 12 month check-up Ellie's stats were at 90% for height and 75% for weight, and I was secretly pleased. Um, yo! Hello! Kristie, reality check. She's a baby!!! They're supposed to be fat!

Now I never did anything rash or drastic, like put her on a baby diet. She gets all the cheese and mommy-moo and really anything she wants. Realizing how crazy I am for worrying that my baby isn't skinny did help reveal just how deep the claws of Big Bad Media have sunk into my thinking. So then what do we do? For starters, I've been seriously thinking about giving up movies all together. Lately I don't find them very entertaining, and 2 hours is a lot of time, and the price tag on my time has really shot up over the past year and 1/2. So do I also *gulp* give up magazines? And the even bigger issue, how do I protect Ellie from all this as she grows up? Is it even possible? (without moving to the middle of Montana and living without electricity, that is)

Now that I've subjected you to my naval gazing, I'd love to hear your thoughts, even if it is just to affirm that, yes, I am indeed crazy after all for secretly wanting a skinny baby. Good thing I get to blame Big Bad Media :) Ha!

Kristie: If I was a good person I would do the dishes for you.
   
             But I'm not a good person.

             Am I a good person?

             I want to be a good person?

             Maybe I'm a good person...

             But I just don't know...

Jason: That. Was the weirdest conversation I have ever had.