August 2008 Archives
You may have noticed I haven't been around very much lately. It's not because I don't have anything to say, it's just that I've needed a break. Last week was our last week of classes. Just when I thought I was started to get some energy back as I near the 2nd trimester, I got pretty much floored with a yucky head cold. I suppose since I wasn't getting enough rest my body just decided to take things into its own hands and force the matter.
Now that my Chinese classes are over and I can rest my brain our attentions need to shift to moving, which will happen this coming Thursday. I'll be around if I get the chance, but if not, see you next week!
Now that my Chinese classes are over and I can rest my brain our attentions need to shift to moving, which will happen this coming Thursday. I'll be around if I get the chance, but if not, see you next week!
This is what it's like to be pregnant.
On Saturday I was feeling pretty lousy: the effects of staying up too late the night before watching the opening ceremony to the Olympics and (although I didn't know it at the time) the beginnings of a nasty cold that would fully rear its ugly head on Sunday. Jason was away all morning making up some class, so it was just Ellie and me. I decided that a low energy way to keep her happy would be to watch "Whee!" on YouTube.
Now you are probably wondering what "Whee!" is. Well, it all started about a week ago with Richard Scarry's "Best Word Book Ever". In that book is a picture of a little raccoon doing a somersault. "How fun!" I thought, "I should teach Ellie to do somersaults!" Hmm.
The two of us went into my bedroom, climbed onto the bed (the only soft surface available), and I demonstrated how to do a somersault, indicating how fun it is with an enthusiastic, "Wheeee!" Then I helped Ellie get into position and pushed her little butt over so she could do her own somersault. She also said, "Wheee!"
Ever since then we do regular somersaults. Ellie will suddenly say, "Whee!" then run into my bedroom and wait for me, calling out, "Whee! Whee! Whee!" until I come in to do somersaults with her. Who knew it would be such a hit, right?
So on Saturday morning, in the Olympic spirit and in an attempt to keep Ellie still and occupied, I found some old gymnastics videos on YouTube and we watched them together. I mean, it's like the ultimate "Whee!", right?
We watched Mary Lou Retton get her perfect 10s and then watched Keri Strugg land her vault on one foot and a couple other videos.
Ellie thought it was the best thing ever! She kept saying, "Whee!!!" and had the hugest grin on her face.
And then there was Pregnant Girl, crying--really crying big, ridiculous tears--over all these silly Olympic moments. I am, admittedly, a sucker for stuff like this, but there's no hope for me when hormones take over my body. Thankfully Ellie's still too young to make fun of me.
On Saturday I was feeling pretty lousy: the effects of staying up too late the night before watching the opening ceremony to the Olympics and (although I didn't know it at the time) the beginnings of a nasty cold that would fully rear its ugly head on Sunday. Jason was away all morning making up some class, so it was just Ellie and me. I decided that a low energy way to keep her happy would be to watch "Whee!" on YouTube.
Now you are probably wondering what "Whee!" is. Well, it all started about a week ago with Richard Scarry's "Best Word Book Ever". In that book is a picture of a little raccoon doing a somersault. "How fun!" I thought, "I should teach Ellie to do somersaults!" Hmm.
The two of us went into my bedroom, climbed onto the bed (the only soft surface available), and I demonstrated how to do a somersault, indicating how fun it is with an enthusiastic, "Wheeee!" Then I helped Ellie get into position and pushed her little butt over so she could do her own somersault. She also said, "Wheee!"
Ever since then we do regular somersaults. Ellie will suddenly say, "Whee!" then run into my bedroom and wait for me, calling out, "Whee! Whee! Whee!" until I come in to do somersaults with her. Who knew it would be such a hit, right?
So on Saturday morning, in the Olympic spirit and in an attempt to keep Ellie still and occupied, I found some old gymnastics videos on YouTube and we watched them together. I mean, it's like the ultimate "Whee!", right?
We watched Mary Lou Retton get her perfect 10s and then watched Keri Strugg land her vault on one foot and a couple other videos.
Ellie thought it was the best thing ever! She kept saying, "Whee!!!" and had the hugest grin on her face.
And then there was Pregnant Girl, crying--really crying big, ridiculous tears--over all these silly Olympic moments. I am, admittedly, a sucker for stuff like this, but there's no hope for me when hormones take over my body. Thankfully Ellie's still too young to make fun of me.
During class today there was mention of bats in the novel we are reading. The following conversation ensued.
Swiss classmate*: I've eaten bat before.
(all of us, including the teacher, have shocked looks on our faces)
Little Brother: Where did you eat bat?
Swiss classmate: In Madagascar. The one I had was small, but they have bats this big there. (holds hands out indicating 2-3 feet)
Kristie: (I at first thought we were talking about dragonflies--I'm not very good with insect names--it took me awhile to catch on.) There aren't bats (meaning dragonflies) that big!
Swiss classmate: Yes, there are!
Big Brother: Really?! They can get that big?
Teacher: I think maybe that is including wing span.
Little Brother: So what does bat meat taste like.
Swiss classmate: Well....(trying to think of a good comparison)...kind of like horse meat.
(our eyes all widen again)
Little Brother: Oh...uh..and what does horse meat taste like?
Swiss classmate: What do you mean? Like horse meat.
Kristie: I don't think any of us have eaten horse meat before.
Swiss classmate: (has a look on his face like, "How can you have never eaten horse meat?") Maybe like deer? (but doesn't seem convinced this is a good comparison)
Little Brother: So do Swiss people eat pretty much anything?
Swiss classmate: (breezily) No.
Kristie: (thinking two things, "Sounds like they do." and "All those rumors about French people eating horse are TRUE!")
After this the conversation spiraled in another direction.
*Note: My Swiss classmate is French Swiss. Funnily, his Chinese has a recognizable French accent.
Swiss classmate*: I've eaten bat before.
(all of us, including the teacher, have shocked looks on our faces)
Little Brother: Where did you eat bat?
Swiss classmate: In Madagascar. The one I had was small, but they have bats this big there. (holds hands out indicating 2-3 feet)
Kristie: (I at first thought we were talking about dragonflies--I'm not very good with insect names--it took me awhile to catch on.) There aren't bats (meaning dragonflies) that big!
Swiss classmate: Yes, there are!
Big Brother: Really?! They can get that big?
Teacher: I think maybe that is including wing span.
Little Brother: So what does bat meat taste like.
Swiss classmate: Well....(trying to think of a good comparison)...kind of like horse meat.
(our eyes all widen again)
Little Brother: Oh...uh..and what does horse meat taste like?
Swiss classmate: What do you mean? Like horse meat.
Kristie: I don't think any of us have eaten horse meat before.
Swiss classmate: (has a look on his face like, "How can you have never eaten horse meat?") Maybe like deer? (but doesn't seem convinced this is a good comparison)
Little Brother: So do Swiss people eat pretty much anything?
Swiss classmate: (breezily) No.
Kristie: (thinking two things, "Sounds like they do." and "All those rumors about French people eating horse are TRUE!")
After this the conversation spiraled in another direction.
*Note: My Swiss classmate is French Swiss. Funnily, his Chinese has a recognizable French accent.
There is this bump...
...arguably the cutest and most loved of all the bumps.
There are other bumps...
...but those have been censored to protect the innocent on both sides.
And soon there's going to be another of this kind of bump...
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But right now it's not bumpy, only puffy.
(and that's probably why I've been so tired and having strange breakouts!)
Due Date: March 11, 2009
...arguably the cutest and most loved of all the bumps.
There are other bumps...
...but those have been censored to protect the innocent on both sides.
And soon there's going to be another of this kind of bump...
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But right now it's not bumpy, only puffy.
(and that's probably why I've been so tired and having strange breakouts!)
Due Date: March 11, 2009
One of the best things about Taiwan is the fruit. Oh, it is sooo good. We had heard this even before coming to Taiwan, but it really took a few years to enjoy eating fruits like guava and other tropical fruits you don't see very much in the States.
I can't say I don't still have yearnings for those things you really can't get here. Like peaches, blueberries, strawberries (make that all berries), and apples that are crispy. Now to be completely honest you can buy peaches, strawberries and apples here. And frozen blueberries. They just tend to be not that good--peaches and apples just don't do that well on the flight from California--or seriously expensive--I can rarely bring myself to pay the equivalent of $4 for a tiny plate of strawberries.
The trade-off, of course, is that somethings are even tastier here. Like mango. It is heaven. Mangoes make up for the lack of peaches, and I really love my peaches y'all.
One of those trade-offs is watermelon. The ultimate summer fruit. Watermelon in Taiwan is far and above the watermelon I've tasted back home. I didn't even like watermelon before. I only ate it on occasion to be socially acceptable, because who doesn't like watermelon?
In Taiwan I love watermelon. Not just a little, I love it a lot. There is just no comparison. I have gone from, "I'll take the smallest piece," to, "Mmmm, I'll take a big plate stacked high!"
Ellie likes watermelon too. Her favorite part is the seeds, and in the picture above she's picking out the seeds and eating only them. She also likes the fact that a chunk of watermelon can turn into a car that vroom-vroom's across the table and into her mouth.Sometimes they vroom-vroom into my mouth too. Yum!
Even if you didn't laugh at this picture, or this one, you can't not think this one is at least a little funny.
Again, it's the swim cap. There is also the addition of this pencil grip turned Chinese handcuffs turned teether. HaHA!! Gotta love it!
Ellie is in this fun dress-up stage and I'm accumulating a lot of silly pictures. I might just have to turn this into a regular feature for awhile. Maybe it'll help with that Wednesday drag.
Again, it's the swim cap. There is also the addition of this pencil grip turned Chinese handcuffs turned teether. HaHA!! Gotta love it!
Ellie is in this fun dress-up stage and I'm accumulating a lot of silly pictures. I might just have to turn this into a regular feature for awhile. Maybe it'll help with that Wednesday drag.
The setting for this conversation is the very end of a CLC field trip Ellie and I went on. Remember my classmates The Brothers? They sat behind me on the bus.
Older Brother: So what are you going to do next?
Kristie: Just going home to eat dinner, Jason's there cooking right now.
Younger Brother: What is he making? Spaghetti? With meatballs? Or is it mashed potatoes?
Kristie: (feeling mocked, but can't really think up a snappy response because...) Well, actually, it is spaghetti. But no meatballs.
Older Brother: (looks embarrassed by Younger Brother) Do you usually eat American food at home?
Kristie: Yeah, we do. Because whenever we eat out it's Chinese food. (in a lame attempt at half-joking honesty) We'll probably have mashed potatoes tomorrow.
(In retrospect I wish I had been witty enough to say we were having hamburgers. But I'm sure going through junior high and high school in the US these two have been on the receiving end of plenty of "So what's for dinner tonight? Rice?" comments)
Older Brother: So what are you going to do next?
Kristie: Just going home to eat dinner, Jason's there cooking right now.
Younger Brother: What is he making? Spaghetti? With meatballs? Or is it mashed potatoes?
Kristie: (feeling mocked, but can't really think up a snappy response because...) Well, actually, it is spaghetti. But no meatballs.
Older Brother: (looks embarrassed by Younger Brother) Do you usually eat American food at home?
Kristie: Yeah, we do. Because whenever we eat out it's Chinese food. (in a lame attempt at half-joking honesty) We'll probably have mashed potatoes tomorrow.
(In retrospect I wish I had been witty enough to say we were having hamburgers. But I'm sure going through junior high and high school in the US these two have been on the receiving end of plenty of "So what's for dinner tonight? Rice?" comments)
Despite an earlier promise not to go on and on about every new word Ellie says, these few are just too fun not to tell about. I promise not to say anything about the 20 other words she now says (OK, so I just did, but I won't say anything else, promise!).
Ellie has picked up the words "boy" and "girl" and has been working hard to figure out which label goes with what person. She often gets it right, she often gets it wrong, I'd say about 50-50. Oh, yeah.
When we are out together our conversation often goes like this: Ellie points, "Boy!" I respond, "No, that is a girl." Sometimes she nods, sometimes she disagrees. When she disagrees there's usually no changing her mind. The girl has strong opinions.
She also likes to see how these labels are applied to her, me and Jason. Also with varying accuracy. She does seem to know that we aren't all boys or all girls. I honestly think she at-will chooses whether she herself is a boy or a girl and then decides who has to be the "odd one out".
In this picture Ellie is not calling herself a boy or a girl. She is calling herself "Ellie" (or "A-ee" or sometimes just "Eh"). How fun is that!?! I love it! She likes to point to me and say, "Ma!", then Jason and say, "Da!" and finally herself and say, "Ellie!".
Just recently she has started using another application of the word "Ellie". When she is having trouble with something and I go to help she points to herself and says, "Ellie." Translation: I can do it, all by myself.
Ellie has picked up the words "boy" and "girl" and has been working hard to figure out which label goes with what person. She often gets it right, she often gets it wrong, I'd say about 50-50. Oh, yeah.
When we are out together our conversation often goes like this: Ellie points, "Boy!" I respond, "No, that is a girl." Sometimes she nods, sometimes she disagrees. When she disagrees there's usually no changing her mind. The girl has strong opinions.
She also likes to see how these labels are applied to her, me and Jason. Also with varying accuracy. She does seem to know that we aren't all boys or all girls. I honestly think she at-will chooses whether she herself is a boy or a girl and then decides who has to be the "odd one out".
In this picture Ellie is not calling herself a boy or a girl. She is calling herself "Ellie" (or "A-ee" or sometimes just "Eh"). How fun is that!?! I love it! She likes to point to me and say, "Ma!", then Jason and say, "Da!" and finally herself and say, "Ellie!".
Just recently she has started using another application of the word "Ellie". When she is having trouble with something and I go to help she points to herself and says, "Ellie." Translation: I can do it, all by myself.
I see him sometimes when I buy groceries at the vegetable truck, he is an old man with white hair and a long white beard, leaning heavily on his cane due to the effects of time and osteoporosis. One day we are both out buying groceries when he takes one look at me and says, "I can cure your illness." Not your standard greeting, you might say.
What prompted Old White's sudden healing prophecy? Well, the several large and quite painful zits that had mysteriously appeared on my chin. This is where I have to explain that Chinese people do not feel that a person's breakouts are a taboo subject, and when you do have a breakout you are guaranteed to be asked several times a day "What's wrong with you?" and "Why do you have that zit?" They feel they are expressing their concern for you. It usually makes me feel like cutting eye holes in a paper bag, but I try to be gracious and have finally discovered that "not enough sleep" is an acceptable explanation for a breakout, and will offer that reason. In truth, I think the hot and humid weather plus air pollution and probably the occasional rogue hormone are to blame.
Old White didn't ask any questions, he just jumps right to a solution saying he could give me some herbal Chinese medicine that would cure me. He returns five minutes later, not with bags of dried herbs like I expected, but with samples of these plants:
The one growing with my aloe is called a "Stone Lily" (I didn't have another pot and figured succulents could go together) and the other, translated from the Chinese name, is a "Purple Thousand Year Plant". He directs me to start with the purple plant; to take two leaves, cut them up and boil them, then drink the soup. I can also eat the leaves if I want, but it isn't necessary. I do this for 10 days, then I switch to the Stone Lily. I am supposed to eat 20 Stone Lily leaves a day. That's a lot of leaves, yo. Perhaps noticing my apprehension, he tells me that both of these plants are very common and can be found anywhere. Apparently I am to raid my neighbors' gardens to rid myself of this illness.
So I thank him and take my booty home. I stuck the little Stone Lily in with my aloe and had aspirations of going to buy myself a Purple Thousand Year Plant, but never really got around to it. Then my chin improved on its own, the way zits will.
Today I saw Old White at the vegetable truck again. He asked me if things were better. I told him they were. I didn't tell him I hadn't yet made it a daily habit of snacking from my or anyone else's garden. He then says that I need to keep up the treatments for a long time, at least half a year (!), maybe longer (!!). He says that my illness (whatever that is, but I'm sure I have one) is very serious and hides deep in the body, and explains you have to grab it when it comes out a little bit, and keep grabbing.
Now I don't want to sound like I'm poo-pooing Chinese medicine. In truth I think it's wonderful, probably a better approach than Western medicine's knock 'em down and drag 'em out methods. Once I get my hands on large quantities of the Purple Thousand Year Plant and Stone Lily I plan on trying them out. I just don't feel like my illness is quite serious enough to do night raids on the potted gardens in the area, and my poor little Stone Lily doesn't quite look up to the task of providing me with 20 leaves a day for the next 6 months. When (if) I do start I'll update you on any progress, or at the very least how things taste.
What prompted Old White's sudden healing prophecy? Well, the several large and quite painful zits that had mysteriously appeared on my chin. This is where I have to explain that Chinese people do not feel that a person's breakouts are a taboo subject, and when you do have a breakout you are guaranteed to be asked several times a day "What's wrong with you?" and "Why do you have that zit?" They feel they are expressing their concern for you. It usually makes me feel like cutting eye holes in a paper bag, but I try to be gracious and have finally discovered that "not enough sleep" is an acceptable explanation for a breakout, and will offer that reason. In truth, I think the hot and humid weather plus air pollution and probably the occasional rogue hormone are to blame.
Old White didn't ask any questions, he just jumps right to a solution saying he could give me some herbal Chinese medicine that would cure me. He returns five minutes later, not with bags of dried herbs like I expected, but with samples of these plants:
The one growing with my aloe is called a "Stone Lily" (I didn't have another pot and figured succulents could go together) and the other, translated from the Chinese name, is a "Purple Thousand Year Plant". He directs me to start with the purple plant; to take two leaves, cut them up and boil them, then drink the soup. I can also eat the leaves if I want, but it isn't necessary. I do this for 10 days, then I switch to the Stone Lily. I am supposed to eat 20 Stone Lily leaves a day. That's a lot of leaves, yo. Perhaps noticing my apprehension, he tells me that both of these plants are very common and can be found anywhere. Apparently I am to raid my neighbors' gardens to rid myself of this illness.
So I thank him and take my booty home. I stuck the little Stone Lily in with my aloe and had aspirations of going to buy myself a Purple Thousand Year Plant, but never really got around to it. Then my chin improved on its own, the way zits will.
Today I saw Old White at the vegetable truck again. He asked me if things were better. I told him they were. I didn't tell him I hadn't yet made it a daily habit of snacking from my or anyone else's garden. He then says that I need to keep up the treatments for a long time, at least half a year (!), maybe longer (!!). He says that my illness (whatever that is, but I'm sure I have one) is very serious and hides deep in the body, and explains you have to grab it when it comes out a little bit, and keep grabbing.
Now I don't want to sound like I'm poo-pooing Chinese medicine. In truth I think it's wonderful, probably a better approach than Western medicine's knock 'em down and drag 'em out methods. Once I get my hands on large quantities of the Purple Thousand Year Plant and Stone Lily I plan on trying them out. I just don't feel like my illness is quite serious enough to do night raids on the potted gardens in the area, and my poor little Stone Lily doesn't quite look up to the task of providing me with 20 leaves a day for the next 6 months. When (if) I do start I'll update you on any progress, or at the very least how things taste.
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