Wordless Wednesday: Why I should plant a lime tree

Making hinava has never been so expensive.

The Princess Who Rocks My World

Dearest Alva

Six weeks ago, I took out your old photos taken on the morning of 26 June 2009. Looking at these pictures, I ended up reminiscing the moments we spent at the hospital, minutes after you were born. What I remember most was watching you  sleep on my chest with your belly against me, looking so tiny and adorably fragile. I was so in awe of you.

That was 25 months and 12 days ago. It's crazy how time flies huh?

Anyway, shortly after your birthday, I discovered that “The Terrible Twos” theory doesn't exist. I have braced myself for the horror to happen but it never did. Instead of turning into one of those scary toddlers in Super Nanny,  you  have continued to behave like an angel. You don't throw tantrums or yell or run amok in shopping malls. Alden does all that.

From the day you were born, you've always been a perfect baby who does everything by the book. You turned over at 6 months, crawled at 8 months and started walking when you turned 1. Your best achievement so far is your speech. You started saying words like Mama, Dada, Yes, No, Car, There, Nenen and many more at 11 months. Now at two, your vocabulary size has multiplied.

8 months old

Apart from answering questions and voicing out your thoughts, you can easily carry out a simple conversation. This one transpired a few weeks ago when the two of us were spending time together.

Alva: Mummy....

Mummy: Yes?

Alva: You put-put? (put-put= fart/ farted)

Mummy: NO!! Not me.

Alva: Eee..SMELLY! Mummy put-put!! (smiling)

Mummy: Ok la..ok la...mummy put-put. Hehehe.

Alva: You naughty girl! Say kius me mummy! Say kius me!

Mummy: Excuse me.

Too bad Alden wasn't there to take the blame.

You know, whenever we go out together, people would ask me how old you are and whether you could talk. I like this a lot cos I get the chance to show people what an awesome baby you are. Unfortunately, you never help me on this. It is as though you resent the idea of mummy showing off. You never respond to questions and you're always silent when I ask you to talk. Why Alva? Why?? Do you know that because of your silence, no one ever believes me?

We should really work on your PR skills.

Talking about skills, I noticed that you have a keen interest in drawing. Everyday, you'd sit for at least 30 minutes to sketch on your doodling board. Objects you enjoy sketching include grapes, banana, spiders, apples and circles. You have actually drawn heaps of stuff but those are the only ones I recognised. Apart from sketching, your other hobbies include playing with make-up, singing, watching me do the laundry and pretending to read out loud.

That's your version of a banana

Your relationship with your brother has also improved. Yes. There are still lots of fights between you two but at the end of the day, you'd kiss and make up. Because you spend most of your time with him, you like to mimic every little thing he does. In fact, you learned most of your new motor skills from him. You know, stuff like table-climbing, pillow-fighting, drumming,  hair-pulling and jumping off couch. Thanks to these the hands-on tutorials, you have become more independent and you are now able to defend yourself from Alden. At times, you can even make him cry.

Unlike your brother, who is very picky with food, you consume anything I give you. You eat prawns, chicken, beef, noodles, hinava, rice, lamb, pasta, curry etc. There is no limit to what you can eat. Because of your flexibility, I have no trouble feeding you. It's really a blessing cos I don't think I can handle two picky eaters at the same time.

In terms of personality, you are very maternal and caring. I remember having gastric attack a few weeks ago and was curled up on the couch in pain. When you saw me, you came to caress my forehead and said “Pain mummy?”. That was really sweet. At such a young age, you can sense when I’m angry, happy or sad. This caring trait of yours will come in handy when you become a plastic surgeon in the future. I'm not pressuring you or anything. I'm just thinking what's best for you :)

You and I share a special bond together. The way you open up to me is amazing and I think your dad is a bit envious of our relationship. You always favour me over him. For e.g. you’d give me kisses without being asked to and you’d continue doing it until I kiss you back. Your dad gets a different treatment. You only kiss him when he begs you to. I know you adore me more than him but try not to be so obvious okay?

So. What's my favourite part of the day when it comes to you?

It is seeing you wake up in the morning all happy and excited. You'll say Morning mummy!! Yay! Look, sunny day!! Vava want nenen!! When I do give you nenen, you'd smile your biggest smile and give me a warm cuddle. The feeling I get when we cuddle is like eating a mouthful of banana-chocolate cake from Secret Recipe. I get a rush of endorphins in my head and a feeling of euphoria akin to having a retail therapy. It is an awesome, awesome feeling. It is when we cuddle that I see what's important in my life and why I do the things I do.

You don't know it yet, but you have the power to bring out the best in me.

 

What else can I say? You are everything I ever wished for in a daughter: Angelic, smart, adorable, bubbly, kind and loving. I am truly blessed to have you.

Love,

Mummy

Wordless Wednesday - What not to do in winter

source

Exercise can wait.

It Finally Snowed in Christchurch

I woke up this morning to find everything covered in snow. Tree branches were coated in crystal ice, houses in my neigbourhood had snow caps on the roofs and everything else was blanketed in white. I couldn’t believe it was happening because I had waited 2 winters to experience this snow-vaganza. When it finally happened, it just felt magical. What I enjoyed the most was watching large snowflakes fall from the sky. It is the most beautiful sight I've ever seen.

It stopped snowing a few hours ago but I am still at awe watching the snow melting away. As I am typing this, my little snowman which is a bit crooked now, is melting to death. Goodbye my little friend. It was a pleasure making and dressing you. What a time we had while it snowed!

This is one winter I will remember forever. I leave you with these photos taken around the neighbourhood and city centre :)

Topsy-Turvy

Wow. It has been ages since I have updated this poor blog. If it weren’t for one reader who asked me “no new blog entry?”, I wouldn’t have been motivated to write anything. Thanks for the nudge, Dee.

My life has been a total chaos over the past couple of months. In April, I was busy preparing my presentation for a colloquium while simultaneously writing my thesis. My supervisor, Yoda, wanted regular updates so it was critical that I get my thesis sorted for our monthly supervision meetings. In May, I attended a conference in Taiwan and left the kids for six days. In June, when Alden started elementary school, I had to support his transition by popping in during recess every-single-day. What else? Oh! Earlier this month, before Mum returned to KK, we brought her to beautiful Queenstown and then to Dunedin, where I presented at another colloquium. So yeah... things have been pretty crazy for me.

For this post, let me just talk about my Taiwan trip, okay?

My first few hours in Taiwan were anything but smooth. Almost a disaster, really. I arrived as scheduled, but it took me ages to collect my luggage and get through immigration. Once that was over, I began my mission to reunite with my sister. She was in Taipei on a company trip and staying at Rainbow Hotel in Ximending. We had promised each other we’d meet up, even if it was just for one night. Since my conference was in another city, our reunion had to happen that very day.

A guy at the airport information centre told me the best way to get to Ximending was by shuttle bus. His English wasn’t perfect, but he managed to explain which bus to take and how long the journey would be. What the dude forgot to mention was that at some point in Taipei, I was supposed to get off Bus A and transfer to another one headed to Ximending. Somehow, that key information was left out. At that moment, I was feeling very pleased with how easy it seemed to get to my destination. Boy, was I wrong.

After figuring out where to buy my ticket, I got myself a one-way ride to Ximending and hopped on a 36-seater bus. The journey to Taipei was surprisingly smooth, offering glimpses of paddy fields and urban scenes along the way. About an hour later, we arrived at Taipei. Without warning, the driver stopped right in the middle of the concrete jungle, and told me to get off pronto! His tone freaked me out because it sounded more like “GET OUT! THERE’S A BOMB ON THE BUS!” When I asked, “Wo men chai Ximending?”, he responded in a Chinese dialect I couldn’t understand. It finally clicked when he pointed at a white bus parked in front of us. That’s when I realised what he was trying to say: I needed to board Bus B immediately.

I jumped up, thinking the white bus was about to leave. So did this Japanese girl who had been sitting behind me. She looked totally lost, so I happily shared my big revelation: “We need to catch that white bus over there”, to which she nodded and said, “Oh… okay”.  We did a little jog towards Bus B, not wanting to miss it. When we finally got on, I asked the driver if he was indeed heading to Ximending. To my relief, he said yes. Finally, I was on the right track. I sat in the second row behind the driver, while Jap Girl picked a seat directly across from me. The seats were arranged to face each other so I smiled at her. She returned the gesture and gave me a dazzling smile.

The bus didn’t leave right away. Apparently, we were still waiting for more passengers. Consumed by boredom, I began to observe my surroundings. With Jap Girl sitting across from me, I had a full view of her. When I thought she wasn’t looking, I checked out her nails, hair, and makeup. I couldn’t help myself as it was hard not to gawk. She had these beautiful fake eyelashes that made her smoky brown eyes pop dramatically. Her hair was elegantly styled, half up, half down, just like a Japanese Disney princess. Now moving on to her hands. Her acrylic nails were exquisitely decorated with silver beads and tiny diamonds. Her toenails matched too. She was a walking, breathing piece of art.

But what really caught my attention was her footwear: a pair of leopard-print, 6-inch, strappy platform heels! How could she walk in those??? I was completely wowed. Then I noticed her handbag. It was a leopard-print shoulder bag which matched her shoes perfectly. I thought to myself, she must be travelling light because that’s the only thing she has. Where are her luggage?

And then it hit me.

Wait a minute... Where’s my luggage??

I looked at myself and realised all I had was my handbag, just like Jap Girl over here.

Oh shittt!!

Like a woman possessed, I jumped out of my seat and ran to the driver:

“I forgot my luggage on the other bus! You know luggage, right? Bag?” (offer sign language)

 “WO TE BAG! Wo wang chi wo te bag! Ni ming bai ma? Luggage?” (dramatic sign language)

 “Wo luggage zai na ge bus!” (even more dramatic sign language)

I must have looked like a deranged woman, speaking awful Mandarin while flailing my arms in full panic mode. The driver looked utterly confused and a little irritated. Thankfully, a kind passenger who spoke a bit of English took pity on me and explained the situation to the driver. I gave the driver an apologetic smile while the rest of the passengers stared at me in unison. I felt like a total idiot.

After he understood what happened, the driver made a few calls. Eventually, Bus A’s driver texted back saying he’d drop my luggage off at Point X. I was overwhelmed with relief because everything was in that bag: my laptop, clothes, presentation materials. Everything. I was just so relieved I could get it back.

About five minutes later, Jap Girl stood up, looked at me and exclaimed, “My luggage too!” Are you kidding me? Now she remembers?? 5 minutes later?? Why didn’t she say anything when I was panicking just moments ago? I asked her, “Your luggage is in the other bus?” She nodded vigorously. So, for the second time in less than ten minutes, I had to trouble Mr Nice Guy to explain her situation to the driver. After he translated, the driver looked at both of us with an inscrutable expression and shook his head. Saying he was annoyed would be an understatement. He probably had a meltdown after our trip.

Anyway, everything turned out fine in the end. After everyone got down, the driver sent us to Point X where we both got our luggage back. Soon afterward, the bus stopped at Ximending. I got off and walked to the hotel, which was only a few yards away. From that point onward, everything went uphill. I finally found my sister, and we had a great time catching up. It was so wonderful seeing her in the flesh as it gave me the feeling of home. We had dinner together, chatted non-stop and even did a bit of shopping at the night market. 

The next day, I took a high-speed train to Taichung, then a cab to National Changhua University. 

My presentation went well, and I met quite a number of interesting people at the conference. After a long day, I checked in at Holiday Inn Taichung Park and took a short nap. 

 

Later that evening, I took a stroll through Fengjia Night Market, shopping and soaking in the vibrant atmosphere. I crashed the moment I got back to the hotel.

I flew out the very next day and spent the rest of my trip in KL, before finally heading back to Christchurch. I guess that wraps up my 6-day conference adventure. My time in Taipei was brief and chaotic, but definitely not lacking in experiences. The most important lessons I learned? Don’t stare at people for too long… and never, ever, ever forget my luggage again.

With Nina, my ex-coursemate