Thursday, December 07, 2006

Thoughts on Green Oranges, Black Chickens and a Talking Two-Year-Old

Green oranges are here! Autumn marks the green orange season on the island. When I first saw bins of mottled green fruit, I assumed they were unripe. But after a produce vendor tore one open to give me a slice, I realized that these large, tangerine-like oranges never lose their green color. A post on ramblingspoon.com remarks: “In tropical regions with no winter, citrus fruits remain green until maturity, hence the tropical ‘green orange.’”

Caroline especially loves this sweet fruit with a slight sour aftertaste. She usually bites into a section, sucks all the juice out, and leaves a hill of pulpy remains behind. She also gets bits of pulp all over herself, and then, later, as she discovers it in her hair, on her feet, or between her fingers, she freaks out and runs to me saying, “There’s a boogey on meeeeee. Get it off!”

Barret likes eating green oranges as well, but he is more fascinated by the fact that there are trees growing near his school playground with fruit hanging from the branches. I guess when you are used to seeing fruit only in its natural surroundings of the Kroger produce aisle, spotting it hanging above the jungle gym is pretty amazing. His favorite citrus product here, though, is the fresh squeezed orange juice sold by the street vendors. The juice is made from a different kind of local orange that is small, tart and extremely juicy. The juice is paler than the Minute Maid or Tropicana variety in the States—closer to the color of lemonade—and has a pleasant tart taste that is very refreshing.

Citrus trees, in general, are pretty common around the area. In fact, McLeod recently discovered them at the Kuo Hua golf club, thanks to his caddy. I have to take a moment to explain that golfing in Asia is a much more formal event. It generally takes all day and ends with a trip to the steam room and showers before changing into fresh clothes for dinner at the club. Female caddies are provided, but lest visions of buxom, short-shorts-wearing drink cart girls float into your head, the women at Kuo Hua are shrouded head-to-toe in purple garments, gloves, and face masks that leave only their eyes peaking out from beneath huge Chinese straw hats. Imagine McLeod’s surprise, then, when his demure, purple assistant suddenly grabbed an iron and began viciously attacking the limbs of a tree. Was it a snake? Was she frustrated at his Chinese? (In trying to ask his yardage, he kept mistakenly asking her “What am I?” to which she replied helpfully, “American?”) But no, at last she brought him the fruits of her labor, a fat green orange. Better than a candy bar from the clubhouse any day!

Family Time for the Glasses
At the time of the last post, we were preparing for our first overseas Thanksgiving. It was a quiet affair featuring chicken and stuffing in the crockpot, cranberry sauce “shaped-like-the-can” as our family calls it, green bean casserole, fruit salad and pumpkin pie with Cool Whip. The ingredients were purchased for exorbitant amounts at my favorite import shop and worth every New Taiwan dollar! But don't think that just because we had an American-style Thanksgiving that Taiwan is not rubbing off on us. I had a weird “where do I live?” moment on Thanksgiving Day when I opened up my US-based MSN.com home page. The lead photo for an article on cooking disasters featured a platter with a charred turkey. M
y first thought before reading the caption was, “Hmmm, black chicken recipes.” No, not “blackened” like spice-encrusted red-fish, nor burnt like the turkey in the article, but “black chicken,” a Taiwanese delicacy. They have a hybrid chicken over here that literally has blue-black skin beneath its feathers, so in the meat section of the grocery store, you will see a black-skinned whole fryer right there next to the pig knuckles and stir-fry beef. No, that’s not the kind of chicken we had for our Thanksgiving dinner. Maybe next year.

On Thanksgiving Day, we also had our family celebration of Caroline’s second birthday with a few gifts and some long-distance Happy Birthday songs from the grandparents. Since she’d already had a big cake at her party, we had blueberry muffin bread for her birthday breakfast. (Long story, but I ruined my muffin pan so I’ve been pouring the muffin batter into a bread pan. Works pretty well.) One of her gifts was a two-foot tall Strawberry Shortcake fabric doll that she thinks is a real person. She talks to her and has tea parties with her, but Strawberry is not allowed to share her pillow or stuffed animals at night and has to sleep by herself at the bottom of the bed. Caroline is just a wee bit protective of her turf around potential competitive threats.

Carolinese
In addition to blossoming into a feisty but still completely lovable two-year-old, our resident princess has had a language explosion over the last few months that leaves us shaking our heads in wonder. And it’s not just the quantity of words and phrases, though she must be learning a dozen words a day. The drama with which she delivers her lines, especially with her slightly husky voice, would make Bette Davis proud. For instance, this week McLeod is traveling, so if you ask her where Daddy is, she responds matter-of-factly, “My Daddy on a BIG airplane.” (Evidently, in her mind, he never actually gets off the airplane, just circles the globe for days on end.) Then, with a knowing nod of her head, she’ll lean forward and say, “My Daddy CALL me.”

During these phone calls from Dad, she holds various items up to the phone for him to “look at” while she provides a running commentary. Recently, it was pieces from the Little People Nativity Scene play set: “Look Daddy! It’s the BABY! Her name is called ‘BA-BY JE-SUS.’ (Yes, in her world all babies are female). “Her in her BED! This her MAMA. Her is called, ‘MA-RY.’ Look at this one. He named….he named… ‘Hat-on-his-head.’” (Poor Joseph gets no respect. In the play set he has a kind of generic shepherd look, so he ends up in the “fields by night” with the plastic sheep sometimes. No wonder she can’t remember who he is.)

We also have a family game called, “Get Caroline to say words beginning with sp.”
“Caroline, what’s that you’re eating with?”

“That my foon.”
“Caroline, what do you do with toothpaste?”
“I fit it! I fit bubbles in the water!”
Sometimes we don’t even have to try. She will simply walk into a room and say something like, “Where my farkle bow?” while she hunts for her sparkly hair ribbons. This week she added a new phrase that she picked up from Barret. He had made a tent with a blanket and announced that it was spooky inside. Caroline thought that was great, so now everything is “FOOOOKY, Mama! FOOOOKY!”

It’s not just the entertainment factor, though. I love that she talks to us about everything, and that I can finally know what’s going on in her head. When she says things like, “Mama, GO LOUDER!” meaning she wants me to go faster, I get to see her light up with glee as I swing, spin, or run faster with her. When I find her on the laundry porch sitting dreamily on Barret’s bicycle, I find out that she would really love a “Caroline Bi-th-ycle” of her own. That's definitely on her Santa list.

But my all time favorite moment is when a sleepy Caroline comes to me and says in her funny toddler way, “Mama, are you hold me?” Then, I wrap that bundle of energetic, two-year-old loveliness in my arms and all is right with the world.


Next post: Shèng dàn kuàilè! Reflections on Christmas in Asia and Barret becoming a bona fide five-year-old.

Sunday, November 19, 2006

More "Firsts" as We Head toward Thanksgiving

Halloween is well behind us and Thanksgiving is THIS WEEK! I can't believe it's been a month since my last update. Here are a few of the highlights from the last few weeks.

Since the kids' Halloween costumes accidently went via ship rather than air and didn't make it across the Pacific in time for trick-or-treat, we got to shop for new costumes here. Halloween is surprisingly big in this part of Taipei, and the department stores rolled out costumes, candy and decorations. Our apartment building had a trick-or-treat night, and Barret's school had a massive parade through the buildings for all the children in costume. To quote our friendly neighborhood Spider-Barret, "It was the best Halloween ever!" Of course, last year he had a barfing stomach virus, and it poured down rain, so the bar was set pretty low. We enjoyed going from floor to floor with a mob of little goblins and fairies. I carried my high-heeled Princess Caroline down several flights of stairs since her shoes, though pretty, were not exactly functional. Later, we had some good laughs trying to figure out the identity of a few strange food items in the kids' buckets. It was a great way to round out our first month in Taipei.

At the beginning of November, we kicked off the kiddie soccer season. McLeod calls it bee-hive soccer: imagine a swarm of 4- and 5-year-olds chasing a ball through other kids' games, across the track, and into the weeds every few minutes while parents yell, "Come back! Come back!" The children's jerseys have corporate logos all over them - think: NASCAR drivers - and the jerseys are at least 2 sizes too big so the kids look like they're in dresses. There are no goalies. Players keep running off the field to eat pizza, drink juice or use the bathroom. It is adorable and hilarious.

McLeod opened, closed, and re-opened a local currency bank account. The bank initially opened the account at the wrong branch--a fact that he pointed out to them almost immediately. However, in order to change to the correct branch, he had to first complete the entire process for opening the original account, including having his picture taken for an ATM card, so that the account could then be closed and a new account opened at the correct branch. And yes, he had to have his picture re-taken for his new ATM card. We just laughed.

We are in the midst of our first sniffley-snuffley family cold plus one sinus infection (mine) that sent me dragging into the family doctor last week to get medicated. I was pleased with how easy and inexpensive a doctor visit was--a big relief since at some point I will have to take one of the children in for something. I called at 9am, was scheduled for 11am, and was finished before noon. The only thing that was a bit unnerving was that I didn't actually see what any of the doctors or nurses looked like. When I arrived for my appointment, I was greeted by a receptionist wearing a surgical mask. After filling out a brief intake form, I was given a number and asked to be seated. Within a few minutes, my number flashed on a screen and a mask-clad nurse escorted me into the exam room to see the doctor, who was also wearing a mask. Are you starting to spot a trend here with the masks? It's a bit like interacting with a mouthless puppet. We talked symptoms, and he checked my nose, breathing, etc. and agreed with me that I had a sinus infection. He prescribed 4 different medicines, and though he was a bit muffled-sounding behind the mask, I am quite sure he told me to wear a light jacket in this unpredictable weather and perhaps consider wearing a mask in public places.

A related "first" was my trip to the pharmacy just a few doors down from the doctor. When I arrived at Whale Drugs (their slogan is "Whale wish you always well!"), my prescriptions were already prepared for me. I am having a tough time describing the packaging so I'll refer you to the picture. Each segment in the long paper strip contains one set of pills. For each dosing session, after each meal in this case, I simply tear open a package and take what's inside. Since I also have a set of pills for twice-a-day rather than three-times-a-day, they are packaged separately in a tiny ziplock bag. All in all, a very efficient way to dispense medicine; however, as another expat recently warned, better not try to board a plane to the US with them. Afterall, a plastic baggie with instructions sort of scrawled across in Sharpie marker looks a bit suspect. I was also somewhat alarmed when Caroline pointed and said, "I want some candy." The meds are definitely on a top shelf now.

In the midst of Sinuses Under Seige and the Creeping Congestion, we were able to pull off a birthday party for the kids. We opted for a joint party with a Cars/Incredibles/Bob-the-Builder theme since it was unbelievably difficult for me to find the themed birthday party kits on which I've always relied. I unearthed a package of Bob the Builder invites from my stationary box, and we hand delivered them to our friends. Barret and I decorated a chocolate cake with red, yellow and green M&Ms and two of the Cars characters (Caroline's "Sally" car and Barret's "Lightning THE Queen" car, as he calls him). I made a giant birthday banner to hang in the room we reserved at the apartment complex. I also had the good fortune of discovering two ladies at a craft fair who make and sell pinatas--their buisness cards are printed simply, "Pinatas and Latin Food," followed by their phone numbers. They sold me their last in-stock item, a massive Incredibles orb that looked a bit like a big red and black bomb. It was fantastic! I was, as usual, scurrying around in a panic to get everything pulled together. We'd even had to change the time at the last moment because I didn't realize we had an evening dinner engagement for McLeod's work. But when the party guests showed up, when little kids began chasing each other and sneaking M&Ms, when other moms jumped in to help with serving and clean-up, I calmed down enough to realize something important: We actually know some people now. Maybe not well yet--I'm not even sure of some last names--but at least well enough to laugh together at Caroline's chocolate-cake-beard and Barret's attempts to break the industrial-strength pinata. It's really quite nice.

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Fresh Perspectives, New Routines, and Some Firsts

One of the great things about moving to a new country is that you see the world with fresh eyes. Everyday things are simply surprising. The streets here alternate between tree-lined boulevards with chic modern buildings and shabby alleys where laundry flaps from sooty, cement balconies. The grungy garbage truck plays Beethoven’s Fűr Elise to signal its arrival--think Dukes of Hazzard car horn here not gentle melodic strains. Women wearing Prada high-heels and carrying Louis Vitton purses (likely the real things, not the knock-offs from Shanghai) zip down the street on their exhaust-spewing motor scooters. I love the incongruities, the surprises I discover on a daily basis. I laugh (usually) that I sometimes head out to complete a normal task like going to buy sliced sandwich bread and instead return with a baguette, a half-dozen cookies and a loaf of what turns out to be some sort of raisin toast.

As you can imagine, setting up our home and our daily routines has been different as well. Things are still a bit bare since we are still awaiting our shipment from the US, but we are slowly adding a few personal touches to the apartment. Our very first house warming gift was a lovely plant from McLeod’s corporate office. I was excited to hear there were flowers in the lobby for us but a bit overwhelmed when the house plant turned out to be a 3ft tall arrangement of purple orchids. These absolutely gorgeous flowers are indigenous to Southeast Asia so perhaps no more uncommon here than a peace lily or a rose bush in the States. But never in my life have I cared for something so exotic. I Googled “orchids” and also asked a neighbor for advice. The general consensus seems to be to leave them alone as much as possible and they will be fine.


We have now moved the flowers to the perfect spot in our bedroom--partly so that little hands would stop pulling off the blooms. I truly love waking up to see my very first “pet” orchids greeting me each morning. I then stumble to the kitchen to microwave some water for what we call “Fakee” (instant Hazelnut Latte flavored coffee) since our coffee pot is still somewhere over the Pacific. Fortified by this bland drink, I make sure Barret is dressed for school and then head downstairs for continental breakfast (and a cup of real coffee). It’s a new routine, but I like it—especially the breakfast provided by the apartment each day. I don't really care what they are serving as long as I wasn't the one who had to get up early to fix it. Kernal corn and chicken with cucumbers on the side? Dried pork "floss" with milky rice porridge? Yep, right next to the Frosted Flakes and hard-boiled eggs.

Barret’s biggest change in routine has been school. Going everyday, eating in the lunchroom, having PE and library time—it truly is real school a year earlier than we’d planned. But he is loving it, especially the trip on the school bus each morning. Riding on a school bus has been one of his life-long dreams, and when we found out that the 4-year-old kindergarten has their own exclusive bus complete with a kindly bus monitor named Mrs. Pang, we decided to let him start riding in the mornings. So each morning after breakfast, we walk him out to the sidewalk in front of the building where we wait with another classmate and her family. At 8:00 a.m. the bus rounds the corner while Barret and his friend both yell, “It’s the bus! It’s the bus!” The doors open and Mrs. Pang hops down to help the two children load up quickly and safely. However, the first morning I didn’t realize that Mrs. Pang would load him up quite so quickly. I didn’t really get to say goodbye before he was whisked away. I returned to my apartment and sat by the phone for awhile just in case the school called to say a sobbing Barret hadn’t gotten to say goodbye to his mommy. The telephone didn’t ring, of course, and when I walked up to the school for pickup time, Barret’s first question was, “Why can’t I ride the bus home in the afternoons?” Just to reiterate, he really, really likes riding the bus and going to his big-kid school, and I am really, really learning to let go and let him enjoy it!

To Market, To Market...
Another “first” for me has been shopping at the open market behind our building. The wet market—called this because it sells predominately fresh food items instead of clothes or other dry goods—is located in a nearby alley between adjoining six-to-ten storey buildings. This is good because the buildings keep things from getting too warm and stinky. I didn’t even know this market existed until one of the nannies in the building mentioned that she was going to buy vegetables at the market for her employer and asked if I'd like to accompany her. Pushing our strollers, we wove our way through the taxis, scooters, and subcompact cars that slowly motor through the back lanes. I think the smell of fresh fish was my first clue that we had arrived. I looked around a bit and laughed to see a padded-bra-stacked table sandwiched between a dried nut-and-bean display and a vegetable stand. I wasn’t quite ready to buy off the street yet—fish and raw meat at 8am was a bit daunting—but glad to at least know the market was here.


The next day I returned on my own to make my first purchase. I made up my mind to buy bananas and set out with Caroline once more in her stroller. As I approached the alley, I spied a very blonde woman examining framed prints at a table where the padded bras had been the day before. We struck up a conversation over the Joseph Miro paintings, and I learned she was the wife of the Nicaraguan ambassador and that they lived in our building. She gave me good advice, “If you see something you like on the street, run and get your money to buy it immediately. These people are here one moment and then disappear.” So I did—I hot-footed it home, grabbed a few extra thousand New Taiwan dollars and returned to purchase four prints for the apartment walls. That done, I bought the bananas. Then, I was feeling so brave and excited that I splurged on 1kg of purple grapes that turned out to taste exactly like the tangy-sweet wild muscadine grapes I picked in the woods as a child. It was a banner day for me! We have since returned to the wet market every three or four days to buy produce and even a few goodies such as new princess shoes for Caroline. I still haven’t worked up the courage to purchase meat or fish, but who knows? That will be another first for me to try.


Survival Chinese
We have not begun our language lessons in Mandarin Chinese yet, but this hasn't stopped us from trying out a few words here and there. At this point, my vocab is limited to Thank You, Hello and three all-important Taxi Chinese phrases: Right Turn, Left Turn and Stop. I was recently amazed, though, when Barret leaned forward over the cab driver's seat and told him "Zho Dwan then Ting" (Left Turn then Stop!) in his cheerful Texas twang. The cabbie and I both burst out laughing at both the mostly-Chinese phrase he'd uttered and the fact that he'd given the correct instructions to our apartment building. Encouraged by his success, Barret now asks his school friends to teach him new words in Chinese so he can try them out. The latest phrase, courtesy of a cute, “older” six-year old girl, is the one for “Excuse me/I’m sorry.” Unfortunately, this turned into the “Dui Bu Chee” game – he and his friend began to intentionally bump into people on the sidewalk and then say, “Dui Bu Chee!” before being overcome by fits of giggling. Caroline, not to be outdone by Barret, has also picked up a few words. I swelled with parental pride the other day as she said, “Shay shay” (thank you) to a young sales clerk who had given her a treat. But when the woman walked away, Caroline turned to me and asked, “Where Shay Shay going?” Not sure, honey, but if she makes a Zho Dwan (left turn) or a Yo Dwan (right turn), we’ll be sure to let you know!

Friday, October 06, 2006

We made it through our first week!

We're settling in slowly but surely. Last night was the great shining moment we've been waiting for all week: EVERYONE SLEPT ALL NIGHT. No children up requesting food in the middle of the night. No grown-ups checking email or talking on the phone at odd hours. We all slept, though I somehow passed out watching TV at 10pm and thus, slept peacefully on the couch. I even had about an hour of quiet this morning before the rest of the household awoke. I used this to laugh on the phone with our moving company contact regarding our air shipment problem and to reassure her that we are managing ok without our things but looking forward to them like Christmas.

Nutshell: air shipment hasn't left the U.S. yet because it turned out to be too bulky. A portion is having to be re-crated for a sea shipment--a.k.a. the slow boat to (Republic of) China. We're managing fine except that the kids have watched the same 5 DVDs one too many times and our clothes are literally wearing out as evidenced by the fact that due to a critical waistband elastic failure, our four-year-old son's pants fell down while walking to dinner last night.

We're in good shape though, thanks to the wonderful woman who furnished our apartment and also left us a generous housewarming gift including kitchen basics, toiletries, towels, snacks and a couple of celebration beers in the fridge. We packed bedsheets, so all I had to buy for our first night in the new apartment was some pillows.

So... How did the kids do on the flight?
And the answer is...they did great! Our 13 hour flight from San Francisco to Taipei was amazingly easy, though certainly long. We flew a Taiwanese airline, EVA Airways, and went ahead and maxed out the credit card to fly business class. ("DISCOVER the card that pays you back" with a pittance that you can apply to your gigantic balance and at least feel like you are doing something positive about it!) It was completely worth it to have the roomier seats, better food, and fewer passengers to climb over during the roughly 30 trips to the bathroom by our family. The highlight for the kids was receiving Hello Kitty and Dear Daniel backpacks from the flight attendants just after take off. These contained stickers, crayons and coloring books. Caroline still carries hers with her everywhere, so I've now turned it into her own little diaper bag for our many trips around the city. Hello Kitty and her masculine counterpart Dear Daniel are without question THE reigning couple here in Taiwan. Remember the Beanie Baby craze? Middle-aged women stalking McDonald's workers to get the promotional Teeny Beanies? A bit more orderly than that here, but Hello Kitty plastic cell phone strap charms are going like hotcakes at the Taiwan McDonalds... So, yes, the backpack from EVA Airways has the added bonus of getting my rosy-cheeked, very American daughter even more attention from the curious locals, which, of course, she loves.

Shine on, Shine on, Harvest Moon
Upon arrival, we spent two days at the Grand Hyatt. We got in at about midnight, and McLeod and I were completely zonked because though the kids slept a good portion of the flight, we didn't. So when we finally stumbled into the hotel room, we did what every good parent would do: made the kids a bed of pillows on the floor in front of the portable DVD player and loaded up Madagascar. At least that way we could half-snooze until they got tired enough to fall asleep on their own.

Honestly, I can't tell you much about those first 36 hours here except that at some point we got the keys to our apartment and gave the kids the grand tour of our new home. Highlights for them are the L-shaped sofa, which has a divan-style section for watching TV and (for me) snoozing, the cool view from their room, and the indoor play area on the first floor of the building. It truly is a lovely apartment and feeling more like home every day. The view is spectacular--we're on the 23rd floor--and I'm getting used to the appliances with all the buttons in Chinese and the little quirks like how NOT to blow the fuses (only run one thing at a time) and how NOT to get shocked by the dryer (get it properly grounded asap).

One neat thing that stands out from the past week is that we moved into the apartment on Friday, which coincided with the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday here. The festival celebrates the Harvest Moon and the legend of the goddess Chang E. One version of the story, which I read to the kids that night from the Discover Taipei magazine from our hotel room, is that the earth was once scorched by eleven suns until an archer named Hou Yi shot down ten of them. The hero then ascended the throne to rule the earth and married the goddess Chang E. Over time, Hou Yi grew selfish and evil, a despot instead of a noble ruler. He also became obsessed with gaining immortality and set his wise men to find the magic elixer of life. A kind and noble goddess, Chang E feared what her husband would do to earth's people should he become an immortal like herself. When the wise men discovered the elixer, she stole it and drank it rather than let Hou Yi have it. The potion made her float high above the earth (indigestion, perhaps?) until at last she came to rest upon the moon, where she looks down upon the earth to this day.

Of course, after I read the story we had to sing the kids favorite bed time song:
I see the moon and the moon sees me.
The moon sees someone that I'd like to see.
God bless the moon and God bless me.
And God bless the someone that I'd like to see.

And we do take comfort in the fact that you all see the same moon that we do, even if it's 12 hours later, and that the same God watches over and blesses all of us.

Friday, September 29, 2006

3...2...1...blast off!

We did it! Well, sort of. We've made it to San Francisco for a few days of rest and sightseeing before our flight to Taipei. The movers came on Thursday and Friday of last week and we shut down everything in Houston. I think we were more relieved than anything. We weren't sure we were going to make it out of town at all. The final two weeks in Houston brought some unexpected challenges...

We have discovered a fascinating game we're calling Docu-nopoly. To play, you first head to the Houston branch of the Taiwan consulate (called the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office or TECO), where you file for a Visitor Visa to Taiwan. Then, when you return to pick up your family's passports with newly added visas, you find a tiny yellow note in Chinese affixed to the top one. You have now officially entered the phase of the game in which you will interact with the administrators there every day or so by having them tell you other things they would like you to do so that your Visitor Visa can Pass Go and Be Converted to a Resident Visa once you've moved to Taiwan. Here are some of our favorite "moves" on the Docu-nopoly board:


  • Please submit marriage certificate and children's birth certificates to TECO office for authentication. (This was something we overlooked in our original instructions so we were thankful for the reminder. But there is more....)
  • Please translate your marriage certificate and children's birth certificates into Chinese.
  • Please find your own translator because TECO is not allowed to recommend anyone.
  • No, you won't need a form to allow the agency translating your documents to present TECO with the documents on your behalf.
  • Yes, you WILL need a form to allow the agency translating your documents to present TECO with the documents on your behalf.
  • Please download the form from the TECO website. (They were shocked when we told them all the forms were in Chinese and we couldn't read Chinese. Email from their office was not allowed but they agreed to fax an English version.)
  • Please have the faxed English version notarized, one form for each document, each one notarized.
  • While documents are being processed, please go to Houston PD and get a copy of husband's criminal record.
  • Criminal record for husband is unnecessary. Please go get a copy of wife's criminal record.
  • Please have the (non-existent) criminal records notarized by the police department. (Unfortunately hearing the last three statements had the effect of making me laugh hysterically and then start crying. Shortly after my fit, we received word from our immigration assistance contact in Taiwan that this was an unnecessary requirement as was the translations of everything, but by now we were already well into the game.)
  • TECO needs to verify that your notary is in fact a real notary (the stamped seal and notary number could possibly be a forgery?). Please fax additional address and phone number information for the notary who notarized the Document Authentication Forms.
  • TECO has called the number for the notary and determined it was invalid because a woman answered the phone. (McLeod explained that the notary WAS a woman...)
  • All documents can now be authenticated.
  • Sorry, marriage certificate cannot be authenticated by TECO office in Houston because it is not a Houston marriage certificate. It must be sent to TECO office in Atlanta. (Since we were now one day away from leaving, we had our agent gather everything up in whatever state it was in and return to us with hopes that the American embassy could help us over there.)

BUT, there were some bonus points when we got our package of documents back! Other than the marriage certificate, they had authenticated the kid's birth certificates (relief) PLUS their immunization records. I had accidently sent over the immunization records with the original batch of documents and requested that they just be returned to me by the courier. I laughed when I saw the cool authentication stamp on them. So basically the kids are Officially Immunized but McLeod and I are Not Officially Married. Did we win the game? Was it a draw? Who knows?

And frankly, now that we're happy San Fran tourists, who cares!

Saturday, September 09, 2006

Packing up


We are in the final three weeks of packing and prepping for the move, and indeed, it is a move, not a trip. I think the moment of realization came when I began sorting through the toys. With a small, though lovely, apartment waiting for us, we simply cannot take everything we own. Each day brings the agony of choosing.

For my four-year-old, choosing which toys get to come has been particularly hard. Obviously his things represent the known world to him. So each mangled Happy Meal treasure we unearth from the toy box brings up all the emotions of moving.

I find myself stealthily shoving odds and ends into black garbage bags while he’s napping or engrossed in a movie. I’ve boxed up toys on the sly and hidden them in the closet just so he won’t have to choose from among them. However, I am nagged by the feeling that I need to allow him to learn to let go of some of his things. This came to a head when he realized a long-broken dinosaur-shaped race track was no longer anywhere to be found.

“Where is my T-rex?”

“Honey,” I said, feeling the guilt again from the moment I buried T-rex in the outside garbage can, “T-rex is no longer with us. He was just too broken and missing too many parts.”

His voice cracked and wavered as he said, “I didn’t even get to say goodbye.”

“You can say goodbye right now, just into the air!” And he did. And I realized that kids can and need to say goodbye, and perhaps I don’t need to shelter him so much from the pain of leaving.


So that leads me to today. We were going to be visiting his preschool for the last time. I decided to go through the children's books to find some that were in good enough condition to donate to the school. Somehow knowing that they were going to someone else made it easier for my little guy, though he still had to lift each book near his face and say goodbye. (And there were some to which he just couldn't say goodbye. So you know what? They will go in storage with my blessing along with the tiny baby clothes to which I just couldn't say goodbye either).

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

How to watch a movie in 4 to 10 easy steps


My husband and I are in Taipei this week locating an apartment, visiting the American school, and generally trying to learn our way around the city with assistance from a relocation company. Because we are comfortably ensconsed at the Grand Hyatt downtown, it is tempting to see this as a vacation--children safely and happily staying with the grandparents in the States, room service breakfasts each morning, beauty salon on the 5th floor for his and her cuts and manicures--and truly, I am taking advantage of the second honeymoon aspects. It's just that, well, things are so different here. Simple tasks tend to take me three times as long to complete.

For instance, after a few jam-packed days of apartment hunting, we took some time off to see Pirates of the Caribbean last night. It took us several attempts to purchase our tickets and combo snack from the kiosk. My husband couldn't seem to get the touchscreen to work for him beyond the first screen. Thankfully, the first screen was a language option, allowing us to select "English" so that we could not know what we were doing in our own language. He would get to the next page and then in trying to choose our movie, send it back to the beginning page all over again. My theory on the touchscreen? His giant American meat hooks overwhelmed the computer. After several tries, he let me try with my smaller fingers--I would peck away at the screen while he read off the instructions. We still pushed some wrong button and had to start over at least one more time, but finally with our movie selected, we viewed our seat selection. Should we change our assigned seats? (Nope, we'll keep them. No way would we risk messing up and having to start over.) Now, we were zipping through the Snack options. What exactly is a churros? we wondered as we selected combo 1 from the menu. (Don't know but we'll take one...and only one because trying to buy 2 combos was "Sorry not an option.") Payment time. Why won't it read our ATM card? (Just keep swiping until it finally does.) "Your ticket is printing." As we stood there, dumbly staring at the machine that seemed to be doing nothing, hubby McLeod muttered under his breath, "Please let them be in there," and tentatively reached into a little slot at the bottom. Success! Two tickets and a Combo voucher. It felt like winning the jackpot of a slot machine.

Of course, we then had no idea how to get to the right theater at the multi-plex (understanding the Chinese movie stub was not happening), so with our "dumb American" looks plastered on our faces, we simply held out the tickets to various staff people who waved us in the right direction. Arriving outside the correct theater, McLeod approached the snack counter with the Combo Voucher. The teenager at the register fired off something in Chinese to which McLeod responded hopefully, "Coca-Cola?" The young man efficiently filled a cup and asked something else. This time McLeod gave the deer in the headlights look and the guy shifted to English, "Sweet or Salty Popcorn?" Sweet! And the mysterious churros turned out to be a kind of cinnamon stick similar in taste and texture to a funnel cake.

Inside the theater we settled into Row L, Seats 9 and 10, and I felt quite a sense of accomplishment. We watched as 10 or 12 other patrons wandered in and dutifully took their seats in rows K and L, all of us huddled together in these two rows against menace of 24 empty rows around us. I laughed like a crazy woman at the series of service announcements and advertisements before the movie. (Strange anime characters passing out from green sewer gases as they descend into manholes without the proper oxygen equipment, etc.) I then checked out of reality for a few hours as we watched our movie. Afterwards, I was overcome by the strangest wave of shock as I exited the theater and suddenly remembered that I was not in fact at the AMC movie theater back in Texas and had no idea where the exit was. Ahh, there it was: the exit sign with the green stick figure running for his life for an open door. Evidently when you exit here, you exit with gusto. And so, we did just that, rushing with the crowd into the steamy night air, thankful to know how to do one more thing in our new hometown.

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Why Taiwan?

When we first tell people that we are moving to Taiwan, we generally get the same questions: 1) Why exactly are you moving there? 2) How do you feel about it? 3) What are you going to do with your (TX) house? In the course of the conversation, we also usually get an apologetic question about where Taiwan is located. So, here are answers to those questions!

Geography first: Taiwan is an island off the southern coast of mainland China and north of the Philippines. It stradles the Tropic of Cancer so it's the same latitude as the Bahamas and Egypt. We will be living in Taipei, the capital city at the northern tip of the island. (I bet you've already launched Google Earth now and found it!) That leads into the question of why, exactly, we are moving there. Taiwan is centrally located within Asia-Pacific, so it makes a great home base for us as my husband works to develop market opportunities in the region.

As for how we decided to go - for that is the real question, isn't it?--about 3 years ago, we began to discuss whether we would like to live outside the U.S. at some point. I had lived in Finland with my parents when I was 12, and I was forever changed by the experience. The world--or at least Europe--became a place to explore, to make myself at home, and I was able to make two more European trips over the next two decades. When we began to discuss pursuing an expatriate opportunity with my husband's employer, I was all for it...as long as it was in Europe. Perhaps Munich or London or Zurich. I never imagined Asia would be on the radar. I will never forget when my husband mentioned (about 12 months ago, now) that his division was seriously investigating their presence in Chinese and Indian markets. I knew what was coming. Yep, he asked me what I thought about living in Asia. Honestly, I wasn't sure.

It took a year for the details to develop. Singapore was mentioned; then, Taiwan. Other people were offered the job. We thought the opportunity had passed us by. We both felt strongly that God was leading us toward a major change for our family - perhaps a new position inside or outside the company or a chance to move to a new home - so we had been preparing our house and personal affairs. We had even had a discussion on Memorial Day, prompted by watching a fascinating bio on George Washington, about moments in our lives when we are faced with a choice of paths: one path that attempts to maintain the status quo and meet short-term desires and another path that "follows where history is leading" (a quote from the movie) toward a larger, global purpose. Then, the day after Memorial Day, my husband was offered the opportunity to move to Taiwan, and we were researching, discussing, preparing, agreeing to go. Our hearts and minds were ready. Now we just have to get those suitcases packed.

As for the house, we are still not sure we are meant to sell it. It is in a fantastic location, and we have discussed in the past about turning it into a rental property. I believe God is opening that opportunity for us with a chance to rent it out in the short-term, and I am thankful that it will still be in Houston waiting for us if we need it. This seems especially important for our young son--he needs to know it is there--and frankly, so do I. But one of the fascinating truths I have learned this year as I've prepared the house for eventual sale is that a house is just a house. A home is where I choose to make it. That gives me great peace.

So, why Taiwan? Because it is there! Because Asia is a vastly under-appreciated region, brimming with possibility on all fronts. Because it is where history, and more importantly, God, is leading us. Because we are ready to go.




Monday, July 17, 2006

Lists, Logistics and Launch Dates

The countdown has begun - though we are still a bit vague on our official move date to Taipei. Most likely we fly over the last week of September. I am learning that I can actually still function without knowing all the details ahead of time. For those of you who know how I rely on fixed dates and definite plans, you will agree that this is a big deal for me. That being said, I still have a pretty big to-do list of things I do know about. Children's passports applied for, vaccinations on schedule, rental plans (both for our Texas house and our flat in Taipei) in progress. We got a giant document from the corporate relocator with requirements for Visas, Alien Resident Certificates, and the like - they relish checklists as much as I do. Then there are random things that I think about in the middle of the night like, "What should I do with my piano?" and "When was my last dentist appointment?" I look forward to getting the logistics behind me and settling in. At the same time, I am soaking up these final two months in the States. What a blessing to laugh with old friends even as I eagerly anticipate new friendships on the other side of the world.