Spring has sprung

So yesterday was the first day of 2011 at the beach (Chinese New Year doesn't count, because we were down south.) The day was warm, bordering on hot, so everyone was out of their house, and although traffic getting out of the city was a bit of a mess, it was nice driving along the coast, enjoying the blue skies, brilliant sunshine, and watching the waves rolling in. By the time we got to the beach, though, some fog had rolled in, and it wasn't until we left that the sun cleared it up. We still had a good time - A & J and their kids met us there, and our kids played in the sand. I threw sticks out into the sea for Gustav to fetch, and the mood was mellow. A & J had bought some food along the way, so we had a bit of a picnic, and we had a nice time talking with A & J.

On the way back home, Vanessa offered to drive to let me nap for a bit, and I said, sure, just wake me up if you're not sure where to go. Well, while I was snoozing, I sort of felt that the car was making too many turns to be on the straight road that we were supposed to be on. I opened my eyes and asked V where we were. "Oh, it's a shortcut!", she said brightly. "The sign said that we can go this way to Taipei." End result? It took us an hour longer than it should have to get back home. Groan. We got back home, changed our clothes quickly and made it over to A & S's place for dinner at 8:00, instead of 7:00. A had cooked a fantastic meal - rack of lamb, roast potatoes, broccoli, wine, cheese, salmon - it was a great dinner! After that, I dropped Vanessa off at a KTV where she was meeting some friends, took the kids home, put them to bed, and slept like a log. All in all, a very nice day!

Anyway, now that beach weather has started, it's time to get back on the bike. I've been pretty sedentary for the last three months, and it shows. I really want to make some improvements in my life this year, and physical fitness will help that. And I want to be less of a dork on a surfboard, although that may not be possible.

Holy Nightflier, Batman!

So there I was, zipping along the riverside bike path, enjoying being back on my bike after a four day absence, loving the night breeze, when WHAM! A freaking bat flies right into my face! Does it fly off? NO! It gets its freaking wing entangled in my chin strap and flaps around wildly. Five seconds later (an eternity!) it gets loose and flies away, leaving me a little scratched up and completely grossed out.

If that bat infected me with anything other than super powers, I'm going to be severely pissed off!

Sunday March 14

Hmm, it's been a while since I wrote anything. Oh well. What with Facebook and Taiwanease.com, it's not like I'm off the Internet or anything.

Trudi is now 3 years old, and Izzi is 5 months old. Both of them are gorgeous, and fill my life with joy. It's kind of hard to describe the degree to which they make me happy, because I never imagined it before. It's very strange, but in a wonderful way.

The other day we got home from work and Trudi was still up. Isabel was too, of course. She always gets a midnight feed before we put her to bed for the night. Anyway, after a few minutes of family snuggling on our bed, we told Trudi that it was time for her to go to bed and go to sleep. For the first time ever, she wailed, "but Isabel doesn't have to!!!" She was acutely aware of the unfairness of the situation. We told her that it was different - Izzi is a baby, and therefore has a different schedule, but Trudi went to sleep crying bitter tears anyway.

Still, we're lucky. Trudi is a very doting, loving, sister to Izzi. She takes her role very seriously, and is very happy when she can hold Izzi or help take care of Izzi in some way. We haven't seen ANY manifestations of jealousy yet, and while I know they may come, I'm optimistic that it won't be too bad. Frankly, I get more jealousy vibes from Gustav than I do from Trudi.

After a fairly unpleasant winter, the weather this weekend is rather nice. It's sunny-ish, and almost warm. I think we'll go our for a walk around the lake in a bit, and then I know the girls will have a nap. Tonight Vanessa and I are going to the St. John Passion at the National Concert Hall. Helmuth Rilling is conducting, so I'm looking forward to it. We rarely get to concerts nowadays - usually only once or twice a year, because we only really have Sundays available, and most concerts are on Fridays and Saturdays. It would be nice if this could somehow change in the future. Time for another cup of coffee, and some work on Taiwanease and Taiwanted. Later, gator.

Taiwan: The biggest brands you've never heard of

Trudi & the Chihuahuas

Why Taiwan Cops Don't Get Respect...

Morning Camp in Miaoli, Taiwan

Trudi & MJB on the hammock

I want to cry

I remember when I could buy a Canadian dollar for 20 New Taiwan dollars. I want to cry.

Rainy days, warm hearts.

Our life is pretty unexciting. I'm working hard - harder than I'd like, perhaps, but we get to have some pretty good times together too - times that count as among the happiest in my life so far (and I've had a pretty happy life!)

We discovered tonight that Trudi perked up and started dancing/clapping/vocalizing whenever the closing theme for the TV show "Las Vegas" was playing. Las Vegas, btw, is a pretty vacuous TV drama we rented about the daily workings of a casino. Not recommended unless you're in vegetable mode. Anyway, as I was saying, we noticed that Trudi quite liked the closing credits of the show. Probably she was just happy that it was over! At any rate, we hit the review button on the DVD player, and recorded Trudi's reaction to the theme over and over. She's funny.

Bad Day

Trudi on the balcony

Trudi likes the view from our balcony!

Niggar King

Niggar King
Originally uploaded by Poagao

This store in Zhongli was originally called "Nigger King" and changed their name to this after a visit from the police (notice the "A" is slightly different). Now they're considering changing it again (maybe "Nagger King" is next?)

BTW, the Chinese name translates as "King of the Black People".

How to do a typhoon weekend right.

Friday: Waited for the nanny to come to our house to take care of snookums. Went to work, only to find out that there wouldn't be any. Yay! And because our schools semester is tied to the calendar, and not to the number of classes taught, typhoon days are considered "acts of God" and don't need to be made up/refunded. Figuring that Saturday would also be a vacation, we left a message on the school's machine saying that the school was closed for the weekend.

Knowing that the nanny was at home with the baby, V and I decided to make a night of it. We had a lovely meal with wine at Carnegie's, running into a number of the usual suspects there. My steak was fantastic, and I really enjoyed the house red. We also bought a truckload of takeaway Indian curry dishes from Carnegie's, and V ordered a pasta/pesto/seafood dish to eat the next day. After dinner, we went to Warner Village, shared some ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery, bought some donuts for the nanny and her husband (to alleviate our guilt), and a couple of donuts to enjoy while we watched a movie (The Bourne Ultimatum). It was our first movie since our daughter was born last December, so we enjoyed it. The theatre was quite empty, and there were no annoying people using cell phones during the movie, so my aggravation levels were at an all time low.

Saturday: The wind was howling, but we went for a walk on the lobby level of Lotus Hill - lots of wind, but thanks to covered pathways, no rain or flying debris. Trudi and Gustav particularly enjoyed themselves. Then we went to Costco, which was very uncrowded. We bought some essentials, and then headed home for a nap. We heated up the Carnegie's takeaway we had bought the evening before, had a fabulous curry feast of, watched some more TV, and then I taught my wife to play Risk. She enjoyed it, even though she lost. (I'm an old hand at Risk, and show beginners no mercy.) We played into the wee hours and then hit the sack.

Sunday: Today woke up late, made a pot of fresh coffee, French toast with a dollop of sour cream, fresh raspberries and maple syrup, and some Costco bacon there is none finer).

This afternoon, took the dog out for a walk, and shaved and showered. Best weekend I've had in years!

Trudi's Frog

Swimming Lessons

Trudi Pets Gustav

Trudi and Gustav are bonding nicely! (You can hear Gustav's tail thumping loudly in the background.) Today was Mother's Day, and since I was sick, we spent the day at home.

First Day of the Summer at the Lotus Hill Swimming Pool!

Gustav Riverswimmer

Just discovered two videos of Gustav playing a bit of whitewater "fetch" a couple of summers ago at our favourite campground in Neiwan. What a cool dog he is!

"We Don't Need No Education"

At least not if Education Minister Du Zhengsheng (杜正勝) is leading the way. As the Taipei Times reports:

Du proved unpopular as head of the Ministry of Education from the start with the pan-blue camp, ruffling their feathers in 2004 with his proposal that Taiwan maps be rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise in schools nationwide.

With the country's north no longer on top, Du argued, students could appreciate Taiwan from a fresher, "fairer" angle.

He's also been compared to George Bush for his apparent lack of literacy, which is a pretty glaring flaw in an education minister. He's been criticized in the past for dismissing Chinese idioms, a rich part of Chinese literary culture, as something which "makes one's brain rusty" and is not something to be included in a modern Chinese education. This may or may not be true (I suspect it isn't), but his gaffe over the weekend shows what an ignoramus really is.

Last week, Du defended his ministry's listing of the phrase "three little pigs" in its online classical idioms dictionary, insisting that the saying - apparently from the Western fairy tale by the same name - was indeed a classical Chinese idiom.

"For example, if I saw a student slacking off, I could say to him, `Don't be like the oldest of the three little pigs.' You see, that's an idiom," Du reportedly said.

Incidentally, in the fairy tale The Three Little Pigs, the oldest pig character outsmarts a villainous wolf by being hardworking.

Du's allegedly iffy grasp of idioms prompted pan-blue lawmakers to cook up their own "idiom" last week: "To pull a Du Zhengsheng," referring to verbal gaffes exposing one's ignorance.

And to make matters worse for the embattled education minister, the media reported that his son was seen partying with scantily-clad escort girls in a hostess bar, a violation of servicemen conduct codes.

I have no problem that a young soldier was out sowing his wild oats - that's what young soldiers do, but the public reaction was interesting. While watching some TV interviews with members of the public, I noticed that many people placed the blame on Du's son's moral failings on a faulty education system. "They just don't teach proper values in the schools anymore!" was the recurring theme, which to me is a funny thing to say. I don't want the school system here to teach my kid values. That job belongs to Vanessa and me. In fact, I think in the future I'll have to make a point of telling any of Trudi's teachers to please not teach her any values - she's being home-schooled in that department. She certainly won't be any worse off than her Taiwanese peers.