Typhoon days

So we're alive..yes we had a Typhoon...well Taiwan had one, Taipei's version was rather lame to say the least. We (well Wolfgang, my exboss and i) joke about saying that typhoons are so lame here and that we really don't think we've seen a typhoon till we see cars flying and trees falling down. i have yet to see that and praise The Lord that i haven't. However they make a big old fuss here in the city and it never really hits the city (touch wood ect..)
So we had Friday off work due to the typhoon, i was asked to collected Asher from the orphanage on Thurday, before we knew for sure we would have the day off ( i took a chance as they often will call a day off if it looks like it will hit Taipei)

Friday came, it was a bit windy and there was rain..but not so bad. I noticed Ashers milk powder was low and i new (the news said it) that the tyhoon would land on Saturday and that the morning would be the best time to get out and get it...
so we did, 9 o'clock the kids and i went out on a mission to get some milk powder, not really sure the shops would be open but betting that they would. Sarah sat in the buggy nice and dry (with the rain cover on)...bar her feet which now stick out. Asher was in the sling with Sarah's old raincoat on, and we walked. Lots of cars were parked up on the pavement so we had to walk in the road..the wind was wistling and the rain was coming down, as i walked in the road carrying one baby and pushing another....i thought what a sight i must be. Locals looked at me like i was mental or didn't know that there was a typhoon coming..we ignored them and pressed on. It was fine really not a big deal, we even stopped and got fruit and veg from the market...then the wind picked up i figured we should head home.
So we stayed inside and did craft..well i did, Sarah drew / scribbled while Asher ate everything.. crayons, chewed pens, and distroyed Sarah's "art work", (by eating it of course). if it wasn't Asher messing the game or craft up it was the kittens..they where everywhere in to everything, including eating anything that was put down down for 30secs... aggghh.
I cleaned what felt like endless poop from nappies, litter trays and the floor...aggh again to the stupid kittens!!
Cabin fever was getting really bad (for me) and i looked outside the rain was no more than a drizzle, so we went out again. Yep, i took the kids out even when the typhoon was just about to land. we didn't go far just across the street to the "Green store" This is not green as in enviromentally aware, no just green lables and cheap stuff. like a massive pound store/ dollar store. its cool Sarah loves it as do i, you can get everything there..really everything. very cool. we stayed there for like an hour brought a couple of things and went back home..i felt proud that we didn't watch any tv but then i gave in and i watch a crappy oldish moive on the box..then Tom came to see us and Sarah loved the chance to play with him, i was well into the rubbish movie so was a terrible host..then the wind picked up so tom left
Needless to say we are fine, Saturday was not so bad really kind of better than friday. The same is not to be said in some parts of Taiwan. I am just very glad that we didn't get hit by the typhoon, but you know one of these days we will and i will not belive it. Too many times have the govement/weather people cried wolf to us in Taipei city..i'm sure i'll be court short one day.

Too True Tuesdays (well Thursday)

So Essie has a very cool idea to share something true about yourself on Tuesdays...
well i have way too many and i don't think i can even bring myself to say 99% of them but i will go for a few tame things.

So a new friend of mine was came down with a cold ( a love interest from many a year ago when i was at university... studying a for biology degree) , i wanted to take something over to show i cared you know all nicely nicely.. so what do you take, i could possibly take chocolates as you can't eat chocolate when you have a cold, so i took fruit.
I said that i wanted to bring chocolate but you can't eat chocolate when you have a cold. Their face was a picture, "Paula, what are you talking about??" I repeated "You know when you have a cold you can't eat anything with chocolate in" i was put in my place and told promptly that i was talking rubbish and where did i ever get such a crazy idea...
Well that's from my father, he always told us that you can't have any chocolate (like hot chocolate) when you have a cold...i believed him without even questioning the logic behind it. seriously, how stupid am i to not even question why you don't eat chocolate..needless to say the love didn't bloom (scientist are unforgiving of ignorance!)
ho hum... i try and question a few more things these days, you know that scientific training really helps...
I also have tons of words that we used as kids that i found out as an adult that no one else uses like gogo (as in a hair band).
(As a ps and side point, the reasoning behind no chocolate is that you shouldn't have cows milk when you have a cold, which is valid, but i don't drink cows milk so it makes no sense to rule out chocolate, don't go throwing the baby out with the bath water!)

A busy weekend

So he still hasn't got an ARC..and won't be able to get one. unless he does he serves his country (if only it was a Tennis Serve, he's rock at that!). So he is back in Taiwan with gifts for me from his long trip to Hongkong..all of 2 hrs. I got Ribenna and chocolate liquires which i LOVE...mmmm, and you can't get here. Sarah also loved the Ribenna, and i wish i'd never let her taste it as she finished off the whole bottle in about 2 mins. i still have one in the fridge and will drink it at night when she is alseep so i can be totally selfish!! haha.
This weekend was really cool, and just a tad busy.
So on friday morning we went to the water park with Kelly and Nik, Sarah is loving the water way more than she did i am so pleased as she never really liked it before and now well now she is happy getting her face wet going down water slides that scare me a little and lying down in the water with her nose and mouth peaking out. So cool. I took her on this twisty water slide, i looks harmless, but in fact it's really fast. She LOVED it, i was scared that i'd drop her but she was fine about it. Kelly and Nik had a go and Kelly held on to him with one arm and tried to slow herself with the other..it was a sight to be seen, Niks legs went over the side of the slide like he was going to fly off, from the top i'm sure you'd just see his legs flaying! so funny..a little scary as i was at the bottom and his legs hit mine, i felt terrible!
After work i then took two people to see the orphanage when i went to collect Asher, one of them would like to take a baby home at the weekends when she gets back from her trip home (south Africa), she has three kids of her own, 10, 16, and 17 so she knows whats she's letting herself in for!
On Saturday morning we went and meet up with Tom in starbucks, is 30 mins late...i did warn him not to set out to early...he still did. Of course the kids need food, and poop at the time i am trying to get out of the house. we practically ran there...bar the MRT (underground) trip where it doesn't help too much to run on the train. but from trains to train yes we ran. Still we were painfully late. Tom wasn't too happy but way better than i thought that he'd be, he is mellowing in his old age! (he's younger than me). We went there and Sarah was so thrilled to see him, she asks about his wearabouts every single day more than once! so she was chuffed to see him there in Star bucks. We then went for lunch at Subway...ok so this reflects so badly on me as i would have never not ever gone to either of these places when i lived in the UK...but i am telling you when you are a fish out of water you go to places that look and feel a bit like home..trust me i think you'd do it even if you hate these places right now, you have a choice..well so do i but it's not that great. hum... feeling guilty isn't going to help, but getting a drink and something to eat from a place that speaks English and feels like home is difficult in Taiwan.
After lunch we meet up with Kelly, Cos and Nik. Cos drove us to the beach, the kids all slept on the way there so kelly and i got to chat, which is way easier with out kids hang off us (they were hanging off us but asleep so you know quite!) We went to this nice beach (fulong) Sarah loved playing in the sand (a first as before she hated it), she also went swimming with me and had lots of fun splashing around. it was great, we got there at 230 and left at like 8, nik and Asher fell asleep...Sarah my night owl was still bouncing around like she'd had hours of energy left! never mind.
Got home both kids screaming..i am wondering what i am doing with two kids as i am pooped! never mind they all get to sleep by 10 as do i!
On Sunday i get them up and go to Church to meet someone to show them what to do for the info ministry i half lead (i do a terrible job). They didn't turn up for 20 mins...so i need not have woke up the kids..never mind.
I get a cab home and get them both to sleep for an hour and a half, then we go and meet up with Nevada and go to the Water park (again!) we had a lot of fun there. Asher in a sling and Sarah desprate to go off on the slides, which she really can't do by herself the water is too deep at the end of the tunnel or slide so i have to sit with her...i can't do that too well with Asher in a sling so at the end Nevada watched her and i got to do cool things with Sarah on the slides. we even went down the twisty super fast slide. This time my shorts were not water shorts and it helped as it slowed me right down...a little too much as in the big tunnel we kind of got stuck! The we went to Nevadas to have dinner, Tom came over and joined us and then Maddy popped by. Then we all (bar Maddy) went to Church (its a different one than the morning one, its called the Pearl and is small and a younger crowd of people.
Then at 9 pm we got home...ok Shattered!! (that mean very very tiered)
kids screaming, i'm wondering what i am doing..must be mental!
The next morning i have get Asher to the orphanage by 730 due to working at 9am...not good. Rushing rushing, the kids were both out and i had to wake both of them to leave on time. Sarah wanting to be held but its very tricky, i carried her down the 5 flights of stairs from my house then dropped her in the Buggy, she practically fell back to sleep. I got to the orphanage in time, and then to the nannies...she was still alseep when i arrived at 8:20. then i got to work in time, but had a terribly put together lesson...not the best.
In short it was busy, but fun!

ARCs, Phones and growth spurts

So many things have been happening what happened just yesterday is Tom called me to tell me that he can no longer have an ARC...(Work permit) to live in Taiwan. Ok so this is confusing right as Tom is Taiwanese...but he's not really. He came he on his British passport to avoid military service. Which was all above board and fine...however they change the law in Feb this year (with out us knowing of course) which means that he can no longer do that. He has to do his military service or he can't have an ARC...his ARC ran out today so he has had to get a quick flight to Hong kong and get out of Taiwan fast. nightmare. So he is now flying to Hong kong just to flight back here and get a landing visa, which is for 90 days only...what a waste of money and time. He will literally go there and get the next flight back..crazy stuff. we don't know what will happen after that but it seems crazy. Poor Tom, what a nightmare.

Bar all this big drama of the day, over the past month we've been busy getting a new phone, with a lot of help from Anna and Steve...We went to get it sorted out and it was a bit of a nightmare, if you can't speak Chinese you really can not sort it out by yourself..plus if you apply and you are foreign then you have to pay even more as a deposit so you don't just leave the country.
Never mind.
I have been hunting for flights and trying to sort out a way to get back home, and i will go i have enough money just but it's tight so i was stressing over that. However it's way too important for me to go home, there are tons of things happening right when i want to go back so i have to go i feel really drawn to go back.
I miss my family and friends, but i don't miss the weather...goodness knows what i will pack..Sarah will have to wear lots of tights with trousers i guess. bye bye cute summer stuff that we can normally wear until November and hello British Autumn time...great. Sarah's skinny i can't believe that she would cope to well if we went in the winter, she was freezing this morning after half and hour at the water park...and it is and was HOT out there. bless her. She's had a big growth spurt lately and has been eating for England..so when I took her to the orphanage to see Asher, who's been sick for like forever *he has a cold. I thought i know i will show them what a great mother i am and weigh her there as she must be a lot heavy...nope still just 10 kg.. she's gotten taller she's gained like 2 cm in a month (ok nothing compared to Essies kid but seriously even her feet have grown so much i can see the difference!).
Sarah's nanny lost a bag of Sarah's stuff the other week..which had in it one Spot. So Spot is the little cat Sarah loves and takes every were. Fortune has it that Heather (who we miss and want to come back) gave her a duplicate, or doppelganger Spot last year. So Sarah has two. We only ever take one out and i always try to get her to take said doppelganger. She did and her nanny lost it. So sad. She was really upset as she sleeps with two (she says three for two ..not sure why, she's started to correct it and say two spots). Anyway we went to the nanny on Monday and the nanny had been online and brought Sarah another Spot...this time rather bigger, not the same colour and with strips not spots...however it's the same company. It must have cost a lot as the ones that both Heather and i got were far from cheap (now wishing she's attached to a cheapy thing). This nanny is really quite poor, i feel so surprised that she did that its a big shock and must have been hard for her..i can't even tell her how much Sarah loves it as i don't speak enough Chinese..
I guess she saw as Sarah had a dog with her which as soon as she got the big spot she dropped on the ground like a bit of litter!
Ok thanks for reading so far...i just could keep going but i think i should stop and do some prep for work..i start in 20 mins!

Hair dressers

So Sarah's obsessed with Hair dressers...i've said it before but she is in love with them. we walk past on and she's standing at the window staring in as quick as a flash. She could spend hours just watching..even when not much is happening. I always have to pull her away. she points them out when ever she spots even a tiny glimps of one. So now she has my hair dressing playmobil in her room and she loves it. she brushes their hair, and her own with the tiny little brushes. she blow dries there hair too, and answers the phone..which she discovered was so small she can in fact put it in her ear...not so good but she's done it just the once...i am hoping we don't have to take her to the drs to remove it one of these days.
So on tuesdays i have the day off work, and i've been wanting my hair cut for a while..it's been a long time since i had it done as i (unlike Sarah) am not a big fan of hair dressers and the alike. So my friend Kelly has just gotten back from Russia, and she was going to get her hair cut, so i said i would like to join her. So we did.
We all went in together and Sarah was stoked! She sat there between us while we got her hair washed and asked again and again, my hair dressers? my hair dressers? over and over.
So Kelly said that she would like to treat her to a hair cut if that was ok. how could i turn such an offer down. Sarah was SO excited, it was SO funny and amazingly cute to watch her get her hair washed and then trimmed. Every time the hairdress left she asked where's the man gone? (man where?). She loved every minute of it. it was so cute. i asked that they don't really cut much off just trim it and they did.
My hair however..i asked for it to be a bob, then i felt lots of hair falling on the floor..you could practically hear it! I ware glasses so i can't really see what they are doing when i get my hair cut..i can just guess..so its a suprise when i put them back on.
So here it are some photos of out girls day out at the hair dressers. i have never done that before and it was so much fun i will do it again some time.
Ginger came with us, Kelly's friend and took photos, and translated for us. She was a blessing as otherwise we'd have no photos and look how cute they are!
Thanks to kelly for our wonderful hair cuts...well her's and Sarah's are great i am liking mine a bit too.

trip back home

life as a dyslexic:
Planning to go back to the uk in October..thought that the flights we well cheap...turns out what i was looking at is one way and for one adult.....oh dear when will i learn to read! back to the drawing board!

cycling

So we've been cycling this last couple of weeks. we have a bike on loan from a friend who has gone back to Canada for the summer (Thank you Nevada).
I want to try it out and see how Sarah liked it before i thought about getting a baby seat for her.
She LOVES it, really loves it. i am so glad. we cycled for 30 mins and we get off and she just says again again? and gets upset that we can't go on it again until tomorrow! bless her.
The problem with cycling is that in Taipei you can't take the MRT (underground) with your bike during the week you can only go on it at weekends or holidays...which i find a little annoying and strange to say the least. peak times sure but all day? and night during the week?? that's a little over the top no? also you can only take it on half the mrt the other half your not allowed...go figure.
Tom went with us for a bike ride and got rather hot, we went out at mid day...not the best idea ever, but i hadn't planned it that way it just so happened that by the time we got there Tom finished we finished eating ect..it was mid day. never mind.
We went to get the helmet for Sarah with Tilly and Anna, Sarah loves the helmet and wanted to wear it that day even though we didn't have our bike...her and Tilly used the bike stand to make believe it was a bike..or a horse or what ever they thought it was. cute.
Sarah has also taken to requesting a Tail. We have three cats currently...hopefully the kittens will go soon. But she is always saying my tail, where's my tail. i tell her she doesn't have one..but now she does she has a long sock of mine in the back of her skirt/shorts ect...and she walks around with this Tail..she loves it and even wants to sleep with it...go figure. i will take a photo to show you.
We also had a great trip yesterday to a shopping mall and Tom got Sarah some new very cool sandals. that she loves. she was miss bouncy to say the least yesterday. cute but so tiring!
the other day i got Sarah some sunnies and she wanted to wear them on the way home in the taxi...it was dark every dark out...still she wore them and told me , "bright lights."