Janae and I spent New Years on Kaohsiung going to the new "Dream Mall." Yes, that is the actual name. Yes, the mall is quite dreamy. The place was packed with people for the free New Years concert and it took us a long time riding home on Janae's little scooter (called motorcycles in Taiwan even though it's only 50cc). It was nice to be stationed at her parent's place, meet up with friends, and eat lots of good food with her extended family!
Taidong is one of Mom's favorite places on earth. It's a beautiful place uniquely situated between the pacific ocean and the Central mountain range where both are easily accessible. It's home to 7 of the 14-15 aboriginal races in Taiwan, one of which gave birth to Taiwanese baseball in the village of Hongye.
Mom traveled to Taidong in her early 20's to teach at a middle school and fell in love with the small fishing town. Her aunt lived there with their five boys and her uncle, always wanting a girl, welcomed her with open arms. Her uncle was a fisherman and his sons too. One of them runs the family fishing supply store there and hosted us during our stay. He summed up Taidong best when speaking of the schools there. They're not top ranked schools and may not teach all the test taking tricks and tactics at other schools, but they teach kids how to be happy. They do a fantastic job of that! Mom's aunt and all her sons are of the happiest people I know. They're easing going people who are always smiling and joking around.
The beauty of Hualian lies in Taroko Gorge. Granite canyons laced with greenery only Taiwan can produce. Our vacation style turned very relaxing and we ended up taking our time - much more than the guide planned on us taking at each spot. I guess this is why we had a private guide and not a tour group so we could talk, enjoy time together as a family, and catch up!
One of the sites in Hualian worth a specific mention was Water Curtain Cave, part of Baiyang trail that we hiked.
Our first vacation out of Singapore was to Taiwan for Christmas and New Years. Janae left at the beginning of December to be with her parents and I joined her two weeks later for Christmas and New Years. Mom, Mary and Debbie were going to Taiwan as well - I was excited to be able to see everyone again!
This would also be the first time Verene sees her great grandmother, great uncles and aunts as well.
As Halloween is primarily an American holiday now despite its Celtic roots, trick-or-treating in Singapore is essentially occurs in a neighborhood around the Singaproe American School, SAS. The event, as it truly is an event, has an organized planning committee from the American school. The streets are closed off to traffic with police patrolling the street entrances, a temporary taxi stand emerges outside the American school with long queues of kids and parents being dropped off and leaving. The streets are packed of Westerners and some locals as well. Official halloween banners span the street as well as corporate booths promoting their ex-pat related businesses. Disney set a booth there selling tickets to their latest Singapore show!
About half of our church group live nearby the school as its convenient for their school age kids. We were invited by one of these families to join them for our first Singaporean Halloween. We joined them with another family from Belgium and Holland. It was their first Halloween ever. There were kids everywhere and Verene, dressed as a ladybug, loved being around and "playing" with them. She's just starting to be aware of other kids now and learning how to interact with them.
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| From Singapore F1 Export |
The first ever F1 night race was held in Singapore! In preparation for the event, many promotions were held around Singapore and I caught one of them with the FHM girls! The mock F1 car was surprisingly small. The nose of the car is made for a driver's legs and was an uncomfortably tight fit. Fortunately I had good company to consul me in my pain.
The novel idea of 200mph+ race at night seemed great to see but tickets were sold out fairly quickly with only unreasonable tickets >$2,500 a pop left when I started seriously looking into the event. A French restaurant that my co-worker frequents often comped him with a pair of complete 3 night grand stand passes - the kind with actual seats and not the cheap walk around ones. He was kind enough to part one night to me and another coworker on the team. He kept the night of the qualifying and actual race for himself and gave us official practice night tickets.
We're finally reunited in Singapore! Our house and both cars sold in the US without too much more difficulty. I do have to say it's a huge stress reliever to be here in Singapore and not have to worry about a home in in another country. I don't know how else to describe how good it feels to be together again but to say families are meant to be together. I'm so used to having Janae by my side in everything I do and not having that was like being apart from a good friend. Of course I missed Verene terribly but thanks to Janae's efforts I missed out on as little as possible.
Our beautiful house may have finally sold! We finally received a contract from an interested couple to buy our home. It's only a contract but we are hopeful as the buyers seem serious and the agent representing them experienced and solid.
Last month has been a real estate disaster for Janae and I. After we didn't sell the house by ourselves, we hired a realtor to help finish the job when I left the country. Smooth talking agents were a plenty.
It's amazing to think how many people you become close to and attached to through the years. Janae and I have been in Virginia most of our married life. It's really home for us now. Utah's the only place I've lived longer and though I have great friends still there, all my family has left.
All of our friends were so generous to want to and actually follow through with little parties and farewells for us. Thanks to Betty for getting all our neighbors together, Leonards, Palmers, Van Horns, Hsu, and Cheng-yu for having people gather in your homes. I truly do miss all of you!
I regret not having a camera with me at every one of these occasions but have put up the ones I did get below.
Every time I see a little girl here in Singapore I can't help but think of Verene. I fixate my eyes on the girl and take in everything she does. I'm sure the parents have thought me some sick pedophile but I can't help missing my little girl. I think of all the stuff I get to see her do when I see her again - all the stuff I see the girls here do like holding Daddy's hand while walking, only stepping on certain color tiles through the subway, going up steps one at a time - always with the same foot forward, laughing and running around the playground, tired and falling half asleep on Daddy's shoulder, and so much more.
I miss all the little things she did before I left and all the new things I hear about ...