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!

We had the good fortune to be treated to some of the best seafood I've had in my life! One of Janae's cousin, Mei-mei, who visited us while we lived in DC, married into a family of renowned seafood chefs. Her husband's father ran a very successful seafood restaurant and parted his knowledge to his three sons. Mei-mei married the most talented of the three who now owns his own restaurant. Unfortunately I didn't catch a photo of Mei-mei or the chef as both were busy attending to the restaurant.

Their daughter, Ting-ting, about half a year older than Verene, is extremely cute. She speaks in complete sentences and welcomes customers into the restaurant as they walk in. She was kind enough to feed Verene through dinner and push her around in her little car. Whenever the camera was pulled out, she'd have her 2 fingers out with her photogenic smile ready.

The other family pictured is Ji-hua and his wife, who own a very successful bakery in Taiwan. We joined them for their company's year end banquet. They're the first bakery to go online and are becoming a household name! Even my relatives in the North know about their bakery, famous for a particular pasterie with melted butter at the core. A bite into the heart of the bread and the perfect amount of butter fills the palette - not too hot and oily and not too hard. You have to wait 3 months to get your hands on one of these butter perfections - that's how far they're back-ordered. Fortunately we got the relative special and had a couple dozen hand delivered.

Catching up with old friends

Janae caught up with old friends from her school days and even took a girls weekend in Taidong. I was able to meet up with Amy and Becca, friends from my mission in Sydney. Amy was kind enough to treat us to a new style of Japanese grill that was delicious! Janae was so impressed we took her parents back to try. Becca was so generous with her time and took the day off to visit. With the economy doing poorly in Taiwan, and her company downsizing from 90 to 5 people in the last year, I was touched by the gesture. Being one of five left from the massive downsizing speaks a lot to her abilities at work! Her husband was very pleasant and a great chef. We look forward to eating more of his cooking the next time we visit. Becca's son (Brandon, I think was his name) only a month older than Verene, was very kind in sharing is toys with her. Becca was kind enough to send us to the airport where Verene enjoyed playing in the little playground and helping with our bags.

It's so nice seeing friends from the past that remind us of fond memories and we have the opportunities to meet often and create new ones!

More pictures from Kaohsiung

More pics of Verene playing

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.

My uncle was a fantastic tour guide of the area. He's been training to be a certified tour guide and volunteering at the newly built museum of natural history.

Taidong is a geological wonder. The Central mountain range was formed by plate movement between the Eurasia and Philippines. The browns of part of the mountain range are remnants made of a different type of dirt and unlike most mountains in Taiwan, are not able to grow any vegetation.

Verene had a blast in the museum running around the big open display rooms. I was a bit surprised how child-proof the museum was as it wasn't too cluttered and the displays were not easily accessible for little Verene.

There was a hallway that joined two exhibits in the museum with a glass floor. The floor highlighted mini displays a couple feet deep that visitors could see as they walked through. The idea was clever and certainly drew the attention of Verene. She was running at 100mph towards whatever caught her attention until she saw the floor change. The glass see-through floor was something new and she didn't know if she could trust her weight to it even though she saw us walk on it. She stood at the edge of the cement floor looking to the glass floor with a perplexed look before extending one foot out to lightly tap the glass. Yes, it was solid. After repeating the exercise a few times, she took mini baby steps onto the glass as if walking on ice. After her first step, she stood still for a moment questioning if the next step would be safe. After a moment of processing, she started to move again - right foot out for a step, drag the left foot until it was square with the right and repeat. She eventually worked her way up to full steps and made it safely across the glass.

Aboriginals and baseball

The other highlight of our trip to Taidong was visiting aboriginal villages - especially the birthplace of Taiwanese little league baseball. In 1968 the Hongye Elementary School team surprised the nation to win the national championships. They were a nobody team from a small aboriginal mountain village that went on to play the older, better funded, and more experienced Japanese team to beat them in a series 7:0 and 5:2. With meager means, the team started their baseball passion by carving their own bats and using stones as balls! Check out the black and white picture below. I love the expression on the catcher's face - he must have been the last kid picked on the team to play catcher with his bare hands with stones used as rocks. We happened to catch the current team practicing on the same field when we visited.

More nature in Taidong

The rest of our time in Taidong was spent hiking around a couple beach and a small island off of one of them connected by a bridge. In the days before the bridge, my uncle and other fishermen would make the trek to the island during low tide, fish, and come back before the tides washed away their way home. If they forgot the time while fishing and missed the low tide land bridge back home, they would have to wait another 6-8 hours for the tide to recede. I imagine "Mom, I'm 8 hours late because I missed the low tide" was a common excuse for kids to stay out late!

On occasion we would see farmer's fields planted with flowers sometimes as they would plant them to bring different nutrients back to the ground in off seasons. In Hualian, the government even paid them with cheap fertilizer or other incentives to make the city more attractive for tourists.

Taidong is famous for it's hot springs but unfortunately we didn't have the time scheduled for spending a good afternoon in one. Mary happened to think the 15 minutes we had before heading back to our train station was sufficient to change into her bathing suit, run down to the hot springs off the side of the river, dry off, change, and make it back in time. She was the only one quick enough to make the quick jot and enjoyed soaking in natural hot springs for a couple minutes while the rest of us looked at her. I think she definitely got more out of it than we did!

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.

Verene wanted to walk. It was apparent in her standing up for long periods of time by herself. Her crawling also changed from using both knees to using both feet (imagine an "A" shape baby bent over at the waist moving with two hands in front followed by her two stretched out legs). Janae quickly caught on and picked her up whenever she tried to "walk." She did this so I wouldn't miss Verene's first steps. How sweet! Of course I encouraged Janae because I didn't want to miss it either. Besides, from what we hear, walking only brings on more challenges as baby becomes more mobile. As long as she can walk by kindergarten I'd be happy. No need to start giving Verene so much pressure at this age. Plenty of that to come when she starts school. She's quickly learning how to walk however and inches along now if we hold her hands. As soon as I figure out how to post videos or take a picture of this I'll put it online. Don't be fooled, the picture below is just her standing.

Back to the US

I went back to the US to pick up Janae and Verene but had to make an unfortunate stop in LA for the funeral of an aunt who was suffering from cancer. Although quite sad and difficult times are ahead for the family, it did bring us together and strengthen family ties for those that attended in LA.

After the funeral, I took a red-eye from LA to DC and arrived with 4 days to finalize settlement requirements for the house, go to settlement, pack and move our stuff, and complete all of Putter's inspections and paperwork to transport to Singapore. Needless to say it was a sleepless couple days. The buyers put conditions for us to make certain repairs and inspections prior to the final settlement, standard fare. Janae was phenomenal in taking care of most of this while I was gone and there were just a few items needing final touches. Settlement went smooth otherwise.

Movers were courteous and nice but seemed to take much longer than expected for a small job like ours. Most of our stuff was already boxed and sorted when we prepared the house for sale. Our agent noted a 5,000 sq ft mansion packed and moved by a small team within a day. Our small almost 2,000 sq ft townhouse took two whole days!

Puppies aren't free

"Putter is a part of our family and is worth all the trouble, time and money" I kept telling myself. It was tough to suppress my old adage "puppies are free" when I realized how much it cost to get him here! Our vet / pirate charged for the same "standard" inspection each time we visited - even within the same week, and charged separately for virtually the same inspection required by Singapore. After the inspections, I had to to drive all the way to Richmond the morning of our house settlement to get a document stamped by the FDA to authorize transporting Putter out of the country. All this trouble after boarding Putter 1.5 months while selling the house.

Even more exciting was getting him on the flight. We ended up paying freight charges for both transfers and almost weren't allowed on our flight from NYC to Singapore because there were lobsters on that flight with dry ice (too cold for dogs) and more importantly, dogs aren't allowed on Singapore Airline flights out of NYC. There was a note in our booking stating we were bringing a dog and I had asked the booking agent and Singapore Airlines multiple times prior to the flight if it would be ok. All of them gave me the ok. None of this mattered to the check in staff in NYC. Policy was policy. Another passenger earlier that week in a similar situation got bumped onto another airline because of his dog. I believe it was my business class ticket that ultimately helped Putter get the exception and bump the lobsters. That'll teach the lobsters to fly economy next time.

Putter finally joined us after a month in quarantine in a far, far remote part of Singapore. The facilities there were first rate though. He had his own private kennel - newly built and painted with its own air conditioning unit. He ate well there. When we arrived to visit one weekend one of the workers said, "This one's yours? He can REALY eat!" Now the challenge is finding him dog food - $70 a bag which used to cost $10 at Costco in the US. I think Putter's going on a diet. All in, Putter's cost in moving him here has been around $3,000 USD!

Verene's still perfect

Verene's flight was much easier than Putter's. Needless to say, when we arrived in business class with a baby for a 20 hour flight, those around us were a little concerned. This was the first time we flew with Verene and we were concerned too. Fortunately Verene is a fantastic traveler. No sleep meds were required for her! She slept in a small bassinet that attached to the wall of the plane in front of us and slept there when Singapore airlines allowed her to. The problem was every time the fasten safety belt light lit up, the stewardess would come, wake her up, unbuckle her, and re-buckle her to Janae or I. We gave up after the 2nd time and just kept her in our business class seats which were big enough to keep her around. She slept best as she did when she was a newborn - on my chest. We had passengers compliment us after the entire flight telling us how wonderful she was. We were as surprised as they were! I think what they really meant was they were happy their business class ticket wasn't wasted on a flight next to a crying baby.

Business class, not cattle class

Flying Singapore Airline business class is amazing. Multiple 3-4 course meals every meal with a couple choices for each course on their menu. The menu starts with an introduction to world renowned chefs, their credentials, and the the dishes they created on the menu. Meals come on real plates with real silverware. Snack menu, basically full meals, are available at non-meal times on demand. Speaking of on-demand, 120+ movies are available on-demand! The seats fully reclined allowing us to sleep horizontally! To top it off, the stewardess were younger than my grandma, a refreshing change. They knew and called us by name and provided service like a 4 star restaurant. It'll be tough going back to cattle class.

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 ...

She's always happy and smiling. The best is her waking up in the morning. She sits in her crib and plays by herself until one of us comes in to get her. This is especially appreciated on Saturday mornings when Verene let Janae and I sleep in. She wouldn't make a fuss until she heard us up and moving about. We would walk into her room and find her playing with some toy in the crib, she'd look at us and smile real big extending her arms out for us to pick her up. Very considerate.

Blanky

Since I've left, Janae says she started doing something else really cute in the morning. Verene will hold out her blanky to give Janae when she gets her. Cute! She wants to share. Hopefully she doesn't outgrow this by the time I see her again.

The blanky thing is new too. Before I left she wasn't attached. Now she needs it everywhere she goes and can only sleep with it by her side. I've never felt a blanket so soft as hers before. Verene appreciates it too. She chose to fall in love with this one even though we used all the blankies we received and gave each a fair chance at being the chosen one. She chose the super soft pink one. Now that she's attached, I told Janae to go and get five more just in case we misplace it. If the blanket wasn't from Saks and cost so much, we would. Fortunately we have two of them.

Peek-A-Boo

One of the cutest things I saw before leaving was her initiating peek-a-boo by herself. I was driving somewhere and Janae and Verene were both in the back seat. Verene got hold of the sun deflector, hide behind it, and popped her face out smiling and laughing. She did it over and over hiding her face and popping it out hysterically laughing.

Growing bigger!

I'm sure she has grown bigger now. She was big enough to stand up and hold onto the crib before I left. It broke my heart one morning when Janae and I heard a thump from her room. She had fallen over the edge! Everything was fine and I quickly lowered the bed a notch in the crib.

I wonder how many teeth she has now. Before I left she was at three good sized ones on bottom and two on top with a few little buds growing on top and bottom. I always thought teething would be painful and she would by fussy through it but no fuss so far!

How do I get down?

Verene just started climbing up the stairs when I left. She could get up a couple without too much trouble. Coming down was the hard part. She would get up a few stairs and want to sit down to rest. She'd try to sit while facing the steps not thinking there was no step behind her. She'd catch the side of the step she was on but would still tumble down a few and cry. Janae says she still can't get down but is much faster getting up now. Verene will climb from our main level up three stories to the loft without her even noticing.

Sweaty like Daddy

I'll have to see how she adjusts to a new home and country. Singapore is not a cool country and Verene, like me, sweats a lot! I arrive at work sweaty after taking the air conditioned subway and walking underground in the A/C underpass all the way to my office building. It's just not cold enough! I remember Verene drenched in sweat in her car seat whenever we went out in the day - even with the A/C on. Once she fell asleep with the car parked in the shade and her head was wet with sweat as if she was taking a bath. Definitely picked up my sweating genes.

Will she still remember who I am?

Hopefully she recognizes me when I see her again. Before I left, she already started recognizing people. Mom says I was the same way and wouldn't let anyone but her hold me. Verene operates with a pecking order. Strangers can hold her only if she's well rested after nap for a while. She'll decide how much time to give them before starting to cry. Daddy can come to the rescue and hold her as long as he wants so long as she doesn't see Mommy. If she sees Mommy, she'll start crying and I'll have to hand her over to Janae.

Not only does she recognize people, she recognizes home, her room, and crib. We were at dinner at Cheng-Yu's before I left. She cried when we tried putting her to sleep there as place was unfamiliar. I held her to sleep until she was really floppy, a sure sign she was out. After floppy, I put her in the pack-and-play and she awoke crying immediately. Poor Verene. She was tired but couldn't sleep in the strange place. Poor Janae and I too! On the car ride home she was half awake and was alert when we got home and I put her down in her crib. As soon as I put her down, she knew she was home and fell asleep immediately.

Hopefully she will not miss home in Ashburn too much and will adjust to home here. Hopefully she misses me too and will remember who I am.

I've left home for good - at least for the foreseable future. I'm sitting in business class on the way to San Francisco to visit Dad and Michelle prior to moving to Singapore. Preparing for the move has kept my emotions occupied that it has not really hit me all the people I'm leaving behind.

I already miss Verene dearly and it has only been a couple hours. It's not the time apart but rather the fact that I'm not going to see her for another six weeks or so. The same goes for Janae. This will be the longest I have been apart from both of them. Verene in the short 10 months she's been a part of our lives has me wrapped around her finger. I find it hard to believe my feelings for her run as deep as they do. It's the look she gives me when I walk away. Her eyes make me feel like I'm deserting her and her world will fall apart because I'm leaving her side, they tear up as she starts with her crying, and both arms extend toward me for me to pick her up. I just melt.

Everything leading up to me leaving for Singapore happened so very quickly...

The most intense of them occured on a Monday night when I left the office in the afternoon to catch a flight to New York. I started at 7pm with two interviews with Latin American economists based in New York. After their interviews, the conference with Singapore started. Around midnight, the interviews stopped, I got dinner at Serafina's, and caught a 6 am flight back to DC. Besides leaving early that day, nobody at Freddie would have known. I had such a great time speaking with and meeting everyone I met. The interviews all went well from my immediate boss, the head of research for Asia, to his boss, the head of global emerging market research. It was less than month from the first interview to being offered the job.

My new job is essentially deriving fixed income investment strategies for Asian currencies. Bonds, swaps, futures and options for China, S. Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. The region covered here includes all of South East Asia from Vietnam all the way to India. One of the traders I interviewed with is playing with Pakistani bonds! The job will require knowledge of each of the countries respective economies and central bank policies - all of which I know nothing about at the present.

In relfecting on how smoothly and quickly the process occurred, I can't help but think of how blessed I am. For me to pick up a job of this caliber at a time when the US economy, especially mortgages in fixed income, are falling apart and Asia is picking up. Within a week after I left, Freddie tanked again to as low as $3 a share! Yes, me leaving the company detrimental to the stock! Just kidding. It probably would have held in longer if I left earlier - it must have been the bad work I did after I knew I was going to leave and didn't care!

To my knowledge, nobody has left Freddie Mac to do anything internationally related beacuse it's such an unnatrual transition. People have left for other fixed income jobs in the US and even equities but nothing overseas. Although I don't fully know the reason why I'm heading to Singapore yet, it really became clear to me when Aaron Mahler, our home teacher, was over one day and upon leaving prayed for us to know the purpose of our moving there. It was nothing profound but it really hit me.