Tradition Here, Tradition There, E, I, E, I, Ohhhhhh

I didn't have a picture of a place this time, so we decided to play The Price Is Right... Good Luck

So as we settle into our new life, we are learning more about the traditions that surround us. As with all cultures, they are based on folklore and tradition. Now that is something that the Chinese do not lack in. I drive John's cousin nuts because I sound like a four year old always asking "why?... why?... why?". I drive John nuts because I sit and stare at people and what they're doing. No Mother, some things never change... Dad would love it here. I just sit and watch people out the windows, or while walking down the sidewalk, or on the bus, or on the subway..... I figure I get stared at enough, I can stare too damn it!!

Back to the subject... This month is considered "Ghost Month". It occurs on the seventh lunar month of the year. (Yes, that does mean that it could change months from year to year.) It is somewhat similar to The Day of the Dead that the Hispanic community celebrates, only it lasts a whole month. There are a few different takes on it, but the basis is the same. This is the month that the ghost are let out of hell, or the in between world. People put out offerings of food, drink, money,(no not real money! -- paper money) etc., and light incense. They do this for various reasons. They make offerings so that the lost spirits may find their way back into heaven (for lack of better word) and have the chance to be reborn and right any wrongs they may have done in a previous life. They are also asking that the spirits bless and help them to be healthy and prosperous and not to harm them in any way. And lastly, they make offerings to their ancestors to help and guide them through their life. And on the last day of the month, the gates are closed, locking all the spirits away. So how many of you want to do this with your kids? I think it would be fabulous personally.

So being as we live next to a temple, we've been able to watch and take the whole experience in. I thought I would give you a tour of some of the temple next to us. It is incredible. Everything is decorated, the walls, the floor, the ceiling.

This is the view from the front, it's three stories tall

The following are pictures of some of the Gods or Goddesses that the temple is home to...

These were some of the offerings that were put out...

Some of the traditions that we brought along with us... "Moody Morning Madness"... This is how my children bond in the morning. They see who can be more ornery. It's great fun!!!

Another great past-time tradition... hanging your clothes out to dry. We finally got our washer and dryer hooked up. We don't know what happened to our dryer, but it doesn't work... but at least we have a washer bigger than a bread box!!

Another great tradition... keeping all the things that your children make and bring home from school. I don't know if I'll have enough room...

Ashton made this for Father's Day... It's his dad... sometimes I see John like this too...Casey & Jordan did the following... lots of clay... but they are fairly talented don't ya think?You're looking at the stick pelican in the middle... (Just in case you couldn't see it)And what would school be without the classic sock puppet and clay bowls? I was actually quite impressed with these... they made them out of string...

And a tradition that will never die... Cops and Robbers!!!

As always... We Miss and Love you all!!!!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game (& The Waterpark)

So our newest past time on the weekends is to get on a bus, any bus (okay not any bus, we try to stay off the short bus), typically the first bus that comes along, and see where it goes. We get off either at a crowded area, or until we get whip lash, whichever comes first. You laugh, but I'm serious. Riding a bus here is comparative to riding the bumper cars at the amusement park.

Last weekend, okay actually 2 weekends ago we ended up in Tien Mu (Mother Sky)... this is somewhat considered the American sector. We had a lovely time... we walked, we sweated, we walked, we sweated, we sweated some more, and some more and more... Get the pattern? (My good lord wouldn't you think that after all the walking and sweating that I would lose weight? - Apparently that's not how it works!) Sorry, got off topic there for a second, back to sweating. So we end up walking past this stadium and low and behold there's a baseball game going on. We go check it out.

Now like any typical ball game, they have vendors. We decide to get popsicles. Logical choice... hot day, cold treat... three kids, sticky hands, sticky faces, sticky hair (wind was blowing), sticky feet (popsicle drips - wearing sandles), no napkins... We learned an important lesson that day... one cannot eat melty things, no matter how much you want to, in hot humid 100+ degree temperature.

On with the games. We get tickets and go inside. We find ourselves about 3-4 rows up from third base. They don't give you an option of where you want to sit, you get what you get, so we were excited to be so close. Now the only way I can explain this event that we are at is to compare it to a highschool game. Each team has it's own little band... a big drum, and maybe a horn or two. The crowd is extremely passionate about the game. They cheer for all 9 innings. And I don't mean like "yeah!!... clap clap" when something good happens. They have actual cheers that go along with the music, beat, whatever the hell it was, that the band plays. Oh yes, we mustn't forget to mention that there are hand movements as well.

My kids are ecstatic. My husband goes and buys them little horn, bangy things... now I'm ecstatic just thinking about the next week at home with them and their blow horns. So back to the cheering. It is constant for all 9 innings. The away team was losing by like 10, and you would have thought that it was neck and neck by the way the crowd was. The home team even had cheerleaders... well more like scantilly clad girls jumping up and down for the guys to look at... now my husband's esctatic. He says we have to go sit on the other side next time - to support the home team... of course. The only down part was that there's no popcorn, peanuts, or cracker jacks. The upside? You can bring in whatever you want. Oh ya, it was a professional game, so they played really well too, and tickets were only like US$ 10 for adults and less for the kids.

Here are some pics of the game...

Not the game... Since we haven't encountered any more insanely large insects, I thought I would put up a picture of what the kids wanted you to see. We went and saw Wall-E a few weeks ago. They thought it was fabulous.

So this past weekend we found another place during our little bus adventures was a water park. It wasn't that large comparatively, but seriously, how much water do you really need? There was a sand area, three pools, a lazy river, a little slide (may be little, but was way fun), a medium curly slide, and an oh my god are you serious slide (okay, I guess size does matter). Of course we did it all!! Now my neck is killing me. Don't know if it was from the free fall monster slide, or the bus ride!!

The kids were a little worn out after all the fun. Both Casey and Jordan fell asleep on the bus ride home.

Okay, now for the picture that soooo many of you e-mailed me about wanting to see........ Sorry about the nakedness. All in all it's a pretty accurate photo... the hair not the nakedness!!!

If you want to see it, you'll have to come in person.

Bad Hair Day

So I needed to get my hair done, and most of you know how nervous I was about that. I wouldn't go down the street because I figured they hadn't done that many white people's hair. John and I kind of got into it cuz he stated that I was being prejudice. So he asks the guys that does his mom's hair and this gentleman says that he's done white people's hair before. I specifically asked if he'd dyed white people's hair, to which my husband replied "he's done it"...

So off we go... this is just to meet him. He tells John that he can MATCH (pertenant word) any color. He asks what color I want my hair. I reply "The same color it is now." To which he replies "Which one?" Yeah, I know ... First Clue ... But I have faith or rather hope that he knows what he's doing.

The next day we go back. After about 15 minutes of trying to explain that I want a weave, we give up and decide an all over color will be fine. Yes I'm aware that idiot is written on my forehead! He starts by putting princess leya ear shields on me. I tried really hard not to laugh, and probably would have succeeded if I hadn't looked over at John. Now this man is painting my hair (no, not a play on words) while having a quizzical look on his face. It takes him probably 45-60 minutes to get it all on and now he's off doing other things.

John turns to me with concern in his eyes and asks "Is it suppose to look blue?"

To which I reply, in a very calm voice, "No, no, never had that happen before."

John: "Does it always take this long?"

Me: "Don't know. I've never had it sit on my hair for more than 15-20 minutes."

John: "Do you want me to tell him to wash it?"

Me: "Since it's blue and fastly approaching white, we may want to consider that option."

John: "Where'd he go?"

Great, now he's disappeared. My first thought is that he's screwed up and scared to face me. (I still think that's why.) About 10 minutes later he reappears and tells me it's time to wash it. - it's been well over an hour. Now when they wash your hair over here, it comes with a head massage. It was awesome!!! Almost enough to make up for the hair, but not quite.

He washes it and returns me to my area. You need to understand that I'm now sitting sideways because I can't bring myself to look into the mirror. My husband tells me it looks "golden". I did not however believe that he meant the color of gold. That is indeed what he meant. I finally get the courage to turn around and almost cried. There's my hair - gold and white. But the gold kinda looks more orange than gold. And to top it all off, because the new hair color is in such contrast with my old, you can still see my roots. How fun!!! We pay we leave... I'm still not talking. My kids are just starring. They want to know why I colored my hair yellow.

My husband then informs me that I can tell him "I told you so"... to which I reply "Do I really need to say it outloud? Seriously? Do you need to be told that, or is that just something that you should already know?" He tries to make me feel better by asking the kids "So how does mom's hair look?" My loving son, who always tells me I'm pretty or beautiful, looks at me and states "Do I really have to tell you?"

That night my husband tells me I look like the Elf off of Lord of the Rings. The next day he pretends to shoot an arrow at me from across the room.

Don't go to school the next day - Yogi (friend - not bear) texts me and asked where I am. "Bad hair day" is my reply. Go to school the next day - she takes one look at me at burst out laughing. And it's one of those snort laughs, like when you're drinking something and someone does or says something unexpected and milk comes out your nose. She then apologizes, says "Sorry, but it's damn funny! What did you do?" So all throughout class she keeps looking over at me and giggling. Her comment yesterday to me was "When are you going to do something about (pause to circle her finger in the air around my head) that?"

So I still haven't fixed "that", I figured I better wait a couple weeks so that it doesn't end up falling out. Because then the next blog would be "Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow". My husband is way impressed that I can laugh at it too.

So for those of you who skimmed through the pictures to find one... seriously? you thought I would take a picture... yeah, right!! This ranks right up there with when I was 7 months pregnant with the girls and put on a purple swim suit and Janet told me I looked like a grape.

So needless to say, no pictures...

Anyway....

We went to the beach last weekend and it was fabulous. Yule's friend lives in a gated community by the ocean and they have a community swimming pool. It was the perfect temperature!! They make you wear a swim cap though. And we were the only ones out because everyone thinks it's too hot.

We made it through our first Typhoon. It did pretty extensive damage down south and 11 people died. They showed pictures on the news of how roads just fell away from underneath. It was crazy. Supposedly it's pretty safe in the city though. I didn't think it was that big of deal. Just a lot of rain and wind. But then again, it went mostly over the middle of Taiwan, not the northern part where we live. I'll let you know if a bigger one hits us.

I also felt MY first earthquake the other day. Apparently there was a really big one when we first got here, but I didn't feel it cuz it was at like 1:00 in the morning. I guess we have little ones all the time. Kind of like California. Once again, not a big deal, especially when I can't feel them.

Our stuff finally arrived this past week. It was awesome to have dishes and silverware again. And I'm just waiting anxiously for John to figure out how to hook it up. We were way excited. We now have our computer set up and we're hooked up to the net. Hopefully I can respond to you guys a little faster now that I don't have to wait to go down to the coffee shop to do it.

This is the swimming pool at the gated community. It was the best ever!!

This is kind of like a bay before the actual ocean. They have a ton of vendors and games that the kids can play.

More Pool....

Dad, Mom and Kids hanging out at the beach.

Jordan contemplating her next plan as the sun sets.