Outings=Tantrums

Good news! We finally got our Alien Resident Cards so John and I opened bank accounts here! We don’t have to carry all that cash anymore! Carrying that cash was causing me a GREAT deal of anxiety! I keep hiding the cash in my purse for fear that I’d lose it, and then I’d forget where I put it! I’ve already thought that I’ve lost my cash several times and have caused myself to endure several mini nervous breakdowns! I’m EXTREMELY relieved we can now keep our money in a bank!

I did a little exploring/shopping and had a very funny experience. I decided to browse at an inexpensive shoe store. The background music at this store was American rap, which I despise (I hope I’m not offending any rap lovers). Anyway, this rap music had EXTREMELY vulgar and PROFANE lyrics! I’m not a prude at all, believe me—my personal choice of movies and TV tend to be R-rated--but I didn’t think this was appropriate shopping music! No one in the store was reacting at all because no one understood it! It was COMPLETELY HILARIOUS and SURREAL! I was laughing the whole time, and everyone else was shopping very diligently, showing NO reaction! I guess what you don’t understand won’t offend you….

Since we were cooped up by the typhoon last week-end, we decided to make up for it and have a few outings this past week-end. One day we took the kids to the Taipei Zoo, which is only a short bus ride away. It was good AND bad. Good because I think generally the kids enjoyed themselves and the zoo is a really wonderful facility with tons of stuff to do. Bad because it was VERY HUMID AND HOT—the heat was literally killing me! It felt like it was 100 degrees! But the Taiwanese are used to this weather, and the zoo was actually pretty packed and busy. Some people were even wearing light jackets and long sleeves!

The Taipei Zoo also has an indoor mall area, and on another day we made a trip there. This indoor mall had a place called “Kiddyland,” which was PERFECT for the ages of our children! Kiddyland houses a TON of rides, including a carousel, a little rollercoaster, a mini-ferris wheel, a train, and other rides similar to these. Both kids had a terrific time—until THE ICE CREAM INCIDENT. Luke was behaving VERY well until we had ice cream—and then DISASTER struck! His ice cream melted too quickly which caused him to get a little upset, and then the ice cream started falling off the cone which led John to try to save it, and in the process, John accidentally poked a hole in his cone. Well, you would have thought that we had chopped off his arm with a chain-saw or something—Luke went absolutely BALLISTIC. He started SCREAMING and crying to the point that he was having massive hiccups. EVERYONE was staring at us! I kept threatening to take away the ice cream cone, but he was on a downward spiral to tantrum oblivion—he got worse and kept screaming “FIX IT! FIX IT!” We were stubborn—there was NO WAY we were going to reward this behavior by getting him a new cone! Finally we got SO fed up we just threw the ice cream cone away, which of course made him cry even harder. I told him we were leaving, picked him up, and dragged him to the bus, and all during this time he was yelling, “PUT ME DOWN!” again, drawing stunned stares! John was furious and mortified, I was COMPLETELY stressed to the bone and horrified, and Lauren thought it was HILARIOUS! That’s the ONE problem with public transportation—it’s so…. PUBLIC! You can’t just stuff your screaming kids into the privacy of a car and drive away! Seriously, we were ready to throw him into Taipei traffic! He actually calmed down right when we got on the bus (thank God), and was back to his angelic self, PATHETICALLY whimpering stuff like, “you don’t like me anymore?” and “I love you, Mommy! Please hug me!” This boy is going to drive me to an early grave …..when we got home, I was in MASSIVE need of a drink….

By Taiwanese standards, Luke and Lauren seem to be considered good-looking. When Luke is not having a tantrum, they actually attract positive attention everywhere we go, and many times perfect strangers want to take pictures with them, as if they’re celebrities! This even happens on the subway! It’s a RIOT! So even though Luke completely humiliates me in public, much to my relief, people in general don’t seem to mind it too much—they just take pictures with him…..

We also made a trip to the Gongguan area, which reputably houses a great night market. Night markets are bustling places filled with restaurants, inexpensive stores, bars, and activities. You can get really awesome deals at the night markets. One person asked me about the bars in Taipei, and I have to confess since we’re in kid jail, we haven’t had much of an opportunity to explore the bar scene! Plus, our neighborhood doesn’t really have any bars, because we’re more on the outskirts of Taipei. The happening places seem to be more in the heart of Taipei, at the night markets, and we definitely noticed more of a bar scene there. Luke and Lauren did EXTREMELY well for our night market outing. This involved a bus ride and three subway changes, and the subways were PACKED! They loved riding on the train, especially Luke, since he’s such a fan of Thomas the Train.

John had his first rehearsal with the wind ensemble at Taipei National University of the Arts (TNUA), this past week and he thoroughly enjoyed it. The students sight-read the music extremely well—notes, intonation, and rhythm were good immediately. All he has to deal with is interpretation, which is an ideal situation. He found the students to be responsive and enthusiastic. A few had the blank Taiwanese stares we were warned about, but generally John had a great experience. The students even applauded him after the rehearsal was finished—DEFINITELY not a common occurrence in the United States! In the U.S., you’re relieved to not be hung on the flag pole after a first rehearsal!

Next up...my teaching gig finally..thought this blog was getting too long and verbose....