Mommy Growing up

Monday, December 5, 2011

Taichung Park

Walking around the parks and just letting our kids run loose were becoming our weekend afternoon routine last summer. In one of those lazy afternoons, we strolled along the city's century-old park, named Taichung Park. I just learned it was more than a hundred years old, ain't that cool! It's only about 10-minutes-scooter-drive-away from our place. I used to drive past it on our way to shop at Yi Jung Jie night market or to China Medical Hospital for our routine medical check ups and hence, my first time to actually drop by and just enjoy nature's beauty. The park is full of tall luscious green trees, rich flowers and well-manicured grasses where my kids were tempted to just roll over. In its midst is a picturesque lake, also known as Sun Moon Lake. It is adorned with a classical Chinese moon Pavilion, a cannon platform, and with facilities including rowboats for rent, children's playground, outdoor music stage and tennis courts. In the weekends, it's kind of festive with a lot of fun activities going on ~ music, foods, games, art exhibits and more.

Taichung Park was developed a century ago in 1903 during the Japanese colonization. The old pavilion was built in 1908 and its classical design was still well-preserved amidst the upgrades done on the park through the years. Indeed, it's one of Taichung's famous landmarks. 

Behold the  lovely classical  Chinese pavilion in the lake. 
Visitors can rent rowboats for about 7us$ and tour around the lake.  
My kids with the scenic lake and  connecting bridge in the backdrop.
My baby among the vibrant yellow flowers.
Posing again for Mommy among the trees with her signature "peace" sign lol.
The tranquil lake in the midst of the bustling city. 

This park is free of entrance and a lot of Taiwanese snacks are sold during the day. Indeed, Taichung Park is one of the nice places to hang out and relax. Think about an inexpensive and healthy way of relaxation, yes? Have a great day!

        


Friday, December 2, 2011

Friday Fragments


Another blogging fun for Fridays. Posting too short for stand-alone posts yet too important to discard. Come and link up and join the fun with Mrs. 4444's and other fragmenters. This is my 2nd week and I'm getting hooked. Hence, my fragments...

***So surprised the other day. I was so exhausted sleeping very late working on my presentation. I prayed to God hopefully there would be no class the following early morning. Need to finish my ppt. The next day, indeed my prayers were granted. There was no class for 8-10 AM. I confirmed with the department secretary, she confirmed with the prof's office and confirmed me the good news! Pretty amazing, right? Is it just a coincidence or God just love me soo much! Yippee!

***I was watching my favorite TV series "The Walking Dead". Again, I'm quite unsatisfied with the kind of dull and lack of thrilling zombie-nation-attack-action for this week which was a far cry from the heart-stopping action-packed first season. However, this week's finale surprised me with the unexpected creative twist and it sure got me and made me cry. If you're a crazy zombie freak like me or just curious about it, check it out here.

I'm quite sad though they're done with the mid-season finale and will be back on Feb. 12 next year.  Hope they will be back even hair-raisingly better! Can't wait!

***I did my experiments this week. Basically, we want to test if certain antibiotics are effective to chickens. Right now, I'm still in the first phase of the study. So blessed to be assisted by the efficient team of Prof. S graduate students.



***My daughter sprained her ankle while practicing (running) for a school race. We went to a Chinese hospital last night and sure did got her no-not-the-massage nor the acupuncture but another type of interesting sprained muscle treatment method. I don't know how it's called, the doctor doesn't know the English term either. A kind of small metals hooked to a power supply then left it to stimulate the muscle's pressure points for 15 min. My daughter enjoyed it though. A kind of spicy yet soothing herbal patch was bandaged later. I hope this treats her painful ankles in no time.

Her  first time on a traditional Chinese hospital. 

***Reading the news headlines from home is sooo depressing. Corrupt government officials (and they're not even subtle), escalating crime rates, poverty, discriminations, massacres, justice not served for the victims, killings, public transport drivers' recklessness, kidnapping for ransoms, terrorist threats, ahhh and the list never ends. Too much for a morning coffee break! Wishing and praying for peace, that people would stop being so greedy and cruel, start giving love and make our world a better place to live in.

***December is finally here but the spirit of Christmas is nowhere to be found ~ yet. So sad. Amidst the intensely humid freezing wind filled with busy people, I can't help but missing my warm, festive, laid-back and Christmas-junkie home! Been missing spending Christmas with my family for five years now :( . On a lighter note, I and my daughter are going home next month. Woot woot!

***Lastly, while waiting for hubby to be online (who's in another part of the world), can't help to take these snaps to show off my drink~ Taiwan's famous delicious bubble milk tea which he surely misses by now.  My apologies for being a bit narcissistic in here LOL!


Advance Merry Christmas to yah all!
Have a great and awesome weekend!

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

University Lake

Our campus lake at daytime
At early evening (photo credit)
at late night.. simply beautiful.. 

Our university lake (Jhongshing lake), found at the heart of our campus has always been an attraction to the students and the local community alike. It's a man-made one, the shapes of China (big lake) and of Taiwan (small lake).

Top view: the shape of China.
Top view: the shape of Taiwan. So cool right?

Being surrounded by green trees, flocked by different kinds of birds (yes, it's a bird sanctuary), a home to geese and ganders, ducks, swans, turtles and fishes, it's definitely one of the best places to relax. People can just come around and relax, feed some fish and birds, do some taichi and yoga or simply enjoy the cool breeze. The first time my daughters came to Taiwan, I never failed to tour them around and took few photos of them by the lake.

The first time Aron came here last February 2011:

My pink baby by the NCHU lake! 
Feeding and playing with the geese.
Feeding the fish and turtles.
Enjoying the panorama.
Me and my baby! So glad to be reunited with her again!

The first time Joey came here two years ago:

Can't believe how small she was by then. Indeed time ran so fast!

And the first time I came here four years ago:

Me with a good friend.
and with another good friend, August 2007.

My, I just realized the coincidences of me and my little girls wearing pinks the first time we had photos with the lake lol. More of our campus lake...

At our graduation day.  
With our good friends.

Indeed, a lot of good memories happened in this lake. The face-bashing-with-cakes birthday surprises and the late night  hang-outs with good crazy friends that were such good stress relievers will surely be missed.

 

Shotgun Proposal

Married? Tell us the story of how the question was popped.

Wooh! Such meme from Mama Kat suddenly transported me back ten years ago at my engagement moment. So how was the question popped? Sorry to frustrate you guys but our story was not that romantic. For starters, I'm not even sure if the question was popped at all. I think it's kinda funny. The question should be, was the question popped? Hahah, please read on.

I was on my sixth year with my veterinary medicine course when I found out I was two months pregnant. Yes, two months pregnant at the beginning of my senior year. How great was that. Pregnancies out of wedlock are frowned upon by our society. Our parents and families would surely be devastated. I was beyond horrified. Confused and scared, I informed my boyfriend of my scary condition. His answer was simple "then let's get married!" That was a declaration! He didn't even pop the question. He didn't even asked me if I wonna marry him. It's the feeling of having a shotgun pointed at your face and you have no other option but to accept the proposal.

See? Told yah, not at all romantic.

With his statement, the more I got scared. I'm not yet ready. I love him but we're still kids ourselves. However, my soon-to-be-hubby was sure of his decision. He was to marry me if that's the right thing to do. He's kind of mature beyond his years. Our friends used to tease him that such was his strategy of not losing me, hmmm.

But hear me out. The problem then was how to divulge such news to our parents. A role model daughter as I was, I was scared to break the forbidding news. So I left the noble task to my poor hubby. For three days I was gone for a field trip on an island with my colleagues, an overnight ferry ride away from home. He was left to resolve our grave problem alone (he's the sweetest and obviously I'm the meanest haha). When he told his parents about  our serious problem, surprisingly, they took the news calmly and understood our situation.

Then they visited my parents and dropped the bomb themselves. Imagine how my mom reacted. She was hysterical. My father was speechless. I can't imagine how awkward the situation might be. It's their first time to meet each other and what a great way to finally meet, huh? However, my parents managed to survive the blow. They believed that everything will be alright. That their daughter will surely finish her studies and become a veterinarian someday. That we will survive such sudden transition in our lives. Knowing what everybody had gone through (and I was a coward), I was really touched and kind of felt at peace with the situation and less scared of getting married too soon.


In our Filipino culture, we have the stage before marriage called "pamanhikan", where the groom-to-be formally asks the hands of his wife-to-be from her parents for marriage. My boyfriend's family and relatives invaded our home few days later and the wedding date was set. Hence, we were officially engaged. I was then 21 and hubby was 22 years old. The wedding was held two months later in our city's cathedral  followed by a grand reception at the hotel. And the feeling? I was like floating all through out in the midst of a whirlwind, from the wedding preparations to the wedding ceremony. I survived.

Overall, though the marriage proposal was not at all that romantic, we ended up so inlove with each other. We made the right choice. And now, we got two beautiful daughters who further strengthened the bond. Though our relationship has its ups and downs, we worked it out and maintained the romance in our lives. Last month, we celebrated our tenth year wedding anniversary. Yes we did it and pretty survived the odds. As for the romantic part? I'm still waiting for my diamond ring, wondering when my husband can finally afford it lol.

This post was inspired by the fabulous Mama Kat's meme.

Wordless Wednesday: Strawberry pickers

My little ones. Harvesting, eating and playing.



Tuesday, November 29, 2011

The Pagoda

Located up high on a mountain (Mt. Sha Ba Lan) and around the picturesque Sun Moon Lake (the only natural big lake in the country), the Cih-en Pagoda stands mightily at 46 meters high. It's an octagonal building with a total of 12 floors. The first three stories were neatly painted in snowy white while the upper 9 stories with golden red. This lovely tower was built  by Taiwan's former president Chiang Kai-Shek in 1971 in honor of his mother. Cih-en Pagoda overlooks the spectacular scenery of Sun Moon lake and the panoramic Lalu Island.

Three years ago, I and my friends rented two vans and traveled around central Taiwan. We invaded one of its  famous landmarks, the Cih-en Pagoda.

Hail the beautiful pagoda in a glorious weather! base is blindingly white!

More from the escapade...

Friends having fun! 

Two beautiful ladies and both my good friends on the topmost floor of the tower (left: Ms. Bolivia & right: Ms. Romania), enjoying the gorgeous mountains. 
On top of the world. Running out of breath after climbing the steep staircases, we were then greeted by the breathtaking views of the lake and the mountains. The gushing strong chilly wind further gave us the taste of an amazing top-of-the-world adventure lol.
The  group on our way to trek the 700 meter track towards the Pagoda and enjoying the refreshing sights of trees and flowers along the way.

Most of our friends on this photo already graduated and left Taiwan for their home countries. Those fun-filled days and good memories shared together are truly cherished! The beautiful Cih-en Pagoda (postcard perfect) will surely be missed too.