the day I made my mom proud

話說咱們台灣小吃的文化，怎不讓每個嚐過的外國人讚不絕口、不讓我們台灣人引以為傲呢?!
溫刀哈尼也不例外...

人在國外，最懷念的就是台灣的食物了... (也可以偶爾有一點點想家啦...喔,媽 乖後~) 每次要返台前一個月，日夜都不忘的一件事，就是開始列 list... 從鹽酥雞、50嵐、大腸麵線、牛肉麵、雞排、麻辣火鍋、鹹蛋炒苦瓜...etc. 一樣也不放過。
哈尼看我這樣也都會硬要湊熱鬧家一些他們阿豆仔喜歡的，但我不一定非吃不可的食物，起司培根蛋餅、Finga's base camp sandwiches、竹山 night market sandwich (第一次跟他去竹山夜市的時候揭曉答案-沙威瑪啦!)、竹山 night market dumpling (福州包)、蘿蔔糕、your mom's food (媽~ 你看 你看! 這個女婿很ㄍㄤm心後~?這樣我也是非吃不可的喔!)

於是，在不知哪裡來的靈感和感召之下，我提議來包水餃... 提議了三個禮拜後，終於...在 偉大的2009年9月5日這一天，我第一次獨立包水餃ㄟ... (獨立=Rebeca一起包+Rebeca講什麼我做什麼+Rebeca後來自己包 我煮水)
Anyways, 包水餃的學問真的很大，不過我這麼發狠，溫冷郎也不過包了近100顆 .... 母啊~拎幾咧郎包ㄍㄨㄣ霸顆喜阿那辦到的啊？
我們做了一部分水餃、一部份煎餃....　外加好心貝卡提供酸辣湯+豆腐...

好滿足的一頓喔....　吃的超開心，還有我最愛的沙茶醬喔! ^_^　
p.s.　雖然龜毛貝卡覺得不夠好吃，我個人是吃的非常開心和滿意...更別提吃到冷凍水餃都說讚的哈尼了... 感謝貝卡大力贊助...
以下是成果發表...

後記: 出門在外，才知道有媽媽的可貴啊~ 剛下咧 阿母... Q_Q

My early birthday gift

It is always good to be home and meet up with old friends. Selina and I met up in Taipei for lunch and coffee near Taipei 101. Surprisingly we were BOTH keen for KFC that day!! This time she didn't bring her big camera bag but a small delicate brown handbag.
Finally I popped the question during coffee: 'Is this one made by you, too?...' She smiled and nodded. I screamed and gave my compliments on the bag. Then she shared the happiness with me.
About Selina... She saved money for an SLR Nikon in highschool when other girls were concentrating more on boys, clothes, hair, cosmetics...etc. (In my case, it was vollyball and basketball.)
Then we both grew up and got into the future that we never expected we'd have when we were in highschool.
Even we went to very different major in uni in different cities, we ended up both being sales in electronic industries. Yup! Just like a lot of other students in Taiwan, we went into the department where we had no idea what we can do for a living afterwards. When it turns out the job you can apply for is not that interesting to you. You turned around to work on something has nothing to do with your major.
The busyness keeps most people fully occupied to think about what they really want to do, but not for Selina.
She quit from the electronic company and went to work in a computer learning center because the employees got lessons for free.
Then she finally bought her first DSLR camera and started her own business on the internet.
And now she has found her talent for handicrafts & designs... She is doing all the things she LOVES!
She is definitely the one that can inspire a lot of us if we don't like our jobs and lives, we should go out and make some changes for it. :)

The day I was leaving Taiwan (May 22nd), she called and told me that she made me a bag. More than a month later, I got it. A little card says it'd be my early birthday present this year :)
It's an elegant brown handbag with striped of all the colors I love.
Excitedly I took the bag to the backyard and took a whole bunch of pictures of it. I love my early birthday surprise.
Moreover, I love my old friends~ Wish them all the best in Taiwan.

呦~ 嬌滴滴的耶...


a bag with my NAME in it... (yeah, in it, it's better than on it)


me with the bag...

發現新大陸 in Tonala

那天在Tonala走著走著，突然眼睛一亮，抓起一把圓形的太陽花瓶，滿臉開心的轉向哈你和Rebeca '你看你看!' 接下來的20分鐘我就卡在那裡一件件欣賞，顏色飽滿、質地佳、又是極有墨西哥風味的圖騰....真開心~
紅衣老伯看我滿心歡喜的在他小舖裡飛來飛去，拿起另一指更大的花瓶給我看，我心想更大的應該更貴... 可能只買的起小的... 拿起我第一眼向中的太陽花瓶 '寬達ㄟ斯?' 老伯笑笑的說了句西班牙文....(慚愧...來了四個月還聽不懂超過十以上的數字) Rebeca過來幫忙，他聽了訝異的轉向我 "才65 pesos耶?!" (約NTD165) 大的花瓶才多10 pesos, 真納悶他們怎麼賺錢...
在與哈你一翻糾戰後，"只"買了兩個... 紅衣老伯還跟我烙了兩句英文，只收我125，我和哈你找5pesos找很久，老伯還說"沒有就不用了"... 我堅持找出來要給他... 身為台灣人，還不常有這種人家要算便宜點，我還不要的情結咧... 要走我跟老伯說都很漂亮，但是全部買不回家，他讓我給店裡的花瓶照相，我拿起手機跟他合照了一張... 我說下次見，他說他要去台灣比較難，哈哈~
好的墨西哥人真的是很和善、很純樸，貧富的差距時能讓你驚心動魄，在Tonala市集，你看到很多墨西哥人就坐在攤子上老老實實的做著手工、以收取不多的利潤，他們不講價、也不看人開價... 賺錢不是他們的目標，就是實實在在的生活，這是一份新的體驗，跟羅湖、華強北比起來，真是十分不同的文化，哈~

不識字

洗衣服嘛，還有學問的哩...

我看我公婆好幾年的衣服看起來都還好新，好乾淨... 老覺得他們加拿大的洗衣機肯定是比我們深圳那台兩光洗衣機來的好。
他們來墨西哥跟我們住的這一個半月，我才發現，原來外國的洗衣機可以用熱水洗 (其實我們台灣的可能也行，但是我在台灣有個偉大的老媽... 嘻)
另外，我婆婆會把白的跟有顏色的分開，洗白衣服的時候再給他加一點漂白劑...洗完白析析!!

這個星期公婆飛回加拿大了，星期六一早，馬上來實踐一下我的新發現....

把有顏色的跟白色的分開後，把設定轉到'Caliente'(熱水西班牙文)，按開始，倒入洗衣精，把白衣服丟進去，看著水嘩啦嘩啦的漸漸蓋滿衣服，好呀，該是加漂白劑的時候了，記得上次漂白劑用完，哈你說要再買一瓶新的...'哈你，灰爾is你新買的漂白劑?' 我從laundry room裡喊，他睡眼惺忪的走到廚房，遠遠的指著洗衣架上的瓶瓶罐罐 '不是在那裡嗎?' 我拿起一瓶新面孔，繼續我的亮晶晶洗衣計畫，加多少咧? 一瓶蓋好了... 恩 水好像蠻多的，這瓶蓋頗小，加三瓶蓋吧~
蓋上洗衣機，開始掃地、拖地，哈你看了也起來幫忙，自告奮勇要去洗廁所，好耶! 因為小學老是被處罰洗廁所，有陰影....
掃呀掃的，哈你滿臉疑惑的走進來，手上握著漂白劑說 '你剛用的漂白劑放去哪裡了?'
'.......不是在你手上..?'
哈你臉大變 '這個是洗馬桶的啦!!!'
'...............'

亮晶晶洗衣計畫失敗...

後記:
1. 為了消掉馬桶清潔劑的味道，那桶我們洗了兩次....
2. 哈你把洗衣間裡不是用來洗衣服的溶劑給藏起來了....什麼嘛...
3. 漂白劑1hr後在廚房洗手台下被找到了...%#x$@#

ㄕㄨㄟˊ ㄍㄜ

話說我家哈你中文越來越蹓，現在講話都會烙個一兩句中文~ (or台語)

當他"又"叫我別的女生的名字(通常是他姊,Jenn或他姪女,Laura)，我用惡狠狠眼神瞪他的時候，他會手一揮 "賣ㄚ內啦~"
'Coca是非常好可愛~'
'怎麼那麼!!'
'讚!'
不然三不五四就來一句，'Let's......., 厚某?'

那天，帶Coca散步，聊到他以前在多倫多的第二份工作，進去才知道不如他想像的好，都怪當時一個朋友跟他說那份工作多好又多好，我說那算什麼朋友啊... 他說'也不真的算朋友，kinda like ㄕㄨㄟˊ 哥'...
我愣一下， 'What's that?'
'You know! Like couple years older than me at school'

............ 阿呆，那是 學 ‧長 啦~~~~

San Miguel de Allende...a small down full of stories 一個充滿故事的小鎮

Because of Muriel & Terry, we went to this small town 4 hrs away from GDL for my long weekend of March. It's in Guanajanto provience, called San Miguel de Allende.
It got touristy because of the beautiful church and the revolution history.

When we first arrived there, we were amazed by the narrow streets and the style of the buildings. You think streets in Taiwan is small? Try driving or parking here. It's kinda European style but since I've never been to Europe, I can't say much about it.



We stayed in a hotel called 'La Mansion Del Bosque'. The owner, Ruth, an 88-year-old American lady, lives in the 2nd floor of the place with 3 cats. Skinny is the youngest and the most curious. He stayed outside of our bedroom watching Coca for a long time.
Other than cats, there are a lot of retired North American staying with us. Every night we gathered in the garden chatting and waiting for the dinner bell at 7pm. Barbara, a nice lady from New York City, over 70 but still can do better Yoga than me. Cindy from Chicago has blond hair. She alway wears a big sunglasses and big earings and talks about her old glories, incl. her Jaguar and the dog bit her nose and ear off so she had to get a nose job. In the hotel restaurant, you have to share the tables with people. So we got to chat with more people, like the tennis couple from Vancouver island who travels around the world to meet their tennis friends and to buy arts everywhere. We even met an dirty old man from Texas asking lots questions about China and finally said 'Does Chinese girl like western man?' Muriel loves the place and already started to plan for her next visit. Kirk and I don't mind to go back someday, either.

Someday when we are older and have more stories to tell :)

'Revolutionary Road' - the Hopeless Emptiness

After seeing once of the preview, I'm sure I will like to movie.

All those questions popped out on the screen, it's the questions I like to know the answers.

Yesterday, we took cab to Plaza galarias for the movie. (and Carl's Jr. whose burger I can only finish half) When the screen turns dark, I was hoping it won't be the ending. In the end, I still haven't found the answers.

I feel part of me is like Frank, but part of me is like April.

When they first met, Frank is the one's been travelling to Paris (maybe other countries also) but he doesn't know what he is really interested in for living in the future. The opppsite, April knows exactly what she wants to do, an actress but never been to anywhere else. They fell in love and she is pregnant. Then they move in to a beautiful house in a small town surrounding by grass, trees and small town people.

Life didn't go exacty like they planned or wanted. Frank is having a job that he didn't want to have for 7 years. Driving to the train statio

n, waiting for the train, wearing the same suites & hat with everyone else, then getting off the train, walking to his office building, finally arrives his little office desk. Dressing like everyone else. Getting scold by the boss for absolute nothing. Doing boring, useless talking with the workmates. All of this is just to make living for his family but that doesn't make him feel happy.

April soon became two kids' mother and an excellent housewife. She makes breakfast, do laundry, clean the house, wash the dishes, water the plants, make dinner, wash dishes like every other housewives around. She does all of this just for her family, but that doesn't make her happy. She once thinks he

rself is special but now she is living like everyone else.

Finally, one day she put herself together to make a big decision by changing their lifes. Maybe an unrealistic one but she makes her move to prove she is different.

'What's stopping us?' she asked.

Then she dressed up and gave a surprise birthday party to her husband.
Day1, they are actually happy. Because she has a plan. She makes a difference for the family but that is not enough for her.
Frank cried because he is happy to see his family happy again. He accepted the unrealistic sounding plan and suddenly became so happy everyday.

They feel alive once again. ....................................Until Frank got stuck again.

When you are younger, you can be a dreamer. You have no fear, you dare to dream and think of one day you'll make a difference. Everybody does but few gets those dreams come true.
What it takes is courage and sacrifice.

Frank lives in the life is given.
April lives in the life is planned.

None of them are wrong.

Maybe there isn't always answer in our life, just like the movie.
There's ending, but not necessary an answer.

But I know when I have choices, I shall have the courage to choose the best one.

Maybe it's not as I planned but it'll be the best one.

Plus... my plan changes all the time anyways ;)