Things my mom made today
2 fleece hats

From December, 08

A nursing cover for a friend

From December, 08

Happy New Year!

By Chieni McCullough

It is the last day of 2008 and boy, what a year it has been! Some highlights have been our travels--Thailand, around Taiwan, Seattle, Australia, then around Taiwan some more. Gabe traveled to Japan and England a few times as well. We've discovered lots of new places to explore, made lots of new friends, and found lots of new restaurants to try out. Toddler Anja is now talking non-stop, from the moment she wakes up to the second she falls asleep at night. She tells complex stories about her day and her friends. Sometimes the stories are purely from her imagination but they are usually quite funny. She makes up songs with made up tunes and made up lyrics, which can range from her favorite things like butterflies, to more obscure song topics like yucky dirty shoes. Her love of dance and movement is quite clear as can be seen by the number of videos posted of her ability to dance anywhere, to almost anything. I can still remember vividly the image of Anja as a little baby, grooving to the jingle of the NPR program, "All Things Considered."

Life has been good for Anja here as she continues to thrive from the exorbitant amount of attention she receives from those around us, whether they are relatives or strangers. It's usually an interesting experience going out with Anja because random strangers will come and ask to have their picture taken with her or restaurant owners will give us extra food or a special discount simply because Anja is cute and very friendly and outgoing. Anja had two new cousins this year, and that has been very exciting for her. One of her favorite pretend play games is calling someone on the phone and her cousins, Baby Ryan and Baby Jay, are often recipients of her phone calls. After hanging up, she'll tell us complex stories of how her cousins are doing and all the things they said to her on the other end of the imaginary phone line.

Alas, life with a rambunctious toddler, though never boring, comes with its set of challenges. Anja is getting old enough to reason with us, to tell us why she *needs* to stay up past her bedtime, to ask why just for the sake of asking why, and to want independence (I do it myself!) yet not be completely able to do it all herself. I am constantly amazed by these challenges, as they tell us so much of how a toddler makes sense of her world. I am grateful to be offered the chance to view our world with wonder the way she does. It is amazing how differently but wonderful the world seems when seen from a 95cm height.

Happy New Year!

Here are photos from November 2008.

Yilan!

After returning from a week in Kenting, on the Southern tip of Taiwan, we decided to head out the next day to Yilan, on the East Coast of Taiwan. My aunt and a big group of her friends were having an end-of-the-year party and invited us to go along. We stayed at a hotel with Japanese tatami mats in the room. It was fun to run around on the mat. We then got dressed up for the big dinner party. As usual, I got lots of attention from all the new aunties and uncles.
Getting dressed up for the party

From December, 08

Yummy buffet dinner

From December, 08

Cake!

From December, 08

Karaoke and dancing!

From December, 08

Me in my pretty dress

From December, 08

The next day, we dipped our feet in this fish pond at the hotel where a special breed of fish will come and eat the dead skin from your feet, leaving your feet really smooth like a baby's bottom. It was really tickle-y! My parents wondered if it could be considered animal cruelty to make the fish eat something as gross as the dead skin off our feet. The fish didn't seem to mind, though.

From December, 08

Soaking in the hot spring pool

From December, 08

After that, we headed toward the Center for Traditional Arts, a Disneyland-like place that seeks to preserve some of the old handicrafts that may be lost otherwise. Here is a photo of someone making pulled candy. It was good to see a young guy doing this so the tradition and skill could be carried on. The candy was really good!

From December, 08

Incense made the traditional way

From December, 08

December Photos

Here are photos from December

Let me pick up where I left off on our trip to Kenting. On Wednesday, December 23rd, we took a trip around the penninsula where Kenting is located. We went to numerous pristine beaches, walked out to the southern most tip of Taiwan, and checked out several locations that were in the movie, Cape No.7. That night, we went to a cool surfer restaurant. It's a surfer restaurant mainly because the owners are surfers and sometimes, if the waves are good, the restaurants would be closed because the owners are out hitting the waves.

On Thursday, Christmas day, we cycled 6 km to a beautiful beach called White Sand Beach (Baishawan). My mom said it reminded her of growing up in Hawaii to spend Christmas day at the beach. I loved being on the bike! I did not want to get off the bike when we got to our destination! The that evening, we went up to Guanshan, a nearby mountain, to see the sunset. It was a lovely and relaxing Christmas day.

The next day, we packed up and got in a 2-hr taxi, then the high speed rail (1 1/2 hrs), then the subway (40 min) , then a taxi (5 min) to get back home. Whew! Now we need another vacation!

Videos from Kenting

Here is a collection of videos from Kenting. The first video was taken on Christmas Eve on a beach called, Nanwan. Then we started running on the beach. The next video is of us at another beach popular with surfers. I was building a house with Ian and Eason, the 2 boys who lived at the cabins. The last video is of us running around a musical water fountain with lights. You can tell I had a great time in Kenting!

Kenting Aquarium

Here is a video from the amazing aquarium in Kenting. You can hear me screaming with excitement in the background. It was so exciting to see a shark and sting rays and other colorful fish, and to feel as if you are underwater with them.

Here is a video of me dancing on the deck of our cabin with a piece of cheese in my hand as a prop. I am doing an interpretive dance to the music.

Holiday Photos

Here are photos from our week in Kenting

Christmas Pageant

Here is a video of me from my school's Christmas performance on December 20th 2008. I am the cute one in the center and in the front row.

Merry Christmas!

I woke up on Christmas day to find a few small wrapped packages under the Christmas tree, which my dad brought with us in the luggage from Taipei to Kenting. This means lugging it on a taxi, then another taxi, then the high speed rail, then another taxi. Anyway, I still don't understand this whole Santa Claus thing but it was still fun to tear open the wrapped packages. I got some construction paper, some Anja-size scissors, and lots of pretty shiny things to stick onto the papers. We then had breakfast and headed to the beach. We decided to ride bikes down to the coast, which was 6Km away, to a beach called Baishawan. It means "White Sand Beach". I loved riding in the Anja-size seat on the back of the bike. It was a fun ride and the weather was not too hot. The beach was true to its name, very white and very serene. We all got wet running toward and away from the waves then we did some digging in the sand. It was a tough ride back to the cabin because the winds picked up so we were riding against the wind. Then while riding through a wooded path, my mom actually ran over a snake! It had been lying in the middle of the path and when we ran over it, the snake got quite upset and lunged at my mom's bike! My mom recounted the story to the owner of the cabins and was told that it was likely a poisonous snake. Apparently there are lots of different kinds of poisonous snakes around this part of the island!

That evening, we went up to the top of Guanshan, a low mountain in Kenting, to watch the sunset. There were lots of tourists there too who came on giant double decker tour buses speaking various languages. After watching the sun go down, we went to the temple at the top of the mountain and got a breathtaking view of the small town of Kenting below. It was a very nice Christmas this year.

Lohas Cabins

Here's a photo of our cabin. It has a nice deck for a relaxing breakfast.

From Kenting Xmas 08

I tried to do everything the big boys were doing. I even tried to pee standing up

From Kenting Xmas 08

On Tuesday, the owner of the cabin took us to the Aquarium. On the way, we stopped at a beach that was also in the film, Cape No. 7.

From Kenting Xmas 08

The aquarium was really cool! You walk through tunnels while the sting rays and sharks swim around you. You really get the feeling that you are in the water with the fish! We read that this was the biggest aquarium in Asia.

From Kenting Xmas 08

From Kenting Xmas 08

After the tour of the aquarium, we went back to the cabin for a nap. Then the owner of the cabins made dinner for everyone. We had really fresh baked fish and locally grown organic veggies for dinner. Then I got to stay up and watch the movie, Enchanted, with my parents.

Kenting!

On Monday, we left rainy Taipei and headed South to Kenting for a week-long holiday in the sun. We were going to fly there but when we got to the airport, we found out that our flight was canceled. So we had to go the the train station to take the high speed rail to Kaoshiung, about 2 hrs away from Kenting. We were then going to rent a car in Kaoshiung but when we got there, we found out that we could not rent a car without an international driver's license. We had never needed one before. We've always been able to rent cars with just an American driver's license so that was a big shock to us. We had to change our plans again and book a taxi for the last leg of our journey, which took an hour and 40 minutes.

We rented a cabin that is next to a nature center, which is popular with bird watchers. Apparently this is a rest area for migrating birds so you can see lots of birds all year round. The cabin is really nice, probably one of the nicest places we've ever stayed in. The owners have twin boys who are 4 years old and they were shy at first but I got them to play wit me pretty quickly.

Here is a photo of us on the high speed rail. I asked my mom to paint a butterfly and a flower on my face. I got a lot of attention because of my face paint!

From Kenting Xmas 08

The owner at the cabin was really nice. Because we couldn't rent a car, we were kind of stuck at the cabin so she drove us around town to show us the sights. In between, she did a little bit of errands. Here we are at an organic farm picking vegetables for dinner. This is as fresh as fresh gets!

From Kenting Xmas 08

From Kenting Xmas 08

There was a movie that just came out of Taiwan called Cape No. 7. It was Taiwan's entry to the Oscars for best foreign film this year. It also won a bunch of film awards from Taiwan this year. The film was set here in Kenting and the owner took us to the places where the film was shot. Here is the main character's house.

From Kenting Xmas 08

On Sunday I went to Jaylene and Jayden's house and made a mess!

From December, 08

We then decorated gingerbread houses but ended up just eating the candies

From December, 08

From December, 08

From December, 08

That evening, we went to see a band called Tizzy Bac at the Fort San Domingo. They were pretty good. I liked dancing to their music. Here is a video of them on Youtube. The quality is not very good but you get a taste of what they sound like.

I really like the face paint that Teacher Glenn Santa gave me. I can now pose like a model even though no one taught me to do this.

From December, 08

From December, 08

Christmas Parties

On Saturday morning, there was a Christmas event at my school. All the classes put on a musical performance then we exchanged gifts with our classmates. I got to stand center stage during my class performance. At the end of the party, we got to take photos with Santa and he gave me a little gift. On our way home, I told my parents that the gift was given to me by Teacher Glenn. This was because I knew that Santa was really my English teacher Glenn dressed up as Santa.

From December, 08

We then went to my uncle's house for lunch and to play with my newest cousin Jay.

On Saturday afternoon, we hosted the City Playgroup annual Christmas party in our building. I nearly slept through the entire party since it was during my nap time. I woke up just in time, when Santa came to give out presents. I told my parents that this Santa was really my Teacher Glenn too. He gave me some face paint markers. When my mom said that the gift was from Santa, I corrected her and said it was really from Teacher Glenn!

From December, 08

The Christmas party was held in the activities center in our apartment complex. We've never seen so many people there at once and the children's play area, where I spend most of my time, was jam packed with kids. It was a lot of fun. After loading up on junk food, the older kids played Bingo while the younger kids ran around. We then sang Christmas carols and hung out until the end of the party. The manager of the activities center was happy to see so many people there and told us we could hold more parties there if we liked.

Since it was solstice, we all got to make mochi and sweet rice ball soup too so it was fun to celebrate the Western holiday along with the Chinese tradition.

We then went with friends to dinner at a restaurant called Large Footprint, which is a strange name but they had good food. It was a really really full day!

Cookies!

On Friday, I spent the entire morning at the park next to my Ahma's house. I climbed up and down the jungle gym and went up and down the slides. We then had lunch at the park. My Ahma told me that the birds were chirping, "Anja eat your lunch so you can grow!" When I finished my lunch, I told Ahma, "The birds just said, 'Anja, you are such a good girl for eating all your lunch!'"

That evening, we make chocolate chip cookies for the City Playgroup Christmas party that was going to be held the next day at our apartment's community center.

From December, 08

Hooray for cookies!

From December, 08

Future Julia Child!

From December, 08

We have been so busy lately that we have not been able to keep up with the blog. So, here is a quick update starting from a week ago. On Thursday, we went with Djolyna to her photo shoot for a children's clothing company here called Les Enphants. It was a lot of fun to watch her be treated like a movie star. The makeup artists were really nice and played with me a lot. I told them I wanted make up on too so they gave me some lipstick and put some blush on my face.




We then went to my Ahma's house. My Ahma played with me while my mom got a haircut at the salon near Ahma's house. My mom got a haircut and highlights in her hair and the whole thing took about four hours! When I saw my mom getting a haircut, I told the hair stylist that I wanted a haircut also. So, she trimmed my bangs and I was happy. My mom then took us all out to dinner at the night market. We discovered that I really like stinky tofu!!

Here is a new video of me dancing at a restaurant last night. I made up the dance with the napkins in my hands and the Buddhist music playing in the background as inspiration.

My Cousin Jay

Yesterday we visited my new cousin Jay with my Ahma. He is now four months old and big like a heavyweight champ. I liked giving him kisses. When my mom got out her camera, though, I told her, "No photos!" I am getting tired of people taking photos of me all the time! Let someone else take the spotlight!

On Sunday, my mom's cousin and family came over and took us out to a famous steamed dumpling place in Sanzhi, up on the north coast. After lunch, we went for a walk on a trail in the Baishawan beach park. It was really cold and windy but the views were spectacular! We then stopped at a historic mill and suspension bridge for some photos.

My second cousin Olivia was dog sitting for her friend. The dog, Nicole, peed on the bathroom mat as soon as she entered our house.

Baby Ryan

My aunt and baby Ryan came over to spend a few days with us while my dad was out of town. I was still recovering from a stomach bug but I had fun with Baby Ryan. Ryan is now learning to crawl so he had a lot of fun crawling on the soft mats in the playroom.

From December, 08

From December, 08

From December, 08

Here is a baby sling my mom made last week.

Ding Tai Feng

Last Sunday, my dad left for England on business for a week so we hung out with my aunt and cousin baby Ryan. We went to the famous steamed dumpling restaurant, Ding Tai Feng, for lunch. This place has received rave reviews from the likes of TV chef Anthony Bourdain. I personally think it's slightly overrated. I mean, it's too crowded with tourists and way too expensive. Besides, we always expect things to taste this good!

We forgot to take a picture before we started to dig in! We had steamed dumplings with minced crab filling, wontons in chili sauce, stir fried Taiwan cabbage, and beef broth. The chefs were making dumplings behind a glass window, on display as if they were part of a zoo exhibition.

My Play Room

We have a great play room in the apartment complex. I am there nearly everyday after dinner and everyone there knows my name. There is a great ball pit with a slide and tunnels to climb through, a bus I pretend to drive, and a little store front where I sell ice cream and soy milk to my cousin Baby Ryan. There is also a library where I go to create my own stories with the books I find.

A New Bike!

I got my Christmas gift early this year because we happened to see someone selling it by the side of the road and it looked better than the ones we'd seen at giant stores like Carrefour. I can now ride it in the house and out in the courtyard of our apartment complex. I learned to make a peace sign for photos from other Taiwanese friends. Of course, it always ends up looking like an "OK" sign or something like that. They have also decorated our apartment building with Christmas stuff.