I recently found a little book that Eva had put together from paper and staples. On the front was a big question mark drawn, it said: Secritse (secrets).
First page:
Big heart with arrow drawn and the following text:
'Eva loves Jack, Jack loves Eva'
Next page:
'Jack called me babe' (still cracking up about this one...)
then:
'Jack loves me"
then:
'He does not love them' (cracking up again!)
Big heart and another big heart.......
I thought this was so endearing and couldn't keep it a secret. Sorry Eva! I hope she never finds out....
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Sunday, April 27, 2008
We're back!
It has been quite a while you've heard anything from us....First of all life got caught up with us and when I finally sat down to write our blogger website didn't work. It turned out that it had been handed over to another provider. Luckily my brother Paul got me back in the game and I will write soon about our latest adventures in Asia....
For now: we are all doing well. The girls are enjoying life in Asia. They have become very confident little persons. It helps that they go to a very good school where the objective is to make learning a fun process. I wish I had gone to that school when younger....
In the previous years Ella had refused to follow any classes or activities after school. With all her talents we thought it was such a pity. Recently she went with a friend to her drama class. This happened by accident since I didn't get to pick her up on time. So she watched the class but when I picked her up at the end of the class she was actually participating! She begged me to enroll her. Now she skips to her drama class every week. She really loves it.
We are very proud of her. Especially because she had been so shy and self conscious the last few years. She topped all of this of by performing in a Chinese Fan Dance at school!
Eva has become a soccer nut recently. She is quite good at kicking the ball in every possible way. But with her own signature 'club foot' kind of kick. It's very funny! Yesterday at the beach she kicked the ball around for hours, with or without us! It's great to see her so active since she had little stamina in the past and her coordination was off. She is coming around! Food wise we're making progress very slowly. We have expanded her diet with watermelon recently and we go through tons of it now!
Carl and I are well also. We are currently planning our travels for the summer which might end up being a tour through the Northern part of Australia by RV (kampeerauto).
For now: we are all doing well. The girls are enjoying life in Asia. They have become very confident little persons. It helps that they go to a very good school where the objective is to make learning a fun process. I wish I had gone to that school when younger....
In the previous years Ella had refused to follow any classes or activities after school. With all her talents we thought it was such a pity. Recently she went with a friend to her drama class. This happened by accident since I didn't get to pick her up on time. So she watched the class but when I picked her up at the end of the class she was actually participating! She begged me to enroll her. Now she skips to her drama class every week. She really loves it.
We are very proud of her. Especially because she had been so shy and self conscious the last few years. She topped all of this of by performing in a Chinese Fan Dance at school!
Eva has become a soccer nut recently. She is quite good at kicking the ball in every possible way. But with her own signature 'club foot' kind of kick. It's very funny! Yesterday at the beach she kicked the ball around for hours, with or without us! It's great to see her so active since she had little stamina in the past and her coordination was off. She is coming around! Food wise we're making progress very slowly. We have expanded her diet with watermelon recently and we go through tons of it now!
Carl and I are well also. We are currently planning our travels for the summer which might end up being a tour through the Northern part of Australia by RV (kampeerauto).
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Recent photos
The first two photos were made in Borneo. We have a lot of beautiful photos of Borneo but I thought that most of you would like to know if you could still recognize us after all this time....
The last photo shows you the chaos in the morning at our house before the school bus arrives. You can see a glimps of Malou, our fabulous helper.
Ella's poem
The other night I found a red cut-out heart card that Ella had written to me.
Inside it said:
Mama is red,
Daddy is blue,
Eva is yellow,
Can I have a chellow (cello)?
Very funny!
Inside it said:
Mama is red,
Daddy is blue,
Eva is yellow,
Can I have a chellow (cello)?
Very funny!
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Ella is eight!!!
Ella had her birthday party on Sunday from three till five o'clock. We had eight 'little' girls running around our apartment that day. It was a great success! The theme of the party was nature since Ella loves anything that has got to do with nature. It's really great to see that she is not just interested in cute little puppies but also in frogs, spiders, snakes and insects. Almost every day she brings books home from school about all these animals and bugs.
The kids at the party sat under a canopy of green streamers which made it feel a bit like being in a garden. The snacks were squashed beetles and ants on logs amongst others. The red bug juice went down really well too!
The highlight was digging for geckos in a tub of earth. They were stretchable toy geckos but some of the kids thought they were real....
Carl did his usual (very popular) treasure hunt again. He took the eight girls by himself and came back exhausted. It didn't help that we had had a dinner party the night before and that the wine bottles were quiet empty at the end of the night. Poor guy....
On Monday Ella got her present from us which is an electrical piano. We decided against a real piano because of our lack of space here but this is a real good alternative. It sounds like a real piano. Or like an organ if you change the setting. Last night Ella was playing her own compositions on the organ setting and Eva was dancing ballet to it. It was quite interesting!
Ella is delighted with her present and we are hoping she has inherited her uncle's talents. Otherwise we are in for a long ride...........
The kids at the party sat under a canopy of green streamers which made it feel a bit like being in a garden. The snacks were squashed beetles and ants on logs amongst others. The red bug juice went down really well too!
The highlight was digging for geckos in a tub of earth. They were stretchable toy geckos but some of the kids thought they were real....
Carl did his usual (very popular) treasure hunt again. He took the eight girls by himself and came back exhausted. It didn't help that we had had a dinner party the night before and that the wine bottles were quiet empty at the end of the night. Poor guy....
On Monday Ella got her present from us which is an electrical piano. We decided against a real piano because of our lack of space here but this is a real good alternative. It sounds like a real piano. Or like an organ if you change the setting. Last night Ella was playing her own compositions on the organ setting and Eva was dancing ballet to it. It was quite interesting!
Ella is delighted with her present and we are hoping she has inherited her uncle's talents. Otherwise we are in for a long ride...........
Saturday, November 3, 2007
The Chinese and their toilets
When we arrived here, almost a year ago, we found out that the public toilets here are very similar to the French ones. It's basically a hole in the ground with a ceramic base around it to stand on. Ella and Eva had never seen such a thing so it was quite an experience. We also figured out the hard way that they never have toilet paper in the cubicle itself but they hang a big roll outside. It takes a few 'bad' visits to help you remember to grab a fistful of the paper before going in.
The other thing that's funny is that in cubicles where they do have the 'traditional' toilets you can often find signs with drawings of what not to do. Like squatting on the toilet, with the feet on the rim and crouching down. How uncomfortable is that?! I would never get away with that one to begin with since they would see me from the waist up. The doors are not that high.....
The other thing that's funny is that in cubicles where they do have the 'traditional' toilets you can often find signs with drawings of what not to do. Like squatting on the toilet, with the feet on the rim and crouching down. How uncomfortable is that?! I would never get away with that one to begin with since they would see me from the waist up. The doors are not that high.....
Friday, October 26, 2007
Hong Kong through our eyes
After quite a bit of travelling the last few months I came to realize that Hong Kong truly is our home now. Whenever the airplane lands at the airport I seem to get excited to be back where I belong. It's funny how that takes a while, the first few months I felt very alien. It didn't help that it was Christmas time then. You couldn't be further removed from all familiarity of this holiday when living in Hong Kong....
The parts that I used to not like about Hong Kong have slowly changed in my perception. Even the ugly paint peeled high rises, the overwhelming smell of Chinese herbs, the balconies stuffed with plastic clutter have become parts of the city that I have started to appreciate. The modernity of the city was appalling to me at first but now I actually like the diversity within the modern architecture around us.
Nevertheless I find it such a shame that the Chinese have not much regard for old things. Parts of the city with great historical value are being torn down right and left. It doesn't seem to 'hurt' them at all. Recently a typical Chinese mansion with great views of the city was sold to a millionaire. The board of historical preservation had actually spent some time on this case before the sale. But it was only when the ornamental ceramic green tiles had all been removed and jackhammers were drilled into the outside walls that the people started to protest. Most still don't care and rather have a modern house replace the old one. It's with pain in my heart that I see the city change very fast. The last bits of old China in the city will be knocked down pretty soon. That old Tea House that I wrote about in a previous post is unfortunately also one of the targets of demolition.
The thing that I have discovered about the Chinese is that they are very practical. Practicality stands before everything. So if an old historical building has only ten apartments and that spot could house hundreds in a high rise of course they will go for the practical option. There are more people than available space and furthermore lots of money can be made in the process. Some people have the opinion that money is the first thing on the Chinese their list. That could be true. But I also think they are a very practical people and seldom have regrets.
I read the books Taipan and Noble House recently. Very interesting, especially when living in Hong Kong. They are historical novels, the setting is in and around Hong Kong, from the 1800's and on. I learnt a lot about their way of thinking. It's very easy to judge when you don't understand something. For instance: the Chinese are known for their apathy when it comes to disasters. Mostly they will stand by and look and not help. I thought at first that this could be selfishness. After having read these books I realize that it's a cultural difference. The Chinese believe strongly in 'joss'. This is something like good luck/bad luck/faith. So when you are caught in a disaster that is seen as your joss. The gods want this for you so why intervene?! It's amazing the effect cultural difference can have on the behaviour of people.
Lately I read about another case, a sad one. Somebody working in a kitchen in mainland China had bought salt to cook with. He was able to buy a huge bag very cheaply (practical again) not thinking much about the fact that it was industrial salt. You can imagine what happened: more than 30 people died after eating. These stories are quite common. Luckily we live in Hong Kong and not in mainland China. The supermarkets test a lot of their imported foods and will refuse anything dicey. But once in a while something sneaks through. For that reason most Europeans and Americans boy cot Chinese products. Australia and New Zealand are the countries that most expats buy from. So do we!
.
The parts that I used to not like about Hong Kong have slowly changed in my perception. Even the ugly paint peeled high rises, the overwhelming smell of Chinese herbs, the balconies stuffed with plastic clutter have become parts of the city that I have started to appreciate. The modernity of the city was appalling to me at first but now I actually like the diversity within the modern architecture around us.
Nevertheless I find it such a shame that the Chinese have not much regard for old things. Parts of the city with great historical value are being torn down right and left. It doesn't seem to 'hurt' them at all. Recently a typical Chinese mansion with great views of the city was sold to a millionaire. The board of historical preservation had actually spent some time on this case before the sale. But it was only when the ornamental ceramic green tiles had all been removed and jackhammers were drilled into the outside walls that the people started to protest. Most still don't care and rather have a modern house replace the old one. It's with pain in my heart that I see the city change very fast. The last bits of old China in the city will be knocked down pretty soon. That old Tea House that I wrote about in a previous post is unfortunately also one of the targets of demolition.
The thing that I have discovered about the Chinese is that they are very practical. Practicality stands before everything. So if an old historical building has only ten apartments and that spot could house hundreds in a high rise of course they will go for the practical option. There are more people than available space and furthermore lots of money can be made in the process. Some people have the opinion that money is the first thing on the Chinese their list. That could be true. But I also think they are a very practical people and seldom have regrets.
I read the books Taipan and Noble House recently. Very interesting, especially when living in Hong Kong. They are historical novels, the setting is in and around Hong Kong, from the 1800's and on. I learnt a lot about their way of thinking. It's very easy to judge when you don't understand something. For instance: the Chinese are known for their apathy when it comes to disasters. Mostly they will stand by and look and not help. I thought at first that this could be selfishness. After having read these books I realize that it's a cultural difference. The Chinese believe strongly in 'joss'. This is something like good luck/bad luck/faith. So when you are caught in a disaster that is seen as your joss. The gods want this for you so why intervene?! It's amazing the effect cultural difference can have on the behaviour of people.
Lately I read about another case, a sad one. Somebody working in a kitchen in mainland China had bought salt to cook with. He was able to buy a huge bag very cheaply (practical again) not thinking much about the fact that it was industrial salt. You can imagine what happened: more than 30 people died after eating. These stories are quite common. Luckily we live in Hong Kong and not in mainland China. The supermarkets test a lot of their imported foods and will refuse anything dicey. But once in a while something sneaks through. For that reason most Europeans and Americans boy cot Chinese products. Australia and New Zealand are the countries that most expats buy from. So do we!
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