Art Attack

For the past few days, Keona and I have been watching Disney Channel which has a program, Art Attack. It's a British program, and it is really cool! They have all kinds of art activities you can do and make at home as well as "lawn art." I am not sure what they call it on TV, but he has tons of items that he lays out on the lawn that, when looked at from above, create a picture. Once, he made two kids on a slide (one going down with his hands in the air) and the other kid climbing up to go down the slide. But he used tarp, he used rulers for the ladder, and pencils... Today he made an underwater diver kneeling next to a shell with a pearl, using bolts, netting, fabrics, and bronze metal tubing, about 1/4" I guess.

Anyways, it is really fun to watch, and I have been finding the activities on the website (although I have to really look through the names because they aren't what I think they would be called...). So far we have seen:

• Nodders (a.k.a. Bobble-head animals)
• Garden Gremlin (a.k.a. Frog in a Jar)
• See-Through Ghost

The web address is: http://artattack.co.uk/ Hope to catch it every day if we are home...

Reading more

Ever since coming to Taiwan, I should have brought some books with me. Daniel gave me one, the Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2nd in the series). So I read it and thought it was really good! Within one week I was done and wanting to read more from the series. When we went to Taizhong the second time, I got an electronic version of the series, and have since then read and finished the first book, The Sorcerer's Stone, and am more than half-way through the third book, The Prisoner of Azkaban. They are pretty good! I never thought I'd like Harry Potter, but I like it!

Also, I checked out a book from the library last week, Flowers for Algernon. The back of the book says there is a movie from it, Charlie, but I haven't heard of it... It was also really good. A man who was retarded wanted to be part of a scientific experiment for increasing his intelligence. They had tested it on many lab rats, of which Algernon was the only one who maintained it for a long period. So, the man, Charlie, had the surgery done, and he becomes more intelligent and realizes that people are making fun of him, not laughing with him. Eventually, his intelligence peaks to a higher level than even the scientists who created the procedure, and he learned over 20 languages. In the end, Algernon deteriorates, and Charlie figures out that the deterioration was at a proportional rate as to the speed of intelligence. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes that kind of story - it was really good and really touching.

Wugui's Escape

So, we got Keona a turtle from Carrefour before Daniel left. He is pretty cute! Keona named him "Wugui" like in Kung Fu Panda. Wugui just means "turtle" in Chinese. She really likes him and to play with him. I hold him sometimes. Even the first night, she wanted to take a swim with him (in the bathtub).

But yesterday, around dinnertime, Keona lifted the rock in Wugui's bowl and said "Where's Wugui?" I couldn't believe it! I looked, and sure enough, he was gone!

We looked everywhere for him - under the sofa, under the chairs, in the kitchen and dining room; in the computer room. Nainai gave me a long chopstick to poke underneath things to get him out. I sat down for dinner then, with no luck finding him. 10 minutes later, I was helping look once again, perhaps he had moved. I went back in the computer room and this time I looked more closely behind the storage drawers and I saw something dark behind there. I grabbed the flashlight and sure enough, it was Wugui! He was pretty dusty, as it's a hard place to keep clean. So I washed him up, and cleaned out his bowl.

Nainai asked "Who put that rock in there?"

And sure enough, Daniel and I had thought it was a nice addition for him to climb on. Well, he won't have it anymore in that bowl! But from the picture below, you can see he wants to get out again to explore!!!

Sneaky turtle...

Roast Duck

Pretty in the mountains

Busy Days

Haven't updated in a while.. have pictures to upload but just don't have much time to upload. It takes a while to upload 3 megapixel pictures here.

Just wanted to note that Keona and I have been biking to the Jingmei branch of the Taipei Public Library. We use the Internet, and they have a whole floor for kids. Their foreign language section is limited but still good books available. Tomorrow will probably go to the downtown, Main Branch, of the library to get a book I saw the last time I went with Daniel to open our library cards.

2008-03-14

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2008-03-07

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Pictures 2008

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At Angel's

Angel's house has nice outdoor ambiance - a nice pool, slides, monkey bars.

Keona outside Angel's house...

GIGANTIC lychi (lizhi)! The floss is a marker of how huge they are! The usual lychi is about the size of a quarter in diameter. These were almost as big as Keona's palm!

Flower and Jade Market

On Sunday, we went to the Jade and Flower Market. So much jade and coral - beautiful yet expensive! The flowers were beautiful - about 6 of St. Cloud floral shops together back to back!

I bought two orchids, and the black planter, as well as one bug-catching plant to catch mosquitos in the house. The flower has a scent that the bugs can't resist. Once inside, the top closes on them. Cool!

Fishing for Shrimp

So, after the National Palace Museum, Daniel asked if we wanted to go fishing for shrimp.

Now, I thought, how do you fish for shrimp? Don't they catch them with a net and not a pole?

Apparently, there are a few businesses next to each other in which you rent a pole, you get some dried shrimps and chicken liver for bait. Then you put it in the water and catch!

Sounds easy but it isn't! I fed a bout 3 shrimp and caught 2.

After catching them, you can walk over to an open grill and cook them with some salt. I didn't think 2 shrimp were worth cooking for three of us, so I gave them to a boy near us who was also feeding the shrimp instead of catching them. They seemed pretty happy.

Keona was my lucky charm catching the first one.

National Palace Museum, June 3

Gates before the Palace Museum

In the garden next to the NPM.

In the garden of the NPM. In front of the Dragon Fountain.

Waterpark in Taizhong, May 30

The entrance/exit to the Yamay Water Park

Keona and I playing with the water - trying to hold it down!

Keona crossing lily pads! She must've done this one 4 times!

You hold on to the top ropes, while stepping on the lily pads to cross.

Daddy helping, of course.

Ceramics Museum, May 26

The entrance to the Ceramics Museum

Ice Cream Art; Keona in a car in the background!

Yehliu Geopark

For lunch, we picked out our seafood then had the chef prepare for us!

After lunch, one woman gave Keona a Puffer Fish! But the bag started to leak and we found an ocean place to set him free. We saw another puffer fish in the ocean, too, before releasing him.

Yehliu Geopark is where the famous Queen's Head is, as you can see in a picture below.