What will (or do) you work for?

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The Magic Pig

Small circle, small circle, big circle,
Small circle, small circle, big circle,
Mama’s ear, papa’s ear and a big big smile,
Six times six, six times six, thirty six,
Six times six, six times six, like a magic pig!

This is one song I remember learning from my early childhood. The lyrics and the drawing activity that come with it stucked in my mind but from where I learned it slipped from my memory. I started to sing and teach it to Jade when I saw her holding a pen trying to write on a paper after Tita Rosie taught her how to hold a pen and draw lines. I also taught this to her cousin Ate Alex during our vacation. I was surprised to know that my younger sisters don’t know it. I thought they knew it, afterall we came from the same elementary school.

Last week, I heard her mumbling something like bicycle but no! It turned out that she’s starting to sing the song while drawing. The “cicle” word she was uttering is meant to be circle. Then few days after, I hear her singing more lines, now with “mama’s ears, papa’s ears” then “thirty six”. I look forward to hearing her sing the whole song and watching her able to come up with her own magic pig soon.

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MEME: Linky Love/Viral Linking

I've got several memes to work on but let me start with the easiest one. Fortunately, tags from three of my online friends are basically the same though the list seemed different in one of the three. Anyhow, I'm posting them all here. The idea of this meme is to pass the links around which means that, if we keep the link train going, all of us will have more links. Thanks to Mari of Life Together Starts, Bill of From the Boondocks and Lovelyn of A Raconteur's Attempt for tagging me.

I have randomly selected 5 of you below to be tagged and I hope that you will similarly publish this post in your blog. You will have to tag 5 other bloggers and just keep adding on to the list. (Do not replace, just keep on adding! Yes we hope it will be a long list!)It’s real easy! Tag others and see your Technorati Authority increase exponentially!

The benefits of Viral Linking:

1.One of the fastest ways to see your technorati authority explode!
2.Increase your Google PageRank fast
3.Attract large volume of new traffic to your site
4.Build your community
5.Make new friends!

I'm tagging Andi's Mommy, Life is like a Box of Chocolates, Our Niche, and Skraekja


The rules from Bill's Linky Love Train Meme are as follows:
1. Write a short paragraph at the beginning of your post and link back to the blog that put you on the list in the paragraph. This isn’t a suggestion. You need to break up the duplicate content. Someone took the time to add you so the least you can do is give them an extra link back.
2. Copy the list of originals below COMPLETELY and add it to your blog. If you would like a different keyword for your blog then change it when you do your post and it should pass to most blogs with that keyword.
3. Take the adds from the blog that added you and place them in the “Originals” list.
4. Add at least 1 new blog that you KNOW is using the DO FOLLOW plugin to the list in the “My Adds” section.
5. Let the people you’ve added know, so that they can keep the list going!

And these are the people who already took part on this tag:*The Strategist Notebook *Link Addiction *Ardour of the Heart *When Life Becomes a Book *The Malaysian Life *Yogatta.com *What goes under the sun *Roshidan’s Cyber Station *Sasha says *Arts of Physics *Dagboek *Dutch converted Asian *Enjoy Your Meal *And the legend lives *My View, My Life! *Pusang Maganda *Spontaneity *Maruism *Wapita *Unforeseen Existence *Ako ay Tamad *The Balmy Zephyr *bhabypau *KiCHi *Mae-Mae *Gayle *Karen Dayle *http://phinkness.com/ * Karen -AP- * pinkyish *Kritz *Ninah * Laine * Youngmaze* Homeworked *A Raconteur's AttemptA Simple Life Juliana RW The Callalily SpacePetra Summer in Blue Confessions of an Army Wife Bless’ Sanctuary Happy Life http://bless519.bravejournal.com/ La Place de Cherie, Chez Francine, Le bric a brac de Cherie, Little Peanut, Pea in a Pod, The Creative In Me, Me and Mine , Me and my Two Boys, My Life is Peachy , http://bless519.bravejournal.com/ Memories Frozen in Time My Joys My Charmed Life, The Working Mom, Online Raket, Practical Tips and More, Food Drink Atbp, A Housewife's Journal, Life Together Starts *Page 101

While these are from the Linky Love Train...Originals:This is a Miracle Mariuca Revellian d bImBo Secret of Mind A Great Pleasure Little world of thoughts Renisphere mott's island Kev's Walkabout iBubbs woof Down Memory Lanes Woof & Arf Lovely Mummy Bubba Stuff Mommibee Moments in My Life Rambling Moo All about Zara & Zaria Hip n cool momma Random Thoughts of a Blur Mommy Mylittleanelqianyi Bits & Pieces De’moments chinneeq Giddy Tiger Huei Rabbit Rinnah Simple America Niceheart Ethel Sanna The Queer Chef Shoshana Leahgina> Haze GheeNeng aka Sirena Angelo Ju aka The Border aka Juana of Femjo Tina Keep the Faith jsonvlog Suncoast Scribe Blogging Kenneth My 2 Centavos Worth Manila Mom 3 Dogs, 3 Pigs and A Family Cafe Romanza Earn Global Credit Ability Macuha Flee the Cube Smart Wealthy Rich MomReviews.net Fellow Eskimo Pajama Mommy Amanita.net WebStyle Meredith’s Weight Loss Blog Pink Blog Tricia’s Musings Ugh!!’s Greymatter Honeypot Famewatch Midlife Musings Utterly Geek Whatever I Feel Like My Dandelion Patch Surviving NJ GeekySpeaky Simple Kind Of Life 3DayMom BuyMeBlog The Hockey Dad Twist & Skewer The Hip Mommy's Place Mommyness Is Happiness Listening..Learning..Living First Time Dad In Our House Life is what we make it Igorot Blogger*Page 101

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Dalikan/Anidoan...

During cold days when most, if not all, family members leave the house for work and/or an early day appointment, heating water in the gas range or bathing with a pail of icy cold water come as options. When the former is opted, one can't be spared from the morning nags of a mother who worries about the increasing price of LPG while when the latter is chosen, one may come home with flu at the end of the day. To be spared from either consequences, the younger ones resort to heating as much water that the whole family can use, with some refills in between.

Even with an oven gas range in the kitchen, the "dalikan" outside the family house is still used especially when cooking "pinikpikan" (native delicacy) and "inangir" (boiled for a long time). And while cooking, one can also warm up from the heat that emits from the "dalikan" thus we also call it our "anidoan" (fireplace). In the early morning, it somehow becomes our father's "tambayan" or comfort zone with him sipping a hot cup of coffee. At times when he cooks there during the day,he would bring his "apos" (grandchildren) and teach them how to make "anido" their hands and even their feet. Our Jade of course, had her own initation during our stay, lol.

I believe that even if in the future, the family house is decided to be renovated, we will still opt to keep that kind of dirty kitchen as it does not only serve as a backup when we run out of LPG, but also because the dishes cooked from wooden fire tastes better than that cooked from the gas range.

Firewoods being dried in the backyard...

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She's now one of them...

After few months of waiting, my youngest sister finally shouted out that she's now an RN. The results came out yesterday and it somehow came as my sister's birthday presence to our father who told her he'll look for an elephant for the celebration, lol!

She left me a message in YM yesterday but I was not able to catch her. I called her today but I guess she's all to excited sharing the news of joy to her friends in town that she wasn't able to pick up her phone. I then had to pass my message through my other sister who sounded so happy too with the news.

We'll let her enjoy her moment for now and then ask her later what's the next step. We definitely wouldn't want her added in the list of unemployed :)

Congratulations Bok! We're all proud of you!

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Here comes the rat

Everyone here is looking forward to the Chinese new year holidays starting middle of next week. As for us, we're taking our holidays earlier as in we're heading back home few hours from now. Baggages are ready and Jade's now sleeping with her travelling clothes on such that we'll just put on her thick jacket and carry her to the cab where she can continue to sleep. I'll be offline for few weeks so I thought of posting yet another holiday greeting in celebration of the lunar new year. According to Chinese astrology, 2008 is the year of the rat. But saying happy year of the rat seems so unlikely so to all, Happy Lunar New Year!

We had our year end company party last week and look what I got...

A TS1GPF710 Transcend T.photo 710 Digital Photo Frame. I gave it a first hand try on my desk when I got it on Wednesday. It's cute! It's still boxed until now and we'll explore it when we get back from vacation. Product features and specifications are as follows:

Features
-Bright 7 high-resolution widescreen color TFT LCD panel- Built-in stereo speakers and headphone jack- Supports USB flash drives and SD/SDHC/MMC/MS/CF memory cards- Fully compliant with Hi-Speed USB 2.0 and backwards compatible with USB 1.1- Direct USB connection to your PC for easy file transfer- Built-in 1GB memory works even without a memory card- Auto power on/off- Slideshow, thumbnail, still picture, and zoom-in viewing options- View photos with background music- Attractive Frame Themes to accent your pictures with- Important date/event reminder - Clock, alarm and calendar functions- Warranty period is two years, one-year screen warranty(Transcend will replace or repair screens with four or more dehective pixels).

Specifications:
-Size : 219mm x 156mm x 28mm (Stand excluded)-Op. Voltage : 5V DC 2A : -Op. Temperature : 0C(32F) to 70C(158F)-Music Formats : MP3, WMA, WAV (PCM,ADPCM)-Video Format : Motion-JPEG ( .avi / .mov ) ; Resolution : 15fps @ 320*240-Photo Formats : BMP (Max. 800x600), JPEG-baseline-Weight : 430g-Storage : 1GB NAND

Hubby and I are happy about it. But we're happier to know we can escape from the colder weather come holidays.

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Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall - a nice place to visit in Taipei

Don’t be surprised to know that our visit to Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taipei two weekends ago is our first step on the place after almost three years of living in Taiwan. Sadly, our 1st year of stay here was devoted to work that sleeping late on weekends was of higher priority than going to places back then. Good thing, we were able to visit the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall two times before it has been renamed to National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall.

The Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall

Sky was vividly blue at that time

Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall is located at the middle of Taipei City and is accessible to tourist commuters, local or not, via MRT. From our place in Tamsui, we had to take the red line until the main MRT station in Taipei, transfer to the blue line and get out at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall station. We had around five minutes walk to get to the place. At first, we thought it was just the hall that was there, and then came a small garden on the side where Jade headed right away and took the grass path, instead of the side walk. To our surprise, the view of the Taipei 101 building was very vivid from the place and infront of the memorial hall was a wide playground and a huge water fountain. To us, the place provided a child-friendly environment that adults are tempted to be child-like seeing the kids running around here and there. More so, hubby figured that there were a number of people kite-flying to which he followed suit after we had a quick snack-picnic for Jade to have her late lunch meal.

Taipei 101 is clearly seen from the hall's ground

Which among the two is hubby's kite?

Dennis had to buy a ball for her because she appeared very envious of the kids around playing balls and bubbles. While her dad went kite-flying, Jade and I played on the grounds with her chasing her ball and me chasing her. She seemed so tireless and unmindful of the people around her not even caring if mom is following her or not. She would stare at people when she couldn’t run any further and look around for mommy. On the other side, hubby was enjoying his kite even if it fell down three times because of sudden change of wind strength and direction. He said he didn’t feel bad because all of the kites fell at the same time anyway.

Man-made lake park within the memorial hall's compound

This is where Jade saw the turtles and duck...

We exchanged roles of playing with Jade when the wind suppressed with the little girl enjoying every moment spent in the grounds. Later, we left the grounds and went around the place where she got the chance to see real turtles and a duck in the man-made like on one part of the hall’s park. With the sun about to set, we decided to leave the place exchanging ideas that we should go there more often on spring and summer.

Here are some of the hundred pictures we took. More of which can be found in this album.

Sun Yat-sen's statue

A statue that depicts a father telling stories to his children

That should be tea they're drinking...


Another statue depicting an elderly narrating to two children

The girl looks so interested in the man's story

A Chinese philosopher's statue around SYMH

Sorry, I can't figure out who he is...

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