I spent all day dowloading and editing the video clips I filmed in Taiwan and burned them on DVDs. It wasn't perfect but I was happy about it, considering it's my first time. I am feeling sad about leaving my parents again. Who knows when the next time is. I'll miss my friends too. I only got to see them once or twice. Three weeks seem like a long time but it flew by. Sigh.

Love, Esther and Cyrus

After living in US, I've missed many important friends' weddings. What a shame! I finally got a chance to do it this time. The groom is my college friend. Don't know the bride.

The reception was at a restaurant in Taipei. My parents dropped me off and took Cyrus with them to visit my aunt and cousins. Chinese wedding receptions are notorious for not starting on time. Thank goodness this one started half hour later only. I was worried about Cyrus needing to nurse and not taking bottles.

My parents, Cyrus, and I went to Dharma Drum Mountain today. That's a recently-built Buddhist Temple in northern Taiwan. One of my good friends is actually its interior designer. This was my first time being there. The place was decorated with lots of laterns for the upcoming holiday. The temple wasn't as colorful as Daoist temples, actually quite plain. However, it's a place of good taste, very poetic and "zen". I think your Dad would love the place.

It's only early March but the temperature reached 80s. Crazy. I was wearing short sleeves. Cyrus was all sweaty too. We've been bathing him pretty much everyday. It's too humid here. Can't believe I am going back to a snowing place next week.

We went to a seafood restaurant with my parents, their friends, Yungping and his girlfriend for dinner. It's probably my last big feast, except the wedding I'm going tomorrow, before I go back to Buffalo. I'll miss those good food.

Love, Esther and Cyrus

I took Cyrus to Jungjeng Park today. That's the place with big Buddha and Pusa (Bodhisattva). Taiwan really is a wheelchair/stroller unfriendly place. I thought with such a big park there should be wheelchair access that I can push stroller through. I was wrong. I had to take car seat off the stroller, folded the stroller, and then carried both upstairs. >_< Oh well, I managed it anyway. Cyrus of course was too young to appreciate the statues but I took some pictures to show him later.

After dinner, my dad took me to downtown to get some souvenir for everyone. I also got some snap shots of the city. Although it's so chaotic, I'll miss it nevertheless.

Cyrus is getting better and better at rolling around and sitting up. Too bad there was no exersaucer here for him to play in. He played mostly in my bed. I've been reading the new books I bought to him as well.

Love, Esther and Cyrus

Not much going on today. Catching up on some stuff over the Internet through out the day.

When I went to pick my mom up, one of her coworker saw Cyrus. She commented, "Living in America seems to make him look like an American too." She didn't know Cyrus' Dad is an American. I found her comment quite funny.

day 14

After breakfast, I took Cyrus out for a walk. It was sunny so I put a cap on him to protect his eyes. It was so warm that it didn't feel like winter. Flowers already started blooming. We also saw many butterflies and bees. Even my dad knows it's because of global warming.

Before I went to pick my mom up, I went to a beach park called "Chaojing park." It's a little park next to a fishing village. The beach here are all rocky beach. You can see the amazing work of nature and enthusiastic fishing people. It's a windy day. The waves splashed on rocks. It's the beauty I remember. Too bad a camcorder and only capture sounds and images but not smells. I love the smell of ocean.

Day 12
It was rainy out and a little bit chilly so we stayed at home. After dinner, we went to downtown to see if we could find a souvenir for your Dad. The laterns were all on for the coming latern festival. I didn't bring my camera so we'll come back later on.

Day 13
After feeding Cyrus some cereal, I Mobied him to the post office. I didn't know there was no need to wait to be called if I was simply mailing something. Probably because it's the first work day after the holiday, the place was packed. I waited for at least an hour before I realized that I didn't need to. what a waste of time! During the wait, a couple of women looked at my Moby wrap with great curiosity. Most of people carry babies facing in not out. Those women seemed to think it's a good idea to let him see things. They said "he looks so cute being carried like that."

The weather forcast predicted that it was going to rain later so we got up early and took a scenic drive along the northern coast to Danshui.

It was sunny and there were many people at the beach. We also saw some people fishing. I vedio taped the trip. Hopefully it's not too boring. I am pretty new to video taping. We stopped by a wind plower plant on the way in order to show Cyrus BIG windmills. I attached a picture here for you to see. They were like airplane propellers. So amazing.

Cyrus and I went to a Cantonese restaurant to have a lunch with my middle school friends. We had dimsum. The food was average but the scenery was pretty nice. The building is located right next to the harbor. From the 5th floor, where the restuarant is, you can see a major part of the harbor. Cyrus got to see some big ships. My friends treated me the lunch. Very nice of them, don't you think?

After lunch, Cyrus, me, and my parents went to the Green Sand Harbor again. Because of the holiday, the place was packed. It's a windy day and many people were flying kites. Cyrus was too young to fly a kite. My parents bought him a toy windmill. He was very facinated when it turned. I'll bring it home.

We were expecting guests today so didn't leave the house. My dad showed us the new Karaoke machine he bought a few months ago. I haven't done karaoke for a long time so it's fun. Maybe not as fun as going to a KTV but something is better than nothing since I can't take Cyrus to KTV anyway. There weren't many English songs but there was a classic: Dancing Queen. i remember you like that song.

After I put Cyrus to nap, our guests finally came. They were my mom's coworkers that you've met and their children. One of them also has a toddler. The little girl looks a lot like her pretty mother and is very funny. Her mother wanted to hold Cyrus but she didn't like the idea. When she heard we said she would be upset if her mother hold Cyrus, she said "He (Cyrus) would be upset if mom hold him." When her mom actually held Cyrus, she started crying and wanted to attack Cyrus. She was okay her daddy holding Cyrus though.

I met Angela, Bettina, and another high school friend at Angela's house in Taipei. Her house is very nice. Although it's in Taipei, it's a fairly big condo. We actually have another friend who was supposed to come to but she changed her mind. Don't know if it's because we talk all about babies? There were one toddler, one 9 months old, Cyrus, and another one in mummy's tummy.

Angela's son was sleeping when I first got there. Jeffrey, Bettina's son, can crawl so he had a grea time, crawling all over the place. When he saw Cryus, he was very curious and kept coming towards Cyrus, wanting to touch him. Of course babies's hand coordination are too well so it seemed like he was trying to attack Cyrus. All of us, mothers and mother-to-be, were paying attention so everything was fine. Angela gave Cyrus a very cute pair of shoes as a gift. He will grow into them.

It's rainy out. We stayed at home all day. The only exciting thing today was that we fianlly got to talk to my little cousin in Manila. My uncle and he moved there when my cousin was only eight. I haven't seen him since. He is in college now.

I talked to him over the phone. He still speaks Mandarin. He told me he uses Chinese. He likes to browse Taiwanese websites and play online games with Taiwanese. I am glad. I got his email and sent our pictures over. He doesn't remember me anymore. My uncle said Cyrus is very handsome. He told me he uses Yahoo messenger. I went online and chat with him. He sent me his and my uncles photos. My uncle is pretty much the same but my cousin is a grown man now. It's weired to see someone you're supposed to know but you don't.

After lunch, we visited an old neighbor. This was the first time for years that I went back there. I still remember what uncle and aunt looked like, but not anyone else. I was surprised to see how small our house was. I didn't remember it that small. I lived there until I was in the first grade. Then we moved. So sad to see the house abandoned. The scenery from the place is still great. You can see the harbor and ocean. I can still remember the beautiful sunrise over the ocean.

I also saw the rail road nearby and the bridge over it. The bridge is for pedestrian only. I remember I used to love standing on the bridge and watching trains go by beneath me. That was so long ago and the bridge is abandoned as well.

The custom is to stay up late until midnight on new year's eve. The later you stay up, the longer you parents will live. When I was a kid, we always spent new year's eve watching TV and playing cards. That was fun. All my uncles, their wives, and my cousins were there. After my grandfather passed away, it didn't seem to be as much fun anymore. Other than my little uncle who moved to Manila, we still got together every year though.

This new year's eve, we watched total three movies. One American comdey movie "Night at the museum" and two Chinese drama: "Curse of the golden flower" and "The Banquet." There were both okay movies, not great. But I guess it's a easiest way to spend the night.

My mom's step sister came to visit last night. She made the special trip here to see Cyrus. She lived about 2 hours away from us. I had to wake Cyrus up for it. He was fine though. The cousin I haven't seen for years came too. Cyrus got his first two red envelopes with money in it. My aunt was pretty generous. She gave him US dollars. It seems like Cyrus' savings account is going to have more money pretty soon.

So far, all the people who know us (or seen your pictures) feel Cyrus looks more like you. This lady who sells jewelry said that Cyrus can be a baby model.

Cyrus got up about the same time today. I offered him some cereal. After that, my mother and I put him in the stroller and walked down to the main street here to find a salon so that I could have my hair shampooed. I wanted to do that before I go to have my photos taken. Taiwanese government just issue a new kind of citizen ID and I need to have mine updated.

Cyrus got up at 7am this morning. He seemed to sleep okay last night. It was so nice to use web camera to see you. Cyrus didn't seem to realize that it was you but that's okay. It's good for him to hear Daddy's voice.

After conversation with you, I used the bottled water to make cereal for him. He ate it all. I then Moby him out. I wanted to find the traditional Taiwanese breakfast I like. Sadly, there are more modern/western style breakfast shops, that sell sandwitches, than traditional kind. I went through two shops before I finally found the one I was looking for. I ordered a cup of rice milk and a "rice sandwitch"-rice shaped like a football with pickles and soy products in it. They were freshly made and tasted really good. Cyrus got to see the pot filled with steaming soy milk.

It's a lot of work bringing a baby going through the airport security. They asked me to take the baby out of the car seat and stroller so they could x-ray them. I forgot you're supposed to take your shoes off. I was holding Cyrus in my arms. I said "I need someone to hold the baby for me." Thanks to another mom behind me. She helped me taking my shoes off. When I got to the gate, it was 5pm but the flight scheduled to depart at 4:50pm was still boarding. I asked them how long was the delay and they told me at least a half hour. I was glad my next flight wasn't leaving until 11:15pm.