It's my father's birthday today

Thanks to my father I know the following things:
1) How to hold a cricket bat properly
2) What a slaz ball is
3) How to know which batter is on strike when the batsmen are too far away to see who’s who in a live game
4) What a Nelson is
5) My time tables very well
6) How to behave in a very swanky restaurant
7) BMT is not a sandwich
8) Life is tough in Africa
9) Public speaking is easy
10) Failure should not limit one’s ability to think big

Twenty years ago, my dad was not yet thirty, he was married and had a seven-year-old daughter and a four-year-old son. He was approximately a decade younger than his peers at work and a very young, successful father at parent-teacher meetings. To my seven-year-old mind he was by far the most handsome man I knew. This was powerfully confirmed to me one day: I was at his office when he received a certificate one December boldly declaring: “ Most handsome man in the DBSA office”.
He is a very respected mind, too. In the process of becoming an advocate he performed so brilliantly on his bar exam that he was exempt from facing a panel of judges in a highly feared and grueling oral exam. Today he is a very well respected (and possibly even revered) expert in his field of contract law and investment banking. In a word I can describe my dad as an achiever. He is a person who seeks out a challenge and will not rest until he has mastered it. He is a guru at foreseeing worst-case scenarios and knowing how to prevent them, so if you ever need realistic advice, call him.
When you grow up hearing about how much you resemble a parent in looks or mannerisms it automatically sets them up to be a role model. My father has been that to me more than I think he would have wanted. I love my dad for all his faults and successes. He is far more honest about the former than the latter, which is another lovely thing about him. If I could magically transplant one of his traits into my character it would be his nerves of steel. BMT is the thing. My father definitely has barrels full of big match temperament.
Thank you Pap for being there and (bailing me out) when I kept on losing one school shoe of the many pairs you bought me, when I chewed my nails on the netball court, when I needed drilling in math, when I needed to complete a speech about deodorant, when I saw snow for the first time, when Homer burnt down, when you bought me the fiat, when I lost the fiat, when the police found it again, when I graduated from varsity and when I needed a ticket to Taiwan.
Lekker verjaar Pap.

Crocs in Taidong

The East coast of Taiwan is by far the more beautiful side of the island. Taitung (pronounced Taidong) is almost directly West of Kaohsiung, just a little bit to the North. Lamar and James did the crazy thing and rode their motorcycles over the mountains; Mike, Ruth and I did the lazy thing and took the train through them. Thanks to some serious connections through our friend Grace, we managed to secure train tickets after the general public got told they were sold out. All above board of course, it pays to know someone who knows a high-ranking train conductor ☺.

We were not very ambitious in finding a hotel. From the steps of the Taitung train station one can see a large lawn, some scooter rental shops and a single sign stating: HOTEL. We looked no further. Since it was Chinese New Year and the entire population was on holiday we weren’t very hopeful of finding a room with a view. The room we were shown was big enough for all five of us with the added benefits of having great water pressure, a strong flushing loo and hot water within 3 seconds of turning on the tap. YAY!

The first afternoon we just rode around the city trying to get our bearings. We discovered a park by the ocean where kites were for sale and stopped to have a go at it. It was my first ever experience flying a kite and with a kite runner like Mike Mason on board, we had no problem getting it airborne. Thanks to some commitment on Lamar’s part, we reeled in our kite since Mike got carried away and allowed the whole reel of string to unwind. I’m sure our kite was halfway to Kenting at it’s farthest.





In a very primitive movie theater we went to see the latest Mel Gibson directed movie,
"Apocalypto". I felt sick for all the violence, but it was a thought-provoking movie. It’s about a man who tries to save his wife and child amid the horrors of surviving a Mayan attack in the jungle. The movie really made me think about our society today. Human sacrifice was acceptable to Mayans, to Aztecs and in the Bible we read of people sacrificing their children to their gods. Today we allow abortion. It's not the same as human sacrifice to a god, but it's killing for convenience which almost makes it worse. Honestly, throughout the movie I was wondering what I was doing in the theater, watching scenes that were not even remotely entertaining. I was appalled. I prayed to Jesus in my seat with my eyes closed. Thank you for delivering us from this. Thank you for dealing with evil on the cross.
Collosians 2
13When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

The second morning we took Ruth to the hospital because she was coughing like mad. Not only was a very friendly doctor able to see her immediately, but he could also speak English fluently. He prescribed the usual seven bags full of pills but she got noticeably better after taking her medicine, so it was a blessing.




Our next stop was Taitung’s brand new crocs shop. Crocs are shoes made of PCCR, a closed-cell material that virtually eliminates odor. No one will clear a room with smelly feet if they are wearing a pair. Nothing dainty about them, but they are well ventilated, great for wearing in rain or shine and extremely comfortable. The material also discourages sweating, making Crocs even more suitable in Taiwan’s muggy climate. In this country crazy fashion is the name of the game, so having big fat shoes doesn’t matter at all.
The girl in the tiny little Crocs store never had a better day: first Ruth and I bought a pair each and an hour later we all crowded into her little store again so that Lamar and Mike could each buy a pair. In between the visits to her shop Mike had purchased the most psychedelic pair of sunglasses imaginable as you can see in the pics.





The wild shopping trip reminded us of the real reason that we went to Taitung for : GETTING OUT OF THE CITY. We rode north up the coast and stopped for a windy while on a black sandy beach. We attempted reading while lying down on the sand with our heads propped up on a huge washed out log, but between the sand blowing in our faces and Mike sharing Mao's torturing methods in our ears, we weren't really loving it. It was however quite funny when Mike ceremoniously shut his enormous, hard covered, biography of Mao and declared, " I've decided: Mao was a real jerk."
He was wearing his new shades, which did not exactly lend more credibility to his opinion...





James led the way to a scenic area with beautiful rock formations. It reminded me of some parts of the South African coastline, especially since the ocean was less tame than what I usually see around this island.
That night we played a board game at the hotel that Lamar had to explain by translating the German instructions into English. It entailed building postal routes between cities in South Germany, Austria, Poland and Czech Republic. Super fun!



The last day was a short one. Lamar and I went for a run and then we all packed up to leave. During breakfast at a small shop I marveled again at how we’ve become accustomed to living in Taiwan. Lamar was entertaining two little Chinese girls who were enchanted by attention from a foreigner. None of us were surprised when two doors down from our shop a man set off incredibly loud fireworks. The resulting smoke-cloud drifted in our direction and I watched if the cook was going to mind. Not in the least it seemed - just a neighbor scaring off the ghosts.




It was a great trip. Now it's back to school for the last term before we leave for Canada! Woohoo!

A tribute to Dirty Harry

On a sunny Tuesday in October 2006, Harry was dropped off at the park near Bagel Bagel. He was left on the sidewalk in full view of pedestrians. At that time he had severe pneumonia and approximately a thousand ticks attached to his skin having themselves quite a feast. He could not walk further than three or four steps and suffered from diarrhea whenever he pooped.
After the vet shaved off all his fur, dealt with the ticks, tested him for both heart worm and distemper and dewormed him, he came home with us.

In the time that Harry spent with us we realized a couple of things about him that made him adorable. He was was wheezy and squeaky when he breathed so you always heard him before you saw him. He loved to rub his nasal passages against surfaces with rough textures and he had the ability to lose his footing and tumble down in a single sneeze. His right front leg was crooked due to a fracture that had healed without proper treatment and made him seem broad shouldered from the front. His right back leg however was weak and lacked muscle strength which led to a limp in his walk that made his head bob up and down. He ran sideways and couldn't turn right to save his life but he could corner a left at top speed. His floopy tail that bounced up and down in time with his head had the added feature of being hairless and curled at the very end in a piggy kind of way. He also had a particular kind of fur that attracted dust and dirt immediately. Being a short legged doggy with magnetic fur in a very dirty city was bad enough, but he had serious garlic-clove-diet kind of body odour, too. In short he really earned his name Dirty Harry.

James walked him every morning when Thandi and I went to the park and at night, Harry and I spent some quality time together while James and Thandi walked around the block. He really loved running and once his hair had grown back he was a very handsome dog.

His run slowed down to a walk and finally his walk slowed down to a crouch and a fall. Saturday was his last day with us and we were both very sad. We had him put down because he had been fading very quickly in the past two weeks. By Saturday his body ached too much to get up and he couldn't do things by himself anymore. We loved him so much in the end and now that he is no longer with us, we are thankful that we could spend his last months with him.

yay!

I went to Taipei on February 6th to pick up my new "Vander Woude" passport. Yay! I am now officialy known as Missus. Wow. We will be sending my Canadian visa application this week and hopefully receive the visa before the end of July.

James also made history this week. He clocked 40 000 km on his motorcycle on the way to work. He stopped next to the road to savour the moment. We'll miss the bike when we're living in Canada. It's one of my favorite things to sit behind him and take snap shots of the city scenes or to read a good book propped up on his back. We have a 20 minute ride to school every day, so might as well have fun on the way.

We're off to eat some Kong Bao chicken fried rice! LOVE BAGEL BAGEL!