Brown Bear

K-bao knows C-bao loves the classic Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, and after C-bao's morning nap, gives her sister a quick read through. It's a tight fit on K-bao's lap, especially with C-bao's favorite blanket (Little Miss Pink) wedged in there, but C-bao doesn't appear to mind.

Afterwards, to K-Pop's surprise, K-bao switched suddenly to Chinese and, starting from the beginning, gave an equally fluent reading, pausing only slightly in a few places as she thought through the translation.

With luck, many an hour will be so passed in the future, while K-Pop and K-Mum sip tea and have cookies (just think - the whole Harry Potter series is in front of them!). One can only dream...

Brunch

On a typical Saturday morning K-Pop dons his Chef Hat to make brunch for the family.

Despite knowing the answer (because it never changes), K-Pop nonetheless asks the most vocal and opinionated of the diners - that would be K-bao - for her menu preferences. Ten out of ten times the answer is "Eggs with cheese and toast with butter and jam! Can I help you make it?"

Here K-bao beats the eggs (the Chinese way, with chopsticks), looks on as K-Pop dices the mushrooms and scallions, and helps K-Pop add the ingredients to the pan. "Extra cheese, please, and can I mix the cheese in?" requests K-bao invariably as K-Pop takes out the sharp cheddar and grated parmesan from the refrigerator.

Aesthetic presentation is not quite the focus of the chefs.

Little C-bao enjoys this entree as well and can sometimes even out-eat her sister.

Skype Prayer

Cousin Elizabeth, aka Rong-Rong Jieh-Jieh aka Rong-bao, Skypes with K-bao and was sad to hear that K-bao was not feeling well.

At the end of the Skype session pious little Rong-bao prays earnestly for the Lord to be with and heal her cousin. Little sister Ling-bao looks on.

Power Corrupts

"Caught ya! A ticket for you!" K-bao apparently feels powerful sitting in the toy police car at Laurel Hill Playground and goes around handing out undeserved parking tickets.

Reunion

A family reunion for the ages!

Looking at this picture it doesn't necessarily seem like it would be that difficult to get everybody together...yet given the geographic dispersion it is a rare occasion indeed when everyone across the 3 generations is in one place.

Cousin Elizabeth

In a surprise turn of events last week in Taiwan, K-bao got to see her Aunt Esther (Da Goo-Goo), Uncle Ying-On and most importantly her Cousin Elizabeth (aka Rong-bao).

The two cousins, who hadn't seen each other for over three years other than through the occasional Skype / iPhone Facetime, immediately bonded. They compared notes on recent accomplishments, took over Xiao Goo-Goo's iPad to play games, got into mischief together and exchanged plenty of hugs.

Here is how they've grown over the years:

When it was finally time for K-bao to say goodbye to Taiwan, she refused to leave her cousin Rong-bao's side. Her first instinct was, predictably, defiance: "I am NOT leaving Taiwan! I am staying here in Taiwan with Rong-Rong forever!" Her second instinct was avoidance: she grabbed her cousin to find a place to hide out until those pesky parents left without her.

XGG & S2

The bulk of K-bao's time in Taipei this trip was spent with the K-Grandfolks, Xiao Goo-Goo (Aunt Catherine, aka XGG) and Shu-Shu (Uncle James, aka S2).

Indeed, within 24 hours K-bao made clear she would rather spend her time with XGG and S2 - who appeared half as mean and twice as fun - than with her own parents.

Let's just say that that message (which sounded a whole lot like "Free babysitting!") was music to the ears of the fatigued K-folks.

On one of the first days in Taipei, XGG took K-bao and the family to her old workplace, Xue Xue Institute, a private non-profit entity working to foster greater creativity and intersection among the arts, philosophy, design, business and science.  There, K-bao assembled magnet houses, was filmed dancing to Gangnam Style while twirling a baton, and generally ran around creating a mess.

Meanwhile, Uncle James / S2 was strong-armed into playing chess, answering nonsensical questions, and sitting next to little K-bao whenever she had a meal. Indeed, instead of greeting K-Grandpops politely when she saw him in the morning, her first questions were invariably, "Where's Shu-Shu? Where's Xiao Goo-Goo?"

By the end of the trip, poor XGG and S2, who had indeed put in plenty of free babysitting time, appeared almost as worn out as the K-folks. As for K-bao?  Her usual refrain: "I'm never tired!"

.........

Here is little K-bao getting an impromptu live concert by the talented XGG and S2. Before long, K-bao was on her feet, dancing along to the music.

台北的天空

Here is K-bao enjoying a few moments on the streets of Taipei. And yes, this is where K-Pop will post a link to the cheesy and sentimental song Taipei Sky (台北的天空), which ran through K-Pop's head for much of the trip. "The skies of Taipei hold the smiles of my youth." 

This first pic below is a little park on the very street where K-Mum grew up (Taishun Street, only a few blocks away from where K-Pop was born on Pu-Cheng Street). While making her way to the park K-bao was very nearly mowed over by an overzealous scooter. 

It is typhoon season now in Taiwan, and there was a sizeable one that engulfed the city for the first few days, leading to lots of precipitation. Even when it wasn't raining, one saw umbrellas everywhere as people sought protection from the brutal sun. K-bao carried her own mini-umbrella, which she swung about in a carefree and rather dangerous manner (which was the subject of stern conversations more than once).

Every morning K-Pop and K-Mum would rise early (due to jetlag, not discipline) and take the kids out to buy fresh sweet breads. By the way, just outside our apartment there is a fine pastry store called IJySheng (一之軒), for those of you who are visiting Taipei near Shi-Da University; we bought a half-dozen rolls there almost every morning. In the pic below you can also see the ubiquitous 7-11s, which we gave a decent amount of business to as well.

One early morning before the K-Grandfolks were up we took the kids to nearby Shi-Da University for a stroll. Predictably, K-bao ran up and down the bleachers and generally caused a ruckus while some older Taiwanese folks were practicing their Qi-Gong and trying to have a peaceful, meditative morning. 

This is where K-Mum went to elementary school! A drive-by shot taken from K-Grandpop's car, as we didn't have time to visit on this trip.

Below is the courtyard of a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant on Yang-Ming Mountain (陽明山), which was one of the finest meals the K-folks had all trip. The restaurant is, appropriately, called Discovery (Fa Xian). 

Taiwan!

K-bao is back from her first ever trip to Taiwan to see the birthplace of her parents. There she ingratiated herself further with K-Grandpops and K-Grandmum, completely took over Xiao Goo-Goo's (Aunt Catherine) schedule - not to mention iPad - without permission, and cavorted shamelessly with Shu-Shu (Uncle James). In the last few days, in a pleasant surprise, she also managed to see Da Goo-Goo and family, including Cousin Elizabeth, as will be detailed separately. All in all a great trip, and worth several posts.

Here she is at SFO about to board and enjoying a moment with EVA Air's cardboard cutout air stewardess.

The entire trip was filled with hugs and more hugs. Here are a few with the K-grandfolks, as well as K-Great-Grandmum (on the paternal-maternal side), whom she met for the first time, and who by the grace of our Lord is still well at age 98.

More to come!