Chinese Chorus

The first week we were in Taipei, K-bao attended a summer chorus camp at K-Grandfolks' church, Hsin-Yi Friendship Presbyterian Church, led by one of K-Granpop's closest friends, Pastor Shen. K-Pop and K-Mum figured this was a way to combine music & singing (K-bao's interests) with Chinese and church (more the K-folks' priority).

The camp was no joke. The teachers were apparently "the strictest in the whole world," according to K-bao. The music was in German and Chinese - serious pieces by composers such as Mendelssohn. And K-bao arrived in Taiwan only in time for the second and final week of the camp, so she had to play catch up.

However, K-bao took gamely to the task. One of the great things about our little one is her gumption and adaptability. After a bit of hesitation on Day 1, she dove right in, and completed the week without complaint.

At the end of the week, the choral group and the drama team put on a little concert play. The full family group attended, including K-Grandmum (K-Grandpop had to be in HK for the weekend), Aunt Catherine, Uncle James, C-bao, and the parents.

Her favorite song of the camp was probably Abenstille Uberall, which K-Pop captured in the video below.

 

After her performance, Xiao Goo-Goo and Shu-Shu presented the little one with a rose.

ABC Hit It

One of the games that occupied K-bao this summer - and hence distracted much of K-bao's family - was a little clap-snap routine called ABC Hit It that she had learned from her friends from school.

Each and every meal, K-bao would entreat at least one nearby meal companion to do the routine with her, until long-suffering relatives like Shu-Shu had the words and moves down pat.

The most relevant part of the rhyme?

"'Poof!' goes the attidude!" Even K-Pop can get into that message.

Games in Taiwan

K-bao made her second trip to Taipei, Taiwan over the past few weeks. It was her third trip to Asia in seven years. Once again, K-bao thoroughly enjoyed herself.

The first thing she did upon arriving at the airport in Taipei was a cartwheel. Naturally.

K-bao hadn't seen the K-grandfolks, Xiao Goo Goo (Aunt Catherine) or Shu-Shu (Uncle James)in over a year, and she wasted no time getting her beloved relatives to play all sorts of games with her. This was a theme that would repeat itself throughout the trip.

In fact, here is a video of K-bao challenging K-Grandpop to a Rubik's Cube race.

Family time

K-bao got to catch up with quite a few family members in Singapore. Here she shares a laugh with K-Grandmum and some other women in the family. 

The group took a quick day trip to the wonderful Gardens by the Bay, which was not only beautiful, but beautifully air-conditioned.

Here are the various granddaughters on the same trip, huddled around K-Grandmum and having a good time.



One of the best meals of the trip for our little epicurean was the brunch buffet with K-Grandpop & K-Grandmum at the St. Regis. As usual, K-bao's eyes were several times bigger than her stomach, as she wandered around excitedly from station to station, collecting plate after plate.

Below is the last evening with the always-popular Shu-Shu (a.k.a. Uncle James). This expression on his face is pretty typical of his interactions with the little ones (see, for example, here), as he is usually fending off some overexpressive advances by his little nieces.

And of course, the star of the show, Xiao Goo-Goo (Aunt Catherine). Here K-bao and C-bao, along with cousin Elizabeth, are being hosted by WZ Shu-Shu's family on the eve of the big day.

She also saw Da Goo-Goo (Aunt Esther) just about every day, but didn't get as many pics with her.

To Our Nieces

K-bao and C-bao's talented Aunt and Uncle (Shu-Shu and Xiao Goo-Goo) penned, sang and recorded a brief piece of music for their 4 nieces, including K-bao, one recent afternoon in Taipei. The song contains a number of worthy messages for our little one.

Music: To 四個乖小孩

Lyrics:

寶貝妳要做個乖小孩

Watch the tone when you are asking why

做個討神喜悅乖女孩

Our love will always be with you

永不分開

寶貝乖乖跌倒不用怕

It hurts a bit but you will grow a lot

別因妳可愛就不用聽話

Learn to love and trust in God

Your life will be

Right where it should be

記得永遠守護妳的心

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.

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.

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!

Visit

The K-Grandfolks and Uncle James (Shu-Shu) were in town this week, and true to historical practice, showered K-bao with undeserved praise, attention, treats and gifts of all kinds.

In return, K-bao repeatedly hit up K-Grandpop and Shu-Shu for multiple rounds of her most recent favorite hobby. Oblivious to the generosity inherent in some of her opponents' moves, she ran around the house all week with vanquished chess pieces obnoxiously calling out, "Guess what? I ate his queen!"

For which she was then rewarded with goodies like chocolate-covered Pacific Puffs, Hello Kitty earmuffs, sparkly shoes, etc. That's right, the K-Grandfolks filled an entire suitcase with these things (and paid for additional checked luggage!), forcing them to take a full week to be able to pass them out in a manner that didn't overwhelm the little one with adrenaline. 

Uncle Buzz

K-bao and I were talking about Shu-Shu's new buzz cut, which caused her to ask to view old videos of her uncle. Listening to Uncle James' rendition of Happy Birthday (in both Chinese and English) for Grandma, she couldn't help but join in.

2 Years Later

Uncle

Shu-Shu is visiting for a few days and K-bao picked up where she left off when she last saw him in 2009 - including asking for a kiss before she went down for a nap. Here she is working her charm with Uncle James both by the Ferry Building and near a scenic spot by the Golden Gate Bridge.

Shu-Shu

K-bao had fun with Little Uncle ("Shu-Shu") James on her recent trip to the east coast. As for Uncle James - well, let's just say he was stretched. You can see above an initially pleasant meeting ultimately resulting in Uncle James being driven to tears by an insatiably curious and active K-bao.

By the way, if K-bao was somewhat fidgety before, she is now a wriggling, squirming earthworm, equipped with flapping arms and fingers that are not happy unless they are scratching or clawing at something - be it a toy, article of clothing, or nearby face.