Baby Expat: February 2014

I feel like things have been a blur since Thanksgiving: Thanksgiving to Christmas to New Year to Chinese New Year. I love the holidays but I’m glad they are behind us…. for now.

Our trip to England flew by – It was wonderful to visit Maxime’s family. Henri loved riding the red double decker buses in London and was happy to go pretty much anywhere as long as that is what got us there. I loved being surrounded by beautiful architecture. We enjoyed just taking walks around Bath. When we got there the river that runs through Bath was overflowing – they were experiencing major flooding there upon our arrival. The English countryside is so beautiful.

Looking out the window driving between Bath and London on the way to the airport I had this heartfelt oh isn’t this beautiful nostalgic feeling. I had to remind myself that it wasn’t my country and I may never live in England - but I’m glad I get to spend time there.

We returned to Taiwan and had about a week before the holidays started again. This time for Chinese New Year. Signs of the holiday include the selling of mass quantities of candy at the stores, and decorations placed about including fake fireworks, Chinese lanterns and even miniature orange trees . It seems strange to have no real feelings about the biggest holiday in the country where we live (beyond having to plan for stores being closed, my child having major anxiety over the fireworks and half my friends being away on vacation). Henri was out of school and so we had dates with friends and spent a lot of time at the park - the weather was gorgeous all week. This year I did notice a certain jolly atmosphere around town – people were dressed nicely and seem in good spirits – people are giving candy away like… candy – Henri gets pockets full when we go out. For the third year in a row we went to see the lion dance at Maxime’s hotel. Henri’s babysitter gave him his first red envelope with real money inside. Usually small children get gold coin chocolates in their envelopes. His money is safely tucked away in the piggy bank he was given in England by one of Maxime’s close friends. This led me to start worrying about how we will need to remember to exchange currencies in his piggy bank when we move… Which leads me to my current preoccupation which is the move.

Still no news or developments. All we know is that we should know something relatively soon. The not knowing is what’s hard and I think it is what is keeping me up at night.

Next week school is back in session – Maxime turns 37 – and our life as usual can recommence for at least a couple of months before Spring Break and/or a move...