That's Not The Cake I Want

On December 28, we celebrated Nachos' 5th birthday while on holidays in Melbourne. Why I keep doing this to myself, I don't know, but I attempted again to bake her a cake.

With a bit of fear in my heart, I showed her a book I got that was full of children's cakes. I told her she can choose ANY cake she wanted and I would do my best to duplicate it. We went through the book a few times and in the end to my utter relief, Nachos picked the most simple and non-decorated 2-tier lavender colored cake.

Since we were in Melbourne, I did not have access to much cake decorating items. Thank goodness Becky who started Blossom Baking came to the rescue and lent me a few things. I would have just ordered the cake from her, but she was leaving for the holidays so couldn't do it. So instead, she provided me with the cake tins and fondant. I also ordered a few cupcake toppers in the shape of farm animals from her so Nachos' cake wouldn't look so lonely by itself.

I invited family and friends that day for an informal get together at our place. When it was time for the cake, I lovingly took it out and laid them all around the table and gathered all the kids around. When Nachos saw her cake, the first thing she said out load for everyone to hear was: That is not the cake I want!

 

 The cake Nachos didn't want

At that very moment I didn't know whether to strangle her, take her to go time out, scream or cry. I simply took a deep breath, told her too bad coz that's what she's got and proceeded to sing happy birthday. I wonder what I did in my childhood to deserve this?

Becky did an awesome job with the fondant animals. She even made a few fences, shovel and feeding trough, flowers and rake to complete the scene. It was a shame I couldn't order a whole cake from her. I would have loved to pass around her business cards, but since she just started her business she didn't have any. I am sure she wouldn't need much advertising though. I'm sure her business would take off once she goes full time with it!

In the end although my cake was not enthusiastically accepted by Nachos, I'm glad I did it. I'm sure many years later she would look at these pictures and know how much love I've put into making them. Now my next project would be to come up with something for Boy Wonder in May! And then Poseidon in July! Oh no!

Celestial Heights Still Sucks

So our continued frustration with Cheung Kong lingers on. At this point we are just glad we do not own this place. Our landlord sent us a copy of the letter the developer mailed her in response to her claim for compensation. Its hilarious how they say the falling bricks did not affect our occupation of this unit. All I can say is that they are friggin lucky we were not hurt when the bricks were falling.

Although it is not as much as we would have wanted, our landlord gave in and compensated us through her own pocket for the months when they were working on our balcony. But those sneaky bastards, AKA the developer, suddenly started working on the building behind us! No wonder there were piles of bamboo left on our back balcony weeks after they tore it down from the front. The moment I realized what was going on, I called the management office that if they do not remove everything from the back balcony within that day, I will start charging them storage fee. I swear, I have not seen construction workers move so fast before!

 

This is the view from Poseidon's bedroom.

 This is the pile of bamboo that was on our back balcony.

 

 

 Here's a pile of scaffolding stuff they thought they'd conveniently leave outside the kids' bedroom window.

 

Here's the pile of scaffolding those gremlins ended up piling on the divider between us and our back neighbor! You can't even see their back balcony anymore which is behind all that crap. No wonder they moved out after only staying there for a few months. I should try to find out what grief they gave their landlord.

 

Here was how our balcony looked like during the work.

 

Can you imagine what Hubby's view looked like with this outside his home office window?

You can see just how far reaching the joy spread!

Awww, how lovely. One construction worker thought he'd leave us 2 empty packs of death sticks in our pot of plant.

So now the fun has continued onto the next tower behind us. We noticed only recently that the people living in this unit behind us have moved out. They have only been there for a few months. This just makes me think how lucky our landlord is that we did not demand to cut our lease and move out as well. Lucky for her I am mad enough too that I have been putting all this extra effort to keep her updated on what is happening, taking pictures for her and giving management many earfuls when it really isn't my problem to deal with.

I zoomed in on the wall pictured above and noticed all these X's. As you can see, these are all the bricks that need replacing. What a horrible thought that this is exactly the problem stretching all the way to the top of the building.

So as I have mentioned, our grief has not ended. Not only has the work continued, we also found out the lower layer of our balcony was rotting. The geniuses at Cheung Kong used weather proof decking but not so for the layer supporting it underneath. YEY! So instead of a flat surface for our kids to run around and use their scooters on, they have been dodging pits and bumps. After informing our landlord again, they agreed to remove the bottom layer. So why even have it in the first place you ask? Mankind will never know.

Here they are pulling the bottom layer away.

From these 2 pictures you can see how much the wood had rotted away. This is only 2 of the dozens of bits they pulled away. A few were littered with cockroaches too. Disgusting! And to think the management people were telling me the reason why there are cockroaches is because of the stuff we left on the balcony. Yeah, patio furniture and some blow up pools. At least now that they saw exactly where the colony of roaches live they know it has nothing to do with our stuff.

At this point I will not stop whinging and whining about Cheung Kong. I know we do not own our unit, but short of suing our landlord, this is the most I am willing to do. Hubby says he does not have the patience and time to actually take legal action. So in the meantime, I will raise as much hell as I can. More to come folks!

Life Went On

Two weeks ago I went to Taiwan for 2 days. I had to renew my Taiwan ID in Kaoshiung and help my folks do some banking in Taipei. The last time I was in Taiwan was more than a decade ago. I don't even remember when was the last time I was in Kaoshiung, where I was born.

My mom met me at Tao Yuan Airport, which is an hour out of Taipei. We immediately hopped on a taxi and went to the railway to take a train to Kaoshiung. When we were settled in our seats, my mom takes out a bowl of washed and prepared "nien oo" or wax apple. I was immediately transported back to the days when we used to spend every summer in Taiwan. The first thing my late grandmother would offer us to eat there wax apples. As unappetizing as they may sound, they are one of my favorite fruits. You don't get them as sweet, crisp and refreshing than the ones from Taiwan. It was such an appropriate first thing to eat.

I ate all 3 wax apples my mom brought. YUM!

When we arrived at Kaoshiung, we went straight to the registry office to renew my Taiwan ID. Taiwan operates on a household registry type system. Every household is registered at their home town and whenever there is a marriage, new addition, death or someone moves away, it is registered. With this bit of paper, or at least the last time our household registry was still in this format, the government can keep track of its population, votes, free education, public health care, etc. The only way you can get a Taiwan ID or at least that is what I think, is through your household registry.

At the registry office, a family friend met us there and took out this very old bit of paper with the names of my grandparents, listing all their kids, spouses and grand children. It looked as if it was going to fall apart. With this piece of paper they were able to see when I moved out of Taiwan. I took out my Taiwan ID which still had a picture of me when I was 10, I think. They updated all my details, punched it into the computer and a few minutes later I had my new ID. Talk about efficiency! I would definitely like to do some more research about their system and write about it.

We were also met by 2 of my mom's highschool friends while we were there. It was really good seeing them. Although they were my mom's friends, I felt they were almost like relatives. Its as if someday in the far future, my kids would see one of my Thursday group ladies and feel like they were family. First order of business was to go check out where we spent every summer growing up. The flat is now owned by my uncle who lives in the States and is being rented out. Although it was pouring rain, and we got lost finding the place, when we finally got there we asked the taxi driver to wait while I ran out with my mom to take a few pictures. I stood there for a few minutes, taking it all in, remembering the endless summer days playing in front of the building, hot nights sleeping on the floor with my late grandmother and going to the wet market that used to be a short walking distance away.

38-17, that's our mailbox.

Woo Foo Shi Lu, where Hai Fu Photography is, please. I remember my mom saying that hundreds of times when I was a kid to the taxi driver. We always got dropped off on the main street, and walked through this tiny alleyway, between the photo studio and this crappy eatery. I remember my brother getting scolded one time because the eatery owner saw him pinch a straw through the window in the alley way. Ah, the memories. I could go on and on.

The infamous alley way.

I got teary eyed seeing our old place. It seems like lifetimes ago now!

After that walk through memory lane we did more hunting as we tried to find an old family friend who lives nearby. Grandpa Tsen was suffering from a chest infection so had a tube down his throat. They live in a tiny, old, worn out unit that is connected to a whole alley of similar sized units. Its a few steps up to enter their house, so its almost as if he's trapped in his house because he can't move much and those helping him don't have the space and strength to carry him down the steps. Although he can't speak clearly and can't move much, his mind is totally clear and functioning. I suggested to his son that they should set him up with a computer and learn how to surf the internet, so he's not staring into space the whole day. For some reason his son said no.

Grandpa Tsen, so happy to see us.

Since we had to catch the train back to Taipei, we couldn't stay long. I felt bad having to leave so quickly. I am sure having us visit him was the most exciting thing that has happened to him in a long time. My last memory of him was years and years ago when he was talking about his compulsiveness to stay away from germs when on public transportation. He was showing us how he would fold up a piece of newspaper strategically so as not to touch the side that was on the seat and be able to use it again when he got on the next mode of transport. He was also the guy my grandfather left all their important papers to so that he would do the running around when needed. I guess the years have not been good to him.

Visiting him also made me realize how lucky we are that my dad, who is Grandpa Tsen's age is doing amazingly well in comparison. My dad's refusal to wear a hearing aid drives us all MAD, but after our visit, I would take that any day compared to a dad who can't walk and talk. My mom also named a few other people that were close who is currently suffering from Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

During our 6 hours in Kaoshiung, I also found out a bit more about my mom's 2 friends. Aunt Liang recently lost her husband to a sudden heart attack. Whenever her husband is brought up, she still tears up and can't talk. Her husband was her highschool sweet heart and the only man she had ever been with. My mom told me about their love story and hearing how she lost him so suddenly is really heart breaking. To me, they are still so young. And to die so suddenly of a heart attack is just awful. Their daughter lives in Texas with her husband and their son lives in another city in Taiwan with his family. She mainly lives alone. I told her she should go visit her daughter and stay with her for a while. I also asked if she would think about doing some volunteer work to keep herself busy and occupied. But although she listened, I could tell she was still too heartbroken to get back into normal life.

My mom with her highschool barkada.

I felt bad again when we all had to part ways at the subway station. She accompanied us until our train came. And again, I could see in her face that she hoped we could have stayed longer. When my mom said she didn't have to accompany us all this way, she said what else is there for her to day anyway, and it was true.

Although it seems like my Kaoshiung trip was a bit depressing, it made me think a lot about life. It seems like Kaoshiung, or where we used to live came to a stand still as life went on for us elsewhere. The photo studio where we used to get off was out of business, the street that used to be bustling was dead, the subway station was like a ghost town. We all went on with our lives, and people like Grandpa Tsen were left behind.

The subway station at 4pm!

I told my mom I would definitely want to come back again and show my kids where I used to spend all my summers. My mom said they still have a whole basement full of stuff from way back and that my uncle is thinking of coming back next year to renovate the old apartment. I told my mom I would love to come back and help her sort through all her things. I am sure there will be treasures of all sorts to discover.

I also want to go back and spend more time there because this trip did not give justice to Kaoshiung. I left with a feeling of sadness when I know there is still so much to my city of birth. It is the second largest city in Taiwan after all. I am sure the next time I go there, I will be able to find where life has moved on to and that our old place isn't far at all from it.

Perfect Poseidon

For the past few evenings, whenever I walk past Poseidon's bedroom door, I can hear him softly talking to himself. Just a few minutes ago when I was changing, I heard him again and noticed it had already been more than 30 minutes since I put him down for bedtime. It is one of these evenings when I kiss the ground of the people who introduced sleep training.

When we were in the States back in July on holidays, all 3 kids had their biological clocks messed up. For the first 2 weeks of our one month holiday, Poseidon wouldn't go to bed before 9pm and couldn't get up before 8am. Since I was totally jet lagged as well, I couldn't drag myself out of bed early enough in the mornings to set the kids' internal clocks right. So in the end, I didn't have any alone time until 10pm. By the time I could sit down for my nightly cup of herbal tea, I was too tired to enjoy it in front of the tv. It was because of this that I almost cried of happiness after we came back to HK and all the kids were in bed again before 8pm.

I am an advocate of sleep training not just because my kids learned how to sleep by themselves at an early age, but mainly for my sanity. I try to imagine Hubby and my life if our kids were up with us until we were ready to bed and I shudder. If your kids are up with you, when do you get alone time with just you and your spouse? Every evening, I count the minutes when its time to get the kids ready for bed. It gives me a goal and something to look forward to the end of every day. Don't get me wrong, its not that I don't like spending time with my kids, but at the end of the day, you just need to relax and switch off. You don't want to be keeping an eye on your child, playing with them, doing stuff for them non stop right up until its time for everyone to go to bed.

Many evenings, when Hubby isn't on a business trip, we savor the peace and quiet. We get to watch a non PG movie on TV or get to discuss things without the kids asking us non stop questions. I get to do things I want to do. I am not using my precious minutes of even hour, rocking or patting my baby to sleep or sitting by the child's bedside, waiting for them to fall asleep. I simply count off the minutes to let them know bedtime is approaching, tuck them in, say good night and leave the room. I admit there are nights when the kids are rowdy and they need to be told off a few times, but there is never more drama than that.

In Hong Kong, many of the locals have their kids up with them till midnight! We often see kids walking around outside our building and we wonder how they get enough sleep for school the next day. And I also wonder how the helpers get enough sleep since they are up with them! I think that is one aspect of HK I will never get used to. I remember dying of sleepiness back in school in the Philippines because we didn't have a set bedtime either.

I am proud of the fact that although it gets chaotic towards it, bedtime is a time of day that we can relay on. No matter how good or bad the day was, I know that by 8pm, all my kids are in bed. They may still be awake, but they know they need to be IN bed. Boy Wonder and Nachos are allowed to chat with each other until they fall asleep, but they know to stay in their beds. And my goodness, even Poseidon who is now 16 months, know that resistance is futile and happily talks to himself in his crib until he falls asleep. This makes me love them even more, even though I know it was through our hard work that got them like this. I love you Ferber.

Celestial Heights SUCKS

After raving about our magnificent balcony and awesome facilities at Celestial Heights earlier this year, I am now totally eating my words.

During the typhoon in April while we were away on holidays in Melbourne, our helper told us bricks started falling into our back balcony. She showed me the pieces and we had management come over to take pictures and scratch their heads as to why it was happening. At first I wasn't too concerned because we rarely go to the back balcony. But since our helper does the laundry there, we asked for a hard hat from the contractors to protect her head. There was a brick that fell once with such force that it left a hole in the metal divider separating our unit with our neighbors. Had it fallen on someone's head or a pet, both would definitely be dead.

A few weeks later a gondola, like the one they use for window cleaning was put up and they started checking every brick covering the facade of our building, tapping on each one to check that they are not loose and replacing the ones that are. They only removed the gondola 2 weeks ago! I can only comment on the gondola being removed as I have to admit I am not confident with how thorough they were with checking the bricks.

But then in June, bricks started falling in our front balcony! The management office was called again and the kids were permanently removed from the balcony. The kids didn't complain much because we left from the States in July. I told the management people we would be gone for a whole month so they have lots of time and full access to deal with the problem. Of course July came and went, we came back and NOTHING was done.

It is now mid-October. There is an ugly green net covering our whole balcony. There is bamboo scaffolding blocking our windows which reaches up all the way to the top floor. There is scaffolding crap everywhere. People have started throwing rubbish onto the green netting. There are worker clothes hung on the bamboo poles, empty drink bottles scattered randomly and our things are piled up against our balcony door since the scaffolding is taking up all the sheltered space.

In addition to the balcony drama, we are also being over taken by roaches!!! And these are not small piddly things. These are at least 2 cm big ones! Every night, its not a matter of if we will see one, but when, where and how many. The worst place one has appeared is on our BED. The most number that have appeared is 6 in one evening. And the worst time one had appeared is in the middle of the day when all the kids are in the living room. We have sprayed, cleaned, bleached and covered all our food. But they still keep coming. We have also found out we are not the only unit with this problem. Turns out many of the other flats are having the same problem. Some say they even have roaches in their closets!

And just as we thought things couldn't get worse, we just found out today that our balcony is completely flooded underneath the wooden flood boards! Some of the boards have already started to rot, that is why some parts are starting to slump. And we were just wondering why that is. Of course management was called again and guess what? They can't locate the drains!!! They are going to send a different group of monkeys tomorrow with the floor plan to find the bloody drains and figure out what is going on.

I am only sharing what is happening with our flat and not going into the whole other drama of actually dealing with the management office. Our landlord has been very helpful and is also helping us deal with them. She has already threatened the management company that she will bring this to the press if things do not get resolved asap. We are demanding compensation and so far this whole mess is making my blood boil.

If you live in Hong Kong and are looking for a place to live, DO NOT CHOOSE CELESTIAL HEIGHTS! I knew there had to be a catch when rent here was much lower than anywhere else!

UPDATE (Oct. 26, 2011): A few days ago, we discovered the wooden floor boards underneath the decking is not even weather proof! Sure, the wooden decking of the balcony is weather proof, but the whole layer underneath that supports the whole decking is not! That is why our balcony is caving-in in different parts. There's the genius of the guys at Cheung Kong for ya. Yeah, let's save some money and NOT use water/weather proof boards underneath since no one will see it anyway!