Why, sweetie?
Because I want to marry you. Can we go to a wedding tomorrow? A big wedding?
Vince told me this today after he woke up from his nap. So it seems as if we have completely given up on Learning Ladder nursery school. I went from a full day to a half day and finally today, after sleeping more than 13 hours from 5:30pm to 7am, he was adament about not going to school.
On Monday, he missed the bus and changed his mind about 30 minutes later and Jeremy took Vince to school in a taxi, but today, he did not want to go at all. I can’t get the straight story out of him, no surprise there. Either the kids scream at him or the teacher screams at him or else he was just so underslept and exhausted or everyone is speaking in Chinese and it throws him off or something, who knows what it is. Or maybe it’s because he loved his old school so much that nothing can compare to it. Who knows, all I know is that he spent the whole day flirting with me and making sure I know how much he likes staying at home with me. Sample phrases
I love you and I think you love me too.
I love staying home and want to do it forever.
I want to stay home night and day.
Let me give you a big, big hug.
I don’t want to go to school ever again.
Let’s do something? Can we go to the zoo?
Darling, why don’t you put your feet up and I’ll fix you a gin and tonic and finish washing the dishes.
OK, the last line wasn’t from Vince, but you get the picture. So tomorrow I have to call the silly school and tell them we aren’t enrolling. And the school bus company to just bill me for the 2 weeks. Bleh! And now I have both children full time again underfoot. Sigh.
Also, all these Chinese people are frustrating me. It has been quite a long time since I’ve lived in a Chinese-dense society:
Dense: Rockville, MIT, Caltech, SF Bay area, Taiwan, Singapore
Not dense: Texas, Upstate New York
and the weirdness is getting to me. All the things I find annoying about myself is apparent right in front of me. People cutting in line (usually an older Chinese lady who just dashes in front of you as you are about to checkout, she’s found that she can squeeze into the space left by the person who just paid and you aren’t moving fast enough to fill the space), people not helping with doors (I’m struggling with Edda in the stroller, usually up the stairs since there aren’t a lot of elevators or through a door, and instead of holding the door open or helping with the stroller, people just find the quickest way around me further impeding my forward progress), a particular way a parent addresses their children, blah, blah… I’m homesick.
On the good side, we heard from the quarentine people and Ruby is doing fine, and is due back home, not this Saturday, next Saturday. We’ve been looking at all the off-leash areas on the island and trying to figure out how to get to them. You aren’t allowed to bring dogs onto the subway, but taxis are suppose to take them, but not the Muslims because they can’t touch dogs, especially their tongues.
Tonight we ate at a sushi place that has the little conveyer belt going around the restaurant and Vince had a great time.
Jeremy and I spoke about where to go on vacation. He has 4 weeks saved up and now on assignment, he’s earning 6 weeks a year, a week every 2 months, isn’t that crazy? If I ever get a job again, I’ll never catch up.. But we are trying to figure out where to go, it’s just that southeast asia has never been such an appealing place for me to visit, I mean, it’s hot, you go to some beach resort, and they serve you mixed drinks. Or you go shopping because they have such great deals. But what happens when you already have everything you could possibly use and there is a kick ass pool right outside your front door? Hmmm… Kuala Lumpur (or KL as people say)… What I really want to do is go on some sort of “active” guide-led vacation eco-tour kind of thing where you hike, bike or paddle through relatively non-tourist places. But where to put the kids? If I put them in my backpack, how will I be able to carry the tent, sleeping bag and the water filter? Hmmm…
Hrm. That sucks about Vince. Hopefully it wasn’t too bad of an experience.
I know what you mean about Chinese people. At the bike shop, sometimes I would get really really annoyed at the Asian customers. I definitely think that they probably could have gotten better service with someone else.
As for vacation, If you want to go to Malaysia, particularly Penang, I could probably get some of my friends or even Choon’s parents to show you around a bit. They love to eat and would show you where all the cool hawker stands are.
Other than that, for hiking, i suppose you could go to Tama Negara. It’s the rainforest, tho it’s hot and the trails aren’t well marked.
I hear the east island of malaysia is good too. other than that, possibly one of the smaller islands in thailand? we went to the place that was like 8 hrs from Penang on the west coast called Ko Adang.
Well, Doris, you got a tour guide with connections 🙂