Eating leftovers to try and leave the fridge empty for our 2 week vacation. I rented Harry Potter and I’m listening to it in Chinese with English subtitles. I’m hoping to pick up some key words this way… I tried to listen to it in just Chinese with Chinese subtitles, but it was too hard.

Well, it looks like we might sell the house. Got a resonable offer today so hopefully it will stick. We’ll just have to wait and see. I’m not really holding my breath because so many things might happen between now and closing. What am I talking about? We haven’t even entered the option phase. Whatever. I got all nostalgic about our time in Austin, very homesick today.

I made coq au vin with the 2/3 bottle of red wine left over from yesterday’s dinner. First time for me, eating purple chicken. Ha ha. The wind really picked up today, actually kind of chilly. The yoga teacher today told me that I shouldn’t run anymore or drink cold sodas. Sigh.

We had a lasagne dinner tonight and we played to a full house! Leah, Ms. Liu, Mr. Lin, Helen, her nephew, Droopy and Man-Fai all came over and we had a great time. Dinner was over quickly, but it was really nice to have everyone over. We had salad, bread, butter, cheese, wine. We had a Dunkin Hines cake with frosting out of a can which actually was pretty terrible, so sweet. We made it because we were feeling sentimental, but really we should have made a cake from scratch. We are really limited by our oven space. Our ovens are getting crumbier and crummier.

Everybody felt better today. We thought we were going to take it easy today and rest, but it turns out we were on the go all day. In the morning, we went to the doctor to have a follow up check up on Vince. We got three more days of medication and assurances that the croup would pass quickly. Then I had breakfast at a little stand about 3 doors down from the doctor. I had the sweet hot soy milk and three pot stickers that were so hot they burned my tongue. We had lunch at a tea house where I ordered my first slushy (coffee flavored). We saw Ms. Liu who said that Leah had gone to the new Warner Village that opened in town to see Harry Potter. I mentioned that I was surprised because Harry Potter opened in the US this weekend also. But she said that they were showing an one hour edited version of the movie so they can have more showings and make more money (the ticket prices aren’t edited). The regular version comes out later. We went to the Orange Mart to buy cake mix and wine. Spent the evening watching Phantom Menace and baking a cake for the dinner party tomorrow.

So today Vincie is sick. We went to the doctor and he’s received a diagnosis of croup. A bit of a dry cough, low fever, sneezing, and general grumpyness. We got some medication that they mix together into a powder concoction. When we are ready to give it to him, we mix the powder with a yellow liquid and give it to him. He seems cheerful for a sick baby. Mr. Hung helped me hold Vince down while I gave him the dropperful of medicine. We had salmon and mashed potatoes for dinner which were especially yummy. Salmon I finally got from the RT Mart and potatoes we got from Costco in Taipei.

Went to yoga, where the teacher commented again about the size of my boobs. I explained, that yes, I was still nursing an 8 month old and no, my enlarged boobs don’t hurt. I met Delia, a South African who is teaching English in Hsinchu and plans to be here until next June at least. She has found a Chinese boyfriend and is quite happy. We went out to dinner with Yuru, one of Jeremy’s coworkers who is very sweet. We went to a seafood restaurant and she ordered and excellent set of dishes! Yum.

Went to Miako’s house today for tea and lunch! She was very, very sweet. Cute little treats from Mitsukoshi, breads and teas. Then lunch was curry and salmon. Wendy and Lucia were there also. Laura is being cared for at the Holland Village day care center and today was her first 3 hour day! Vince apparently was remarkable in the sense that he didn’t fuss too much. Hmmm…