christinaboo

One of the biggest thing that happened since beginning of 2009 is that my 94 year old grandmother passed away on Jan 27, 2009.  She is my father's mother.  I am not as close to this grandma as to my other grandma (mother's mother) in SZ.  But I always remember those good memories of hanging at my grandma's house in BaiDing (near Beijing).  Almost every summer before I went to Junior high I was at grandma's with my cousins on my father side.  Running around everywhere and eating all kinds of good food.  I can never forget those amazing Zhajiang Noodles grandma made.  Also that familiar smell of her house. 

 

In Chinese saying, passing at after 90s is actually considered a "happy" funeral.  Regardless, I still couldn't help to feel sad.  Sad for how my dad must have felt.  I can not imagine how that must have felt.  I wish I was there to hug him really tight...

 

A couple of days later, dad called me and told me that he took my grandma's ash to see my grandpa's ash.  Grandpa (father's father) is an old red army soilder.  He died at an accident before my parents even got married, so my memory about him was just that 1 black and white picture in his uniform hanging on the wall of my grandma's living room.  I only heard about things of him, how he was a very tough and starbon captain at the army.  How he got shot in the head during the last war and the most famous doctor in China Dr. Bai Qiu En operated on him and said that it was a miracle that he lived.  However, some parts of the bullet was left in him and that's how he got into the accident later.  Grandpa had always slept in the red army memorial.  So dad mixed some of Grandma's in Grandpa and vise versa so they could sleep together forever although they could not be in the same cemetary.  awwwwwww... sad but very romantic...

 

I was planning on a trip to go with dad for a trip around grandma's house in March so we could visit her together and to celebrate my father's retirment.  I guess now the visiting grandma party will be visitng the cemetary instead. 

 

RIP grandma.  I will always remember you.

After loooooooooong time, I finally collected myself and decided that today is the day I start renewing my blog.

 

So much have happened in the past year and when I was reviewing what I had written, it really didn't do any justice to the things I did.  Not interested in filling up the blank.  I have been thinking to myself, why is it that I just wasn't interested in writing my own blog... it is not that I was soooooooooooo busy and just simply had no time.  I guess truth was that I was not happy with where I was and then just didn't want to write about these things to remind myself how I was not satisfied with where I was.  And the reason to update now is because I realize that everything I see something interesting or touching, I actually think the whole thing over in my head as if I was updating this blog.  Then I suddently realized that no matter how I might be not happy with my currently situations or things around me in the past year, there were lots and lots of high point and perfect little moments.  It is the up and downs that makes up life and it is those unhappy hard times that actually makes the perfect little moments  more memoriable.  I think the fact that I was writing and updating my blog wasn't for anyone to read really.  But it was more for myself, more like my motivation to myself to remind myself the little details taht makes up life.  And reading all the old old entries are simply relaxing...

 

So I should be doing this for myself.  Writing something anything on this blog is a brain exercise to organize and conclude things that had happened.  And merely by sitting here and writing about it, sometime make sense certian things or events that I just couldn't understand at the moment.

 

It has been 1 month and 9 days into 2009.  I have travelled in Europe at the beginning of the year with my mother, Terence and my aunt.  Lots of museum visiting and shopping in Italy and Europe.  The high point was definatly see Rob in Europe although I actually met in back in Nov in NYC already, it was still different seeing Rob in his homeland.  And eating pizza with him in Italy is just different.  However, if I was asked whether it was more fun seeing Rob in Europe, or taking amazing picture with T at the spanish step, or visiting Ufizzi with my mother or buy 3 pairs of Tods shoes and 3 pairs of Ferragamo shoes within 30min is more fun, I can't answer that... all I have to say is, Europe is awesome and 10 days are way too short.  However, if I go again next time, I would for sure go when it is warmer and bring a much much much biger suitcase...

 

Lunar New Year happened so early this year that it is almost unheard of.  The last day of year of Rat was on my birthday.  I was a littleannoyed that it is the same day as Lunar New Year's eve.  After turning 30, birthdays are seriously no longer attractive to me.  And the fact that my whole family was getting together to celebrate, I wasn't really looking forward.  However, turns out my grandpa found out this year that we actually have our bday on the same day.  Older Chinese people only celebrate their bday accroding to the Lunar calendar.  Therefore, they birthdays are on a different day every year on the western calendar.  So it turned out to be a family get together celebration for both his birthday and mine and of course my uncle who was born on Lunar New YEar's day and the year of OX.  Karon got an amazing mango cake and my little nephews are running around happily and offering me kisses.  It was a very warm and sweet celebration.

 

When it comes to the new year, new year's resolution comes hand in hand.  To me.  This year my biggest resolution is stop being SO LAZY! Well, it is kinda hard when we are not offically out of the Lunar new year celebration yet.  With all the food to eat and people around me not offically going to work everyday.... but that's something I want to make change... so there!  Although this is already late, I wish everyone a happy, healthy, productive 2009.

I had to tell my mother that I was temporaly taking care of Latte since she will be in SH next week to visit me.  I didn't want to "suprise" her and I don't believe Latte would have found his new home by then yet.  I expected her to be unhappy about it since she always thought too many pets is the reason T & I don't have a baby yet.  But what didn't expect is that she just said "I can't believe this, I am so disappointed, I am really angry about this." then she just hang up on me.  Frankly, I was more than hurt after she hang up.  I thought I was doing this out of a good heart, I don't expect other people to understand but I do expect my mother to understand.  She grow up with a mother who doesn't care much about pets and I knew that she always loved pets.  Then  after thinking about it more, I started to understand where she is coming from. Maybe she was mostly angry because she was worried about T & I being so tired from work has to spend more time on something else but ourselves. 

 

I texted her and also called her after one day hoping that she would "get over it."  The answer is still, very angry.  This time she started talking about how I can bring troubles to the family.  I guess I need more time to think why she is so angry.  This is very frustrating.  Way more than how I have to get up at 6 to walk the dogs and how I have to clean Latte's accident pee occasionally. 

 

I guess i am just going to take this one day at the time and hope she will get over it.  And for the time being, I hope someone with a big heart will take latte and give him a perminant home. Afterall, he is the cutest fur ball!  I wish i could keep him!

It has been almost half a year since I last updated.  Seems like recently all my entries are starting with this same sentence.  I should make it my half year resolution that I update this baby everyday.

 

What's new with my life?  Way too much happening that it will take at least 6 months to update all events.  But the most interesting thing is that we are having a temp new visitor at our home.  He is a little puppy that probably run lost from his parents.  I am not sure if I should keep him.  He is barly 7 month old because he is still changing teeth.  He is so adorable, like a little stuffed animal except he is way more than a hand full.  Constantly humping KiKi or me.  Pees every 6 hours or whenever he can not control it anymore.  The funniest thing is that he hasn't even learned how to pee like a male dog with one leg up yet.  KiKi is having the time of her life, finally having her own dog buddy and all.  This little fur ball is like the new tumor on kiki's back.  Not sure how KiKi can constantly tolerate someone keep trying to hump her... Xia Mi the new cat I am taking care of for Sarah and Tony is feeling very thretened.  Constantly hasing and standing all the hair on his back up to try to make himself seem fatter whenever this little furball is around.  BuBu being the oldest member of the house and have seen all these new members coming in just does not give a shit.  She just sleeps at her favorate spot under the dinning table and never even bothered to open her eyes to see why there's so much noises these days.  But terence and I are so tired.  Aside from work, we gotta both walk the new puppy and KiKi then shower them... in short, I am not sure if we should keep him.  So I am just taking temp care of this dog until we find someone who wants to adopt him.  In about a week, he will get his shots then in 2 weeks, he will get his balls fixed so he will stop humping everyone.  So please, anyone!!!  If you think you are responsible enough to take on a new friend of your life, here's some pictures.  Please email or call me if you are interested okay?

 

Name: Latte

Breed: Mixed of Golden Retriver + Giant Poodle +?

Age: 6-7 months

Color: Milky white and golden

One way of knowing you are getting old (besides waking up in the morning feeling pain in your back or seeing the lines on your face takes longer and longer to fade) is giving candy instead of going "trick or treat on Halloween."

 

Saw some really cute little kids yesterady wearing little witch customs and holding miniture brooms and suddently hit me that I should get some candy just in case those kids will come n knock on our door.  Then sure enough starting 7pm tonight Chinese kids, Japanese Kids and Korean Kids came in turns knocking on the door all with little pumpkin busket and cute custom screaming out of their lung "TRICK OR TREEEEEEEEEEEEEAT?".  The cutest thing in the world.  And after they go the candies, they all say "THAAANK YOU" then "BYE BYE KiKi."  Looks like KiKi is really famous and popular among the kids. I can't help smiling and hoping more kids will come by.

 

It is good to feel "old" this way.  EVERYONG HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

I can not believe it is already the 1st weekend of Sept.  Summer is offically over.  My European friends all returned home after their summer holiday.  Soyoung's half day fridays are ended too at Martha Stewart.  All the kids at Madarine city are waking up as early as 7am to catch their school buses.  Beginning of Sept. also marks our little family's one year annervesary migration from NYC.  I still don't feel that I know SH so much, but seems like KiKi and BuBu are enjoying their new home now in SH.  Terence seems happy being the busy professor.  He still hates Wed. night when he struggles til late night to prepare for Thursday's morning class.  Professor T, Jia yo!

 

I had a great summer tho.. reading Harry Potter's latest and last book, chilling at the pool in my apartment complex where probably all the expat in SH has been once, tennis with Jean, Jackey and Lee at 40C (my tennis shoes were melted!), all the good food together... I also went to 3 beaches in 3 different countries.  I am still so tan from my last beach visit that it will probably last me til X'mas. :D

 

One thing that is most meaningful is that I posted for my first portrait.  I went up to Beijing to meet with mom.  She's been studying at BJ art University on how to paint professionally for almost a year now.  She had a me dressed in my wedding gown and had her teacher Mr. Zhang paint me.  Being a model for portait is really not easy. All I had to do was sit straight for 2 days but what a long 2 days!!!  I can just imagine how hard it must be for those nude models posting.  N the passion and heart I see in Mr. Zhang and mom when they paint... I just have so much more respects to all the artists now.   Mr. Zhang told me that the portrait of me is a gift but when he has an exhibition, he will borrow it back. I will invite everyone I know to go see.  But before the exhibition happens, let's see it first hand here.