It has been a while........

Eric and I were busy recently. He has been out of town for the last two weeks and soon he is going away for several weeks. A friend of us is leaving us soon for Singapore for a career advancement. At the farewell dinner, you can tell he is sad about his own leaving. I would feel the same as him if I am the one who is leaving the states.

I came to the United States in the year of 1997, finished school in 1999 and then went home worked for two years, and then made a U-turn back to the States again. I remember the 1999 depatures was sad and heartbreaking. Back then, I started the relationship with Eric for almost 18 months. When I was back in Malaysia, I kept thinking about going back to the States. Eric was part of the reasons, but still I had grown into adulthood while in the US. This is a place that has mold me into an independent adult. Having said that, have both of us immersed ourselves in the US melting pot cultures? We both are working in a only English speaking working environment, and only see American and Hispanic-American at the workplaces. Other than that, we love hanging out with Chinese. We go to a local Chinese Church, meet and dine out with Malaysian Chinese during weekends, and attend Chinese Mandarin Chinese Fellowship. I joked with Eric one day, stating that Meredith doesn't know that we live in the States, a foreign contry where majority of the residents have different colors of hair and eyes than us. Would Meredith thrive when she starts attending the daycare where the teachers are speaking English?

Anyway, just a thought.

The following are some photos from the recent treasure hunt in church and also at the farewell party for the friend leaving for Singapore.

More Gong Xi Fatt Choy Photos

Last night we went to a friend's house for Penang noodle on Chinese New Year Eve. Meredith received her first Ang Pow last night. His house is very far from our house, it took us almost one and half hour to get there. But getting her first Ang Pow was well worth the trip.

It is Sunday afternoon currently or the first day of Chinese New Year. We were frantically preparing for Meredith's one year old birthday party tonight. There's about 30 people coming tonight and we haven't prepare that much food in a long time. I have been cooking on the grill since 1pm today. Meredith stood by the door and observed me curiously as I grilled the ribs. She hasn't changed from her chinese new year cheong sam since last night.

Anyway, we finally bath her and change her into her birthday dress. Here she is again walking around trying to supervise us as we prepare for her party tonight.

Meredith clapping her hands

Meredith has picked up a few tricks in the recent months. She will kiss you on the cheek if you tell her "xiek xiek" which is kiss kiss in cantonese. She will also clap her hands when she hears people singing or a tune that she likes on TV. I caught this on a video clip a few weeks ago when our church group had a gathering at our house. She started clapping her hands as we sang. This is in the middle of the video clip.

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Happy Chinese New Year

Gong Ｘｉ　Ｆａｔｔ　Ｃｈｏｙ！It's another year that we spent away from home and family. I　came here in 1997 thinking that I will here for just a few years. Boon hong came here in 1996. Time flies and this is Chinese New Year 2007. It's been ten years since we last celebrated Chinese New Year with our family. I sincerely hope that we will going home for chinese new year soon.

Meredith and papa and mummy wish everyone Happy New Year of the Pig! Ang Pow na lai!

The following is a short video clip of the Chinese New Year gathering in our church on February 16.

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Sarawak Laksa

We had a potluck gathering yesterday at our house. Most people are from our small group in West Houston Chinese Church http://www.whcchome.org
Since we brought back a few packs of Sarawak Laksa rempah, we decided to give it a try. I think the first batch of Laksa soup come out okay while the second batch was slightly below average. There were several Penangites among the guests. Penang laksa is very well known. So I asked Uncle Ong from Penang to pose in the photo to show that the laksa passed Penangites taste bud.
Thanks to all the guests, we also enjoyed many other food during this gathering. My favorites included a casserole dish from a Sabah couple, and a black sugar dessert that took 5 hours baking time from a Taiwan couple.

Meredith with doggie

We went to a friend house for dinner the day after we had the accident. They were making some mean bbq. It was delicious. They made Brazilian style Picanha skirt steak. Anyway, Meredith was having a good time too with their dog. She wanted to touch their dog. She would stick her finger out when the dog look the other way and then quickly retract it as the dog turn around.
She finally worked up enough courage to touch the dog.
Here's some short video clips.


Saturday, January 27, 2007

Hello Kitty Backpack

These photos were taken probably a few weeks ago when we just came back from Malaysia. Someone gave Meredith a Hello Kitty backpack. I make her put it on just to annoy her. She doesn't like to have anything put her back. After these photos were taken, she somehow managed to free herself from the backpack.

Car accident

We were involved in a car crash last Saturday night, January 21. Everyone is safe now but it was quite a harrowing experience at the time. The damage to the car was moderately serious. We were driving about 30mph (40km/h) when it happened. Boon Hong hit her head on the windshield and cracked one small area of the windshield. Thank God she is okay. She did not show any signs of concussions and the doctor doesn't think she requires any further attention.
Meredith was strapped in her car seat in the back so she was okay. I was sitting in the rear seat and I bumped into the front seat when that happened. Other than that, I am okay too.

It was raining at the time. Thankfully a friend was not too far ahead of us in a different car ( we just finished eating dinner at Restoran Kuala Lumpur). So he turned around and Meredith stayed in his car while we complete the police paperwork and arrange for the tow truck to take our car away. The car was stored in a collision storage facility for two nights. On Monday, the car was towed to a dealership near I-10 & Gessner for repair. Insurance will pay for almost all the repair. The repair advisor contacted me yesterday and his latest estimate is about $7,500 for all the parts and labor. There's no structural or engine damage but when our car struck the truck, the bumper crushed, the radiator and fan was shoved back and this struck throttle body on infront of the engine. The engine hood also buckled upward and pulled in the left front fender as it happened. I also learned something about the airbag. Although one of the airbag sensor was hit, airbags did not deploy. Apparently, the rate of deceleration or the strike zone has to be just right for airbags to be deployed. The repair will take approximately two weeks so now we are both carpooling together to work.

In conclusion, accidents are easily preventable and we should be very careful when driving. We also Thank God that everyone is okay.

More photos

I actually left my digital camera in Boon Hong parents house in Johor. We went to Kuching directly from KL, so there's almost no photos from Kuching. But here's some more photos from this trip.

Meredith & cousins

Meredith met her cousins for the first time during this trip. Since I am the only child in my family, she wouldn't have any cousin from my side of the family. At last count, she already has four cousins from Boon Hong's side of the family. Meredith enjoyed playing with Yu Shien and Yu Yang. She showed her eagerness in participating in their activities by crawling around them and snatching away their toy cars. Being a few years older, they don't neccessary want to play with her. Nonetheless, I think they all enjoyed each other company.

KL Trip

We went to KL the second day after we arrived in Malaysia. We were in a rush to get Boon Hong's visa renewed at the embassy. Boon Hong's big sister took days off from work just to drive us to KL. Her mum and both her sister's kids went as well. We stayed at her second sister's condo. It was a really nice condo with even better view looking outside. You can see Federal mosque, Petronas Twin Tower and KL Tower juxtaposed together in the same window frame.

Although the trip primary purpose was to renew her visa, this trip turned up to be a nice reunion for Boon Hong, her sisters and mum. These three girls went marathon shopping together for two days. I am really glad that they got to spend time together because Boon Hong had not seen them since a year and a half ago.

Malaysia Trip December 2006

We just came back from Malaysia after going back for a 3 weeks trip. Honestly, I don't feel like returning to Houston after the end of 3 weeks. There are so much warmth from our families and friends. Meredith also went to Kuching for four days. My parents miss her a lot and she really brightens up their live for 4 days.

Boon Hong parents too got to know Meredith. They started to like her a lot by the end of the seven days. While we were in Hong Kong, Meredith fell head first from a rather high sofa and struck the hard wood floor. It was quite a scare for us and we worried that she might have a concussion internally. Boon Hong parents also called and asked how Meredith was doing.

Anyway, we took a lot of pictures. Here's my favorite photo from the trip. It was taken on Victoria's Peak in Hong Kong.

Meredith first wedding

Our friends June and Jason got married this past weekend. This was the first wedding Meredith attended and Boon Hong searched far and wide to locate a dress for Meredith. Unfortunately, Meredith didn't play a role in the wedding even after dressing up.

Meredith washing her bottle

We normally boil Meredith's bottles with filtered water every few days. This is because Houston water supply contains a lot of dissolved solids. Once heated up, the solid such as calcium carbonate will precipitate out and form a layer of white scale in cooking pot and also baby's bottles. We try to once filtered water and the result is slightly better. One day, I placed the big pot used to boil the bottles on kitchen floor while waiting for the filtered water to fill it up. Meredith saw this and decided to help me. She touched the water to ensure that it is the right temperature. She also tossed the bottles around in the pots to ensure everything is submerged in water. I can see her being a really good helper in future.

Baby and french bread

We bought a french bread from Target last week. We were supposed to serve the french bread along with some bbq for a gathering. Anyway, Meredith decided to take a bite out of the french bread. See the missing crust on the first photo. She started playing the french bread after taking a few small bites. About 20 minutes later, Meredith was supposed to have her milk. I gave her the french bread instead of her usual milk and she started crying.

Baby and squash

Our neighbor planted some long squash in their backyard. Some of the squash has overgrown into our back yard. I took one and gave it to Meredith. At first, she looked amused and even surprised by the squash. It took her a while to warm up to the squash and gather enough courage to touch the squash.