台灣之行分享篇 - 好書再介紹 The Kite Runner

再介紹一本好書給大家, 是木馬文化出版的翻譯小說: 追風箏的孩子. 故事真的很生動也很感人, 而且讀完了之後會對中東的政治以及回教的文化有更進一步的認識. 很巧的是, 本書配角父子也叫做阿里和哈山 (同樣的名字我們兒子是翻譯成赫聲). 看來阿里和哈山真的是中東地區最出名的父子檔了!
I would like to recommend a good book here: The Kite Runner. This is the first Afghani novel published in English. The story is very refreshing and very touching. It also tells me a little bit background about politics in the middle east and the Muslim culture. The funny thing is that in this book, the main character Amir's best friend is named Ali, and Ali's son is Hassan. I think "Ali and Hassan" is probably the most popular father and son combination in the middle east area!

公園好好玩 Having Fun in Central Park

上週末天氣很好, 我們帶小肉包到中央公園玩. 爸爸牽著他一走進小朋友的遊樂區, 小肉包就興奮得不得了.
Last weekend the weather was very nice. We took Hasan to Central Park for a little walk, and he got so excited as soon as we entered the play ground.



我們先帶她去溜滑梯. 不過爸爸顯然太高估他的實力了, 竟然就放手讓他自己溜下來, 下來的時候整個人都摔到地上了. 幸好地面是軟的墊子, 不過還是造成了他心裡的陰影, 之後我們再帶他上溜滑梯, 他就不太敢溜了.
We took him to try the slide first. Daddy probably thought that he's big enough to slide down by himself, but he fell on his head when he came down. Fortunately, the floor was soft enough to not to cause any damage. However, he was a little scared from that experience and didn't want to try the slide for a while.



過了好久, 爸爸才說服他再度踏上溜滑梯. 這次成功的溜下來了!
After 10 minutes, he finally agreed to try the slide again. This time it was a success!



雖然才剛學會走路不久, 還是搖搖晃晃的想要追其他的小朋友玩. 當然是一直跌倒啦!
Although he just learned to walk not too long ago, he still wanted to chase other kids and played with them. Of course there were a lot of falls!



後來我們帶他去玩盪鞦韆. 他好喜歡盪鞦韆喔! 笑得真開心, 聽到他清爽開懷的笑聲, 我們也很開心.
Later we took him to try the swing. He loved the swing so much and kept laughing so hard. We felt happy to hear him laughing too!

台灣之行分享篇 - 讀書心得

這次回台灣買了許多書回來看, 因為帶著小肉包, 在書店也沒辦法好好逛, 所以沒什麼挑選, 隨手抓了幾本就走了. 回來讀了之後, 有兩本書想要介紹給大家, 特別是當媽媽的朋友們.

我先看的是一公升的眼淚. 這本書是敘述一位少女亞也對抗脊髓小腦萎縮症的日記, 好像也有拍成電視和電影吧! 書中亞也勇敢地對抗頑症的努力讓我非常感動, 不過除了亞也的努力之外, 我更欽佩的是身為亞也的母親所需要的耐心和勇氣. 亞也的母親有五個小孩, 老大亞也年紀輕輕就得了绝症, 從發病到死亡一共十年的時間, 亞也的母親除了要在生活上照顧不能正常活動的亞也, 心理上更要比亞也堅強, 成為鼓勵亞也活下去的力量. 另外, 正常的四個孩子也需要媽媽照顧, 其中最小妹妹的在亞也發病的時候也才四歲. 身為這樣的五個孩子的媽媽, 要有怎樣的勇氣, 心裡要承擔怎樣的痛苦, 真的是難以想像. 看到女兒的病一天一天惡化卻又束手無策, 這樣的煎熬折磨了她整整十年. 書中亞也對媽媽的描述, 媽媽和他一起奮鬥, 對他的愛和包容, 讓人覺得母愛真的很偉大.

這本亞也的日記最後面寫到亞也的媽媽另外也有出一本手記, 紀錄照顧亞也十年的心路歷程. 可惜我不知道有那本手記, 所以沒有買, 也許下次回台灣的時候再去找找吧!

看完了亞也的日記之後, 我接下來看的是蔡穎卿寫的 "媽媽是最初的老師." 和亞也的媽媽不同的是, 這位媽媽有兩個健康的小孩, 這本書寫的是這位媽媽教養兩個女兒的手記, 從小學到大學慢慢寫來, 少了悲苦, 但是一樣用心. 這位媽媽的教養方式, 讓我覺得對小肉包的教養好像太隨便了一點. (當然也是小肉包還小啦!) 不過我希望自己能記得讀完這本書的感想及學到的東西, 帶領著小肉包一起成長.

特別的是, 這兩本書中幾乎都沒有提到小孩子們的爸爸. 第二本書書名為 "媽媽是最初的老師," 所以沒有太多描寫爸爸的篇幅好像也情有可原. 只不過書中的爸爸媽媽都在上班, 為何獨獨媽媽是最初的老師而爸爸不是呢? 至於亞也的日記裡則是除了介紹家人那一篇之外, 一個字也沒有提到爸爸. 爸爸在亞也生病時到底扮演怎麼樣的角色呢? 看完這兩本書讓我不禁覺得, 媽媽真的是要比爸爸偉大多了.

台灣之行第五章 - 搭高鐵囉 Taiwan Trip Chapter Five - Taking High Speed Rail

禮拜三我們依照原定計畫搭乘高鐵前往高雄拜訪小肉包的曾外婆, (是這樣稱呼嗎?) 此行祉均阿姨也和我們同行. 我不知道在台灣的朋友們對高鐵的評價如何, 但是我和阿里都覺得高鐵弄得很棒. 我們從板橋站上車, 月台又寬廣又乾淨, 而且指示很清楚, 還有好多工作人員怕大家第一次搭乘, 不知道該走哪一邊, 特地在車站及月台帶領大家. 我們因為推著嬰兒車, 所以工作人員指引我們搭乘殘障電梯. 我覺得從捷運到高鐵的無障礙系統都設計得不錯, 讓我們推嬰兒車推得很輕鬆, 紐約的地鐵感覺上就差多了. 這張照片是阿里和小肉包等列車進站的時候照的.
Wednesday we took the High Speed Rail to Kaohsung (in the southern Taiwan) to visit Hasan's great grandma. Aunt Rebecca came with us too. Ali was very excited when he learned that we were going to take the HSR, and we both had very good impression after taking it. The platform was very wide and clean with very clear signs. There were also many employees helping people getting onboard. We had Hasan's stroller with us, so the employee told us to follow the sign to the elevator. Compared to New York's subway system, Taiwan's MRT and HSR were much better designed. This photo was taken when Ali and Hasan were waiting for the train.

兩個小時左右就到了高雄左營站, 真的很快呢! 比起以前五六個小時的車程, 有高鐵真是幸福.
We arrived Kaohsung in 2 hours. It was much faster compared to 5-6 hours of train ride before HSR launched!

到了左營站, 小肉包的表舅舅和表阿姨已經開車等在那裡了. 我們上了車, 前往小肉包的姨婆家去看曾外婆. 這是小肉包第一次和曾外婆還有姨婆見面, 不過因為姨婆一家人都是小肉包部落格的忠實讀者, 對小肉包一點也不陌生. 曾外婆送了小肉包一面金牌, 希望小肉包平安長大, 還餵小肉包喝奶.
Hasan's uncle and aunt picked us up from the station and took us to see Hasan's great grandma. This was the first time that Hasan met his great grandma and his great aunt. However, they were very familiar with Hasan because they were very loyal subscribers to Hasan's blog. Great grandma gave Hasan a gold necklace, which was a symbol to wish that Hasan grow up safe. She also fed Hasan a bottle of formula.

表阿姨和男朋友抱著小肉包合照了一張.

This was Hasan with aunt Yuan-Yuan and her boyfriend.

姨婆好喜歡小肉包, 小肉包則是對姨婆脖子上那顆超大的寶石比較有興趣.

Great aunt loved Hasan so much, but Hasan seems to be more interested in the stone on great aunt's neck.

晚上我們住在號稱南台灣最棒的汽車旅館. 我這輩子還沒有住過汽車旅館, 真是大開眼界了. 這家號稱南台灣最讚的汽車旅館真不是蓋的, 舒適豪華, 燈光好氣氛佳, 而且什麼都準備了. (真的是 "什麼" 都準備了喔! 如果你知道我是什麼意思......) 我看我們大概是開館以來第一對帶小朋友來住的夫妻吧! 小肉包可興奮了, 因為按摩浴缸好大一個, 洗澡的時候還有電視可以看呢! 這張照片乍看之下有點三級, 但是只有照到爸爸的腿啦! 我們上床前洗了一次, 早上起來又洗一次, 真的是給他物盡其用的很徹底了. 汽車旅館還有一個特點是超隱密, 從住房到退房, 可以都不用見到服務人員, 早上的早餐直接送到門口來, 按了電鈴告訴我們送到了, 等我開門要拿, 送餐的人已經走掉了. 現在終於知道爲什麼那些明星們都愛到汽車旅館了.

Wednesday night we stayed in the best motel in the southern Taiwan. This was the first time I stayed in a motel, so everything was interesting and surprising to me. Not only it gave us a very "romantic" feeling, it also had "everything" prepared. ("Everything," if you know what I mean......) I think we were probably the first couple who brought their kid with them to the motel since they started business. Hasan was really excited because it had a very big tub with a flat screen TV in front of it. We had a bubble bath before going to bed and after waking up the next morning - really trying to make use of it as much as possible. This motel also cared about customers' pravicy. We didn't see any single employee from the time we checked in until we checked out. The breakfast was delivered right to our door. The waitress buzzed us after the breakfast was here, and when I opened the door to take it, the waitress was already gone! Now I finally know why those super stars like to go to motels......

(Motels in Taiwan are a little bit different from the motels in the US. They target very specific customers.....mostly people with affairs.)

台灣之行番外篇 - 成田機場的兒童遊戲室

回台灣我們搭乘的是美國航空, 在東京成田機場轉乘日本亞細亞航空. 在成田機場的等待時間約有四個小時, 辦完該辦的手續之後, 還有很漫長的等待時間. 這時我們發現機場內有一間兒童遊戲室, 於是帶著小肉包去打發打發時間. 小肉包平時整天和褓母在家, 假日我們帶他出去, 多半是去看外婆或是和我或阿里的朋友見面, 很少有和其他小朋友的互動. 這次在成田機場的兒童遊戲室, 他第一次盡情地和其他的小朋友玩, 可是一點也不害羞呢! 雖然那時候他還不會走路, 還是一樣追著其他小朋友到處爬, 還要硬把人家擠開玩人家的玩具.





爸爸還帶他玩了溜滑梯.



回到紐約之後, 他開始搖搖擺擺的學走路. 上個週末我們帶他去位於哥倫布圓環購物中心三樓的 Samsung 旗鑑店, 剛好店裡有一位十五個月大的小女孩在跑來跑去, 小肉包看到了, 也不衡量一下自己才剛學會走路, 根本還走不穩, 就一個勁兒想要去追那個小女生. 看他搖搖擺擺很辛苦地追著, 好不容易撞上了小姊姊, 馬上非常熱情的伸出手要跟人家握握手, 人家小姊姊卻不領情, 一直想躲開, 我和阿里看得都快笑死了. 小肉包就是這個個性, 很熱情大方, 坐飛機的時候, 對飛機上那些不認識的人也咿咿呀呀的講個不停, 看到小朋友就想跟人家握手, 身為他媽的我這麼自閉害羞, 我想他這個個性一定是遺傳自他老爸吧!

台灣之行第四章 - 和 Cody 的初見面 Taiwan Trip Chapter Four - Meeting Cody

禮拜二一早天氣晴朗, 我們從家裡散歨去台北 101. 這棟大樓可是台北之光, 我辦公室那些沒去過台灣的老外們個個都聽說過台北 101. 這天我們因為和阿莫及小麥約了吃午飯, 時間不夠沒有上觀景台去, 只在門口照了張到此一遊. 不過幸好沒有花太多時間在裡面, 因為我們在台灣的第二個禮拜一整個禮拜都在下雨, 我們幾乎天天都到台北 101 報到, 連廁所有幾間都搞得清清楚楚的了!
Tuesday morning we walked to Taipei 101, which was 15 minutes away from grandpa's apartment. This building is the tallest building in the world, and even my colleagues who have never been to Taiwan know about this building somehow. We didn't go up to the observatory that day because we had a lunch appointment and didn't have enough time. But it turned out to be a good decision because we ended up going to Taipei 101 almost everyday during the second week of our stay, due to very heavy rain.



中午和阿莫及小麥在誠品信義店的六樓吃了午飯, 但是竟然忘了合照, 真是......
We had lunch with Moore and Melody at the 6th floor of the Eslite building. I can't believe we didn't take any pictures together......

吃完午飯後我們搭了捷運去媽咪的好友耕宇阿姨家, 拜訪才兩個月的 Cody 小弟弟. (上次耕宇阿姨來看小肉包的時候小肉包才剛滿一個月呢! 當時的照片請看這裡, 選相片簿裡"小肉包的訪客們.") 小肉包對 Cody 小弟弟很好奇, 一直東看西看的, 不過後來爸爸抱 Cody 抱了好久, 小肉包就吃醋了, 對著爸爸叫個不停. 此行最可惜的是和 Aiden 弟弟錯過了, 不然就可以和媽咪兩個最好的朋友的 baby 們來個大合照囉!
After lunch we took MRT to Ken-Yu's place to visit two-month old Cody. (When aunt Ken-Yu and uncle Zack visited Hasan, Hasan was only 1 month old. Please click here to see the old pictures.) Hasan was very interested in Cody at the beginning. But later when daddy held Cody on his arm, Hasan got jealous and yelled at daddy. Too bad that we didn't get to meet Zoe's Aiden during this trip. Otherwise it would be great to have a pictures with Aiden, Cody, and Hasan all together!

晚上佩璇阿姨和 Jeff 叔叔請我們吃飯, 飯後又到她們家坐坐. 佩璇阿姨家很漂亮呢! 爸爸看了之後一直嚷著要把家裡也裝修一下. 真是的, 爸爸自己平常如果有把家裡好好維持整潔就很漂亮了啦!

Aunt Patty and uncle Jeff invited us for dinner, and afterwards we went to their apartment to have some fruit. Aunt Patty's apartment was very pretty and well designed. After seeing aunt Patty's apartment, daddy wanted to remodel our apartment too. Daddy, if you can't keep our apartment clean all the time, it really doesn't matter how beautiful our apartment is!

台灣之行第三章 - 淡水遊記 Taiwan Trip Chapter Three - Visiting Tamshui (River Front)

禮拜一我們和外婆坐捷運去淡水逛逛. 這是阿里第一次坐台北的捷運, 和紐約噪音大又髒亂的地鐵比起來, 台北的捷運簡直是天堂. 他一直想研究位什麼台北的捷運會這麼安靜, 但是我無法解答他, 知道答案的人麻煩 po 個 comment 讓我們增長知識吧!

Monday we took the MRT (metro rapid transit) to Tamshui with grandma. (Tamshui is where the river meets the ocean.) This was the first time Ali took the MRT since we arrived Taipei. He was amazed by how quiet the system was, and how clean the stations were. He was trying to find out why the trains could be running so quietly, but I wasn't able to answer his question. If anyone knows the answer to this question, please post a comment here so we coould learn something new!

我們沿著淡水老街走, 搭了渡輪去八里和漁人碼頭. 那天天氣有點陰冷, 不過阿里和小肉包還是玩得很很高興. 外婆在漁人碼頭的懸臂橋前幫我們照了一張全家福, 但是外婆啊, 你的照相技術也差了一點吧, 小肉包的頭都被你切掉了啦!

We walkted along the old street to take the ferry to Ba-Li and the Fisherman's Wharf. The weather was a little bit cloudy that day, but Hasan and Ali had a good time there. Grandma took a picture for us in front of the famous cantiliver bridge, but she cut Hasan's head off in the picture!

阿里玩得最開心, 一下射水球, 一下玩 BB 槍, 還吃了超高的霜淇淋. 不過他說霜淇淋雖然很大一支, 但是淡淡的沒什麼奶味.

Ali really enjoyed his time in Tamshui. He played several games along the old street such as shooting water balloon and BB gun. He also had a super tall ice cream. But he commented that the ice cream teasted really watery and not creamy at all.

當天最大的戰利品就是幫小肉包買了一套傳統服飾. 回到紐約之後我們幫他換上, 想要照幾張相給親朋好友看, 不過他一直不太合作. 後來爸爸換上中東服飾跟他一起合照, 還說照片的題目要叫做 "當中東遇上遠東." 但是小肉包最後還是不太領情, 穿著皇服發威了!

The best suvernior we got from Tamshui was a traditional Chinese outfit for Hasan. After we came back to New York, we dressed him up to take some photos for our family and friends to see how cute he was. However, he didn't seem to like this idea too much, and wasn't smiling to the camera at all. Finally, Ali put on his traiditional middle-east outfit and had pictures with Hasan together. The title of this picture is called "when middle-east meets far-east." But Hasan was still not happy about it - our emperor has gone mad!

台灣之行第二章 - 葉家族的午餐 Taiwan Trip Chapter Two - Family Lunch

第二天安排的是以葉家為主的聚餐, 把阿里和小肉包正式介紹給家人. 小肉包很得人愛, 每個人都搶著抱. 丟臉的是, 那天媽咪竟然糊塗到忘了帶奶瓶出門, 只好不斷地餵小肉包白飯, 幸好小肉包和大家玩得不亦樂乎, 沒有跟媽咪鬧脾氣. 在美國練習的恭喜恭喜也在這個時候派上用場, 吃這一餐午飯拿了好多紅包呢!

The next day we introduced Ali and Hasan to the extended Yeh family during lunch. Everyone loved Hasan so much and wanted to hold him and take pictures with him. The funny thing was I forgot to bring Hasan's bottles with me, so we had no choice but to feed him rice. Luckily, Hasan was having so much fun with everyone that he didn't really care he wasn't taking any formula. The extensive practice of the "congratulation" gesture also paid off at lunch - Hasan got many red envelopes from the family!

吃完午飯後, 我們和高中同學月亮, 雅瑩, 和曉鈴約在附近的一家喝下午茶的小店見面. 小肉包還是很勤勞地一直跟阿姨們恭喜, 害得阿姨們只好破費了. (真是不好意思喔, 阿姨們, 在此替小肉包說聲謝謝!) 阿姨們還臨時替小肉包去買了一個奶瓶, 讓小肉包終於可以順利的喝到奶. (媽咪真是太糊塗了啦! 奶瓶這麼重要的東西怎麼可以忘記呢?) 後來奕良和秉育叔叔有加入我們, 但是沒有照到兩位叔叔的照片耶! 真是不好意思.

After lunch, we went to a tea house to meet up with my high school classmates Ariel, Ya-Ying, and Shelly. Hasan was still doing his "congratulations" over and over again, and of course he got red envelopes from aunties. (Thanks, aunties!) Aunties also went to buy a new bottle for Hasan so that Hasan could finally take some formula. (How can mommy forget to bring bottles?) Later, uncle Yi-Liang and uncle Shit joined us for afternoon tea. But somehow Hasan didn't take any pictures with uncles.....sorry!

台灣之行第一章 - 一遊陽明山 Taiwan Trip Charpter One - Flower Festival on Mt. Yang-Ming

第一天早上, 我們因為時差早早就起床, 跟著我媽去逛傳統市場. 阿里看到市場上賣內衣的, 覺得很新奇, 要我幫他照一張像. 小肉包則是根本就快睡著了.

The first day after we arrived, everybody woke up early because of the jet lag. We went to the traditional market with my mom. Ali thought it's funny that someone sells underwears in the marketing, and he asked me to take a picture for him in front of the booth. Hasan looked very sleepy in the picture.



後來好友阿方打電話來, 問我們要不要去陽明山賞花. 我們反正也沒有計畫, 就跟著阿方和他先生一同上山了. 陽明山是台北市內最有名的山, 一年四季遊客都很多, 阿方先帶我們去吃山上一家很好吃的餐廳, 讓我們填飽肚子有體力爬山. 我們去的時候正是櫻花盛開的花季, 三人在花鐘前照了一張相, 又和阿方和先生合照了一張. 因為櫻花還沒開很多, 阿里和小肉包索性在假櫻花前又照了一張. 阿方和先生看起來很甜蜜喔! 不好意思沒有去參加你們的婚禮, 在這裡謝謝你們帶我們遊覽陽明山, 並祝你們永裕愛河喔!

After a tour in the market, I got a phone call from my friend Alice, inviting us to the flower festival on Mt. Yang-Ming. We didn't have any plan for the first day, so it was great to have a trip to the most famous mountain in Taipei. Alice and her husband Jorden took us to a very nice restaurant to have lunch first, and then we headed to the land mark of Mt. Yang-Ming - the flower clock. We took a picutre in front of the flower clock, and also took a picture with Alice and Jorden. Because the cherry blossom was not in bloom as much as we expected, Ali and Hasan took another picture in front of a fake cherry flower. Alice and Jorden looked really happy and sweet together. We feel sorry that we couldn't go to your wedding, but we thank you for taking us to Mt. Yang-Ming, and wish you live happily ever after!

踏出成功的第一歨 Moon-walking

禮拜天小肉包成功地踏出了第一歨了! 雖然搖搖擺擺的, 但是他自己也很興奮喔!

Last Sunday Hasan successfully took his very first step! Although he was walking in a funny way, he was very excited himself too!

外星語言 Foreign language

去了一趟台灣, 小肉包不知怎麼學會了這個奇怪的語言, 既不是中文, 也不是阿拉伯文, 當然更不是英文了. 我和阿里實在是有聽沒有懂耶! (不過聽起來挺好笑的....)

Hasan learned to speak this language when we were in Taiwan. It doesn't sound like Chinese, Arabics, or English, and Ali and I couldn't understand what he's talking about. (But whatever it is it sounds really funny.....)