We have another teeny update.....
...actually, I was waiting for Jo to take some pics before I posted and the previous post was going to be this one, but I was just stalling....(I can stall well).
Anyway, we would like to introduce you to our newest family member - Mocha!
Mocha is a 3 month old male Husky that we got from a friend of a friend whose mother had a litter of 9 pups. Jo knew I love Huskies ("Ha Si Chee" in Chinese) and it must have slipped out in conversation awhile ago with a variety of friends. This friend just happened to know the dogs masters and coincedentally saw a tired mother and lots of pups. He thought nothing of it, but then when the woman asked him if he wanted one, to please let her know. He then remembered that I liked Huskies and yesterday afternoon, we went to look, loved what we saw and took home Mocha.
We marked his birthday at April 6th; so another Aries!
As Jo and I were discussing if we really wanted a dog right now, we both were considering many things, but the main thing was that we both love dogs and it will definately make our lives more colorful...heck only in the last few hours, Mocha has added brown and yellow to our lives (in many places!).
Some of Jo's friends (women) all said that getting a dog now is not that good for the baby that everyone is hoping will pop out of Jo sometime soon, but Jo and I dismissed it since we are ready and raising a baby and a dog at the same time should not be TOO hard, right? haha.....anyway, there is NO news on this other topic.....
As for Mocha and his name....we talked about 2 hours about it - sigh.....but we both like the name and the sound and it even matches his colors!
At first, as is the tradition here, a dog's name usually consists of two same sounds and Jo was eager to have "Zai Zai" as his name - which to me sounds like "Lulu" or "Kiki" which I hate....so I said "No." Flat and simple. Then it was my turn to propose one and I love "Kodiak" or "Halifax", but Jo just looked at me and said "No" even flatter and simpler....
Jo: "MiMi"
Jeff: "Come on, that is terrible and a girl's name! No more double same names, please! How about 'Moby'?"
Jo: "Hmmmm, No. 'A Li'"
Jeff: "No. Too Taiwanese. How about 'Keiko'?"
Jo: "That sounds Japanese."
Jeff: It is Japanese, but it sounds cool."
Jo: "No."
....and so on....
Finally, I offered "Mocha" (or "Moka") and we both were silent a moment and nodded our heads. Yup, that is the one.
Mocha seems to be very active and a little dumb - what puppy isn't? - but only after about 15 tries, he now knows how to sit. We will work up from there, slowly. He is quite young, but also quite big and Jo remarked - Damn after 3-4 months, she may not be able to walk with him! Anyway, we both love big dogs, so this is certainly a rather interesting experience!
Oh, we talk to him in English, unless Mom is angry - then the Chinese comes out.....but all his commands will be in English - maybe later we will make him bilingual, but not now......
....Yay! We have a pup!
Here is some info about Huskies and some more!
So our lives are getting back in the swing of things; with the apartment getting that "lived-in" look (which, as one of my friends pointed out means: you have a crap load of a lot of stuff!), work getting more stable (or as stable as private classes can get), and our other rooftop apartment / patio getting cleaned up.
As for the apartment, we have only done the little things to make it look nicer - like deciding which pics and posters to hang up, clean up nick nacks and put them away (geez, where did they all come from and why have they not found their way to the trash can?), and other minor details. I am still surprised, along with our friends that we have actually done the bulk of tidying in a relatively short time - going from the grime of having been empty for over a year to a pretty nice place was tough, but we realized Jo and I are anal about different things.
Jo is anal about actual dirt on things, like th floor and tables, whereas I am (perhaps a typical guy) not phased by this too much. Of course I will prefer clean things and do my part, but not at the extent that Jo does. I, on the other hand am anal about where things go, in terms of making it pleasing for the eye to rest upon, so to me, dirt and dust should be cleaned, but a pillow that is askew is more painful to me. Jo just rolls her eyes at this, but hey, this is where my gesalt reliance comes in.
Anyway, so as a team, we complement each other, especially in the case of apartment cleaning, with me doing the bulk of the moving and rearranging, and Jo doing most of the dirt cleaning. Plus, we just bought this cool contraption for picking up dirt / dust and other things off the floor. We used to clean our rug by using tape - to stick up the dirt, which works great (vacuum cleaners here are not that good we found and dislike using them). Anyway, we found a sticky roller contraption that Jo actually got excited over (typical woman, perhaps?) and now we both like to roll the floor dirt away. Ok, ok, little happys for little things.....
As for work, we are both doing myriad things.
Jo is working now with a friend to sell investment insurance as well as mutual funds, a topic that she excels in due to her high level math skills. It is a sales and commission job, so she is using the friend's numerous contacts to explain the benfits of this type of investing. She is also teaching both English and Math privately to students at a pretty good wage (I have mentioned to some before the high wages and low living expenses make living in Taiwan very ecomonical for my current lifestyle). Of course, we are also working on Tiny Tycoon$ together as well.
I am still working at a place called Compass English part time (full time is too constricting and is actually less money per hour), as well as my numerous English privates. The manager of Compass has been begging me to work full time, but as Jo and I were discussing it, we realized that by just adding another 4 hour a week private, I could manage the same income as working 15 hours there. AND, more importantly, I could have more time to spend with my lovely wife and she could have more time to spend with her great husband! So, no brainer.....
As for the rooftop patio, it is coming along, with many DIY projects in the works. The thing Zak (our friend and tenent above us) and I are working on now is the waterfall, that "ideally" will be quite nice when we finish. Zak has a knack for plants and projects like this, since in the apartment above, we are already putting in new windows, creating a kitchen counter and redoing the bathroom (in bits at a time). Owning a "tenent" apartment is interesting since you do have to understand the boundaries of who pays what....and we are all agreeing at this point.
Pics of Zak and the rooftop patio will come eventually.
Anyway, just a small update!
Ok, so as most of you know, Jo and I bought a cool house recently.
This was not too unexpected, since we had been looking (and researching the market here) for about 9 months, but the speed at which we agreed on a low ball price and the shock of having the guy accept kinda threw us for a loop since we were in the midst of preparing to go back to the states (I will talk about that in another blog - I will work backwards a bit...) as well as changing our working schedules.Anyway, we both immediately liked the house as soon as we entered the place and knew that it was a good deal, especially since it was a "Buy 1, Get 1 Free" due to the additional 3 bedroom apartment on top of our 3 bedroom apartment that we currently rent out to one of my good friends.
To give you a taste of our timeline for the last few weeks....:
- We looked at the house in early May and agreed on a price a week later
- We then decided to move out of our apartment (which we thought we would be in for at least a year) in Mid May.
- Since we were planning to leave for the States on May 20th, we had to push the bank and the accountants to make sure all the paperwork was done before we left (no easy matter)
- We then set May 18th as our official move date and moved all day that day (Phew!)
- We had a day of rest (but not really since there was no place to rest in our place- too many boxes!)
- We left for the states on early Sunday morning and had a great time!
- We came back to an unpacked house on June 5th and sighed, especially since I had the Flu and was as good as worthless for moving things.
- Thank god we made at least one nook livable (our master bedroom area) and I was there for about 5 days recovering.
- Then on that Friday, we got the energy to start moving and simultaneously painting the apartment and did not stop for about 10 hours.
- I worked the next day and regretted the painting / moving effort
- We then spent a week of moving and removing and touching up and shuffling all of our things around to get room by room semi-livable.
- On this past Sunday, we finally were sitting on our sofa and said "I think we are almost there!" and we are.
- I started to write and post again.
So, ya wanna see some of our semi-livable pics?
Here ya go....
Here is our entrance area, when you first come in.
This is when you turn around and see our Living Room
Another Living Room shot
(you can tell I am getting old since 'my' spot on the sofa is where all the pillows are in the corner! haha.....)
Here you are in the Living Room, looking at our main door again and our Library.
Our Library is small, but is sort-of comfy....yes, those black hanging things are supposed to be a see through wall...
Our Kitchen is next to our Library and is very bright (and quite big!)
Another Kitchen Shot
And another.....
This is our master bedroom that is next to the Kitchen and we both chose the purple as our mood color.
We also have a guest room (so you are invited!),
An airy bathroom,
A cool Balcony (one of two - the other was too messy to show),
and our beloved Computer Room, where I am now slaving away......this is my side....
...and this is Jo's side
Hmmmmm, didn't I just get through bloggin about my OTHER apartment - the Wizard's one??? Geez, things happen fast sometimes.....
Anyway, we are still tweaking and working on things here (of course), but for the most part, we have about 80% done and are quite happy with the results.
I am not going to show our rooftop apartment and patio yet since that is still a whole other project, but I promise when it is nearing completion, I will be ciked to show it off......
Well, I hope you like Jo's pics and what we have done. She took these pics today, so it gives you an idea of the current state of things so far.
Please understand that I had to get my home readied before anything else and we were both shocked it took so little time - only a week or so of heavy shuffling! I thought it would take at least a month or so.....
Will try to post more later (course that is what I ALWAYS say....) haha.
Take care!
Jeff & Jo
It has been another long while, but I am attempting to get back in the swing of things, now that our past 3 months have settled down a wee bit.
And, since my lovely sister has been pestering me to get writing again, I feel the sense of duty weighing on me.....
So, there is much to tell!
Hang on....
Jeff
