my little lantern

Hannah and Daddy went on a walk this morning and made the daily 7-eleven drink trip. I love this pic!

Hannah took her our medicine like a good girl, in lemon soda, of course.

"Where are we going to go today, Mama?"

Let's start the day with a good Chinese breakfast!

Hmmmm. What should we order? One of everything, you say?

"Mama, these are yummy.". You Tiao.

Above was my favorite. Fan Tuan. Dried/shredded pork and pickled vegetables inside.

Hannah ate this little scallion omelette pretty much all by herself. Dan bing.

Shao bing above. Flakey!

Dumplings with the soup inside, the family favorite! Xiao long bao.

Sweetened soy milk. Dou Jiang.

Streamed bun with pork filling, same filling as the pork in the soup dumplings.

We ate it all! I got to tell our waitress, "Xie Xie! Wo3 bao3 le!". Took her a second to get what I was saying, and then she laughed and smiled. I told her thank you, I am full! She gave Hannah some candy. Score! Please don't be too impressed. They do have an English menu and I read all about this stuff from The Hungey Girl in Taipei's blog here: http://hungryintaipei.blogspot.tw/2009/12/chinesebreakfast-i-recommend-yong-he.html. This restaurant is just around the block from Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall. After breakfast we went to see good old Sun Yat-Sen to see what he was up to since we last met.

He's well. About the same. :)

We visited his wife Soong Ching-Ling, too. "Ni hao, Soong Ching-Ling,"

Loading up the MRT card. Let's go someplace else on my bucket list.

Hannah napped in-transit to Longshan Temple.

That was a good idea. We were all hot and sweaty. Wouldn't a nice cold drink of "Sweat" hit the spot about now?

Hannah didn't want to wake up for this until I told her there were waterfalls and koi. She'll wake up for that!

I explained that this was their church, and they were praying, but we don't believe in the gods that they pray to. They're pretend to us. But we can still be respectful and appreciate show beautiful their church is. We should be quiet and not bother them, but we can watch.

We were tired, hot, and thirsty. We went to the Breeze Food Court at Main Station and had some Nepalese food.

More "gravy" dishes. Haha! This I know is curry, people! The Japanese curry dish from a previous dish just really though me off.

And for dessert Daddy and Hannah went to the best donut shop in the world, Mr. Donut. Roll that beautiful donut footage!

Chewy on the inside!

Teddy bear brains are a Taiwanese donut delicacy. (joke)

Daddy says, "Nom nom nom!"

Baby says, "Nom nom nom!"

One left over for Mama to eat while she types this post in the middle of the night. "Nom nom nom!"

Sitting here in the food court, we debated about going to the National Palace Museum or not. I really wanted to go and it is on my bucket list, but we were all tired and our feet and bodies hurt from walking so much. Well, except Hannah who is so happy that we have a stroller now. She repeatedly tells us, "I want back in my schtroller!". I love how she says that. Might have a problem when we have baby brother and that BIG BOY that weighs more than her and is three years younger needs to be in the "schtroller." Wish we would have brought our new sit and stand double stroller that I got off Craig's list, but we didn't want to haul something big to Taiwan that we might not use. Oh well. Anyway, decided to not to go to the museum as tomorrow's big plans and bucket list item trumps the museum. More to come!

Excuse the bad formatting. I can't seem to edit posts with HTML on the iPad. You know that our day wasn't ideal when I start off the post with a photo of a hospital, right? Last night Hannah woke up crying in the middle do the night with urinary tract infection symptoms. We've been down this road with her twice before this year, unfortunately. After lots of crying, holding, rocking, drinks and snacks, and some Max and Ruby videos on her iPad, I got her back to sleep. Unfortunately, then I couldn't sleep and only got about three hours of shut eye last night. I researched online where to take Hannah. I researched online where to take her. AIT has a very comprehensive list of recommendations. The Adventist Hospital's Priority Care Center had excellent reviews and sounded like what I wanted, an urgent care center with quality care from English speaking professionals using western medicine. We tried calling there multiple times but couldn't figure out what we were doing wrong with our newly acquired Taiwan mobile cell numbers. A recording kept playing... and all I could figure out is that the recording said, "Dui4 bu4 qi3 something something something." I was so proud of myself that I remembered that means "I'm sorry" that it make the frustration on not knowing what to do not so bad. We gave up and decided to use some do our "lifelines" and decided to "phone a friend" for help in trying to figure out what codes might be needed before dialing the clinic's published number. Our American didn't answer her cell, so we called adoption agency director's cell where I left a message that she could email us back with help and we'd see it on our phones right away. Agency director emailed back in the next few minutes with a number to call the Taiwan side agency rep's cell for help. At the same time I called agency rep, our friend called us back and we had two helpers at the same time on the line. Everyone said just show up at the clinic, no need to call, so off we went.

Hannah was acting and feeling much better this morning, but we wanted to get this checked out now and not wait and see. I'd hate to be clear down on the beach in the Kenting area and need an English speaking medical help. We took the MRT up the brown line which is an elevated line instead of underground. Mice to get to see a little more scenery outside! There was construction around the station and a bit of a walk to get to the hospital. Wouldn't have been so bad except Hannah wanted carried, and it was hot and sunny. We went up to the second floor and someone led us to the right room. It is to the left down a long hallway. We walked past a sea of people there getting physicals, going from room to room getting blood pressure checks, labs, and education. There was English signage.

The woman in the middle did our intake. I did need and ID for Hannah and used her US passport. The woman in the pink on the left was Hannah's nurse. She was so sweet and took care of us very well. She had excellent English and was very conversational. We didn't have to wait at all to see the doctor. He was called in to see us right away. His medical English was good but conversational was just okay. The nurse was very helpful translating and all charting was done on the computer in the office. Hannah cried and fought during the exam as she was scared in a new place. "I want my Mommy!" I pulled out a sucker I had stashed in my purse and the nurse offered a choice do a Dora or Sponge Bob sticker. Loved that! I collected Hannah's sample in the bathroom and we were told to come back in 2.5 hours to meet with the doctor about the results. We were tired of carrying Hannah and decided that we needed a stroller. Kevin had made up a taxi card on his phone to the Ding Ding pharmacy that we went to on our first trip that reminds me of a mini Babies R Us. Kevin took the photo of the hospital's sign to use as a taxi card on the way back. Ding ding was just as I remembered it. Unfortunately, they didn't have any cheap umbrella style strollers. The cheapest was 1000NT or $34 and wasn't what I wanted. I found one for about $60 that would do, bright orange, and it said "Holy Baby" on it which cracked me up. What's that supposed to mean? An employee came to help us, had as much English as our Chinese, and she successfully unsold me to a little more expensive model that had an actual suspension and folded like a Maclaren. The floor model was only in pink and I was not getting a pink stroller for Hudson. She pointed at Hannah and said "pink.". We shook our heads no and she looked confused. Kevin explained "boy, di di" and the employee got all excited. "Blue?" she offered. Yes, blue! "Lan se!" we replied! So funny! She went to the back and returned with the same model in blue. It didn't have the wheels on yet and Kevin tried to joke with her that it was broken with no wheels. Took her awhile to figure out we were joking, but then she thought that was funny, too. When we paid Hannah was given a little pink watch for free, which she is thrilled about. We taxied back to the hotel. While in the cab I checked on my email on my phone and laughed so hard about the discussion on our Taiwan adoption Facebook group on whether we were alright after an earthquake in Taiwan. Earthquake? What earthquake!?!? Didn't feel anything. Then I laughed so hard I cried because our facebook friends replied that we must be fine... listing all of our "status updates" and "check-ins" from that day, even the horrible iced coffee I refused to drink with my breakfast at a bagel shop. Love you guys! Glad you are having fun following along!

Back at the hospital we stopped into Burger King across the street. Felt guilty going there. Should be eating Taiwanese food while in Taiwan! Not fast food burgers! But, don't judge, y'all. It's right across the street from the hospital and we were hungry... and Hannah will always eat French fries. I'd rather be eating questionable food from a street vendor for the adventure, but when my baby girl is sick, she gets what she wants. Only Taipei's finest French fries for my baby girl! "Hey, Mama! Look over there! We've been there before!" This was a very proud adoptive parent moment.

Hannah recognized the Chiang Kai Shek memorial in artwork on the wall. We had been there yesterday. Love it! She's also picked out Taipei 101 in signs and artwork around subway stations. Heart sings! Back at the hospital, the doctor was right on time to see us. Labs confirmed the UTI just like I thought. When he decided to treat with amoxicillin I asked for capsules to open up into food, as we'd be traveling and refrigeration would not be possible at times. We paid 2360NT for everything including labs and meds. That's less than $80. Awesome service, no waiting, and very reasonable piece in comparison with what we're used to from urgent care centers in the US. We visited the Taiwan Handicraft Market this afternoon and picked up presents, a chop for Hudson, and t-shirts for the kids. Hannah wanted to pick presents for her friend Allie, and I had to restrain her to only two items. She wanted to bring everything back for Allie! Taiwan R.O.C.ks friends, I have some super cute raffle items! Back the apartment for a snack and naps at 6:30pm. Hannah chose to help open up capsules into lemon soda over the strawberry milk I suggested. She mixed it up with a spoon and downed it like a champ, very much not Hannah like! She even asked when she could have more! Successful parenting moment: give strong willed child choices and let them think this is all their idea and that they have control, and they do what you want! We were all out quickly, and all slept until the middle of the night again. At 3am I asked Kevin to find us some 7-eleven goodness, hoping for more steamed BBQ buns. No buns at this location, but they had tea eggs!