HKW05: Random Observations

1. going grocery shopping online is fun...and surprising. there were a few things i needed but did not order online because i could not decipher some of the descriptions. it will take more practice for me to "get it."
2. i don't know what a urinating beef fish ball is, and i don't WANT to know.
3. 3-in-1 ovens ROCK!
4. walking the hills around here to shop and get the kids to the park is really good exercise.
5. in my continued search for a group of moms to meet up with, i have found some interesting concepts. apparently, the fact that i am a stay-at-home-mom that actually stays at home WITH the kids is rare. i keep finding all these mom groups with events for ladies lunch and tea and shopping...no kids allowed. hmmmm.
6. i am loving that the walk home from the grocery store is downhill.
7. i have not ridden a public bus in almost 9 days. the shuttle that serves our apartment is genius.
8. while i don't see as many dogs here as i did in happy valley, i am starting to notice more and more dogs. shop cats seem to be somewhat common here; there's a real estate office around the corner that has two kitty ambassadors. i am tempted to go in and fake looking for property just so i can scratch those kitty ears and chins.
9. i have missed cooking...i mean, really cooking...using up every pot and pan in the house and making something besides a one-pot-meal. it is much harder to cook a big meal here b/c we have just two pots and three burners. i am falling in love with my new oven, though.
10. i cooked and cleaned everything that wasn't nailed down today, and i thoroughly enjoyed myself.
11. olivia and quinn are my goodwill ambassadors. when they are with me, the people who run the front desk/lobby here are super friendly. when the kids are not with me, i am invisible. in fact, i got "carded"...meaning a security guard stopped me to ensure i belong in this building (there are few westerners in the building, so i do kinda stand out as an odd ball).
12. when i cook, i like to share. livie and i baked a couple dozen cookies today. we made up a small pack to give to the guys at the front desk in our building. they had NO idea what to do with that...tried to take just one cookie and give the tin back...took some explaining that the whole thing was for them. i have a lot to learn about the culture here.