Going to the doctor in Asia...

Sometimes it's worth it to pay a taxi $100 to drive you to the Western Hospital located 2 hours away. Delivering a baby = worth it! That's where Trey was born.

Other times, like when your kid has a cold, it doesn't seem worth it. Instead, you might choose to visit a local clinic. One time we took Rob to a local clinic (after a bagel cutting injury - you might be surprised at how often that happens in the usa) and it was gross, both the clinic and Rob's cut finger. After he paid about one dollar for the doctor to see him, he was taken into an examining room. The last patient had left some blood on the bed and vomit on the floor. I guess they weren't in a hurry to clean up? (side note: there are much nicer hospitals in EA. This was not one of them)

Anyhow, I wasn't going to take my sick baby to a clinic like that. I took him to a Singaporean clinic. Singaporeans are quite Western, so I felt comfortable with the doctor. And - Trey just had a bad cold, so it's not like he needed to be airlifted back to the US.

I was happy with the clinic, but I had some funny moments.

When they wanted to know my 7 month old boy's weight, the nurse asked me to let him stand up on the scale. At first I doubted my East Asian language ability, so I had her repeat her request. Then I explained that he's a baby and he can't stand up yet. I guess they don't have scales for babies? I gave her an estimate of his weight, problem solved.

The doctor saw us immediately, no waiting. Is it good that they weren't busy? I don't know, but I like not having to wait. We went straight into his office. The doctor spoke perfect English, better than my English even (or at least it sounded that way because he had a cool British accent). He listened to Trey's chest and agreed that Trey had/has a respiratory infection. Since Trey's breathing was so labored, he recommended a nebulizer treatment to open up his airways for a bit.

That's how we ended up in the storage room with no heat. It said "procedure room" on the door, but it seemed more like a storage room. It seemed even more like a storage room when 20 minutes into the treatment, a nurse brought a few boxes into the room to...umm... store. She seemed surprised to see us, which only adds to my theory...

The nebulizer treatment wasn't so bad if you like holding down your struggling infant son and listening to his pathetic whimpers for help. I don't like doing that, so I thought it was awful. I kept alternating between praying for him to rest and get well and praying for him to have the memory of a goldfish ( i.e. short). Thankfully, Trey fell asleep after 10 minutes of struggle. Of course, he has a battle scar to remind me of my betrayal. Somehow we scratched his cheek? I was so thankful after the treatment was finished, glad to have it behind us. Then, they told me we needed to do it again. Darn.

I was thankful for a cold room. I might have been sweating a bit. I'm a nervous sweat-er. Trey had a blanket to keep him warm on one side and my body heat on the other side. He was okay. The metal chair was a bit uncomfortable, but I don't think any chair would have felt great while holding a baby in those circumstances.

The second treatment woke him up, but it seemed to go faster. When I noticed the medicine was gone, I turned off the machine. I waited 20 min in the cold room while Trey slept. After he woke up, we wandered out. The nurses seemed surprised to see me (not sure if they had forgotten me or thought I was rude for leaving the room). I smiled and jiggled the boy in a classic "just walking the baby around to keep him happy" gesture.

After I emerged from the room, the nurses must have felt the need to do something with us. One nurse brought in a tool that gets your heart rate via your finger, except it was built for an adult sized finger and a finger that wouldn't wiggle constantly. Trey's a big boy, but his finger is still itty-bitty and it moves a lot. She tried 5 times to get his heart rate before I finally intervened. Kudos to me for being patient! I gracefully told her (in no uncertain terms) that she should give up on getting his heart rate that way, it was never going to work. I guess she decided that she didn't need his heart rate after all.

We're going back again today. We'll do another neb treatment. It seemed to help him relax and breathe a little easier. It's so sad to see our little guy sick. Baby laryngitis & wheezing is beyond pathetic. But, it does make me thankful for his generally good health. However - I've gone from very little sleep to very very little sleep. Rob and I are taking turns holding Trey upright while he sleeps. I'm really thankful not to be a single parent right now. Days & nights like this make me really respect single parents that strive to care for children by themselves.

Visa trip to Ma - Cow

Our visa requires that we leave the country every 90 days. So we usually end up taking a short trip to a neighboring country- wherever we can find the cheapest flights. This time, we took our first trip to Macau. Cosi was very excited about going to see a cow.

Sadly for Cosi, we never once saw a cow... But we did have fun :)


Honestly, Macau is not a very family friendly location. I pictured beautiful sidewalks with multi-colored Portuguese influenced homes lining the street. I think I saw a picture like that and my imagination flew. Although there are some tourist locations like that, the majority of Macau is a city with cheesy casinos. It's hard to navigate and bad for pedestrians (especially those with strollers, which might have been just us in the whole city). I'm thankful to have gone, but I'd be okay with never going back.













The Ruins of St Paul's Cathedral was one place that I really liked - though it could be because a Starbucks and a McDonalds were nearby. The Ruins were amazing. I couldn't read the brochure about it, because Trey slobbered it to a pulp, but I think it has something to do with a church that was destroyed by fire and only one wall was left standing. Even without the history, it's an incredible sight to see. If I knew the history....well, I can only imagine how awesome that would be...

Here's Cosi holding her new keychain. The ruins are behind her.






















Cosi, the destroyer of idols (a veritable Josiah of modern day), stroller-rammed a Buddhist offering that was sitting outside a store. It looked much like this one, but had a lot of fruit. I guess Buddha likes pomelo. What Buddha-lovers do not like is a stroller running over their offerings. What they like even less is a culturally insensitive mother who tries to upright the offering with her foot. I know, I know, it was an impulsive move for a non-Buddhist. I realized it as soon as the store owner yelled at me. But, I was trying to hold onto a wirey 4 year-old girl who often forgets that she's not allowed to push the stroller into the busy car-filled street located mere steps away. What I'm trying to say is that my hands were otherwise occupied, as they have been for the past 10 months since Cosi joined our family. Anyhow, what I'm really trying to say is that if you want to tick off a Buddhist person, knock over their idol and then upright it with your foot. Works every time.







The most disappointing part of our trip (for me) was missing the Macau Grand Prix. It's a car race that happens on the streets of Macau - how awesome does that sound??? It happens every year in November. Since I didn't know anything about Macau before our trip (except that it's a cheap flight in & out, therefore a good location for a quick visa trip), I had never heard of this race. But, once we arrived and I couldn't help but hear about it and see it at every turn. It was then that I knew my forever dream was to see cars go fast on streets. I picture it being like a James Bond movie. What's not to like? Sadly for me, the Macau Grand Prix was Nov. 17-20. We were there Nov. 14-17. All we got to see were the signs and street preparations mocking my lack of proper travel plans. I blame it on my preoccupation with the children....too many poopy diapers slowing me down...The closest we got to the action was walking past this grandstand a few times a day. In Macau's defense, we should note that our view of macau as bad for pedestrians might be strongly influenced by the preparations they made for the Grand Prix.





And - who's that boy? (rocking the swing like it's his business) who's that boy? It's Trey!

We took this on the day that we ate at Fernando's. (no pictures from the lunch itself) It's a famous, beach-front Portuguese restaurant. Rob had no desire to go (there was a McDonald's in Macau, remember?), but I was determined. We took a bus for 30 minutes to get there. We could have taken a taxi, but we're cheap. We waited in line until the restaurant opened at 12. By this time, our kids were already fussy. They didn't have any kids seats (Rob pointed out that McDonald's has kids seats). Our kids were the only kids present. Their usual clientele didn't need kids seats. I'm kinda surprised they even let us in the door actually. Anyhow, in a classy mom-like fashion (or desperation), I sped through the menu and picked out our food, which were the only two non-seafood items on the menu. Since the waitresses were all at other tables, I approached the server station, baby in tow, and begged to get our food order in first. I need not have begged. They wanted to get us out ASAP, too. I then proceeded with the next phase of my plan = nurse the baby to sleep and then Rob & I will outnumber the awake child and be able to split the work while we eat. Fail. My normally good little eater kept pulling off and exposing his mother to the other guests. I could have forgiven his lack of discretion had he eventually dozed off, but it was not to be. The two little ones teamed up to make lunch a mildly unpleasant experience, somewhere between getting a splinter and minor surgery. Rob was right, McDonald's might be our best choice for eating out these days :)

So, there's an overview of our trip to Macau! One of the things that I like about our life is that we get to travel. In honor of thanksgiving, I'm going to write a list of things that I'm thankful for. This will be near the top.

The lunch that nightmares are made of...

Okay, not really, but it was pretty bad.

We were taking the kids out on campus to make some new friends. We stopped at a nice little Asian food restaurant. The employees welcomed us in and even helped me lift the stroller through the door. I was impressed. Honestly, most people just stop to stare at the white woman struggling with her stroller. Well, they stare until I ask them for help and then (with shock on their faces at being asked) they help me.

Anyhow the lunch started well...

(1) Then Cosi grabbed the bowl of toothpicks and very purposefully dropped them all over the table. No big deal. The waitress helped us put them back in the bowl, even after Cosi licked a few. No one who uses them will ever need to know.
(2) Cosi spilled her lukewarm tea all over the table. In the process of cleaning the tea up with napkins, Cosi hurled the wet napkins over onto the table of the people behind us. I pretended that I didn't notice.
(3) Not to be outdone, Trey started crying and wanted to be fed. After eating, he promptly spit up all over the floor of the restaurant leaving me feeling like I wasted my time and my preciously made milk.
(4) Cosi didn't want to eat and threw a temper tantrum. She tried to throw a lot more, but was thwarted in her efforts. Then, she decided to lay down on the seat and allow me to place green beans in her mouth (via chopsticks). I didn't argue. We'll work on table manners next year.
(5)Cosi started to tell us that she needed to "go pee pee in the grass." We questioned her truthfulness. It's socially acceptable for kids to go potty just about anywhere, so we've been letting our potty-training daughter leave her mark all over the city. She loves it, but it has turned her into a big liar. Picture us holding a pantless & smiling Cosi over a bush, but not even a drop of the promised pee pee emerging. Maybe she just loves a good breeze on her bare bottom. Actually, that sounds kind of nice... Anyhow after she persistently asked about five times, we paid the check and I picked her up to take her outside. As we were looking for a nice bush to shield her treasures from onlookers, I realized that my hip was warm & wet. It turns out that Cosi had already peed on the chair in the restaurant. Her dark jeans hid the wetness. My brown shirt did not. As for the upholstery on the furniture at the restaurant...well, I don't know.

The restaurant has found us out. I'm sure the two little foreign dolls (yang wawa) will not be welcomed back. Too much crying, puking, and urinating, along with the occasional wet napkin missiles = Stay home and eat!!