Monday Night Dinner

I just came back from my hometown Taiwan earlier this month. The never-long-enough vacation was filled by eating two breakfast daily (which include a stuffed rice ball with soy milk first, and a sandwich with barley milk later), chatting with family, lunch with stay-at-home moms, roaming the streets, random snack from street vendors, reading at Eslite bookstore, dinner with friends who work WAY too hard, shopping at night markets, random dessert from street vendors, and the fabulousness of being alone. Oh, I almost forgot. There was also, a bottle or two, of the Taiwanese Golden Label Beer in between the ongoing eating.

(Note: Teachers and Moms are human, too, especially a teacher mom. I do drink, appropriately and occasionally.)

How did I get to do all that being a mom of two little kids? Good question. I didn't take them with me! Yes, I can see some of you out there rolling your eyes at me. How could you!? Well, my big guy said ok and my in-laws took over the job of being the cook, the cleaner, the driver, and the nanny. Thanks to them, I got to be just me for two weeks.

If you are like me, moving to a foreign country at a young adult age, you miss the food you grow up with. I sure can find all sorts of Chinese cuisine here in Cali. But the food just doesn't taste right. Adding the long drive to the restaurant and the lack of variety on the menu, orange chicken and beef broccoli just don't sound very appetizing at any time. In Taipei, three meals and two snacks a day, I never had the chance to eat the same thing twice. The fact that I don't dare to drive in Taipei didn't stop me from eating. Any street vendors and restaurants are accessible with the MRT system or just a cab away. The convenience and the scrumptious food resulted in the unwanted 5 lbs on my already hanging belly. But it was all worth it!

Back from my personal salvation, here I am, picking my son up from preschool with my daughter in the back carseat. Turning at the corner of my street, my 20 months old daughter with limited verbal ability excitedly shouted out, "Mein Mein! " (it means noodles in Mandarin) and pointed at the All You Can Eat soup and salad place. My son then shouted, " Can we go there for dinner? Is it Monday today?"  To my son, the 4 years old nonstop-talking boy, Monday doens't mean anything but dinner at Souplantation/Sweet Tomato. Every Monday. Why? How? When did we start this routine? I don't quite remember. But my big guy and the kids love the cream of mushroom soup, the fake-cheese-tasting Mac&Cheese, and the warm blueberry muffins. So I'm relieved from dinner making every Monday.

To tell the truth, 12 years ago, I could never, ever, imagine eating at the same restaurant, or even the same food EVERY Monday. I would open my eyes wide and said, "What? Why would anyone want to do that? There are just so many other things out there to eat!". But magically, I found peace and comfort in our little routine. I know I will see my big guy talking loudly with his mouth full and my little ones laughing loudly with ice cream mustaches. The leafy veggies on my plate is grass compared to the spicy hot pot I had in Taipei. But somehow, in a weird way, I kind of look forward to chewing grass every Monday.

I guess it's not a bad thing after all, being happily domesticated.

Kindergarten Registration 註冊中

I don't know if you have seen the Target 2010 holiday commercial. It was so hilarious and made me want to rush to Target right away. Even though I'm almost there everyday already...buying essential and unnecessary household items at the same time.

As much as I can remember, the blonde lady in the commercial was wearing full body red track suit, doing sit-ups on the big red Target ball, (my 20 months old daughter still thinks it can be kicked like a regular ball...), lifting baskets of products as weights, practicing speed-giftwrap, running with a parachute behind, and counting down days on the calendar...all for the 2 days sale starting on black Friday.

As hilarious (or ridiculous) as it might sound, I did exactly all the above things in my mind, over and over again. But it was not for the great Target sale. It was for my son's kindergarten registration.

Yes, you read me right. Now you know what kind of mom I am...a teacher mom to be exact. After being an elementary teacher for 6 years in a prestigious south bay community, I decided to take one year leave to spend more time with my own little ones. Before I could even catch my breath, my husband got a job offer too good to reject. So here we are, moving from the sunny L.A. to the cloudy northern Cal. The dream of having my kids going to the same school I teach at can't seem to come true anymore.

Learning to be a full time mom is quite a lesson for me. All of a sudden, my son is turning 5 and entering kindergarten this fall. You must think when it comes to school registration, I shouldn't be sweating at all. I should have more insights than most parents. Unfortunately, that's why I am sweating. Because I know how tideous the paper work can be. I know how unclear the deadlines are listed. I know the possibility of one little thing goes undone, my son might not be in the lottery drawing in time.

Yes, you read me right again, lottery drawing, for a kindergarten spot in a public school setting. It's not happening at every elementary school site though, only at the "good" ones. (Oh, next time I'll talk about how "good" a school can be by just looking at its API scores...) Siblings of current students get priority to enroll in kindergarten first. Then the rest available spots are for first-born kids, which means new students to the district. However, at a "good" school, there are always way more new enrollments than the spots provided. Parents buy the unreasonable high-priced house in hope to get their kids into the good neighborhood school. But the truth is, after you have done the registration right, if your childn't name isn't picked at the lottery drawing, he or she will still be overflown to a school which still have spots available. (a.k.a, a "bad" neighborhood where parents won't fight to live in).

Now, can you understand my whole mental process of the Target preparation? I got the kindergarten registration packet in time, filled out all the forms, got the oral assessment form signed by a licensed dentist, dug out all legal documents proving residency, then booked the first appointment at 8 am to turn in the whole packet. The night before the registration appointment, I had my husband double checked all forms, told my children that Daddy will give them breakfast next morning, and went to bed thinking everything was fine and ready.

Finally, the big time had arrived. Within one minute of flipping through my son's kindergarten registration packet, the lady holding a grande cup of Starbucks coffee said to me, "I'm sorry, I can't take your registration packet today." I kept my smile but raised my voice a bit, "Excuse me, what do you mean?" "Here, you are missing an utility bill, without the bill, I can't take your packet today." "But I brought my car insurance bill. On the information sheet, it indicates that the car insurance bill is one of the documents which can prove my current location of residency."

After checking with three other ladies for 10 minutes and reading the information sheet for another minute, the lady returned to the table and said, "Oh ok,  it must be new this year. You are done. Good luck. Hopefully we'll get to see you again in fall."

There it was. My son's kindergarten registration was done. It felt like I had shopped until I dropped at Target's black Friday sale. Everything on my list was in my basket already. And I didn't even need to pepper-spray anybody!

The result is out of my hands now. All we need is a little good luck. I can't help but worry - what if they lose the 3 by 5 index card with my son's name on it? He won't even be in the lottery drawing!!!