Peter and Ava . com

We went to have some family photos taken a few weeks ago.

Christina was very restless, but they managed to take some decent photos of the three of us.

I’ve been looking into Skype as an alternative to using a traditional telephone.

Call quality has been improving and from opinions I’ve read about call quality, it’s somewhere between a cellphone and a landline.

The Skype subscriptions page states that for US$5.99, you can get unlimited calls to landlines within your own country, which also includes cellphones in some countries (not Taiwan yet, but I suspect soon). US$12.99 gives unlimited landline calls to anywhere in the world, but unfortunately South Africa is not included, so a local package will be my first choice.

To make it convenient, we’d need a telephone which supports Skype, without the computer turned on. This kind of phone connects to the wireless router to make the Skype calls. The total savings could reduce our phone bill by about NTD1000 (US$30) which doesn’t sound like much, but adds up over time. The savings would be even more if cellphones for Taiwan get included.

Just a little something for today.

As of January 24th, 2008 we have been married for four years.

The time really does fly. I remember meeting Ava back in 2002 and the year and half before we got married. Our weddings in ZA, Tainan and Taipei, what a busy year that was. And now four years down the road, it’s the three of us rather than the two of us only.

Ava’s oldest sister and Rice looked after Christina on Thursday evening and Ava and I went to the Pot Pie Cafe for dinner. Just a relaxing evening together and a chance to sit down for a chat and focus on each other, we even went to the stationary store nearby and Ava commented how it’s a treat just being able to do that without Christina pulling everything off the shelves. Although we love her to bits of course.

Don’t forget to check our movies and photos (both recently updated).

Quick story…

Ava went to the Chinese doctor, but on a weekday, so I couldn’t help out with Christina. She went into the doctor’s office, and the whole clinic was quite busy.

While she was in the doctor’s office, Christina started to walk around to explore. When she went to the closed curtain, the doctor told Ava that there was someone in there getting acupuncture, they usually use the outside beds but it was busy, and that she would call a nurse to help with Christina.

“She’s got my needle,” was the next thing that was heard as she pulled one of the needles out of the poor patient.

Kids are just too cute, and quick. Awww, sweet.

How are you doing?

Starting on July 23rd, I will be doing Technical Writing instead of teaching.

This involves writing technical documents for my new company iEi. I will know more about exactly what is involved when I start.

This has been some time in the making and I have been quite unexcited by teaching recently. It was great to start off with, but I really did need to move on to something else. This kind of job is one of the few other jobs that is open to foreigners here, just because the language requirement is English, and almost all other regular jobs need Chinese. It will be interesting being in an office environment, and being in the computer industry, which is such a thriving one here.

One of the other factors that made a big difference was that a friend of mine, Paul, told me of the position at his work (he’s head of that team) and that from seeing my websites, thought I would be quite suitable for it. So my ongoing thoughts about my career, plus the offer, plus the timing (end of school semester) were too much to ignore, and there you go.

I’ll have to get used to actually working hard again. I’ll have to wear long pants, even when it’s not cold. I’ll need to get used to work in an office. I’ll have to do a BIG commute (possibly and hour ride by bicycle or motorbike, up to one and a half by bus). I’m going to have to learn a whole new skillset. But its all good, I need something to push me and make me work hard.

It was my birthday on Tuesday (June 12th). Just getting older, and sharing that with all of you.

We will be holding Christina’s first birthday this Sunday.

Date: 21st May, 2007

Time: 12:00 (midday)

Venue: Our house in Taipei ( http://peterandava.com/contact/ for details)

Call if you get lost or want directions.

Well, we are down in Tainan for the week, over the Chinese New Year, we’ve been busy seeing family and just hanging out, so actually not all that busy. Christina, being the first baby in this generation has been on the receiving end of a few red envelopes, which traditionally contain some money, which will help with her spending habits when she goes to South Africa.

It will be a busy two weeks back at work before heading off to South Africa as I have quite a few deadlines to meet, which absolutely have to be done before leaving.

Christina has been sick since the beginning of last week, with a bit of a fever and runny tummy. Quite a few restless nights have left Ava quite tired, but Christina is feeling better now, which means Ava is getting her sleep again too. I missed most of this as they were back in Tainan for the week before the holiday, while I went to back to Taipei to work for the week. 

Now, in Tainan again… 

Tonight we went to a restaurant, and I decided to test out my skills in paying for the meal, which is quite a big deal here. Let me explain…

It is usually known who will pay for a meal out, but you need to make a bit of a scene and try to pay for the meal anyway. You usually go to the counter and start insisting that you pay for the meal, but then the other person counters, saying you can pay for it this time, you respond by telling how they paid for it last time, and so on and so forth, until the end is reached, and in our case, Ava’s dad ended up paying for it anyway.

So, I’ll see those of you in South Africa (or those who will be going there) in a few weeks.

Pretty much everything has been planned for our trip back to South Africa.

We’ll be heading back in March next year for 3 weeks. James and Michelle’s wedding is on the 20th of March so we wanted to be there for that. It’s also the first time that Granny and Grandpa will get to see their new grandchildren.

Here’s our timetable…

Departure
Saturday, March 10th, 2007
Taipei to Hong Kong
CX451 - TPE 20:00 - HKG 21:45
Hong Kong to Johannesburg
CX749 - HKG 23:45 - JNB 06:35+1

Visit Chris in Johannesburg for the day and night.

Monday, March 12th, 2007
Johannesburg to Durban
SA543 - JNB 10:10 - DUR 11:20

Return
Saturday, March 31st, 2007
Durban to Johannesburg
SA542 - DUR 9:40 - JNB 10:50
Johnnesburg to Hong Kong
CX748 - JNB 12:50 - HKG 07:55+1
Hong Kong to Taipei
CX450 - HKG 10:10+1 - TPE 11:55+1

That’s it for the moment, but in the meantime I would like any suggestions as to what you think we should do as tourists. We will have a little more time than we did last time, so we can probably get out and about and go see some sights.

Anyone got any particular ideas about this, I’m still thinking about it and deciding what our itinery should be. If we don’t have one I could see us going to the Pavilion (local shopping mall) a few too many times.

Hope everyone’s well and for those who are in Durban, see you in March.

I’ve upgraded my site so that you can now watch the videos on the website without downloading them. I’ve added a lot of videos and also put a lot more pictures onto the photo album.

You can go ahead and check them out if you like, but that’s all from me for now.