Our cat うちの猫

This is Chiou-chiou 球ちゃん, our pure-breed Chinchilla. In theory, he should be worth a lot of money. However, a minor defect with one of his ears, combined with the fact that he has been fixed, has made him worthless, except to us of course. His age is unknown, though he must be a couple of years past ten at least. Pamela acquired him a few years ago, and I married into him so to speak when I married his owner (BTW, our fourth anniversary was last Thursday). I've lived with cats most of my life, so I had no trouble accepting Chiou-chiou, and he took to me from the beginning as well (except for one time when he decided to relieve himself on my bed when Pamela brought him over for a visit while we were dating, but that's water under the bridge...so to speak). Since the birth of our daughter, I've assumed more responsibilities towards Chiou-chiou, such as feeding him, and cleaning out the litter box.

Chiou-chiou's been going through a period of difficulty recently. He's always had problems with his urinary tract, which necessitates restricting him to a special diet, and he had an especially difficult time when we were living in Yokkaichi, Japan (unlike yours truly, who wishes he could go back to Japan to live, but that's another story). Ever since he returned to Taiwan a year ago, he had been doing much better, but for the past few days he's been having a lot of troubles, going from uncontrollable urination to the inability to urinate and back to the first problem. It's causing a lot more work around the home, but I can't blame him for things beyond his control.

I really hope Amber will have Chiou-chiou around for a while. I'd like her to feel as comfortable around animals, especially cats, as I do. Hang in there, boy! がんばって！

Fine Arts

Today being Sunday, and not a bad Sunday at that weather-wise, Amber, Pamela and I got in the car and drove into Taichung. Our destination was the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts http://english.cca.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=13492&ctNode=3958 Here's what it looks like from the outside:

The inside is pretty large, though it could utilize its space better. The main exhibit was "Contemporary Art in Taiwan since 1987". Some pieces were very well done, some were disturbing, some were pretentious and some were just plain ridiculous. In short, a pretty typical art museum exhibition. And it was free (and air-conditioned). Many of the pieces were definitely not appropriate for young children, but that didn't stop a lot of parents from bringing their kids. At least ours, being only six months old, probably won't suffer any long-term emotional scars from the experience. But I have made a note in future to first check out what's on display before allowing Amber to see anything.

Afterwards, we took a long walk along the park that stretches from the front of the art museum down to Nan-tun Road. Amber really enjoys being outdoors, not to mention being told how cute she is by strangers. I used to think I'd be annoyed by Taiwanese making a big fuss out of a child born to a white father and an Asian mother, but it turns out I'm just another proud dad. Here are some pictures of Amber from today's outing:

(I'm not sure, but could my daughter be telling me something, British-style?)

 

On the way back to the museum, we passed by an apartment building with a large painting of the Mona Lisa on the wall in front. At least this is how da Vinci would've painted her had he been born and raised in Taichung, Taiwan. In the background on the left is Taichung Park http://twcam.www.gov.tw/webcam/english/scenery/main.jsp?view_id=74&belong_id=8&who=view and on the other side is the art museum.

 

If this is an attempt to win back Taichung's old moniker of being the "Culture City", which disappeared under an avalanche of KTV's (karaoke joints), pachinko parlors, love motels and other questionable business establishments, the town's still got a lot of work to do.

いらっしゃい. Greetings!

I'll dispense with the self-introduction. Let's face it - the only ones who will ever check out this page will be those who already know me. For those lost souls who find themselves at this site by accident, bits and pieces of my life will seep out from time to time. In the meantime, I hope to periodically fill you in on what is going on in my very small corner of the world that is Fongyuan, Taiwan. But for now, I'm off to bed. Goodnight and おやすみなさい。