As part of an ongoing effort to get Amber used to the water, we took her swimming again today. Instead of the pool in Fengyuan we've taken her to previously, we visited one in the nearby town of Taya (Daya) which was recommended by a student of mine. But first, ignoring the old adage about waiting 30 mintues after eating before going into the water, we went to a stinky tofu restaurant around the corner from the pool to have lunch. Amber, as usual, lapped up the attention given her by the staff
Our lunch. Not being a fan of stinky tofu (the bowl in the far back), I ate the three dishes in front. Both Pamela and I had Tsingtao Beer. My mom never said anything about waiting 30 mintues after drinking before going swimming, so I figured it was OK.
The pool was inside a non-descript building in a nondescript neighborhood in Taya:
According to the business card I picked up at the counter, the name of the pool is "Ren Ren Itoman Swimming School". It's a mix of Chinese ("Ren Ren") and Japanese ("Itoman" 伊藤萬). Being a swimming school, there was only one big pool, with none of the children's play areas or spa baths for adults like some of the large swimming pools here have. However, being a swimming school, the water was very clean. And they offer swimming classes for infants on Saturdays, which is something worth looking into for Amber.
The weather today was overcast and relatively cool, which meant there were only a handful of people at the pool today. No complaints from me about that. Amber was a little scared about going in the water, and cried a lot at first. But she started to relax, and soon was enjoying herself in the pool. Having her plastic crab toy along for the swim no doubt made her feel better:
I feel it's very important to get children accustomed to the water from as young an age as possible. To this end, I plan on taking Amber to the pool often. I'm also looking forward to when she's old enough to experience the beach, and to soak in hot springs. Taiwan may be an island, but there are a lot of kids here who don't know how to swim. I don't want Amber to be one of them.
Leaving Taya for home, with a storm approaching.
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