Dad is back!

I went to pick dad up in Auckland Airport after work. The plane was delayed for about half an hour. I was lucky that there is a car park close to the airport. I read Cosmo and ate whitebairt sandwich in the car park. I went to get a new pair of sneakers and two photo frames in the Warehouse. Dad is quite excited about coming back to New Zealand because nobody takes care of him in Taiwan. Driving is difficult, roads have changed and it's hard to find where you are going. He had to fix a lot of things at home, like the toilet system, washing machine, and move the television to avoid flooding. The screws on the toilet system had rusted away and it fell to the ground. The roaches crawled around in the toilet and made everything dirty. He had to clean up and asked his friend to come and fix the toilet system with him. The chairs had rotted so they fell apart. He bought white glue to paste the chair together, and filled up the gap using icecream sticks. Two typhoons attacked Taiwan when he was there and the rain seeped into our house. He moved the television to avoid getting wet. Meeting our second cousins was fun. Aunty Joan's grandson ate some candy and couldn't swallowed them, and dad said that he will have to drink water. He didn't believe dad, then he gagged. Dad poured some water for him so he could swallow. After that he listened to dad every time and just followed his order. He's a good kid. Angelina was not so good. She's a bit of a brat still. I think it's because she's the centre of the attention of everyone. She can get away with anything and nobody will punish her. If she has a younger brother or sister, she may not be so bratty anymore. Dad got wedding cakes from Cousin John's engagement. He's going to get married with a doctor. She also immigrated to Australia, and went back to Taiwan to be a doctor. She's been a doctor for more than a year now. Grandpa was doing ok, just very warm and wearing shorts at the moment. Dad's old friend Mr. Tse was doing fine, too. His wife refurbished the house so rooms can be rented out to pay for the morgage. Gina was great, still studying her Masters in university and working. Dad was going to see aunt Tsai Show but the typhoon came. He talked with Wei about his future. Dad's trip to Taiwan was busy. He had to fix things at home and mow the lawn. He bought us classical movies like Roman Holiday and Romeo and Juliet. We will have a great time watching those. It's the long weekend. I wonder what I will do. Richard is going to take me to see Hamish in Tauranga. He's going to help Stacey dock some sheep in Taranaki. I will probably tell dad about going to Europe and do some housework. I hope he won't be too angry about me going. Why would he be angry anyway?

Library tours

Richard and I went to buy the rice cooker in Warehouse yesterday. It's 20% off and slow cooker and deep fry machine are also 20% off. We parked our car in a very narrow street, and went to City Library in search of English Chinese dictionary. I found two good recipes, one for curry, the other for general food, and a book about making journals. I want to make a travel journal for my Europe trip. I should make an easy and sturdy one. I wanted to find some dollmaking books, but the library didn't have a good one. I will have to go to another library to find suitable books to read.
Richard photocopied some common words from the dictionary that he found. It's a great dictionary that include Zuying Fuhao, traditional Chinese and English. It also describes tones, how to pronouce words, and have other useful words as well.
Experiment is pretty full on today, but I still manage to finish everything around three o'clock so I can pick dad up. He is coming back to New Zealand today. Shelley came to visit us with baby Matthew. He's very cute, and keeping Shelley up at night. He's already 7 weeks old! We had a delicious morning tea from Chris.
I am not sure what's happening with the 10000 steps challenge. What's our team name? We will be given a pedometer when the competition starts. Knowing how my day goes, I think it won't be too hard to reach 10000 steps.
Richard and I had lunch together and we went to university library to find dictionary. However, the search was fruitless. We will have to look elsewhere.

What's been happening lately

It's been a while since I last blogged, but that doesn't mean that life isn't interesting. I've been busy doing experiment at work, trying to start Northern Blot for the first time. It involves a lot of steps, and I am learning new techniques.
It was the volleyball competition final today, we did really well and won the competition. The Kirton Razors got the trophy. My serving has improved a lot and I have managed to serve across the net every time in this game. I am very happy. Richard came to watch our game and spent some time with me after the game.
The weather has finally improved today, however, it's still quite windy. It's supposed to be sunny and warm but it has been raining and cold lately. Don't know why the weather is unpredictable, and some people are sick because they are caught without jackets and sweaters.
Dad is coming back this Thursday and he's not communicating with us at all. That's a real holiday, I gather. We know he's fine, he knows we are fine, and we will leave it at that.
I spent Saturday and Sunday tidying up my room, vacuuming and cleaning the toilet. Richard and I went to babysit on Saturday evening so Bronwyn can celebrate her wedding anniversary with Ross. Sam got some chips from McDonald's because we went to get dinner there before going to their place. Emma was her usual cheerful self. The kids didn't give us any trouble at all, sleeping soundly until their parents were back. We watched The Chronicles of Riddick, and Richard found information about the furyans and necromongers in the movie online. It was quite interesting. The Chronicles of Riddick was a computer game, and it had been made into two movies and some animated movies. The story is quite facinating, and I guess that's why the game and the movies are popular.
Fuzzy has found a job. Good on her. She is completing her assignments and studying for exams. She is also organising a party for her birthday. I am not sure what I will make for her special day, but I am taking her to Brooke Fraser concert as birthday present.