The Cuban Immigrants

There was a serious element to our Cancun trip. While we were waiting for our flight home, a group of about 35 people were escorted to the gate. I thought it was peculiar that they would round up these people, and escort them on the plane, but didn't think much of it for most of the flight. We flew into Miami first before proceeding to D.C.

As we went through customs, I noticed that the same group of 35 people were again rounded up. Some of the women and men were crying profusely. At this point, I'm kind of taken back, because you don't normally see a large group of people, and quite a few of them crying.

Finally, someone told me that they were Cuban immigrants. They had to fly to Mexico first, then to the states. The immigrants were on a three year waiting list, and had to be sponsored by a relative, and had to have a job secured for them before coming over to the states.

This was very humbling for me to see. I've spent a week loafing around Mexico, and this was probably such a life changing event for all 35 people.

Another passenger told me that she ended up talking to one of the immigrants who told her that his grandfather had upset Castro, and was then put on a blacklist. So, his grandfather could not find work, his father couldn't find work, and finally he couldn't find work. They were just living on the kindness of other relatives. It's just such an amazing story.

I didn't see the Cubans after we left customs, but I'm thinking of them, and their new life.

Back from Cancun and not liking the weather...

Well, we're back! The trip was great. We spent alot of time at the beach, pool, eating, and shopping.

Our hotel has a great Kids' Club, and the kids spent a couple of hours a day there....which allowed Momma and Daddy Hu to spend some time alone.

We went to Isla Mujeres, and took the kids to swim with the dolphins. Of course, they did not allow me to take pictures while we were swimming with the dolphins, and I ended up buying pictures that actually cost more than the cost of admission.

There was hardly anyone in Cancun. We went after the holidays, and before the start of springbreak. I've been to Cancun before when it was so busy, you'd literally step over bodies to get around. This time, we had our pick of lounges, and spots.

We also went on a "submarine." Okay, it's not really a submarine, but a glass bottom boat. In order to get to the glass bottom boat, you have to take a speed boat from the lagoon which takes you to a spot in the middle of the ocean where the glass bottom boat awaits you. It takes about 20 minutes or so to get to the gbb.

They were passing out free beer on the way to the gbb, so I figured...hey...it's free, and I'm feeling festive...so I down two bottles of beer in 20 minutes. Then we get to the gbb.

All I'm saying is the captain of that fucking gbb should never have gotten his boat license! We kept verving to miss the coral, or if he found some interesting marine life he'd chase after it. Before we started moving, the narrator was kind enough to make an announcement informing us that there were plastic bags underneath our seats...just in case.

10 minutes into the ride, I'm getting greener and greener. Meanwhile, my husband screamed at me to look at the sea turtle that's right out my window. I just looked at him, and told him "Just don't talk to me."

I sat two rows away from the hatch, and the college kid that sat right behind me wasn't feeling all that great as well. He probably was about 6"3 and built like a linebacker. I asked him to knock on the hatch door so that I can get out. Seeing how sick I was, he starts banging on the door probably praying to God that I wasn't going to get sick on him. As the hatch opened, three guys looked down and said "Lady, you 'kay?" No, I'm not okay!!!!!

I'm crawling out of the bottom, and college kid/linebacker comes up with me. Now, he's asking me if I'm okay. Will people stop talking to me? I look at him as I frantically try to open my plastic bag, and proceeded to vomit....twice. Well, that set college kid/linebacker as well, because he throws up as well. And then he has the nerve to tell me that I'm contagious! What? Okay, he's obviously not going to a good college....

So, there's little short me, and the linebacker just standing there on top of gbb trying to ask the Mexican sailors for napkins. They totally didn't understand...

The gbb finally glides us to the speed boat. I swear, I almost started crying tears of joy. I looked over to college kid/linebacker and he has the same look. We both jumped on the speedboat. Where I proceeded to drink water, and college kid/linebacker asked for a beer.....

Other than that particular excursion, the trip went well. The weather was great the whole time, and we'd like to make it our annual trip. It was a huge shock coming from 88 degree weather to about 8 degree weather (we got home around midnight on wednesday night). But it's good to be home.

So...here are some pictures. Enjoy!

T'was the night before Christmas, and the carnage after.

On Christmas eve, after much last minute shopping...we finally got the kids ready for bed. They were determined to meet Santa this year. So...we allowed them to camp out in our family room.

The eldest would not let me buy cookies for Santa, because in her words "He needs to go on a diet." I almost died laughing in the grocery store. Yet candy canes, and a small piece of Ghirardelli chocolate is okay.

The little jingle bell was for the reindeer...just in case they lose one of theirs.

Not much sleep happening.

Too excited to sleep.

Finally, around 11pm, we realized that the kids were asleep. My husband had to sneak into the garage (I bought a few more toys on Christmas eve at 7pm...yes, I know, I was asking for trouble, but seeing the mass of humanity at Toys R Us...I didn't feel like such a chump). Our garage door is right next to couch, and the door creaks. I was cringing when he slid the door open. Let's just say that my husband will never make the cut for the C.I.A.

As we were wrapping the last few presents, we heard little feet come down the stairs. We flung the presents, scissors, tape, and wrapping paper in the back room just in time to see our son ask us if Santa arrived yet.

We finally got everything wrapped and underneath the tree around 2am. The kids woke us up at 6:30am.

The eldest with her most requested gift.

The male progeny with his most requested gift.

She wasted no time getting the Nintendo DS open.

Neither did he.

The irony of Christmas morning? The son took all the discarded boxes, and started playing with those instead of his new presents. I could have saved a ton of money my child!

Ah, but look at that smile.

Daddy Hu bought Momma Hu this for Christmas. Hmm...I really appreciate this, but I'm starting to wonder if it's a hint about my current physical condition. Thanks babe!

Daddy had the unfortunate task of trying to put a Lego set together.


Daddy Hu also received a gift from Santa...he got an iPOD nano.

L, Thanks for hosting Christmas lunch/dinner! C, Daddy Hu had a great time hanging out with your hubby, and we'll try to have you guys over for dinner soon. I hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Why I can never be a chef...

I set my alarm to wake up at 6am. My office party is today. For some reason, I thought that making two quiches FRESH this morning was a good idea. So, I spent about 30 minutes cutting, dicing, slicing, etc....put the two quiches in the oven around 6:30am, made a cup of coffee, and figured that I had plenty of time to relax. Well, the timer just went off....I went to check on the quiches, and they were.....uncooked.

I'm not sure how I turned off the oven, but I apparently did. I have at least another hour before I have to get the kids on the bus, but damn...it's not my morning!

Holiday Gifts for teachers

I am one of three room parents for my son's kindergarten class. Since we are in a Chinese Immersion Program, we have two teachers. Both the kindergarten and1st grade class (my daughter is in the 1st grade Chinese Immersion Program) share the same two teachers.

This year, the 1st grade room parents and I decided to combine our respective classes holiday contributions and get gift cards for the teachers.

Guess how much we collected? $600! That's $300 per teacher. I am really excited, because we all know that teachers are sorely underpaid. There is one teacher in particular who is always at our school. I remember seeing her after a PTA meeting (and it was way after 8:30pm) at school. I am amazed at how much time teachers actually spend at their jobs.

What amazes me more is the incredible generosity from the parents. I didn't ask for a particular amount, but left it up to each family to donate as little or as much as they'd like.

One family in particular has fallen on hard times, but the mom came up to me and gave me a contribution. I can tell that she was embarrassed by the amount that she gave me (a bag of 7 quarters), and actually started to tear up and said that she wished she could have given more. I told her that her donation was incredibly generous and gave her a smile (I really was trying to keep from tearing up in front of her).

I know that Christmas can be an incredibly commercialized and materialistic time, but it's people like that particular mom that has restored my faith in the season.

We're going to Cancun!!!!

We finally booked our trip last night. I'm exhausted after researching all the different places that we wanted to visit. Seriously...I booked our trip at 1:31am last night.

First, we started with the Dominican Republic, then we moved to Hawaii, but was told by family members that it's the rainy season and since we only wanted to take a week off from work....the 12 hour flight (with layovers) did not seem too appealing.

We even thought about going to Europe, but the Euro is still so strong, and it's cold there....

We decided that we definitely want to go some where warm, where we wouldn't feel guilty just sitting and reading.

This will be our fourth time there, but we've never taken the kids. Because we are cheap...we are taking the kids out of school the first week of January....yeah, I know...I should feel guilty about the truancy issue, huh? But it'll save us $800!

We hopefully will be able to take them to a Sea Turtle Sanctuary and a dolphin discovery program while we are there.

Both Mama and Papa Hu sorely need a vacation. So, we're off to "ME-HE-CO" January 7th!

Voting with a child

I just got back from voting. I couldn't sleep last night. I woke up with a source of nervous energy. The interesting thing....my daughter actually woke up before I did.

For the last few weeks, she's been keenly aware of the elections. In fact, her classmates were discussing "who" they were voting for. I thought this was interesting. I'm not sure if it's due to our proximity to D.C. or if children every where are keen about the elections.

Since our daughter seemed so interested, we agreed that she could come with one of us to go vote. While driving to the polling station, there was a radio ad for Barack Obama, and my daughter said "That sounds like Barack." Again, I am so surprised how much she can differentiate between the candidates.

We discussed that once we were in line, we probably shouldn't voice who we are voting for. I told her that voting is a very personal matter, and other people may not be voting for the same person. She totally got that.

We passed cars with McCain bumper stickers, and she counted them along the way. She also counted Obama bumper stickers as well.

The line wasn't horribly long, but we did end up waiting for 30 minutes (and I got there around 6:55am). The person in front of us is originally from Trinidad, and the person behind us is originally from Honduras, and I'm originally from Vietnam. My daughter asked us why we were allowed to vote since none of us were born in the U.S. I told her even if we were not born in the U.S., we all became U.S. citizens and are priviledged enough to vote. It was an interesting history lesson, and my daughter really enjoyed talking to our fellow voters.

When we finally got to our poll booth, my daughter quietly watched me vote. I had a flashback of my own childhood...going to vote with my parents. That left an impression on me. The importance of a vote, and I hope today left an impression on my daughter as well.

I guess it has....she asked me when she can start voting. I told her when she turned 18 years old.

We left hand in hand, but not before buying $10 worth of baked goods and coffee.