Labor?

For the first time since I got pregnant I'm feeling something close to labor pain. It feels sort of like period cramps but more all over. It doesn't feel good. :(

Family Affairs

Yesterday my brother got married, and I couldn't be there. I'm too advanced in my pregnancy to be allowed to fly to San Francisco where the wedding took place.

This fact that I couldn't be at my only brother's wedding nagged on me for the last many months. Sometimes I really hate that my family is scattered all around the world. That's why I'm really happy about moving to Korea (another post) and being close to my parents and my extended family. I would never have thought that I'd be the type to want to live close to family. But after years of living far away from them, I really appreciate what it means to be family.

Now Is the Month of Maying

I haven't blogged a while, but many things have happened this month, some eventful and some not.

For one thing, I've gotten in touch with a friend from the past, Michelle who I knew when I was a student at Barnard more than ten years back. She looked me up out of the blue and saw my wedding registry from two years ago. She initially contacted David whose email was registered with this particular registry. I'm super happy to connect with Michelle again. She used to be a real friend back then. We even went to the Atlanta Olympics together in 1998.
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A lot of the baby related things are getting done on schedule. We were given many things by Shmulik and Tanapa as I posted earlier. We also bought some of the things. People keep offering up to donate their old baby things that we haven't had a chance to indulge ourselves to buy new things! I really want to buy a McClaren Techno XT pram after the initial four months, when the baby needs to lie down flat, are through with a used pram given to us by our dear friends Merav and Amir. Then yesterday someone else volunteered to give us a "like-new" PegPerego pram. I suppose the baby's so small and won't even know the difference, but I can't help myself feeling guilty about piling used items on such a new person. But who can deny free things?
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In the mean while, David was offered a job post in Korea at a university, and turned it down. Then out of the blue a better option turned up, also in Korea, by an old colleague who is now working in Korea. It was a hard decision the first time around, but now we simply don't know what to do. To go or not to go?!
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So far no success was made in locating a special USB cable needed for the Olympus digital camera that I own. It was originally a camera I bought for my dad for his last birthday. Then Mom confiscated it from him and decided to give it (back) to me because he wasn't using it. When the package arrived it came without the USB and AV cables that the instruction says it should. Dad doesn't remember the existence of these items, so I decided to go and buy new ones here. Apparently the type of USB cable Olympus uses is a special kind with five pins instead of six which is standard. It's so frustrating to have a camera ready and not the cable!!
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Yesterday, Yuen and I went to Zara and bought this beautiful flowing dress for me. It's in blue and eggplant prints, and goes all the way to my ankles which is great because I can use some camouflage around my legs at the moment! It's a halter top with wide ribbon to be tied up my neck, and the ribbon is long enough that it flows down to my chest. The chest area is scooped and cut like a bikini top. This caused David to say "You're poring out of there!", but I can't help it. I'm pouring out of most all cloths at this stage. From below the chest it's got lots of folds and simply flows. Too bad I can't show it in a picture alas to the cable! I feel beautifully pregnant in this dress and Yuen assured me that I can wear it "even after you give birth since you will still have some stomach for a while." Great.

The beach in Haifa is heavenly this time of the year. I love so much to go there with Ocean (our dog) for a walk.

Catching Up

My friend Michelle and I met back when we were freshmen at Barnard college. She and I lived in the same dorm, and we used to get up to all kinds of mischief together. Oh wait, I think that was me, and she was the sane one who kept me in check...

Michelle was a judoka (and still is, it turned out) which meant that she was dead serious about Judo. She used to let me come to her practice and watch. Her dream was to be part of the U.S. Olympic team. She eventually moved to Colorado and transferred to Colorado College to be near the Olympic Training Center. As for me, I dropped out of Barnard and moved to Hong Kong.

We were still in touch until about two years after I moved to HK. Then we didn't talk again until one day recently she found David's contact, and enquired about me! I had changed my email address since, and I guess I had forgotten to let her know. So many things have happened since anyhow. There are many things that we didn't share with each other anymore.

I was ecstatic about being put in touch again with Michelle. We are now writing to each other very very often, like everyday, and we spoke on the phone for good two hours catching up with things. I should have known that she's extremely accepting and open. My life took lots of turns since we last saw each other, and I wasn't sure how to go about telling her all the things, but she got them as they were, like a good friend would. I always loved that about her.

I hope Michelle and I can see each other soon. That day will come once I give birth and she's done with the Olympics trial and possibly attendance this year. Yay!

Bye Paola, and Good Luck!

My friend Paola has left Israel this morning to give birth in Italy where she comes from. She's one of the first friends that I made in Israel. In fact she and I met in the conversion course in which I enrolled when I first arrived in Israel two and a half years ago. At that time, we were both alone in the country (her husband still in London and mine in Hong Kong), and didn't know exactly what we were doing. We held on to each other for support and whatever little good time we could manage given the circumstances. I will never forget how we used to roam the whole city of Jerusalem from the shuk to the ancient sites in the old city.

Since our time in Jerusalem, I moved to Haifa with David and Paola to Tel Aviv with Uzzy, but our friendship continued through daily phone conversations, and weekly meetings in Tel Aviv coffee shops. She was also kind enough to be a subject of my makeup work several times when I desperately needed to build up my portfolio.

I don't know what course Paola's life will take now that she left Israel (long story). I hope the very very best for my dear friend Paola.

Hand-me-downs

Yesterday, David and I drove down to Jerusalem to pick up some baby stuff from our friends Shmulik and Tanapa. Their baby Shir is two years old now, and they had lots of things they wanted to hand down to us for our little baby-to-come.

The things we received include: a baby crib for 0 to 5 months old babies; a play pan crib (which I love. I think it will be extra useful for us since we have a dog. With this apparatus I can do things around the house without worrying about our dog attacking the baby.); loads and loads of clothes; push cart for the baby to hold on to while practicing walking.

Tanapa also gave me some lessons on what to do with the baby. For example, she told me that I need to have our baby play on his stomach when he's awake in order to practice his neck muscles.

I was told "Wow, you're fat now!" when I walked into their apartment. I guess I am much bigger, but at this stage I feel OK about the way I look. I'm going to post a few pictures of my belly when I figure out the camera Mom sent me.