This year I ordered 50 styrofoam eggs online. I wanted the plastic eggs that come in two halves but couldn’t find them anywhere. Also, eggs here are brown which don’t make them good for dying, so they were out, as well. So I bought styrofoam ones and decorated them by gluing decorative napkins to them to make them pretty and after Theo went to bed, Ter and I hid them (in plain sight) around the apartment…which the cats loved.

We had the eggs kicking around the house for more than a week and the cats expressed little to no interest in them. But as soon as we placed them on Theo’s slide or tucked them up next to the DVD player, it became play time. We were subjected all night to the sound of egg after egg being knocked out of hiding and batted across the floor. It could have been annoying, but we chose to be amused instead. Easier that way.

The Easter Bunny also brought Theo a Sprig Toys set of a boat and airplane I had gotten at Costco back in March. I unpacked it from its box and put it Theo’s Easter basket, a basket I upcycled (much nicer word than ‘fished out of the garbage’) on recycling day at our building and decorated with ribbon.

Theo didn’t do too badly with the egg hut. He seemed to enjoy finding some of the eggs then lost interest. The toys were a hit though. Both the boat and the plane came with a man. I didn’t realize that Theo had no human figurines until he babbled on and on about ‘man man man man man’ and was quite excited about them. He also pretty much immediately made airplane noises at the airplane.

So, all in all, it was a good morning at the Hansens and a successful first Easter.

My five unconditional likes, in no particular order:

1. proofreading
I’ve come to learn of myself that I’m very project oriented. I’m not so good with long-term stuff, but give me a project and a deadline and I’m your woman. I get a number of chances to do proofreading here in Korea and I love it…even when I hate it. It’s often challenging, sometimes easy, and when it’s done, it’s a job well done. I always feel a sense of accomplishment when I’m done.

2. Easter
In my 10 years in Korea, there have been years where I’ve completely missed Easter, as it isn’t really recognized here and I haven’t always had a western calendar on my wall. But in the years I have remembered I celebrate with my annual viewing of Jesus Christ Superstar and sometimes a special meal, usually turkey or ham. This year is Theo’s real first Easter. The Easter bunny is coming Saturday night to hide eggs about the house for him to find. And in later years, I’ll tell him the story, which, religious or not, is a pretty good one, even if it’s Andrew Lloyd Webber telling it.

3. parades
Parades are cool. Even bad ones. There aren’t many in Busan, but there is supposed to be one today for the annual Eobang Festival, but it looks like it’ll be stormed out, unfortunately. Otherwise, we’d be there.

4. In the Night Garden

A year ago, if you told me that Makapaka and the Tumblyboos went for a ride in the Ninkynonk and on their trip they passed Upsy Daisy and the Hahoos I’d have had no idea what you were talking about. These days that sentence just rolls off my tongue.

5. Q the Podcast
I think that CBC Radio has the best programmes (and programming) in the world, hands down, and one of my favorites is Q with Jian. I feel fortunate that I live in an age where I can download and listen to it daily, toddler permitting.

In the media age, I’m not a 2.0 kind of person. I’m a lurker. I subscribe to a hundred blogs, have Twitter and Facebook accounts, and read 4 separate forums daily. But I rarely tweet, update my FB status, post comments or post on the blos/forums I follow. I don’t like writing.

But…I’ve found myself recently wanting an outlet other than FB statuses to talk/vent/preach/bitch/comment and thought I’d perhaps resurrect this old site and see how it goes.

So, welcome, friends, and enter.