Up Close and Personal

by Amy

When Sue came to visit, one of the things she really wanted to do was see the main venues for those big games last month. It just so happened that while paraolympics were going on, we were able to get tickets. The day we had tickets for didn't turn out to be a very pretty day, but at least it didn't rain on us, and it was a little cooler than normal. We had a great time. The grounds/greens were really well done, with tons of flowers and water fountains. And at night all the lights on the different buildings were really beautiful.

We had tickets to go into the bird's nest. That place was huge!! It was fun to be there and to be able to watch several different events going on at one time. One of the most interesting was the blind 100m dash. Most of the runners had a guide who ran with them. And, I assume because there are varying degrees of blindness, all of the competitors had to wear a mask over their eyes.

Can you find Sue, Brad and the boys? Savannah and I walked to the other side of the stadium to check out the long jump, and we took their pic. They're over there somewhere! I was so surprised at how full the stadium was.

I really enjoyed being there. It was fun to understand people as they talked about us, then to turn around and answer the questions they are asking..."Yes, they are twins, No, she's only 6 years old. Americans are tall. I know he's cute -- he's MY husband!" -- OK, so that last one didn't' really happen.... It seemed to make people so happy to hear us -- especially the kids -- talk in their local language.

You cannot even begin guess how many people were standing around taking pictures of my kids (and me) climbing on this 'piece of art!' It was crazy how many camera were flashing! After this some dude ran chased us down and offered my kids some tattoos. Savannah loved hers and kept it on for as long as possible - hence the tattoo her model pics in the previous post. Peter didn't want his, so I got it! Alex and I had matching tattoos.



The Greens were especially beautiful at night... We really enjoyed waking around and seeing so many of the things we had seen only on TV. We obviously took A TON of pics! Sorry to overwhelm you with so many in this post.

Strike a Pose

by Amy

While Sue was here, she was constantly taking pictures of our kids (until she threw her camera into the pool, that is!). So, before she left, Brad and I went through all the pictures on her camera so we could copy them to our computer. We were laughing so hard at all the "model-type" pictures of our daughter. I'm not sure who taught her to strike a pose, and I promise she doesn't read teen magazines or watch questionable things on TV.... So, here's the fashion show!

Enjoy... (and try not to notice all the bruises on her legs! She loves to play outside!)

The Pasta Pot

by Amy

As we've probably mentioned before, our kids have recently begun attending a new kindergarten. This school is great for many reasons, one being that it's about a 2 min. walk from my building, and two being that it's really small so it has a great teacher:kid ratio. My kids love going and often ask why they aren't going able to go on the weekends.

Last week the teachers brought three turtles into the classroom. They vary in size, from a little bigger than a silver dollar to the size of a dinner plate, but, to quote Savannah, "They're all kids." Our kids have had a blast playing with those crazy turtles!

When asking the kids what they did at school one day last week, they all eagerly told us about taking the turtles to the "pasta pot." "Oh, really?!?" I tried to play along... "Where is this pasta pot? How big is this pasta pot?" But I never got any clues to what exactly they were refering to. When we got home and they told Sue all about it, she asked, "What's a pasta pot?" "Grandma, it's what you cook spaghetti in!"

Thanks, Savannah, that's helpful! Thanks to some pictures the teachers showed me, I discovered that the pasta pot is actually a shallow water fountain in our complex. Supposedly the turtles love to swim.

Home again!

by Amy

I'm home again and it's so great!! I can hardly remember a time feeling so loved as I did when I walked through that door on Saturday afternoon! The kids had made signs and cards, decorated the door (thanks to Grandma's help), and were full of hugs and kisses! Even Brad expressed numerous times that he was so glad I was back and asked me to never go away again!

My three day language class was great! I am so thankful that I was able to go and take it, but I was absolutely exhausted after it! Listening and speaking in another language for over 10 hours a day was way more than I'm used to! I have even been dreaming -- not in English -- every night since my first day of class. It's crazy!

My class ended on Friday night at 5:45 pm. I was scheduled to leave town on an 8:35 pm flight. I asked a friend who lives in that city what time I should leave the hotel to catch my flight. He recommended leaving at 7pm. So, instead, I decided to take my luggage with me to dinner at a restaurant halfway between my hotel and the airport. I got my dinner to go and was outside at 7:15 waiting for a taxi. At 7:35, after moving down the street to a huge intersection, I call Brad and ask him to pray that I get a taxi right away! I assume the big suitcase I had sitting next to me told all the taxi drivers where I was heading, and since many of them were getting off work, they wouldn't take me to the airport. I told several drivers that stopped near me, "I'll pay you a lot of money, just take me to the airport!!" I didn't work. At 7:45 I call my friend who lives in that city and ask him what I should do. He said that if I could catch a taxi right then, I should get there before the check-in counter closed -- 30 minutes before the flight takes off --8:05. But, I did not catch a taxi right then....

So, I called my husband and told him I would not be coming home that night. I wasn't' sure what to do, but I'd try to get a ticket for Saturday. He was clearly just as disappointed as I was. Then, my wonderful husband, said, "I'll take care of it. You go to you hotel and read a book and relax. Keep your phone on and I'll call you and let you know what to do." Whew! What a relief that was to me. I was already exhausted and over my limit, so I was happy to have him handle that for me. Sure enough, at about 9:00 Brad called. He had figured out how to get a partial refund for my unused ticket and had purchased a new one for me. So, I hopped on a plane at 8:15 Saturday morning. "(FYI - It took me 20 minutes to get from my hotel to the airport on Saturday morning.)

Oh, it was sooo good to be home. I was exhausted! I slept for almost 3 hours on Saturday afternoon and was still ready to go back to bed at 9:30 that night. Wow! What a trip! I'm so thankful for the things I learned from my class and for the wonderful family I got to come home to!

Whoops!

by Amy

While we were in a hotel a few weeks ago, I called down to housekeepping and requested an extra blanket/quilt for our kids. Our language is a tonal language, and if you don't get the tones just right, it can change the entire meaning! So, about five minutes after my phone call, a housekeeping guy promply came -- with a coffee cup in hand. I had tried to ask for a for a BEIzi (quilt), but he brought a beizi (cup) instead. We got a good laugh out of that one! Ugghh!! Will we ever get this language down!?!?

The Joys of Being a Foreigner!

by Amy


Being a foreigner definitely has it's drawbacks, but there are a few perks... For example, our Wal-Mart is on the second and third floors of a four story building. You can enter Wal-Mart from the second or third floor, but they only want you to exit from the second floor by the check-out counters. On the fourth floor, there's a fun arcade that our kids call "Chuck-E-Cheese." (not quite, but it's as good as it gets here!) Anyway, there have been several times on our way to the arcade where I've run into Wal-Mart to see if they have a particular item. But -- shocker -- they did not. Well, I don't want to drag the kids all the way downstairs to exit the store just to go back up again. So, I don't... I exit through the entrance on the third floor. As the greeter tries to stop me (speaking Asianeese, of course) I speak loudly and slowly in English, " I DID NOT BUY ANYTHING! I AM GOING UP STAIRS, NOT DOWN. THANK YOU, THANK YOU." It usually ends in both of us laughing and her letting me pass as my kids are already half way up the escalators....

Well, the other day we were having dryer issues.... We've been having dryer issues for about a year, actually. But, this last week I noticed a drastic turn for the worst, so since we were leaving town for a week, it was great time to have them take my machine away and fix it. I think Brad's mentioned before how difficult it is to find good laborers here ... they don't get paid much, and don't have much incentive to work hard. To make a long story short, we were not pleased with the worker and he knew it. After asking several times, he would not give us his name. So, while he was on the phone explaining to Leigh (my house helper), his repair plan, Brad took his picture, (to have on file if we need to complain about him.) He definitely wasn't sure what to think about that, but what could he say? Oh, the things we get way with by being foreigners!

Olympic Wall

By Amy

This is my last Olympic post, I promise! But, I have mentioned our "Olympic Wall" a few times, so, I thought I'd post a couple of pics.

I plan on taking most of the things that we made, minus the torches and big rings, and making an Olympic Binder. We spent a good three weeks making the stuff on that wall, so I'm just not ready to throw it all away - yet. I will say, I am ready for it to come down though, but Savannah really wanted Sue to see it, so it's staying for another couple of weeks.
This is a closer look at Savannah's tally sheets. Almost every day, I'd get the medal count online and have her add tally marks under Gold, Silver, and Bronze for the US and China. By doing this and counting them everyday, she learned how to count by 5s! Above the tally pages, is what we call the Jing-man. As you probably picked up by watching the Beijing Olympics, this was one of the symbols of the games. It is an artistic rendition of the Jing character in Bei Jing.
Here you get a closer look at our medals and torches. Our torches were fun! We made them out of coke bottles, foil, and foam and sparkly papers. They have been loved well and now look a little ragged! Our medals were pretty messy/glittery, but the kids had fun making them by working glitter into homemade dough, using biscuit cutters to shape them and baking them. We made 3 for the wall, and then 3 for each kid, including Clara and Chloe who came to play that day. I'm not sure if Rachel has forgiven me or not yet for causing her home to be covered in glitter by sending these home with her girls.
Finally, this is our map.... I often would find a map online and show Savannah where our new country was located and let her find it on our map. She did a great job!

I really enjoyed doing a big unit-type study like this, so if you have any other ideas of fun things that we could study and would branch into to lots of different subject areas (history, math, etc.) let me know!