Gardens compared

Remember our efforts at gardening? Keep in mind we planted, waited, watered, had some good things pop up, and then had a baby. I forgot to take pictures of all the weeds that COVERED these beds and our entire yard. We gutted the garden before leaving for the States (they came back with vigor while we were gone). We ate a few beans out of it and that was it. It was deemed a fail. It just completely lacked the TLC needed, and no wonder, we were a little busy. We aren't quitting, we just aren't starting again yet. 

Our poor neighbor, Grandpa. He lives and breathes his garden, his yard (and his cigarettes). I see the dismay in his shrug as he glances over the fence at our mess. He tends his garden with scissors and love and lots and lots of time, something I just don't have. But oh, I do admire him...

Our empty garden of weeds, and a wayward truck.

Grandpa's papaya tree, just one example of how everything he touches turns to gold in the garden. 

A Housewarming Party

It is common here in China for people to have housewarming parties that involve a big meal, lots of tables, over a day or two or even three, and the giving of money to the new house owners. This one happened to be almost right in our back yard. There is a small street right behind our apartment building and then a row of very big houses. The one directly behind us is struggling. I think the owners ran out of money in their effort to 'keep up with the Jones'. 

Here is what I mean:

This was the housewarming house. New and done and quite nice. Everyone adds their own touches as they ''finish" the house. These folks enclosed a huge back porch area.

 These guys, further down, kept theirs open air.

And these folks, months before we left for the States decided to add on some major square footage. And work has since stopped.

Back to the party. This pic is looking at our apartment building, beyond and under that black netting is our back yard.

 They lined the street with tables.

The netting was to block the sun, the rains have stopped and it is bright and hot. 

Our neighbor and I joked about neither of us being invited and tried to guess at how much money this family would take in as we tallied the chairs. 

 The guests started arriving and I had to watch Sophia on her skates, the middle two on their 'cars' and give Gabrielle her bottle. I sat in our yard, gave the bottle and watched the scene unfold. People did pass by and gawk at us and ask the same 'ole questions: 'where are you from? so many kids? you don't get fined? Have another!' 

Finally I called the kids in and we ate our lunch. The party went on and a dinner meal was served as well.

Too bad they took the netting down, we kind of liked the shady street.

Tobin's Tot School

I have been talking up 'Tot School' for a few weeks and Tobin was excited to start. He had a daily dose of the 'Letter Factory' video when we first returned and then I said, 'time for Tot School, Tobin!' 

He is ready. We are on week 2, he loves it so far, it takes all of 15-25 minutes for the activities we do together and then I try to do story time as well with him at some point, usually before the activities. 

I follow the same ABC curriculum I did with the girls, which also involves numbers, cutting, colors, shapes, etc. He does know some of this already, but not too much, so it is good! He talks about his 'tot school' a lot. Hopefully his attitude stays cheerful! Congrats, buddy, keep it up.

Rollerblades...skating!

Sophia had been begging us for skates 'like all her friends have' for awhile now. While in the States,  I bought some 2nd hand and she journeyed around the garage. We left them there. The most common skates around here are really rollerblades. She is right, all her friends have them and have been skating since they were four or five. So, for her prize/gift/blessing for starting Chinese school so well, we finally bought her some. 

Over the Chinese National day holiday we went with friends to the big square and she started learning...then she came home and wore them all around the house, which was excellent practice. She got good fast.

AND during the National day holiday, though there was a seven day break from school, I still made them do homeschool and reminded them of the wonderful ocean that we visited for three months while we did NO school. They really didn't complain. 

But she stayed in her gear a lot. And it took her about a day and a half before she was really able to go it completely alone and for us to feel comfortable letting her loose. 

 She is quite skilled now and has only had a few falls. Way to go, Soph!

Ten Years in Asia!

 A throwback picture for everyone! 

Ten years ago this month we arrived in our small town here in China.

So much to say and write about it all. 

But...we are still living it, and loving it, which in and of itself (both that we are alive and loving our life here) is grace upon grace, pure gifts.

I recently wrote and shared with some folks in the States: "Ten Things in Ten Years". These are ten things that I have learned in ten years in Asia. Of course, I have learned a gazillion things, but I narrowed it bit. I may edit and share some of that here, I may show various pics of our ten years, I may just move on and keep highlighting what we are doing right now. I haven't decided. 

For now, here is a pic of our first apartment:

 This was not our first moto, it was our neighbor's who let us take it for a ride.

 Our first Christmas....in our second apartment (our first one only lasted a few months).

A Puppy, A Baby, A Bike

 A girl down the road has a new poodle puppy. We fell in love with the mom of this pup two years ago, and this pup won our hearts as well. This is the kind of puppy our family wants, especially Sophia. I always thought poodles were wimpy dogs, but affection has grown in my heart for some very practical reasons: They are really smart, and they don't shed hair. And this one, that we pretty much baby sat for the day, was too cute. Even Gabrielle liked her.

Have I blogged this? This was an iphone moment as they held hands and started skipping along. I had them reenact it for the photo. The kids carpool with AB, I take and K picks up, it works out pretty well. 

Our old helper, and dear friend was expecting her first baby right after we arrived back from the States. She didn't call us a ton because she knew we were still getting settled. But our whole family did go see her in the hospital, and then right before she returned to her village I went and saw her one more time. What a precious boy!

 I was so glad I went, she hadn't nursed the baby yet because he was in another part of the hospital because of some lung issues. He was fine. I showed up as she was checking out of the hospital but needing to nurse. I dropped everything, sat down next to her and acted like all the Thai nurses that helped me nurse all my babies. I man handled him a bit, showed her it was all okay, and helped him latch. She had on about 3 layers of thick sweaters (with it about 90 degrees out, but it is their custom, lots of clothes), once we got the baby close to her, things went better. Her mom and others were trying to rush her to go home, but I told her this was REALLY important, and it would take awhile. She made it home okay, and called me about a week later saying his bottom was really red. I had given her a LOT of baby stuff. And some of it was bottles of things I had not used including baby lotion and diaper cream, all in English. I told her to put the thick stuff on his bottom! He is a real cutie!

 Speaking of cutie....Gabrielle is showing much personality these days, mimicking our sounds, laughing, getting animated, and not showing signs of really wanting to walk, though she does plant her feet and then push to her hands with her bottom in the air, she is just not stable enough to go any further.

 Bella REALLY wanted us to take her training wheels off of her brand new bike. And we knew it was time. We told her she would fall but it would be worth it in the end. Sophia encouraged her by telling her the story of her learning and her falling on top of her bike and daddy falling on top of them both. She also happened to have just fallen on this black area that was really slick because it had rained. I said: 'see, Sophia can ride her bike and she still falls'.

 We went to a nearby school area but the grass was so overgrown in some parts, and the gravel was packed and slick.

Tobin chose the outer concrete.

First couple of runs....this is so hard on the adult low back and hamstrings.

My turn, and I never lasted more than two rounds and about bit the dust myself.

David did start to let go and she would do well for a few feet. We cheered and cheered, but then she started to perform a little, ignoring everything we were saying....a fall or two did happen. But she was not discouraged.

Today they went back for about thirty minutes and David said she is doing well and almost has it....a couple more days of it!

Chinese First Grade

 This is one building of classrooms at the Elementary school where Sophia attends.

 another view of the courtyard.

 Her  classroom, crowded and dirty.

Her table mate. He is quite mischievous, but I don't think mean-spirited. Today when I picked her up he wasn't even in the seat next to her, he was outside and the teacher didn't know. I was planning on talking to his mom. He likes to touch Sophia's pencil when she is trying to write, and mess with her feet a lot. Writing Characters is hard enough without this egghead trying to mess her up. And I think he does this because he is mischievous, not because she is a foreigner, the last guy she had problems with in kindergarten used to kick her and call her an ugly foreigner.  That is not this boy's personality at all. This little kid is likable and always talks to me....but still. Enough is enough. It has been a few weeks and it is time for Sophia to be able to relax and do her work.

 Her classroom is on the right. First floor, first door.

All the parents waiting to pick up their kid. They only do this in first grade. We have to walk in and check off our name. We also cannot get in the gate without a pass. This is new. 

Each kid has a card to put in these phones to call home if they need to. Sophia has tried it one or five times :). Now that she knows how to use it we told her to use it in an emergency. Convenient.

The story of Sophia getting into this school is worth telling. I am sure I won't get the details right since we were not actually here for registration. It was at that time that JS called us in the States and said: 'come back! come back' and we replied: 'we are trying!!!'

I had put two local friends in charge of helping us register Sophia. The problem with that was all of our documents are English, etc. AND the big game changer was the new principle of the school. He was changing everything. My friend said: 'he doesn't take bribes? then I don't know what to do' such has been the system for so long for non-local residents ("countryside" folk) trying to get in this school.

Thankfully one of the friends had realized that that very afternoon someone needed to be there to get a number for the 'line' for non-locals. JS went (so thankful!). Then they realized that in order to KEEP the place in line for the next day, people were camping out all night. So our other local friend found someone to keep our place in line and paid them for it (the things parents do for their kids and school, lol). Sophia ended up being number 23 and they were only taking 20! BUT five people, who obviously did not get the memo about keeping your space in line, left. Sophia ended up being 18! When JS went back to wait and register, people/parents had been in an uproar, police were called, a riot almost really did ensue. JS admitted to being a bit scared by it all. I think there was another hiccup over something with our documents, but because JS had been chatting it up with someone there who knew something about something...it all worked out and Sophia got in. Thank you JS! Those Cookie bars were for all your hard work!

Sophia loves school. We are taking it week by week, but we are okay with it so far. Her teacher seems unorganized, and we thought our misunderstanding of her texts of the homework was just our poor Chinese, but as we got locals to look at it, they had trouble too. We think she is doing it so fast that she is mistyping and putting in the wrong character, and most people just know what she means, but for us trying to read it so literally it becomes hard. We will have to work on that.

Other than that, so far so good!