Happy Holidays!

Thanksgiving was, in keeping with the original celebration, three days long! It started with Thursday dinner where we went out with the Wylies, a family on the team. I guess that isn't exactly Thanksgiving-y, but it was somethin'.

Friday night, we had a big shindig with the teachers on our floor. Most of us are our team, but there are a couple of others that we are all close to, and we wanted to share the holiday together.

Saturday was the biggest gig of all. 33 people, tons of food, good music, even the Macy's Day parade and a children's corner. FUN!

  

When we got back home after the feast, I decided it was high time to put up some of the decorations. I got the tree out, pulled out some of the decoration boxes and put up MY traditional little paper tree.

My first year in China, my mother mailed me this paper tree along with some little decorations for presents. Rather than put them on presents, I decided to decorate the little tree. Every year that followed, I put up this tree by myself and kick off the Christmas season. Now, it has officially begun in my house.

Oh, and Joel is also official with his very own homemade stocking to match the rest of the family. :)

Today we partly decorated the house and tree. We will save some of the tree trimming for students who are coming over tonight. It is fun to let them add their own little touch. So, we saved some ornaments, the angel, and they will hopefully make some paper decorations to add as well. I hope they enjoy the process and we are able to share some deeper thoughts as well.

So, Merry Christmas! 圣诞节快乐！ Oh, that is pronounced, "sheng dan jie kuai le!"

Oh so much fun...

I'm not sure what to write today. It isn't that things haven't been happening; they have been busy!

Forgive my randomness this post, but maybe you will enjoy the pictures at least. :)

This month, Steve and I celebrated 7 years together. It seems like life gets sweeter the longer we are together. Can't wait to see what 50+ years will be like! This year, we went to Center Street for the day while our precious teammates watched our kids. Bless them!

This month has also been the beginning of the snow season. It was just last month that the beautiful 红叶子 (hongyezi or red leaves) were stunning in front of the library. Now, we have a small winter wonderland all around. The kids and I celebrated one day by going out and building a small snowman and getting sloshy cold. :)

Our kitchen walls are tiled, and therefore are wonderful to write on with dry erase markers. Olivia has long sense known the rules of the "yes yes" square and the "no no" squares. Joel is now learning and enjoying the thrill of writing on the wall with Mama's full approval. :)

So, those are a few family highlights. We have had amazing times with students. I think I will share more about those in the next blogpost. Stay tuned.... :)

下次见！ See ya next time!

What's in the Box?

Recently, a student of mine has been needing a little help with different things, and I have been able to serve her in small ways. To show her thanks one night, she called and said she was bringing over crabs.  I was in the middle of dinner and thought that I would be too full to enjoy this special treat, but I told her to bring them over since it would have been rude not to accept this specialty from her uncle's hometown.
   When she got to our apartment, she was carrying a box and said that the crabs were inside...alive. Um... what? So, she opened the box and we had a look.
  Maybe I don't have to say it, but we have NEVER cooked crabs before in our lives. We learned that in order to eat them safely we couldn't let them die. We had to steam them alive and then refrigerate them until we wanted to eat them the next day or so. That is what Steve and I did that night.

Man did it stink! For DAYS! The pot, steaming basket and apartment was more than my nose cared to endure. It took a lot of elbow grease to rid the place of that!

It was fun. It was also rather interesting that my lesson in class the following night was about the cultural views of gift giving. Haha. The lesson was planned before the crabs came. My student assured me that her gift and invitation to dinner were not out of line in any way. I believe her, but it was a little awkward giving that culture lesson that night just the same.

So, now I have received live crabs and steamed them alive. I'm just glad they don't scream like I have heard lobsters do. I'm not sure I could have taken it.

See ya' next time! 下次见！ (xia ci jian)

Birthday Blessings!

Olivia has now turned four. It is hard to believe she has grown so much and learned so much. We started her celebration with a small party Saturday with the other ELIC children in the city. After much going back and forth, she had decided on a flower cake that was chocolate with colorful icing.

The kids seemed to have a good time, and we all ate lunch together.

Sunday (October 14), her actual birthday, we decided to have a small little tea party with her two friends Lydda Grace and Danni (a British little girl who lives on the hall whom Olivia played with last year and this). It was a fun time, and they got all dressed up and enjoyed their little cupcakes, snacks, and playing together.

Monday, we took another cake to her class so that she could continue her celebrations and include some of her friends at preschool. I am not sure how that went, but I think they enjoyed themselves since all the cake got eaten! :) Olivia said it was also two other little girls' birthdays in her class, so I think they had plenty of cake! :)

So, now she is officially four which means she has a whole new slew of things to learn, explore, and experience. Olivia loves to have us tell stories to her before she goes to bed. When she was three, she decided we should tell her three because she was three years old. I remember her saying, “When I am four, I want you to tell me four stories with your mouth.” She hasn't forgotten, and she is now requesting four stories before bed. Some of the stories are crazy, but we also try to throw in some morals and character lessons as well. Maybe we can share some of them with you sometime....

Happy Birthday Olivia! 石美华，祝你生日快乐！

Just a little update on the buildings...

They have now painted over the cement with white paint.

I got a little video of one of the painters while walking one day. Interesting method, I hope you enjoy.

See ya' later! 再见！！

Have some noodles Joel!

Hello. This is the last post about last week. I think the pictures speak for themselves, especially the video, so I won't write much. We went to Center Street, also known as Walking Street, Friday - all except Steve who wasn't up to a ton of walking obviously. After walking and enjoying the street a bit, people were hungry. After some deliberation, we ended up at a noodle restaurant. The first pictures were from the mall we walked through a bit. The kids voluntarily took this picture, which made it all the more exciting. The last pictures are of the restaurant and a short video of Joel. I hope you enjoy!

 See ya' later! 再见！

A Day in the Park

We get a week off for the holidays, so this week we have tried to visit a couple of sights around Harbin with our team. We went to the Botanical Garden in the city and had a picnic. It was a beautiful day. Kelley's students from her last school came to visit, and we really enjoyed having them around.

The last time I had been at this park was two and a half years ago – also with our team at that time. I remember the brides all taking their pictures and wanting the foreign babies to be props for their special day. This year was not all that different honestly, but not as many people wanted to take our pictures – not as many does NOT mean none though. :)

I was reminiscent of that day a couple of years back and remembering how I was early in my pregnancy with Joel and Olivia was just a little thing. We took pictures that day, and they were sweet. Her little friend Eliza was by her side. Today, she isn't so little, Joel is even bigger than she was then, and now her friend is Lydda Grace. Time really does fly, and I am amazed at how many things just pass us by.

2010 with Eliza

2012 with Lydda Grace

The day was a nice one for the most part, but there was a major something that was less than enjoyable. While throwing a frisbee, Steve stepped in a hole and sprained his ankle. He was careful with it, but he still had to walk around more than he might have wanted at the time. By the time we got home, his ankle was swollen and he was in some pain. We iced it and it seemed to get better. Since then, we have been given a Chinese traditional medicine to put on the ankle that is supposed to be the “secret of China” as they don't give out any of the ingredients inside. It sure does stink, so it must be good. 

 (Side note: A couple of days after the park, a friend took Steve to the hospital for an x-ray and a talk with a doctor. We don't trust the doctor's advice completely, but at least Steve got a pair of crutches out of the deal. He has to take it easy for about 4 weeks and put more of the medicine on his foot. There is another friend with a different kind of medicine coming tonight, so between the doctor, all the medicine, ice packs, crutches and rest, Steve should be fine in the not too distant future. Now we have to try to keep the kids from thinking of the crutches as a jungle gym - that might be the harder task actually. ) More about all that coming soon...

Overall, the day at the park was great and we had a nice time together. After the busy and stressful month behind us, it is nice to have some time to sit and reflect on the start to the semester, catch up on work, and get a grip on what is ahead. May our minds be clearer and our hearts ready for whatever comes.

See ya' later! 再见！