I've always thought it would be fun to try some real exciting things like hang-gliding, rock climbing, sky diving, I haven't done them....yet, but they seem like fun things to try. 

These days I don't need to book an airplane or hang glider, all I have to do is cross a street.  Traffic in China is a whole different experience than it was in America.  I admit I haven't spent much time in the more major cities.  I did live in Dallas for a couple of years, but that's the largest it's been.  When I had moved to a very rural area and came back to Dallas for a visit I was totally stressed out by the traffic.  This, even though I had had a job making deliveries to hospitals every day and had bombed around the city like a race car driver when I had lived there.

But China.  Let me put it this way, that yellow line in the middle of the road?  It's pretty much considered optional.  I am ashamed to admit this.  But I used to be one of those annoying back seat drivers with my husband.  He would do things and take chances when we drove in the US that would scare me and I would nag him to "cut it out!".  But here, I can be in a  taxi who veers into the other lane to go around the slow moving car ahead heading right towards a city bus and just sit there calmly now thinking "somebody wiill move in time".    But it IS funny to watch the reaction of visiting foreigners at that time.

When you cross the street, at least in this city, you simply stroll out into traffic gauging how fast that car is coming, walking slowly or quickly to time it just right.  you walk across one lane, stand on the center stripe for the next lane to clear and then continue on.  EJ and ED are quite bold in this.  They get across not sweat.  But when my mom was coming for a visit last year I told them "no crossing the street like that when she's here!  She'll die of cardiac arrest!"Not to sound like a careless Mom, I'm not at all.  But they've proven their wisdom (and tried the strength of MY heart) in the time here.  S I still keep a good grip on when we cross.  He has justifiably earned the name 'Mr. Oblivious" on more than one occasion.  He just doesn't see what's going on or could happen, so for now (much to his chagrin) I keep in carefully in tow until we are across. 

In other news, yes we are keeping one of the kittens, EJ has claimed one as her own.  I had wanted one but since she's moving back to the US in less than a year that one will become my own eventually so that's good.  A friend has asked for one, so we just need to find a home for one. 

doulos

We are having a busy time.  In case you haven't read we are moving, so we are up to our eyeballs in packing and boxes.  Well, just a few days ago we started looking a little closer at our cat, Acoustic (we had another one named Electric but she went solo) and thought, "I think this cat is pregnant!".  Night before last I was laying on my bed reading and she was sleeping on my stomach and I felt movement, sure enough.  It really wasn't that obvious!

This morning I spent time searching the net for info on birthing kittens and things I needed to know.  I wanted to be prepared.  I just didn't know how soon I'd need it. 

This morning Acoustic was meowing endlessly.  We had run out of food so I thought she was hungry and went and bought food as soon as the store was open.  But that was not the problem.  She wasn't eating, but she was actively searching for a cupboard she could "nest" in.  So we took one of the smaller boxes we had for packing found some old towels and made one for her and put it into an emptied out wardrobe where we could keep an eye on her but she could still feel she had some privacy.  We could see the tail and paw of the first one trying to deliver but it was taking too long based on what I'd read. 

Happily there is a vet just across the street who was willing to come over (so we wouldn't have to move her) and help out.  The first one was the difficult one (no suprise there) and then the next one came out much more easily.  A little while later a 3rd one was born very easily.  The vet said she thought there was one more yet, but so far (several hours later) it hasn't made an appearance.  But she's not in distress, she isn't laboring, although I'm no vet, I've gently felt her tummy and I can't detect any more.  I was able to feel the others before so I think she was mistaken, but I'm going to continue watching her closely.

EJ and ED got to see some of the action.  S was disappointed that he missed seeing one born.  But if there happens to be one more and I see it happening I'm going to grab him quick so he can see too. 

Mother and babies appear to be doing fine.  One was a bit weaker and having a little trouble nursing at first, but now they are all latched on like champions and doing very well.

I'm glad there's only 3 (maybe 4) 2 are spoken for already so we'll need only to find one or two more a home. 

Not great timing, I have to say, but it was so cool to be a part of.

doulos

For many of the years of my adult life and most of my children's life I have been a somewhat reluctant tv and movie watcher.  I liked certain shows and movies but as I always said "too much tv, even if it's all good shows, is still too much".  I can't say I've left that way of thinking all together but I will say that I seem to have mellowed over the years. 

Something I've noticed about our family is that we talk about movies in much the same way that some people talk about books.  We compare characters, we notice subtle movements and expressions that communicate volumes.  And we watch almost everything--movies based on literature like almost any Jane Austen based movie, Lord of the Rings, Much Ado About Nothing, as well as all the movies of our day-Star Wars, Star Trek, teen movies, action adventure, romantic comedies, and thrillers. So many of these movies we have watched together have lead to the most thought provoking and interesting discussions as we walk through the layers of meaning in some of these movies.  The connection between "Moby Dick" and "Star Trek: First Contact" for one.

We've drawn on characters and scenes during a discussion to make a point in the same way someone will refer to the character of a book.

I used to have this policy about reading the book and THEN watching the movie based on it.  But I've mellowed in this as well.  Sometimes a well-made movie has sparked an interest in the book where there was no interest before.  Sometimes a movie based on older literature (think Shakespeare!) has made it easier to follow the reading later because there was already an understanding of the basic story line. 

EJ, my oldest, has really taken an interest in the last several months in writing.  But what I've noticed is that her writings (fiction mostly) reads like a screen play, sometimes complete with camera and stage directions.  This is, no doubt, influenced by all our movie watching and talks. 

So here's to the movies, the new literature.(I wish they had an emoticon for popcorn)

doulos

Perhaps you read my earlier blog entry "Apartment Hunting".  Well, the hunt is over, the lease is signed and we start moving in about 2 weeks. 

We found a place that costs the same as our current place but is a little bigger.  It actually has two floors, one patio and a balcony.  Apartments here are often unfinished.  This one has to have flooring put in, right now it's cement and painting and a kitchen.  The second floor will belong to the girls (me excluded:) EJ and ED and a friend of ours who will be living with us while she goes to college here.  There are two big rooms and a bathroom up there.  We'll be the first "lao wei's" to live in this apartment complex. 

We'll also get our excercise as this place is on 6th floor. 

So now we are sorting and cleaning and packing.  In the States I would have a yard sale or drop off things to the Goodwill or some place like that.  Here they don't have yard sales (although you can sell some bigger things to a second hand market )and no Goodwill's around.  But EJ pointed out that just putting things outside is as good as a Goodwill.  So we've been going through things and setting out things in front of our building and it's being gathered up by people who want it.  I prefer that to just throwing away something still useful. 

The kids have all seen the new place and we had a lively discussion over our beef stew tonight on how we want to arrange things in the new place. 

We've recently instituted weekly meetings held on Sunday afternoons.  We talk about what's going on for that week for each of us.  We can all know what's going on and make plans accordingly considering everyone's needs.  This has stopped my girls from saying "why am I always the last to know?!?!" . We can all then make our own plans knowing what kind of things to work into our week. 

For this week it's sorting out and cleaning.  Today we finished the kitchen (we started late last week), the dining room, and S's room.  He is a collector--he takes all broken appliances, bits and pieces to save for whatever his fertile imagination cooks up.  So this was quite a task.  We decided, since we have time and can pace ourselves a bit, to do one big project a day.  I think tomorrow it will be going through all the bookshelves.  I wish I had some homeschooling buddies close by, because I have some books that are good but I don't really need anymore.  I  hate to toss them though.  There's a library in Hong Kong that I think would be glad to have them as donations so I'll probably save them and take them there the next time we are through.  Which won't be until January at the earliest. 

I like moving.  I like a fresh place and a fresh look. 

doulos

Currently reading:  Tara Road by Maeve Binchy

One of the cool things about living in the city that we do in China is that a lot of tourists come through here.  What's nice about that is we've had so many chances to get to meet people from around the world.  Let me see if I can think of the countries we've met people from.  England, Scotland, Germany, Switzerland, Holland, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia,....I'm sure there's others but that's quite a list, eh? 

It has been so much fun getting to know these people.  We often pick each other's brains about different customs or habits or ideas from our respective countries.  It most definitely changes your view of the world.  Living, breathing social studies.

Just last night we had a great time with 4 guys visiting.  There were 2 guys from Switzerland, one from Holland, and one f rom South Africa.  We played this crazy, souped up version of UNO that was a blast.  If was funny seeing one of the Swiss guys muttering under his breath in Swiss when things were going against him. 

My very geographically oriented husband couldn't remember the locations of Sweden and Switzerland (we kept accidently referring to Sweden and they would emphatically remind us they were SWISS!:)  But EJ had the locations of those exactly.  I love seeing how much my children know both with and without my assistance.  In this case, most definitley withOUT because I tend to be geographically challenged

Maybe this all seems most unfair.  I didn't get to have this kind of interaction when I was in the States.  But looking back, I think I could have.  Maybe befriending foreign students at the local University would have helped.  Even in the moderately sized city I lived in there were foreign food grocery stores where we could have found some different things to try.  Not to mention just going out to a foreign restraunt.  Making friends with the Japanese, Greek, Mexican server.  Ok, it's not as easy.  But it's so much fun when we did.  Like our friends from Nigeria.  They were great fun and very sweet.  So don't get mad at me because we have this opportunity.  But if you really want it, see what you can do to make it for yourself.

doulos

Maybe it's because I've reading so much John Holt lately.  Before this I've read "How Children Learn", read bits of "What Do I Do on Monday",  back issues of Growing Without Schooling.  I recently read for the second time "Teach Your Own" and I've just started "Freedom and Beyond". 

 I read all these because it's not easy being a pioneer.  Although homeschooling has been around for a while and is not as "weird" as it was when I started about 12 years ago, it's still "different".  And if you have the nerve to UNschool, well, that's still really weird.  So sometimes when we're doing this weird thing that we do, I confess I quake with fear.  This is soooooo different than what I grew up with.  Heck, it's even way different than where we started.  When we started homeschooling we had a "school room" and desks and blackboard and a clock.  I kid you not!  Fortunately, that scenario didn't last until Christmas.  By that time we had at least migrated to the kitchen table.  But at least I was beginning to make the shift, even if it took far too long to get there. 

Anyway, back to Holt.  I like reading his stuff, so much of it I have seen with my own eyes in my own life.  In one of Grace Llewellyn's books she said something like "so much of what he says felt like I had thought it myself".  So when it all feels so different that I want to run back to something more "familiar" I reread his stuff.  I say, "oh yeah", I breathe a sigh of relief and I move on. 

That's why I changed the name of my blog to Quiet Revolution.  John Holt wanted to see a real change in the schools, how kids were treated and how they were allowed to learn about things.  But he eventually saw that the changes he wanted just weren't going to really happen.  But people stopped trying to get the schools to change and just stopped letting them have their kids and began teaching them themselves.  It wasn't a passive revolution but it wasn't violent either, people just quietly changed the way things were done and found a new way. 

I see the fruit of this way too.  I see confidence in my kids.  I see them picking up things because they want to with the confidence that they can get it even though they've never done this particular thing before.

S--"I want to spend more time working on math"  OK, we can do that.

ED--Look at how far I've come on guitar!  I hadn't even picked one up last year.

EJ--I'm going to concentrate on writing for a while.  I think I'll get someone to read and critique my writing.

These are the conversations that have come up in the last week.  Plus I've had some really good ones with ED.  She grins with delight every time we come across some famous person who spent little or no time in school, who was largely self-taught.  Recently it was Walt Whitman.  She feels very good about the fact that she can say she is self taught.  So do I. 

People who did well in spite of their lack of schooling--Lincoln, Whitman, Edison.  Folks say, "yes, well, but they were different".  Hmmmm, maybe that's WHY they were different.  Because they had the chance to follow their interests and passions without being scheduled to death!

How can you people read such rambling posts?

doulos

Ok, in my decription I talked about how unschooling has been a journey for me.  Unlike some happy people who just come to it naturally, it has been a pretty gradual process for me as I let go of ideas imposed on me by others as THE way.  As I've embraced freedoms almost fearfully, "am I allowed to do that?!".  This week I've gotten a glimpse of just how far I've come in this journey.

This week I've been substitute teaching in a ....classroom.  I did this solely for my daughter EJ's sake.  She took this job teaching English to children at a language school.  But she and sister ED headed off to visit some friends in ChengDu another city in China.  So while she is there I'm filling in. 

I've personally decided that the best model of teaching is the apprenticeship/discipleship type.  In THAT model you have people who chose to learn from you things they are interested in knowing.  In a classroom of kids who are at various degrees in their desire to be there (none of them very high) it's more or less like herding cats

Of course, I try to keep things fun and interesting, but I see why classroom teachers resort to the busywork type activities they use.  It's more about classroom management than sharing information and interest.

Spending time with my kids and just helping and encouraging them to pursue their interests and passions is so much more fun and much easier, even if it does require a lot of me.  You can pursue an interest but you can't coerce it. 

This has been good for me, sometimes I get my panicky moments.  Am I really doing the right thing?  This week I'm am MUCH reassured that we are.   My kids often reassure me as I see them doing really cool things, but this time I'm reassured by seeing what we DON'T have to do. 

When EJ finishes her teaching job ( I think she only has one or two more weeks to go) we are going to take her out to dinner and celebrate her and a job well done

doulos

We had an impromptu lesson in grammar today.  I thought I'd share it with you.  S, 11, loves to watch videos on the website:  http://www.homestarrunner.com/

He knows all the characters and watches the videos repeatedly, laughing hysterically. 

Today, dh and the girls were playing some music together.  We put the lyrics to songs on powerpoint and put it up on the screen.  It's easier to follow while they play.  So S was running this for them.  .  So he started playing around with a new window typing up a sentence listing several of the characters from the videos.  If a word was misspelled the computer would show him and he'd correct it.  We mentioned things like using commas instead of "and" between each character's name, when to use the "and". It was all very relaxed and self-initiated on his part.

This is one of those pictures of unschooling that really encourages me.  How many things were being learned here:  music (drums and bass), computer, writing, grammar, all in the most relaxed of settings.  All because these people wanted to play music.  Write something of his own interest.  Wanted help in getting it spelled correctly. 

We could have had a formal lesson in music (practice your lessons kids!), in writing, in grammar.  Or in a moment of simply following our interests  we can learn them all as naturally as breathing. 

doulos

A couple of commenters have asked me about the picture on my blog.  It's name is "Leap of Faith" and it was done by the artist Jane Evershed.  Here is a website for some of her other work:

http://members.aol.com/evershed/jane/jane2.html

I chose it for my blog because it represents how I feel about the leap into unschooling.  A brave, bold, frightening, freeing and joyful leap.

Here is the poem that goes with it, also by the artist.

The Great Leap of Faith

doulos

Sorry, it's been so long, I've been out of town for a few day and had company since my return

1. What are some lessons in life you had to learn the hard way?

To NOT let other people do my thinking for me.  To listen to the ideas and counsel of others but to ultimately do my  own thinking and decide based on that and what God is leading me to do. 

2. As a parent, what is the one thing you are (or would be) happiest to see in your children?

I would be most happy to see my children confident in doing what they love.  In not giving up a dream because they meet with failure along the way.  To not think there is only one way to do something but to find their own way if the conventional road doesn't fit them.

I'm a book lover, this is no news to anyone who has known me for even the shortest of times.  If I ever happened to visit your house and you have a bookshelf anywhere I'm most likely to be caught lingering and looking through all the different titles.  In fact, even if I visit your house several times this would probably be true.

When I used to go to the library, VERY regularly, I would check out tons of books.  Everything from children's lit (I think having kids was an excuse so I could keep reading kids lit without being thought odd, ok, I think I'm still thought odd but not about that I guess) to novels to non-fiction on many different subjects, usually history. 

So, imagine me, here in China with NO English library and a bookstore with VERY few English books.  Talk about book withdrawal.  My lifeline is friends who will mail me books! 

So today  , oh happy day, we got a package in the mail.  I had ordered some books several weeks ago, I can't have them shipped directly here so I have to send them to a friend who will send them on to me.  Oh, the anxious days of waiting for the package to arrive. 

Today's offerings were:

Writing Because We Love To by Susannah Sheffer

Freedom and Beyond by John Holt

Transall Saga by Gary Paulsen

The Only Alien on the Planet by Kristen D. Randle

Cinder Edna (an all-time favorite Picture book) by Ellen Jackson

Henry David's House (about Henry David Thoreau) by Steven Schnurr

and one DVD "Liberty!" about the American Revolution. 

So at different points during the day we have been immersed in the various books of our interests.  It's been great fun.  I'm kind of dreading the visit back home next year, I will probably bring back way too many books.  When we moved here I brought quite a few (hey! I unschool, in China,  I have to be my own library ) and have had more books sent or brought over from time to time.  I don't know WHAT I will do if we ever move back to the US. 

But for today we're going to join the feast.

doulos

What has that got to do with unschooling?  I don't know, but I haven't blogged in days and I figure that explains why.

Our landlord has asked us to move out when our lease runs out on September 25.  Not sure exactly why.  We pay our rent on time and keep things in good condition.  Of course, as far as the condition of the apartment there's no way he'd know.  We've probably seen the landlord about 5 times in the almost two years we have rented from him.  I think that's fairly typical of landlords in China, but I'm still too new at this to be certain.

So we've been looking around.  Although dh's Chinese is pretty impressive for having lived here less than 2 years we have a Chinese friend go with us when we look.  Here and there along the streets there are these little booths with flyers up of available rentals and houses for sale.  I've gotten pretty proficient at reading certain Chinese characters while doing this.  I can tell at a glance now how many bedrooms a place has and on what floor it is.  In China (so I've heard) if you have a building 8 floors or higher you have to have a elevator.  So most buildings are....you guessed it, 7 stories tall. 

My problem is I get eager to GET ON WITH IT.  So we started looking a little early.  I keep finding places I like but we have to wait or it's too expensive or it gets rented out or something.  We looked at a place yesterday that I really, really like but we can't really go for it until the 25th, so I hope it's still there or we can find something as good or better if that one is gone. 

We've got a lot of work ahead, we'll have to clean any place we move into (most are pretty dirty), pack up, move there and then clean our place (I"M going to leave this place clean anyway!) but I'm looking forward to the move just the same. 

Keep you updated.

doulos

Say what?  I wanted to get an attention getting title, did it work?

But actually I'm serious.  I've been writing in previous entries about the changes in the way I'm parenting and the very positive affect it has had on our family.  Much of it was related to my "middlest" dd, but today I'm talking about my oldest.  Here's what happened.

We are apartment hunting right now, in the next month we'll be packing up and moving to a new place.  Today, dh called and asked us to come meet him to look at a couple of places.  Here in China, our main mode of transportation is the bus.  I had my bus routes confused and EJ corrected me on the where we were supposed to get off.  No problem, except sometimes she has this "look"   when I am confused about something or she has to tell me something she thinks I should already know.  Ok, I'm probably (almost definitely) over-sensitive about "the look" but it really annoys me.  So I said, "Don't do that."  She just said, "I didn't do anything!".

A little later, when were off the bus, I could tell she was still kind of miffed at me. So I asked her if she was mad at me and she said yes! I didn't do anything.  So we talked about it and things were cool again. 

Ok, so where does the Hurray! come in?  Well, as I was thinking abou this I realized that not all that long ago she would probably NOT have told me she was angry,  She might have stewed and avoided but she wouldn't have talked about it.  I realized how (as I said in an earlier post) that our whole family is seeing a real change in atmosphere.  How this has made it safe to be open and talk about things instead of just bottle them up and avoid issues.  It is now safe to be honest, which leads to communication, which leads to resolution, which leads to healthy and peaceful relationships. 

doulos

Can any of you, dear people, give me some advice?  I want to do a bit of "tweaking" on this blog.  Specifically I would like to add some side bars like favorite books  or currently reading or favorite music or links.  I'm assuming it has to do with categories.  I've figured out how to add categories, but I don't know how to add entries to the category OR if it will show up as a sidebar or not.  Help?

doulos

So, I began to question things and be willing to consider things in a new light. .  "Grace based parenting" began to be something I examined instead of just blowing off because someone else had done so.

And I stopped.  I stopped demanding.  I stopped demanding housework, though I still asked.  The difference was when I asked I asked making clear it was OK to say no, really OK.  I may go ahead and do it myself, but I wouldn't do it with a martyr's air.  I started treating my children like real people and treating them they way I would want to be treated (you know, I think I've heard that somewhere before).  I never meant to not treat them like real people but I had just been so busy being the "good parent" that I didn't look at them as a person as much as someone I was trying to train. All with GOOD intentions, mind you.  Wanting the best for them.  Instead of saying no arbitrarily, I began to really think about it and saying yes if I could and if I couldn't having a darn good reason.  I started making sure that I saw their feelings as just as valid and important as my own.  This included letting them know when I felt they weren't considering me.  Not in a guilt trip sort of way, just a "I'm going to be honest with you" sort of way so we could work it out.  Not so I could convince them I was right.  I have started releasing as much of the decision making for their own life and choices as I reasonably can. This isn't a step by step but just a general description of what has changed leaving out a lot of things.

So here's "the after":  The tension has left our house, the anger has gone as well.  Now that my children have choices in how they help and what they do, they are much, MUCH more willing to do things and to help and now do so cheerfully.  The "me-first" attitudes of all of us have given way to spontaneously doing things for one another without being asked.    Here's the best part, my one daughter?, total (and I do mean TOTAL) turn around.  She is cheerful, she is smiling, she is considerate.  She actively seeks out my company frequently.  Will bring a stool into the kitchen so we can talk while I work or will work alongside me (of her own free will).  Will find ways for us just to spend time together-having a cup of tea, playing a game, going for a walk. She'll just impulsively throw her arms around me for a hug with this huge grin on her face.  She has relaxed and just seems happy.  She asks my opinion about things she's pondering.  I cannot put in simple words the difference between the before and after. 

The change has permeated the whole house, but is most striking between she and I. 

I began to realize that I believed in grace but was raising my children up in "the law".  Now, I want to extend to them the freedom that I've been granted. 

doulos

My first entry on this blog was called "How Do I Get There From Here".  In it I mentioned having a big fight with one of my children.  This was a great source of sorrow for me.  With this particular child there had been a lot of stress in my relationship with her. Call this an update I guess. 

Two things have caused a real turn around in our relationship.  First let me describe how things were "before".  She was often sullen and angry, she would prefer to hang out with people other than family.  This was especially true of me.  She was very affectionate EXCEPT with me.  She had a reputation for being very "huggy" but with me she would pull away or would silently endure my hug.  She was often very sarcastic and disrespectful.  That was then. 

My desperate desire to have a true and meaningful relationship with her beyond just "getting past the teen years" drove me to some serious rethinking.  This was helped along by the fact that over the years, at the Lord's leading I have become more and more and MORE unschoolish.  I wish I'd started out that way but I had to do a lot of personal deschooling before I could really get there.  Even so, I'm still learning. 

Unschooling taught me to step back and really re-examine things I had not questioned before.  I had been raised in a fairly strict and punitive way.  I was taught by many books and speakers that having clear discipline and being a strong authority was THE way to make sure my kids grew into wise, mature, and not get into trouble.  Gentle parents were always portrayed as "wimpy" and doormats to their child's whims.  I didn't want to be a doormat, I DID want my kids to be good and stay out of trouble.  This was familiar, it was validated by many people in the public eye and those I knew and respected personally.  So I didn't question it.

But literally years of this way failed to bring the strong relationships that I had desired and expected.  The fight we had brought everything to a head.  Clearly this "fail-safe" way was NOT working. 

Tomorrow Part 2, "the after"

doulos

We went out with friends for lunch today.  We took them to a restraunt we both like.  It specializes in food from Northern China. 

This couple just got married a little over a month ago, so this was something of a celebration lunch.  Chinese weddings these days are VERY simple affairs.  You go down, you do a little paper work, and you are married.

So we were walking to the restraunt, about 10 minutes away.  We were doing the traditional guys walking in front, women in back.  This was fine for dh, he's been really studying Chinese very earnestly so he and J were able to carry on a conversation, no problem.  Then there's GZ and me.  She with NO english and I with only a very little Chinese.  We carry on a very halting conversation with me occasionally saying "sorry, I don't understand" (in Chinese) and moments of silence.  But it was better when we got to the restraunt.  We did the basic chit chat.  They picked on dh's chopstick skills.  They said (when he was struggling with his) that my chopsticks were better since I wasn't having problems. 

In Chinese restruants here no one orders their own dish but we order all the dishes together and it is eaten family style everyone having their own rice bowl but sharing from the plates.  We had sweet and sour pork (of course!),  cold cucumber in garlic sauce, fried joudsa-a sort of fried dumpling with pork and veggie filling (my favorite!) and this beef dish that I'd seen before but never eaten that has very thin square pancakes that you put over your bowl and put some meat and onion in and then wrap it around the filling and eat.  You do all this using chopsticks.  We've become quite adept at using them, but it can still be challenging sometimes. 

We had a reasonably good conversation.  Dh kept his well-worn dictionary close for when we got stuck.  Though my vocabulary isn't all that strong I can understand quite a bit more than I can say.  I would ask dh-are they talking about this? and usually I was right.  I'm trusting my recall will improve so that I can speak more as well.  I will talk but other than some of the more familiar vocabulary, my Chinese is still pretty halting. 

It can be funny sometimes.  I'll get a phone call from someone Chinese speaking and if no one else is available I just tell them I'm sorry, I don't know Chinese.  This often confuses them because I am, of course, saying all this in Chinese. 

Anyway, back to today.  We were walking back and GZ was holding her purse over her head to shade from the sun.  In China, fair skin is beautiful.  All the ladies take care to have an umbrella to shade from the sun.  We were telling them that in America people like tanned skin and will give money to go lie in tanning booths so they can be nice and tanned.  They found this hard to believe. 

I can tell by this rambling blog how tired I am, lol.  Hope everyone has a good day.

doulos

It's been hot, REALLY hot lately.  The kids talked me into going swimming with them tonight at a nearby swimming pool.  We went just around sunset, since during the day would be way too hot.  There are a lot of bats that come out in the evening around here.  I like bats.  For every bat I see I know there will be fewer mosquitoes feasting on us.  Anyway, as we stood in the pool we were watching  the bats fly around in the twilight. S loves bats, he would like to have one as a pet but EJ has pointed out that, as a nocturnal animal it would probably sqeak all night.  Since when we move to our new apartment in a couple of months she will probably wind up sharing a room with S she REALLY didn't want to share the room with a squeaking bat. 

So anyway, some of them were swooping very close to the water. We were trying to figure out if they were drinking water or just chasing insects. They were talking about how cool it would be if we could catch one and I was warning them than ANY cornered animal is going to bite or something when one bat apparently got closer to the water than he intended and was swimming in the pool right at the girls.  Their reaction to that was hilarious.  But they decided we needed to save it before it drowned.  I don't know really how it would have gotten out if we hadn't come to the rescue.  Fortunately, S had a lego type toy (built to look like a bat, no kidding, lol) that we used to kind of flip it out of the pool so it could dry off and fly on its merry way.  It was cool, we all kind of huddled around it for a while, S was talking about its anatomy.  He did a lot of reading about bats a couple of years ago and hasn't forgotten anything about them, he can give you loads of facts on them. 

Just a fun little adventure to for an otherwise (ab)normal family, lol.

doulos

I don't like shopping much.  When we still lived in the States I really didn't like going to the local mall much (unlike my teenage daughter who said we could sprinkle her ashes over the mall ).   I did like going and spending a long time browsing through Barnes and Noble.  I LOVE bookstores.  But besides a Christmas shopping date with dh once a year my shopping mainly consisted of going to WalMart once a week for the week's supplies.  I don't mind getting new stuff mind you, just don't like the time involved in going and shopping for it. 

So here I am in China.  I love China, I really do, I hope we live here for many years.  I like the culture, the food, how cool it is to say "I live in China".  But one thing I'm not crazy about is alllllll the shopping involved in day to day life.  I don't mind shopping in the Chinese markets.  It's really neat to go in and bargain and learn to chat with the people at the fruit stand or the lady I buy chicken from and so forth.  But it's just so time consuming.  No van to hop into and load the back with supplies.  Now I walk if it's close (although a close walk here would have been a far walk in the States) and a bus if I need to go further.  There's one place for meat, another place for fruits and veggies, another place for bread, a restraunt supply place for flour or spices not normally found here.  When people ask me what it's like to live here I feel like telling them all I do is go shopping!

But this has been good.  It really has, almost daily I am walking and talking with the people who live here.  Shopping where they shop, learning the vocabulary.  Let me tell you, shopping will motivate you to learn your Chinese.  Have you ever had to cluck like a chicken to try to communicate you wanted to know if they had any eggs????    Just a touch EMBARRASING!  I can ask for eggs very clearly now thank you very much, lol. 

Another good thing has been time spent with my daughters.  EJ, my oldest, likes to go with me when I have to shop.  She works 3 days a week now, so she can't always go with me.  Whenever either daughter goes with me it makes the trip much less painful.  We talk about trivial and important things as we walk or ride the bus.  I am making the most of these times.  My oldest will be moving back to the States next year to go to college (less than a  year away) and my younger daughter 2 years after that.  I am really NOT looking forward to that.  But in the meantime I'm taking every moment open to me to spend with them.  EVEN if it means shopping

doulos

Ok, here goes:

Q.: What is your favourite night-time snack?

This is more of a drink but cold rose milk tea.  Discovered this when we moved to Asia, yummy!

Q: If you could choose 3 comfort items to take with you for a year on a desert island, what would they be? (Your husband, children, and your Bible don't count.)

1. Probably "The Lord of the Rings Trilogy"

2. a crate of different kinds of decaff tea

3.notebooks, paper, pens, pencils (is that cheating?  I'm counting them all together)

Q: Why did you choose each item?

I love the Lord of the Rings and have read it repeatedly (sometimes I read it straight through and then immediately started over).  I love the characters, the noble characteristics of courage, sacrifice, friendship, loyalty, perseverance, humility, and .......But I have to admit, I *thought* about cheating and saying something like " a magic book that becomes whatever book I say--Pride and Prejudice, The Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia., the newest book by Ted Dekker etc.  I love to read. 

I love tea, definitely a comfort thing for me.  But it has to be decaff or I will get sick.  If I'm stranded on a desert island I will be too busy trying to stay alive to get sick. 

Notebooks for writing and keeping a journal.

Q: What is your first memory?

Ok, this is going to sound weird.  My very first memory is when I was less than 2.  I walked out of my house, I remember the screen door slamming.  I was barefoot because I could feel the pebbles and rocks beneath my feet.  I walked into this big garage/storage building that contained large metal barrels filled with dog food for the farm dogs.  I reached up grabbed a handful of dog food and ate it.  Decided I liked it and ate another handful.  I can still remember the texture and taste.  Bizarre, huh?

Off to tag others.

doulos