Thursday, October 22, 2009

Catching up is hard to do

Before I forget, and before I leave for a 5-day skool trip to Yunnan province, here's an update and a backlog of photos. In general, life is grand. Emmet takes a skool field trip to the organic farm today, Desi has a Grade One Literacy Morning that Sarah will get to visit. Details later, I'm sure.

He IS reading like a champ these days. Every night, Emmett looks forward to getting read to by his big brother. It is cute. As for E's schooling, his Chinese is coming along, he can count to 16 in both languages, he knows his colors, body parts, foods, family pronouns, lots of things.

And as for what we're up to...

Last weekend, went to the JZ Music Fest, outdoors, at Century Park. Lots of bands, food, fun with our friends the Wang-Chus. Never thought I'd get to do something like that here in Shanghai. Then shabu shabu (Japanese hot pot) for dinner. Emmy slept thru dinner, but Desi tried some foods.

Here's what that all looked like:







This weekend, watching the high school production of Mulan (with the Wang-Chus) and heading to the grocery store. Exciting, I know. Just got some shelving at IKEA and want to fill it up with bulk items. (See, when I don't blog for a couple weeks, it's not like y'all are missing out on much.)

Next weekend...trick or treating at the SRC (big apartment complex where most teachers live).

Here's a preview of this year's costumes (Buzz Lightyear and A Knight), courtesy of my ma, who just brought them:




now THAT's cute.

Now that baseball season is over, I am resuming wu shu lessons. I'll be taking the boys to a kids' class, too. I am also looking for a Mandarin tutor for the family. My goal is never to repeat the same frustrating language-barrier-induced situation. So that I don't feel like I'm making no progress at all. Here's where YOU say "Zhu ni hao yun"--good luck.

You're all invited to come see the World Expo here, from May-Oct 2010. "Better City, Better Life" is the motto that's supposed to make us less annoyed at all the massive traffic snarls and dust. So visit and make it worth all the hassle, please. We'll likely be here a few more years, so no hurry, but Expo is a one-time thing here.

BTW, if you'll be in Chicago in early March, Sarah would love to see you. Chicago is lovely that time of year. Contact her for details.

gotta go grade papers! Love to you all. Zai jian.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Where have you BEEN? Yang Shuo!



Just returned from 4 fun days in Yang Shuo. It's down by Viet Nam. Biking, cave exploring, river boat trip, cool nighttime light show on the river. Here's some pics. More to come ...



As you can see from the top photo, it was China's 60th birthday recently. So at times, West St. in Yangshuo was crowded, as it was also Moon Festival on Oct. 3. Lots of Chinese tourists, some Europeans, and a handful of Americans besides us. Here's a shot of some country folk who thought Janet and Steve were photo-worthy:

(won't upload. try again later)