Christmas season comes to Xiamen

I returned to Xiamen in the middle of the night on Friday...That had not been my original plan. My travel to and from the US had me changing airports in Shanghai (from international to domestic airport), a one hour trip by shuttle bus across the city on the highway. Well, on the way there it took one hour and on the way back it took over 2 hours...so I missed my flight to Xiamen, discovered I had to pay the higher fare for the last flight. Discovered that I was 20 yuan (about $3 US) short to buy the new ticket; discovered that at the airport they don't take credit cards, there was no currency exchange (except past security, but you need a boarding pass to get there), and the lone ATM was out of order. I was on the verge of panhandling for yuan from other travellers, but I finally persuaded the ticket agent to accept $20 US for part of the fare. His quote, "Well, you should know better...this is China".

Welcome re-entry culture shock after a week of credit card shopping in Michigan with my parents... by the way, my mom is still doing well, recovering at home after her surgery and will start further treatment after the holidays. So she and the family have a little breather. Her quick recovery did give me time to do some serious shopping in the US, especially warm weather fall clearance clothes for me, as I have actually lost enough weight to need them, gifts for the kids, BOOKS (walking into Barnes and Noble was an out of body experience), African American hair care products and the ingredients for fudge for our holidays in the guesthouse.
First day back was great, really felt like coming home -- warm and sunny with a light breeze, and we had tickets to the expatriate Christmas party at the Sofitel downtown. It was a lavish meal (see above) with games out on the terrace for all the kids...I am guessing pretty much every "foreign" kid in Xiamen was here with their parents...we had all the trimmings : crafts --


kids of all ages in their finery...

Face painting...

Helen was so proud of her face paint, she wanted to walk around on the street near campus afterwards so "people can see it and know its Christmas time"

We had "The Night Before Christmas"...(since Thomas spent a fair part of the party hiding from the other 6th graders --both girls-- who were at the party, while eating an enormous quantity of food, this is the only picture of him)

And finally an appearance by a very slim and trim Santa, who brought a book for every child...

Sophia was quite mystified by it all, but Helen is in Christmas glory...Santa gave her a book with a locket in it..a copy of this book was left in our apartment by the previous occupants, sans the locket of course. Helen said, "I have wished and wished for that locket and Santa knows so now I have one"

Afterwards it was back to our place to set up our little tree, which really does brighten up the place. Lots of stores sell some simple decorations, so I think Christmas, or at least XMAS, must be pretty popular with folks here.

Here they are..all ready for the big day...they wrote letters to Santa today, since a visit to the Crossroads Mall in Portage, Michigan (where we usually catch up with Santa with the cousins) is not in the works. We found Santa's address on the web. Apparently the North Pole mail is delivered by the Canadian Postal Service, since the address we found was North Pole, Canada, H0H0H0 (the zip code of course).

Now back to the routine of the week, which I am looking forward to after my travels...I am so jet lagged that it doesn't even make sense..awake at weird times and starving in the middle of the night--go figure.

princess diaries

Yes, Sophia has a full-blown cold and can only breathe clearly when she has some medication. So she is not sleeping well and can be a little bit cranky and obstinate at times (which, for those of you who know her, is not really out of character). But on the whole she is her usual sweet self.

This morning after getting the older kids off the school, I tried to re-do portions of Sophia's hair. So to get her to sit I finally relented to her constant demand and put a movie in. I played "The Nutcracker", a BBC version of the full-blown ballet that the kids like to watch around Christmas time.

After watching in rapt attention while I did her hair, she left at the first opportunity, went into her room and pulled out the princess dresses to wear like the dancers.

Here she is studying their moves close-up.

Sophia pulled me out of the chair to dance with her. We had to hold hands, raise our free arm up, and swing our leg out. She was very clear on this procedure.

Below you can see her pose. She kept looking at her hand for each shot and I thought maybe it was "dirty" or something was wrong.

Then I realized that she was trying to make the $#@ peace sign like her brother and every Chinese person under 30.

Fia wants "uppee" and gets a cold

On Monday and Tuesday evenings I teach from 7-9:30 pm. Last night I only taught until 8:30 and then went back to put the kids to bed. Our neighbors Deborah and Kate were up here with the kids, but with all the excitement there was no chance of sleep.

Without Ann, I cannot go to the office to prepare my lectures. Because students in China are quite a bit more passive, it is difficult (likely impossible) to carry the class with discussion. Also, students have difficulty following in English. So I write lectures and I put the material on PowerPoint slides so that they can read and listen at the same time. This seems to help their comprehension.

Without my office, I am preparing for class in the apartment with my new office partner - Sophia. By the way, her name means wisdom - as in philo-sophia (lover of wisdom). Sophia has yet to impart any wisdom for my lectures but instead is usually saying "want uppee!".

As you can see, she is usually successful, and I am preparing for class with my new office partner on my lap.

On the down side, Sophia seems to have come down with a cold just this morning. Her nose is running a bit and she has been sneezing (usually on me). She has not been sleeping very well the last few nights and this has likely contributed.

Otherwise, she wants you to know that she is a girl. She very much wants you to know that she is a girl. She's not Sophia, she's a girl. She's not hungry, she's a girl.

My mom is home

Very glad to be able to report that my mom was discharged from the hospital today and is now home. The joke is that soon brain surgery will be outpatient!!! Seriously, she is recovering well and there was no reason to keep her. She will see her surgeon next week for follow up. I am decorating their Christmas tree today as my project for the day, and it feels quite seasonal with snow on the ground and more predicted. I am glad I will have a few days with her home before I leave on Thursday. Definitely missing Michael and the kids...I truly feel a world away from our life there -- almost as if it was all a dream, now that I am back among the familiar world of middle America..driving around in my minivan, stopping at Walgreen's...it is all so familiar. My internal clock has readjusted too, just in time to go back. Thanks again for all the prayers and wishes....

Basketball Jones

A generally restful Saturday in Xiamen for the kids. We did splurge 39 RMB (around $5) on a new basketball, which then generated trouble for the rest of the day as they squabbled over who got to hold the basketball.

Sophia, Helen and I shot some baskets on the big courts near the west gate for a few minutes around noontime (when all the students evacuated for lunch). On the other hand, one of the nearby courts was still filled with young monks from the nearby temple who were shooting hoops together.

I took these photos around dusk in the courtyard in front of our building. I spent the rest of the evening trying to keep them from dribbling the ball inside the apartment.

You lookin' at me?

Huan Huan's Open House

On Friday morning Helen (known throughout The People's Republic as Huan-huan) had an open house in her school. For those who don't know, Helen's school is on the Xiada campus and many of the kids are children of faculty and staff of the university. Sophia and I arrived a little late, but Huan-huan and the kids were having their morning warm soy-drink (what Helen calls "the milk thing").

Helen sits in her regular spot between her friends Rouen and Xiao Meimei. The day's lesson (well, the fake lesson for parent's day - I remember these days when I was a kid) was about the difference between even numbers and odd numbers. Of course, I didn't know that and neither did Huan-huan because it was all in Chinese. Rouen's mother who teaches in engineering then told me what was going on. After I told Helen, it all made sense to her, but I can see how confused she is most days.

The woman sitting down in the right side of the picture is Huan-huan's main teacher, Cai Laoshi, who is very kind to Helen. You may also notice that Sophia managed to insert herself between Helen and Rouen, demanded a seat and was promptly served by all the teachers.

After the lesson it was time for outdoor play. All the kids had to line up and get these cotton pads inserted into their shirts to prevent getting too sweaty. I can assure you that some of the boys needed it.

Here is a nice shot of the play area with the mountain in the background. You can see Helen and Sophia in the right corner.

In the 'boys will be boys' category, there was a posse of little 5 year old boys who had gotten hold of the jump-ropes and began to rope various items, especially the bridge you see above, but invariably each other, etc.

Huan-huan wanted me to take the picture below because it is such a beautiful scene. I think that even for a 6 year old, she appreciates that her school is between a mountain and the ocean.

Below is a shot of Rouen, Huan-huan's best friend. One of the endearing features of Rouen is that she calls me "Uncle" which is a very Chinese thing to do. At the open house, she pleaded "Uncle, Uncle" and gestured to make clear that she wanted a hobby-horse (isn't that what we used to call them?).

It wasn't easy, as the boys who were riding them were not impressed with my directions about giving one to Rouen. As if they were thinking: "All right guy, I can see that you speak a weird language and that you are big and hairy, but if you want my toy you're gonna have to fight me for it!"

Below is a shot of Xiao Meimei. Her name is a kind of traditional nickname that means "little baby sister" although she is a twin. Maybe her brother is the older one. [I happen to know two twin brothers, and the one that was born 4 minutes ahead of the other never let him forget it!]


And finally, I thought I leave you with a picture that Huan-huan took of Rouen. If you notice Rouen's shirt it reads "Before slow jogging becomes fast running"?!?

You lookin' at me? You lookin' at me?

Update on Mom

Thanks for all your messages. My mom came through her surgery all right and we have been sent home so she can sleep in the ICU tonight. I am so relieved! Of course the road ahead is long, but this was an important first step....
Jet lag is catching up with me, but I did manage to drive my van today without hitting anything. And its going to snow tomorrow.
Keep the prayers for Mom coming. Michael looks like he is doing a great job! But I miss them and long for Xiamen.