Full Speed Ahead!

School has been in session for 3 weeks now and we are busier than ever!! I have a hard time keeping up with the kids activities, but I am so happy that they are involved!

El has chosen to take part in homework club and choir at school. She also is taking piano and having a Chinese lesson at home. She is most excited that in November she will get to take horseback riding lessons after school. The school just started offering it, but there were too many students for this session, so she will start next session!

Eens is in pet club (he is one of just a few boys, but he loves it so much!) and Chinese club at school. I was a bit shocked when he chose Chinese club, but I found out why from his dear friend Soph! Apparently he has shared with her that he is really only trying to figure out how to ask ayi for candy in Chinese. After he has learned that, he plans on quitting - what a little schemer!! He is also starting piano this year at home. Our teacher will start him out with just 15 minute sessions and gradually increase the time as he progresses! He also takes Chinese at home after Ellie. And, starting Saturday, he will begin playing soccer again. He is one busy boy, but all the activity is great for him!

Coopie loves me and wants to spend all of his time away from school with mommy and talk about roller coasters and water slides!! I love the hugs and the games he plays. I don't always care for the constant, "mommy, mommy, mommy", but he's getting bigger and bigger, so I try and enjoy every minute that he actually wants to play with me!! He just asked me tonight, "Next time you cook, can you teach me?" Maybe I have a future chef on my hands, although I'm not sure where he would work considering my specialty is grilled cheese and tomato soup out of a can!!

Danny is working quite a bit and will spend most of this month traveling. We have been so blessed because he has traveled very little during this assignment, unfortunately I think that is over now!! I am so thankful for all of the wonderful friends I have that constantly call and check on me or invite me over when he is gone. It could be much worse, so I am not going to complain!!

I have been trying to stay "checked in" to living in China. I knew I would be like this because I have very few patient bones in my body. As much as I want to enjoy every minute of this year, I find myself constantly wondering what is going to happen next?! I have an obsession with realtor.com even though it is not even realistic to look at this point. I'm trying to allow myself to only look on Sunday (it can be my guilty pleasure instead of the big Sunday paper!)! I also have not been constantly on the go this year like I was last year. I'm realizing that as you get close to the end of your assignment your priorities change. I find myself wanting to spend time with my closest friends all the time, when I know I should branch out just a little, but it's hard! I'm sure there are some wonderful new families here and I haven't had the opportunity to meet them. I'm going to try harder! I am involved with the PFO this year and I am thrilled to be giving back to the school. Our committee is full of some amazing women and I do look forward to getting to know them better! Unfortunately I do not think I will be able to substitute teach at the school. China or possibly Tianjin (not sure which) is now requiring that everyone working at the school must have a work permit. This is quite a process and I would no longer be under Danny's work permit. This is probably not a great big deal, but it could be if there ever needed to be an evacuation or something like that. I think it is best to keep the whole family on the same visa and I also don't want to deal with the taxes in the US. I'm hoping I can volunteer at the school in place of this! I know I will be back to my old self once I get my head out of the clouds!!

Open House!

On Friday the children's school held their annual open house. It was a really nice event that was held straight away in the morning. It is so much easier to have these events during the day because otherwise we all have to arrange drivers for the evening. Danny and I don't have a problem with this since we have two drivers, but many other people are unable to arrange it so they just don't come. Thankfully it was a great turnout because the kids love to show off their learning and what they will be learning during the school year! I had a few tears in my eyes as it sunk in that this would be our last open house at this school. We love our school, it is not the biggest international school, but in our eyes it has been the best school for our children!!

My goal during the morning is to try and spend at least 15 minutes with each child and then gather them all together and go to their specials classrooms! Since I start with El, this task is almost impossible - I thought I could talk, my sweet daughter can talk and talk and talk!! We were unable to get through her complete list of the things she wanted to show me, which I was sad about, but I had to rush to get to Eens. Third grade for El is going to be tough with lots of homework. I was pleased to learn that they do try and incorporate Everyday Math into the math curriculum, which could help her when we move back to the states since that is a very popular math program. They also use Scholastic spelling books this year, which again may help her transition next year! Her teacher seems to be extremely organized and excited to teach the kids! Teachers are definitely one of the aspects that make our school so great - we have a mix of extremely experienced teachers who have been at our school for years and then we have the new teachers. Many of the new teachers are just beginning their international teaching experiences, so they have tons of enthusiasm and great ideas to bring into the classroom!

Eens was anxiously awaiting my arrival and almost immediately upon seeing me, he went into his complete goofy mode. I'm sure people must think I have no control over that child at school. When he sees me he goes absolutely bananas!! When he finally calmed down enough, he was able to show me around his classroom. It is fun to sort of know what to expect in first grade because Ellie has already completed it here! Eensie loves to read and shows such expression when he reads his books to me. That is quite unusual for a boy his age, so I will enjoy every minute. His favorite pastime in school is dress up. He loves the wizard cape and had to try it on just for me!!

According to Eens, popcorn man from last year is old news!! I hope maybe I get one popcorn man story out of him!

I finally made it to Coop with minutes to spare! He explained that since he had given me the playground tour the week before that we could do that quickly!! He was very proud of his seat on the carpet and his special chair. After meeting with his teacher last week we determined that it would be best for Coop to sit in the front of the class where he can always see her face. His teacher appears to be a pro. She has made Coop feel so comfortable that we haven't had one day with tears! This is a huge improvement over last year when he cried almost daily!!

We are so proud of our globe-trotting children!! I think it's going to be a great year!

If you give a local some land...

You will end up with a jungle! And they will keep planting, and planting, and planting!! Now that we are country dwellers, we see some very strange things as the city folk move out here! Our two neighbors are local northern Chinese folks, one is a Tianjinren and the other is a Beijinger. They must be in some competition to see who can plant the most in their small yards. When I left for the summer, the Beijinger had a very nice yard with proper sod and a few trees. The Tianjiner had clearly outdone him with a tree that required a drip (yes, there was an IV put into the tree for about a week) and a forest of plants and flowers randomly placed in any dirt that was available! Since we have been back, the Beijinger has basically ripped out all of the expensive sod and replaced it with large plants, tress, and shrubs! They both only come out on the weekends and then spend all of their time in their gardens. I understand that the reason they have gone plant crazy is simply because they can, but I'm a bit concerned about the trees when they grow bigger and have no room for their root systems. For now I'm just going to enjoy watching them compete with one another and be thankful for the occasional vegetable that they produce and bring over!
This all used to be sod - now there is wood, mud, and some sort of vegetable!

The poor tree that has no leaves was the one with the drip!!

A Child's Perspective!

On Monday I was at school early to pick up Coop and got to spend some time on the playground with him! He is having a wonderful year after our bumpy start and I couldn't be more proud of him! He actually loves school. He gets up in the morning, gets dressed and brushes his teeth without any begging on my part! His teacher is very structured which suits him well. He knows the morning routine is the same everyday and he loves the fact that I come in and read to him before I squeeze him tight and let him be a big boy! He also loves the fact that he gets to eat in the cafeteria. He loves his friends and tries really hard to cooperate with them!

He also loves the playground!! At our school the nursery and pre K have their own garden area just for them. It is accessible from the classrooms and the perfect place to play! While we were outside, Coop gave me a tour of his favorite things to do! As you can see, he is definitely Mr. Independent!!

Electrical Woes!

I have been blogging now for over two years and at this point, there is very little that surprises me here in China. I am beyond the point of getting overly frustrated with certain things and now have the attitude that it's "a China thing"! There is one very strange process that I just can't seem to wrap my head around...the electricity. In the US we pay our electrical bill once a month and we don't have to worry about losing our electricity (unless of course there is a big storm, which we experienced many times in Bettendorf!)! Here, if I understand it correctly, you have an account. On that account you can put a maximum amount of money - it may last a month or it may last three months, it depends on usage. The problem is that it is very difficult to know how much electricity you have left. I have manyfriends who have had the power cut midday - there is no warning!! You must then go and put more money in your account! We are fortunate that our landlords take care of this for us, but for the time being they are in southern China, so our realtor has been in charge! He gave me this little blue card and said I could use it just in case he forgot to put money on our account and our electricity was cut!! It is actually quite clever. Once you put this blue card in some slot (no idea where this is located!) it will provide enough electricity for your house for about half a day. The idea is that this will give you enough time to go put money on your account before your refrigerated things spoil, or if it is the middle of the night you will have electricity until the morning!!

Introducing an old favorite!

Danny was thrilled to report that a Dairy Queen had opened at the EMart shopping center over the summer! As he walked passed it, he had to stop and ask another Westerner if it really tasted like Dairy Queen ice cream, he assured Danny that it did! As we have been attempting to beat the heat and humidity these past couple of weeks, we are thankful for Oreo blizzards and plain vanilla ice cream in a cone to keep us cool! Last Wednesday, the kids had early release (as they do every Wednesday) so we decided to introduce our friends to one of our favorite treats!! It's interesting that they have put the Dairy Queen in a fast food noodle restaurant, but I'm not going to complain, if they have to share space to pay rent, so be it!!

This is real!!

This photo was not photoshopped or anything, Tianjin can actually be beautiful on any given day! Days like this are few and far between, but when they do come around, they are definitely not taken for granted! I anticipate we will be seeing more of these beautiful days in September when Tianjin hosts a worldwide economic conference! Although I'm not a big fan of manipulating the weather, I have a hard time getting overly upset when I can see for miles and miles!!

Dress Up Time!

Ellie has decided that instead of dressing up her American Girl dolls, she will dress up the poor dog!! It was bad enough that Mei mei had to wear a diaper, but El also thought she looked good in a wig and cat ears! We all had quite a good giggle!

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11 Years of Wedded Bliss!!

Last Saturday Danny and I celebrated our 11 year anniversary! Unlike the past two years, we did not forget this special day due to complete jet lag oblivion!! We chose to spend the day with our favorite three munchkins and the evening with dear friends! We went out to eat at Prego and then walked down the street to the new Raffles hotel. They have a great bar on the top floor which offers views of Tianjin (on a clear night!) and a couple from St. Lucia singing away! They also offer the Tianjin Sling, a take on the Singapore Sling, which Raffles made famous. We all decided to pass on the Tianjin Sling primarily due to the fact that it contained bai jiu, the nastiest smelling liquor there ever was!

The past eleven years have been full of love and adventure and I can only imagine what the future holds for us! I am so blessed that Danny is not only my dear husband, but also my best friend!!

It's Just Not the Same

When we first arrived back in Tianjin, I was in such a jet lag haze that it didn't really hit me that there was corn growing randomly throughout the yards here. I guess maybe I was so used to seeing corn on a daily basis at my mom's (there is a corn field right behind her house), that I just didn't question it...until the other day! Why are they growing one stalk of corn in the yard? Why are they growing corn in their front yard? Why is the corn not in rows? What are they going to do with the corn? I know by now not to expect a reasonable answer to any of my questions, but I can't help but wonder!!
Completely different farming techniques from one country to another is all I can say!!

Oh, how I miss those big, puffy clouds!!

First Day of School!

I cannot believe that my sweet little ones are now in 3rd, 1st, and pre-kindergarten - honestly, where has the time gone? Last Wednesday we all got up early (thankfully our jet lag cooperates and we are up as the sun rises!) and headed off to the first day of school. This year the school chose to wait until the first day to announce teachers and classes. Ellie and Eensie were both very excited about their new teachers. For the first time one of Ellie's best friends is actually in her class - I know she is going to have a great year!! Eens is surrounded by his best pals and has a teacher with loads of experience and a very sweet disposition!! There is no doubt that he is going to love first grade!!

Coop had an interesting first day with a few tears from mommy! I had been to the school the day before to help PFO for a new parent orientation. I found out at that time that Cooper had been put in a class without any of his really good friends. I was upset, but kept telling myself that I should trust the school's decision. However, after talking to Danny, my friends, and my mom, I decided that I may need to go into the principal depending on how many English speakers were in his class. When we arrived in the classroom and I saw the roster, I knew I would have to insist that he switch classes. Although we do not know how much his hearing loss will affect him in school, we don't want to take any chances and the class he was in only had one other English speaker. The teacher, who is new and seemed very nice, had a very heavy accent which also concerned me. Off I went to the principal's to get things sorted. Thankfully she completely agreed with my concerns and put him in the other class within the first hour of school. He was so happy when he joined Lucy and Isaiah - I knew right then and there that I did the best thing for him! He is going to be completely ready for kindergarten in the fall!

Summer's End!

All good things must come to an end and so we had to say good-bye to our third summer of living out of a suitcase! This has been a wonderful summer with many, many memories made! For the first time, I think the kids were hesitant to come back to China. They had such a good time playing with their cousins, being with their grandparents, and cramming in all of the fun things we have at our fingertips in the midwest! They realized that America is exciting and an easy place to live. This is all well and good for our transition next summer, but I realize that we will have to shake some of the expat out of our children for them to fit in socially!

On our last Saturday before we left, we went to the sweetest winery nestled in the middle of nowhere!! Danny and I both went with very few expectations (I mean the midwest weather is not exactly grape growing weather), and had one of the best nights of the summer!! Some of my aunts and uncles and cousins were there, so we were able to enjoy a beautiful night under the stars, listening to music, and drinking wine with them!! There was a small lake that the kids and I walked around. It reminded me so much of the lazy days of my summer - we picked cat tails and stared up at the stars, just mesmerized by the beauty of it all (I probably appreciated it more than them!!). Once the band started playing both Eens and Coop took turns on the dance floor with me - I love twirling their smiling faces around! (Eens just asked me this morning when we could go back to the place where we went dancing!) It was a perfect summer night!!

A couple days before we left, we headed back up to Danny's parents. On our way up we stopped to visit with our dear friends from business school! If we could, we would move right beside them - we all get along so well and there is always nonsense occurring thanks to our 7 children!! We braved the obvious fact that we were way out numbered by children and walked to downtown Glen Ellyn to eat dinner! The kids were fantastic (and at a separate table) and we got to catch up! Thanks for having us Fenske's!!

Once we made it to Danny's parents we took advantage of a beautiful day and went to the Brookfield Zoo. There was a new bear exhibit that we wanted to see! I always forget how big the zoo is - it takes hours to walk all around! We ended up skipping a few exhibits, but the kids were super excited to touch stingrays and eat ice cream and slushies!!

Trying to find the animals!



Mixing their own slushies - quite a treat!

After such a wonderful summer, it was not easy to get on the plane, but we were all looking forward to getting back in our own home and beginning our third year in China!!

The Ice Cream Truck!!

One of our all time favorite summer treats...dessert from the ice cream truck!! I'm pretty sure Coop has never experienced the thrill of waiting for the ice cream truck to slowly meander down the street and finally stop in front of your house. One day my sister and nieces and nephew were over at my mom's when all of us adults heard the song getting closer! We all grabbed our wallets and ran to the driveway. We were a bit confused when we got everyone outside and then there was no music. We stood diligently waiting and sure enough after a few minutes had passed, we heard the lovely sounds of the ice cream truck again! Honestly I think the adults were more excited than the kids!

I love watching the kids take part in some of the memories that made my summer so sweet when I was little!!