Amy our ayi

Here is Amy, our amazing ayi. Renata and I just flew back last night. After my shower, I was delighted to see our ayi, Amy, in the office ironing Luca's t-shirts. I know, I know, but she irons everything.
I took her picture and told her that she was the person about whom most folks back home wanted to learn. She laughed and smiled for the camera. And when I showed her the photo, she said, "That's good."
All ayis make ex-pat life easier, but our ayi is especially excellent at helping our life run smoothly. When she helped me unpack my suitcase, she found a skirt with a broken zipper and said that she will bring to a tailor to replace it. She also had our beautiful Chinese tapestry framed for just 180 yuan--about $25 because she compared shopped on our behalf.
Please post questions about Amy or ayis and I will try to fill in any blanks. Renee

What did I learn this year in China?

We've been out of school for 4 days and it seems like a good time to reflect on the year here in China. So here is a list in no particular order of what I learned this year.

1. Kids are really adaptive given time and opportunity

2. Geography is more interesting if you know people from there.

3. Bad air really sucks

4. I am functional in Mandarin, but the worst in my family

5 It only bugs me that Victor is better

6. Ovarian cysts, when bursting, hurt a lot

7. Water is good for you

8.Chinese and Korean children work really hard; a joy to teach

9. Grade 1 rocks

10. Living in an apartment is so much easier than a house

11. Really still miss Patch

12. Skype is a godsend for those of us away from our families

13. My father in law knows so much about China

14 Fresh local fruits are a true treat

15 Starbucks still rules the planet, even here

16 Online news is useful, but not like a real paper

17. Christmas and Easter in China are just terrible

18 Having an ayi is such a luxury

19 Chinese people, one on one, are so interesting and lovely

20. Chinese people are terrible drivers. the worst

21. Driving an electric bike is a thrill every time

22. Sweating all the time really stinks

23 Chinese babies=so CUTE

24 love Facebook now more than ever

25 Reading Workshop really works

26 Raising chicken and duck eggs is gratifying and terrifying at the same time

27 Dog meat does not taste like chicken

28 Turtles should never be part of a soup

29 Miss my mom

30 Moon Festival and Chinese New Year are very cool holidays

31 It is okay to be stared at-- a lot

32 Don't miss any of the processed food

33 But peanut butter is a daily thing for me

34 Dumplings and bao are so good

35 travel in Asia is cheap and quick

36 It is lovely to see my husband so relaxed and engaged

37 Pirated DVDs should cost only 1.00 everywhere

38 Living without a car is really easy

39 Ex-pats take care of each other

40 New Zealanders use some very funny expressions

41 Constant construction is noisy, messy and a pain to negotiate on a e-bike

42 the Corrieas are the nicest family

43 Max and Zoe were the lovely guests

44 It is not so hard to cook a western feast in China

45 Walmart products are really different in China, but still a terrible place

46 Having a mountain behind our apartment is a godsend in a city this congested

47 Really hope we have more guests to share these cool experiences with next year

48 It is easier to drink too much when you don't have a car

49 Thailand really is all that

50 Playing eucher with Vic, Renata, and Luca in various places is still my favorite family activity

Poetry Jam, April, 2011

Killed a baby chick today

In my grade 1 classroom, we are knee deep in growing things. We are watching tadpoles grow legs. We are watching silkworms molt and prepare to cocoon. And our tour de force incubator act includes (d) 15 chicken eggs and 5 duck eggs. Many other classes have come by and watched while I candled eggs to show them the growing embryos-- extremely cool thing actually to be able to seeing the developing baby fetuses.

Anyway, after the students of 2C left, I realized that I couldn't see anything in two chicken eggs. Having read that that was probably a sign of a non developing embryo, I culled them from their siblings and opened the eggs. The first egg that I opened had a barely developing yolk and had indeed stop developing. In the toilet went that one. The second egg, however, was hard to open and had a thick sac-- that should have told me that I was doing something that should never be done, particularly during Holy Week. So, once the egg was opened, what's a girl to do? I cracked the shell further and discovered to my horror a small black chick with a beating heartbeat--- AAAAAAA. I cried out and stashed it into the trash can in the bathroom. Then, like, Lady MacBeth, I washed my hands over and over. I just can't believe that I, protector and lover of all things small and furry, killed a chicken fetus. Just can't believe I did that... What if that was the only viable egg and now it's gone?? I have vowed to stop handling the eggs all together. Just so wrong....

Who needs a mini van?

Here are Vic and I returning from the local grocery store for our Sunday shop. Yes, that is a full set of 10 rolls of toilet paper in my lap. Fortunately, we have that super handy front basket for the perishables. We had the guard at our apt complex take this picture. He was chuckling, too!

Model United Nations, 2011, SIS

Model United Nations is an afterschool activity that Renata participates in. She has been busy for about a month preparing to represent India in the two areas of education and child soldiers. She has done a lot of research on India's literacy rates and % of child soldiers. Pretty cool stuff.

Yesterday she and her brother participated in the Model United Nations for southern China hosted at her school. Luca was a page for social and economic council as well as human rights council. Both of the kids are seated in the second row up-- she is two from the left and he is nine from the left. At the end, kids are elected by their peers for different titles. Renata was elected "Nicest" and "Most Likely to be Secretary General some day". She wanted to be elected "Hottest" but that went to another deserving middle schooler. She did score highly for "Best Informed Delegate" as well.

Next year when she is in high school, the Model UN is held in Singapore. Cool!! Luca will be a delegate when he is 7th grade as well.

Pretty proud of our kids today!!!

Proboscis and Orangutans and Macaques, oh my

Victor and I were fortunate enough to be able to attend a teaching conference in Borneo, Malaysia last week. We stayed at a beautiful 5 star resort in a city called Kota Kinabalu. Four pools, bowling alley, tiki bar, incredible food you get the idea...
However, what was even more fortuitous was that a short 45 minute flight across the island brought us to a nature preserve for endangered orangutans to which Renata has been buying trees since she was in 2nd grade. Cool, huh? Because to be honest, when you live in Portland, Maine, there are not many locations that are more remote or exotic than the island of Borneo.
So we took a 7 am flight across the island and were able to hire a van and driver to ferry us around two nature preserve. Not surprisingly, lots of folks visit that part of the island to see orangutans. What we learned we arrived was that the trip can be a bit of a two-fer or, in our case, a three-fer. First, we drove out to the orangutan preserve and arrived in time for 10 am feeding time. As we and the crowd of about 100 folks there learned, orangutans are kinda shy, so they take a while to show up for their snack of fruit and milk. Macaques, other hand, are happy to put on a show and eat orangutan leftovers. The bottom picture
features a mom and baby grooming. Of course, she just said, "Lift your arm, for god's sake."
Meanwhile, behind the macaques, three orangutans were swinging down ropes and filling their bellies. Finally, fifteen minutes into the side show, the big daddy orangutan featured in this second photo lumbered onto the stage about 10 feet from us. He was majestic. When I smiled at this beautiful 200 lb creature, Renata corrected, "Don't smile, Mom, he will think you are challenging him and attack you." Well, there is that.
When we returned to our taxi, our
driver brought us to a neighboring nature preserve that protected proboscis monkeys. These are the funny guys who are featured in the other two photos. According to my biologist husband, the males with the biggest noses are the ones that get their own pack, get to eat first, get groomed the most frequently because, "turns out the ladies like the big noses..." Really? Here is one of the dominant males in picture three. Just fabulous...