Chinese Lessons

I think I have said that Renata and Luca get Chinese every other day in school and they are flying along both with speaking and recognizing characters. Victor and I are developing some street Chinese. We are at that point, now five months into this journey, where we drag the kids along to help us out. Luca helped us order space heaters for the apartment-- warranty, functions, etc-- he was all over it. Last week I dragged Renata to the seamstress in Old Shekou to help me order a table cloth and cloth napkins. Measurements, fabric, price-- we did it. Love the result.

So, about two weeks ago, I was at a Christmas fair and bought a book from a lady. Later, the book lady saw me talking to a student and his dad and interrupted and said, "Do you teach? Do you teach English?" Well, yes, as a matter a fact I do-- it turns out to be my one marketable skill. So she asked me to tutor her 8 year old son in English. I looked at her signs which read "Linda Lee's interactive Chinese" and said, "Well, do you teach Chinese?" She runs the school here in Shekou. You know by my previous posts, that the Chinese are all about bartering-- we struck a deal-- I will tutor her son, Andrew in English reading and writing for a hour a week and she will send a Chinese tutor to our house for an hour a week in return. Perfect.

Vic and I had our first lesson yesterday at Linda Lee's Interactive Chinese School. We had a lovely tutor named Cherry. But, Linda Lee, the big Chinese kahona, bursts into our lesson and asks if I will also tutor her 11 year old daughter in English. She is kind of pushy.... You know, I say, Victor is also a teacher and he taught 5th and 6th grade. You know where this is going-- we have worked out a good trade for all of us. Vic and I tutor her two kids in English individually from 9-10 am on Saturdays and in return we receive an equal amount of Chinese lessons. We are excited, but have watched innumerable colleagues start Chinese lessons and eventually drop out because of scheduling and life conflicts. I'll let you know. Zai jian, for now!!

Christmas music at SIS

Beautiful, festive holiday concert last night. The kind of psychotic version of "Bells" song and of course a little "Jingle Bells". That is Renata with the red scarf.
One of the snacks during intermission were peanut butter blossom cookies-- you know the ones with the hershey kiss melted into the middle. And I was suddenly seriously missing my mom. Hands down, hers are the best. Sometimes she makes them with miniature peanut butter cups in the middle. I really can't get enough...
Definitely missing home this Christmas--family, the cold, the dark, snow, pine trees, English language songs, people being more cheerful. Luckily for us, the Corrieas are coming to be with us at Christmas. We are anxiously waiting for their arrival, their wonderful company, and news from home.

O Christmas Tree

Top Ten New things we did this week

It is no surprise that one of our biggest motivations for coming to live in a new country was to try something new. So here goes for the week of November 30-December 4, 2010.

10. Left Luca's camera in a squat toilet in Louho, Shenzhen. Not actually in, but I'm not going back for it.
9. Bought a new camera for Luca in Old Shekou-- Samsung, in honor of the nice Korean dad that I have in my class who works there.
8. Drove an electric bike
7. Watched Luca play the trombone-- what cheeks.
6. Iced Renata's ankle sprained in PE-- lots of pretty colors. She loves the attention...
5. Made donuts in honor of the first night of Hannukah.
4. Celebrated Hannukah with people from Israel; pretty cool.
3. Went to dinner at a restaurant and saw a complete carcass of a beheaded dog in the window as we approached.
2. Went to a different new restaurant on a different street.
1. Celebrated birthdays for three kids, each from Japan, Korea and China. Learned the song in three languages, well heard it in three languages...

Renata's Birthday

We spent Renata's birthday in Guangzhou at the middle school touch-rugby tournament. Luca played with the boys and Renata played with the girls team. Both had a ball (pardon the pun). What a great day! It was a bit tiring however! Guangzhou is about two hours away by bus so we had an early morning departure from Shenzhen to arrive at the tournament on time. We are all rugby fans now!!

The boys on the bike

So the boys finally got their motorbike and here it is. Notice the lack of helmets. Fortunately, it goes slow, but it goes. Now we fit right in:)

Luca's 12th Birthday

Luca turns 12 in China. He was skyped by his good friends Matt and Tom in the am and Robby, Tom's brother said, "Wait, you were born here in Maine. It is still November 12th over here, you are not really 12." Luca heard from his grandparents on both sides and his aunt. Pretty sweet. He is modeling his prized b-day gift, a red COKE shirt written in Mandarin. The cake, the first thing we have baked in our time here, tasted just like the boxed cakes back home.
Next weekend, he has asked his dad to take him and a friend to his favorite haunts in Hong Kong.