Only 11 more days and we'll be boarding the plane for our first trip back to the States! Wow! It's truly amazing how time is flying by... and I'm sure the busyness of the holiday season is adding to how quickly the time is passing. Not busy like Stateside-busy, but busy trying to see friends and do some holiday celebrating with those that feel Christmas is an extra-meaningful time. That being said, it's gotten really cold here! We had another cold front blow in last night, so our high today is in the mid-30's and the wind makes it feel much colder. Kevin took off on his bike to class this morning, but after walking the kids the 1/2 mile to the school bus and passing the frozen water on the way, I'm thinking taking a taxi sounds more enjoyable...
Thursday evening was one of our two "China adventures" for the week. After teaching the older two kids kickball during their after-school sports time, Kevin took Karis and Eli with him to one of the baseball player's homes for dinner. The player's dad teaches English, and it ended up being somewhat of a recruiting dinner for Kevin! Seems as if his dad would like Kevin to come teach English also to the kids at the company he runs, so he lavished our kids with gifts (mainly junk food snacks), a full meal for dinner, and even stuff to take home (like a coffee or tea french press, fruit, etc.). Kevin and the kids had a good time, but was unfortunately a later evening than I'd hoped (they didn't get home until 8:30, which is about an hour and a half past their normal week night bed time!). Made the weekend start off a little behind on sleep patterns, but was a good time for Kevin to show love to his young baseball friend!
Friday night Karis had her elementary school's musical performance. It was precious, and she had a blast. Two of our good Chinese friends and a two of our western friends came to cheer her on, so she felt like a star! We made it through the whole hour-long show, only having to leave with Noah once to go run around outside in the foyer, thanks to the fun upbeat music that Karis' younger brothers had fun clapping along with (oh, and a small bag of M&Ms that I packed in the diaper bag!).
On Saturday we went to the international school's annual Christmas bazaar. We had a great time shopping for some fun Christmas things that are hard to find elsewhere (like small Christmas gift tags, poinsettias, even good-quality kids' toys for cheaper than normal import prices). The highlight for the kids was them each getting to pick out a toy--Barbie doll for Karis, hot wheels for the boys, and Fisher Price phone for Noah. None of them cost over 30 kuai (the equivalent of about $4-$5. Believe it or not, this is incredibly rare for us to find such deals! Most people assume that since we live in China, and this is where everything is made, you can find toys for REALLY cheap. Not so!!! We can find really cheap stuff at local toy stores, but it literally lasts for at max a day or two before a crucial part breaks off and it all ends up in the trash. Pretty frustrating! And the one down side to the toys we did bring home was the amount of dirt on them! They were brand new, but I still had to thoroughly clean most of them (that were not fully covered in plastic) to get off all of the dirt and grime. Needless to say, we are looking forward to Target and ToysRUs and doing a little stocking up for this next years' birthdays when we are back in Dallas this month...
Saturday afternoon we had another "China adventure"! My precious friend Shan Shan invited us to come to her family's home for dinner over a month ago. Her mom is significantly older, and her father passed away early this fall. So Shan Shan and her mom have been preparing for our family coming over for over a month, practicing piano and singing duets, finding out kids' menu preferences, etc. We arrived at 4:45 pm on Saturday afternoon to find snacks out and waiting--all just at the right height for Noah to grab easily--including 3 kinds of cookies (one a seaweed variety--yum!) and a plate full of small chocolates. After Kevin and I attempted to keep him away from the chocolates until after dinner, we eventually gave up, realizing that there was no way we could do so without both offending our host and causing a total scene with our incredibly strong-willed 1 1/2 year old. So Noah had a total blast. He emptied the first plate of cookies, much to my relief (thinking, "oh good, they're gone so now he won't eat any more!") But our hostesses were too on the ball, so the supply of chocolates was quickly replenished. Long story short, Noah's dinner on Saturday night was chocolate. Literally. He ate at least two plate-fulls, (maybe 3?), and had a few cookies for dessert. But when it came time for the meal at 5:45, for some reason he just wasn't interested in green beans! Our hostesses were slightly surprised, so Kevin and I just laughed it off. We're still trying to figure out if Chinese families do this with their own kids (the whole, feed them snacks and sweet stuff just to keep them happy even if it's right before meal time), or if this is just something that happens when guests are over. Have yet to determine the cultural norm....
The dinner was a feast. Shan Shan and her mom had fixed 16 dishes--that's right, 16 different dishes--for us to eat. And there were only 6 adults (my friend Ying Ying and her boyfriend also came). We ate more than we had room for and then they sent us home with a fridge-full of left overs. I'm attaching a photo of the mini-concert that we got from ShanShan (on the piano) and her mom (singing). It was a sweet time of fellowship and deepening relationship with a dear friend, in a culture in which spending time with someone's family is one of the most significant things you can do to show you care for them.
Sunday after fellowship we hurried home to have one of our favorite western families (the Thorpes, also with 4 kids, ages 11-16) over for lunch. The Thorpe kids have kind of adopted ours as younger siblings (which thrills my kids to no end!), and they had gotten some gifts for our kids for Christmas. So we had a meal together and small gift-opening time. After a quick afternoon rest time, Karis' school teacher came over to babysit the kids for Kevin and I to go out on a triple date. We went to a famous hot pot restaurant with our friends from Dallas (Sam and Charis) and one of Kevin's former teachers and her fiance. We had a wonderful meal (at the price of about $7 per person!) and a great time talking over dinner. We are soooooo thankful for the sweet friendships we've been blessed with, both foreigners and nationals, that we have to celebrate with already this year!!
