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| My classroom...isn't it peaceful looking? |
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| Can you believe I wrote those? And that I can read them too? Me neither! |
Scenes from language learning
Friends
Had to post some more pictures I took yesterday when we were playing outside. We ran into Katie's best friend from school! Her name is Rose (English name, that is...I didn't catch her real name.) I think she became Katie's friend mostly because she speaks a little English. We met her dad too--that was especially nice since a.) he spoke English as well and b.) we hadn't met any of Katie's classmates' parents since we pick Katie up at lunchtime and the rest of her classmates stay until 4 or 5pm.
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| Rose was actually a lot more interested in Katie than she looks in this picture! (She moved at the last second and this was the longest I could get them to sit still.) She actually spent most of the time chasing after Katie...I kept having to tell Katie to stop and actually play with Rose! Oh, and a funny story about her name. The day Katie came home and told us that she had made another friend (besides Nickel), I asked her what her name was. In her best Chinese voice, Katie says, "Ross" (with a long o). I asked her if that was her Chinese name or her English name, and Katie said it was her Chinese name (since Katie had asked her in Chinese what her name was...way to go, Katie!) Well, that didn't really seem right to me since "Ross" (long o) is not a sound that is found in the Chinese language. Chinese kids are incredibly difficult to understand so I just figured that Katie had done the best she could and that was good enough. So on Saturday, when I met Rose and asked her name, sure enough what came out was "Ross" (long o). In person it was easier to clarify that it was, in fact, the English word "Rose" but I had to give props to Katie for completely understanding and giving a perfect impersonation of "Ross" (long o)! |
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| I had to post this picture because it totally captures our day on Saturday. I was trying to get a better picture of Rose, who was riding off to the left, trying to catch up with Katie, whose shadow you see riding off on the right. Meanwhile, you can see Caroline in the background (black and white coat) running off to go digging in the dirt as well as the Grandpa squatting in the background, probably judging me for letting my child play in the dirt! It still amazes me that really old people here can even get in that position...I guess that's a benefit of a lifetime of squatty potties! |
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| Katie playing with some more kids we met on Saturday, even another classmate (the boy with the red hood) |
Bicycle Weekend
Having a bike is pretty much essential to living here. Most people don't own cars (although you wouldn't know it based on the ridiculous amount of traffic I got stuck in yesterday) and the city is designed so that each neighborhood basically has everything people need within walking distance (post office, pharmacy, banks, restaurants, markets, schools, hair salons, etc). Since we didn't have a bike at first, we had grown accustomed to walking to the places in our neighborhood we visit regularly (school, market, wal-mart, etc). But let's be honest--it's a lot nicer when you don't have to carve out 15 minutes to walk to the store and 15 more minutes to walk back and instead can trade in that 30 minutes for a 5 minute bike ride.
We were stoked when a couple weeks ago an American friend mentioned he had a ton of bikes lying around that friends had left when they went back to the States, and we could have one! (Cultural note: it is against the law to buy/sell a used bike in our city, part of the government's effort to crack down on bike theft. But's that's another post about what it's like to live in a low-trust society.)
So, Adam got a bike, and life for him became a lot faster and broader (since he could now travel twice the distance in the same amount of time as before). It also meant that he got to go to the store more since he could get there and back faster than me. Katie's been thrilled to experience life as a truly local child whenever she gets to ride on the back of the bike. Don't worry, grandparents, we're on the look-out for bike helmets (which are strangely hard to come by despite this being such a biker-ful city...I almost said biker-friendly but it's nothing of the sort).
We're especially in need of a bike helmet for Katie since she got a new bike today! It seems that all the kids her age around our complex have them (they train 'em young), and we're glad for Katie to have something to do outside besides wander around and get dirty and complain about the playground being boring.
We were stoked when a couple weeks ago an American friend mentioned he had a ton of bikes lying around that friends had left when they went back to the States, and we could have one! (Cultural note: it is against the law to buy/sell a used bike in our city, part of the government's effort to crack down on bike theft. But's that's another post about what it's like to live in a low-trust society.)
So, Adam got a bike, and life for him became a lot faster and broader (since he could now travel twice the distance in the same amount of time as before). It also meant that he got to go to the store more since he could get there and back faster than me. Katie's been thrilled to experience life as a truly local child whenever she gets to ride on the back of the bike. Don't worry, grandparents, we're on the look-out for bike helmets (which are strangely hard to come by despite this being such a biker-ful city...I almost said biker-friendly but it's nothing of the sort).
We're especially in need of a bike helmet for Katie since she got a new bike today! It seems that all the kids her age around our complex have them (they train 'em young), and we're glad for Katie to have something to do outside besides wander around and get dirty and complain about the playground being boring. 
I entitled this post "Bicycle Weekend" because tomorrow is my day to get a bike of my own! Hooray for life in the fast lane! Caroline's not getting left out either...most of the kids her age ride little tricycles or scoot trucks around. We mostly want to keep her from doing this (see left) everytime we go outside. (What you don't see are the stares of the grandmas around us who can't believe that I'm letting her do this.) We were going to buy her one this weekend until some other friends told us they had one we could have. So, all four McCullochs will soon have wheels...I'll be sure to get some pics of all of us cruising the town.
Happy Birthday, Caro!
Sunday we celebrated God giving Caroline 2 years of life (really 2 year and 9 months, right?).
It was such a fun day that we'd all been looking forward to for awhile. The really fun part was seeing Katie so excited to help make it a special day for her sister--hooray for seeking joy in another's! Saturday night we let her stay up past her normal bedtime to help us set up for the big day. All week long she had been coloring butterflies to decorate the walls. But the really fun part for her was setting up the play kitchen that was Caroline's big present. The grandparents all went in to buy the play kitchen from IKEA along with lots of accessories to go with it (thank you!!!). Adam and I had a fun date to IKEA on Friday morning to purchase it (and let me tell you, going right when the store opens is a much nicer experience than going in the afternoon....see my friend Sharee's post about her IKEA experience...) Even more fun was having it delivered the next day and not having to put together any of it (for a very low cost a bunch of Chinese guys will assemble your IKEA stuff for you). Not only was I very glad we had paid for this service when I saw how many parts came with it, but it also provided an hour's worth of entertainment for the girls as they watched them work! I made the smart move to ask the guys to assemble the kitchen in our bedroom, and I even managed to explain to them that it was for Caroline's birthday on Sunday so I didn't want her to see it. I think they seemed a little pleased to be part of the surprise. Caroline wasn't completely left out though...she got to watch a guy put together our coffee table. :)
Which brings us to the Big Day (I have a video I would LOVE to post, but once again I was foiled by Asian internet):
It was such a fun day that we'd all been looking forward to for awhile. The really fun part was seeing Katie so excited to help make it a special day for her sister--hooray for seeking joy in another's! Saturday night we let her stay up past her normal bedtime to help us set up for the big day. All week long she had been coloring butterflies to decorate the walls. But the really fun part for her was setting up the play kitchen that was Caroline's big present. The grandparents all went in to buy the play kitchen from IKEA along with lots of accessories to go with it (thank you!!!). Adam and I had a fun date to IKEA on Friday morning to purchase it (and let me tell you, going right when the store opens is a much nicer experience than going in the afternoon....see my friend Sharee's post about her IKEA experience...) Even more fun was having it delivered the next day and not having to put together any of it (for a very low cost a bunch of Chinese guys will assemble your IKEA stuff for you). Not only was I very glad we had paid for this service when I saw how many parts came with it, but it also provided an hour's worth of entertainment for the girls as they watched them work! I made the smart move to ask the guys to assemble the kitchen in our bedroom, and I even managed to explain to them that it was for Caroline's birthday on Sunday so I didn't want her to see it. I think they seemed a little pleased to be part of the surprise. Caroline wasn't completely left out though...she got to watch a guy put together our coffee table. :)
Which brings us to the Big Day (I have a video I would LOVE to post, but once again I was foiled by Asian internet):
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| I think she likes it! |
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| Cheese! It's my birthday! |
After enjoying some play time and banana bread for breakfast, we headed to church. Afterwards we had some friends of our come over for pizza, cake and ice cream! What a fun day! Thank you for God for giving us this precious little girl to celebrate!
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| Still lovin' the kitchen |
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| The big kids |
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| Lovin' the pizza |
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| Grown-ups like pizza too |
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| Drumroll....another semi-failed birthday cake! But hey, it can kind of pass for a purple butterfly, right? It tasted good and we even splurged on getting a couple pints of ice cream! |
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| All that matters is that she liked it! Hilariously, she actually calls the purple tissue paper butterfly we have hanging up "foofie cake." Maybe a cake was totally unnecessary? |
Life around here, part 2
And at last, the promised video from yesterday. And can I just say that Caroline gets funnier every day? Her verbal abilities are growing exponentially...which means her humor abilities are also growing exponentially. She's REALLY big into pretending right now, and basically only pretends Peter Pan. Sound familiar? Only it didn't start nearly this early with Katie--ah, the life of the younger sibling. Caroline's Neverland experience entails shouting, "Hook!" or "Smee!" and pointing toward the other side of the room and running the other way. The irony of all ironies is that in response to Caroline's constant game of Peter Pan make-believe, Katie grumbles and says, "Oh, this is so boring. What a baby game! When will she stop?" To which I smile and think, "Payback!"
[The video I wanted to post was too big, so here's the runner-up.]
[The video I wanted to post was too big, so here's the runner-up.]
Life around here
We are well into the throes of life around here, and I'm trying to keep afloat these days. It's amazing how quickly each day passes. Here's a "day in the life" rundown:
5:30AM- Get up (hopefully before the girls)
6:30AM- Girls are probably up by now, get breakfast, kids dressed, grown-ups showered
8:00AM- Ayi arrives (we have a wonderful house helper who comes to watch Caro while I'm in class and to do basic housework, runs to the market, etc.....couldn't live without her help! The best part--actually there are like 10 best parts--is that she is a sister and speaks no English...great for language and encouraging to our family as well! For example, she prayed with Katie the day she started kindergarten....even though we barely understood a word she prayed, it was incredibly precious to us that she would do it!)
8:30AM- Out the door, drop off Katie at kindy and head to class at the university just down the street
8:45AM- cram to finish all the homework I didn't do the night before (not the best way to learn, I know, but I'm still trying to figure out how to squeeze it all in and still sleep!)
9:00AM- Teacher arrives, we work on pronunciation, dialogues, reading, and writing (yes, I am learning to read and write! It's amazing to me too!)
10:30AM- Class ends; I either stay for 30 extra minutes to study or I run to the Wal-mart or market to pick up groceries/stuff
11:00/11:15AM- arrive home, rescue Ayi from the Caroline tornado
11:30AM- walk to kindy to wait for Katie, attempt to talk to the other grandmas waiting to pick up their kiddos (most of the kids at Katie's kindy stay all day, but some leave at lunch time like Katie. I have yet to figure out why they don't stay all day either....perhaps I'll attempt that conversation tomorrow!)
11:45AM- enjoying walking home with Katie, sharing squatty potty adventures (both of us usually have stories) and finding out what was served at her lunch (which she never eats)
12:00PM- arrive home, say goodbye to ayi and thank her for putting up with Caroline's shenanigans, throw together lunch (usually pbj, leftovers, noodles for the girls), sometimes yummy baozi from el cheapo stand at the veggie market for me (although Caroline likes them too...she's the more adventurous eater of our pair)
1:00PM- naptime for Caro, phonics/math/handwriting for Katie and me, our afternoon tutor arrives (more on him in another post) and works with Adam in the back; Highlight of the Day is reading On the Banks of Plum Creek to Katie if we finish early (we're going throught the Little House books again, hooray!)
2:15PM- tutor comes out to work with Katie (and me, but I'm more of a cheerleader than participant)
3:00PM- Tutor leaves; figure out what to do for the next 2-3 hours before dinner (this slot is the hardest time of day in which we're still trying to work out the kinks); depending on the day we either run to a meeting, get started on dinner and potentially prepare for company; play with the girls inside or take them outside and attempt (again) to talk to the dozens of grandmas playing outside with their toddlers
Life from 4-8 really depends on the day, but lately we've enjoyed having different folks over, either foreign friends or local folks we have connections with...we even enjoyed the company of a visitor from Louisville last night! Other nights we hunker down as a family, with me taking an hour to study while Adam hangs out with the girls, and having family sing-a-long or movie night after supper (we've even been known to have impromptu family olympics...)
Eventually 7:30/8:00PM rolls around and the girls get in bed, at which point we are pretty much wiped out. Adam and I either study, check email, work on other administrative tasks, catch up with each other, or fall into bed (which ideally happens for me around 9pm....but is clearly not happening tonight since I just looked at the clock and it said 9:50, yikes!)
And that's a day in the life of the McCullochs. Saturdays have proven to be a fun day...perhaps worthy of an entire blogpost?
[Tomorrow I'll try to post a fun video from today as a reward for making it through this long blog post...I had planned on posting the video tonight, but now that I realize what time it is, I need to go to bed! and so cannot wait for the ridiculously slow internet here to upload the video.]
5:30AM- Get up (hopefully before the girls)
6:30AM- Girls are probably up by now, get breakfast, kids dressed, grown-ups showered
8:00AM- Ayi arrives (we have a wonderful house helper who comes to watch Caro while I'm in class and to do basic housework, runs to the market, etc.....couldn't live without her help! The best part--actually there are like 10 best parts--is that she is a sister and speaks no English...great for language and encouraging to our family as well! For example, she prayed with Katie the day she started kindergarten....even though we barely understood a word she prayed, it was incredibly precious to us that she would do it!)
8:30AM- Out the door, drop off Katie at kindy and head to class at the university just down the street
8:45AM- cram to finish all the homework I didn't do the night before (not the best way to learn, I know, but I'm still trying to figure out how to squeeze it all in and still sleep!)
9:00AM- Teacher arrives, we work on pronunciation, dialogues, reading, and writing (yes, I am learning to read and write! It's amazing to me too!)
10:30AM- Class ends; I either stay for 30 extra minutes to study or I run to the Wal-mart or market to pick up groceries/stuff
11:00/11:15AM- arrive home, rescue Ayi from the Caroline tornado
11:30AM- walk to kindy to wait for Katie, attempt to talk to the other grandmas waiting to pick up their kiddos (most of the kids at Katie's kindy stay all day, but some leave at lunch time like Katie. I have yet to figure out why they don't stay all day either....perhaps I'll attempt that conversation tomorrow!)
11:45AM- enjoying walking home with Katie, sharing squatty potty adventures (both of us usually have stories) and finding out what was served at her lunch (which she never eats)
12:00PM- arrive home, say goodbye to ayi and thank her for putting up with Caroline's shenanigans, throw together lunch (usually pbj, leftovers, noodles for the girls), sometimes yummy baozi from el cheapo stand at the veggie market for me (although Caroline likes them too...she's the more adventurous eater of our pair)
1:00PM- naptime for Caro, phonics/math/handwriting for Katie and me, our afternoon tutor arrives (more on him in another post) and works with Adam in the back; Highlight of the Day is reading On the Banks of Plum Creek to Katie if we finish early (we're going throught the Little House books again, hooray!)
2:15PM- tutor comes out to work with Katie (and me, but I'm more of a cheerleader than participant)
3:00PM- Tutor leaves; figure out what to do for the next 2-3 hours before dinner (this slot is the hardest time of day in which we're still trying to work out the kinks); depending on the day we either run to a meeting, get started on dinner and potentially prepare for company; play with the girls inside or take them outside and attempt (again) to talk to the dozens of grandmas playing outside with their toddlers
Life from 4-8 really depends on the day, but lately we've enjoyed having different folks over, either foreign friends or local folks we have connections with...we even enjoyed the company of a visitor from Louisville last night! Other nights we hunker down as a family, with me taking an hour to study while Adam hangs out with the girls, and having family sing-a-long or movie night after supper (we've even been known to have impromptu family olympics...)
Eventually 7:30/8:00PM rolls around and the girls get in bed, at which point we are pretty much wiped out. Adam and I either study, check email, work on other administrative tasks, catch up with each other, or fall into bed (which ideally happens for me around 9pm....but is clearly not happening tonight since I just looked at the clock and it said 9:50, yikes!)
And that's a day in the life of the McCullochs. Saturdays have proven to be a fun day...perhaps worthy of an entire blogpost?
[Tomorrow I'll try to post a fun video from today as a reward for making it through this long blog post...I had planned on posting the video tonight, but now that I realize what time it is, I need to go to bed! and so cannot wait for the ridiculously slow internet here to upload the video.]
Early birds
Unfortunately, this has been my view lately at about 5:45 every morning:
Well, if I'm honest...this is more likely what I see:
Soon to be followed by this:
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| (Does Dora count as educational?) |
My dear friend Carolyn and I have both been wondering lately how to protect this precious morning time. Usually, the problem lies on my end of things--as in not having enough self-control to get into bed by 9 in order to get up early enough. What happens though when you work hard to get to bed early, actually do get up when the alarm goes off, but still do not get to have your desired silence and solitude? Well, you probably shouldn't get mad and sin away your morning, which is what I have been tending to do. Oh, how angry I've become when I hear that little voice shouting, "Mommy!" How quickly my good desire becomes a right, a demand--and to such an extent that I sin when I don't get it. For the first few days of companionship with my early birds, I complained and begged God, "Why are they waking up so early? Please cause them to sleep later! Don't You care that I'm just trying to spend with you?" It's never a good sign of my heart's state when I start accusing God of not caring. While it's perfectly legititmate to take this concern before Him and to ask Him to intervene (which I am still hoping He does!), He is beginning to show me that He has more in mind behind the early birds than what I was/am seeing. In perfect timing, I read this post on another blog recently--challenging!
No time to finish writing out my thoughts about this now, hopefully more later. I'm thankful that He is not letting this "teaching moment" slip by in my life...but I'd still be happy for them to sleep later (and I'm open for advice too!)
The Bean
That's Caroline, in case you weren't aware of her most oft-called nickname. I'd like to dedicate this post to this little McCulloch, because even though she's been waking up way too early (more on that in another post) and causes a scene in the taxi way too often, she still cracks us up all the time and we're so glad she's part of our family. Wouldn't you want someone like this living in your house?
Her hair is absolutely WILD these days. This is what she usually looks like when she wakes up in the morning or after a nap (give or take the sunglasses). She wears just a onesie most of the time in our apartment because it is so stinkin' hot in here. [We can't adjust our heat ourselves, it's just pumped in nonstop, which Adam hates but I kind of like because I hate wearing layers and love being able to walk around barefoot and not have cold feet!] It makes for pretty sweaty sleeping conditions for Caro in the heat of the day when our apt bakes in the afternoon sun (again, I don't complain too much because I love having a bright and sunny apartment). Her hair gets so sweaty and curly and ratty during her nap that she looks like a wild woman when she wakes up.
Other things about Caroline that I love...
*her favorite color is purple (although you have to have a discerning ear to distinguish purple from another word she uses for relieving herself) I'm pretty sure that she actually likes the color purple even though she calls every color purple until she's corrected (she did this with blue for awhile too but she's been stuck on purple much longer)
*whenever she hears the word birthday, she shouts, "Mice!" (which actually means 'my' or 'mine,' but she adds an 's' to it because she's used to hearing 'yours' or 'hers'...make sense, right?) Then she usually shouts, "Purple! Fuff-fies!" which means purple butterflies. The other day Katie and I asked Caro what kind of a birthday cake she wanted. She paused thoughtfully and said, "Purple" (of course) then "fuff-fies" I couldn't believe she actually had an opinion...and was articulate enough to express it. Purple butterfly, it is!
*She loves to run, especially in circles and she shouts, "Circle!" as she does it
*I need to take a better picture, but in the photo above, she is standing in her favorite nook...on the tv table next to the chair. She especially loves to hide things behind the table (right hear the power strip, of course). One good thing though is that if you're missing something, you always know where to look!
*she loves it when I pretend to sleep and sometimes (if I'm lucky) she'll "sing" me a lullaby. It is the cutest, funniest thing that I must catch on video sometime.
Oh, there are so many other things I could write about, but I haven't studied yet for class tomorrow so I need to get going. We love you, Bean!
Other things about Caroline that I love...
*her favorite color is purple (although you have to have a discerning ear to distinguish purple from another word she uses for relieving herself) I'm pretty sure that she actually likes the color purple even though she calls every color purple until she's corrected (she did this with blue for awhile too but she's been stuck on purple much longer)
*whenever she hears the word birthday, she shouts, "Mice!" (which actually means 'my' or 'mine,' but she adds an 's' to it because she's used to hearing 'yours' or 'hers'...make sense, right?) Then she usually shouts, "Purple! Fuff-fies!" which means purple butterflies. The other day Katie and I asked Caro what kind of a birthday cake she wanted. She paused thoughtfully and said, "Purple" (of course) then "fuff-fies" I couldn't believe she actually had an opinion...and was articulate enough to express it. Purple butterfly, it is!
*She loves to run, especially in circles and she shouts, "Circle!" as she does it
*I need to take a better picture, but in the photo above, she is standing in her favorite nook...on the tv table next to the chair. She especially loves to hide things behind the table (right hear the power strip, of course). One good thing though is that if you're missing something, you always know where to look!
*she loves it when I pretend to sleep and sometimes (if I'm lucky) she'll "sing" me a lullaby. It is the cutest, funniest thing that I must catch on video sometime.
Oh, there are so many other things I could write about, but I haven't studied yet for class tomorrow so I need to get going. We love you, Bean!
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| Sorry for the blurriness...this one is always on the move and I haven't figured out the 'action' settings on my camera yet! |
Andrew Peterson on Noisetrade!!!
Oh, friends, if you have never listened to Andrew Peterson (or even if you have and have never heard of this album), you must must must go here to download his amazing album The Far Country. The first four songs (plus #7) are some of my all-time favorite AP songs. You will not be disappointed. It's worth a big tip too.
If you do end up downloading it, will you let me know what you think?
If you do end up downloading it, will you let me know what you think?
Kindy--photos AND video!
Here's the promised picture of Katie in front of her kindy, as our Australian friends like to say. By His grace, Day 2 went just as well as Day 1. Let's hope school goes as well for Adam and me when we start next week!
And a video while I waited for her to come out:
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| Check out that blue sky! Thankfully I've been eating my words recently! |
The Big Day
The day went really well, I think. When we went to pick her up, the teacher told us (through our friend translating on the phone) that she was a little shy at first but once they started doing activities she did really well. She said that it was obvious that Katie is good at trying out new situations. I'll say! What a kid!
From Katie's side of things, she said her favorite part were the morning exercises. Can you blame her? She said that before that the teacher just read to them from a book and she didn't understand any of it. I asked her if it was a picture book and she said that it was a chapter book. Boo, that would be boring in another language, don't you think? (All this detail, by the way, is purely for the grandparent-readers out there who I know are salivating to know every teensy tiny detail.) She was a little disappointed that she only made one friend--I told her that one was pretty good for the first day and that it was a total answer to what I had prayed! She said that the little girl spoke a little English (hooray!) and that her name was Nickel. (Hmm...Katie might have made this up but it's not likely since I had some former students with English names like "Ice" and "Birds" and knew of another teacher with a student named "Green Lighthouse" or something like that. Compared to those, Nickel actually seems like a cool name!) All in all, I think things went well. We are praising God that Day 1 was so good and are hopeful that Day 2 will be even better.
Oh, and how could I forget the real success of the day?!
Me: Did you go to the bathroom there, Katie?
K: Yes! They had a handlebar in there so I didn't fall over!
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| Of course we had to get a shot outside the practice potty! |
Back story: Per a friend's good advice, I took Katie to a public restroom yesterday to practice using a squatty potty. (Can you believe we've managed to avoid them until now?) It went, um, okay. To be honest, I wasn't at all sure of how she'd do without someone there to help her out and hold all of her clothing out of the way so it wouldn't get, you know, wet. Per the same friend, I packed an extra set of clothing in Katie's backpack and somehow explained to her teacher what it was for. "Just in case." Thanks to the "handlebars" the extra clothes didn't have to be used! Hooray!
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