She made it!

The long-awaited day of Grandma Sue's arrival has finally come! 

(Today was also Katie's last day of kindergarten and was supposed to be celebrated by a graduation performance for all the parents, featuring all the dances the kids have been laboring over for the last 6 weeks. You may remember last year was the same deal...except that after all the weeks of blood, sweat, and tears, Katie got sick the day of the performance and couldn't attend! Well, unfortunately, yesterday afternoon we got a call from Katie's teacher who informed us that because a child in the class has come down with the chicken pox, parents would not be able to attend the performance. Instead, they had hired a professional videographer to come and then would be sending DVDs to all the parents.  Does that logic seem strange to anyone besides me? Obviously, the sick kid should not attend, but why should all the parents also not be allowed to attend? A friend of mine helped shed a little light for me--basically, in this culture, adults are seen as the primary disease-carriers, not children. So, in order to protect the students, all the "disease-ridden" were barred from attending. Right...  So unfortunately, no videos to post, but I did manage to get a few photos in when I picked Katie up from school.

Katie said she shed a few tears during the performance (she said all the girls were crying) and she even teared up a bit on the way home. I tried to encourage her that it's actually good to feel sad when something's ending--it means that it wasn't a terrible experience and that you really made meaningful relationships! 

Thankfully, we had Grandma Sue's arrival to look forward to.....

There were some tense moments in those last few seconds of waiting...

She's here!!!!

Tears of joy on both sides

 

 

Let the games begin....

Family time

Every week we try to spend focused time together as a family.  In this crazy city life we live, we've found it essential to our sanity to have some scheduled "nothing on the schedule" nights.  Sometimes this looks like just playing outside at our complex, other nights it looks like watching Cars as a family or playing Candyland (Caroline's current love). 

Sometimes though, failed date nights can turn into amazing family nights, thanks to my husband's brilliance.  Adam had planned to take me to a popular local spot to which I had never been.  So when the babysitter called in sick, he said, "Let's just all go!" I'm so glad he said that and so glad we went, because it turned into one of the best nights ever.  Videos to come.

 

Foreigner

Hardly a day goes by here without our hearing one particular word spoken about us at least once, often more.  Sometimes it is whispered under the breath, other times it is shouted and accompanied by pointing finger.  外国人。Waiguoren.  It literally means "outside country person."  Foreigner.  The word makes sense--we are, in fact, people who have come from a country outside of the one in which we live. But sometimes, depending on the day, it can sound more like, "Outsider." "Doesn't belong." "Not one of us."  When spoken about us, it is often joined with the word 看, kan, look.  As in, "Look, a foreigner!" as if we were animals in the zoo. Thankfully, because we live in a big city, most of the residents here are pretty used to foreigners and properly ignore us. But let's be honest, with kids as cute as ours, we're pretty hard to ignore!  :)  The worst times have been when we're in more touristy places where people not from our city are gathered...and they have cameras. It is a struggle for me to resist the urge to educate everyone in this country on the proper way to interact with those who are "different" from them. 

There have been a few times when Katie has tearfully complained about how much she hates it when the younger kids at the kindergarten walk by in a line and she hears the sound of "Waiguoren" rippling through the crowd along with a row of pointing fingers (as if they haven't seen her every other day!).  It's not meant to be mean or insulting; they're just honestly excited to see a foreigner! But people don't stop to think that we may actually be able to understand what they're saying or it may be the 50th time that we heard it that day.  I've tried comforting Katie by pointing out how blessed she is to come from a country like America where we have the benefit of seeing God's amazing creativity in creating different kinds of people.  I've encouraged her to try to stir up feelings of pity for them in her heart--how sad it is to grow up in a place where everyone has the same hair color as you and how she is a blessing to them by allowing them to see more of God's creativity that we take for granted coming from a place like America.  I also just hug her and tell her, "I know, it's pretty annoying. But they don't know any better and they're meaning to hurt your feelings." I've told her that in some of my less sanctified moments, I've been tempted to respond to the sound of "Look, a foreigner!" with a snarky, "看中过人！Look, a Chinese person!"  (Unfortunately, sarcasm doesn't translate very well here, and I pridefully haven't wanted to waste my clever comeback.)

With that as a little background, I wanted to share a sort of revelatory moment today, which by the grace of God, I pray will stick with me and from this point forward transform my heart's response when I encounter the label, "Foreigner." 

Katie and I had ridden on my bike to the market down the street where I buy our butter.  (I really wish I could take you shopping with me sometime, so you could see for yourself what a different world we live in...but that's another blog post).  On our way home, we were peddling along and I heard someone on the sidewalk say to the person with them, "Look, foreigners." Feelings of annoyance instantly welled up within me. "Why do they care? Why does it matter?" I thought to myself. But suddenly, I was ambushed by a thought from Above, "Why are you so upset? You are aliens and strangers." (1 Peter 2:11)  I suddenly realized that I do not have to receive these "kan, waiguoren" experiences as annoyances but rather as heaven-sent reminders of who I really am. These passersby are rightly signifying my true identity.  Wherever I go in this world, I am a waiguoren, a foreigner. And what a blessing that is. This world is not my home. My citizenship is in heaven.

If you are a friend who is also living in a country different than that on your passport, rejoice in those moments of feeling like an outsider! Let us fight together to see that they are God's kind way of pulling back the veil and reminding us of where Home really is.

Homeschool update

{So I started this post last November ( ! ) and am finally getting around to finishing it. This is for anyone who is interested in learning more of what education has looked like for Katie this year...and also for my own records!}

Katie's enrolled in a local kindergarten (Americans would call it pre-school, except that the last year of it, for 5-6 year olds is what we call kindergarten in the States, since Chinese primary schools begin with 1st grade).  She spends the mornings there, comes home for lunch, and then during Caro's naptime we do some basic homeschooling. I had many friends tell me that kindergarten does not need to be an intense time of homeschooling, and I've taken that very seriously!  I sometimes wonder if we're doing "enough" but then I have to remind myself that my child is in a full-blown second language immersion program half the day and doesn't need to be Tiger-mommed. We start off with a sentence or part of a sentence of copywork, typically from whatever passage of Scripture we are memorizing (this fall it's been Psalm 103). We then do a page or two out of Phonics Pathways, a lesson from Rod & Staff's Grade 1 curriculum.  Depending on her attitude, that can take as little as 30 minutes or over an hour.
The best part by far though is what happens next and has always been one of my favorite parts of the day...read-aloud time with Katie.  Ever since Katie stopped napping (which was at age 2.5!), I've tried to turn our afternoons into quiet rest time.  Before Caroline came on the scene, Katie would spend an hour or so alone in her room, playing quietly while listening to an audiobook.  This time did not come easily at first, but eventually she got used to it and it became a sorely missed time of day if she ever had to go without it!  Once Caroline arrived and her afternoon nap became somewhat normal, the first hour of Caro's nap was Katie's room time, the second hour for a little phonics work followed by read-aloud time. Perhaps groomed by listening to audiobooks, Katie could've sat and listened to me read for hours. I loved this time alone with her (plus I loved reading all the Little House books and Boxcar Children books and Narnia books just as much as she did!)

For some reason since coming to China, Katie has never gotten over jetlag and continues to rise as early as 5:45am on some days but usually around 6:30am or so.  Since I am not prepared to converse with anyone until 7am, she usually comes out and sits on the sofa next to me and listens to an audiobook while I finish my quiet time. I didn't know what I was going to do at first without the public library's awesome selection of audiobooks for kids, until I discovered Librivox.org.  So far, Katie has listened to Peter Pan and Pollyanna. We also bought the mp3s for Susan Wise Bauer's Story of the World, Book 1 which she has loved.

Besides listening to these books, the "official" books we have read this fall as part of homeschooling are:

• Swiss Family Robinson- this book was a long one and a little too wordy for her age, but she was able to keep up amazingly well plus learn some good vocab along the way (and I did as well, I should add).  This book provides great fodder for a unit study--we dabbled in pursuing some of these tangents, like keeping a list of all the animals mentioned and trying to figure out if the island where they were could be an actual place. Narration ala Charlotte Mason was really helpful in making sure that Katie was tracking with what was going on. 
• Betsy-Tacy- this books is so, so sweet and wonderful. I discovered it on Ann Voskamp's book list. Once we read it, I couldn't believe I can't wait to check out the rest of the series.
• Black Beauty- I had never read this before and realized a little too late that it was probably mostly over Katie's head, but we pressed through and she amazingly was able to retell the basic storyline each day and hopefully has picked up
• The Magician's Nephew- this was so fun to read with her...she was SO into learning how things in Narnia began and about jumped out of her skin when we got to the bit about the lamppost. She's now listened to all the books in the Narnia series except for The Last Battle (which I'm saving to let her read on her own when she's old enough).
• The Wind in the Willows- why didn't anyone ever tell me what a wonderful book this is?  I am in love!  I got the idea to read it from a novel I discovered, The Pilgrim's Inn by Elizabeth Goudge.

That's about as far as I got in writing the post last November.  Here's what we've read since then and I know I'm missing some but these are the ones I can remember!

• Little Men
• The Secret Garden
• A Little Princess
• The Little White Horse
• Stories from Grandma's Attic and More Stories from Grandma's Attic
• Elsie Dinsmore

Finally, a school!

A while back I posted a rant blogpost about the trouble we've had figuring out Katie's school situation for the coming year. I am happy to report the ordeal has finally come to a conclusion!  After literally months of searching and waiting and asking, a school finally said they would be able to accept Katie...and they were quite happy to do so!

Katie will begin first grade at a local school at the end of August. She is the only foreign student at the school, but we have been very encouraged by the warm and friendly attitude that the school administration has shown towards her (especially as compared to our experiences in dialoguing with other schools).

[Classic example:  One Saturday back in early June was the registration day for most primary schools, which meant that if you were wanting your child to attend a particular school, you needed to go to that school, get in line, wait, and in our case, not be entirely sure about what was going to be required of you when you got to the head of the line. For most local families, getting registered requires going to one school only. Adam, Katie, and our precious, faithful tutor planned to go to 3-4 different schools since we had been unable to get a straight answer from any of them. At the first 3 schools they visited, the registration was taking place outside. In the heat. And sometimes rain. Sounds like fun, right? Standing in line on a hot day with a bunch of 6 year olds who have nothing to do? Their experience at the last school they visited, the one where Katie will be going, was much different.  Registration was taking place inside, in the air conditioning, and they had set up a tv with Tom and Jerry cartoons for the kids to watch while waiting. Later on, as Adam was relating to me the events of the day and giving me his opinions of the various schools, he said as he shared the story about the AC and Tom and Jerry, "Someone was thinking!" And that's always a good sign.]

Mercifully, it is a much closer school than the other options that we were left with. Plus, we've recently discovered a few other students in our complex who will also be attending this school in the fall, including some of Katie's current classmates, so she'll already know some folks there!

Some of you have inquired about our educational philosophy for raising children overseas. (insert sound of crickets chirping, because, to be honest, we really aren't entirely sure what we are doing!)  Our modus operandi shares pretty much the same name as our blog--we're just taking things one step at a time. We feel like it's really important that she learns the language, for her own cultural and emotional and social adjustment. Can you imagine what it would be like to grow up in a place where you really never had any idea what was going on around you or where you couldn't really play with kids in your neighborhood because you couldn't understand what they were saying? Katie's already shown remarkable progress having been in kindergarten here for a year, affirming to us that there really is no substitute for a full-on, immersion situation. So, we're going to give it a go! Especially since attending local schools seems to be a fairly popular/common practice among the expat families we know, and so far with good result.  At this point she'll be going 5 full days a week, doing all the same stuff her classmates are doing--same learning of characters and memorizing of ancient Chinese poems, same math work, etc. We'll see how it goes. Such a schedule won't leave a lot of time for homeschooling, so we're planning only to focus on reading/writing this year (using this curriculum which I'm really excited about).  Realistically speaking, Katie will probably only attend a local school at most through 2nd grade (if things go well)--we just want to give her a good foundation in Chinese. I'm sort of sad when I think about having to set aside my desires for homeschooling for the time being (especially when I think that we could be using curriculum like this) and can sometimes be anxious about her falling behind her peers in the States. But then I have to remind myself that my child is becoming fluent in a second language...which is pretty stinkin' awesome. Plus, with baby coming in November, in addition to the normal craziness of our life here, Adam kindly and gently pointed out that, while I may be excited about the prospect of homeschooling, it may not really be the most reasonable option at this juncture.  Point taken.  :)

All that to say, please pray for Katie and for us. We really have no idea how this thing is going to go. Especially when it comes to how drastically different Chinese philosophy of education are from Western ideas (that's another blogpost). Pray that we will have a good relationship with her teacher--that she will be kind and discerning and gentle towards Katie but also will not overly coddle her or treat her differently to the point that it causes other problems. Pray that Katie will make good friends, that she will have a Hope-filled attitude and a persevering mentality, and that this will be a positive experience for her. Right now at home we're working on learning as many characters as we can so she'll be a little less behind when she starts. We'll keep you posted!

Oh, and Caroline will also be starting school next month...she'll be starting half days at the same kindergarten where Katie has been this year. Also, not entirely sure how this is going to go over--Caro is a pretty independent, highly opinionated child who doesn't seem to have a "mellow" button.

School pictures, Chinese-style

We're alive, I promise!  "Summer time" has been busy so far, mostly because our summer break hasn't really started yet!  Adam just finished up classes last week, and Katie's will wrap up next Friday (also the same day Grandma Sue arrives!!!)  There will be much rejoicing on that day, let me tell you, not only because we haven't seen any family members in about a year and a half, but also because the dreaded dance practices for Katie's kindergarten graduation performance will finally be over!  Stay tuned for photos and videos of that coming in a couple weeks. 

Until then, I just had to share some of Katie's school photos.  Some of you may remember last year's school pictures.  This year's were pretty much the same deal since Katie was basically repeating the same grade over again...so we have another graduation photo!

 And it's time for another round of "Find the Foreigner!"

This year, however, we also got a second set of school photos to choose from. One day, when I asked Katie how school was as we were walking home, she pulled a Rapunzel and replied, "Best. Day. Ever!" Well, that was certainly not the normal response I get when I ask that question. From what I was able to gather, a special photographer had come to school that day, along with a truckload of different costumes, and the kids basically got to dress up all day and have their pictures taken. Things became a little clearer when we got the pictures back a few weeks later.

Are those precious or what?!  We have one photogentic girl...although I'm a little perturbed that they airbrushed out most of her freckles.  I love her freckles and am quick to tell those who makes disparaging remarks about them (because they do)(sigh) that "In America, freckles are considered a mark of great beauty." 

But just in case you thought the pictures couldn't get any better, they do.  And weirder too. These next ones were Katie's faves...do you wonder why?

Adam was the one who actually ordered the photos. After seeing all the proofs (see below), I think you'll agree with me that he did a pretty good job picking out the best ones (he had, of course, to get some of the Snow White ones to placate Katie).

Which of these would you have chosen?

I think the side-ponytail and fake frames at the beach ones are the best (did you catch the Statue of Liberty in the background?).   But then again, you also gotta love the barefoot flower princess in the ghetto ones (2nd column). Of course, how could you not love the teased hair Glamour Shots of the last column? My only concern is that we're going to see some of these pictures again some day up on a billboard because some company has hijacked the photos of the cute foreign kid to promote their product (it's happened to people we know here, although I'm not sure what kind of product any of these pictures would be selling!).

Ah, life is never boring in these parts....

Dirty Floors

Our old apartment in Louisville was carpeted (thankfully with new carpet when we moved in because the former tenants had trashed the place).  I know that carpet is not supposed to be the most sanitary stuff in the world, but in my opinion, dirt and grime you can't see and feel is WAY better than dirt and grime you can.  Who's with me?

Which brings me to China...land of the floors that can never get clean, regardless of the fact that no one wears shoes in the house or that you sweep/mop thousands of times per week.

Part of the problem is that I've recently discovered that our house helper only uses water to clean the floor and has yet to learn the art of mopping in an orderly pattern so as not to leave streaks (true for windows too).  This is my bad in not addressing it--I'm still trying to figure out how to be an employer.  Another part of the problem may be that our house helper broke our vacuum while we were in Thailand and I've yet to fix it or replace it.  Mostly because I've been dreaming of this:

The Hoover FloorMate SpinScrub Wet/Dry Vacuum

At only $139USD, it seems like it would be the answer to all my problems.  Unfortunately, these kinds of vacuums are not really very popular over here and thus not readily available.  I was even skeptical about being about to find one at all...until today.  I found one.  At a mere 2400 RMB, which translates to about $400USD.  What??????