October has been beautiful here! Clear, cooling off a bit but not too much...the same variety of fall weather I used to savor while living in the Adirondacks. We have been keeping plenty busy, between school and extra-curricular activities there is not much time to bored!
The girls have each chosen two actives a-la-carte from a fantastic list of
things being offered at YCIS. For Our Artful Olivia, Chorus and
Yearbook, Miss Mia was lightening quick to choose Basics of Baseball and
Nijukai Taijutsu, and our own little tiny dancer Rosie is taking
Chinese Dance and Ballet....
Crouching Mia, Hidden Rosie :)
And to add to the chaos soccer has finally
started here!! I signed up to be an Assist Coach, however have landed a
Lead Coach position....yikes! Dawn Bronson, and The Dream Team that was
Devins, Croghan and Bloom I miss you more than you'll ever know! I will
have to " fake it 'til I make it" , but thanks to all of you I look a
bit less foolish here trying to get my team to pass, play their lane and
quit picking their noses!
Whenever the opportunity provides we continue to discover more of our city, local culture and language. There are still many old traditions followed here in Qingdao and I am a perpetual student. Fireworks are daily occurrence, as offerings to deities, or celebrating a marriage and leaving red bits tissue paper scattering about. Locals still place "pink paper" over man holes and gate poles to keep evil spirits at bay and Tai Chi can been seen morning and evening, everywhere from park to plaza....
This is at Wanda Plaza, a local mall.
I find I am living among a culture of divided people. One group still living by the proverb "waste not want not" and the other a more frivolous group who has neither heard or uttered the word, "No." Taking a step back I have begun to see the sustenance of an "American
Life" a bit nonsensical...Do we really need signs to tell us our hot
coffee is hot? , Or instructing us NOT to throw our children into the
bear's den at the zoo? It seems as though common sense will join the
flowers and the cowboys as a thing of bygone times. ...what use is
freedom if we are not able to think for ourselves?
I am learning what I'll term "survival Chinese" There is definitely a local dialect here
in Qingdao, even between the generations there is a noticeable
difference in pronunciation. Thankfully though the people here are
patient and kind when it comes to language. They are pleased just to
hear your efforts. In the US you often find Americans who are less than
patient with foreigners, however this lesson in grace has helped open my
eyes to how it ought to be. :)
On October 15th our sister campus YCIS Huangdao held a Family Fun
Day, and we enjoyed the day sharing in an international food festival
and local crafts and classes. We had our faces painted, made videos in
the ICT ( Information and Computer Technology) Lab, effervescent " bath
bombs" in the chemistry lab and painted traditional Chinese fans.
This Friday we leave Qingdao for our first R&R trip to Hong Kong Disney and I don't know who is more excited the adults or the children!?! As always thank you for taking the time to read this and share our adventures! Much Love our to Family and Friends back home <3 .
