Do-overs and apologies

Today I looked at the calender, and wondered where time went. I do this often, maybe too often. I haven't blogged in ages...okay maybe months. When I first decided to blog I thought a weekly blog would be easy, I am learning some things look better in theory. November, December and apparently January ate me alive. Either I was busy, busy, busy, or found life too mundane to bore you with the details. I'll give you a quick review nevertheless.


We celebrated Thanksgiving out at a local hotel holding a western buffet, it was nice but not the home cooked family feel this down-to-earth girl prefers. We all came home and agreed there was "something missing". The girls were enrolled at a British school at the time, and so they didn't even have the day off. I would have pulled them out, but it was also a testing/assessment week. Weird just about sums it up :)

 Mia's birthday came and went in early December...(what do you mean she's 8!?!?!) We had a crazy fun time with the "Mad Scientist" theme she picked. We wore messy crazy hair, goggles, and made t-shirts into lab coats! We experimented, played with green goop,made monsters,  and drank the top secret Potion #8 ( Sprite with yellow and blue ice cubes....what's more fun than a fizzy drink changing colors before your eyes?) The party wrapped up with Rocket Balloon Races. It was awesome!

In November/ December I was going to school almost daily. I had been asked to arrange and direct the Christmas program for Olivia's class. It was a lot of fun. I really got to know the amazing staff at YCIS, not mention the equally awesome students :) In between all of this Olivia hurt her knee, pretty badly and was out of school for over a week. There are no elevators in schools here, and stairs were a big "don't" . She had some traditional Chinese medicine and massage, in addition to physical therapy. Add in a few bouts of flu for each of the girls, and most of November and December are blur otherwise.

Then came December break :) What a relief! or maybe not. YCIS informed it's parents at this time that all secondary students would be moving to the Huangdao Campus. It's a beautiful campus but it's 1h30m away! I just can't ask Olivia to give up 3h of her life sitting on a bus.So three days into break we took the girls on a tour of our second choice of schools. The Chinese program is a little less intensive( the only real reason we chose to go with YCIS). Due to the change in schools the girls were on break from December 16th- January30th! It was like summer vacation in the middle of winter, except much colder and a little boring :) The girls no longer have uniforms, Mia and Olivia promptly invested in neon sneakers. Rosie has snatched up all things pink....and I have lots more laundry to do now! Oh well :) Today is their 2nd day of school and so far so good !

Christmas was different but still very nice, we found an artificial tree and some additional decorations to add to the few we brought. We did all the usual things, watching our favorite movies and baking. We missed you all very much, but were also blessed to be able to celebrate with our Qingdao family. We invited a great bunch of friends over, and it definitely  felt like a holiday! I made dinner, and everyone brought a little something to round it all out.

January first, came without too much fuss. I actually spent New Year's Eve with a dear friend I met at YCIS, Olivia Yang. They took me out for Shanghai Cuisine. I tried duck's tongue, bamboo shoots, lotus roots, and a special chicken dish. I love the veggie dishes here, and as for the ducks tongue? I'll try most everything once....most being the key word. The meat was not bad, a different texture. It was the bones I couldn't get past...yup, I'll never be a bone cruncher, it's just not in me.

During break we visited YCIS for their Spring Festival to say good bye. The girls made jiaozi (dumplings), learned to bamboo dance, dabbled in traditional Chinese arts and enjoyed a "Changing Faces"performance. It was a nice way to end on a positive note and I really appreciated them letting us join in for the fun.

  For all the craziness that is Chinese New Year we celebrated with a Mexican Feast! Our house was filled and I mean filled with people. Many of them are from the girl's new school and it was a nice way to meet the school community without the pressures of being scholarly :) I'll save the rest of  the Spring Festival, and some pics of an awesome lunar market for another post.

So the long and short of it? Time flies whether you are having fun or not! I am sorry I haven't been diligent with my blog. Consider yourself  updated, and know we love you all!

It's a small world after all...

We had a great trip to Hong Kong Disney! The park is small if measured against any US Disney park, but perfect size for two days of unrushed fun. We enjoyed rides, pin trading, parades, and princess makeovers, with our very good friends, The Olsson Family :)

When it comes to details, nobody does it like Disney! We had complementary Mickey Mouse slippers, Sneezy Kleenex dispensers, chandeliers with glass slippers, and character shaped pancakes, waffles and butter pats. So much to take in, that you would notice a new detail with each pass through a corridor.

The park is located on Lantau Island, so even though we were surrounded by the all the fun that is Disney, we sat nestled amongst beautiful mountians, that could be seen from all angles of the park, edged by the sea.

Each morning we had a big breakfast with the characters,

Minnie, Mickey, Goofy and Pluto made their way to out to greet us.

Our Hotel also had a gorgeous pool complete with water slide!

We wrapped up our last day at the park with princess makeovers!

Then it was time to hit the park!

.... rub elbows with Royalty!

...and try to pull the sword from the stone....

It was amazing, and just what we needed :) As always we send our love to all beloved people far and wide!

Today's Forecast :Partly Sunny, With a 90% Chance of Cultural Integration....

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 .