Heart to Heart English 2013

One project Kevin initiated this year was Heart to Heart English, a weekly series of classes for children and adults affected by disabilities. We worked in conjunction with our city's Handicapped & Rehab Association, which is housed in a 20-story building not too far from where we live.

The adult class was held in a theater-style auditorium. That made it a little tricky for one-on-one interaction, but it accommodated the number of students. We began with more than 50 in June and ended in November with a consistent group of about 30 adults.

The children's class was held in a typical classroom down the hall. Between 10 and 20 kids came each week, and one challenge was creating a lesson for the wide range of ages and English speaking abilities.

Molly & Hudson looked forward to English class every week because they had full use of this wonderful indoor play area while we were teaching. A number of fantastic volunteers helped out by rotating between translating for us in each class and playing with our kids.

The video above is a 30-second clip of Molly & Hudson bouncing on the trampoline.

In the children's classes, Kevin and Cathy used many of Molly & Hudson's story books to practice reading and vocabulary and lots of songs to make it fun.

In the adult classes, Kevin and I practiced pronunciation, interacted through dialogues and generated discussion through a variety of topics. My favorite part was introducing some American culture and customs each week and answering the many questions they would have on each topic.

Often at the end of class, Molly & Hudson would watch a video on our iPad while they waited for us to finish talking or answering questions.

We really enjoyed meeting our students and getting to know them during the past six months. We look forward to many more weeks together in the year ahead. The next session begins March 1, 2014.
~Dayna

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

We hope you've had a wonderful holiday season! We didn't have any of our family members travel to China to celebrate with us for Thanksgiving or Christmas, but we enjoyed the times with our friends here. It is always nice to share the meanings behind the various Christmas decorations and symbols with our friends who come over during December.

We get the most questions about our Little People nativity set. (Hudson's t-shirt says "Jesus loves you.") Christmas decorations are becoming more common all over town but it is always trees, wreaths, bells, Santas, gifts and lights.

Molly was so excited when her preschool started decorating for Christmas. She gave me a daily progress update on how many trees there were in the classrooms and hallways, and talked about making ornaments during craft time in class. One day as we were walking home, she announced: "Mom, my teacher doesn't know that Christmas is Jesus' birthday!" 

The children's preschool was decorated to the hilt. Molly asked me to come inside and take pictures when I picked them up, so I obliged and then understood why she wanted me to see it. Tinsel and lights and trees EVERYWHERE.

On Christmas Eve, the preschool hosted a party at 4:00 in each classroom -- I started out in Hudson's room while Kevin went to Molly's, and then we switched halfway through. It was very different than an American preschool party, mainly because it's a party for the parents more than the kids. There are games for the parents to play and the kids come up in groups and sing or dance, and then the parents are invited to join the dancing and sing a song with their child.

The above picture doesn't do it justice, but I had to offer photographic proof of the first game in Hudson's class, which was for the moms/grandmas. They tied balloons to their ankles, and the object was to pop everyone else's balloons while protecting yours. I didn't volunteer to participate, but it was hysterical to watch. The moms took this game very seriously - at least one was wearing high-heeled boots! - and the Christmas tree in the corner of the room was knocked over twice. All the kids were cheering on their moms, and it was great fun.

I went up to Molly's room and watched her sing two songs with her class. Meanwhile, Kevin was in Hudson's class participating in the game for dads/grandpas: musical chairs with the kid-sized preschool chairs, of course. How I wish I could've seen that! He made it three rounds.

The video above is a clip of Hudson singing with his classmates. (At the end, they are saying thank you to the audience.) His teacher also asked me to prepare a song to sing together with Hudson and Molly in front of his class. We sang a medley of "Joy to the World" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." Next time we should sing a song in Chinese instead.

We spent Christmas Day at home together, opening stockings and gifts before Skyping with our families. (IKEA had rolls of wrapping paper! We had lots of candy-cane covered gifts to open.)

I made sweet potato casserole as a side dish for lunch, which was hawaiian pizza. (It is possible to order turkey from an import store, but it is something like $5 a pound. Our Chinese friends have no idea what it's like to eat turkey.) We waited until Sunday, Dec 29 to share more of a traditional holiday meal at the home of our Canadian friends: baked chicken, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, corn, meatballs and gravy. We have been spoiled these past few months with many delicious, homemade meals with them. 

Happy New Year! 新年快乐!
~Dayna

Fly Higher Talent Show 2013

Once again this year, we were refreshed and inspired by the performers. Our young friends may suffer from various disabilities, but they are all very gifted. We saw dance, heard beautiful music and celebrated with these precious teenagers. They all received gold medals. The following photos only give a glimpse, but even a glimpse encourages us to fly higher.

Out & About

Warning: this post is random. People ask us about our daily life here and it's hard to explain. Parts of this city are more developed and polished than you could imagine, and then right next door, it's very clearly not. Here's a glimpse of some of our regular activities around our city of 7+ million people.

Let's start with shopping. Ten years ago when Kevin and I taught at a college in Changchun, we were the star attractions when shopping or walking down the road. Now, people hardly notice us because they are only focused on our kids. They are fair-skinned, blue-eyed and always mistaken for twins. They've had their pictures taken with strangers 174,000 times. Approximately. Here we are shopping at Wal-Mart:

Here's a shot of the Christmas decor section at Wal-Mart:

In October, there was much smaller display of Halloween masks and children's costumes. I don't remember seeing that at all last year. Decorating for all Western holidays is definitely increasing. Many shops and restaurants will have Christmas trees or wreathes displayed. There is a fancy four-story shopping mall close to Kevin's office. We had lunch there on Thanksgiving, and I noticed Haagen-Dazs was beautifully decorated for Christmas.

But the funny thing was right next to it, in the middle of the mall's main walkway, was this enormous Halloween display (still there more than a week into December).

In another shopping mall near our home, a Charlie Brown Cafe opened this year. We visited it a few months ago with two volunteers from our Saturday English classes. I had fun getting to know these girls as they translated for me in the adult class for several months.

Speaking of coffee, another friend of ours opened her own small "Book Cafe" for people who enjoy coffee, books and wifi in a cozy environment. She lives in an apartment on the cafe's second floor.

I've been meaning to explain for ages how we pay bills here in China. Bills are never received or paid by mail. Phone, cable and internet are paid upfront on a pay-as-you go system. Every month or two, we add money to our cell phone number by going to one of many China Mobile shops. (Anyone can add money to any phone number, so it can be a fun way to anonymously bless someone with unexpected money on their phone.) Every six months, we bring our cable box's sim card to the telecom office and reload it. Every two months, our electric bill (along with the electric bills of all of our neighbors) are pasted on the downstairs door of our apartment building. We detach it from the metal door, and take it in person to pay the balance.

For water and gas, a worker comes to our home to check the meter, and then we pay in cash on the spot and are given a receipt. This usually happens between 6 and 8 pm, about every two months. We pay our landlord six months of rent at a time - all in cash. We pay preschool tuition on the first day of the month with all the parents waiting in line either at drop-off or pick-up to pay the cashier. Our Chinese friends have bank accounts and debit cards, but credit cards are rare and personal checks don't seem to exist.

Let me know if there are other aspects of Chinese culture you'd like to see or know more about.
~Dayna

Preschool Pics - Take 2

Six months ago, Molly and Hudson had pictures taken at their preschool and we were all surprised by the experience: lots of poses, props, backgrounds and outfit changes. They loved it! We switched to a different Chinese preschool in August, and by Halloween, the new school had pictures taken so the kiddos got to do it all over again.

~Dayna