Christmas shopping {China-style}

I have mentioned how different grocery shopping is so many times that I am sure that you might be a little sick of it. But humor me for the sake of a good story.....

Saturday, Becca and I were out and about accomplishing various tasks -- post office (which was an experience in itself and probably deserves its own post), Christmas shopping, and of course, the grocery store. This week we are hosting all the managers that work at Andy's company for Christmas dinner. I have made turkey the past several years and we wondered if they were getting sick of it. He asked them and one of the managers piped up that he would like something else. But since that meeting, we have heard rumors that everyone except that person wanted turkey. Because that manager was older and respected, no one contradicted him. Andy, being the blunt-American that he is, asked everyone to vote who DID want turkey (to which most people said yes). I had thought that I would get out of making a turkey, but due to popular demand, I will be making turkey AND another meat. Ok, that was a crazy-long-digression about why I was even on the hunt for a turkey! In previous years, I have found the turkey on the other side of the city (home of all the import stores). But Izumiya, my Japanese grocery store that I love has come through for me again. They had 2 turkeys and I bought the larger of the 2. I thought this was the perfect opportunity since B and I had e-biked and I wouldn't have to lug the 15-pound bird the couple blocks home. However, we had done some other shopping which left us having to figure out where to put the bird so it would not fall or slide off the e-bike in the transit. 

Can you guess where it is? I will give you a clue.... it is NOT in either of the bags.

It took Becca and I several tries to get it in. After we did, we danced and around and rejoiced in the bike parking lot. I am sure that others were amused by the crazy foreigners.

To top off the story, our e-bike was just about out of power (which of course, I didn't discover until we were en route). Once before when this happened, I made Becca get off and run beside the bike as we went up a small incline. Another time it completely died and I had to push it home. Thankfully, this time we had enough power to get home. But I did have to Fred-Flintstone it to make it across an intersection in enough time. Then I had to explain to B who Fred Flintstone is and why I was calling it that. 

And this is why even just going to the grocery store can be an adventure.....

traditions

Traditions are important in every family. When you get married, as a couple you start creating this backdrop of what you want your life to look like. The two of you decide what from your own experiences you want to hold onto and preserve and what you are willing to let go. As the years march on, your traditions often grow and change. For us, after we had children it became important to us to be in our own home for Christmas. How this looks each year has been different. When we lived in Indianapolis, it meant that we traveled before or after, but Christmas morning we woke up in our own beds. Now, living half a world away from our families maintaining this tradition is easier, but it still looks a bit different. Since moving to China, we often invite others to spend Christmas afternoon with us. Our children are still in their pajamas, but our home is open. So this is a twist on a tradition that we started in the States. Each Christmas morning, I am never really sure who might drop by. If you ever find yourself in Suzhou (or whatever city we live in), know that I will have made several kinds of soup, we will be playing all kinds of games, and you are always welcome to join us.

As we are approaching our 5th Christmas here in China, I have been thinking about how living here has changed our traditions. And also how it has reinforced others. When we lived in Indy, we would always buy a real tree and we had so many special things that accompanied that. And while there are times when I miss the smell of a real tree, I am so thankful for our IKEA tree. So there is a tradition that we have let go and honestly don't miss.

2008 -- setting up our first fake tree.

But one of my favorite traditions is our children's ornaments. Before Becca was born, I wanted to buy her an ornament each year for her to have on our tree that was especially hers. But I was not alone in this idea. Each of the grandparents also wanted to get ornaments for the children each year. I quickly realized that if we were adding 3 new ornaments each year per child, our tree was going to be quickly overrun! So this is one where I happily bowed out and let the grandparents have their fun. But I still get to be part it because every year as we pull out the decorations, each of the children are practically giddy to open their ornament box. There are so many memories tucked away in these boxes. As they unwrap them, there are cries of: "Do you remember....?" and "I got this one when....". We debated about moving our Christmas stuff all the way here. But I am so glad that we did. Because no matter where we are, for our children these boxes have so many special memories of Christmas. It is not the tree that matters so much, but all the memories that we stash on it.

Josh opening his new ornament this year. 

For me personally, in order for it to feel like Christmas, I need to bake. I will end up baking several times during the month. But not just any baking, I need to bake/make several specific kinds of cookies: sugar cookies (no icing, we are purists here), candy cane cookies, thumbprints, buckeyes, and then I usually experiment with a new kind each year. Thankfully, I am not alone in the kitchen. Josh is my most consistent helper. In the past, I have done a lot of the baking while they were at school. But this year, I am looking forward to having all of my little helpers in the kitchen with me. This is our last week of school and then we are taking the next three weeks off. We will still do a little work, but most of it will be fun stuff that doesn't even really feel like working. I have promised B that we will not open the math book for that entire time. We might do a little writing and I plan to learn more about Swan Lake before we attend the ballet. I also have a few craft projects that we might attempt.

2008 -- making buckeyes

J started the dough for the sugar cookies

And Becca joined in to help cut them out.

What about you? What traditions are important to your family? If you packed your family and moved to another state or even further away, what traditions would you be certain to keep?

homeschool mother's journal: [november.30.2012]

In my life this week. . .

This has been one of those weeks. Andy was traveling. The outlet for the refrigerator broke. The washing machine overflowed. One day they were doing work on the electricity in our neighborhood and so we had no power all day. Wow, that was a lot of things for one week. But honestly, other than the one grumpy day, we had a great week.

In our homeschool this week. . .

Even with all of the disruptions, we have persevered and got a lot accomplished. We finally found a Chinese teacher. He started this week and I think that it is going to work out. He teaches Tori individually for an hour and then Josh and Becca together for an hour. This works out as J and B are more on the same level. T is going to be learning characters and she is quite excited about it. In fact after her teacher left, she asked if she could practice writing. Um.... clearly you know the answer to that question!

Working on homework

Helpful homeschooling tips to share. . .

While I new to this journey, already I am seeing that you really need to let your homeschool adapt to your life, not the other way around. This was a week with all kinds of disruptions and unplanned events, but we let our school flow around those disruptions. No power... no problem.

My favorite thing this week. . .

Our math (Saxon) has money that you can use as teaching aides. Because we live abroad, our children are not as familiar with American money. So that we would be able to use the money multiple times, I cut them out and laminated them (love my laminator!). Since then we have only used the money a couple of times but mostly it has been sitting in a bag in our math manipulative bin. The kids asked if they could use the money because they wanted to set up a store upstairs. Each child has a store set up on the floor beside their desk with tags depicting how much things cost.They have been buying and selling like crazy, all the while using the American money. I love when learning happens and they don't even know it.

What's working/not working for us. . .

History is finally starting to work for us. We are listening to Story of the World and then the older two are compiling a fact sheet on each country that we study. They are adding various things that they each find interesting and that they believe are worth remembering. I am so relieved to find a structure for our history.

I have great hopes for Chinese.  I have a plan to maximize the time and ways for the kids to practice even without the teacher being here. Now the only test is to see those plans to fruition. But this week was a great start.

Places we're going and people we're seeing. . .

Tuesday night we received a note stating that due to some work going on in our neighborhood, we would have no power from 8:30AM- 4:30PM the following day. It has gotten cold enough that while schooling would be possible with no heat, we decided to get out of the house and break the day up. And in the meantime, find someplace a bit warmer. We worked until about 10 and then headed up to Starbucks. The kids and I had talked about which of the work they needed to accomplish that day would be the easiest to cart with them. They all agreed that the math books would be a pain to lug around, so we finished up our math before we left. At Starbucks, we set up camp. T and I wrote a journal entry from the point of view of an everyday object. She chose a spatula. I think that I will never be able to predict what is going to come out that wonderful brain of hers!

We spent the rest of our morning at Starbucks, then ate lunch at a Thai restaurant, and picked a few things at the grocery store. We were all humored because as we did all of this we ran into SO MANY people that we knew. At every stop along the way, there was at least one familiar face. When we got home shortly after 1, our power was still off. But to our surprise, the power was turned back on a little before 2.

Friday our homeschool coop got together for a potluck and some holiday crafting. Thank you, Christine, for opening up your home! While there, B got talking to one of her good friends and they were hoping to spend the night together. This came as a surprise to both me and the other mom, but we rolled with it. While B does not have even a toothbrush, I am sure that she is having a great time with Beth.

I'm cooking. . .

BUCKEYES! Hooray for holiday food! B invited some friends over to teach them to make buckeyes. The girls had never even heard of them, but were excited to learn. There were girls from Australia, the Netherlands, and Denmark. We love sharing some of our traditions. As well as learning the traditions of other countries  -- especially if it involves food!

I'm thankful. . .

For the amazing support system we have here. A friend had a scary situation yesterday and asked us to pray. I sent texts out to all my ladies. Thankfully, the situation was resolved. But all yesterday evening and today, both the friend and I have been receiving texts to make sure she is ok. I think there is something special about the bond that happens among expats. We don't have family here (or even on remotely the same time zone). We each arrive not knowing anyone. We all struggle with the same issues (getting around, shopping, language/cultural stuff, ...). I know that I could not make it here with our friends who support and love us.

one of those days

Our homeschooling has been going along so well. I am enjoying the time with each of the kids. I love to be a part of what they are learning. Really, I have been amazed at just how well we have settled into our routine. But today was one of those days. Not with all of the kids, but Becca and I just clashed all day long. She has disagreed with most of the things that I said. And after a while, I got frustrated with her and was impatient in both my words and attitude. [sigh]

I know that it didn't help that we had several workmen in our house fixing various things. I think the noise and distraction were getting to us both. She was even getting frustrated with her siblings. Finally, we just called an end to the day. I told her, "B, I love you but for some reason right now we are not working well together. Can we just start again tomorrow?"

I have no regrets of the decision to homeschool. But this is the first day that I wanted to go to a quiet room and be alone. The kids are now playing upstairs together (and getting along) while I am sorting myself out. I am glad that I can teach her not only how to handle life when it is easy, but also what to do when you say things you regret.

And most of all, I am thankful that tomorrow is a new day.

thanksgiving & homeschool weekly wrap-up

Last week as most of the United States had a holiday, we continued on with life and [mostly] kept to our routines. We schooled normally Monday through Wednesday. Thursday we had some friends coming over in the evening, and another homeschooling family came to help cook. The kids and I compromised and they each did a special writing assignment in the morning.

I found this great pack of writing prompts from TeachersPayTeachers centered on Thanksgiving. Each of the kids chose a different prompt.

Tori:

She was worried that she could not fit her story in just 3 squares, but my creative girlie solved this by drawing a fourth square on the back.

She wrote:

First I will make a turkey out of paper.

Next I will go outside and catch a turkey.

Then I am going to hide the turkey in my bed.

Last I am going to put the paper turkey outside.

I particularly enjoyed the fact that she is going to hide the turkey in her bed. Becca was trying to explain that turkeys are really big and it might not fit. After a few minutes, I told B that she was missing the point of this whole exercise, which was to be creative. It does not matter if the turkey will not fit in real life, let your sister have some creative license. 

Josh:

His words (in case you can't read them):

First, fly back to America and catch a turkey.

Then fly back to China with it.

(Get your parent's permission)

Next, make a bed for it and provide food.

Make a leash so you can take it for walks.

Last, you have got a new pet!

Don't you love that he wrote that you need to get your parent's permission to make the trip, but not to get the pet in the first place?

Becca:

Her words (and for this assignment we didn't stress about grammar):

First, climb up a tree while holding the sticks,

then when your up, ballance the sticks into a pyrimid

shape and tie them together.

Next, spread the teepee skirt around the sticks,

this is difficult so it might take a few tries.

Last, move the teepee carefully away from the tree on a flat surface.

This was a fun break from the normal day. I think I will check back to see what kind of fun writing or other projects I can find for Christmas!

While we were hard at work at home, Andy worked a full day and that evening we enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner (with both turkey and pork). Then on Friday, we went to Andy's work to have a 差不多 (cha bu duo - meaning approximately) Thanksgiving. But since turkey is hard to find and expensive to buy, they served chicken for the cafeteria lunch. But somehow my boy didn't seem to mind. . .

He is such a carnivore! I particularly like how he is picking up that big chicken leg with his chopsticks.

There was going to be a company outing, but due to the rainy weather, they decided to cancel. We went home, made our first batch of Christmas cookies, and got ready to decorate our tree. But more to come on that in another post..... Finally, on Saturday night we had another get-together (yet another turkey) with friends. We are so blessed by our friends here.

I hope that you had a great Thanksgiving holiday. Even though ours was a bit unorthodox, we had a great week.

what will this become?

Pumpkins. Not much says fall to me like a pumpkin pie with whipped cream. Or pumpkin bread. And pumpkin soup. And. . . my list could just go on. Can you tell how I feel about anything pumpkin? Our first year here I had pumpkin in various dishes in restaurants, but couldn't find it at the markets. They are more common now, but really I was not looking for the right thing.

I had something like this in mind. You know, a pumpkin.

But as I mentioned in a previous post, 南瓜 (pumpkin) is a rather generic term that really just means any kind of gourd in Chinese. What I really needed to be looking for was this.

Impressive, don't you think? So far, we have used this pumpkin to make a crock-pot full of soup, pumpkin bars, and pumpkin bread. There is still just a little under half of it left. What will it become next? A pie? More soup? Pumpkin pancakes? Is anyone besides me hungry yet?!

**On a side note, these pics are both of little T. The first is her at 2 years old and my, how she has grown. 

our monday {according to Instagram}

I have mentioned that our Monday is a busy day. Every other week, we go to a writing class with 2 other homeschooling families. Then on alternating weeks, the girls have Girl Scouts. And on some really crazy weeks, we have all of the above. In our commute to the other side of the city and back, we take several forms of transportation. While I can try to describe it for you, I thought maybe via Instagram I could show you snapshots of our afternoon.

1:20 PM -- Walking to the subway.

1:30 PM -- Stopping at Izumiya (our favorite grocery store, conveniently located at our subway stop)

1:35 PM -- Waiting for the train. T is happily showing off the hole where her tooth used to be.

1:45 PM -- Enroute. The kids are pros at this trip and know to pack something to do. Becca is knitting, Josh of course has his Kindle, and Tori has several books.

2:20 PM -- Important stop along the way. First we had to add money to our subway cards, then I needed to refuel with a hazelnut coffee.  Next we are off to meet up with a friend for a chat and a playdate before Daisy Scouts.

5:00 PM -- At Daisy Scouts.

6:00 PM -- Back on the subway. By now it is rush hour and we are with the many, many people going home. You can't see it, but the train was packed and I stood the whole way home. Often people will give up their seat for the kids. And just like all people in China, our kids are making the most of the space they have.

6:30 PM -- Almost home! I have no idea why B is making that face. Probably because I made her stop to get her picture taken!

There you have a run-down. On days when Becca has Girl Scouts, our commute also involves a bus or taxi. Most days we see it as an adventure. However, when it is rainy I have to confess that I miss the convenience of driving. Because it coincides so closely with dinner time, our return trip can be a little dicey. I think that because we have so much public transportation time built into our daily lives, it has made our kids better travelers. Long waits and lines are just a part of life. ☺

Instagram is a free app. You can follow other random adventures (and actually see pictures)  @laowaifam on Instagram.