Couple of stories.

We made it to America and I know I have never done it before, but there were a couple of things I didn't want to forget so I will blog.

On the plane, Ezra and Elias sat next to "Mr. Woods" and while he didn't seem to love kids, they kind of became enamored with him because he pulled out some sort of craft and started working at it and allowed them to ask him questions about it. Ezra KEPT calling me over for every little thing that he needed and one of the times I walked over, he had his finger jammed up his nose to his knuckle. While all kids do this, I think he does it so blatantly because all of his friends do it. (I've written in my other blog that I think it is The National Pastime .) To put it nicely, he dug out a piece of gold the size of my fist...and rubbed it on his shirt. I noticed Mr. Woods had seen what he had done and was disgusted. I held back my gagging reflux and said, "Ezra, you shouldn't pick your nose like that and you really need to ask for a Kleenex." He replied condescendingly, "Well Mom, at least I didn't eat it."

True, my son. So true.

************************************

On Thursday, Elias had his Christmas party. He and his friend wrote a couple of plays and performed them in the classroom. In fact, two classes divided into several groups, wrote different plays and all of the children performed. Elias' teacher was very nice to invite Ezra to sit in the front row with the rest of the class. The students sat in the floor around a circular area that was the "stage" and the parents sat around them.

Ezra had been to McDonald's for his birthday and had gotten a new toy in his Happy Meal. When Elias saw it, he immediately wanted to hold it but Ezra didn't want to give it up. A fight ensued--a wrestling match that ended up on the "stage." One of the little girls was so good-natured and just stepped over them during her performance. I was at a loss. I could have stepped up there and split them up and drawn attention to me and the fact that they were fighting or I could just sit back and video their rude behavior and try not to laugh too hard.

Unfortunately, I didn't hit the record button so I don't have the evidence at hand but trust me when I say my kids embarrassed themselves, me, the teacher, the school and their country!

More Family Pictures

Chinese beggar

I've been busy baking this week. Several cakes (for gifts and Ezra's birthday), peanut butter balls and the kids decorated Christmas cookies last night. I'm so tired!

Today, I was riding in the cab to bring Ezra's birthday cake to school for his friends. I passed a woman begging prostrate on the sidewalk. So deep in thought was I over this woman, I almost missed the turn to Ezra's school. But I decided I was going to do something for her.

We sang (in English) Happy Birthday to Ezra, ate cake and then Ezra and I walked back toward the street to catch a cab. But on the way, we passed a woman making a Chinese pancake. I don't know what else to call it, it's like a pancake all rolled up with vegetables and gravy and an egg. She places a big iron pan over a large cylinder that contains a fire and cooks them right in front of you. The whole thing is on a cart and she rolls around from place to place cooking breakfast in the morning. They are really good and as long as they are hot, I have no problem eating them. Ezra has apparently never seen this before and he walked over to see what she was doing.

I bought one for Ezra to try and to give to the previous beggar I had seen on the way. I hesitate to give beggars food because I've heard people don't want food, they want money. But then, I hesitate to give money because you don't know where the money is going.

We walked a long way back until I saw the woman, all wrapped up in her winter clothes, still laying prostrate on the ground, her head resting on a plastic bag to keep rocks off her forehead.

I said, "Ni e ma?" (Are you hungry?) and set the food in her bowl. Right then, some other older women walked by and said in Chinese, "Ah, she's giving her a pancake." The beggar looked up. I couldn't see her face because her head was covered in towels to stay warm and I couldn't understand her because she spoke Suzhou-nese, but I could hear the gratitude in her voice. I turned around to see what she was doing and she was opening the plastic bag the pancake comes in and was watching us walk away through her towels.

It was quite an interesting experience. It made me feel good inside to give someone something they needed but I also hope it taught Ezra a lesson in humanity.

A few more family pictures.

I'll upload the rest in the next few days.

Santa's Lap Just Isn't Big Enough Anymore

Three pieces of cake. (I mean four>)

I think that since the kids have been sick and haven't been eating much, I've made up for it. I ate three pieces of cake today. I made a pineapple upside down cake for a potluck with my class yesterday but still had the second one at home because I don't have an iron skillet--which would allow me to make one big one. I love pineapple upside down cakes. I also had a piece of Ezra's birthday cake. So make that four pieces.

I'm going to weigh 500 pounds if I'm not careful! I'm supposed to give a speech of sorts tomorrow but I just can't sit down to write it so I think I'm going to wing it. I've already know that I made a 94.6 in that class. Attendance made me lose a few points. I've had a lot of sick kids this semester!

Speaking of which, Ezra threw up yesterday. AGAIN. But this time, it was all in the taxi. He told us in time, I threw a bag at him, he hit it perfectly...and wouldn't you just know it? There was a HOLE in the bottom of the bag! So, unfortunately, there was puke all over the floorboards of the cab. They are plastic so all that needed to be done was take the mats out and spray them down with water. Brad offered to do it right quick but the driver just kept telling us to go, go. I handed him 30RMB more than what the fare was supposed to be...and he drove off in a huff. That's probably much more than he makes in an hour and we OFFERED to do it for him. He saw me take a 100RMB note out of my purse and I think he thought he was going to get that. He counted his chickens before they hatched, I do believe. We all know the dangers of that.

I think Zuri still has a couple of days left of diarrhea but please, please, PLEASE let this be OVER after that!!!

I need some sleep. G'night.

The kids have had three viruses in the past two weeks. I'm so tired of cleaning up poop and vomit that I just want to...I don't know what. But Ezra and Zuri have no concept of "toilet" and even though Ezra tries, he is very rarely successful. Zuri, of course, can't even try.

It would be so bad but when they throw up in bed, we've got blanket upon blanket under their sheets because the mattresses are like bricks underneath. And so, yes, I have to clean all of that up when the vomit soaks through. I'll be honest, though, Brad has done a great job helping me clean up the floors and other objects the kids throw up on.

Oh, and the poop is everywhere too.

Brad and I have had a stressful past couple of weeks, what with his work, dealing with sick kids and me having final exams. So we planned our very, very first date night EVER since living here for tonight and decided not to change our plans. The places we were going were only about five minutes away by cab anyway.

We began our night getting "top to toe" massages and ended it at Starbucks with coffee. We even had our first coherent political conversation in about three years over dinner. It was very nice and very relaxing...of course Ezra called right after the massage on Ayi's phone, "I don't want to put my pants back on and Ayi wants me to." What in Heaven's name? He later said that he liked to talk on the telephone and he just wanted to talk to us. They aren't used to us leaving together!

Tomorrow, we are celebrating Ezra's birthday. I have so much to do next week, my own potluck on Monday, Elias wants me to make peanut butter eyeballs for his Christmas party (like I made for Halloween), I'm making a cake for Ezra's birthday at school, Elias wrote a play and is performing it on Thursday, I still have to attend class, have to cut olives because Elias needed to bring a pizza topping and he wanted olives but they don't have any that are already cut. I need to pack because we're leaving next week. I also need to finish Christmas shopping but I'm almost done with everyone on my list (who would want something from China), so that's not too bad. I also went to the Pearl Market today and got some nice gifts. It's just been busy around here!

Anyway, if I don't write for the next few weeks, don't be surprised. I hopefully will find a chance but if I don't, I never write anything while I'm in the states, so I'll see ya next year! :)

In case anyone was wondering,

things haven't changed much around here. We still have a Chinese paparazzi! They love the Zoobeedoo.



I'm in there somewhere:

Family Picture