A Very Aussie Christmas

We've been in Sydney for just over three days, long enough to hear several, "No worries," "Yeah right" and be addressed as "luv, dear and mate." We've enjoyed touring Sydney's iconic opera house, and the views of the stunning Sydney harbor (including the Harbor Bridge, where we viewed other brave tourists scaling it!) We've taken the ferry to Manly and the Taronga Zoo, been wowwed by the beautiful Royal botanic garden and attended the Childrens Christmas mass at St. Mary's Cathedral on Christmas eve with thousands of other Sydney siders. We've experienced Australia's troubled past, rich texture of culture and their amazing array of fauna at the Australia Museum. We watched ripped surfers ride the waves @ Manly beach and dined alfresco on what else, but equally iconic Fish and Chips.

Today is Christmas Day and we're heading off to experience more of Australia's holiday traditions... the beach in December!!

A CAT Christmas

"Marry" Christmas!!

A Caterpillar Christmas @ the Joliet facility usually consisted of pizza and beers at Cemenos from 5:00 -8:00 the Wednesday night before the Christmas holiday began (with the department managers picking up the bill.)

At the Qingdao CRDC facility, however, the members of the employee engagement committee take their roles very seriously. They too ordered pizza, but in addition also ordered in a stuffed turkey from the Shangri La, which Sean was on hand to "carve" with a meat clever (the only knife available) and which was served up on flimsy paper plates sans silverware. The dark meat went immediately, while Sean and his remaining Western colleagues (who have yet to leave for home or holidays) savored thick slabs of white meat. 

After the meal, they started into games. Winners could chose a wrapped gift from under the tree (which was decorated only as high as they could reach... check out the photo above!) The first items to go were new bed pillows. Sean was the lucky recipient of a Shirley Temple DVD!

 

Candy for Christmas

"Candy," Bea responded tentatively when Santa (whose voice bore a remarkable resemblance to a British expat we know!) asked our baby what she wanted for Christmas. (Her response was no doubt generated as a result of the giant bowl of candy sitting beside the jolly old elf!)

The Jazz Nativity Drama

1 International School Christmas Program
Nearly 100 kids
representing 15 countries
(60% of these students speak English as a second language,
and for 30% our mother tongue is their third!)

Its a Marshmallow World

Yuletide events are continuing at the household of The Johnson's in China! Eliza and I out did ourselves this week, making home made marshmallows to float in hot chocolate. Eliza, our patient, rule-following middle child, carefully read the recipe directions, measured with precision the basic ingredients, and dutifully set and minded the timer. When the mallow had set, all three girls dipped small cookie cutters in hot water and cut the sticky goo into cute shapes that we then dusted with powdered sugar.

After sipping their seasonal beverages, they unwrapped the portable CD players that were waiting for them under the tree, and sorted through the Christmas CDs to find the perfect slipping-off-to-sleep yuletide tunes. With the promise of mellow music, they were surprisingly interested in going to bed! (Which left plenty of time for Mom and Dad to watch, in entirety, the SNL’s Christmas 2008 show, which was waiting on the DVR!)

12ish Days (continues...)

Sunday Night found our family reading the Christmas favorites: The Night Before Christmas, Luke 2 and a great little board book with little doors through which Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus can pass during each phase of their journey. It’s a tattered favorite we’ve had since Millie was little, and yet it remains a hit!

Gifts from Mema and Bopa included Christmas stickers and lip frosting… Yes lips were quickly frosted, and in Bea’s case several inches of her face in the general area of her mouth. The fact that it was called frosting was not lost on her either-- as she quickly sampled the glittery lip balm!

Earlier that day, you could have found our family posing in front of the Crowne Plaza’s multi-story Christmas tree, much to the amusement of the concierge and patrons at the hotel. We waltzed through the revolving door, set up the tri-pod and started snapping away! Those pics are now part of the slide show above and the stills below!

Hallelujah

The 12-ish Days of Christmas

“So… what are you going to do? Bring the gifts and stockings with you?” My friend Joan inquired of our Southern Hemisphere Christmas.

“No, I think we’ll just do it at home before we go,” I replied rather lamely, wondering if the kiddos would be disappointed the morning of the 25th.

But, the more I’ve thought about it (thanks Joan for the inspiration!) I’ve thought, “Why not take these moments before the actual holiday to really celebrate Christmastide.”

So, every night we’ve been planning a little something Christmas. While it won’t be exactly 12 Days of Christmas, it’s been a prolonged event with several small special things each evening.

(Thanks to Mema’s preparedness, we’ve also got gifts from our family in Illinois to spread out over those nights too.)

Above: Millie's Cookie Skills

Our 12ish Days began last week, where after the course of the week, after dinner and baths and homework where rushed through, we decorated Christmas cookies and watched holiday favorites like Frosty the Snowman, Charlie Brown Christmas, and our new favorite Shrek the Halls. (DVRs and Slingbox offer amazing technologies, allowing our kids to stay connected with Western culture while living in an Asian context.)

Countdown to OZ

So... we are now just 10 days away from our trip Down Under. Sean, our resident travel agent/tour guide, has booked us six days in Sydney, and four in Cairns (where we're planning a family excursion to the GBR w/SWJ scuba diving and the girls and I snorkeling.) We'll travel on a giant catamaran from Cairns to a small sandbar/cay where we lounge on the beach and/or snorkel in the warm, clear water off the sandy shore. Then, on to open water reef for diving and snorkeling. At the end of the day-long trip, they kill the engine and we harness wind power to sail back to Cairns.

We can't wait.

Check it out @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5vYrJROSvo

Eliza's Letter

For a homework assignment in literacy this week the year twos were asked to write a letter to Father Christmas, who needs a new helper for his workshop. They had to give at least one good reason why they would be good at the job. Here is Eliza's letter:

Dear Father Christmas,
I could be your new helper because I can fit down the chimney. I also can make toys if your elfs are on holiday. Christmas is my favorite holiday! I am glad Jesus was born!
Merry Christmas!
Love,
Eliza (in Qingdao)

Even MORE Taidong

Click on the photos
to see greater detail.
These small pics do not
do the area justice!!

More Taidong

Here are some more pics taken in Taidong. These ones of the Yao Jiu (literally medicine alcohol) were taken last summer (before I became a blogger!) It was 20 yuan (about $3) for a glass of this funky drink.

"Maybe not for kids," the owner said.

"Yeah, maybe not," I agreed.

( For lots of reasons: Like, it has snakes in it, it has turtle carcasses, and it looks like its been sitting out for about six months ...)

In preparing this blog and researching I found out that the concoction is usually made from 100 proof sorghum wine. Another reason, in a long list of reasons, to be a teetotaler when it comes to this jiu!

(See http://www.acupuncturetoday.com/mpacms/at/article.php?id=30255.)

(Millie is clearly not impressed!)

******

This video was taken during our weekend visit to Taidong. This drumming troupe seemed to have simply been practicing together in a busy pedestrian area. These kinds of drummers usually accompany the dragon/lion dances common at traditional weddings. (Non traditional weddings have Mickey and Minnie live in costume, or sometimes an combination of both Disney characters and Lion Dancers!)

Wu Shu Woman

So, yesterday we made a weekend foray into the Tai Dong district, which is one of the most happening areas of our city, and the place that my sister, when she visited, said felt most like the China she had anticipated.

I took some photos and a video clip of this Wu Shu practitioner. The Chinese word wushu translates as military or martial arts. It is both an umbrella term for martial arts and a specific discipline of full contact.

Any guesses as to how old this woman is?

If you click on her photo you can see the detail in her traditional wu shu/qi gong jacket,
and her stylish gold earings.
Watch her in action and then post a guess in the "comments" section.
I'll post the answer in a few days.

Sorry for the Convenience

JUSCO, our Japanese Supermarket and Mall has three sets of escalators: One set in the Department store end of the mall, another set just outside the Grocery (by the dried fish vendors - and thus the aroma of dried fish wafts up the escalator with you) and a third set in the middle (by the Beard Papa cream puffs kiosk which smells wonderful, especially in concert with the fabulous smells escaping Starbucks, also in the general area.)

Today the dried fish escalator was broken. Here are some pics of the repairmen who did a quick job and soon converted the "stairs" back to an escalator. (Note how they tried to put the broken motor into the less than robust shopping cart. I'm not sure how that turned our for them as they were not keen to be photographed!)

"I like an escalator, because an escalator can never break.
It can only become stairs.
You'll never see an 'Escalator Out of Order' sign,
only 'Escalator Temporarily Stairs'.
Sorry for the convenience.'"
Mitch Hedberg

The Line Crosser

“Gosh, Jennifer, your girls are so well behaved,” our friend and host for our Thanksgiving dinner in Shanghai last week said to me, proving why he had crafted a successful multi-decade career in sales.

It was true that Millie had been an excellent conversationalist and gamely tried most of the creative interpretations of an American Thanksgiving feast prepared by a Chinese chef. Eliza, too, has sat quietly and politely through the meal and later slipped off to sleep in her padded dining chair around 9 pm.

By contrast Beatrice, our resident line-crosser, had scraped the caviar off her scallops and submerged the tiny black seeds into her over-priced bottle of Evian before the end of the first course.

“She’s busy,” Sean said, making the understatement of our parenting career, “but she’s flexible too,” he added thoughtfully, and I have to agree he is right.

By the end of the evening her shoes were off, her ponytail out, and she was covered in the remnants of her palate cleansing mid-course raspberry sorbet. After playing a messy game of house, using her butter knife as the Daddy and her gravy-laden spoon as the Mommy, she was very carefully trying to cover sleeping Eliza with her own sweater.

She can be busy, naughty, and cute, but most of all our three-year-old can be flexible. She can survive a low-lit Thanksgiving eve at a five-star hotel restaurant without complaint, nimbly navigate security at airports, and survive long international flights that have adults begging for a cocktail and an eye mask within an hour. By her first birthday she had hiked the Great Wall in a Snuggli, and by two was snorkeling with the family in a pair of arm floats. She tries new food and also, at times, our patience. When we draw a line or set a limit, she is the first to see if we mean it. Why else would she be the one in the photo standing with one foot poised for the wrong side of the “Do Not Cross” Line?

“Well Behaved Women Rarely Make History”

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

Happy December!