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!