Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from Penang, Malaysia!  Don't hate us because we are warm!  We do miss a snow-white Christmas, but we'll make due by drinking Coconut milk and wearing cheap shell jewelry!  More a bit later today.  The kids are restless and we are off to the pool to play.  

Shanghai Marathon

A Visit to Henan Province

Hi Everybody,
It has been a long time since I have posted, and there is so much on which to update you but I am here with all three kids, so I will start from the most recent events and see if I can post again later. The photos here are from a Rural town in Henan Province, a two hour drive from the city of Zhengzhou. This province has been hard hit by the AIDs epidemic which has primarily been spread through blood transfusions in the 80s and 90s I believe. I am not yet well educated on this issue, but will learn more soon. Many children in this community have lost one or both parents to AIDS. Half the Sky has two programs designed to help some of these children. One is a generous college and high school scholarship program funded by a generous family with ties to China, and the other is a foster village in which foster families have been created to care for the children who have lost their biological parents. Both of these programs are under my "auspices" (only Oma will understand that joke), but the foster village is in dire need of some upgrades --so that is what we will be up to. The conditions in this area are stark, and life seems very hard. The children are doing pretty well, but need lots of support.

In addition to meeting with the families, teachers and children, we were wined and dined (again, again, again, and again) by government officials. We ate every meal together with one or another government representative from the local, city and state levels. For the first two days I was traveling with HTS Second in Command, ZZ Zhang, so she translated for me. The last day I was on my own with only Chinese-speaking staff, so that was a challenge. I plan to only speak English today to give my brain a rest.

I traveled with our new Associate Director, who we just hired. Her name is Wang Li and she lives here in Shanghai. We will work together very very closely. She has great experience working with her own nonprofit in which she has helped people with disabilities in shanghai and also help minority populations in XinJiang province, a remote area.

Jeff just got home from the Shanghai marathon, in which he and his Cargill colleagues participated in the 5 K portion. He finished without much trouble and said it was great to get to downtown early in the morning and watch the sun come up over the city.

We are hanging around the house today. The kids are still liking school and doing very well. I will upload some photos of them soon. Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. We didn't celebrate this year due to my travel, but our looking forward to our Christmas holiday in Maylasia. The kids have started their Christmas wishlists.

See Maps of China link

Due to popular demand (OK, request by one sister), I have added a link with cool satellite maps to China.  My next trip will be to QingDao north of Beijing.  It is famous for its beer, which Jeff informs me was started by Germans?  I have to research and get back to you.  Please see map if you want to learn more about this HUGE country!

Hope you are all well.  

Formula 1 Racing at the China Grand Prix

Jeff, Jin , and Mr. Zhu had a great time at the Chinese Grand Prix on October 19th. Formula 1 is very popular in Asia and Europe. After a very interesting cross-cultural experience involving Mr. Zhu's attempts to get us into the race, we decided to buy tickets at the gate. Our seats were near the track's hair pin turn, s we got to see the cars slow down from top speed and then accelerate out of the turn. The noise was incredible. Lew Hamilton from the McLaren-Mercedes team won the race. Jin liked the Ferrari team the best, so he bought a Ferrari hat as a souvenir. We might check out the motorcycle GP in May at the same track.

Visit to Chongqing

Our first vacation

Hello everyone.  It is "golden week" here in China.  Everyone has the entire week off to celebrate National Day, October 1st, the day Mao ZeDong and the People's Liberation Army liberated China.  We took a small two day vacation to a beautiful mountain region called Mo Gan Shan （山 this is the character for "shan" which means mountain).  It was a gorgeous get-away with bamboo forests.  Not knowing what we were getting into, we had all three kids make a 30 minute hike up mountain stairs -- they all made it and have become quite the troupers.  They usually melt down after the fact (in the evening) which is more convenient!  We stayed in an old fashioned farm house in a very small mountain village.  It was a bit like a Chinese version of Little House on the Prarie.  I'll post photos of the cabin in the entry.   Mr. Zhu drove us there and he stayed with us the whole time -- three parents for three children works out great!  

Mo Gan Shan was the location where the foreigners and wealthy Chinese in Shanghai would escape the summer heat.  There is a villa at the very top of the mountain where Chiang Kai Shek stayed with his wife.  We saw it briefly and saw the meeting room where they discussed the importance of introducing "paper money."  That paper money had a short life, given that a year after it was introduced, the communists came to power.  

We discovered that Jeff's Chinese surname (Jiang) is the same character as Chiang Kai Shek (Chiang is actually Jiang in Chinese).  

The highlight of the trip for me was when we went hiking on forest path in search of "queer rock."  We gave up on finding the rock, as it was getting dark and we got side tracked by finding a little restaurant on the mountain side in the middle of tea fields.  We took all kids and hike down a quite steep incline and made it to the Pagoda just in time for the sunset.  We had some tea that was grown right there and bought some to bring home.  Mr. Zhu, in his wisdom, asked if there was a quicker way back, and we walked out via road and got back to the car, just as it was getting dark.  

Jeff and I were pleasantly surprised to have such a successful vacation with the kids.  They are seeming quite comfortable in their new surroundings and Sun and Qi talk constantly about school, comparing notes.  Jin said that Mandarin is his favorite class and can already write a few characters.  His best one is 坐 (zuo which means "sit.").  After consulting with a million people, I finally picked out a Chinese name for myself.  It is Liu Li Fei (柳 丽 菲).  "Liu" means is from the word for weeping willow tree -- which I choose because they are everywhere here, I love them, and they remind me of home.  "Li" means beauty (but also was the sound I needed :-) and fei doesn't really have much meaning.  So I will be referred to at work as Liu Laoshi which means "Teacher Liu."  Only medical doctors over here get to me Daifu!  Shucks!

More later.  Got to read Qi Qi a Dora book and get out of bed!  Take care.

New Email Address

Please use this new email address, effective immediately.  Thanks.

laura@halfthesky.org

Director of Youth Services

I am so excited to let you know that I have been offered, and accepted, the position of Director of Youth Services, for Half the Sky Foundation.  This was the longest and most intensive interview process ever, but well worth it I think.  I will be working with the organization to help address the needs of older Chinese children who are living in institions and foster care.  I feel sooo fortunate to be able to have this opportunity and am now very glad I studied as hard as I did when I was in China.  This job will include travel throughout all of China's provinces to set up model centers that will provide standards of high quality care for orphaned children.  As many of you know, this organization has been one of my favorites well before I knew we were moving to China, so being able to work with them is wonderful.  The folks in the photo are the mentors, field supervisors, and associate directors with whom I will be working. 

Jeff is off to Brazil for 8 days -- so we are flying solo again -- which is not nearly as much fun.  But, we have the help and school is going well for the kids, so it should be OK.

I will write more later, but wanted to share this news, which I've been waiting to share forever it seems!

Harbin appears to be the corn capital.  There is corn on every corner and in many forms.  My goal is to find a huge bag of popcorn to bring home.  I passed by some homes with corn hanging all around the rafters and was told by my taxi driver that they were drying it for popcorn.  Much much more to report, but I have a job interview in six minutes!!!  I'll let you know how it goes.

Harbin

Made it to Harbin today with one phone number and too little cash (damn fool that I am).  I attended the first day of training for the new Nannies that were hired for Half the Sky's infant nurture program.  The Director of the Program, the Spanish woman, did that whole training in Mandarin -- quite impressive.  The ladies in red are the field supervisors who spend about 20 days per month on the road overseeing the infant care in various orphanages across China.  I went out to dinner with them -- they are a great bunch of people.  Tomorrow I am going to the training for the Big Sisters program, to learn about the programs for older kids.  This would be the program that I would direct if I get the job.  

More tomorrow.....Laura

Our Neighbors and an Update on the Dongwu (animals)

Well Sisters....here is your update. Yu Yu is doing great. I love him so much -- he is getting more frisky as time goes by. He is, however, still not potty trained (or even almost potty trained), which is getting very very frustrating. We have tried many approaches, but he continues to have the nickname Yu Yu von Poo Poo!

The turtles and crabs are no longer in this world. They survived much longer than we expected, but perished unfortunately. I will NEVER get turtles again. The crabs made better pets, as they actually moved around and did something.

All of the neighbors have returned to the neighborhood, including those immediating surrounding us. Across the street we have Ola and Christina from Sweden, and their two daughters Ellen (3rd grade, biological) and Selma (4 years, preschool, and adopted from China -- the exact same size as Sun). Christina works as the Marketing Director for IKEA China and Ola, who was previously with IKEA also, is a stay at home dad. They are very nice, but still getting to know them. Ellen is over a lot to visit with the kittens, so we know her best (see photos of Ellen and Selma). The other nearby neighbors are from Singapore. They also have two kids, named Harriet (9) and Harold (5). They speak perfect English, so the kids can all communicate and play. There are really not too many americans in the complex, a lot of Northern Europeans from Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, also people from England and Australia.

The first week of school went exceptionally well. All of the kids have nice teachers and there were no major problems. Sun, who I was most afraid would have difficulty adjusting, is loving school and very proud of herself. Her favorite part is riding the bus!

Jeff is coming home from Hong Kong tonight, and then this week, I am going off on "business," to a training with Half the Sky Foundation to meet with people from that organization and see if there is the potential for me to work for them. The following week I am going to visit their headquarters in Beijing and their programs in Tianjin (Qi's hometome). Kids are crying, gotta go!

Cats, Kittens, and Crickets: A True Story

Chapter 1: Sammy, the cat that came back.

The prequel to this story, which is only for the cat or animal lovers among you, is Sammy's story. That story, which has a verbal history and cannot be found in written form, ended this way... When our family was living in the red house in Plymouth, Sammy -- our 13 year old cat -- ran away and was gone for two months. We had given up hope on him. That left us "catless," as we had had to put lovable Lucy to sleep earlier that year because she was so sick. On a whim, the way I do most things, I wound up at the animal shelter and we became the proud owners of a cute new grey kitten named Tiger. Well, wouldn't you know it, a few days after welcoming our new kitten we got word through a neighbor's neighbor's neighbor that Sammy had been vacationing at a nearby cat lover's home. Mary lived in a nearby cul de sac and had 4 or 5 cats of her own, so when Sammy showed up at her house, and she could not locate his family, she fed him and gave him cat nip.

He was returned to us in the healthiest condition I have ever seen him, and I actually felt a bit guilty taking him back to our family -- where he clearly wasn't as content (and now had a pesky new kitten to deal with). From then on, whenever Sammy got out and went missing, we picked up the cat carrier and went to Mary's house to retrieve him. Sammy has always been more of a boarder than a pet, and he has lived more than his 9 lives I'm sure, but he is still with us, and made the trip to China. Strangely, he seems happier here than in the U.S., and is seen a lot more by visitors here than he ever was back home.

First Day of School

Today was the kids' first day of school at Shanghai Community International School.  We woke up to a thunder storm.  We took the kids to the front of the complex in the Burley and on my new electric scooter, through the flooded streets of the neighborhood.  It was quite a memorable event.  There were no tears!  We met their teachers at an open house last Friday, and the kids' classrooms are all in the same hallway on the school's first floor, so hopefully that will make Sun and Qi feel comfortable.  The teachers all seemed very nice, and we have a good feeling about the school and are hoping for the best.  Will report more later.  

Ugh!

I just spent my precious half hour of free time writing up the recipe for the dumplings (in detail) and then lost it.  Now you'll have to wait a bit longer.  

Well, I had my first visit to a Chinese doctor.  I was sick as a dog the other day and got back on my feet yesterday.  I actually threw up in the doctor's office, just to prove to him that I was truly sick!   I had sore throat, killer headache, muscle aches, etc.  Sunny got a milder version and everyone else is in the clear (although Jin is trying to do a good fake cough).  

Today I am going to leave the house for the first time in awhile.  Each day is made up of little adventures (like finding popcorn or a bicycle pump).  

My mandarin classes start today at 4:00 -- so'll we'll see what the diagnosis of my mandarin is -- I may think I am better than I actually am.  

I just heard the news about the "lip syncing" of the little girl during the opening ceremony!  What a shame!  I'm going to try to put a link to that story under the "websites."  Let's see if that works.  

Laura

  

Panda

The knitters among us are trying to work on making a little panda bear like this --  too cute!  If I find the instructions, I will post.  Oma is working from our other (more simple) pattern.

Recipe

I will give better directions later -- my time for myself is up for this morning -- uploading those photos takes time.  

Dumplings: Try this at home!!!! (Will update as I get info)

This is a sketchy photo recipe for fried dumplings.  I would say that it makes about twenty-five or so.  The recipe starts with the bottom photo and then moves up.  

Ingredients (Everything is a guess)

Ground pork (maybe 1 lb or so)

Celery (very finely chopped)

Salt (about 1-2 teaspoons)

1 egg

Powder for chicken broth

???

Ginger (1 teaspoon)

Black pepper (just a little)

Soy Sauce (2 teaspoon)

Sesame oil (2 teaspoons)

Corn Starch (1 table spoon)

Circular dumpling wrappers

For dipping sauce:

soy sauce & fragrant vinegar (dark in color similar to soy sauce)