Whereever you go....there you are!

Here I am, halfway around the world, and what am I doing? Making bracelets with kids! I have been spending the last two weeks in Xiamen on the Southern coast of China, doing some final training for Half the Sky. We held a wonderful afternoon of exciting activities for 28 kids. I had fun teaching my Chinese colleague and then the kids how to play four square -- although I am still somewhat traumatized by my memories of being banned from playing in the "cool kids" four square games during my own playground days.

This little girl made me a bright and beautiful bracelet. The day before when I was talking to her one on one, she asked me an array of questions and then said to me seriously, "Your eyes are terribly scary."

I miss my family a lot and am eager to get back to Shanghai. But, we have done a lot of training here teaching new staff about child development, attachment, learning, behavior, and more. It is wonderful to be able to share what I have learned through ALL those years of study -- especially with people who are eager to know more about how they can support the kids.

Off to Pizza Hut with my colleague Jeronia. The rest of the bunch has gone to see the seashore.

A Night on the Town

The World Expo opened today in Shanghai, and here we are in Tokyo. Work and school are shut down for the first few days of the expo -- to control traffic -- so we took a short trip to Tokyo.

These are some images from our first night on the town. My biggest first impressions include two doggies being pushed in a pink stroller like twins, a store exclusively for doggy clothes, and the appeal of BRIGHT and COLORFUL tennis shoes! Converse are all the rage here and in Seoul. So glad I bought some pink ones at TJ Maxx before left!

Off to the salt and tobacco museum this afternoon, huh? Jeff wants to go!

A Visit to Seoul

We spent the Easter weekend in Seoul. It is a quick, 2 hour, flight from Shanghai. We visited the folk village, two palaces and one fort. This fit in very nicely with Qi Qi's recent studying of castles. When we visited the fort, there were masses of school kids there and they were very intrigued by the kids. They were so adorable -- a group of about 10 young girl students were especially interested in Jin, Qi and Sun. The girls were eery in the way they spoke, laughed and gestured in unison! Moreover, they all were in their school uniforms which includes the requirement to have the exact same haircut -- a bob with bangs! Qi Qi proved to be the most outgoing -- who would have thought.

Jin ate his way through the trip, eating as much kimchi, Bulgogi, Bi Bim Bop, and korean BBQ as he could fit into his stomache. He loves Korean food and simply can't get enough of it.

We are going to go back to Korea in June and have a short visit with the kids' foster parents. That should be nice. It is really a beautiful city, clean and modern and surrounded by mountains and outlined by the Han River. Lots to enjoy.

One night, we took in a show called "Nanta" which was a musical comedy about 4 cooks. Very similar to Triple Espresso in Minneapolis. Sunny, qi and I sat in the front row so everyone could see well, and we were showered in chopped lettuce and cabbage at one point. The kids loved the silly humor. I will try to find a link to that show and see if I can post it here somehow. You can find lots of video clips on the internet for this show, just do a google video search for "Nanta." Here is one good linke I found for a UTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XQ-hFrhE_Q. You can look at the others that show up when you go to this video and you will get a good sense of the show.

More later....

A Day with Dad....and the Elephants

Jeff, Jin and Sun hit the beach and the elephant park on our second day of vacation while Qi and Mom stayed back at the hotel, catching up on work and coloring many, many pirate pictures! Riding the elephant named Rama was indeed a highlight, and Sun was very impressed with the size and sound of the elephant's plops. See the photo of Sun with the elephant plops in the background. If you know Sun, you will certainly know that this photo was her idea! A job we decided we don't want is to be the guy who has to fish the basketball sized plops out of the river with a net!

The threesome also stopped for a cool drink in the shadow of a volcano.

Bali is really a spectacular place. The Hindu religion is alive in every aspect of daily life -- every business and home has it's own temple and offerings to the Gods are made daily. Many people are busy constructing enormous paper sculptures called Augi Augi which will be used in the Balinese New Year celebrations next month and then burned as an offering to appease the Gods. We are learning more than we ever knew about Hindu beliefs, including Karma and Reincarnation. I have entered several stores with fairly expensive merchandise to find no one minding the store. When I asked our guide if they were worried about theft, he said that Karma would ensure that the thieves get more than what was coming to them and that the victims were more than compensated!

Stay tuned for another post about the famous coffee -- the beans of which are first digested and excreted by a small cat-like mammal! Hard to enjoy knowing the source!

Jin meets the King of Denpasar

Happy Year of the Tiger! Happy Valentine's Day!

We are enjoying a tropical vacation in Nusa Dua on the southern tip of Bali!. It sounds like paradise, and it is, but we got off to a rough start. Qi Qi got a second degree sunburn during the first 3 hours in the sun (we were careful, but obviously not careful enough), my knee gave out for no apparent reason and I couldn't walk for two days, and Jeff fell down and hit his head, leaving a big gash! We are the walking wounded, but much better today. Yesterday was the first day that the whole family could be together. We found a driver who we hired for the day to take us to Ubud, a beautiful town with beautiful little shops full of silver, batik, wood carvings and other things. On the ride there, we passed shop upon shop of the artisans making incredible wooden furniture, stone statues, glass sculptures and silver jewelry. With a background of plush greenery and a forground of beautiful handcrafted artwork, Bali is a tough place to beat for a vacation like this. Oh, yes, and them monkeys that roam the streets like dogs, are interesting too!

On this day trip, we simply HAD to stop at the Harley Shop that was on the route in order to get our fathers their Harley paraphenalia. We got very lucky while we were at the shop, as a big group of serious bikers pulled in for a break. One guy was particularly cool looking, so I asked if I could snap his photo. Our Driver, Martin, told us afterward, "That was the King of Despasar, the capital of Bali." Well, that is about the best we can do for you Opa and Grandpa -- a photo of your grandson with a Balinese King in Harley gear. Our work here is done!

There are so many more photos to share and I will upload them here. It is hard to take a bad photo here. I know this is somewhat obnoxious posting these beautiful pictures of a tropical place when you guys back in the midwest are still suffering through the snow drifts. Forgive me!

Jasmine's Little Flower with Teddy!

 

Funky Hair Day

Glad to be back at the blog! Here is a photo of the kids from last Friday's Funky Hair Day at the British International School!