More from Malaysia

Well, you can tell we are on vacation because blogging becomes a favorite past-time.  It is fun to share the beautiful photos with our friends and family -- and we have been encouraged to do so (although we feel a bit mean given that those of you in Minnesota are freezing your buns off)!  

Today we ventured to another area of Sabah, Malaysia to visit the Orang Utan rehabilitation center.  Like many animals, the Orang Utan are losing their natural environment due to the spread of palm oil plantations.  There is now a national relocation program and orphaned babies are taken in for rehabilitation when they are found.  We saw three of the four 2-4 year old (toddler) Orang Utans today.  The rehabilitation center is affiliated with a Shangri-La hotel, and they take in the little ones and care for them until they are ready to start fending for themselves in the wild.  We saw them come down to a platform in the woods for feeding time.  Once they are OK on their own in that environment, they will be moved to a 2nd step of the program (not like other 12 step programs!)

After monkey-ing around, we came back to the hotel for a swim and some fun in the sun before a thunderstorm struck. We have two more days before we go back to Shanghai and resume our abnormal, normal lives.  

Hope everyone reading along is doing well.  

Crystal Clear Waters of Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia (by Jin)

Today I (Jin) went on a boat to an island. It was called Manukan Island. It has crystal clear water. I went snorkeling with mom and dad. We saw lots of coral, fish and sea urchins in the water. {Note:  Jeff is co-authoring from this point on} Qi got bit by a jelly "bug" (something like a jelly fish) in a very private area (OUCH!!!).  Jin claims that he was stung in 5 places, but Qi was only one who needed medical attention. Sunny also went snorkeling with Dad and saw plenty of tropical fish.  

We're heading to an Orang-utan preserve tomorrow.  Borneo is the native habitat of orang-utans.  Laura is ecstatic!!!  Mr Zhu, our driver, wants us to bring a orang-utan back to Shanghai so that he can keep it as a pet (I'm only half-kidding).

Beijing Welcomes You

This is Jin's performance of Welcome to Beijing.  Hie is in the front row in a mask and yellow outfit.  He has been singing this song nonstop for weeks!!!!

Lunar New Year Assembly

Happy Year of the Ox (not cow as I had been saying).  Lunar New Year is a HUGE deal in China.  Everyone closes up shop and heads for home.  It is very much like Christmas in the states.  The stores are packed with people buying decorations and buying the ingredients for all of their favorite holiday meals.  

The pictures posted here are from the kids' school assembly.  It was darling, with each of the kids getting a chance to be on stage either dancing or singing a tune.  The faculty dressed up in these cue costumes and the Red Envelopes (Hong Bao) were handed out.  

The girls seated next to Sun are her best buddies -- Maurin and Mary Kelly.  They are her fashion icons and we will be heading to Yu Yuan gardens, tourist land extraordinaire -- to purchase a Chinese dress like them in the New Year.  I am full on board Sun's "want to dress like a girl" band wagon -- just too hard to resist all the dresses, shoes, and hair doodles.  Sun's hair is recovering from her self-styled band trim (i.e. hack), but fortunately she looks good in short hair and is pacified by dolling it up with inexpensive hair accessories which are in great supply over here at the local markets.  More later from Malaysia........

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.