Just another day of laboring on Labor Day.

We had a going away party at Ivy this last Sunday for Rita. She was a very good T.A. and friend. She is going back to school in another city but will try to come back in January I think. We introduced a local pizza place to her and she had to buy pizza for everyone. It was a very nice party. The little boy’s name is Charlie and is the nephew of one of the Ivy workers. He was very fascinated with DJ and she was mesmerized by him. DJ also loves her big sister. Susan was trying to teach her how to crawl the other day. DJ didn’t learn to well but Susan passed with flying colors. I started my second week of public school this term today. We took a walk down to the river this afternoon to play with the dog and just to get out again before the cold weather starts.

Mei Han has been very good to us and has helped make life much easier here for us with the family. We are very busy on weekends at Ivy.

September evening walk.

I used to see my grandma and great-grandma canning when I visited them 30 to 35 years ago. I never did learn or practice canning because of the convenience of store purchased canned goods. Instead of canning over here, people dry almost anything. They dry fish, fruit and vegetables. Just walking down the street we can see all kinds of stuff laying out on blankets, sheets, window screens, on the sidewalk or just hanging up somewhere drying out. Yesterday was payday and Deb did the shopping today while I was at public school in the morning, which started back Monday. The weather is very pleasant here right now so we went for a walk in the evening around the block and along the river. We took Spot with us and on the way back we stopped at one of our favorite Chinese restaurants to eat. We had grilled bread, beef and chicken, and Susan had some beef fried rice. The total bill was less than $10US. Where in America can you take the family and dog for a walk around the block along a scenic river walk and stop in a restaurant with you dog and have a very nice dinner for less than $10? China is wonderful.

DJ's second 1st birthday party.

This scrapbooking design created with Smilebox

Destiny Jubilee's first birthday.

This digital scrapbook created with Smilebox

Recycling.

Many people think that China is a dirty place, and although many people do threw their waste everywhere, in some ways it is cleaner than the USA. Everyday I see many people sweeping or picking up the streets. There are also people that go through the trash for plastic, glass or cardboard for recycling. Some people go through the city collecting old computers and other things from peoples homes for recycling. They even recycle concrete. The Chinese may litter the streets but their homes are spotless on the inside. They also are very clean people when it comes to their hygiene. Western people might find it difficult to use a hole in the ground for a tiolet but the Chinese don't understand why someone would want to sit on a tiolet seat that other people have sat on, passing on germs. They are not perfect, but who is? We could all learn something from each other.

Dinner and a movie.

For the last month I have been tutoring Mei’s son, Na Na, as has several of the Ivy staff. He is 20 years old and attends college in Harbin, the provincial capital, studying industrial design and graphics. He was just home for the summer to spend time with his family. Since Mei is the director of Ivy, she arranged for him to get some tutoring. She wants him to do graduate school in the states. During our tutoring secessions he asked many questions about my family and showed an interest in Spot, so I invited him for dinner and a movie on Monday. It is customary for guest visiting someone’s home for the first time to bring a gift. He brought a case of beer. After meeting the family we went out back and played Frisbee with Spot. Na Na isn’t used to dogs and wasn’t expecting Spot to be as big as he is. At first he was a little scared but soon got used to him and they became friends. I fixed spaghetti and we watched a movie ‘Fearless’, which takes place in China 100 years ago. The movie is in Chinese with English subtitles so he was able to enjoy the movie without having to think so hard about the English. He said he liked dinner and when he left got Susan’s e-mail and gave me not one but two hugs. I think he had a good time.

Wedding day.

Certain days are lucky to get married. Last week had one of those days. It was the 16th day of the 8th month on the solar calendar and the 7th day of the 7th month on the lunar calendar. Today I woke to find a small crane outside the front of our building across the parking lot. It was doing the most important work that a crane can do in China; holding up a large amount of firecrackers for a wedding. This turned out to be the grooms home. We watched the crowds of people and black cars decorated in red streamers and flowers. Soon the groom came out and the wedding precession left, while some people stayed behind to set-up more fireworks. After some time the groom returned with his bride and the fireworks were lit. Not long after we got here we saw a wedding out back of our building that was the counterpart to this part of the ritual. It was were the groom came to collect his bride to take home. Both parts have the precession and firecrackers and some sort of decoration. When the groom shows up to get the bride he must argue with the bridesmaids to prove his honorable intentions. After the bride and groom return to his home they soon leave again to start the wedding banquet, which is sometimes more important than the ceremony. As I understand it, the ceremony varies and is a minor part of the wedding, although I have never witnessed one myself. After night fall the final part of the wedding is the burning of  money to honor the spirits of the ancestors. We can see this sort of thing all over the city and is done by the main roads so everyone can witness.

 "Spirit money is most often used for ancestor veneration but has also been known to be used for other purposes such as a gift from a groom's family to the bride's ancestors. Spirit money has been said to have been given for the purpose of enabling their deceased family members to have all they will need or want in the afterlife. It has also been noted that these offerings have been given as a bribe to Yanluo to hold their ancestors for a shorter period of time."

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This photo album personalized with Smilebox

CNG.

This city, like all cities in China, have a large amount of taxis and buses. There are still a lot of bicycles, e-bikes, motorcycles and mopeds. Some cities don't allow bicycles, e-bikes, motorcycles or mopeds. They feel that the public transportation is good enough without having the problems, such as cluttering the streets and sidewalks and weaving dangerously through traffic. Some cities have subway systems. It seems here, that there are just as many taxis as there are any other vehicles. Most of the taxis and all the public buses run on compressed natural gas (CNG). China's population is still growing and more of the people are moving to the cities. Because of the 'one child policy' the average age of China is getting younger. This younger, wealthier and freer younger generation has caused China to become the largest market in the world for automobile sales. With all the cities growing both with population and cars, the problem of smog and air pollution are also growing. To help fight this China has put into place policies that have led to the widespread use of CNG vehicles in mass and public transportation. China is cleaning up its act; what about the USA?

Bowling.

My wife did the blog last about homeschooling and did a fine job but it has been two weeks since I last did a blog, so this is going to be a mix of topics to bring you up to date.

DJ likes it when the dog plays ball.

DJ is talking so sweet these days and sometimes wakes in the night to talk.

DJ likes to play ball.

DJ can set-up really well now.

DJ likes it when her big sister Suzanne shares her soft chocolate chip cookies.

It's hard work being a baby. Like many of the Chinese, she will take a nap anywhere she can.

Jiamusi is hosting the provincial sporting events and they had a parade of floats and fireworks for the opening day. This is one of the floats. I don't know what sports. The tickets are too much for us even if we had time. We missed the parade and only heard the fireworks.

For the last month they have been working on remodeling a building we walk by all the time. It now looks like this.

The buildings they are constructing here started out five months ago as a muddy lot and now are eight stories tall.

Everytime we go out walking with DJ we get people stopping us wanting to see.

It was a nice day for a walk yesterday. The temperature was near 85F so it was a little warm. In the picture with Deb, DJ and Suzanne; you can see the train station in the background. The station is at the center of town and this is looking South. We live on the North side of town. Since there are only a few places to get around the tracks, we haven't explored too much of the South side of town. The ladies had been to this part of town before but it was another teacher that told us about the bowling ally just to the East of the station near this park that is across from the station.

The bowling ally only had ten lanes. When we got there at 2pm they were open but was told we had to wait until 3pm to bowl. At 2:30pm, a man showed up and turned on the lights and lanes for us to bowl. You have to pay up front for how many games you are going to bowl. It cost 6rmb or just under $1 per game. We didn't have to rent shoes even though they had some. DJ slept some, played some, bowled some, but mostly enjoyed watching us bowl. There was a young couple that came in and bowled a few games. The manager and his friends played cards and then he read the paper waiting for us to finish. When we left at 4:30pm, they locked up and went home. They keep some strange hours that we didn't see posted. The bathrooms were not kept clean. On one side of the bowling ally is an indoor pool that is no longer in use and on the other side is a gym that is no longer in use. I don't know why they are closed. You can wonder if it is because of the hours and dirty bathrooms why more people don't bowl or if it is because more people don't bowl that they keep such short hours and don't keep up with things. I think it is because bowling is a western culture thing. We still enjoyed bowling again and it was nice to see something made in USA for a change besides us. All the equipment was Brunswick. Deb bowled five games and I bowled five games for a total of around $9.

The teachers assistants and Mei were enjoying some corn after classes last night at Ivy. We don't like the corn. It is a winter corn and not very sweet. It taste like wax to us. DJ's 1st birthday is on saturday the 28th of August and we will caring some stuff to Ivy to have a little party there.

We have seen several large sunflowers around the city and this one is just outside our apartment.

I showed this video to DJ and she was very excited to have aother baby that talked the same language she did. Every time she goes by a mirrored surface she likes to wave at the baby.

Mid morning nap.

Homeschooling is a great thing but a lot of work goes into it.

When Carl and I first started talking about moving to China, then we started looking at the international schools that the city we thought we would be going to offered, Beijing. So, that meant we started looking at the International Academy of Beijing (IAB). Looks like a good school right? The cost was nice also, so that wasn’t going to be an option. That meant that home school was the only option left. After Suzanne finished her sixth grade year at her old school then she would start her seventh grade being home schooled. Was she happy? Being home schooled, moving to china, and then having a baby sister on the way…no. Some people think that in order to home school your kids then you have to have a college education. If you are going to teach calculus, it might be helpful, but otherwise all you have to do is fill out two forms and turn them into your school district. I saw that it wanted to know about a curriculum, so how was I going to decide that one? That was easy. She had been learning ABEKA with her school and we found a display close to us where we could see the books, and so that’s what she was taught in 7th grade. About the time that she was finishing her first semester I had to start thinking about what she would be learning from here in China. I placed an ad in the shoppers guide and in Y95’s swap shop for someone that might have some used home school books to sell cheaply. A lady called and she had some ABEKA books that would work from 8th-12th grades, for free. She was a God send. After that I found a website that had lots of useful home school information on it. I found a lady in Camden that home schooled named Alicia Taylor  that has helped me. Since Arkansas says that students must be tested every year until after 9th, then I had to figure out how to do that. That had been the hardest part yet. I finally found a place called Bob Jones, and I could order standardized tests through them. So, now that high school was coming next year, it was time to think about colleges. She has decided what profession she wants, and even which colleges. How’d she find the right college? She searched. Her career is going to be a Vet Tech. Her first college is Arkansas State University, Beebe. Why? She wanted a 2 year school that had that career field and was close to Camden. Then if she decided to go on to is a veterinarian, then she can go to Texas A&M in Commerce. We have recently found the place that says what requirements Arkansas wants for her to be able to graduate. Now, she needs to use a helpful site, to plan high school/college/job/financial aid. She can also have sites like computer aptitude, 4test, act and fafsa to get her ready with her needed tests. Her old school in Camden, Victory School, is being a lot of help answering questions. Also since we’ve been here a lady homeschooling, Kris Baker, has been a God send. Also, anything we need, we can find how to do on ehow. Hope you have enjoyed reading this blog. Please leave any questions, which I didn’t cover, and I’ll be glad to answer them.

Baby steps.

Destiny is take baby steps with a little help.

Look who's 11 months.

DJ turned 11 months on the 28th. One more month and we celebrate the big 1 year mark. Deb got her a new stroller because she was outgrowing the old one. The big teddy bear came with it. She likes to talk to it. She can really sit up by herself good now. She also likes to kick back in her new stroller and watch TV.

Another six mile hike.

We went for another six mile hike yesterday. There was an 80% chance of light rain but it wasn’t hot. We slept in late since this was every ones day off. We didn’t have breakfast so we left the apartment around 10am and walked to Flolon’s Pizza where we had an early lunch. We then walked to TCBY and had ice cream. It started raining while we where in TCBY but we decided to continue our walk anyway. Destiny has a nice new stroller with a canopy to keep the rain out and Deb and I stayed under the umbrella while Suzanne played in the rain. We walked along the river going west. The whole river walk is about 4 miles long with half of it still under construction. It started to rain a little harder at some point and we huddled under the umbrella together to wait it out. Finally it stopped raining altogether. We saw many things and really enjoyed the walk. We passed under the train tracks that went to the train bridge leaving the river behind. We continued walking west until the road turned south and walked towards the nuclear power plant until we came to the toll booth for the road that went to the road bridge crossing the river. I wanted to see it but we had already walked a long way. We turned east to go back into the heart of the city. We could have taken a bus but we didn’t recognize the number of the bus that went by and didn’t know where it would stop. We wanted to find a bus that we knew where it would take us. We finally gave up and paid a taxi 10RMB ($1.50US) to take us home. We took some videos on our walk. One is of DJ playing with her mom. Another is of the night market street the way it looks during the day. The last one is of a corner market that we found. It is the cleanest we have seen and has the best variety.

DJ and mom playing.

Night market street in the day.

Market.

New look.

New hat and new stroller for baby Destiny.

Cheap outing.

DJ can be seen in one of these pictures getting into trouble at home by playing with her sisters papers. We took a bus to eat lunch at Pop-Land today and from there we took another bus further to the West to try go see the road bridge that crosses the river. We knew which direction the bridge was in so we just took buses that were going in that direction. When the bus we were on turned to go in a different direction, we got off and took a different bus. We got off the second bus when we thought we saw the road that goes to the bridge. It was one of the roads but we couldn’t get to it because it was elevated on pillars. We walked back a little way to a park that we saw. The park was a straight ½ mile path through what used to be farmers fields. It turned into a dirt road that went by old farmers homes that we don’t know how old they were. On the other side of the dirt road was modern building. We were on the edge of town and could see the countryside on one side of us and the city on the other. We got to see lots of different parts of the city that we hadn’t see before including a different view of the mountains in the distance. We finally took the bus back home. We spent 1RMB each to take the bus each time. In total the trip only cost about $1.80US. We only had to walk less than a mile of the nearly 9.5 miles we traveled. We never did see the bridge but know which way to go next time.

No child left behind.

It’s not all peaches and cream in China all the time, no more than it is anywhere else. We all have our ‘bad China’ days for different reasons. I had one today. Teaching at a private school can be a real pain sometimes. Parents think that just because they pay for their child to go through English classes that they will learn English. I only have their kids for two hours a week and can not control their study habits at home. Some times there are kids that do not want to learn or where they are not studying at home. I have had to reluctantly recommend that some kids repeat a book or go down to a lower level class. Parents get upset at this and pull their child out of the school altogether. They never get upset when we recommend that their child should move up a class because they are doing so well. Since the school is a business and does not want to lose any kids or money, they let kids pass to the next book and do not say anything to the parents. You would think the school could build a reputation of having a high standard and showing that they care about the kids’ education, thus gaining the respect of parents, teachers and students. It can be beyond frustrating. I never did teach in America but know they have their own problems to deal with. A ‘no child left behind’ policy can do more harm than good. All kids learn at different speeds and in different ways. Some kids may need more attention than others. All kids should be given a chance. But just passing a kid to the next level when they are not ready sets the student back, because they can not keep up with the other students around them. It is hard on all the students, because the others must learn at a slower pace. It is also very hard on the teacher of course. Suzanne spent most of her primary years in private school but one year she did have to go to public school. She did not do as well in public school as she did in private school. She is doing very well at home with her studies, although not as good as when she was in Victory, but still much better than when she was at Fairview. She has started her 8th grade lessons and has a very large load. I know that she will continue to make us proud. Her baby sister, Destiny has cut a third tooth on the bottom, for a total of five now. Their mother does so much around the house and looks great in her new tailor made skirt. Thank you so much.

Kids and chocolate.

This is the class that I have three times a week for what they call spoken class. I still have all my regular Ivy classes; there are seven regular Ivy classes that meet twice a week each. This class is a nice change because their English level is much better than my other classes. Three of my regular Ivy classes are baby classes; 4-6 years old. Two of those classes are just starting, so I am spending an hour each class teaching them the basics. When we get new students in, we have to give them English names. I have probably named 20 kids myself. Not all of them come back after the first class, which is free. Sometimes it is difficult to come up with so many names for so many kids. All the kids in the spoken class already have names of course. I still don't remember all their names. Some of the names are: Bull, Cinderella, Linda, Alisa, Allen, Tom, Matthew and Jerry. It is a very nice change to teach a class of the age group of my spoken class. Too bad I only have them for the summer. Then I go back to teaching at the public schools. A lot more kids and a lot more hours. DJ had some ice cream with her dinner last night. Chocolate. Of course she loved it. She was full of energy for a little while.

New shirt.

Here is a picture of my new shirt I had made. Looks and feels great. Deb and I got out this morning and went to RT-Mart or what the locals call Fu-Mart. We got a new duster/mop for 99RMB. The price you see on something over here is the price you pay. You don't have to try and figure in for how much tax is going to be. We went into one of the department stores to look around after we left RT-Mart. We went around the corner when we left the department store to a place that sells some DVD's in English. We got 19 new movies for around $1.85US each. We had lunch and ice cream at Pop Land across the street from the DVD store. Finally we went into the underground to buy me some new shoes again. All this walking will really wear a pair shoes out in a hurry. After looking at several and having an idea of what I wanted, I stopped at a few stalls and tried some on. In the end there were four people fighting over who was going to sell me shoes. When I found some that I liked and fit I asked how much and they told me 980RMB. I put my old shoes back on and started to leave. They asked how much I wanted to pay and I wrote down 180RMB. They countered with 460RMB but my price was final. I got the shoes for 180RMB. They were 70RMB more than the last pair I got but still a pretty good deal. We left the underground and took the bus back home.

Zoo, amusement park and temple.

DJ was feeling much better today and just in time for a full day off. We went down town to pick up some pants I had tailor made last Monday. While we were waiting we found that although people are generally curious about us, especially DJ and sometimes even Spot, they are really interested in watching Suzanne write left handed. No one is left handed in China. It cost me around $40US to have two pants and a shirt made. The shirt will be ready tomorrow afternoon. Deb picked out some material for a skirt that that will be ready Friday afternoon. It only cost about $10US. They all enjoyed looking at all the different colors and patterns of materials in the gourmet market. We left from the gourmet market to go to the zoo/amusement park. The temperature was going to get near 30C today so we wanted to get there early. I looked at the hours when I was buying the tickets and they open at 4:30am. Yes, it starts getting daylight at 3am. If we come back we will come very early so we beat the crowd and the heat. It really wasn’t very crowded but it did get hot. We saw everything this time around, including the haunted house, monkey house, aviary, aquatic tanks, and the reptile house. We also climbed to the top of the pavilion and rang the bell. When we first got to the park Suzanne wanted to try the bungee jump but didn’t like it. Then she and I went up in the Ferris wheel and then she took her mom up in it with DJ. They didn’t have a problem with it since it was enclosed and moving very slow. In fact, it didn’t even stop to let people on or off. You just stepped in or out while it was moving. We then went up the hill to the pavilion and had a great view of the city and rang the bell. We went next door to the park to visit the Buddha temple when we had finished seeing everything at the zoo. It is still under construction but there were still lots to see. It seemed funny to see a statue of Buddha with Christmas trees in the back ground. You can just make them out on either side of the tall white Buddha statue. You can also see the swastika symbol on the chest of the Buddha. We finished our big family day out with a trip to Flolon’s where I had a mixed steak grill plate and fries and a parfait. Suzanne had her usual spaghetti and Deb had the grilled chicken plate and a banana split. After such a long day we decided to come on home instead of going down by the river tonight. There are two movies I filmed from the pavilion. You can see the mountains in both and if you look at the one that is zoomed in, you will see a group of six tall buildings that look almost just alike. Those are the buildings that are along the river front and just behind where we live. According to one website I found, there are twice as many Buddhist in the world as there are American citizens which include 1.5 million Buddhist living in America.

Suzanne and DJ on the Carousel

Bell pavilion

Bell pavilion zoomed