Birthday suit.

The director at the school I work for bought this suit of clothes for DJ for her birthday. It was an early birthday gift that she had to try and just loves.

Latest update.

Howdy all. We haven't been doin' a whole lot around here. Momma has been busy helpin' sissy with her schoolin'. Daddy has been workin' at the school. Sometimes we go out for a walk together. We did have a few friends over a couple a times for dinner.

This is Nicole. She is a friend of momma and daddy. She came over one evenin' for dinner 'cause it was her birthday.

This is Nicole's son, Harold. He's kinda fun. We had a good time, even though there wasn't any cake.

We had some other friends over another evenin' for dinner. The little boy in front is Mike and the big boy in the back is Ted. The girl closest to me is Alice and the other is Cindy.

I really like it when they come over for a visit. We have so much fun.

New swimsuit for Suzanne and new haircut for Deb.

This is almost the finished product of my cutting Debs hair. I thinned it out a lot and then cut it away from her neck and ears. 

We are going to go swimming next week and Suzanne needed a new swimsuit. 

DJ got some bubbles to play with. 

If you check last months, you will see an update for the building they have started putting up near our apartment. This is the latest update. Next weekend, they are going to switch off the power to our area while they connect to this construction. 

Baby tired. 

Dog tired. 

This is what Deb's hair looked like before I got started. 

A boy down at the river gave DJ this fan. 

 

 

Walking the river walk. 

 

 

 

 

We have some pics of this monument on the blog already from last year. It is a monument to the local people defending the city along side the soldiers during WW2. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A group of people playing croquet. 

There are several people growing gardens along the river bank. 

 

 

Odd how a lady in America is facing charges for growing a garden in her own front yard while people in China can grow a garden on land that isn't even theirs. 

 

 

This is a passenger train crossing the river. 

 

 

We got a taxi at the main road near our apartment and had him take us across the river to the north for a drive in the country. The plan was to go see a lotus pond I found on Google Earth. It was a nice drive in the country but the lotus pond wasn't in use. 

 

 

Water ride and fun house.

We went to the local amusement park again and this time we tried some things we hadn't done before. There was a maze and a fun house. The maze was a bunch of glass walls that you had to find your way through. 

The fun house had a couple of really fun rooms in it, including one that had the floor leaning one way and the walls leaning the opposite. 

 

Another room had a walk-way with a rotating drum of lights. 

This picture isn't very clear, but it does show just how tired DJ was after all the fun she had. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kids come first in China.

DJ is having fun eating some ham. 

This hat was her great grandfathers hat when he served during WW2 in the Pacific as part of the Seabees. Suzanne has it now and was letting DJ play with it. 

 

 

 

DJ really likes a good sucker sometimes. 

DJ listening to music with some wireless headphones. 

 

Suzanne was wearing one of her new shirts that fit a little to well, because she got stuck trying to come out of it. 

 

 

DJ in one side and Suzanne in the other side of some of my new shorts. 

She ran out of energy again in the middle of playing. 

Here she is refueling with cucumber, tomato and chicken. 

Deb and Suzanne got caught in the rain while they were out walking. 

 

Because of the one child policy, kids are the most important part of a family. Kids are special to any family, but they really understand that here more than in the states I think. Some times it is taken to the extreme though, because parents can dictate to a school how they should be teaching, whether their child should be advanced, or even if the fully qualified teachers are even good enough based on if the teacher has been teaching their whole life or not. Where I come from, I learned to respect everyone, at least until that respect wasn't warranted for what ever reason. Here, respect is demanded always, but never returned.

DJ playing.

These are jsut a pictures of DJ playing at a KFC playland and playing in a sandbox and the RT-mart.

DJ's new hat and talking to grandma in Arkansas.

A friend from work named Joanna, recently returned from a long trip to Harbin and brought this hat for DJ. She loves it.

A 6 kilometer walk to the southwest side of the city.

We are getting out and exploring the city again now that summer is here. This is the Jiamusi Hotel. The name of the hotel is on the front in Chinese, English and Russian.

Many places of business start the day with the employees either marching, singing or dancing in front of the store or restaurant.

This is a restaurant across from No.1 high school.

This is looking east along a tree lines road.

Looking at the park across from the Jiamusi Hotel.

I thought I would include some pictures of some of the kinds of transportation they use around here. This is a motorcycle converted to act as a kind of small taxi. There is much government regulations on these so prices per trip are negotiable.

Here is another version that is a little longer.

There are also motorcycles that are converted to small trucks.

This a lady peddling a bike cart. It looks like she is selling baked sweet potatoes or something.

There are lots of city buses and tour buses around town. There are even some double-decker buses. You can get a better look at the bike cart in the foreground.

No.1 high school. The two colors of flowers are arranged to say something in Chinese. The way the public schools work in this city is that students are placed in schools according to their test scores. The better the score, the better the school. The students can be placed in the better classes in a school if their parents give money for placement preferrence. No.1 high school has the most students with the highest scores to enter college.

No.1 high school campus is really big and nice.

I don't teach at No.1 high school but I do have several students in a class at Ivy that attend No.1. They are the students we had over to the apartment last week.

A closer look at the motorcycle truck.

There are also pull carts.

You can see a small electric three-wheeled scooter. You can also see a worker waiting for employment. There are numberous places in the city where people who are unemployed wait with the tools of their trade or trades and signs advertising to passerbys what they can do in hopes for employment.

The only Good Year store we have seen here.

This is at the end of a road in a very nice gated community. The streets are lined with various shops.

Here are some ladys playing cards in front of one of the stores. Right next door to this store was a  Mahjong house.

This little boy wanted to pet Spot but the mother told him that dogs are dirty and he shouldn't touch. This is a commun view here.

This is looking back to the north along a very busy road on the west edge of the city.

Here is a big round-about at the southwest corner of the city.

You can just make out the mountains to the southwest through the city haze.

Jiamusi University is a large university and popular with locals and many foreigners from all over the world. The university is on the southwest side of the city. This is the university's football (soccer) stadium.

Another view of the mountain in the distance.

This hill is next to the stadium and part of the campus.

This is looking to the east along the northern edge of the university. You can see the guy on the scooter looking back at us. This kind of thing happens everywhere we go.

Deb checking out the stadium.

Spot was very tired after our long walk.

It was nice to rest at the park next to the stadium.

There were several students relaxing or studing in the park.

Construction is everywhere in the city, but especially in this part of the city. The area where all the cranes are building are shown Google Earth as nothing but old one level small homes.

Looking at the mountains from the pavilion on the hill top.

I would like to go visit the large building in the distance and find out what it is.

An armored car.

The government banned rickshas pulled by people except in high tourist areas, so now they are peddle powered. If you don't have your own car, there are four kinds of transportation available not counting bicycles: taxi, bus, ricksha or walk. How you get around depends of how far you are going, how much you want to spend, the weather, whats available and how much time you have. Many people will take a variety of modes of transportation. The rickshas are enclosed during the winter and have plastic to go over the tops during the rain.

Sometimes they actually use a motorcyle as a motorcycle.

I was this on top of a building a little over a block away and thought it was nice.

There are four christian churchs in the city. This one has sevrvices on tuesday, wednesday and friday with one of them in English. We have not been yet, but have gotten some dual language bibles for some Chinese friends from this church.

There are some horse or donkey pulled carts around town.

Because there are so many bicycles, you can find several places where people have set-up shop to repair bicycles.

At one point we had to go under the train tracks connecting to the northern part of the province from Jiamusi. We saw two trains while going this way, but didn't get a picture.

Here is a three-wheeled truck that is powered by a very unique engine that makes a noise that sounds like it is saying 'tug, tug, tug'. The "tug's" come in a variety of sizes and really are a workhorse.

This is the Chinese version of an 18-wheeler.

This banner shows what an area that is under construction should look like when complete, including a Wal-Mart.

End of school party.

These are some of the high school students from Ivy. Today was there last day of school and I invited them over to our apartment for an end of the year movie party.

Everyone had a great time and I was very happy to have them come over.

They all brought something to snack on during the movie.

This is Joy and Susan. They have become friends.

The girls surrounded DJ. This is usual anywhere we go with DJ.

DJ wasn't too thrilled to be sitting in Teddy's lap.

There were 14 students in all.

Some were from my class and others were from other classes at Ivy.

Some of the students they came were not used to dogs and weren't sure what to make of him.

We will have to get together again and play some games next time.

Earlier in the day, the Ivy teachers went to a lunch hosted by the director, Mei Han.

The lunch was a welcome for one of Ivy's foreign directors from London, who is visiting during the summer. The beauty on the left is the London director. Her name English name is Tina. She has two girls, about two and four years old. We will have to arrange a play date for them and DJ. The other beauty is of course Mei, who thinks she is 'no beautiful'.

This is Roxanne. Roxanne is from South Africa and Scotland. She just started with Ivy, but is on break until the end of summer. George and Connie were able to make the lunch also, but Andrea and David were busy.

It was a large spread as usual. I will start with the peanuts at the bottom right and go counter clockwise to tell you what everything is. After the peanuts is some broccoli with peppers, mushrooms and shrimp. Next is some kind of rib. Then there is fried shrimp. After the shrimp is a kind of cold salad. That is followed by some fried chicken. Next is a cold spinach salad. Then there is some seasoned beef. The plate after the beef has several different kinds of stuffed pastry. And after the pastry are some stuffed pastry balls. Finally, there is a glazed pork and eggplant dish.

Mix of pics.

The local convenience store has some small kiddie rides. They play music and move back and forth with a little up and down motion. DJ does not like it.

Suzanne gave DJ a pony tail.

These are DJ's new summer shoes.

We had some friends over for dinner. They brought DJ a new stuffed toy to add to her collection.

The boys name is Mike.

The two girls names are Cindy and Alice.

I went into KFC early one weekend and this was inside.

This is a picture from a forth floor window of the public school I was teaching at. The kids were practicing for something.

DJ found this friend to play with down by the river.

This little boy was a little shy.

This kid came along with his bike.

The kids loved the bike because it played music.

All the kids gathered around the bike.

That's a six pack of kids.

This building looked like it was new when we moved here but wasn't used by anyone. Now they have gutted it and are remodeling it.

Kite, kids and ...

Nichole, Harold and friends, Suzanne and DJ.

This is our friend Nicole's son, Harold.

Harold and a couple of his friends.

DJ and other kids in the park.

She was listening to the man playing.

She wasn't sure what to do.

It looks like an Albatross.

They attach foam to the outside of the buildings for insolation because they are all concrete.

This was an empty lot a month ago.

SpongeBob SOUacoPants.

Dinner at Nichole's.

How lazy is this? He has such a hard life here in China.

This is out back of our apartment. All three kids sitting and resting.

We went to dinner at a friends apartment on the southeast edge of the city. This is looking back to the north. You can see some of the low farmers housing to the left if you look closely.

The apartment where our friends live is right next to the toll gate for a busy road. Every city charges you a toll to enter or leave.

DJ and Harold get along great.

Nichole did a wonderful job preparing dinner.

DJ watched everything Harold did.

Then it was her turn.

Dead eye DJ.

She took us down one by one.

Not even her big sister was safe.

Look out DJ!

The apartment was a little smaller than ours but still nice for its age. They bought it when they got married in 1997 and in a few months they will be moving to Harbin where Nichole's husband is working.

This was just out back of the apartment. It is a local group doing organized dance marching to music.

The food was good. She cut some tomatoes for us to eat and asked if we wanted salt or sugar. I am glad she asked, because they never eat tomato with salt, only sugar. They also do not cook their rice with salt. I suggested she try it sometime.

Deb had bought me several games and we brought them with us to play. Harold and his friend wanted to learn how to play chess. It was nice to have someone to play with again.

After getting a good lead, I let them start to win a little. That was almost a mistake, because they were are both very smart. In the end they saw that I was not going to let them win.

Some things change and others don't.

Here is a recent family picture. Usually one of us takes the picture so we don't all get to be in it.

This is Sarah. She was the one who took the family picture for us. She was also very thoughtful when she heard it was my birthday. She will be leaving Ivy this week, but will stay in Jiamusi to study Chinese at the local university and live with her boyfriend.

Deb and Suzanne got me a lot of different Chinese games we can play. I just need to learn how to play them now.

This is the T-1 class at Ivy. They are the most advanced class at Ivy. I have them every saturday and sunday from 7:15 to 8:15 in the evening. They are all high school students. From left to right is Eva, Ruth, Joy, Michelle, Meg, Sorrow, Lily, Bill, Suzanne (she came to visit), Yan (she is the teaching assistant), Teddy, and Ariel.

It is amazing how much things both change and stay the same in a years time. Last year, Ivy throw a big birthday for me and all the staff gave me gifts. This year, nothing. Last year, they were all warm in welcoming me to the Ivy family. This year, nothing. Last year, it seemed as though I was going to be pretty good friends with George. This year, my family and I have received a very cool shoulder from not only the Maxey's, but also anybody they are friends with, including the Alexander family and even the new teacher from England. I am not sure how all this started, nor do I care. I am very happy not being friends with people who feel that I am not good enough to be in their little circle. I will welcome anyone to be my friend, if they will also welcome me. Last year was a nice birthday, but this year was more honest. Thank you Sarah, Deb, Suzanne, and Destiny. Destiny told me "Happy klajfpiqurhg."

A day for the birds.

This is from on top of an exhibition hall in the middle of the park.

We were lucky enough to be there just as two men were checking on the penguins in their coop.

They have installed some new trash cans since last year. It is an improvement, but still a little chinglish.

When a place of business is having a big sale or grand-opening, they really go all out to try to attract customers.

A couple nice days this week.

There were a couple of days this week when it wasn't raining and I wasn't working that we got out and enjoyed the day.

One of those days we went down to the river.

DJ makes new friends every time she goes out.

This is not chocolate. There was a planter nearby that she kept trying to play in.

One of the times none of us were watching, she ran for the planter, not to play, but to eat.

Our zoo has on loan a Giant Panda. There are less than 2,000 in the whole world due to a history of man first hunting them and later clearing forest to make room for cities or more farm land. About 250 pandas live in zoos. They are mostly in the high mountains of central China. We thought this might be something special to see.

Panda's are meat eaters but do not hunt, so they mostly eat bamboo. The Giant Panda eats about 30kg of bamboo every day. There are over 200 kinds of bamboo but they only like about 20 of those. They also eat small animals like birds and mice. In the zoos, they also eat some fruit and special cookies.

Panda's live alone. The females are old enough to have babies at around 6 years old and can only get pregnant once a year. The males fight for the right to be the females mate and after they are forced to leave.

They give birth five months later and the babies are no bigger than an adult human hand. They will nurse from their mother for about eight months and after one year they are as big as a small 10 to 12 year old human child.

Panda's will only raise one cub at a time, so if they have more than one, they have to choose which will live and which will die. The cub is full grown after two years and the mother will make it leave. Pand's live about 20 years in the wild and 30 in zoos.

There are two kinds of panda, the Giant and the Qingling. The Qingling has a smaller head but larger molars. Unlike the familiar black and white for the Giant Panda, the Qingling is dark and light brown in color. There is another animal that lives in the same area as both kinds of panda that is called the Red Panda. The Red Panda is not a panda, but instead is related to the raccoon or skunk, and is much smaller than the panda.

Panda's are the only bears that do not hibernate during winter. They are usually very mild tempered but will fight to protect their young or if they are provoked. An adult panda standing on its back feet can stand about five feet tall and weigh around 160kg.

Dj was so tired after viewing the panda that she had to stop and take a nap sitting on a bench and leaning against her mother. She slept and snored for about an hour.

DJ's newest stuffed toy.

Mirrors make the best playmates.

Dress-up.

DJ went into her room one morning to play and soon came back out with her winter hat and coat like she was ready to go somewhere.

This is one of the girls that works in the office at Ivy. She came with another of the office girls for our monthly apartment inspection.

This is another time when DJ was helping with the laundry by bringing Suzanne her yellow shorts.

I had some new clothes for DJ made out of some of the material I had left-over from when I had my suits made. There are two sets, one blue and one red. They tailored them after a shirt and some pants DJ is already wearing. The shirts turned out to be too tight but the pants are a good fit.

This is a new shirt I had made with some of the left-over material from the suits I had made. I also had a red one made.

It turns out that DJ loves eating tomato, cucumber and onion salad.

Beautiful afternoon.

Suzanne bought a new guitar for the equal amount of $15US. She plans on taking guitar lessons.

This little boy was just outside when we were leaving to go for a walk down by the river.

DJ ran right up to him.

He was very fascinated by her too.

The corner store put these in last month.

Down by the river looking East.

This is the biggest boat we have seen on the river here.

It came just by us and then started doing all kinds of fancy moves.

This is a newer section of the boardwalk.

These are the tall apartment buildings just behind ours.

It was a great afternoon along the river.

This area is so new that the grass hasn't even grown out yet.

This lot is on the way out of our apartment area going to the main street. There was an empty building here two weeks ago. They tore it down and seperated out the metal, brick, and concrete to recycle all of it into the new building they are starting. This time next year there will probably be a 30 story apartment building here.

DJ was playing with Suzanne on the couch when she ran out of energy and decided to take a nap instead.

Mid May update.

She really likes spaghetti.

Here comes the spaghetti monster.

Dirty face and still cute.

Mom's shoes fit.

A cool rainy day on the couch.

Trying to stay warm while doing school work on the computer.

A balloon mom and dad brought home for DJ.

They really do love each other.

A new kite I can try this summer.

The girl on the left is Roxanne and is the newest teacher at Ivy. She is from Scotland and dual citizen of South Africa. The girl on the right is Sarah and will soon be ending her contract with Ivy. Sarah will stay in China and go to school at the local university and has plans to marry her Chinese boyfriend and settle down in China.

Roxanne will be taking some of my classes at #5 middle school and I will be taking on some new classes at #2 high school while also getting two days a week off except for one Ivy class in the evenings. This will be the first time since I started with Ivy that I have not had to work seven days every week.

This is Sarah's future husband. He drives a taxi. He doesn't speak very much English so it is a good thing Sarah is very good with Chinese.

Sarah invited us to dinner with some of her boyfriends friends to help them celebrate his Chinese birthday.

He liked her but she didn't know what to think of him.

This is the boss of Sarah's boyfriend.

The future happy couple.