Our China – Page 6

Go Fly a Kite

June 5, 2012 by Carey Jane Clark

Um…I’ve been away a while. I vowed I would not let this happen but it has. I wish I could say I’d been off doing exotic things–vacationing in Bali, taking up a new sport–something.

The truth of it is we hit the ground running when we arrived and I needed a moment (or several) to collect myself and get my act together. Get homeschool started on time for once. Make a meal plan–or at least figure out what we were having for dinner this evening. That sort of thing.

I’m not all the way there yet, but things are starting to have a semblance of order. The homeschool room is no longer plagued with stacks of partially-unpacked bins at the end of the room. I am doing better at getting meals on the table on time. We are starting the homeschool day more or less on time. I can breathe again.

Although we didn’t make it anywhere exotic, we have started to do more. We have a Chinese tutor coming twice a week to teach the kids (she’s brilliant, they love her, and she’s making them do homework–previously thought to be a four-letter word in our home). We have also resumed every-other-week art lessons with our artist friend.

Other than these planned events, there have been a few random surprises (which is not really a surprise when one lives in China, since last minute things happen all the time).

One afternoon recently, a friend took us to the park to meet his uncle. His uncle is a retired university professor who designs, makes and flies kites. He’s quite talented. Take a look at this:

He gave Pumpkin a lesson in kite-flying too:

Kite Flying

And then he told my artist-wannabe-architect son that he would take him to his house someday and show him how he designs and makes his kites, that he would make a kite for him.

Wow!

All that AND a clean homeschool room. Could it get any better?

- Carey Clark

How to Have School in a Government Office

May 4, 2012 by Carey Jane Clark

Or other reasons why I love my eReader…

For my birthday last year, my husband bought me a Nook Tablet. At first, I shied away from some of the games and apps, but before our flight to China, I added a few, thinking it would give the kids something to do in our long layover in Hong Kong. As it turns out, some wonderful friends bailed us out of that long layover, took us back to their place and gave us somewhere to unwind in comfort.

But the apps I downloaded have come in handy since then, and particularly this week. This week has been a bit of a wash-out as far as school is concerned, since Monday and Tuesday were the Chinese national holiday and the weather was gorgeous, so we joined the rest of the country in holiday-ing.

Wednesday, we tried to get back to homeschooling, but since we did a lot of running around the two days before and we only just had our new print cartridge for the printer, Mommy was not completely organized for the homeschool day, and we didn’t get going until quite late. On Wednesdays in our city, elementary school gets off for the afternoon. In theory, that’s so the school children can fit in all the extra classes and tutoring they do, but it inevitably means that a number of children are out for the afternoon and ready to play, so our kids get pretty distracted, and there’s really no point in trying to continue homeschool.

Thursday and Friday we spent in a government office trying to get our visas and permits in line so we can stay here for the next year. We ran into complications. We sat a long, long time. JavaMan and I were back and forth trying to understand and communicate with officials.

So what about homeschool?

Well, all was not lost. We brought along our eReaders, and between eBooks and apps, they had a pretty well-rounded school day. Here’s what they did:

For the older two:

Finished reading Meet George Washington from Landmark Books and continued reading Prince Caspian.

Primer

Did Whack-a-Math Fact, reviewing addition and multiplication facts and working on speed of response.

Played with Monkey Write Learn Chinese.

For Sprout:

Read from Yesterday’s Classics‘ Reading Literature: The Primer, the story of The Three Billy Goats Gruff.

Did Math app and played with Monkey Write Learn Chinese.

learn write Chinese

All in all, our kids behaved very well, the day wasn’t a complete homeschool loss AND we finally got our visa situation worked out!

For more apps for homeschoolers–especially if you use an iPad or Android device, check out The Homeschool Post for a review of several apps as well as a GloBible app giveaway!

- Carey Clark

Top Ten Reasons We Enjoy Life in China

May 1, 2012 by Carey Jane Clark

I’m joining today with Angie at Many Little Blessings for her Top Ten Tuesday.

I’m not sure if these are the actual top ten reasons why, but I was in an appreciative mood today for our adopted home, and I’ve been thinking of this post for some time.

Here are some reasons we enjoy life in China.

Milk delivery. My parents can hardly believe that I remember milk delivery in Canada, but I do. We lived in a rural area, and I’m pretty sure milk delivery–like Saturday postal delivery–held out longer there than other places, but I remember the butter and milk being left at the back door. We don’t actually drink milk (with the exception of JavaMan who uses it for steamed milk for his cappuccino). We do make kefir out of it. (Yes, we’re weird and health-nutty that way.) Our milk is delivered to a little box just outside apartment building door and fetching it each morning has officially been added to our chore list.
China is a fruit-lover’s paradise. And as many varieties of wonderful fruit we’ve had the opportunity to try, it seems like there’s always something new. Today’s in-season treat was Chinese bayberries–gobbled up within minutes of purchase. Yum!
Markets. I just love buying fresh produce and coming home to cook it up. It seems to inspire me in the kitchen. And it’s not just a food-buying experience. I love the interaction with the people in the market. Over time, we form relationships with the people we purchase from. It’s more than a buying experience, it’s friendship.
People love children. Everywhere we go, people express delight at the fact that we have three. They shower them with attention and show their obvious affection. People wonder why my Chinese has improved more rapidly than JavaMan’s. The answer is simple. I’m usually the one with the children, and this is an immediate door-opener. People stop me and ask me questions. They don’t do this when JavaMan is on his way to work by himself. People just love children here. It’s heartwarming.
One yuan bus rides–for adults. Kids are free, although we’re quickly approaching the height where Pumpkin will also owe one yuan. At today’s rates, one yuan is equivalent to 0.157 Canadian/American dollars. Buses go just about everywhere, and one rarely has to wait more than five minutes for one. It might be pretty full when it arrives, however.
Cherry blossoms in springtime. Need I say more?
Custom-made items in no time flat. I’ve raved and raved about my custom 100% cotton-fllled duvet. On Monday I (finally) ordered curtains. They’ll be ready Thursday, thank you very much.
Street food. We’re pretty discriminating when it comes to the food sold on the street. But some of it is amazing. There’s a shwarma-style sandwich (or over rice for the gluten-free folk) that is IN-CRED-IBLE. And what we affectionately call meat-on-a-stick, sold at various locations throughout the city, always lamb, always grilled to perfection by Muslim minority cooks. Are you drooling yet, or is it just me?
At night, it’s actually dark. I mentioned the lack of curtains, right? Well, until sunrise at 5:00 a.m. (the entire country is on one time zone and we happen to be quite far east), it doesn’t matter. At night, it’s dark. Buildings, streetlights and lighted paths are minimal. People go to bed at 10:00 p.m. and all their lights are off. For a large city, there is very little ambient light.
Trying new things. Whether it be food, learning the language, making new friends, exploring a new location or learning how to vlog(!), life in China has pushed us outside our comfort zone, and daily teaches us patience and tolerance, love and laughter.

- Carey Clark

Five Minute Friday: Loud

March 23, 2012 by Carey Jane Clark

I’m joining The Gypsy Mama again this week for Five Minute Friday. From her site:

Around here we write for five minutes flat on Fridays. We finger paint with words. We try to remember what it was like to just write without worrying if it’s just right or not.

Sounds great to me. This week the theme is “Loud.”

There is a crack and a bang. Cats run away, children scream–my children–no one else seems to notice.

Fireworks just went off a block away. I look out the window, see the tail of a cat streaking in the opposite direction and hear my children laugh. I see against the clear sky the faint lights of fireworks exploding.

It’s the middle of the day. It’s not a national holiday or a special occasion the rest of the world knows about.

Maybe it’s someone’s wedding. Or could be a new business just opened up. There doesn’t have to be a particularly spcial reason. It’s not like Canada, with permits and special days. there are demons to be scared off for just about any old reason. Or the sheer joy of it.

Later, my daughter recalls how she played with a bunch of children once who had firecrackers and were letting them off. “It’s fun,” she says, and I give her the standard lecture about firecrackers and safety and peers and their influence, but I know it’s part of life here.

It’s part of living in China.

And when the fireworks go off the next time, I barely flinch.

STOP

- Carey Clark

« Previous Page