Our fun-loving Hannah is 7 ½ already.  She lives life to the fullest – that hasn’t changed since coming here.

Hannah has always loved to pretend.  She finds whatever there is to play with and goes to town with her imagination.  She’s not crazy about new situations and change, so the process of coming here and getting settled was not easy, but now that we have our home and routine, she’s happy.  Though Hannah isn’t super interested in learning Chinese, she’s made best buddies with our helper, Xiao Wang.  They communicate with each other without depending on words!

Hannah has been going to the local kindergarten part-time for the past 4 months.  Twice a week she attends a dance class which she loves.  It’s all in Chinese, but she’s learned the dances and even performed in front of a huge group of parents for Children’s Day on June 1.  Click here to see the video of her dancing.

Hannah dancing

Hannah also loves nature – flowers, leaves, creepy crawlies, animals of all kinds…though these things are harder to find here, she manages somehow!  She keeps our dining table decorated with a centerpiece of the prettiest little weeds she can find.  Though she’d love a dog or a cat, she has settled for now on keeping the occasional caterpillar or moth, or any other little living thing she can find.  Though she’s very much a girly girl, the tomboy in Hannah easily vies with her little brother for the title of the child who can bring the most dirt in on her clothes!

No animal isn't a friend of Hannah's!

A house for a centimeter-worm!

A very special flower find

Grace is such a delight to us.  She is 9 years old, has just finished 3rd grade, and is growing up so quickly.

During a visit to the local orphanage

She has adjusted well to life in China, enjoying her new friends and the playground near our apartment.  But sometimes Grace is homesick for our old home and her friends in the US, and she really misses the gymnastics classes she used to take.  (Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be much opportunity to do that here – it is not seen as a recreational sport for kids, but a serious endeavor for the elite few who have a chance at the national and world stage in gymnastics.)  She is able to get her athletic energies out running around outside (she’s fast!), riding a wiggle board, and swinging from the monkey bars.  Grace loves riding her new bike and she also enjoys swimming.

We think it’s great that Grace is learning firsthand about her birth country.  She is also progressing well with her study of Chinese.  It does get tiring for her, however, to hear the questions and comments from curious and well-meaning people when we are out in public.  People naturally assume that she can speak Chinese so we almost daily find ourselves telling someone that she is American and can only speak a little Chinese…

Our own beautiful 紫花 "Zihua" (Purple Flower) at the botanical gardens

Grace is very creative and has a fantastic sense of style.  She enjoys crafts, shopping, and wants mom to teach her to cook.  She is a great help around the house and loves helping take care of younger kids (a babysitter in the making, I think!)  Grace enjoys writing letters to friends and imaginative stories.  Her biggest creative outlet these days is playing piano.  We found a great piano teacher and Grace has made great progress over the past few months.  We love listening to her daily practice.  We’re working on getting a family band together – Grace and Heather on piano, Daniel on drums, and David on guitar!  (David would also like to give any kid that’s willing some voice lessons!)

Grace with her piano teacher

As they get older, Grace and Daniel are becoming good buddies.  Though there is still plenty of rivalry and teasing that goes on, it warms our hearts to see our kids learn to be friends and really enjoy each other.  We are grateful!

A lot of people are wondering how our kids are doing, so I thought I’d write an entry about each of them.  First is Daniel.

Our growing boy is often HUNGRY!

Daniel is 11 years old, just finished 5th grade, and is approaching eye level with his mom at an alarming pace!

Though on the brink of adolescence, Daniel has handled the transition to China remarkably well.  He is really thriving here.  He misses his friends and our home and community in the US, but he is able to understand and accept why we are here with maturity beyond his years.  We’ve been homeschooling Daniel and supplementing with two sessions with a Chinese tutor each week.  He is really excelling at Chinese and especially loves learning to read and write the characters.  We are impressed with how often he confidently steps out and tries to use what he’s learned in conversation with Chinese friends.

One of Daniel’s favorite things about China is that you can get a great meal for really cheap at many little restaurants.  Probably the thing he dislikes the most is when people call him “piaoliang” (pretty) and/or ask to take his picture.  That happens pretty much any time he goes out in public…

Daniel loves being active.  During the school year, he was taking weekly badminton lessons with two American kids and one Chinese neighbor.  The lessons were all in Chinese – challenging, but he learned so much!  He also goes each week a gathering of homeschooled students for “Sports Day”.  There he’s gotten to play ice hockey in the winter, rugby and ping pong in the spring, and soccer and baseball more recently.  And he loves our family bike trips to area urban parks.  He is, however, realizing this summer that he misses being able to go hiking, swimming at friends’ houses, and canoeing / kayaking like we often did in New England.

Daniel and his (cheap) badminton racket came home from practice once looking like this…

During the year prior to our move here, Daniel had been taking drum lessons and loving it.  We had a nice set in our basement which he practiced on daily.  One of the sacrifices he had to make was giving that up when we sold our house and belongings.  We’ve been praying that he could have that interest renewed here, but the obstacles seemed great (like, where do we put a drum set in our small apartment, and what do we do about the noise?)  Well, we believe our Father cares even about such things, and we recently had the opportunity to buy a used set which is really compact and has special net heads that are really quiet.  The set belonged to a the son of some American friends who has lived here most of his life and is now returning to the US to attend college.  We are so thankful – a new set would have been so expensive, and besides, we didn’t even know that this type of set existed!

As always, Daniel can often be found reading a book.  Lately he has been reading the Good Book daily and now counts it as his favorite book of all.  His newest favorite hobby is the Rubik’s cube.  He’s had one for just a month, and as of this writing, his fastest solve was done in just 1 minute 3 seconds!  He’s taught Grace how to solve it, and he’s working on teaching Hannah (and his mom, but I’m a tough student…)  Next he’s going to learn to solve the 4×4 cube and the 5×5 cube.  Go Daniel!

Daniel explaining the Rubik's cube to his Chinese teacher

We love our big boy!

As I was lying on my bed, starting at the ceiling trying to grab a few moments of rest before my busy day continued, I noticed a sound that briefly made me forget where I was.  It was the sound of a lawn mower engine starting.  Such an ordinary sound of summer in our neighborhood in the US, but not here.  The patches of grass in the city are small, few, and far between.  We are very fortunate to live in an apartment complex that has a little grass and some trees.  It’s not much compared to our town in Massachusetts, but it sure is an oasis in this concrete jungle.  And somehow hearing the sound of a lawn mower is comforting.

I starting thinking about the other noises I can hear outside my window.  Daily I hear the sounds of the huge buildings being built at an incredibly rapid pace a quarter mile from here.  I hear the hum of traffic on the “ring road” that circles the city.  I hear the footsteps of our neighbors walking up and down in the stairwell.  Almost every morning I hear fireworks being set off (it’s wedding season).  I hear the honking of car horns, the squeal of tires, occasional sirens, voices of friends chatting as they walk by our building, and the happy sounds of our children playing on the playground.

But I don’t hear the sounds of birds singing.  I don’t hear dogs barking (well, at least hardly ever).  I don’t hear the thump, thump of a kid dribbling a basketball or the crack of a baseball hitting the bat.  Though there is wind and there are some [short] trees, I don’t hear the whoosh of the breeze in tall New England oaks and maples.  And though it’s relatively quiet where we live, I don’t hear the silence of the country.

I mostly don’t think about it anymore, except for when I hear a lawn mower.

As you can probably imagine, a big part of our lives lately has been trying to learn Chinese.  We now have 3 different teachers coming to our house each week.  On Mondays and Wednesdays, David’s laoshi  (teacher) comes.  On Mondays and Thursdays, Heather’s laoshi comes.  And on Tuesdays and Fridays, yet another laoshi comes to our home to tutor Daniel and Grace.  Though we have a long way to go in learning this language, we have made progress to the point that we can function pretty well in many basic life situations using our Chinese.

My friends know that my background is in Japanese.   I majored in Japanese Studies in college, spent my Junior year living with a Japanese family and studying in Kyoto, and then worked in Fukuoka for 3 years after graduation.   For another year I was a tutor for Japanese kids and adults in Connecticut.  In the 13 years since, however, I have had few opportunities to use my Japanese language skills.

It’s been really interesting to see how my latent fluency in Japanese has interacted with my current study of Chinese.  Sometimes it is extremely helpful and sometimes it is a stumbling block.  I’ve been a little concerned, however, that this intense study of Chinese will hinder me from ever being able to regain the ability I once had in Japanese.  I truly desire to one day be able to converse freely in both of these languages.

I recently had an interesting opportunity.  In our city, there is an “international club” for women from different countries to come together and socialize.  I was invited (three separate times, incidentally, by an American, a Frenchwoman, and a Turkish-German woman) to their monthly luncheon on Monday.  Knowing my interest in meeting Japanese ladies, my friends introduced me to several, and I sat down to eat at a table for ten…with nine women from Japan!  So, for 2 hours my Chinese-immersed brain was forced to dust off the old Japanese.  It was very intriguing to me to find what happened in my mind…I found myself speaking Japanese, but second-guessing what language I was speaking…and unintentionally speaking Chinese thinking I was speaking Japanese.  At times I just reverted to English when words failed me in either language.  Anyone who has acquired  a third language probably knows exactly what I was feeling. It was my first time to have this experience, and it was both exhilarating and exhausting!!

And to cap my day off, I got home  just in time for my Chinese lesson.  It was an intense day of languages, that’s for sure.

Our lives sure have changed since we left the US in late November!

Here is our Top Ten list of the “Things We Haven’t Done in Six Months”:

10. Buy something in a store with a credit card

9. Write a check

8. Snowblow or shovel snow

7. Order takeout pizza

6. Load the dishwasher

5. Dry clothes in a dryer

4. Open junk mail

3. Pump gas

2. Mow the lawn

1. Drive a car

Actually, we have gotten to do one of these recently…can you guess which one?  I’ll let you know if you’re right later!!

We went to Beijing this past week with Heather’s parents and had a wonderful time!  Beijing is a bit south from our city, so it was like moving forward a week of Spring, and we were impressed with the beauty and the size of Beijing.  We saw some of the big things to see, like the Summer Palace, the Birds’ Nest and the Temple of Heaven.

Heather's parents in front of the "Birds' Nest"

David had a medical conference on Family Medicine which he was asked to speak at.  It went well, and he got a lot of questions about what it is like to practice medicine in the US.  One question was “how many patients are you assigned out of your town’s population?”

David and Dr. Liu at the Family Medicine conference

We also went to the Great Wall, where we got a nice walk with fabulous views, and then got to ride back down to our van on an alpine slide – fun!

The kids on the Great Wall

We had to say goodbye to Heather’s parents then, and see them off to the airport to fly over the North Pole back to America.  We will miss them, but are so glad that they were able to visit us for so long!  We then found tickets home on a sleeper train – the kids’ first time sleeping on a train!

Sleeping on a train!

It wasn’t the best night’s sleep we ever had, but it was nice to be back in a familiar city.  Beijing was massive and kind of overwhelming.  We got back to our apartment and all off us felt like we had returned home.  It was a good feeling!

Last week, Hannah and Nathan started attending Chinese kindergarten.  Nathan (age 5 1/2) goes every morning.  Hannah (age 7) goes just two mornings a week since she is actually a first grader and is learning a lot here at the Larrabee Homeschool.  Our hope in sending them to school is that they will begin to learn Chinese, make Chinese friends, and in Nathan’s case, for general educational value.  It also gives us opportunity to be a part of Chinese life and make new friends.

Here are some pictures:

The school and playground

This is how we get to school!

Grace visited the school with Nathan one day

Hannah being greeted by her new classmates

Teacher helping Hannah get settled

Nathan and his teacher

Nathan eating breakfast at school

Hannah has also joined a dance class at the kindergarten – though according to her reports, it mostly calisthenics  with a little dance at the end of the hour.  A bit disappointing to her, but quite typical from what I have seen.  I do wish she could be in a dance class where the goal is simply having fun and getting some exercise, but I also admire the focus on building a solid foundation of basic skills (strength and flexibility) before moving on to the actual activity (dancing).

Anyway, the kids are adjusting well and starting to make some friends.  They are getting used to not understanding what the teachers are saying but are doing a good job just going with the flow!  The teachers are very kind and understanding.  The school has had previous experience with foreign children attending – we are thankful for that.

PS – Hannah has noticed that all the little girls in her class have their hair up and decorated with shiny hair clips which are so popular here.  Yesterday Xiao Wang gave her some sparkly hair clips and Hannah said (wryly), “Now I can look like a little Chinese girl.”  This morning I did her hair using the new clips.   I could tell she was pleased with how it looked, but she said, “If only I had black hair and tan skin…”

Though many around her surely envy her fair beauty, not fitting in is still hard for a child!!

Today I want to share a selection of photos and notes from our daily happenings.  Hope you enjoy!

We try to play games as a family once a week, and last time it was Twister night!

Family Game Night!

I found this rug with road and town patterns on it.  The use-and-care label is in English – meant for import, as are so many things we see here.  The guy selling it asked me what the label said.  I tried to explain in my broken Chinese that I can read and understand it, but I lack the Chinese to translate it for him!

imaginations at work

We got a Valentine’s greeting from our homeschool co-op back home.  It was in the form of a puzzle that we had to put together to see the messages from our friends!

One of the kids’ new favorite things is a thick yogurt drink.  It’s yummy, and fun for five year-olds too!

No, it's not a milk mustache!

We recently had some friends over for a spaghetti dinner and games.  (L to R: Hannah, Heather, Angel (Heather’s language tutor), Jackie (a LIGHT resident doctor),  Katherine (an American pediatrician), Grace, and Felix (a Chinese cardiologist).  We’ve discovered that Apples to Apples is a great game for playing with Chinese friends who have good English skills – it is a fun study tool for them to improve.

Playing Apples to Apples

Felix has been working in the US for a few years, but has extended his stay in China to have more time to shadow David and learn clinical skills in English.  He hopes to complete a residency in the US someday.  In the meantime, we are glad for his friendship and the chance for Light shining.  Recently, he spent a whole day escorting Hannah and me (Heather) to the best hospital in the city – which happens to be very close to our home – to see a pediatric orthopedist for Hannah’s scoliosis.  She needs to have x-rays and a check-up twice a year just to make sure it’s not progressing.  Navigating a Chinese hospital is not for the faint-hearted, and I was SO glad to have Felix guiding us and making our day so much easier and pleasant than it could have been.  And, Hannah’s scoliosis is not progressing at all.  Her x-ray looks great, and her curve, which was originally 25-30 degrees at diagnosis, is stable at 8 degrees.  PTL!

Hannah's spine - only 8 degree curve after 18 mo. of bracing!

I took this photo of David and Hannah heading out to get a couple things at the “corner store” on our bicycle.  It’s taken from our kitchen window and they are waiting for the gate of our apartment complex to open.

This is my unlikely destination whenever I want to buy cheese.  It’s a little store across the city that sells all kinds of random imported items, mostly to restaurant owners I suppose.  The store was “discovered” by another American who enjoys poking around back streets looking for treasures like this!  They sell 5kg (11 lb.) and 10kg. (22 lb.) blocks of mozzarella cheese for half the price of a small chunk at the local version of Target.  It’s worth the trip – especially because I can also pick up other things like butter, macaroni, and tuna.

Christa in front of the "cheese store"

Yesterday, Grace and I visited the Shenyang City orphanage with a team of doctors and support staff with LIGHT.  It was Grace’s first visit.  She did a great job interacting with the kids.  Here she is with a little boy that she really likes.

Grace and ShenJunPeng

We live near ‘computer street’ in Shenyang, and we have been amused by seeing very high-tech cargo on some low-tech vehicles.   I decided to make this video using a photo of an obliging tricyclist…