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The Kind of Birthday I Like

China 2008: New Day Foster Home
China 2008: New Day Foster Home (click to see album)

I know everyone is used to Louanne posting, but I thought I’d take over for today.

Today is my birthday, and anyone who truly knows me knows that the last thing I want…ever…is to get presents or have attention brought to me. I have a great life, the best wife and daughter anyone could hope for, a great job making a decent living, and too many other blessings to list. I don’t need anything, and if I really want something I can afford to go buy it myself. The only thing I ever truly “want” is for children who need help to get the help they need. So, whenever someone wants to get me a present, I don’t hesitate to tell them that the BEST thing they could do for me…the thing that I would like the most…would be to take whatever money they were going to spend on me and help a child with it, like through World Vision or some other good charity. People frequently look at me strange when I say that, and I think they usually don’t really believe me, but it is true nonetheless.

So, that little bit of info about me will help you understand why a day like today is the kind of birthday I truly like. We are interested in getting involved with some charities or orphanages here in China, and we wanted to make sure that we visited at least one while we are here. So Louanne arranged for us to go to the New Day Foster Home today, just outside of Beijing. Our school helped us to arrange a driver to take us, and then the VP’s wife and little son decided to go too. We loaded up 400 diapers, a bunch of baby wipes, and my camera equipment and took off this morning for the 90 minute trip to get there. Louanne managed to come in contact with a couple of sets of parents who are waiting to adopt two children from there, so one of the things we hoped for was that we would be able to get some photos of their children for them. I know what those three little pictures of Nadia meant to me before we got her, so I really wanted to be able to get some picture for those waiting parents.

Anyway, the place is fantastic! They are doing a wonderful thing, and helping lots of children. Getting to see the children, play with them, take pictures of them, and get familiar with the place was wonderful. We won’t hesitate to sponsor their children or try to find other ways to help them in the future. Oh, and both of the children (Emma and Aaron) that the two couples are waiting to adopt were there–they are with foster parents, so there was no guarantee they would be there–so we got to take lots of pictures of them. Getting to take a bunch of picture to give to two waiting families made me very happy. Click on the picture at the top to see some of the pictures we took today. There are so many pictures of Emma and Aaron that I didn’t post all of them in that album; they have their own albums on our photo page: one for Emma and one for Aaron. There is also an album for another child called, Jade.

Later in the day after we got back to the apartment, and after Nadia had a much needed nap, we took her down to the playground that Louanne has visited and posted about a few times before. Nadia had a great time and orbited the whole playground like a little Sputnik for about an hour…and I got a lot of great pictures of her (click the top picture below to see the set).

So, all and all, this was probably one of the best birthdays I’ve ever had, because it wasn’t about me. I got to see some great kids, found a new charity worth supporting, got to do something for some waiting parents, and got a bunch of pictures of the greatest baby in the world, whom I’m privileged to have as my daughter. What more could I ask for? I can’t think of anything better.

…and Louanne just reminded me that food has to be mentioned in every post, so…after leaving the playground we stopped by the New York House again to grab some awesome burgers and fries to go.

There, that should cover it.

Nadia's Sylvester Stallone Yell
China 2008: March 15th (click to see album)

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Beijing Roast Duck

China 2008: March 14th
China 2008: March 14th (click to see album)

Today Kiki came to tutor and the best thing she said was, “Don’t be afraid of Chinese, you are doing well.” She also said that my pronunciation has come a long way since last week. I find that the hardest thing for me is the grammar. I can remember most of the words and what they mean, but putting them in the right order just throws me for a loop. And don’t get me started on the measure words. Apparently, pretty much every noun has a little “measure word” that has to go with it. I am not even sure I understand how to use them, much less all the different ones.

Beijing Duck

Side items for the duck

Nadia

Tonight was the “social night” for the school. Our social evening was to go out and have the famous Beijing Roast Duck. None of the other students came, so it was just us and Nancy and Crystal who work at the school. We went to a place that is close to our apartment called Dong Lai Shun and it was very good. For starters we had sugar snap peas stir fried in garlic, kung pao chicken, tempura shrimp and fried corn (also in the tempura batter). We had that while the duck roasted since it takes about a half hour after you order. Then the guy came with the duck and carved it table side and we got some photos. The duck is served with these little pancakes (tortillas for you Texans), sliced cucumber, sliced scallions and a hoison sauce. So you roll them up and enjoy! I thought all of the food was wonderful and I was very happy to try the dish that the city is known for. And we brought the left overs home for our lunch tomorrow. YUM!

Nadia

Nancy told us that the most famous restaurant in town for roast duck charges 3000 yuan for the duck!! That translates to $420 US….just for the duck!! She said that the only time she ever went there was during the SARS incident because they offered it for half price. And she said that the place was empty and in the end it tasted just like the ducks she had at other places. We were talking with her about how cheap it was to eat out and she said that prices have really gone up in the last year. Her example was that the kung pao chicken was 12 yuan last year when she brought some students. Tonight it was 18 yuan, so 50% mark up in less than a year. She told us that there was a very important meeting going on in Beijing this whole week that involved issues for the whole country and asked us if we were aware of it. She said that one of the things they were going to talk about was the rising food costs and how the government could control the costs to help the people. I told her that Kiki told me about it one day when she came to tutor.

And here is the traffic out our window before we left for dinner.

Traffic out the window

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Thankful Thursday

China 2008: March 13th
China 2008: March 13th (click to see album)
  • I am thankful for Travis and Chrissie’s sweet one Thessalie being born today. We can’t wait to meet you!
  • For the fact that our whole family has been healthy on our trip so far.
  • For the Internet and modern technology. Without it we couldn’t have made the trip, and to be able to email and call people halfway around the world is comforting.
  • For all the tasty new foods we have been able to try here.
  • For Coca Cola Light! More comfort.
  • For progress in language lessons even with it being hard.
  • For Roger and Paula buying another back up baby for Nadia. You guys ROCK!
  • For Joy and Janis taking care of our house. You ROCK too!

Kiki came to tutor me this morning and told me that my pronunciation has improved a huge amount which made me feel good. She said that I need to learn to recognize the words without reading them, but they all sound the same when I’m not looking at them. So she did drills with me today using words that sound alike. I thought my head might explode, but I survived. Mike continued working throughout the day with small breaks to see the cutest baby ever in between naps.

I bought Nadia a bubble gun at the Lotus a few days ago and today it was nice enough to go out and try it. I bundled the cute girl up and we headed over to the playground. I started blowing the bubbles and Nadia was getting really excited about it. That is, until the other kids noticed and ran over screaming and started chasing the bubbles. Nadia got freaked and started crying and it was so sad for me. I felt bad that she got so startled by the other kids. A grandmother was there with her grandson and she came up to Nadia and offered her his toy. She loved it and I moved over a bit and kept blowing the bubbles for the other kids who just ran around screaming in delight! Nadia would look over at me every so often and shake her hand at me and say “NO NO!” I said, “No bubbles?” And she would nod. She cracks me up. So all the photos are of her playing with the other child’s toy.

Tonight we hung out at the apartment, but I did run over to Bravo for take out. Mike got a personal pizza and I got a thing they call Doria (the name is taken from a famous Italian painting). It was basically fried rice, tuna, and assorted mushrooms all baked in a creamy Alfredo sauce. Talk about rich! Nadia loved it!! I swear the child is a little garlic and strong food lover like her mom. Last night I made penne pasta at the apartment and Mike just topped his with some salt. I smothered mine in garlic, salt and butter. Nadia went to Mike first for a bite and just spit it out on the floor. Then she came over to me and I gave her a bite and she ate it and started her usual “MORE, MORE, MORE!!!” chant that she does when she really likes something.

On another food note, we bought Nadia some Nestle Rice with Chicken and Vegetable mix that you just whip up with water (the directions say milk, but I didn’t know or have any). She just loves the stuff and will eat 2 big servings. Today for lunch I just made her a giant bowl and she ate the whole thing. Then she wanted it again tonight and still finished off a whole bottle. Of course, they don’t make this in America. I may just be bringing some home for her. It could just be a trade out for some of the weight in food we brought with us for the return. Hee hee.

I do have one prayer request. We will be going to a foster home on Saturday and I pray that if any of the little ones there are sick with a cold, that Nadia will not catch it. She has been healthy the whole trip and I pray it stays that way.

Bubbles

Playground

Playground

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The Smells of China

Okay, so I gotta be honest here that last time we came to China all the smells overwhelmed me. I think even rice made me feel nauseous. So in preparation for this trip I prayed that God would help me be okay with the various food smells of China. I prayed about this frequently leading up to the trip. Also about the various types of animals we would see in various stages of “post processing”….you know, after their death.

I wanted to be in China this time experiencing the culture without being all, “Eww that looks gross or that smells gross.” It’s too easy to be a spoiled American with everything all sterile and hidden. I knew that we were coming to be a part of a different lifestyle and I didn’t want to be a pansy. Not drinking the water is one thing – that’s a safety issue.

So what’s the verdict? It’s been great. Seeing animal stuff hasn’t really phased me – even the big old pig heads at Wal-mart. I told Mike I could have done without that, but when I stopped for a second I told him that watching Mythbusters has kinda made me immune to seeing dead pigs since they use them all the time 🙂

The smells have been strong and different, but I just keep telling myself – it’s just a different type of cooking. And Beijing just sorta smells like smoke all the time. Air drying our clothes means that all our clothes smell like smoke all the time. Like going to Vegas. The one smell I could do without is the sewage smell that our bathroom sometimes gets just because it’s not state of the art plumbing in this building. But we just keep the door shut and the air freshener handy.

Aren’t you proud of me?

P.S. Wondering what we did today? Not much because it was cold, windy and overcast. Mike worked and worked and worked. Kiki came to tutor me in the morning and I let Nadia stay in her jammies all day because it was too cold to go out. But I did run to the pastry shop for lunch. YUM!! I had to get another one of the cheese sandwiches, plus I tried a new croissant type thing that had meat and cheese in it. Mike had some more of the hot-dog pizza rolls. And Kiki gave me a lot of homework. Some is done, the rest I need to go work on now. Zàijiàn! (means goodbye)