So I usually update how my (Matt) language is coming, but have not talked much about Heather's Chinese. For this I'm deeply sorry. Heather as you may or may not know has been being tutored for the past 3 months or so, 2 hours a day for 3 days a week. She has been doing incredibly well. Sometimes we try to speak Chinese around the house, but it usually consists of, "do you like this", "can you give me that", or some random word that will slip out from time to time. Heather's teacher last week told her that she is doing really well, and it means a lot to Heather to have her say that. Her tutor is not one to say something like that if it's not true. And more and more she is able to understand questions that locals will ask when we are out. She is a stud.
Quick story, when we moved here there was an odd plastic bowl in our kitchen. We converted this bowl into our Popcorn bucket, which lets be honest, every home needs. It wasn't until 4 MONTHS LATER that we found out that this particular bowl is for parents to take with them when they are out of the house and let their kids go to the bathroom in it. Wow, that was funny and embarrassing. Since then it has remained our popcorn bucket. Don't worry we've washed it a million times, but we can never wash our memories of its history.
We had a day last week where the power in our apartment went out for the whole day. We took the stairs each time we left our apartment. Also, our apartment was lit only by the soft light of the day and at night we used candles to make our way around. As I sat on the window ledge, in the warm glow of the candle light. I looked down over the crowded hustle and bustle of the street below, and noticing the Chinese neon glowing billboards across the street I thought to myself, "This must have been how the pioneers of America felt."
Another quick side note, this past week I won like 6 or 7 Snickers bars. The wrappers here can instantly win you another candy bar and I won like 5 in a row... It was a crowning achievement of my short life.
Lastly, I added a quick video of the girls and I playing. Here's the link, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkZKHPSLJgI.
with joy,
the petersons
P.S. Just to keep you posted, in my last post I mentioned that there would be an opportunity coming up to maybe do some stuff with the orphanage here, but it looks like it's not going to work out.
