Well the dust has settled and we have made it through another Christmas. It was a really fun one for us because; it was the first one that Sydney really participated in, it was our first with Aubrey and our first in China. On Christmas Eve we went over to my Jeremy and Jenny's apartment where we hung out and watched "The Santa Claus". For dinner we had Pizza Hut and earlier the girls made carmel corn and coffee. At night Heather, Sydney and Jenny all went to a Christmas performance at a western restaurant here. I guess that they started to sing "Jingle Bells" and Sydney when she realized it, ran from across the room to Heather screaming and dancing, Sydney loves that song. She was the only kid there so she got tons of attention, which is what she loves. Meanwhile Jeremy and I stayed back so that Aubrey, and there son, Levi could get some sleep... And it gave us time to play his Wii, which is always a treat.
When Christmas morning came we had Sydney open all her gifts as soon as she got up. Before I continue I want to say thank you to all of you who gave to us to get gifts, we really appreciated it! It was a blast watching our little girl rip open all her gifts. It was funny because after all the presents were open we tried to get Sydney to go to the bathroom, but she refused and was a little bit of a b-r-a-t about it. So Heather told her, "you can either go to the bathroom or we can put your toys in timeout". To which Sydney quickly, wisely and calmly said, "o.k." (I'll go to the bathroom). I've never seen a child stop fake crying faster then that.
Well I want to add some video from our Christmas so check for that in the next few days. Also, when I was writing our last post I accidentally published the post before I was done writing it. So if you get my posts emailed to you, it might have only sent part of the post. I thought it was a good post so here's the link if you didn't get the whole post, http://petersonchina.blogspot.com/2008/12/matt-eats-shame-burger-and-sydney.html.
Merry Christmas,
Matt, Heather, Sydney, and little Aubrey
P.S. Heather and I will use the money given to us to buy some presents, my guess is that she will buy clothes and decorations for our apartment. And I would guess that I buy movies. We are going to try to go on a vacation next summer and so we might put money towards that.
December 27, 2008
December 21, 2008
Matt Eats A Shame Burger and Sydney Stories
So for those of you who maybe don't know, China is a shame based culture (as opposed to Western cultures which are guilt based). So when you "lose face" in China it means that you were shamed. A handful of us foreigners here have adopted the term "shame burger" for a situation in which you were shamed (e.g. "Today I ate a huge shame burger", "Really what happened?", "Well I was crossing the street and fell"). But shame burgers can also be served to you by someone who intentionally or unintentionally embarrasses you in front of others. So I say all of this as a back drop to my story from this week, my teacher feed me a huge shame burger in class.
It happened like this, in our lesson for this week the phrase "exceeding the weight limit" came up in our new vocab. And our teacher stops and is talking to us about the phrase "exceeding the weight limit" and yes, you guessed it, I became the example. She said for example Matt needs to lose weight and his brother (Jeremy) needs to add weight. Well thank you teacher for that lovely example it definitely brightened my day. But to be honest I didn't take it too hard, because let's be honest I'm the size of like 2 Chinese people. Another cultural note, the Chinese are really honest about some things, like weight and appearance. So it wasn't out of line for her to say what she did and our class is only 5 students so it wasn't that bad.
Lastly, stories from the life of Sydney. Last night as I was going to bed I turned off all the lights in our apartment and made my way to our bedroom. And from across the hallway I could hear Sydney tossing and turning a bit. So I quietly (and barely) peaked my head around the corner into her room... and noticed her shadow sitting in bed (or standing). So I figured that she was going to sleep talk so I didn't move in anticipation for her to say some funny thing in her sleep. Then through the darkness I hear her say plain as day "Hi Daddy". So the joke was on me, because she wasn't asleep and I wasn't being very sneaky.
Sydney also has made HUGE progress in her potty training. Thank you to Kris one of our readers for her suggestion to put toys in time out. That is what has been the deciding factor in Sydney's recent success. Now she will routinely tell us she has to go to the potty (for 1 and 2). Although I did spend a few minutes cleaning up a mess this morning... and yes her dollies, as I write this are in time out.
Memorable Quote from Sydney. As we were walking home from playing at the park, I (Matt) was holding Sydney's hand and wanting to have the perfect Hallmark Father/Daughter moment. So I said, "I love you Sydney", to which she replied "Me too". I laughed pretty hard.
much love,
the petersons
It happened like this, in our lesson for this week the phrase "exceeding the weight limit" came up in our new vocab. And our teacher stops and is talking to us about the phrase "exceeding the weight limit" and yes, you guessed it, I became the example. She said for example Matt needs to lose weight and his brother (Jeremy) needs to add weight. Well thank you teacher for that lovely example it definitely brightened my day. But to be honest I didn't take it too hard, because let's be honest I'm the size of like 2 Chinese people. Another cultural note, the Chinese are really honest about some things, like weight and appearance. So it wasn't out of line for her to say what she did and our class is only 5 students so it wasn't that bad.
Lastly, stories from the life of Sydney. Last night as I was going to bed I turned off all the lights in our apartment and made my way to our bedroom. And from across the hallway I could hear Sydney tossing and turning a bit. So I quietly (and barely) peaked my head around the corner into her room... and noticed her shadow sitting in bed (or standing). So I figured that she was going to sleep talk so I didn't move in anticipation for her to say some funny thing in her sleep. Then through the darkness I hear her say plain as day "Hi Daddy". So the joke was on me, because she wasn't asleep and I wasn't being very sneaky.
Sydney also has made HUGE progress in her potty training. Thank you to Kris one of our readers for her suggestion to put toys in time out. That is what has been the deciding factor in Sydney's recent success. Now she will routinely tell us she has to go to the potty (for 1 and 2). Although I did spend a few minutes cleaning up a mess this morning... and yes her dollies, as I write this are in time out.
Memorable Quote from Sydney. As we were walking home from playing at the park, I (Matt) was holding Sydney's hand and wanting to have the perfect Hallmark Father/Daughter moment. So I said, "I love you Sydney", to which she replied "Me too". I laughed pretty hard.
much love,
the petersons
December 16, 2008
Christmas Shopping
Well it's been a bit since writing, sorry. Heather and I went Christmas shopping this past week! We went on a date downtown to Pizza Hut, "oh how their pizza can brighten even the worst of days". And afterward we walked around to a few stores and picked up some gifts for the girls. For Sydney we got some little dolls, blocks, and for Aubrey, a ball that she can hit that plays noise (it's supposed to help with crawling). We will pick up some more things before Christmas is here, but it was good to get a start. When we were in one of these toy stores I noticed a cool display made out of magnetic blocks, it said "2008", and each number was about two feet high. I walked over to it to check it out and when I touched the "2" of "2008" it totally collapsed. And I frantically tried to fix it before any employees could notice me, but since the pieces were magnetic it was nearly impossible to re-create the "2". To be honest learning Chinese is easier then using these blocks. So the next best option is what I went with, I walked away and pretended it didn't happen. Which helped me and my pride, but not the lady who I saw later re-building it.
This next part is a shout out to my Chinese friend Lawrence. We've been still getting together about every week or so and having some really good chats. Anyways, this past week he was preparing for a 15 minute speech that he was going to give on Wyoming. So we talked a lot about Wyoming and I told him what I could to help him prepare for his speech. At one point I gave my best "Howdy Partner!" (very poorly might I add) with my best country accent. Lawrence tried to copy me by saying, "Howdy Partner!". He said it a couple of more times, then turned to me and asked "Does it remind you of home?". And I thought it was the funniest thing, because my Chinese friend was giving his best "Howdy Partner!" with his Chinese accent and asking if it reminded me of home. I appreciated it a lot.
I will end with a look at Sydney's life. So something Sydney will do when trying to get her way is cry. But something she will say when she's crying to get her way is "I'm really crying!". Which when she says that you automatically know that she is, in fact, not really crying. What a schemer.
Till' next time,
the petersons
This next part is a shout out to my Chinese friend Lawrence. We've been still getting together about every week or so and having some really good chats. Anyways, this past week he was preparing for a 15 minute speech that he was going to give on Wyoming. So we talked a lot about Wyoming and I told him what I could to help him prepare for his speech. At one point I gave my best "Howdy Partner!" (very poorly might I add) with my best country accent. Lawrence tried to copy me by saying, "Howdy Partner!". He said it a couple of more times, then turned to me and asked "Does it remind you of home?". And I thought it was the funniest thing, because my Chinese friend was giving his best "Howdy Partner!" with his Chinese accent and asking if it reminded me of home. I appreciated it a lot.
I will end with a look at Sydney's life. So something Sydney will do when trying to get her way is cry. But something she will say when she's crying to get her way is "I'm really crying!". Which when she says that you automatically know that she is, in fact, not really crying. What a schemer.
Till' next time,
the petersons
December 7, 2008
Dinner With Heather's Tutor and PICTURES!
Heather has become good friends with her tutor Fang (pronounced Fong) and last week we had her and her husband over for dinner. It was a fun time of getting to know them. Then this week she invited us over to have dinner with them at their apartment. They cooked some Chinese food (or as it's called here, food) for us and... it was so delicous! I can't tell you how amazing the food is here. I guess you will have to come and taste for yourself.
Also, tonight huge fireworks were being shot into the air just outside our apartment. They were literally blowing up like maybe 5 floors above us right outside our window. It was 9 o'clock at night and our girls were sleeping.
And here are some pictures of the girls from lately.
"O.K. this isn't of the girls, but it's an Urban Sunset"
"Do I look like I like to wear all of this?"
"Wearing mommy's hat"
"So cute!"
"Our girls standing like they mean it"
December 4, 2008
Life Lately
A quick update. Last week, I wrote about a friend of ours here (Noah) and how he hurt his back in a motorcycle accident. Well this week he flew home to get further medical help. He will be in a cast for 6 weeks and recovering for 3 months. Noah is a great friend to our family and will be missed.
Heather has been working like no one's business at the local gym! Since her knee/back injuries she hasn't been able to run like she used to, but recently she has taken up spin class, pilate's, kick-boxing, and fit ball. When I first heard the name spin class, I thought to myself, "do they spin in circles? And if so, how is that exercise, it's sounds more like fun/leisure!". But no, spin class is actually one of the hardest things known to man (according to Heather), it's an intense hour of biking. Most people don't survive it, but she has been going each night during the week to one or more of these classes. I should also say that fit ball for those who don't know what it is, is when you balance yourself and do exercises on a huge ball... I can't find the words to describe it. It's nice here because a gym membership is so cheap. And if your wondering, yes I (Matt) also go, but I mainly work on sculpting my guns.
Chinese Culture 101, so something I haven't mentioned before is how important firecrackers are in the culture here. Each time a restaurant or place of business opens or is remodeled, they always set off TONS of fireworks, in the middle of the day. I heard someone say it is to ward off evil spirits, but I'm not sure. Anyways, the other day a huge amount of fireworks started to go off across the street from our apartment. It sounded like a war was going on. And for 5-10 minutes they were constantly going off.... Oh, and by the way, that was at 7:30 in the MORNING! I just looked at Heather and had to laugh, because of how interesting life is here. I will say this as well to also put it into perspective, if you go 2 or 3 days without hearing fireworks something is wrong.
with joy,
the petersons
Heather has been working like no one's business at the local gym! Since her knee/back injuries she hasn't been able to run like she used to, but recently she has taken up spin class, pilate's, kick-boxing, and fit ball. When I first heard the name spin class, I thought to myself, "do they spin in circles? And if so, how is that exercise, it's sounds more like fun/leisure!". But no, spin class is actually one of the hardest things known to man (according to Heather), it's an intense hour of biking. Most people don't survive it, but she has been going each night during the week to one or more of these classes. I should also say that fit ball for those who don't know what it is, is when you balance yourself and do exercises on a huge ball... I can't find the words to describe it. It's nice here because a gym membership is so cheap. And if your wondering, yes I (Matt) also go, but I mainly work on sculpting my guns.
Chinese Culture 101, so something I haven't mentioned before is how important firecrackers are in the culture here. Each time a restaurant or place of business opens or is remodeled, they always set off TONS of fireworks, in the middle of the day. I heard someone say it is to ward off evil spirits, but I'm not sure. Anyways, the other day a huge amount of fireworks started to go off across the street from our apartment. It sounded like a war was going on. And for 5-10 minutes they were constantly going off.... Oh, and by the way, that was at 7:30 in the MORNING! I just looked at Heather and had to laugh, because of how interesting life is here. I will say this as well to also put it into perspective, if you go 2 or 3 days without hearing fireworks something is wrong.
with joy,
the petersons
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