Well this week was one of our busiest since getting here or at least it felt that way. Outside of school and hanging out with a bunch of different people we also; got our VISA’s renewed, celebrated Aubrey’s birthday, and made a visit to a Foster Home here.
I will start with Aubrey’s Birthday. We had a few people come over to our apartment to eat cake and sing “Happy Birthday” to Aubrey. And no joke the Happy Birthday truck made its rounds at around the same time, so we got to listen to that as well. With Sydney, she barely touched her cake for 10 or so minutes… that was not the case with Aubrey. Heather dipped her finger in frosting and gave Aubrey a taste and almost immediately after she (Aubrey) picked up her piece of cake and shoved it into her mouth. She didn’t hesitate once and hardly stopped to breath in her quest to devour this chocolate cake. It was really funny and cute. The next night we went out to Pizza Hut for dinner to celebrate as well and had a blast. We also got a package for Aubrey that had some awesome stuff in it, needless to say Aubrey was well taken care of. P.S. She is moving so fast now, as soon as you set her down she will make her way to the nearest thing that you don’t want her to go to.
Also, this week we went to a Foster Care Home that is a block or so away. If you remember my (Matt) trip to the Orphanage here, both of these locations work together with disabled and abandoned babies. When the babies get older if they are still not adopted they move into this apartment to be taken care of. We have wanted to start helping them for a while and this week we made our first step. Our plan was to have all of us go (kids and all), but Heather had a terrible headache and we decided that only Sydney and I (Matt) would go. We got there and played for an hour or so with the 5 kids and had a blast. I got to hang out with a kid named Jeremy who we are considering fostering from time to time while we are here. Nothing is set in stone yet. Sydney had a really fun time and the next morning she asked if we could go over and play with the kids. If you have advice for us, let us know. We will keep you posted.
Lastly, I was laying Sydney down the other day and she asked me to tell her a story. And I was feeling tired/lazy so I told her this story. There once was a girl named Sydney and she took care of her Mommy, Daddy, and Sister. She was a lovely little girl and everyone loved her (or something like that). When I finished my short story, Sydney turned to me and said “That was a great story”. I laughed pretty hard.
Much Love,
the petersons
March 29, 2009
March 23, 2009
The Weather Takes A Turn For The Better
Life lately in Xian has been so awesome! The past week and a half or so has brought the sun and warm weather both of which have been great. As a family we have been able to go out with the girls on walks and play at the park a lot. This has brought in some new friends to our life as we meet other families here. It’s funny because Heather’s blonde hair sticks out so much that it and our daughters are like a magnet for conversation when we are out. I (Matt) have neither blonde hair nor am a child therefore I have nothing to offer.
Both our girls have made huge strides lately in each of their own ways. Aubrey in one week went from not being mobile, to an awkward knee crawl, and finally is crawling longer and faster than ever before. And it comes just a few days before her first birthday! She also has been saying “bye” and waving more and more as well as saying “Dada”. She also will point at things and hold her hands out when she wants something. She’s so cute!
As for Sydney her Chinese has been getting better all the time. It’s almost like when she first started speaking English, one day she doesn’t know the word then the next she can say it, with no problem. She also has understood more and more. Heather has been a huge influence on teaching her, she (Heather) has been taking a lot of initiative in using Chinese with her.
Well here are a handful of recent quotes and stories from Sydney. Before I left for Beijing I told Sydney I would get her a present, I wanted to relieve her of being sad when I had to leave. Anyways, I got home (as you know) a week ago, but I got home at like 10, so Sydney was already in bed. That night she woke up at 1 a.m. and needed a drink of water. I was excited to get to go in and give her a hug and kiss. As I entered her room she noticed it was me and the first thing she said after not seeing me for 4 days was “Daddy, do you have my present” in a sleepy 1 o’clock in the morning way. It was so touching.
The other week we were going downstairs in our elevator and Heather told Sydney “Your such a big girl!”, to which Sydney responded “Yeah, I’m a big girl, just like Daddy!”. Last story, so a couple of days ago Sydney yelled to me while she was taking a bath. I went into the bathroom and she said “Daddy, help me! The alligators are going to get me!”, so I said “Sydney, ask them to be your friend”. As I was standing there Sydney says, “Will you be my friend”, in her cute little voice, and then responded to herself with a gruff voice (speaking for the alligator) saying “OK!”. I laughed pretty hard.
'Till Next Time,
The Petersons
Both our girls have made huge strides lately in each of their own ways. Aubrey in one week went from not being mobile, to an awkward knee crawl, and finally is crawling longer and faster than ever before. And it comes just a few days before her first birthday! She also has been saying “bye” and waving more and more as well as saying “Dada”. She also will point at things and hold her hands out when she wants something. She’s so cute!
As for Sydney her Chinese has been getting better all the time. It’s almost like when she first started speaking English, one day she doesn’t know the word then the next she can say it, with no problem. She also has understood more and more. Heather has been a huge influence on teaching her, she (Heather) has been taking a lot of initiative in using Chinese with her.
Well here are a handful of recent quotes and stories from Sydney. Before I left for Beijing I told Sydney I would get her a present, I wanted to relieve her of being sad when I had to leave. Anyways, I got home (as you know) a week ago, but I got home at like 10, so Sydney was already in bed. That night she woke up at 1 a.m. and needed a drink of water. I was excited to get to go in and give her a hug and kiss. As I entered her room she noticed it was me and the first thing she said after not seeing me for 4 days was “Daddy, do you have my present” in a sleepy 1 o’clock in the morning way. It was so touching.
The other week we were going downstairs in our elevator and Heather told Sydney “Your such a big girl!”, to which Sydney responded “Yeah, I’m a big girl, just like Daddy!”. Last story, so a couple of days ago Sydney yelled to me while she was taking a bath. I went into the bathroom and she said “Daddy, help me! The alligators are going to get me!”, so I said “Sydney, ask them to be your friend”. As I was standing there Sydney says, “Will you be my friend”, in her cute little voice, and then responded to herself with a gruff voice (speaking for the alligator) saying “OK!”. I laughed pretty hard.
'Till Next Time,
The Petersons
March 19, 2009
Back from Beijing!
So I got home a couple of days ago from my trip to Beijing with my brother and we had a blast. As I wrote earlier my wife surprised me for my birthday by sending me to Beijing to chill and sight see with my brother. Upon arriving in Beijing our first order of business was heading to dinner, which for us was TGIF’s. We don’t really have American sit-down restaurants in Xian and so this was a huge gift. I got the Cheesy Bacon Cheeseburger and a Cherry Coke, which I haven’t had anything like that in... about 9 months. We actually went back for the nest few nights to enjoy the same meal. I should also mention I drank my first Mountain Dew in about 9 months as well in Beijing and words cannot express how good it was.
Food was fun because we haven’t had a lot of this stuff in a while, but we came to see the sites and see them we did. Our first day of sightseeing brought us to; Tiananmen Square which is the largest open urban area in the world, has tons of history and Mao Zedong’s Mausoleum is also found there. We actually couldn’t enter the square due to the conference going on last week which shut the area down (but we would return later). Right behind the Square is where the Forbidden City is found, which before our trip I thought it was only one building, but found out that it literally is a city. We entered the City and made our way around snapping pictures and making new discoveries with each turn we made. It’s an incredible place and is easily worth spending an hour or two at.
The next day we went to check out the Great Wall of China, which I’ve heard is kind of a big deal. When we bought our tickets to go up on the Gondola we found out to get back down we would get to take a toboggan thingy down a giant track (which was pure enjoyment). I’ve been to a few places in my day and the Wall was easily one of the best things I’ve ever seen, check out the pictures in the photo album section on the right. It was a pretty treacherous journey climbing up and down the mountains on the Wall, but I was comforted by the fact that I didn’t have to build it! I would have to say that this was the highlight of our trip for me and I would recommend seeing it to anyone traveling to China. We went down the luge track and 5 out of the 6 (or so) guards yelled at me to slow down or a variation of that. It was fun. We ended the night visiting Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube where the Olympics were held. They were both very unique and a good end to a great day.
On our final morning before heading to the airport we went back to Tiananmen Square to see if it was open and it was. We spent some time walking around the massive area talking with locals and enjoying our last moments in Beijing. It was an incredible trip and I’m so grateful to both Heather and Jenny for letting my brother and I go on this trip, thanks guys.
‘Till Next Time,
The Petersons
Food was fun because we haven’t had a lot of this stuff in a while, but we came to see the sites and see them we did. Our first day of sightseeing brought us to; Tiananmen Square which is the largest open urban area in the world, has tons of history and Mao Zedong’s Mausoleum is also found there. We actually couldn’t enter the square due to the conference going on last week which shut the area down (but we would return later). Right behind the Square is where the Forbidden City is found, which before our trip I thought it was only one building, but found out that it literally is a city. We entered the City and made our way around snapping pictures and making new discoveries with each turn we made. It’s an incredible place and is easily worth spending an hour or two at.
The next day we went to check out the Great Wall of China, which I’ve heard is kind of a big deal. When we bought our tickets to go up on the Gondola we found out to get back down we would get to take a toboggan thingy down a giant track (which was pure enjoyment). I’ve been to a few places in my day and the Wall was easily one of the best things I’ve ever seen, check out the pictures in the photo album section on the right. It was a pretty treacherous journey climbing up and down the mountains on the Wall, but I was comforted by the fact that I didn’t have to build it! I would have to say that this was the highlight of our trip for me and I would recommend seeing it to anyone traveling to China. We went down the luge track and 5 out of the 6 (or so) guards yelled at me to slow down or a variation of that. It was fun. We ended the night visiting Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube where the Olympics were held. They were both very unique and a good end to a great day.
On our final morning before heading to the airport we went back to Tiananmen Square to see if it was open and it was. We spent some time walking around the massive area talking with locals and enjoying our last moments in Beijing. It was an incredible trip and I’m so grateful to both Heather and Jenny for letting my brother and I go on this trip, thanks guys.
‘Till Next Time,
The Petersons
March 11, 2009
Beijing Tomorrow! And New Pictures!
I just posted a new photo album, you can view it by clicking on the link on the right side of the page, under Photo Albums, titled 2009.03.11 - Family Pictures. There are two pages so make sure you check both of them out! I will try and post some pictures in a week or so from my trip to Beijing as well.
Tomorrow is the day! I will be leaving for a 4 day trip to Beijing with my brother. I will write about it when I return. Have a good day!
Much love,
Matt, Heather, Sydney and little Aubrey
Tomorrow is the day! I will be leaving for a 4 day trip to Beijing with my brother. I will write about it when I return. Have a good day!
Much love,
Matt, Heather, Sydney and little Aubrey
March 7, 2009
My Wife the Amazing! Mistakes In Chinese and New Friends!
Well Heather has truly outdone herself this time. My birthday is coming up in a couple of months and she surprised me with an early present. She dropped the news on me last week that she was going to be sending me to Beijing for a few days with my brother… And NO KIDS! (Although I love them greatly) Heather knows that I love to go on adventures and that my brother will be leaving soon, so Jenny (my brother’s wife) and her planned on letting us go and hang out together without the family. It’s nice because it’s really cheap to fly within China (or at least it is now) so it will be a fun cheap trip. We will leave this Thursday and return on Sunday. We’re planning on seeing Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden Palace, The Great Wall, Bird’s Nest, Water Cube and maybe the Summer Palace. We will get to eat Western food the whole time, rumor has it there is even a TGIF’s there, so we are really excited. I will share pictures and stories when I return next Sunday (the 15th). THANKS BABY!
My grandparents just last week asked if I had made any mistakes with my language that were funny. I couldn’t recall any recent examples… But luckily for me I made two this week. The first one came when I was trying to tell my class and teacher about my friend (who is a guy). So as I’m talking I say my “boyfriend” which literally means, the man I’m dating and not, my friend who is a man, which is what I meant to say. Everyone got a good laugh at my expense as I described my “boyfriend”. I guess I made this mistake more than that this past week, because another teacher pulled me aside after school and corrected me on the same thing. The other mistake I made was in class as well. I went to the front of the class to write some Chinese characters on the board, which I’m terrible at. Well I didn’t do very well and as I started to walk back to my chair I tried to say “Wo hen hanzi”, which means “I hate Chinese characters”, as a joke (don’t worry my class knows that I’m joking as well). But instead I said “Wo hen haizi!”, which means “I hate children”. Needless to say I was pretty full off of shame burgers. At least my teachers and class get to have a good time laughing at me, as opposed to with me.
Lastly, I recently stopped talking about when we would meet new friends and what not, but Heather just made a couple of new friends that she’s excited about. And it happened in typical foreigner living in China fashion. As she was walking home a Chinese student stopped her to ask if she could practice her English with Heather. So today both of them (along with another student who wanted to practice English) all went out for lunch today and then stopped by our apartment on their way home. Heather is hoping to hang out more with them in the future. It’s a lot of fun meeting people here and building relationship, because Chinese people are so friendly and love to chat and hang out.
That’s it for now… Beijing Or Bust!!!
Matt, Heather, Sydney and little Aubrey
My grandparents just last week asked if I had made any mistakes with my language that were funny. I couldn’t recall any recent examples… But luckily for me I made two this week. The first one came when I was trying to tell my class and teacher about my friend (who is a guy). So as I’m talking I say my “boyfriend” which literally means, the man I’m dating and not, my friend who is a man, which is what I meant to say. Everyone got a good laugh at my expense as I described my “boyfriend”. I guess I made this mistake more than that this past week, because another teacher pulled me aside after school and corrected me on the same thing. The other mistake I made was in class as well. I went to the front of the class to write some Chinese characters on the board, which I’m terrible at. Well I didn’t do very well and as I started to walk back to my chair I tried to say “Wo hen hanzi”, which means “I hate Chinese characters”, as a joke (don’t worry my class knows that I’m joking as well). But instead I said “Wo hen haizi!”, which means “I hate children”. Needless to say I was pretty full off of shame burgers. At least my teachers and class get to have a good time laughing at me, as opposed to with me.
Lastly, I recently stopped talking about when we would meet new friends and what not, but Heather just made a couple of new friends that she’s excited about. And it happened in typical foreigner living in China fashion. As she was walking home a Chinese student stopped her to ask if she could practice her English with Heather. So today both of them (along with another student who wanted to practice English) all went out for lunch today and then stopped by our apartment on their way home. Heather is hoping to hang out more with them in the future. It’s a lot of fun meeting people here and building relationship, because Chinese people are so friendly and love to chat and hang out.
That’s it for now… Beijing Or Bust!!!
Matt, Heather, Sydney and little Aubrey
March 5, 2009
Playground Adventures and Goodbye
So Sydney and I (Matt) went on a date this past weekend to KFC and then to Carrefore, which is a super market here with a huge indoor play place (it’s amazing). Well after we ate some chicken nuggets and popcorn chicken we headed off. When we got there Sydney instantly climbed to the top and went down the massive slide. And I got mobbed by about 6-8 Chinese Kids, at one point I was yelling “Sydney” to try and get her attention and all of them began to yell with me. It’s funny because as my language has gotten better I can’t play the ignorant card. For example in the past when I get mobbed by Chinese kids I would have no idea what they were saying. But I realized this time that at one point a kid told me in Chinese “Don’t talk”. Our time ended in an incredibly proud moment for me as a father, followed by… well… you’ll see. So at this play place there is a handle bar that hangs down from above on a track and when you hold onto it, it takes you down this ramp (kinda like a Zip Line for kids). It goes really fast and if you don’t let go you slam into a padded wall. Does that make sense? (sorry it’s difficult for me to explain) Well I always wrote it off as something that Sydney would do when she got older, but this time I felt like I should give her a shot. So I picked her up and she grabbed onto the bar and slide all the way down to the bottom and crashed into the wall. When she turned around I clapped and cheered for her and when she got back to the top she wanted to go again. After a few times she became a pro at it and timed her drop at the exact time she needed to so she wouldn’t slam into the wall anymore as well as picked her knees up into a crouch position. She probably did this 20 times. Then she ran over to the massive slide and went down and waited at the bottom for her Dad. She was cheering me on as I went down, but when I reached the bottom I noticed Sydney acting a little strange. As I got closer she was coughing and began to spit. I put my hand under her mouth just in time to catch most of her KFC. Not trying to panic I set her down near the exit and tried to clean her up only to have to “catch” again. It was a great date outside of the unceremonious ending.
Sorry that was long. The one other thing that was tough about our time at Carrefore was that Sydney’s best friend Joshua wasn’t there. Usually when we go on these dates him and his dad go with us, but this week we said goodbye for the next 6 months as they are going back to the States to have their second baby. It was hard on Heather and I as we said goodbye to them, because they are family to us out here. But we look forward to seeing them again with their next little bundle of joy.
I will end with a story from Heather and Sydney. It was Heather’s morning to wake up with the girls and when she got up with Sydney she discovered Sydney had wet the bed in the night. And this is what Sydney told Heather, “I peed the bed, it is so disgusting, we don’t pee in the bed we pee in the potty, so disgusting.” Heather found it pretty funny, and yes Sydney it is so disgusting.
Well that’s enough from us, hope all of you are doing well.
Much love,
Matt, Heather, Sydney, and little Aubrey
Sorry that was long. The one other thing that was tough about our time at Carrefore was that Sydney’s best friend Joshua wasn’t there. Usually when we go on these dates him and his dad go with us, but this week we said goodbye for the next 6 months as they are going back to the States to have their second baby. It was hard on Heather and I as we said goodbye to them, because they are family to us out here. But we look forward to seeing them again with their next little bundle of joy.
I will end with a story from Heather and Sydney. It was Heather’s morning to wake up with the girls and when she got up with Sydney she discovered Sydney had wet the bed in the night. And this is what Sydney told Heather, “I peed the bed, it is so disgusting, we don’t pee in the bed we pee in the potty, so disgusting.” Heather found it pretty funny, and yes Sydney it is so disgusting.
Well that’s enough from us, hope all of you are doing well.
Much love,
Matt, Heather, Sydney, and little Aubrey
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