Another week and it’s the same story. I still haven’t begun teaching due to schools closing, because of H1N1. Tomorrow will be my first day though as I’ve talked with my boss and he assured me that I will start. YAY! But if my next post only contains jumbled words (more so then normal) and I utter H1N1 over and over you will know I haven’t started yet. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. Besides the teaching mess, Heather and I are easing into our schedules again. Heather has resumed meeting with her tutor and her Chinese has never been better (which a close Chinese friend just remind the both of us that her Chinese is better than mine). I (Matt) have also found two tutors to continue my own studies and am happy with the new arrangement.
Our little girls are doing great these days. Aubrey is getting bigger all the time, but still is on the thin side. I’m not kidding when I say this, her Chinese is better than her English. Don’t worry it will even out sometime in the next 20 or so years (that’s a joke.) Whenever we’re outside and we see a dog she will say “Gou” (which is Chinese for dog) over and over again, with the perfect tone and all! Pretty crazy. She has also been eating books left and right. If you dare set a book down in her presence it is usually consumed within 3.7 seconds (give or take). Sydney has had her usual quotes which I will put at the end of this post.
I would like to briefly tell you all that I had one of my greatest Chinese moments yesterday. It was our good friend Lawrence’s birthday this week and we had the privilege of celebrating it with him. As I’ve mentioned on here before, Lawrence has become a close friend here and we’ve spent a lot of time discussing tons of different things. So it was fun to show him a bit of American culture in how we do Birthdays. To celebrate his Birthday we (Lawrence and I) went out to dinner together, Beijing Roast Duck… which was unbelievably good. Afterwards we went back to our place which was decorated for him, ate cake, opened a present and chatted a bit. It was wonderful to get to have such a good time and will be one of those memories I carry with me for a very long time. I could tell Lawrence was touched by all of this and am glad that he knows our family’s love for him.
So Sydney and Heather play this game where they run around throwing balls at each other and then hiding and what not (luckily no one has gotten hurt yet). Heather was hiding tonight and as Sydney was approaching Heathers hiding spot she said “What… have… we… got… here… A LITTLE GIRL!” and then hurled the ball at Heather. To be fair I’m sure Heather yells this a lot when they play this game.
Last one, so Sydney asked me to get her a glass of water which I said I would and when I returned with her water she said “You’re my hero”. Wow that’s all it took! Here’s some cake too!
'Till next time,
Matt, Heather, Sydney and little Aubrey
