Normally I try to not write updates close together, mainly because I don’t want people to get annoyed with me. But yesterday was so packed I thought I should write one while the day was still fresh in my mind… And let me put it this way, it being fresh in my mind means I haven’t been able to block it out yet, which isn’t good. I’m exaggerating slightly.
So with Heather in Beijing I’m realizing how much I depend on her every day. For example, our family was invited to a Chinese friend’s wedding and even though Heather is out of town I wanted to go with Sydney. So I planned to have our babysitter watch Aubrey while Sydney and I attended our first Chinese wedding. Which normally wouldn’t be a big deal, but it wouldn’t be a big deal because the Batman (a.k.a. Heather) to my Robin would be by my side to help me. Well we weren’t supposed to leave until 11:30 am and I had a list of things I wanted to do before I got out the door. What I remembered about myself is that I’m a terrible procrastinator without Heather. So pretty much I sat around till the last minute then rushed to get ready to attend a wedding. Half of the things I wanted to do were left undone and the other half were done poorly at best. Heather loves being on-time and I need that in my life.
When we got to the wedding it started off really well. Chinese weddings usually take place in a restaurant with tons of people and food, no complaints there. They even fire off multiple confetti cannons which loudly launch confetti out of a handheld cannon thing. It usually scares me half to death, but is tons of fun to watch. Sydney sat in my lap as we watched the MC present our friends for the first time and go through all the announcements and what not. Sydney even joined in with the rest of us as we clapped every 30 seconds or so (I would explain what we clapped for, but the service was in Chinese). Anyways, after 30 minutes of that Sydney started to get bored and wanted to run around. When we started eating lunch all she wanted was to drink Coke, which she masterfully broke me down into giving her. After a little more than an hour of trying to take care of Sydney we said goodbye to our friends and went home. I was so exhausted and again I present this question “WHERE IS HEATHER????”
Sorry this is so long, but that night we had my teacher and her boyfriend over for dinner which was a really fun time. They love our girls and danced with them for a while, which both Sydney and Aubrey enjoyed. We ordered some Chinese food and chatted about life which was nice. I noticed Sydney looking guilty as all get out and discovered she had peed in our living room. I swear she has been perfect lately, until Heather left. When it was the girl’s bedtime, I dragged a mattress out into the living room and set up the couch as a bed for a little urban camp out. We watched Dora the Explorer for like 3 hours in Chinese (which Sydney requested) and ate popcorn. And hearing that don’t you just think “I wish I was there”. Since we were camping out in the living room I turned the lights off so that Sydney who was laying on the couch (which she requested) and I on the mattress on the floor could go to bed. And in the dark Sydney says to me “Daddy let’s talk together”, which was precious (even though that was only a tool to stay up longer). She told me a story and we both fell asleep.
Till next time,
Matt, Heather, Sydney and little Aubrey
May 30, 2009
May 28, 2009
Heather Goes To Beijing, Chinese Grammar
Recently we’ve been talking about Heather taking a trip with a friend to get out of Xian and spend some time relaxing. Well this week she and her friend (Lisa) found airplane tickets to Beijing for $30USD! That’s right to fly to Beijing it will cost them $30 (one way). Granted you don’t have an assigned seat, but rather an assigned cargo space… and you share it with pigs, goats and horses. That last part is a joke, but they really did find $30 tickets and will be staying with a friend of ours that is also studying Chinese in Beijing. She’s stoked to get to go out to some American restaurants and shop at IKEA. So we jumped at the opportunity for her to get to do this. I’m sure we (the kids and I) will be missed… yeah right. No we will be, but Heather works hard and living in China can be tough, so we are thrilled that she can do this.
But no joke no more than 10 minutes after Heather had left I discovered Sydney had peed in her room while playing… and when I put her in the tub for her to take a bath I discovered our gas was out, which means no hot water and no stove. “WHERE ARE YOU HEATHER???” was my first thought. Well we weathered the storm and my friend Lawrence came over that tonight for dinner. He helped me a lot and we had a good time. It’s funny because Aubrey is such a picky eater, but tonight we were eating a type of Sichuan food and I gave a few of the noodles to Aubrey, which she devoured. I guess if your kid is picky you just need to find the spiciest Chinese food you know and give that to them.
Lastly, I (Matt) had a great week in class this week. It was really difficult as we started to tackle a new grammar pattern which our teacher told us was the most difficult Chinese grammar. So currently I’m studying the most difficult Chinese grammar pattern, which is an unbelievable statement. Heather and I both love to speak Chinese right now and that makes life so much fun.
'Till next time,
Matt, Heather, Sydney and Aubrey
But no joke no more than 10 minutes after Heather had left I discovered Sydney had peed in her room while playing… and when I put her in the tub for her to take a bath I discovered our gas was out, which means no hot water and no stove. “WHERE ARE YOU HEATHER???” was my first thought. Well we weathered the storm and my friend Lawrence came over that tonight for dinner. He helped me a lot and we had a good time. It’s funny because Aubrey is such a picky eater, but tonight we were eating a type of Sichuan food and I gave a few of the noodles to Aubrey, which she devoured. I guess if your kid is picky you just need to find the spiciest Chinese food you know and give that to them.
Lastly, I (Matt) had a great week in class this week. It was really difficult as we started to tackle a new grammar pattern which our teacher told us was the most difficult Chinese grammar. So currently I’m studying the most difficult Chinese grammar pattern, which is an unbelievable statement. Heather and I both love to speak Chinese right now and that makes life so much fun.
'Till next time,
Matt, Heather, Sydney and Aubrey
May 21, 2009
Aubrey Speaks Chinese! Our New Playhouse and New Pics!
That's right, Aubrey is saying her first Chinese word! This week she started to say "Ayi" (pronounced ahh ee) which means "aunt". Now you might be thinking to yourself that we are just making this up... but we're not. In Chinese culture it is typical for people to address others with a family title rather then only there name. And for kids they will always address older people as either; brother/sister, aunt/uncle, grandma/grandpa. So it is very common for Chinese people to try and teach her this word. Also, the women who helps us with our girls when Heather is in class, the girls call "Ayi". Anyways, since she first started saying this she has now said it a lot. It's cool to watch her grow up speaking/learning another language.
Also other news in our world is the arrival of our very own playhouse! A couple months ago Heather and I talked about getting a playhouse for the girls to put in their room. Well through one of our teachers here we were able to get in contact with a carpenter here who has done work in the Xian Opera house. Since our teacher and her family have been friends with this carpenter for a long time my teacher was able to get us a really good deal on building it. I will upload pictures soon, but we want to paint it first before putting pics up. I will say this, it is two floors with the top floor doubling as a bed, the stairs that go up to the second floor are also cabinet drawers. It's really cool and will provide our family and our girls friends with a place to play for a long time!
Sydney stories:
Tonight I (Matt) was playing dolls with Sydney (which is what a Dad does when he has daughters) and I was playing the man doll. I think it was when I saved the princess doll that Sydney exclaimed something to the effect of "Thank you Matthew" directed towards the guy doll that rescued her girl doll. What made this even cuter was that she pronounced "Matthew", "Mathphew". I've never heard her say "Matthew" before and it made me laugh pretty hard.
Lastly, yesterday Sydney woke up in the middle of the night from a bad dream. Heather brought her into our bed and went to Sydney's bed to go back to sleep. In the morning Sydney woke up and I was surprised that she didn't run to go eat or play as she normally does. Then she asks me "Daddy, do you love me?", to which I respond "Of course I love you" (or something like that). Then a moment later she hands me her stuffed bear and I notice it's wet so I tell her to hold on to it, figuring it was because she was sucking on it. She informs me that the bear had peed... And then the pieces start to fall into place for me and when I pulled back the comforter I discovered a pee spot the size of Sydney. Wow I didn't know kids could pee that much, I guess I know now.
The end.
matt, heather, sydney and aubrey (our little "ayi" princess)
P.S. I added new pics that you can find on the right of our blog titled 2009.05.21 - Family Pictures. Click on it to go to the newest uploaded pictures going back to Aubrey's 1st Birthday. Or click here to go there directly, http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2017550&id=1196491857&l=80622a1985.
Also other news in our world is the arrival of our very own playhouse! A couple months ago Heather and I talked about getting a playhouse for the girls to put in their room. Well through one of our teachers here we were able to get in contact with a carpenter here who has done work in the Xian Opera house. Since our teacher and her family have been friends with this carpenter for a long time my teacher was able to get us a really good deal on building it. I will upload pictures soon, but we want to paint it first before putting pics up. I will say this, it is two floors with the top floor doubling as a bed, the stairs that go up to the second floor are also cabinet drawers. It's really cool and will provide our family and our girls friends with a place to play for a long time!
Sydney stories:
Tonight I (Matt) was playing dolls with Sydney (which is what a Dad does when he has daughters) and I was playing the man doll. I think it was when I saved the princess doll that Sydney exclaimed something to the effect of "Thank you Matthew" directed towards the guy doll that rescued her girl doll. What made this even cuter was that she pronounced "Matthew", "Mathphew". I've never heard her say "Matthew" before and it made me laugh pretty hard.
Lastly, yesterday Sydney woke up in the middle of the night from a bad dream. Heather brought her into our bed and went to Sydney's bed to go back to sleep. In the morning Sydney woke up and I was surprised that she didn't run to go eat or play as she normally does. Then she asks me "Daddy, do you love me?", to which I respond "Of course I love you" (or something like that). Then a moment later she hands me her stuffed bear and I notice it's wet so I tell her to hold on to it, figuring it was because she was sucking on it. She informs me that the bear had peed... And then the pieces start to fall into place for me and when I pulled back the comforter I discovered a pee spot the size of Sydney. Wow I didn't know kids could pee that much, I guess I know now.
The end.
matt, heather, sydney and aubrey (our little "ayi" princess)
P.S. I added new pics that you can find on the right of our blog titled 2009.05.21 - Family Pictures. Click on it to go to the newest uploaded pictures going back to Aubrey's 1st Birthday. Or click here to go there directly, http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2017550&id=1196491857&l=80622a1985.
May 10, 2009
Matt's Birthday, Lawrence, and Language
This week we celebrated my (Matt) 26th birthday! I really don’t get into the whole birthday thing so we had more of a low key day which was nice. Outside of my wife cooking me a delicious breakfast and my family and friends Skyping me, we also managed to go out for dinner. We had Beijing Roast Duck….which is seriously the best Chinese food you can wrap your mind around. And after dinner we went to the newly opened Basken Robbins. I got a cotton candy ice cream cone… and seriously what more could a grown man want for his birthday?
This past week we’ve also been crazy busy. We’ve been hanging out with tons of our Chinese friends as well as our foreigner friends. One highlight for me was when I went to hang out with my friend Lawrence. In the past I’ve written about how each time he comes to see me he has to travel pretty far from his College campus. Well this week I told him I would make the journey out to see him at his campus and we had a great time. He took me to a restaurant that serves food from his home town which was amazing and then showed me around his campus as well as played some basketball. Here when I play basketball I’m the big inside guy under the hoop which is fun, as opposed to my role in the States which is the loser who can’t make any shots and who’s too small to play under the basket. It was cool to travel out to see him, thanks Lawrence!
I would also like to say that my wife’s language is so phenomenal. Like I said we have been pretty busy this week, but when our neighbor called us to drink some tea together we were happy to have him. He actually came over to our apartment for a couple hours or so and we chatted in Chinese the whole time. He doesn’t speak much English so all our communication needs to be done in Chinese. I was watching my wife talk and I was so impressed with how far we have both come in our language studies. At one point our neighbor told my wife that her Chinese was really good… and I guess he forgot to tell me mine was also good. Anyways, it’s been a good week these reasons and more.
Till next time,
the petersons
This past week we’ve also been crazy busy. We’ve been hanging out with tons of our Chinese friends as well as our foreigner friends. One highlight for me was when I went to hang out with my friend Lawrence. In the past I’ve written about how each time he comes to see me he has to travel pretty far from his College campus. Well this week I told him I would make the journey out to see him at his campus and we had a great time. He took me to a restaurant that serves food from his home town which was amazing and then showed me around his campus as well as played some basketball. Here when I play basketball I’m the big inside guy under the hoop which is fun, as opposed to my role in the States which is the loser who can’t make any shots and who’s too small to play under the basket. It was cool to travel out to see him, thanks Lawrence!
I would also like to say that my wife’s language is so phenomenal. Like I said we have been pretty busy this week, but when our neighbor called us to drink some tea together we were happy to have him. He actually came over to our apartment for a couple hours or so and we chatted in Chinese the whole time. He doesn’t speak much English so all our communication needs to be done in Chinese. I was watching my wife talk and I was so impressed with how far we have both come in our language studies. At one point our neighbor told my wife that her Chinese was really good… and I guess he forgot to tell me mine was also good. Anyways, it’s been a good week these reasons and more.
Till next time,
the petersons
May 4, 2009
Sydney’s Cockroach…. AND MORE!
We haven’t had cockroaches the entire time we’ve lived here in China and just within the past few weeks we’ve had a few encounters. Besides the random walk into a room and see one disappear, we’ve managed to avoid each other. But we had another kind of surprise the other day. In the past I’ve mentioned that we have a Chinese friend who comes to our house to watch our girls while Heather has class in the other room. Well I (Matt) came home to discover that our friend had caught a cockroach and put it into a plastic water bottle as a pet for Sydney. Sydney was so happy! She took it everywhere for a whole day, we also gave it a name, Herbie. So Herbie the cockroach was a family pet of ours for a solid day. He soon after met his demise.
Also, a month or so ago a lady who Heather had just met asked if she (Heather) would like to join a mothers group here. The goal was for the mother’s group to meet and support each other as everyone in the group is a foreigner living in China. Anyways, Heather went for the first time a few weeks back and found out of the five moms who will be meeting in this group, she is the only one who isn’t either a Doctor or Nurse (and only one of the moms is a nurse). Talk about intimidating. Both Heather and I barely graduated High School and neither of us went to College… so we are a bit nervous around educated folk. Although Heather is feeling like she hit the jackpot!
Lastly, Aubrey has been pulling herself up like crazy these days! She has been a bit slow to crawl and walk, but now crawls and we feel she will be walking soon. We freaked out the first time we saw her pull herself up and now Sydney gets in on it too. For example the other day Heather heard Sydney freaking out in the other room, when Heather came in the room Sydney was yelling “Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh!” Then Sydney called me on my cell phone for what I will call a two minute one way conversation. I’ve never heard Sydney scream so much.
Much Love,
Matt, Heather, and the Girls
Also, a month or so ago a lady who Heather had just met asked if she (Heather) would like to join a mothers group here. The goal was for the mother’s group to meet and support each other as everyone in the group is a foreigner living in China. Anyways, Heather went for the first time a few weeks back and found out of the five moms who will be meeting in this group, she is the only one who isn’t either a Doctor or Nurse (and only one of the moms is a nurse). Talk about intimidating. Both Heather and I barely graduated High School and neither of us went to College… so we are a bit nervous around educated folk. Although Heather is feeling like she hit the jackpot!
Lastly, Aubrey has been pulling herself up like crazy these days! She has been a bit slow to crawl and walk, but now crawls and we feel she will be walking soon. We freaked out the first time we saw her pull herself up and now Sydney gets in on it too. For example the other day Heather heard Sydney freaking out in the other room, when Heather came in the room Sydney was yelling “Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh!” Then Sydney called me on my cell phone for what I will call a two minute one way conversation. I’ve never heard Sydney scream so much.
Much Love,
Matt, Heather, and the Girls
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