play dates

We had a fun outing today with a new friend I met at the gym (Liu liu) and her son, named Qiao qiao. Qiao qiao is only 3 weeks older than Grace. He truly is a cutie, very well-behaved. I am really thankful for today's playdate, because I've been looking for some closer relationships with local folks. I think Liu liu and I can become good friends. I love my foreign friends who live here in our city; don't know what I'd do without them. But I really need to develop deeper friendships with Asians, too. I am a nerd and sometimes get a little nervous before meeting with a new friend. For instance, sometimes I think, "Will she get frustrated if I can't understand what she says?" "Will I do something culture-stupid?" But, we had a great time and I don't think I did anything too stupid! She even taught me a few new words today. It's funny how in spite of cultural differences, we are so much the same. Our kiddos had fun playing today and we enjoyed talking.

Grace was afraid to get in the ball-pit, but Qiao qiao made sure she had balls to play with anyway!

time for a hug...

Qiao qiao would smile really big when his mama asked him to...

We had a little mishap on the way home, but thankfully it turned out ok. As we were flagging down a cab, I saw a huge concrete truck driving way too fast and heading right for the cab. He didn't have time to stop and smashed into the back bumper of the cab. I'm thankful both drivers were ok and that the cab didn't run over us in the process!

Yesterday Grace and I also went to our first ever play group. It's made up of several foreigner ladies and includes 12 preschoolers! Whoa, that's a lot of kids! Apparently it's the first-ever "foreigner" play group in our city. I guess there is a need for us to connect with other like-minded moms and for our kids to play with other kids who are just like them because everyone jumped at the idea. Again, Grace had a blast. She gets a little bored with ole' mom that she really enjoys getting to play in a new environment.