30 days old

We have friends who recently returned from Hong Kong to deliver their baby. In this country, when a woman delivers a baby, she is supposed to stay indoors for a month and rest. ("zuo yuezi" is literally translated "sit for a month.") Often, when a baby is 30 days old, the family will prepare red eggs and give them out to friends they might see while outdoors. If someone gave them a gift, they are supposed to give out two red eggs.

So today, baby Levi's mom (a foreigner who decided to go ahead and follow the fun tradition) gave me 2 red eggs and passed out a total 18 eggs to commemorate Levi's 30th day. Now she can leave the house without getting scolded by the grandmas!

Grace wanted to love on baby Levi, so we let her hold him. He's a sweet and very laid-back baby!

school-time

Well, these are not great pictures and this post may only interest the grandparents, but being the still relatively-new parent that I am, I of course feel the need to post about it...

We were shocked a few weeks back to discover our new local mall was offering gymboree-type classes for babies and toddlers. The place was sparkling clean. I mean, one day I went and they were actually cleaning the balls with bleach water if you can believe it. Plus, the teachers have VEEERY standard asianese (hard to come by over here). So we went for a trial visit, took the plunge and bought the 12-class package to get Grace and Mom a little more socialization and to hopefully let Grace pick up more of the local language.

After our first 2 classes, I wondered what we had done because Grace was very clingy and didn't want to participate. But, by the third class she was getting into the routine and started enjoying herself.

So now, when we go:

Step 1: We take off our shoes and the teachers give the kiddos special skid-proof shoes so no one hurts themselves with all the running around they're going to do.

Step 2: Decide which of the fun toys to play with before the hour-long class starts.

Step 3: Grace runs into the classroom and sits on her mat right away because she's so anxious for class to begin.
Step 4: Sing the welcome song, take roll, shake hands with the teacher, sing songs, read stories, learn about stars or animals or body parts or whatever fun curriculum the teachers have in store. (Here, Grace is still doing the motions to the welcome song.)
And of course, be sure to sway your hips and dance.
Step 5: If Daddy is in town and doesn't have class of his own, join him for lunch.

(Angela, if you're reading today, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Love you, sister!!!)

what's that?

Well, I am attempting to upload pictures tonight but it appears that won't happen. Maybe tomorrow. Instead, here's a short story. I know it's a bit unusual (for this country, at least) that we live around so many trees. In fact, our city is nicknamed, "the green city" because we actually have a few parks. Anyway, yesterday my helper suddenly called out, "Brigitte, come here, look out the window! There's an animal that looks like a rat but it has long hair! What is that?" In her 34 years of life, my helper had never, ever, ever... seen a squirrel.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We're finishing up Thanksgiving in Asia and thinking of you in the US as you begin the day. Hope it's a great one! We've had a really fun day. Some friends of ours had 5 family members come to visit, and they brought all sorts of traditional food from the States. They made an absolute feast and hosted over 40 people. I'm telling you, they worked their fingers to the bone! I felt down-right guilty that I got off so easy this year, only making a pumpkin pie and bringing drinks. But it was such a special time, and after we ate each of us shared what we are thankful for. There truly was a sweet spirit there. It's amazing how you become "instant family" with folks when you live together overseas.

It's true, we should be thankful everyday. But I'm glad we have a day to be reminded of that which we so often take for granted.

Sending love from Asia!

picture of a picture, of a picture

I'm letting you see the messiness of my dining area because I thought this was funny. We had dinner guests over tonight. They arrived 2 hours late. (Yes, 2 hours...schedules change on a dime here and time isn't always viewed like we're used to.) So, because they arrived at 8:30, Grace had already gone to bed. Our friend wanted to take a picture of Grace's picture to show her friends. She also got me to go into her bedroom and take a photo while she slept, but it didn't turn out so well.

fuzzy jammies

It's finally gotten cold enough for warm fuzzy jammies.


Here, Grace is asking to go outside and look for an "ayi" (auntie) neighbor who sometimes porch sits at the same time.
"Thanks Nana and Pappaw for my new jammies!"

porch time

Grace loves to go outside and play. So, of course I take her out every day. Problem is, it's 63 stairs to get to our 4th floor apartment. So, sometimes when she is cranky and I don't want to lug her (again) up and down the stairs I opt to let her read books on our back porch. For her, it's the next best thing to getting out.

Asian food festival

I do enjoy the fall, in the US and in Asia. Here, each October brings a "beautiful food festival" where you can sample any kind of meat-on-a-stick and a variety of other exotic foods. OK, not all of them are exotic, because they had cotton candy, too! About 10 days ago, 5 of us headed there for a night of "eat-at-your-own-risk" fun. By the end of the night, the 5 of us (including Grace) downed deer, ostrich, alligator and shark meat, cotton candy, sesame bread, milk tea, and fruit crepes. Almost as healthy as a night at the state fair! At least I brought some carrot sticks to redeem some nutritional value for Grace. We passed on things such as stinky tofu (yes, real name) and fried insects. And, happy to say, no one got sick.

This guy was so proud of his sesame flat bread.

Keeping the meat really fresh
These guys did a fun dance while trying to sell their barbecued squid-on-a-stick
The pineapple crepes were great!
Kevin's theory is that anything tastes better on a stick (or fried)...He's quite the carnivore.