A Picture of Daddy

Carter drew this picture of me (and clouds and grass) at school last week. It's pretty cool to know that your kids do think of you once in a while.

Ao Te Man!

Ao Te Man is how the Chinese pronounce Ultraman - a Japanese sci-fi collection of superheroes. Carter and Nathan are absolutely fixated with every Ultraman character (they are many Di Jia, Cai Wen, etc) and they know all the moves. They spend most nights watching UM and then choreographing fight scenes. There is the occasional cry from Nathan as Carter simply refuses to be any of the monster characters (Guai Shou) but for the most part it occupies them for hours.

For Halloween (yeah I haven't updated in awhile eh?) they both had to be Ao Te Man characters ... as posted on Craig's blog here it was a great event but mind numbingly cold and by the end of the hour of trick or treating many kids refused to leave the warmth of the car.
My Ultramen

Hooked On Phonics!

Ok .. everyone tells you how wonderful parenthood is and "they" always talk about the joys of watching your children learn and grow. I never paid much attention to prior to having children but "they" were right.

Carter has been curious about reading for a long while now (about a year) but tonight was the first breakthrough moment (like on Star Trek when they made First Contact with the Vulcans). He knows his alphabet and the sounds of all the letters. He's learned to spell words like his name and several superheroes and he can write anything he can spell. All very cool things and I loved watching each of those skills develop BUT tonight he figured out how to sound out words. NOTHING has been as cool as that moment was tonight.

We had just started reading Bambi Grows Up. He opened the book and pointed at the word 'deep' and asked how to read it. He asked what sound does 'e' make. I had to tell him the sound of 'ee' and then he slowly put it all together. When he read the word he didn't even know what he had said. It was a beautiful moment and we were both so happy and excited we hollered for Alice to come and see his new talent. With much prompting he read 'Bambi' 'Grows' and 'Up'. He needed much less prompting for 'Jack' and 'and'. I had to tell him what 'the' was and I think 'beanstalk' was a bit much for me to hope for.

I'm verklempt.

Pumpkins

Alice and the kids along with the Defieuxs and the Englesons ventured out in the countryside for a second consecutive weekend. This trip wasn't for apples but pumpkins. With Halloween fast approaching it has become something of a tradition to venture forth to farming villages to buy pumpkins. The procedure is simple enough. Find a small community/village/neighbourhood and ask if they have pumpkins for sale. Most do at this time of the year and they are only too willing to part with them for the requisite $$. I can only imagine they stories they tell around the dinner table about the van of foreigners that pulled up with kids in tow seeking to buy pumpkins.

For a second straight weekend I didn't join the group as walking around the countryside on crutches just isn't that much fun. I did it last year but this year I've just struggled and laboured a bit more with them and elected to stay home. I am not sure if it was the right decision .. it certainly wasn't a happy one but I think it was necessary. Well enough self-pity .. the pics.




I contributed to the venture in the only way I can which is to carve the pumpkins with the boys. Carter took his turn at the knife and did a pretty good job for the most part. Nathan "had a stab at it" so to speak but I've decided he can wait a year before trying again.

The first one we carved was a simple Ultraman face. Next up?? Keep checking back.

An Apple A Day

Last weekend the family set out to the Chinese countryside to pick fresh apples. Unfortunately traipsing around the countryside on crutches is not very enjoyable and I opted out on a cool activity. Nathan asked me "How come you always stay home?" Alice and the kids were in good company however as they were joined by the Englesons and the Moshers for what looked like a beautiful day. Carter made sure to pick the biggest, shiniest and juiciest apple for me (or so he says) which warmed this father's heart.

Never Assume

Cause as the old line goes you make and ass out of u and an ass out of me.

On that note I give you "The Assumption Song"

Where The Wild Things Are

Some memories of childhood are so pervasive that even through the hazy looking glass of a life that has been lived they are crystal clear.

Grade 2 Ms. (or Mrs.) Bunnell's Grade 2 class as we looked through the Scholastic book order with as much anticipation as the Sears Christmas catalogue. The Scholastic catalogue was a cornucopia of all the goodness that books had to offer a young child. I am not sure when I lost the passion (or maybe I just have less time) but when I was young I loved to read. Sure it was mostly comic books but just books in general especially new ones were particularly exciting. In Ms. Bunnell's class was when I saw the writeup and the front page graphic for one of the most well known children's books of all time, "Where The Wild Things Are."



What a beautiful book. A timeless classic written in 1963 by Maurice Sendak. He reportedly based the creatures in the book on relatives that would come over for weekly dinners. That makes it even more charming.

The movie adaptation by Spike Jonze was released this week and I for one am clamouring to see it. Hopefully our local cinema in Dalian takes pity and decides to show this one in English. I'd love love love to take the boys.

Lavender Bath

When you are on crutches the daily shower gets replaced with the (hopefully) daily bath. We should all take the time to slow down and enjoy a good hot bath now and then. Unfortunately until the stitches come out I am forced to drape one leg out of the tub but soon (Tuesday) the stitches are gone and I am going to enjoy this small luxury.

The bath is THE ONLY GOOD THING about being on crutches and nothing says bath like the soothing smell of lavender bath salts and bubble bath. Yes I am secure enough in my masculinity to admit that it's lavender all the way for me.

Cheers

Tibial Nail

This past week I entered in the Kai Fa Qu #3 Hospital to have the rod/nail (both terms are used) that was holding my broken bones together removed. It was held in place by several screws and as fate would have it one of them was broken. Bone had grown enough to hold it in place so I was unaware it had even happened.

The complications of the broken screw turned a 30 minute surgery into a 2 hour affair. Essentially an extra hole was drilled into my ankle to reach the broken piece and it was tapped out of the newly drilled hole. After all screws were removed the kneecap and patellar tendon were moved aside and the rod/nail was pulled from my tibia. I was fortunate to be able to keep the hardware and have brought it into my classes for show and tell.


I put a CD beside it to give a size reference.
Note the broken screw.



One more month on crutches to allow some bone to fill in the screw holes left behind and I should be back to walking in no time.

Carter

Time for another update of one of the children .. this time its Carter. This morning he woke me up and asked if I wanted to see a drawing of a hot air balloon. Naturally I said yes and he trucked off to the easel and drew this.


While he may not be a Picasso he has reached another mental development stage - drawing from memory something which he has not been shown how to draw.

He has taken a keen interest in Math since he was very young which of course makes his Math teacher father very happy. Below is some of his work.
This first page he did mentally (without using any manipulatives like rocks, cubes or even fingers).


This next page was difficult for him but he chose the page to do and we let him do his thing. He first started using hangers from the clothes rack as countable objects but when he realized he didn't have enough he switched to Pogs (or kapian in Chinese).

And perhaps 11-1 is 16 in another form of mathematics. He said he was trying to write 10 but got mixed up.

It's very interesting to watch the young minds develop along the paths they do.

The Operation

I check into the hospital on Sunday and hopefully go back again on Tuesday or Wednesday to have this removed from my leg.


This will put me on crutches for a month but supposedly it won't be too bad according to the fine medical professionals at the #3 Hospital. I'm hoping this will put the whole thing to rest.

A New Car!

You're the next contestant on The Price is Right. I loved seeing the people's joy when they find out the prize they are playing for was a new car.

We had much the same level of excitement here last week when we took possession of our new (well .. new to us) car! Yes it is official we are officially "keeping up with the Zhangs" so to speak. After several weeks of searching and deliberating we are now the proud owners of a 2002 Volkswagen Jetta. It's pretty exciting but those that have witnessed Chinese traffic know we have a steep learning curve ahead of us. Chinese traffic can be summed up as "a bicycle mentality behind the wheel of a car." Will keep you posted on our adventures with that.

Here are the pics




And for those that have never driven in China here is my wife's hometown in winter 2004

A Day Out

Ventured out to the new campus of our school for a day with friends. Carter tagged along and had some friends of his own to play with. He proved to be a good hitter in T-Ball but catching needs a bit of work. A friend was kind enough to snap these beautiful photos





Nathan needed his afternoon nap so he went shopping with his Mama instead of making the trek.

Ma Jiang 麻將

Last night Alice and I along with the Englesons had adults night out. Did we go to a bar? Dancing? A movie? No.. when in China do as the Chinese do .. we went to a tea house and rented a room to play Ma Jiang (麻將). In North America it is called Mahjong. I'm not talking about the solitaire type computer game .. that is not even closely related to the real game.

Ma Jiang is played by 4 players around a table. You get 13 (or sometimes 16) tiles of various values and various suits. A remaining wall (the Chinese are fascinated with their walls) of tiles stays in the middle for you to draw from. Here is a game in progress.




As I've described the basic play is very similar to most card games. The tiles make all the difference though. There is something cool about handling those tiles that a card hand can never achieve. The sound they make when "shuffling" them is pretty cool as well.



The set pictured above is very similar to the one we use. Although there are a few tiles I don't recognize.

There are many variations on the game but the basic idea is similar to each variation. In our variation to win you have to have four melds (3 of a kind, 4 of a kind or "run" of 3)in addition to 1 pair. The total is thus 14 tiles (13 in your hand plus the 14th one required to complete all the melds). There are additional requirements
1) One of them MUST be a 3 or 4 of a kind.
2) You must have a 1 OR 9 in one of your melds or pair.
There are other small intricacies about how you draw these tiles but that is the general idea.

The first to go out collects money from everyone else based on some very complicated schemes which always seem to leave me paying much more than everyone else (ie. dealer pays double if they lose, you pay double if you give the winning tile etc).

It looks remarkably complex when you first start to play and there are times when you think you might never get it. We found that after 3 or 4 games we were proficient enough to play but were very slow compared to the Chinese.

I'm hooked .. plain and simple.

To Live - Huo Zhe 活者

One of the most beautiful movies I have ever seen is a Chinese film called Huo Zhe (活者) which means "To Live" or "Lifetimes". It chronicles the story of a couple (Fu Gui and Jia Zhen) as they "live" through the various ages of China's 20th century. The story follows their lives from the 40's through to the Cultural Revolutionary times of the 1970's. The cinematography, the music, the characters and the story weave together to form a fascinating tale. Not sure if you can rent it at a store near you but it is possible to watch it in its entirety on YouTube (part by part of course). Watch the sample below.

Hi

Well ..haven't posted in awhile but life has still been going on.

We have moved to a new campus at my teaching job and moved from 50 minute to 75 minute classes. These big changes have kept me pretty busy workwise.

The kids are back in school and are now there full days. We are hoping to start swimming lessons for them this month but that awaits to be seen.

We have started "kicking the tires" in terms of looking at buying a used car. Promises to be a fun adventure and I will keep updating our progress.

All I have to offer today is a picture of Nathan and his friend Brendan showing off the latest art project they did in school.

Maybe He Shoulda Wore A Helmet

Upon our return to China several of us have commented on the difference in our cultures when it comes to safety. China is at the end of the spectrum where very little attention is paid to safety and Darwinism is allowed to run its course. Canada is at the other end of the spectrum where our safety requirements and regulations almost hamper the society. In either event I am sure that neither country warns against putting small mechanical motor cars on your head however if you do this might happen to you . . .




Nathan's hair was inextricably wound around the rear axle of the car and no amount of twisting and turning would free it. In the end we had to cut it free. He found no where near as funny as we did.

Just to be safe we are going to put a helmet on him 24/7

Thanks A Million!

We probably don't say it often enough but we love you. The whole fam damily wants to thank you both for putting us up and putting up with us for the whole summer. We always wish we could stay longer and there seems there is never enough time but we appreciate the time we do get to spend together.


We are sorry for invading your room and your privacy but you were a great host kid! Your cousins love you and miss you and I certainly miss swordfighting on the Wii. Look out though we are probably going to get one for Christmas and I am going to practice a lot! Alice looks forward to playing 31 for loonies next year!

Love to you all
Darren, Alice, Carter and Nathan

World Pipe Band Champions!

For the 6th time Simon Fraser University's Pipe Band has won the World Pipe Band Championships in Scotland. Take that ya redhaired, haggis eating bahstarrrrd sods!

As Leonard Cohen might say
First we take curling
Then we taking Piping

CandyLand

Marshall was a great cousin and babysat Nathan while we were at the pool so that I could enjoy some relaxing time in the hot tub. His reward? $$$$? Well .. not exactly. A trip to the Candy Store just up the road where he purchased candy with reckless abandon. A nice couple with a 4 year old boy run this CandyStore (affectionately called CandyLand in our household) on their private property.



They have all flavours of candy both new and throwbacks to the 19th century. I felt like the Olsen kids on Little House on the Prairie just stuffing my hands in the jars and gobbing mouthfuls of candy.

They have put up a few displays on the property that you can pose beside. Here are the posers.








The store has been open for years but then closed down as the original propietors sold the property. The new owners had no intention of running a business and were merely looking for a place to call home. They underestimated the popularity of the joint and the first weekend they moved in they had 25 cars stop in looking for candy. Thus it has now become their life. And we were glad for that tonight.