Wednesday, September 24, 2008
conversations with eli
Every week or so, Scott meets with a professor at a local university to talk philosophy. It is mutually beneficial: language practice for Scott and editing help for the professor (he wants to do some post-doctoral studies abroad). Anyways, the professor's area of expertise is Confucius and one day as I was putting Eli and Dana to bed Eli asked me for the third or fourth time where daddy was...I was getting tired of answering him and I knew that he already knew the answer so I asked him: "You tell me where daddy went, Eli." I said.
Eli thought for a moment and then said with certainty, "He went to go meet with Confucius."
A week or so later, Eli, Dana and I were playing at the park and Eli wanted me to sit next to him on the steps of the slide. "Mommy, sit down, I made room for you, " he said.
"Okay," I replied and sat down, keeping an eye on Dana and extending my hand for her to hold as she toddled up to join us.
"It's like we are on a date," Eli said. (He has by this time gotten used to Scott and I going out once a week, just the two of us).
"Yes it is Eli, kind-of...do you know what people usually do on dates?" I asked him.
Eli, without much pause said, "Talk about Confucius." Then he sprung up from his seat and catapulted himself down the slide looking about as pleased with himself as I was of him. How is it that not one, but TWO cartoon characters live with Scott and I?! God I love those kids!
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Alan, Donna and Jill come visit! Part 4: tired
Sleeping on the couch:
Sleeping on the bus:
Sleeping at the train station:
Too tired to smile for the camera:
Sleeping at the park (I know I already have one of Alan, but I couldn't resist):
I must say that just because I am not in these pictures doesn't mean I was not also a victim to exhaustion and therefore sleep in public places. I just don't have one picture of sleeping me on my camera. Honest! I would post it if I did!
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Alan, Donna, and Jill come visit! Part 3: Xi'An
It was pleasant just to walk around the city, although most days it was quite hot (30+ degrees C) so we had to keep the fluids up, not unusual (and actually probably necessary) to drink 4 litres a day!
We walked on the old city wall and then decided to rent bikes. Scott and I in a two-person bike and Jill in a single biked the whole 13km perimeter while Alan and Donna watched the kids and fed them ice cream to try to keep them cool and amused. Here's a picture of Donna and I in the "bicycle built for two " (which she sang as we rode!) as well as Scott riding beside us.
A real highlight for me was getting to go climb Mt. Hua, one of the famous mountains in China, with Scott and Jill. Alan and Donna graciously agreed to watch Eli and Dana for the two days and one night that we were away. It was about a 6 hour climb and we stayed in a motel at the top. That way we got to see the sunset AND the sunrise. No, this is not your regular mountain climbing or hiking experience, there are stairs all the way up, a gondola if you want, as well as vendors selling you water, fruit or instant noodles. The prices went up the higher you went.
My favourite picture that Scott took is below. Look at the sunlight ribbons streaming through the clouds and the little traditional Chinese structure on the edge of the mountain. Gorgeous.
We also went to see the famous terracotta warriors and other museums as well as an infamous art gallery that had art (and not a lot of it) stapled on the walls. It was my idea to go there as it was a rainy day...the consolation was that Eli had a large circular area to run around on pushing the stroller and that we went out for pizza afterwards!
Alan, Donna and Jill come visit! Part 2: the olympics
This next picture is a view that we had at one of our track and field events. We were pretty high up there!
Alan, Donna and Jill come visit! Part 1: the zoo.
One of the first things we did was go to the zoo together, you may be sick of hearing about our zoo adventures but remember that a Chinese zoo is really not like a North American zoo. It's truly a cultural experience, so we had to take our guests there. Plus Eli is not sick of the zoo yet.
Naturally we rented the little car that Eli could drive and we all took turns driving with him. Alan got to be the first. Here we are on the way to see the birds.
The bird "sanctuary" is an area about the size of a soccer field with a little man-made creek running through with a pond and quite a few types of birds that would ordinarily definitely not be seen together. There are ducks, swans, storks and even a vulture to be seen there. There are a lot of cages as well as a huge net over top to prevent the birds from flying away.
Then we went to see the bears. The panda bear is considered a special treasure in China, though it is endangered. Here he is feeding in the background of this picture, looking more energetic than in previous visits.
After that we decided to go feed the crocodiles. You can pay about 50 cents to rent this stick with a chunk of meat (chicken they said it was) tied on to it, then off you go to taunt and tease the crocs from various platforms that are above their swimming area. Again, not your regular zoo experience. Here are the fearless crocodile "hunters":
They seem so sluggish, and even sleep with their mouths wide open, but don't be fooled, they are FAST! They can sure startle you when they suddenly snap for the meat they pretended to not be very interested in! And the snap of their jaws echoes in the whole building!