conversations with eli

For this next story, you need some background:

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!

Alan, Donna and Jill come visit! Part 4: tired

Just in case you didn't believe me about our time together being fun-filled yet tiring, here are some photos that ought to convince you.

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!

Alan, Donna, and Jill come visit! Part 3: Xi'An

Our week-long trip to Xi'An was quite a lot of fun. We were fortunate to be able to stay in a friend's house for the duration. The city (an ancient capital of China) has quite a long history. We went to see the drum tower and the bell tower and took in performances at each. Alan, Donna and Jill always had their cameras ready and aimed at the kids and whatever they were doing.

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

Ahhh the Olympics, what a crazy time we had watching it. I had this love/hate for it by the third day. We just were too easily wrapped up in it all and even started watching events on TV that we had little to no interest in... We also were getting a little worried and disappointed when it took the Canadians so long to get their first medal, and how ironic that it was won for us by a Chinese who immigrated to Canada!

This next picture is a view that we had at one of our track and field events. We were pretty high up there!

I think in total there were 3 separate trips to Beijing to see the Olympics. Donna and I opted out of the last one as we were getting tired of all the commuting. We had tickets to see some soccer, track and field and volleyball. My favourite was watching the men's volleyball game. It was Poland versus Russia and we opted to root for the Poles because they border Czech Republic and their flag colours are red and white like Canada's. It was an exciting game to watch because the two teams were fairly evenly matched. Jill and I got some laughs and stares from the Chinese fans around us because we were cheering so loudly: "POLSKAAAAAAAAAA!"

Here's a good shot of Scott and his family on our way to Beijing. Each time we went, we also fit in some of the sights, like the Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Tian'men Square, The Great Wall. It made for some very full and tiring days, but at least we were realistic in not inflicting those long days on the kids, they happily stayed home with the babysitter and we happily went without them.

This is the famous Bird's Nest where we watched the track and field. I especially enjoyed the pole vault and the high jump events. It's amazing to see those events live, you get a greater appreciation for what they can do when you are right there watching it all.

Here's a picture of the outside of the Bird's Nest. Impressive!

And one of me cheering away with flags in my hair! I especially enjoyed the pole vault and the high jump events. It's amazing to see those events live, you get a greater appreciation for what they can do when you are right there watching it all.

Alan, Donna and Jill come visit! Part 1: the zoo.

Well it's about time I wrote about our three week visit from Scott's parents and sister in August! We had wonderful (if busy) time together. The first week was spent getting over jet lag and touring around our city, the second week we went to Xi'An to travel and see the sights while the third week was dominated by Olympic activities (if we weren't travelling to Beijing to see some event, we were watching it at home on TV).

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!