We've been trying to go to two church services for a while, but it seems that there's been a lot of interruptions to that plan. Tomorrow will be like our fourth or fifth time to try to go to Chinese church. The idea is that going will be good for the kids and us to learn Chinese, as well as getting to worship with others and get plugged into the local community. Our friend Greg has also considered coming with us from time to time. Last time we went, Vikki was very drained - though a big part of that also came from the fact that we made a trip out to Xiaohe shan which is like two hours away...I think it might have taken us three hours that day for some reason...
Jay did some Christmas shopping today! It's all part of this crazy idea to bring back Christmas gifts to our families in June, and then ask them to keep it in their homes and not open the gifts for half a year. Why do we do this? To save on shipping of course!
Jay is also on a bit of a vacation at the moment. This weekend is the tomb-sweeping festival in China, where families go to the graves of their ancestors and deceased family members and sweep the tombs, also offering a bit of a sacrifice usually as well. Our good friend Victoria told me that for her family, it's a happy time because all her family members will get together and have a good time. This year her brother is coming from Spain and her family is excited about that.
Our school, and I guess most everywhere people will be off work on Monday, which Jay has off every week anyway...his biggest break is coming from the fact that the school in New Zealand for which our school has a joint program with (and Jay teaches 8 of his 14 hours for) is on spring break. No class in New Zealand means no class for Jay in China! It doesn't make much sense, but I like it.
We have offered to keep another American couple's three children for a sleepover one night during the next two weeks if they want to do that. Audriana would love that and I guess we're looking forward to it too.
We could possibly try to go to Jinhua again soon. ZUCC (our school in Hangzhou) wants to know by the 17th whether we intend to stay here again next year. We've been in contact with Zhejiang Normal University in Jinhua and have had some positive developments.
Joseph is getting so big! He coos and smiles for us often. Vikki wants to get family pictures during the next few weeks to have a record of when our boy was two months old.
Many people have a hard time accepting our family in China as we have two children. With the one-child policy in effect, most families in China don't have the option to even consider having more. We're such a spectacle here. The other day, there was a huge parade of students dressed up in different costumes. Some were horses, cats, sheep - there was a guy with a bag on his head...maybe a play? Vikki thought Halloween had come early. It was hard to say who was staring at who more. Us at them or them at us. Jay remarked to Vikki to wonder whether if both the costume party and our family were walking along the street, who would get the most gaggles? I think it might be a toss up. Some of our American friends might find that hard to understand. Typically in China, foreigners still get more attention. You might find some of the same treatment for rural parts of America in the midwest towards foreigners, though Americans in China have more of a 'celebrity' status. People want to take our picture, say hello, it can be overwhelming. This was much more true in Hunan - which is more central and inland, away from the more affluent areas on the coast. Hangzhou is much less like this, though Audriana gets a ton of attention. Many times we are out, people will give her trinkets or candies. She makes out very nicely at the Chinese church we have been going to. I was surprised while in Shanghai recently (which is very cosmopolitan) that we got attention there as well. You can see foreigners everywhere in Shanghai, I did not expect that we'd command much attention there - but we did get some, I guess especially due to our two children.
We have just about two months remaining before heading back to the states. We are already starting to look forward to the summer and hope to see many of our American friends while visiting with family. We have been told that we'll need to reserve our open-return plane tickets soon, otherwise we may not be able to come back until September! That would not be good.
Audriana has been getting 'potty' training ever since Grammy was here. We are slowly learning, I think. Recently though, she's started to take off her diaper by herself in bed, which I'm afraid will lead to an 'accident.' She's such a good girl - we're so blessed! However, recently she's started to test limits and become more independent, as is the norm with her age. We have been looking at pictures of her when we first came in September and from what she looks like now and it was hard for us to accept just how much she's grown. Such a bittersweet thing, parenting.
I wonder how our heavenly Father feels about that?
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