With Four You Get Eggroll » Babes in China

Class Photos.

Christie — Fri, 22 May 2009 06:38:22 +0000

We got P’s class photos back yesterday. Take a look. Do you notice anything about P that makes her stand out from the other kids?

I mean, other than the obvious? Let’s take a closer look.

Do you notice a giant chocolate bar in any other kids’ hands? I don’t. Where did she get it? Do the teachers communicate with her solely via candy? Are her classmates resentful? Does she eat these all day? No wonder her jeans are starting to look like sausage casings!

P Hearts Wee P.

Christie — Sat, 16 May 2009 05:29:00 +0000

Isn’t it obvious?

A Seed Planted.

Christie — Tue, 12 May 2009 02:43:53 +0000

I often wonder how much P will remember about her time in China. Given her age, it’s unlikely she’ll remember much. Nevertheless, I’m certain the experience will have a long-lasting, positive effect on her. First, being immersed all day in a Chinese school has allowed her to learn quite a bit of Mandarin. She loves saying, “I speak a little English and a little Chinese,” and she’s beginning to be able act as our interpreter when Ayi needs to tell us something. The other day, Ayi was going on and on about something that seemed relatively important, so I asked P to translate, and she said, “Ayi says Wee P’s feet are cold, and she needs socks.” At the very least, Wee P and her feet appreciate P’s language skills.

P will likely lose most of her Mandarin after we leave China, but research suggests that this early exposure to a second language will make foreign language acquisition easier for her in the future. Moreover, P’s exposure to difference will certainly have an effect on her ability to adjust to life changes and to tolerate and appreciate people with lifestyles different from her own. Given the United States’ changing role on the world’s stage, these will all be important skills for P to have as she grows up.

When I was just a little older than P is now, Marta, a student from Uruguay, lived with my family for nine months through a program called Youth for Understanding. Though I don’t have many memories of Marta’s time with us, I do remember a few things. For example, I remember all the great gifts she brought me and the constant stream of teenage boys into our house (Marta was gorgeous). I also remember thinking that her funny accent made her very, very cool. I’m positive that my exposure to Marta planted the seed that eventually led to my interest in other languages and cultures.

Marta is now a successful pediatrician in Uruguay and – get this – she reads this blog. So Marta, thanks for the seed – and for that really great poncho, too!

Marta and Wee C, circa 1976.

Kranky.

Christie — Mon, 11 May 2009 12:14:19 +0000

Did someone really think this would be a good name for a snack food marketed for kids?

P Hilton.

Christie — Mon, 11 May 2009 02:55:01 +0000

As I’ve mentioned before, P gets lots of attention when we’re out. For a while, she would scream at people who tried to take her photo, but now she’s learned to embrace her celebrity in true Hollywood fashion. We went to the Beijing Botanical Garden this weekend, and when the photogs descended, P flashed them her best smile and oh, so much more.

However, P still calls the shots, and when she thinks the photo shoot is over…

…it’s over. Fortunately, she allows her dad to capture the shots that elude the Chinese paparazzi.

Beijing 2009.

Christie — Sat, 02 May 2009 07:44:06 +0000

Wednesday was Olympics Day at P’s school, and all the parents were to come and participate in various relay races with their kids. I had no idea this was the plan – I only knew Chris and I were expected to be at her school wearing comfortable shoes that morning. We began to figure out what was going on when we saw the opening ceremonies. Here’s P’s class’ arrival.

You can’t see P in the shot above, because she insisted on bringing up the rear. She seemed to be as confused about what was going on as we were. You’ll notice that her buffoonish parents didn’t get the message to dress her in her school uniform that day. As if she doesn’t stand out enough already…

A couple of weeks ago, a teacher had me sign P’s name on a mystery form at school in two places. Apparently, I was signing up for the two events P would participate in on Olympics Day. I was a bit nervous about learning which two I had selected. I was afraid we might end up jumping around in potato sacks, and I had a feeling nothing good would come from that. Luckily, it seems the Chinese don’t do potato sack races. Moreover, we were spared this hoop-jumping event, which seemed to hold a lot of potential for humiliation.

P’s first event involved balancing a ball on two sticks and transporting it to the finish line. P and Chris finished dead last.

My event with P was more difficult. I had to throw foam tiles on the ground for P to run across. Each time she stepped off a tile, I had to grab it and throw it in front of her to step on again.

It was exhausting, and I fear the experience served to further reinforce P’s strongly-held belief that I exist solely to serve her. We came in dead last, by the way.

Despite our lack of medals, we had fun. I’ll leave you with your own event. It’s called Find the White Kid. Try your hand at it.

A Pony for P.

Christie — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 05:06:32 +0000

P has always been a super sociable kid, but I was still a bit nervous about her friend-making abilities when she started going to daycare a couple of days a week last August. To my relief, she came home the first day talking about Kaden, her new best friend. From that point on, every time I asked P what she did at daycare, she’d tell me simply that she played with Kaden. One day, I asked a teacher to point out Kaden to me. The teacher looked confused and informed me that Kaden had moved away months ago. This made me very sad. My child’s “best friend” didn’t exist.

I’ve therefore been more than a little skeptical about P’s daily stories about her Chinese friend, Pony. I was certain this friend didn’t exist outside her imagination. I mean, who names a kid Pony? Well, today I found out I was wrong. As we approached the school, P saw a little boy and his father and immediately ran up, took the boy’s hand, and walked with him the rest of the way to the classroom.

Chris must have exchanged a few words with the father, because he looked back at me and excitedly whispered, “That’s Pony!” It turns out the kid’s English name is Tony, so it seems P just misunderstood her Chinese friend’s pronunciation of his own name. Mystery solved! I’m now thinking there might be a kid named something like Payden at P’s American school.

But back to Pony – Can P pick them, or what? The cuteness is killing me!

Folsom Preschool.

Christie — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 11:22:30 +0000

P’s school serves the kids three hot meals a day, but other than a few bites of rice and an occasional bun, P refuses to eat the school’s food. I’ve been really surprised by this – I was sure that within a week, peer pressure would kick in, and I could stop packing P’s supplemental peanut butter sandwiches. After all, look at how much the other kids seem to dig the food.

I happened to witness breakfast this morning. I get it now. Here’s what the kids were eating.

Let’s see – a steamed bun, a boiled egg, and a bowl of gruel. I’ll be the first to admit that this meal is probably far more nutritious than most served at American preschools, but I’m with P – I don’t think I could choke down much of it either. It’s a good thing I bought a new jar of Skippy yesterday.

The Bucket Bath.

Christie — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 08:40:20 +0000

There are many, many things I will miss about China; however, bathing my children in a bucket on the bathroom floor is not one of those things. Wee P seems not to mind, though.

Though I’m not thrilled with the means, the sweet-smelling, combed-over end is more than worth it.

N.B.: I realize I missed a little boogey action in the left nostil. I’ll get it next month…

Tomb-Sweeping Day.

Christie — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 01:54:42 +0000

I received the following email from one of my students on Saturday morning.

Dear Professor,

Today is a special day for our Chinese People. We call it Tomb-sweeping Day. During this day, we would go out for “Spring Country Walk” to get close to the nature and feel the coming of spring. Also, we will take this day to go to the tombs of our ancestor, our relatives and the martyrs for the country, to show our memorize and worship for them so that they would not feel lonely.

So just go out and enjoy the sunshine!

Yours,

Kid (Kid is the English name he chose for himself, by the way.)

We heeded Kid’s advice and took P out for a bike ride around the Tsinghua campus Saturday morning. Here are some shots from our ride.

Below is a shot of P and Chris in front of a statue of Confucius. When P first saw it, she said, “Look! It’s a Chinese statue of the greatest Chinese thing ever.”

Directly in front of the statue was a group of women singing together. We met an elderly man (a retired Tsinghua administrator), who happened to speak English and who translated the lyrics for us. Song after song had similar lyrics that all went something like this, “Oh, Chairman Mao, how great you are. Look, the sun rises in the East. This is because of you, Chairman Mao!”

The irony of the Mao-loving singers standing beneath the looming Confucius statue wasn’t lost on me.

P, as always, got a lot of attention. Lately, the attention makes her really mad, but she tolerated these women and even allowed them to take her photo a couple of million times. She didn’t even take a swing at them when they said, “Hello, little American baby,” over and over.

As you can see, spring has almost sprung here.

These dancers clearly got Kid’s email, too.

So did this guy.

So did these guys, who spent the morning taking it easy under a statue of Wu Han.

Even though we didn’t get a chance to “memorize and worship” our ancestors, relatives, and martyrs, I’d say it was a well-spent Tomb-Sweeping Day.