Oishi Potato Chips

OISHI means "delicious" in Japanese - which is where these chips came from! This is the main brand of Potato Chips that we can find out here, and Oishi has a full line of packaged snacks. They have EVERY flavor imaginable, except ones that are familiar to us Californians.

We tried the 8 Treasures Flavor (a famous soup), but have yet to sample the following:

Lobster in Salt & Pepper
Scallops in Black Bean Sauce
Braised Pork
Wasabi Flavor
Curry Beef
Stir Fried Shrimps with Shallots
Roasted Goose

They sound more like entrees than Potato Chips. The girls really love the "Pea Snacks" which boast of Zero grams Trans Fat, and contain real peas! For a packaged snack - this is pretty good for our area of the globe!

Eden wants to learn too!

Most mornings, Asia and I sit and read together for her homeschooling curriculum. She is learning from so many rich books, and growing in incredible ways. Eden has been asking to "do school" too, so I started introducing different letters & sounds, as well as Art into her day. I had no idea she would be ready to write letters! They look so studious side-by-side.

Eden traced an entire sheet of E's - with such precision and care.

She was so proud of herself!

it got cold again....

We eagerly await signs of Spring - but instead we've been given tons of fresh white powdery snow!! Right behind our apartment building is a big parking lot for long distance Buses, and also a Driver's Training School Course - which translates to "large area to run around and play in the snow." When it snows here, almost instantly there are masses of people who come outside with their shovels & ice-picks, to clear away the "mess" so that vehicles can use the roads. Also, by 1-2 days later - all the white has turned to black, with the coal soot & mud. It goes without saying that we LOVE to find UNshoveled areas of snow so that the kids can play!! These open spaces are few when you live in a large city of 4 million. We quickly bundled up and enjoyed a few hours making snowballs, snow-angels & digging forts in the snow, with some neat little friends too.

Asia is quite skilled in snow-angel designs.
Eden really enjoyed digging and making herself a fort in the snow. She didn't mind being cold at all, which is a huge change from last year! I think she is finally beginning to enjoy the cold weather!
While we were playing, daddy came home from class and joined us outside. Our snowball tossing began to attract a crowd, and 4-5 boys walking home from school joined in the fun. Justin threw the first snowball, and they timidly joined in. Five little boys against Justin & Raj was quite humorous.
Everyone was laughing hysterically! I think the boys were so excited to have a snowball fight with 2 foreign men, as it was probably a strange sight. In the end, Justin got tackled and they were all covered in snow. It was a friendly battle of course!

Here's all the boys post snowball-fight. Such JOY!!

The girls "kept warm" in their forts.
(there's the shoveled parking lot behind them)

Spring is around the corner?? Not holding my breath!

the Peoples' Square

The weather warmed up briefly last weekend - and we decided to get outside together and get some exercise & fresh* air. We took a bus to the People's Square (just 5 stops from our street) and walked around the square: people watching, climbing and simply enjoying the 38 degree weather! As much as we love getting outside - the girls aren't fond of all the layers of clothing. It's an effort to get out the door but worth it!

The square is quite large, taking up an entire block - with a tall monument in the middle, surrounded by cement pathways, planter boxes & people everywhere! The ice skating "rink" is gone now, but is replaced by children flying kites with their grandparents, ride-along toys of all sorts, a massive Jumbo Screen blaring Chinese advertisements, people offering to take your picture, kids feeding pigeons, and older men playing cards with loud shouts. The best part is seeing children bundled up in adorable outfits, puffy jackets and rosy red cheeks. This is the place to be.

The girls spied the little Kiddie Ride off to the side, and for 75 cents (5 kuai) they got to take a spin in a colorful spaceship. A highlight for them!

how to properly sip tea

Wait patiently for your tea to be poured. Smiling big helps.
Cup the teacup with your hands and bring to mouth. Be careful...it can be hot!
I love sipping tea!!

back to school

This week - Justin started his fourth semester of Mandarin! Here he is on the way out the door, dressed warm - with earmuffs too. He's even taking out the garbage on his way, at 6:45 in the morning! Here's our front door...leading out into the hallway.

He takes the bus (45 minutes one way + walking) and studies or listens to podcasts while he commutes across town. The past few trips - he's had to stand up, since all the seats were taken. He has 2 great teachers - and only about 5-7 other students studying alongside him. This is the Zhong Ji Ban (中级班 = intermediate class). His spoken Chinese is quite good, since he's been working on starting the business & speaking with people often. He hasn't studied the characters as much, so there is always room for improvement! We are so glad to be studying at XAU again, and we have really appreciated all the help from our Waiban (外办 = foreign students office).

little friend at the door

This morning I heard some pounding at the door, followed by a few doorbell rings...followed by more pounding. Whoever is at the door must really want in. I open the door to find little gege (哥哥 big brother) wanting to come in to play.

We have never met little gege 哥哥 before, but he ducks under my arm and barges right in. I try to converse with him a bit (to make sure his family knows where he is) and then he is off to explore the house. Every nook and cranny. Every toy. Every non-toy (I had to remove him from playing on Justin's laptop). He didn't enjoy listening to me and he didn't take "no" for an answer. I got the impression that he gets what he wants in his home. The girls played well with him, but I was a bit flustered as I raced about making sure things didn't get broken or flushed down the toilet. He definitely kept me on my toes!

It was really fun to make a new friend and for the girls to interact despite language chasms. They all played with hand motions, creative demonstrations, and slowly pronounced English. ~Very fun to observe! He went home before lunch, and I sighed in relief. He was more challenging than having three kids.

Later in the afternoon there was another knock (ahem, pounding) - and again little gege decides he is back to play again (he barges in without waiting). This time I politely asked him to come another time, since it was Syd's naptime, and the girls' QT. I don't think I am ready for constant visitations, yet! We plan to have him over again tho, and we have a reason to visit - since he left his metal toy gun. Only brave Sydney would touch it.

international Artist Trading Card swap

This is the first time I have ever heard of an ATC swap - but I would highly recommend doing this with your children if you have the opportunity. I am sure you could find them going on at any given time. Basically, Asia created her own unique piece of art for 6 small trading cards - and sent them to 6 children all over the globe. Most of her cards were sent to places in the US and one was sent to Australia!

For her cards, she cut up colored tissue paper, and glued them into a mosaic. Then we cut them into the right size and mounted them on the card. Each card is different: with colors of pink, purple, blue, green, red & magenta. They are quite colorful. She had such a great time painting the glue onto each mosaic piece - and covering the entire page. She was so tedious and precise with each placement and color. I am so glad we joined the group - over 900 kids were involved in this ATC swap!! We love to encourage her creativity - and the sharing of art with kids around the world makes it even more special.

Here are her finished masterpieces! (she took this picture herself too)