Dancing with the Chinese

I wasn't exactly looking forward to this season of Dancing with the Stars. I mean, everyone's heard of Kirstie Alley, but the rest of the cast hasn't made US Weekly in years-- if ever!

But I was surprised to find I really liked the show. There are several front-runners, but unlike the last couple seasons, there isn't an especially experienced dancer among them. They're all just learning, and I think it will make for a great competition!

Oh, how I hope Hulu will work in China!

Anyway, the part that makes me laugh every time is when the star is learning a brand-new dance step, and while they're just stumbling through the basic steps, their coach is shouting, "Okay now, look up! Smile! Exude confidence! Don't look down!"

How crazy is that?! I mean, on the one hand, if you learn the steps while frowning at your feet, you'll be more likely to perform that way-- but on the other hand, give them a break! They're just beginning!

It reminds me of my piano lessons in high school. I'd show up to my lesson just learning the notes to a new song. As I'd sit there and struggle to hit all the sharps and flats, my teacher would tell me, "Hey, that's a staccato! This section is forte! Now, lift your hand at the end of the phrase!"

How crazy is that?! I mean, I'm missing notes so much that it hardly sounds like music, and you're worried about dynamics? Phrasing?! Aaaaah! (pulls out hair)

Now I'm teaching one of my friends Chinese. I'll teach her to say some difficult Chinese word, requiring vowels we don't really use in English, such as 橘子 (ju2 zi, tangerine). She repeats it after me several times, eventually with the right sounds coming out of her mouth. I should congratulate her: "Good job! You've mastered this ridiculously difficult sound of this crazy foreign language!"

But no, I'm not satisfied-- we need the right TONES! Sure, the sound you made said "ju zi," but you didn't say the right tone, so I'm sorry, it just doesn't mean anything close to what you meant. It needs to go up, like you're saying a question. Yes, kind of like that, but now we need the same vowel sound, same consonants, different tones.

They should make a new reality-TV show about learning Chinese. The ratings would go through the roof!

Sorting stuff

So, how many states have you been in this morning? Well, thanks for asking! I've actually been in 4 states-- 5 if you count DC-- all before 10:30 AM!

I had an appointment in Hagerstown, MD, to go visit our storage stuff out there. When I was looking at the map last night, I realized that Hagerstown is in the really narrow part of Maryland, right where West Virginia and Pennsylvania squeeze together to try and pinch off part of the state.

I'd never been to West Virginia or Pennsylvania before, and the opportunity to add 2 more states to my repertoire with such minimal effort was really too much to pass up. So, once I'd finished visiting my storage stuff, I drove for 5 miles in both directions (WV first and then north to PA), and checked those off my list!

West Virginia is lovely. It's Wild and Wonderful, if you want to know. I'd seen pictures of the Smokey Mountains and the Blueridge Mountains, and I might have seen some of those. Or they might have just been small hills. Out here in the East, it's hard to tell.

Pennsylvania is a hoot. I was there for about a minute and saw a lovely RV parking lot and a street called Mason-Dixon Road. It's right on the border, which I believe is the Mason-Dixon line.

I would make a fantastic tour guide.

And about our storage, it was very exciting. I went to a warehouse that looked remarkably like this:
I peeked down the aisles for a crate with loads of metal magnetically stuck to the sides, but that must be a different storehouse. Oh, and the rows were much neater and straighter. But otherwise it was straight out of Indiana Jones.

The last time I'd seen this storage stuff was when we were living in Boise in 2009. After Boise, we packed it all up and took it to Washington when we lived with Kevin's parents. I saw some of it then, but 75% of it was just stored in boxes in their crawlspace. Then we took a carload of our things to live in New Mexico, and the rest of everything stayed in Washington until Kevin got this job in DC. Then some movers went to Washington, loaded up our things, wrote esoteric labels on the boxes, and shipped them to storage here in Maryland.

I was excited to see our mysterious storage.

Our things were stored in two shipping crates. Our crates were set aside, and my job was to sort the packages into 3 piles: export to China as HHE (household effects), keep in the warehouse as longterm storage, and take with me today. Most of the items were identifiable, and it was easy to decide where they went. Our kitchen stuff and nice office chair will come with us to China, as will most of everything. Our dining room chairs, larger furniture, microwave, and vacuum will stay in long term storage. And my goal for the day was to take my baby stuff home with me. Easier said than done.

I'd narrowed it down to about 4-5 boxes.

This was based on the labels, which were "linens," "clothes," or "stuffed animals." And let me tell you, it wasn't just stuffed animals in that 50-lb box! It was a big guessing game, since I wasn't allowed to open and repack any of the boxes, but I was pretty sure the baby stuff might be in one of those.

(Note: On my way out, the warehouse man said that he always recommends you be there as the movers are packing your things, especially so you can have some say in what gets written on the boxes. I certainly wish I had done that-- but I didn't know I'd be having a baby and certainly didn't know I'd be moving to China just 2 months before she got here!)

Maybe it was my huge pregnant belly, or maybe it was the tears of frustration that I was trying to keep from falling, but the guy actually let me open a few of the boxes. Three, to be exact. Don't tell anyone!!

Two of them did have my baby stuff in the bottoms, which means I got most of what I needed. I'm pretty sure I'm still missing the box of newborn clothes, which is super frustrating, but at the end of my visit, there was a light at the end of the tunnel.

We don't leave for China for another 3 weeks. But now that our storage stuff has been sorted, they said they'd go ahead and ship it the next time a truck goes out to the docks-- maybe Monday or so. This means that the HHE will arrive in China 3 weeks earlier than I'd previously thought. I don't know for sure, but it's possible that it will show up before the baby does.

Among the Daffodils

photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/minow/121528693/

The other day Kevin, Penny, and I ventured out to discover the walking path along the Potomac. For us it was a walking path, but I guess people also bike, run, and probably speed-walk or roller-blade there. We let Penny out of her stroller for part of it to walk and enjoy the sticks, leaves, flowers, and grass. She really doesn't get to run free very often.

We walked farther than we probably should have. At the point where Kevin suggested we turn back, I said we should press on. Being 7 months pregnant, I have limits, but I don't always listen to my body. We should have turned back. We wound up walking past Roosevelt Island AND Arlington Cemetery, AND the Iwo Jima Memorial. It's a good thing we were going at Penny's pace, because my back already couldn't handle it.

But anyway, I just thought back on this walk and on the following Wordsworth poem, since today was grey and rainy, and I need a little beauty in my life.

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

William Wordsworth

In the middle of the night the other night, I woke up to Penny's crying. I waited for a minute or two to see if she'd fall back to sleep, but instead, she settled into pitiful, tired weeping.

I went in to check on her, and she'd apparently fallen out of her bed. Since she can't climb back on (it's too tall), she was leaning against her bed, arms flopped on top of it after failed climbing attempts, trying to sleep standing up.

Sight-seeing

Now that spring has made its tentative appearance, we've left our cocoon to visit the sights here in DC. Sight-seeing takes on a whole different meaning, though, when you take your toddler along.

We went to the zoo earlier this month. The national zoo is awesome, not only because it has the only two pandas in the entire United States (edit: except the ones in San Diego and Atlanta), but also because it's free!

Penny enjoys taking the metro, but only if you get her out of her stroller and let her sit like a grown-up.

And then once at the zoo, Penny couldn't care less about the animals, but she is thrilled to find so many railings to play on and steps to sit on. At almost every animal enclosure, Penny would find another rock, ledge, or sculpture to play on.
And yesterday we headed out to the National Mall. With it being such a beautiful day, we didn't feel like going to a museum, so we headed toward the Capitol. There's a sandy gravel path criss-crossing the lawn, and every 2-3 steps, Penny would squat down and draw in the sand with her finger. Eventually she found a small stick and drew with that. We gave up on the Capitol building and just enjoyed the weather while Penny enjoyed the gravel path.

So we see sights. We just don't see the ones people pay money to visit DC for.

And as part of our preparations for going to China (a month from TODAY! Eeek!!) I've ordered a few things online, and it's fun to head down to the mail room and pick up my packages. I usually know what they are, having ordered them myself, but today there was a surprise from my wonderful Grandma.

She'd knitted the following hat and sweater, and enclosed a note:

"I hope this little sweater set will help keep a little girl warm in China! Love, Grandma C."

We love it already!!

Story Time

Occasionally I try and branch out of my ordinary routine and do nice things that Penny will enjoy. I mean, I know she loves grocery shopping (No, you can't have that. Put it back!), driving in the car (We'll be there in just a minute, stop crying. [flings handful of cereal in her direction] Here, listen to some music Mommy likes.), and checking my email (Stop pushing that button. Here, watch daytime TV for a few minutes.). I try to do something nice and especially for her at least once a day.

We tried to attend story time at the library last week. As we approached the front door, we passed by abandoned tents, sleeping bags, and a couple hobo bonfires. Apparently, coming 10 minutes early isn't enough to get tickets for the 10:30 story time. We played with toys for a few minutes with all the other rejected toddlers, and then we just went home.

Today we went to story time at a nearby toy store. There were about 6 kids total, and when Penny had listened to enough stories, she wandered around to play with the toys around the store. They have a great train table, which I love, mostly because it means we don't have to have a train set at our house. The stories were medium, the toys were wonderful, and we both had a great story time!

Chinese word of the day:

Story:

故事

gu4 shi

Incidentally, if you switch the two characters, like this:

事故

shi4 gu4

it means "accident."

I have no idea why.

Reading

When I was tiny, I LOVED to read. We had millions of children's books growing up, and after I'd read all of them, I tackled our elementary school library. I felt like I'd read practically everything in there

My 5th grade teacher (okay, so I wasn't tiny by then, but work with me here) once told me that after the principal came to observe her teaching math or social studies, he talked to her afterward. "Did you know that while you're teaching, one of your students is just reading under her desk the whole time?"

"Oh, you mean Chelsea? Yes, I know. But she somehow picks up all the material and passes the tests, so I just let her read."

I know I couldn't do it now, but somehow that's how it worked back then.

Anyway... I love children's books. They've written a lot since I was tiny, but I still love finding and buying the ones I loved as a child. There is one book that I've been looking for forever. It's a picture book about a mouse. One page has butterflies all over it, and my mom would always stop there and let me choose which one was the most beautiful. And another page has the mouse standing under a toadstool while it rains. And that's all I remember!

I didn't find this book when I went through the boxes of kids' books at my parents' house this summer. And honestly, this is not much to go on. I don't remember the title, the author, or any of the words. Just the rabbit, the butterflies, and the toadstool in the rain.

Any leads, people?

Well, at the thrift shop the other day, I ran across an AMAZING children's book: The 20th Century Children's Book Treasury. It contains 45 children's books, including some of my favorites:

Madeline

Goodnight Moon

The Snowy Day

Make Way for Ducklings

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Curious George

Miss Nelson is Missing!

Where the Wild Things Are

Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel

The Stinky Cheese Man

The Story of Babar

Stellaluna

The Story of Ferdinand

The Sneetches

The Story of Little Babaji (which is a name-changed-but-otherwise-true-to-the-original retelling of Little Black Sambo-- for obvious reasons-- which is a story I grew up with and loved)

Anyway... many of my favorite books. It has the original text and most or all of the original pictures. I love it!

As I flipped through the pages, I found some lovely pictures of flowers, butterflies, autumn leaves, and a toadstool. I think I gasped out loud when I flipped to the beginning of that story and found my beloved childhood book: I Am a Bunny, by Ole Risom, illustrated by Richard Scarry.

I love my new book, and it's worth every penny of the $.52 I paid for it at the thrift shop!

Chinese lesson of the day:

There are many books about China, and I don't claim to have read all of them. However, of the ones I've read, three stand out to me:

Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China, by Jung Chang

This book tells the last 100 years of China's history through following the experiences of the author, her mother, and her grandmother. It's a very eye-opening account of what happened in China and how it affected the people of the nation.

Life and Death in Shanghai, by Cheng Nien

The author is a highly-educated woman put in prison during the Cultural Revolution. She recounts her experiences in vivid detail-- not only to show what happened to her, but also to intricately tie in how those experiences were directly related to the political whims and trends going on in Beijing. One of the best-written books I've read.

The Private Life of Chairman Mao, by Li Zhisui

When most Americans head to China, we think it's amusing to find all the kitschy Mao memorabilia sold everywhere, hearkening back to the days when Mao set himself up as the nation's political and cultural idol.

If that were all, it would be pretty amusing. But reading about what a horrendous person he was, what he did to his nation and people, first in the name of Communism and then in the name of Mao himself, how many lives were ended or otherwise ruined, it horrifies me that so many foreigners take him so lightly. It changed my view of Mao.

Joys of adoption

For the last few months, I've had a button on my blog linking to my good friend's adoption profile. They've been trying to adopt a baby for a while now, and after a few birth moms chose them and then changed their minds (because they'd also "chosen" a few other couples), I finally got news yesterday that Rachel and Ryan will be parents this August! Wahoo!!!

I wanted to be sure and announce the great news before I take down the button... eventually.

After my parents adopted my brother, Daniel, I remember them saying to each other, "Hey, this is great! Why didn't we do this with the other four?!?!"

(As one of those other four, I am certainly glad they did not.)

Although they were mostly giddy about the fact that Daniel was already potty-trained, verbal, and sleeping through the night (as most 7-year-olds are), we were also excited to find that he was a perfect match-- or even a missing piece-- of our family. I wonder sometimes why part of our family was born 12,000 miles away from the other parts, but I'm very thankful that we somehow all came together.

Chinese word of the day:

When we adopted Daniel, he was fluent in Chinese-- or so they say. I think I've only ever heard him say a tiny handful of Chinese words; he was pretty much silent until he learned how to say what he wanted in English. It didn't take him long.

But one time he taught us a very important Chinese word. It was while our family was gathered together for our evening prayer. Alex ever-so-reverently knelt on the carpet, rested his elbows on the floor, and stuck his butt straight up into the air. He called it kneeling, but we told him he looked like a stink bug.

Or as you might say it in Chinese:

放屁虫

fang4 pi4 chong2

(Literally "fart bug")

And if I never had a little brother teaching me Chinese, I may never have learned this important vocabulary.

I hope Rachel and Ryan have some amazing, life-changing experiences from their little fang pi chong when he/she comes in August!

Learning Chinese

Today Kevin starts studying Chinese as the last part of his training before we go to China. Also, I have a friend that heads to China in a year, and I've been teaching her a little Chinese here and there. With all this Chineseyness going on, I decided to join in with a few language tips on my blog.

Today's tip for learning Chinese (and probably any other language out there, too):

When you learn something completely confusing, bizarre, and contrary to anything you've ever learned before, it's not the language's fault. That's just how it is, and it makes sense to over a billion people. So instead of blaming the language for being bizarre, and WRONG, just accept that it is actually RIGHT, and figure out how to fit it into your comfort zone.

When I took Chinese in college, I was overwhelmed by all the different ways to answer in the affirmative. After learning hao, keyi, and shi, I figured I had enough. When the next chapter tried to add another one (xing), I refused. I would not learn it, using instead the ones I knew. I went for 3 more semesters without ever using xing. It may have been a Chinese word, but to me it didn't exist.

This worked great until I actually went to China, where the answer to every question seemed to be xing.

My refusing to learn it didn't change the fact that it's part of the Chinese language-- and it's actually really useful!

This isn't the only time I tried to skip or omit something because it didn't fit into my brain's definition of how Chinese "should" be. But once I switched my position to instead fit my brain into China's definition of how Chinese should be, I was able to learn a lot more a lot faster.

I highly recommend it.

Today's condescension

This morning Penny and I went with some friends to an awesome Smithsonian Museum called the Building Museum. It focuses on architecture, civil engineering, and structural building. There is a kids' playroom for preschoolers where they can play in little houses, build with blocks, and wear construction equipment. Penny had a blast with all the toys and kids.

I highly recommend the Building Museum, despite its weird name.

Our real adventure of the day, though, was on the subway.

Penny is a cutie pie, and most of the time we go out and about, people wave or say hi. Often some of the homeless people in our neighborhood say hi to her, and sometimes stop to talk. As long as there are plenty of people around and no one gets too close to Penny, I don't mind if people like to talk to her. Little kids are sweet, cute, and nonjudgmental. Talking to Penny makes my day, and I hope it lifts the spirits of others.

That being said, today's experience was very... different.

While we waited on the subway platform, an apparently homeless man came up to us and started talking to Penny. He was very friendly. "Hi Jesus," he said.

He kind of squatted down and talked to her a little bit (giving her plenty of space, and it was a busy subway today). He kept talking while he retied his scarf around his head, and then he touched his head, his heart, and then both his shoulders. It was then that I realized, he wasn't squatting down-- he was kneeling.

I listened more carefully to what he was saying: "Thank you for forgiving me my sins; I will never go back. Never go back. I don't have a wife. I love God." He pulled out a necklace that had a variety of crosses, beads, pictures, and cards on it, and continued his devotion.

I stood there and stared, wondering if I should move further down the platform or just let the man have his moment. I didn't want to be rude, but at the same time, I'm not very comfortable with people praying to my daughter. Luckily, I didn't have to fret very long, because the train arrived, and we found a seat behind where this man was facing.

After a couple stops, though, he came back over to us and sat across from Penny. Again, he sat far enough away from us that I didn't feel like he was dangerous. But it was very, very strange.

He pulled out a card from his necklace and showed it to Penny. He pointed to Jesus' picture on it and told Penny, "This is you. This is you!"

Then he took a quarter from his pouch and offered it to me. I tried to decline it (I mean, who takes money from a homeless man?!), but he insisted: "It's for her piggy bank." I eventually accepted it and thanked him.

He explained to me that he was Catholic and Protestant and believed in the Trinity, that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit were one. His scarf had gold print all over it saying, "I Love Jesus," and he told me he was from New Orleans, but that he was never going back to his old life.

As we got off the train, he smiled at me. "And the Virgin Mary. You're a gift, too. God bless you!"

So if anyone asks, just let them know we're in the DC area for a while.