Daddy's School Visit

This past Wednesday (May 22) I joined other parents in visiting Miriam's class and it was a treat to get a glimpse of what her day typically looks like.  After the visit, I was even more proud of both Miriam and Asa for how well they are doing in this challenging environment.

The morning started with a flag raising ceremony.  Can you find Asa in this picture?

This is a picture of Miriam's homeroom; you can see the parents lined up on stools in the back of the classroom.  The first class was Chinese and they read a story about famous Russian poet; I honestly understood about half of what they were talking about.

The next class was music class music class  that started with the kids sing as the teacher accompanied them on the piano.

The piano-led song soon was soon turned into a "rap" that the kids danced to and ended with a "peace sign" salute!

When we returned to Miriam's homeroom there was a break between classes and it was a delight to see how much Miriam enjoyed talking with her classmates.

Before the next class (English) there was a song that blared over the loud speakers to lead the kids in their eye relaxation exercises.  You will note that Miriam is not participating as we actually found the exercises gave her pink eye and other nasty eye related illnesses!

The next class was the foreigner taught English class where Miriam was definitely the most active in class room participation.  Her teacher is a New Zealander named Ben and he did a great job of building a lesson that was interactive.

The main focus of the English class was an egg drop experiment where they were required to break into small groups.  Here is Miriam intensely discussing what their group should be called.  They decided to call their group "sweet"!

Next was an English class led by a local teacher and then lunch, which I was able to enjoy as well.  It is actually not that different than the cafeteria food in my office complex and the kids all ate at their desks.

Finally, before leaving I stopped to see Asa's classroom.  Here is Asa getting ready to leave class to go to play practice.  Miriam and Asa are both staring in a play that is part of a district-wide public service announcement contest; I hope to be able to have a video to share on this soon!

Special Mother's Day Treats

It has been a treat to see the gifts Emily has gathered over this past Mother's Day

The celebration started with the kids giving her gifts after church on Mother's Day (May 12).  Lolo is waving the paper flowers she made in Sunday School class.

On Mother's Day Miriam also gave Emily a paper rose she made with her tutor as well as an accompanying poem that was addressed to "my bonny lass" - don't think she realize what it was referring to!

The following Saturday (May 18) we had a proper Mother's Day celebration as we were busy hosting the Marriage Course on the official Mother's Day.  Asa surprised Emily by producing a card that he had colored at school for Mother's Day.  The note that he put inside made Emily tear up.

Miriam also made a card at school that included a sweet note about what she appreciates about Emily and event spelled out "MOTHER" in the process.

Our Mother's Day celebration was capped off with a trip to a restaurant serving Emily's favorite Chinese food - Beijing food.  We not only had Beijing Roast Duck, but Emily's favorite Sauteed Shredded Pork in Sweet Bean Sauce. 

There were many great dishes on the menu, but this isn't one that we ordered!

Miriam's 15 Minutes of Fame

As we posted here in October 2011, a picture of Miriam at an art contest in the Spring of 2009 was turned into a propaganda poster near our home. The poster reads "Children are the Future of the Motherland."

As we drove past the poster this afternoon, it was clear that the poster was coming down in the near future, so we had to capture the picture close up.

Seems in China, you never know where pictures of your kids might end up!   

Joab's Commute

I (Joab) often say the morning commute in Shanghai is a full contact sport that combines a rock concert mosh pit and a line of scrimmage from American football.  Today I decided it was time to try and capture a portion of the madness that is my morning commute.

First, some interesting facts about the Shanghai metro system from Wikipedia

• It only opened in 1995 (the third line in China after Beijing and Tianjin)
• There are 12 lines and 292 stations, which makes it the third longest metro in the world
• These lines delivered 2.26 billion rides in 2012 - making it the fifth busiest  in the world

This graphic provides a great perspective on how rapidly the Shanghai metro has grown since it first opened in 1995.

My commute pictures start at my only transfer on my 45 minute commute.  At Yi Shan Road Station I am transferring from line 3 or line 4, which roughly run along the first ring of Shanghai sub-burbs to line 9, which heads to the Southwest corner of the Shanghai metro.

After coming out of line 3 or 4 there are a series of stairs that I didn't bother to capture.  My first picture is the above-ground passageway that connects these two lines to line 9.  Three years ago, when I first started this commute, I had to exit the station altogether and re-enter the line 9 station, so this passageway is an improvement.

To the right of the streams of people outside the passageway is an empty lot that hasn't changed much in the past three years.

At the end of the long passageway there are stairs that duck under several mini-billboards, currently advertising the Microsoft Surface tablet, and head to a small flight of stairs and then some escalators. 

Next is the first escalator, which is relatively short, roughly 50 meters, and dumps you out in a transit room that has the larger escalators.

These large escalators are probably 100 meters long and they take you down to the platform where the real fun begins.

At the platform you can either go right to take the north bound train or join me and go left to take the south bound train.  On the south bound side there are 28 doors and near my door I counted roughly 30 people.  That means there is likely over 800 people - just on the south bound side!  In other words, there is probably more than 1,600 people waiting on the platform.  Basically, wall to wall people!   

The biggest challenge in the morning is getting on the train as when it arrives at the station it is usually packed with people.  This morning was no exception as it took me three tries to get on the train.

I didn't even try to budge my way on the first time.  The second time I try and reached the train only to be pushed back by the crowd.  The guy with his elbow in the middle eventually did get on after the door open and closed on him a couple times.

Finally, on my third attempt, I successfully got on.  We were crammed in like sardines!

After two stops it is time for me to get off at the Cao He Jing High Tech Park stop.  The crowd of people spring out of the train like a jack in the box and we all rush towards the escalators.

The platform at Cao He Jing looks just as crowded as it did at Yi Shan Road.

Finally, after walking through the turnstile I get on a final set of escalators and can once again see the light of day!

Silas' Six Month Bonus Features

My kids love the bonus features at the end of any movie they watch. In fact, they like them so much now, they sometimes have to see what bonus features are on my disk before they can watch the video!

Having a new baby is just such a gift. Really, we are so very blessed. And next week our littlest blessing turn six months old! Where has the time gone?!

Wanted to record some of our families favorite Silas "bonus features" (and will give you six, since he is six months old on the 18th )!

- Silas has dimples. As the above pictures points out. And because he loves to smile at anyone, he shows them off a lot.
-Silas has Mongolian spots on his feet. These are bluish-black birthmarks that usually are on babies of color. My baby comes from pretty white parents! Perhaps there is some color in our past that we do not know! Silas also has very olive colored skin, so really think there is some "ethnic" genes

Easter 2013

A quick post to share highlights from our Easter weekend.

What is an Easter morning without a new family picture!
Here is the latest Six Meyers picture.

Backyard Fun: Our Easter Saturday was a lot of fun as our neighbors had an Easter Egg hunt in their back yard.

Salome was so cute showing off her eggs, which were plastic and filled with candy.

Asa made sure to get every egg, even those perched high in the trees!

Miriam was well pleased with the bountiful amount of eggs she found.

Easter Sunday: On Sunday we enjoyed another egg hunt a variety of outdoor activities sponsored by our church - The International Church of Shanghai.

Asa enjoyed making a little pig out of a plastic egg.

Miriam braved the rock climbing wall

I wasn't able to capture Salome enjoying the jumpy castle slide,

but when she fell asleep on my lap on the way home I knew she had a good time!

Em is still here!

Dear Joab has taken to writing more of our life down in blog posts these days. Thought I would give you a "Mom/Em" perspective on things as me today (note- what an amazing husband to even ask!) I said, that I would get adequate caffeine to make it through the day! Kind of a joke, but really I am just go-go-go most days. Most of my days start at 2 AM when my 17+ lb five month old wakes up for a feeding. Silas is so big! And he loves to nurse! I have tried to introduce solids...and he just laughs at me. I am hoping he rounds a corner soon and sleeps...we shall see.

Overall, we are doing well here in China land. This year has taught me a lot- mostly that to really live in a place that will never be home is well...hard. The goal in so many ways is to live our days here well. I sure pray we are!

Salome- oh my. She is so cute. SO VERBAL. I told her to come to lunch today and she responded with "Mommy, my Barbies are talking to me right now- I can not come to lunch". We bought some street breakfast food this morning and walked to the park- there she found another little girl and the two of them sqatted on the grass talking eating street food....

Asa- We bought a second-hand Wii game..and now Asa is in Wii heaven. Asa loves games (fun for that matter). And he and Miriam have a lot of fun together playing that. Asa still loves to make me laugh, eat a lot food (especially chocolate and bacon) and make amazing things out of Legos.

Miriam- is tackling a lot of school work like a pro. Her mind loves to learn, and she is filling it up with all kinds of stuff!

Now, Silas is up from nap. My time here is done. Lots of love to you from China- Em