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Aug. 31st, 2006 10:56 pmI've made a friend. Or should I say, I've made a friend!!!
My new friend is an older gentleman who lived in Tampa for 2 years with his daughter. He speaks a little English, enough to recite all the cities that he visited while he lived in America. I met him when we first moved here but at that time I didn't realize how rare it would be to meet someone who could speak English. Yesterday, I saw him again for the first time in a couple weeks. He said "I no you long time." I had to think about it for a moment before I realized he was saying he hadn't seen me in a while. I told him we had gone to Suzhou, which he agreed was a very beautiful city. He then said he thought perhaps we had gone to Peking. Just knowing that he had thought about us and wondered where we'd gone, well, it really made my day. I smiled all the way home. He's working on learning the kids names, but right now he just calls them Son #1, son #2, and son #3.
Also, today at the playground I met a woman who could speak some english. I now realize how very brave it is for Chinese people to use their English skills with me. Perhaps they had English in school, the way Americans have Spanish in school. Yet, they still are willing to go out on a limb and try to speak it. I've never tried to utilize my Spanish skillz :) Maybe I'm just a language wimp. It's an interesting process, to watch them thinking and murmuring to themselves in Chinese while they try and figure out the English words they want to say. I'm willing to wait though, even if it is to hear "the air in America is very fresh."
Now we really need to get some friends for the boys. I'm so proud of them. Have I mentioned that? They are just so very brave. Zack will go up to a group of boys, just walk right up and start trying to play with them. More often than not, the boys will move away to somewhere else. It breaks my heart to watch, but it doesn't deter Zack. He keeps trying to play with them. We've had a lot more luck with kids that we meet on the street. It seems like the kids who live in our apartment complex are clichish or something. They just won't play with my kids. But when we meet random kids at McDonalds, or those kids we met in the alley in Suzhou, they are much more likely to play with the boys.
Petey also tries and tries. It's heart-wrenching to watch him as well. Tonight when he was on the swing, a Chinese kid started puhing him. Someone was playing with him! So next they traded places and Petey tried to push him. But the boy didn't seem to want any help and kept saying something to Petey everytime he tried to push. Petey looked so uncertain, which is very unlike him. He's usually brimming with confidence. He wanted to play with the kids, but he didn't know what the kid wanted him to do. It's hard.
Connor has taken to growling at all Chinese people. This is his new defense mechanism. When ladies try to pet him, or even is someone just looks at him and smiles, he roars at them like a dinosaur.
Part of me wonders what in the heck I have done to my kids. Are they too young for such an adventure? Is it too early into the move to expect them to have adapated? Will they be traumatized by this whole experience for the rest of their lives? Or will they treasure these memories? Sometimes it is so complicated being a parent.
One of Chris' classes got cancelled. He was bummed about it, but the good news is that he will still be paid the same regardless. And the further good news is that he can now devote that free time to research his dissertation. As he is expected to be at work everyday, he has nothing else to do so he may as well work on it. Blessings in disguise, that's what it is.
I've got a babysitter coming tomorrow. I'm going to lunch with the church ladies and then out with Chris afterwards. Woo-hoo! The babysitter is Megan, an American teaching English in Nanjing. She does babysitting to earn money on the side. The kids were happy to hear that she speaks English and I have no doubt that they will talk her ear off :) They tend to do that every time they get around anyone who speaks English. They just start spouting out irrelevant facts, jokes or video game play-by-plays. I love those crazy boys.
My new friend is an older gentleman who lived in Tampa for 2 years with his daughter. He speaks a little English, enough to recite all the cities that he visited while he lived in America. I met him when we first moved here but at that time I didn't realize how rare it would be to meet someone who could speak English. Yesterday, I saw him again for the first time in a couple weeks. He said "I no you long time." I had to think about it for a moment before I realized he was saying he hadn't seen me in a while. I told him we had gone to Suzhou, which he agreed was a very beautiful city. He then said he thought perhaps we had gone to Peking. Just knowing that he had thought about us and wondered where we'd gone, well, it really made my day. I smiled all the way home. He's working on learning the kids names, but right now he just calls them Son #1, son #2, and son #3.
Also, today at the playground I met a woman who could speak some english. I now realize how very brave it is for Chinese people to use their English skills with me. Perhaps they had English in school, the way Americans have Spanish in school. Yet, they still are willing to go out on a limb and try to speak it. I've never tried to utilize my Spanish skillz :) Maybe I'm just a language wimp. It's an interesting process, to watch them thinking and murmuring to themselves in Chinese while they try and figure out the English words they want to say. I'm willing to wait though, even if it is to hear "the air in America is very fresh."
Now we really need to get some friends for the boys. I'm so proud of them. Have I mentioned that? They are just so very brave. Zack will go up to a group of boys, just walk right up and start trying to play with them. More often than not, the boys will move away to somewhere else. It breaks my heart to watch, but it doesn't deter Zack. He keeps trying to play with them. We've had a lot more luck with kids that we meet on the street. It seems like the kids who live in our apartment complex are clichish or something. They just won't play with my kids. But when we meet random kids at McDonalds, or those kids we met in the alley in Suzhou, they are much more likely to play with the boys.
Petey also tries and tries. It's heart-wrenching to watch him as well. Tonight when he was on the swing, a Chinese kid started puhing him. Someone was playing with him! So next they traded places and Petey tried to push him. But the boy didn't seem to want any help and kept saying something to Petey everytime he tried to push. Petey looked so uncertain, which is very unlike him. He's usually brimming with confidence. He wanted to play with the kids, but he didn't know what the kid wanted him to do. It's hard.
Connor has taken to growling at all Chinese people. This is his new defense mechanism. When ladies try to pet him, or even is someone just looks at him and smiles, he roars at them like a dinosaur.
Part of me wonders what in the heck I have done to my kids. Are they too young for such an adventure? Is it too early into the move to expect them to have adapated? Will they be traumatized by this whole experience for the rest of their lives? Or will they treasure these memories? Sometimes it is so complicated being a parent.
One of Chris' classes got cancelled. He was bummed about it, but the good news is that he will still be paid the same regardless. And the further good news is that he can now devote that free time to research his dissertation. As he is expected to be at work everyday, he has nothing else to do so he may as well work on it. Blessings in disguise, that's what it is.
I've got a babysitter coming tomorrow. I'm going to lunch with the church ladies and then out with Chris afterwards. Woo-hoo! The babysitter is Megan, an American teaching English in Nanjing. She does babysitting to earn money on the side. The kids were happy to hear that she speaks English and I have no doubt that they will talk her ear off :) They tend to do that every time they get around anyone who speaks English. They just start spouting out irrelevant facts, jokes or video game play-by-plays. I love those crazy boys.