A day in Xian

We thought you might like to have a look at a two minute string of pics (again, experimenting with new technologies) covering our daily life in Xian. In it we cover the Expert Hotel (our home for the next five months), our neighborhood, the nearby park and our school. Enjoy!

We'll we thought we were going to put the video up, but it appears that the filter or size wouldn't allow the post. Who knows - the symbol that came up after more than 45 minutes of waiting for the download to complete was all in Chinese...

So here are a few pictures to give you a sense of our neighborhood






Outside the Expert Hotel


Inside views



Our Neighborhood

The Wall

After all the words posted here, we thought you might like to see some images for context. For Julia's b-day we took a trip back to what was for us, Xian's most memorable memory from our one week trip here this summer - the 8.7 mile wall that surrounds the central city. It is a wonderfully restored, beautifully decorated, completely intact relic from a previous era and a site that is, in our view greatly underappreciated. They have bicycles that you rent (along with motorized tour buses and three wheeled taxis) for 100 minutes that allow you to traverse the wall and stop off at the restored guard houses or other vantage points to view life in the city below. With all the space on the wall and the relatively high (around $6 per adult) admission, there are never many people up there, so you really get the feeling that you have the wall to yourself. It is a nice little work out, especially with a series of hills you have to overcome to make it to different sections of the wall, but with all the eye candy, it makes for a great hour and a half tour. So from our eyes to yours, here are a few photos of our celebratory trip to the wall. The first photo is a context shot, looking down one of the smaller sides of the rectangular wall. Then we have the girls taking their turn on one of the two seaters and us at a rest stop.






The guards were assembling for an event at the south gate while masses of Chinese were assembling near the north gate at the entrance to the train station.











The Chinese crowds never cease to amaze us Nebraskans... And I leave you with this final shot of Patrice and the birthday girl pedaling past one of the Chinese new year decorations.

This post (which was our test in adding images) was brought to you by

Happy Birthday, JNUlia

Today was Julia's birthday. I woke late having gone to bed even later than normal, I awoke at 6:30 and quickly readied for school. WE left early, wanting to get yo tiao for Julia as a special treat on her birthday.

We arrived at the yo tiao stand, a full basket of yo tiao lying uneaten on a school day, when everyone was rushing everywhere, we quickly bought five yo tiao, and huried onward. Stufing the rest of the greasy subsence into our mouth we were ushered into a throng of chinese children. I dropped Julia off first addressing her teacher to the fact that it was Julia's birthday. Immediately as I left her classroom was transformed into a singing frenzy. I continued onward with my new chinese friends at my sides. I was first in the hardest class of the day, chinese. Trying desperately to read symobols that all looked the same I struggled through the first hour of the day. Then came ten minutes of lets see if we can confuse the american frenzy, where I was dragged this way and that, everyone murmuring chinese phrases that I was deaf to. Before finally being led up to the second level where my new friends were wqaiting to play a game with a string. Then to math, my second best subject, for at least I could understand what problem they were doing! But the hardest part was how you had to write the answers. Either way it was fairly easy and the day contionued we going outside to do the movements required. Then I had to sit through songs in english about you school, about eating in the canteen, a new word for me, since we have not used the word canteen for lunchroom for a long time. Then I barely managed to get by during another lesson where you had to read from a chinese book and listen to the teacher reading. Although it was hard I managed to survive the day, and I hurried out the gate to where faced my dad armed with the camera, and my mom with a happy Julia having received a few birthday cards. We went home strait away, my mom cleared up her work and we waited amid the vehicles streaming by, waiting for a taxi. Finally one emerged from the chaos, and we were taken to a korean restaurant. We ate in front of a grill positioned right in front of us, we grilled mushrooms and meat, we wrapped them in leafy lettuce and dipped them in a hot sauce, we cooled our mouth on some potato pancakes, snacked on slipperly noodles. Then we walked down the street to the wall. We paid a small fee and continued on to a world class site, where 3000 years ago Xian had been the largest city in the world. We biked around the perimeter of the wall, feeling the fifty degrees air, as we struggled to enjoy the sites that flickered around us but meanwhiel trying to get done with the 8 miles fast enough so that we would not be late. Construction surrounded us, where before had stood many building all positioned around the wall now in their place stood piles of rubble, we were surprised by the amount of places that all seemed to be under construction, we passed a train station that seemed flooded with over 10000 people, sitting on luggage, some from remote places, that you could tell due to there wear. After the wall we walked around looking at the typical masks and puppet s and asking prices for stamps with dragons on them. Then we ate in a cafe, and hurryed home to learn how to play badmitten, we enjoyed hitting around the ball before it became too daqrk and we went inside and started the real popcorn party for JUlia's birthday, which included watching National Geographic.
By Hana

Being an American parent in China

Being a mother, an American mother, in China is hard. I feel like I am constantly bothering the kids about everything. Give me your hand (there is a huge truck coming right at us), wash your face (I see signs of coal), don't forget the purrell (there was no soap in the "bathrooms"--and I use that term generously). So many imminent dangers, it is hard to relax. I look around for the other Chinese moms who are harrassing their kids but alas, there are few moms and even fewer dads playing with kids or walking them to schools. Most Chinese children, we are learning are taken care of and even live with their grandparents. As one mom here put it, we are too busy for kids (her child is just four months old but living with her in-laws). Obvious advantages to this and certainly efficient in many ways; the young parents can return to work without having to get up at night, no taking kids to school, and certain no endless badgering to stay clean and out of harm's way. Yet, as I walked the kids in today -- on Julia's 8th birthday -- and thought of where I was eight years ago and how Jeff and I worried about Hana (who was safely and very happily at our friend's hom) we talked about what our future child would be like. The last ten years of being a parent have no parallel and, as many know, few words to describe what is like to be a parent. One is so important, so powerful, and so powerless; you are, you are living in the moment and soaking up all that is worthwhile and good in life. Parenthood undoubtedly has its bad days but for whatever reason, they are usually hard to remember.

I cried today as we dropped the girls off, just as I have every other day this first week of Chinese school, but I often still tear up as I drop the girls off at school in the U.S. And like in Lincoln, the girls run off; usually Hana turns out for a last wave and Julia runs into the embrace of a friend with an ear-to-ear smile. Today it was Hana who was embrace by a friend and Julia turned around to make sure we watched her follow all the other black haired children in the school gates.

So there Jeff and I stood, both beaming with pride and me with a tear forming...and the grandparents stood around with similar smiles, perhaps feeling that these are the best days in their lives..being the parents they never were. We have decided that as the girls grow up and have their own children, we too will be Chinese grandparents (if our kids allow). By the time our kids have kids America may, in fact, be more like China and parents truly will not have time for their kids. Oh, what they will miss!

Springtime by Julia

the meowing kitty cats
the buzzing bees
the swirling butterflies
the waving leaves
the chirping birds
the scattering squirrels
are all
part
of
the Chinese spring

My Chinese School day from Julia

Today was my second day of Chinese school. School here starts at 7:45 and ends at 11:45. We have a 2 hour lunch break and then go back to school until 5 pm.

The classroom is big, about 41 kids are in the class. We sit and repeat what our Chinese teacher says. In the middle of the class, everyone stands up and bows to the teacher. Next, is math class. We are learning about sides.

After math class, we do our stretches. You jump, do some tai chi, practice your numbers and you dance alittle.

After our stretches we get a ten minute recess. We can go into the gym there or we can play outside of the school classroom. When the music starts, you have to return to the classroom and start English class.

If I have to go to the bathroom, I am out of luck because the bathrooms do not have stalls at all!!! they just have little stones that are cut in half and you can easily see other people going to the bathroom.

At recess, all the kids huddle around me and then I get out of try to get away from them and run as fast as I can. Then they chase me. It is a lot of fun.

bye, Julia

The swirling sky

the whiteness, swirling above me, below me...on the side of me
on the tress, on the lamppost, on the wall, on the rooftop
everywhere...is whiteness

The winter day

We're in a routine. This is what we have been doing...since school starts on Tuesday and we've had a week to adjust.

I wake up about 6:30. I make my bed, read, and then we go to get breakfast (yo tao--this is bread cut up into slices and then put in a pot full of grease and fried and then we dip it in yogurt...it is delicious!!).

We got back home, eat breakfast and read some more for about two hours. Then I do about five pages in my math workbook (I got a Chinese math book at Walmarts here). Yesterday we went to the park. We got to go on the "log ride", the bike ride/roller coaster and the "jumpy ride" (you can stay on this ride for as long as you want). Wherever we go, we are spotted (pio-long they say to us which means beautiful).

I miss my dog, my friends and most of all I miss my family.
Julia

The day of the blizzard

Today it started; to swirl around me; the white snow flakes got caught up in my hair; and I flew into the world ....of whiteness.

White was covered everywhere and it was snowing...we walked and walked. I got tired, we went home, went to the fireplace and lit the fire, we got toasty warm, we took a nap....for one an a half hours!!

The most suprising thing that happened today was that yesterday it was about 50 degrees here and today is about 20 degrees and has been snowing all day long. Now, the trees outside our window are covered in whiteness, the birds no longer chirk their beautiful songs, the squirrels no long make sounds and the cats do not meow..like they would on a sunny day.