Friday Night

Well, it is 4:45 in the morning and what else is there to do than to writ eto my blog. I actually have so many stories rolling around in my head to write, It is just finding the time to write them down without the distraction of tiny hands eager to help me type. Bless his heart though, so curious and so eager to do what mom and dad do, you know, be a big boy. 

Amariah update: This past week Amariah has been ill. High fever, bad cough, and unable to keep food down. With lots of prayer and keeping him home from school for the week, Amariah is doing much better and will be ready to return to school on Monday. As a mom, I absolutely hate it when he is sick. I just wish I could make it all go away. 

keeping with the Amariah subject, here's a question, "What would a 2 year old do if locked in an apartment all by himself for an hour?" Answer: binge on oero cookies, get naked and pee off the top bunk of the bed. To fill in the blanks, I was at work, and Patrick appartently went to take the garbage out and Amariah shut the door behind Patrick and locked it himself. Patrick, not having a cell phone or the keys and no luck trying to get Amariah to unlock the door, went to our neighbours, borrowed a phone, called a locksmith and waited for the door to be opened. An hour later when Patrick finally got inside he found Amariah sitting naked on the top bunk of the bed, and crying to be rescued, the poor boy. With also, a pakage of oreo cookie sitting on the table with several missing. Patrick figured he ate about 8 or more. And pee on the bedroom floor with splash markings that indicated that the pee came from the top of the bunk. Patrick, of course, didn't call me and tell me any of this until after it all happened, which I was very thankful for or else I may have been worried sick and not been able to work. You know, the normal mom thing to do and think about all the bad stuff that could happen. But since I wasn't told until after, I couldn't help but laugh and just PTL that everything was all good. Now I have a story to tuck away for future use. 

Patrick Update: Last night Patrick had his staff New Year's party. As many of you know, the big holiday here in China is Chinese New Year. It is treated similar to Christmas in that the school shut down for about three weeks and everyone gets a about a two week holiday. Many people go home to their families and decorations fill the homes, shops and streets. Decorations include red lanterns, mandarin orange trees, Lucky money envelops hanging from the trees, and various other places. Lucky money is a huge part of the celebration. There are these small red and gold envelopes and the idea is to put money in them, however much you choose, and you give them to friends and family, mainly to children. It is like the idea of gift giving at Christmas. They say that red is the colour of good luck and by giving people money in red envelopes you are wishing them a future of good finances. I think that it is pretty neat. 

Anyway, Patrick had there party last night, and it seriously was a waste of time. I don't think I will ever fully understand the Chinese. The had mounds of food served that went to waste because it was disgusting. When the Chinese people won't eat their own food, you know it really does taste bad. They had tons of beer, really loud, that the Chinese people had way too much of. The children of the staff just ran around and the whole thing was over before 8pm and it didn't start until closer to 7. It was really pathetic, yet seemed so Chinese at the same time, go cheap and don't plan. Incidently, right after the 'staff party' we went out to eat becasue we were hungry. 

We bought some of our favourite foods from our local gated community restaurants and took them home. I got my usual bean, beef and noodles, Amariah got his dumplings, and Patrick got a rice with potatos and peppers dish. We took the food home nestled on our red vynal couch and watched the Pixar movie, "Up." And that was our friday night. It was special becasue normally I work friday nights, but since our regular classes are over, I now have all evenings free. It is so nice. 

Well,  it is now 5:25 and I think I will go see if I can get some more sleep before I start another work day. 

Well, the regular classes are now finished. All my open classes went really well. The parents were really encouraging of my teaching quality. With all the nice comments it made me want to keep teaching their child, however, there is a larger part of me that knows that it is time to go. 

I am wondering if skype is now blocked too. I have been trying to get into skype all morning without any success. It is so frustrating having so many sites blocked. 

Well, I have to go. Meeting at work. 

6 weeks and two days left until baby J is due to arrive. 

Love and Miss You!!!

Hello, again. 

I understand that my first attempt at the blog was a success so here I am writing again. It feels good to somehow get back in touch a little with the world I knew in N. America. 

Today is my last day of regular classes. Even though I will miss alot of the students, I am so ready to be done teaching at this time. I am very thankful that this day has come. I have four classes today and all of them are open classes. I really am not nervous about it, more excited. Knowing that this is my last class with the students I really don't feel the pressure to perform. I will teach my regular class and if the parents aren't impressed then they can be relieved that I am leaving. However, I do have a good relationship with each of my classes and I don't think that I need to even allow myself to think so negatively. 

Well, last time I wrote I said it was warm, and it really was. I was back to wearing my clam diggers and tanks tops and loving it. I guess that was just some Chinese chinook becasue we are now back to scarves touques and layers. Oh, well. The warm weather was a nice gift for the few days it was here. 

I must go and get ready to leave for work. 

Blessings, 

Kari

So, this is a test run to see if i can actually update my blog through my e-mail. If you have been wondering why I haven't been keeping it updated with our China adventure, the answer is, blog sites are blocked in China, as well as Facebook. Many people have been messaging me through facebook, and I get the messages in my hotmail, but I can not reply back. I really am not purposely being a snob. I do care about keeping in touch, I just don't have access. The best way to contact us is through e-mail. We also have skipe and ichat if you ever want to talk.  

Patrick has open class today. Which is when the parents are invited into the class to watch Patrick teach. It is slightly intimidating as you feel the parents are judging your everymove. So, the pressure is on to perform well, and to get the kids to perform well too. If you think of him, say a little prayer. 

My teaching situation is a bit different since it is a training centre and not an actual school. Kids come to my classes twice a week in the evenings or on the weekend. So, unlike Patrick who has one class 5 days a week I have 7 classes. My open classes are this coming weekend and I am finding it hard to keep a good attitude about it. This is my last week of teaching, so I find myself not worrying as much about it as I should. So, close to being done and it feels good. It is becoming increasingly harder to keep energy up in class when all I want to do is sit down, which I am starting to do most of the time. Some of my classes just laugh at me as I teach. Like last night I would start to do some actions for a song or something, then I would sit down and everyone would laugh. Then I would do all the actions while sitting in my chair and they just thought that looked so hilarious. I don't blame them for laughing, it it felt awkward, so I could only image how ridiculous I looked, but at least I still have some entertaining value left in me that keeps the students attention, LOL!!! (btw-most of my students are around 6/7 years of age).

Amariah is loving school more and more. It has become routine that when we pick him up from school he doesn't want to leave, "No, Home!!!" is his cry. So, we still often for an extra hour letting him play on the play ground there. Many parents do the same thing, so sometimes we talk to other parents or his teachers and watch the kids play. Amariah has a russian kid in his class that he has become buddies with. The russian doesn't speak English, Amariah doesn't speak Russian, but they are learning Chinese together. They have really taken to each other and play well. They probably understand each other in a way other kids don't. When I am off work, I will try to set up some play dates with the russian boys parents. I think they would like that. 

Patrick and I are starting to wonder if there is going to be no cold season this year. I am sure it is coming, but it has warmed up so much it feels as though we aren't going to have one, not that I would miss it. Freezing temperatures, no central heating, it is like camping inside an apartment. Not my idea of a good time, but you do what you gotta do. I guess I will find out soon enough if this warm weather is just a teaser. 

So, this past week I bought my first item from a street vender. The street are always lined with people aggressively trying to sell you anything from squid on a stick raisens, to scarves and touques. Ususally I just walk by occasionally giving money to the beggars that are amongs the crowds as well, but the other day I saw this little old lady sitting by the sub way crocheting and she had a few pairs of baby booties in front of her. The first time I saw her I just walked past, just out of habit. Then the next time I saw her my heart went out to her and I stopped and bought a pair. They were totally cute. Yesterday I saw her again, and I just got to thinking, "Is this her means of making money?" "Is this her retirement plan, sitting on the street crocheting?" So, I stopped and I bought 2 more pairs. If I don't use them, I can always give them away, people are having babies all the time. Something that Joyce Meyer said has come to me, we should all have a giving box in our house, full of stuff ready to give away, so when people come into our lives that we feel led to bless we are prepared to give. Maybe these booties from the little old lady on the street will be the start of my giving box. 

Anyway, the newletter has finished loading, and my oven timer dinged so I think I should sign off. (I am making pumpkin muffins, Amariah's favourite. Amariah doesn't like Chinese food, so I find that we are spending alot of money at the Western food store and alot of time preparing different foods so that he will eat. If we stuck to the chinese food all he would eat is rice, noodles and ornges. Chinese veggie and meat dishes he spits out and says "Yucky!!" I really don't blame him though, the Chinese food isn't that great, we don't even really like it, but we wil eat it. WE have our favourite chinese dishes that we get again and again, but western style food is still what we prefer too).

Blessings to you all, 

The Jones family

Hey everyone!

This is the best friend aka as STARS~

I am in the middle of setting up email posting, because she can't access blogger right now.

So hopefully we will see some updates on soon!

Hope everyone is doing well!