Chinese Christmas Cantata

This will be a test to see whether I can figure out how to post videos to the blog using YouTube... Hopefully it will work. Please leave some comments to say whether or not you were able to view it. Our internet connection here in China is not good enough to ever make YouTube work very well.

This video was taken at the annual international school Christmas program on the 16th. Sorry that you are not really able to see Ellie, because she did a great job this year. If you have good eyes you can spot her in the row of angels. She is the 2nd from the right just to the left of the shepherd with the big dark hat. And Aaron was in it this year as well because the director was looking for some people to be in an adult choir. Look for a bald head on the back row in the middle...

A Christmas Story by Ellie

Just a Note...

We hear through the grapevine that some of our friends and family are starting to read these posts. In case you aren't familiar with blogging - you can leave comments about any or all of these musings simply by clicking on the "comments" link at the end of each post. That way this page will start to be 2 way communication, and a lot more interesting for everybody. I know that some of you can write a whole lot better than I can... The comment section is also a place where you can ask questions or suggest future topics to post about. You can also leave me a note saying that you visited my Amazon wish list and purchased such and such an item...

And don't worry - I moderate the comments and can edit them if needed before they actually get posted on the web. So you won't be able to get us in trouble accidently... Happy posting!

We like taxis...

The word has come officially... our request to purchase a vehicle was denied "for many diverse reasons..." Since we are now business people and making many trips out of town to research possible business ventures, we had come to the conclusion that it might be more convenient, economical, and professional to have our own little van. Taking the bus when I'm traveling by myself is not really a problem and you sometimes get to have some good conversations. It's just that I have been traveling almost once a week which gets pretty tiring. Plus, the bus is just not good with the kids. It's a long trip, there are numerous unexpected delays, it's freezing cold, it's crowded, there are people getting sick in the aisles, etc.

Since I've already done the research on the vans, I thought I would post a pic for you all... These little minivans are everywhere in China. You can buy a brand new, top of the line one for about $5000. You can get a used one for pennies. They get about 42mpg and you can get them fixed everywhere. This particular brand, Wuling, is a GM subsidiary and supposed to be one of the best. The negatives were that they have a tiny engine and that there are no safety features in an accident. Of course there is a new highway all the way out to where we usually go, so you don't have to go up and over the pass anymore. So I wasn't worried about the small engine. And I figured that my defensive driving instead of placing our trust in the hands of strangers that may or may not have ever driven before would nullify the lack of air bags.

In the grand scheme of things it's no big deal. We debated back and forth whether having our own transport was a need or an extravagance. I never really knew for sure... Plan B will be just to rent one whenever the whole family is going out of town. Of course on Tuesday morning when I'm putting on all of my long underwear and gearing myself up for the long bus ride I might be more bitter about it.......

Winter in Xining

It got cold today.

Before it was kind of chilly. You needed your heavy coat and a hat - especially in the morning. But if you were out in the afternoon you might not even need to zip up. Today was definitely a long underwear day. That's how I know whether it is cold or not. Since I am not a weather/temperature junky like so many people seem to be these days (meaning I don't check the forecast twice a day or have an outside thermometer or a digital thermometer for every room in the house) the way I know if it's cold is by sticking my head out the window. If I think to myself that there is no way I'm going out there without long johns, then it's officially cold in my book.

Chinese people, on the other hand, will wear between 3 to 5 pairs of long underwear every day from October to May. So obviously they have a different system than I do. Must be like the Fahrenheit/Celsius difference. Or is it Fahrenheit/Centigrade? What exactly is the difference between Celsius and Centigrade? I think I need to stop now and Google that...

BTW... I found out that one reason that it has seemed colder lately is that Laurel has been secretly turning down the thermostat in our flat. If you know her at all, you have to be wondering what she's worrying about... And if you said money, you would be wrong. One of her greatest fears in life is that we will all die during our sleep from poisonous gas. Even though there is a built in gas detector on the heating unit and a separate gas detector plugged into the wall, this is still a great fear. I think something along this story line would have made a great Raymond episode... (Which is what we have been watching lately... since we have been missing Amazing Race Asia).

Don't worry... I will let Laurel make fun of me a little bit on the next post...

Thanksgiving 2006

We had a small group for Thanksgiving this year, but we still had a good time. And I think most all of us were thankful... The girls would have been more thankful if there were other kids there to play with - our group these days just has two other children, both baby boys. There was no football to watch, but somehow we all managed to hang out together for about 7 hours just chatting and enjoying each other's company. The turkey was deep-fried Chinese/Cajun style. Meaning in a rigged-up Chinese pot with Cajun seasoning. And boy, it was delicious! Laurel was very kind and even made an extra pumpkin pie just for me to keep and eat for myself at home.