vision piece

Fruit...I remember how in Chicago the Persian (Iranian) friends would talk about how the fruits were sweeter back home, the flowers were more fragrant, and I questioned whether that was true, and if it wasn't just their nostalgia for home that caused them to talk that way. Now that we have been in China for the school year and I am certain the fruits ARE more tasty, and the flowers, in several cases are more fragrant, I am encouraged to believe the friends who talk like this. We have discovered two new fruits, in addition to the ones we are more familiar with that have caught our attention. Myrica Rubra or Chinese Bayberry and Dragonfruit ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myrica_rubra ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragonfruit Yummy!!

Well, it is official...my oldest has lost his first tooth! A few days ago we discovered that his two front bottom teeth were loose. We were quite excited. A few days later, after going to a friend of a friend's moving sale, and coming back with a little pink ballerina outfit with detachable wings...our two boys dressed our ill little girl in the outfit, made her a special box to hold teeth, a special want and a sign which now hangs above her bed which says "the tooth fairy sleeps here". This morning after our oldest had eaten breakfast, he came up to me and said "Mom, look!" "I lost my tooth!" He really lost it, he couldn't find it...and we decided he must have eaten it during breakfast. ...now our designated toothfairy is out of work...

We can see this area in the photos below, from our living room window, and from our terrace--which now has flowers and lemon trees (We thought they were oranges, but I think we now believe they are lemons.) I will have to take photos of our terrace, the flowers and the kids soon. We also have hydrangea pink ones...in Chicago we have blue ones. On April 20th...my private preparation and celebration of the coming 12 days made me spend the good part of the day cleaning the terrace(soot, and pollution create quite a mess!). Then, my dear husband noticed that there was a man selling flowers at the corner. He was there again today...maybe I could take a picture of him too. So he and this delightful man helped us carry up a tree(orange/lemon?) up our 5 flights of stairs in addition to 9 small ones, 2 of which have lemons on them, and 7 pink hydrangea plants. I was so excited! Then, we planted them. The next day three of the hydrangea plants were desperately in need of water...We were...

These were photos taken in the exercise area in the middle of our complex, where we live, on my husband's birthday. This year he has officially decided that his birthday will always be on April 2, despite whatever the lunar calendar will do. This was in response to the reaction of his Western counterpart who had difficulty celebrating his birthday, and his in-laws.

J had started this conversation by saying he wanted to be an English teacher to Chinese people when he grew up. Then we asked our oldest, "Well, what would you like to be when you grow up." (Note: I am really into this conversation started spontaneously by my son, because I had just required my 5th grade students to write a 10 paragraph essay about this topic--and some turned out REALLY good...) K says "I want to be a worker. I want to build buildings and help people." J responds "I will help people learn." To all of this my husband and I are saying "Oh that is very good!" We turn to our almost 3 daughter and ask her "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Very seriously and with conviction, she says "I want to be a pig! OINK! OINK!" My husband, my oldest son and I start laughing...I with tears in my eyes, and my dear J, patiently tries to tell her "When you grow up you are going to be a person, not a pi...

Wow! China has lifted the ban on blogger!