Did List

This week has been very busy. Since I love the satisfaction of checking tasks off my to-do lists, I decided to create a retroactive to-do list. Here is what I did this week:

·         Held lots of babies, took kids on walks, read stories, and sang songs

·         Visited the street market in Xiao Liu Zhai village, where we live.

·         Attracted many stares and calls “Hallloo???”

·         Tried cow stomach on a stick (sometimes Meilina and I do things just so we can brag about them laterJ)

·         Bought Communist propaganda posters

·         Played “Red Light, Green Light” with Mila

·         Taught the older kids “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes”

·         Helped record children’s songs for Starfish’s new YouTube channel

·         Accompanied the head nanny and two kids to the hospital to get x-rays (if you ever want to attract attention, be a “foreigner” changing a diaper in a public place in China)

·         Helped Meilina organize the kitchen cupboards

 

It was a productive week! And here’s a great China moment: On the bus ride in to town this young guy struck up a conversation with me. He told me how Americans are bad people because we bully other countries. He also asked me about how I liked China, and whether China or the US was better (both are good, I said). We bantered back and forth for a while, and soon practically everyone on the bus was listening to our conversation. In fact, this young guy was so excited to be talking to a foreigner that he missed his stop! At the suggestion of an old grandma on the bus,  he eventually asked for my phone number. I told him that I don’t have a Chinese phone. He gave me his business card and told me to call him if anyone gives me any trouble, because he knows kung fu like Bruce Lee. I asked him to demonstrate, but he said there wasn’t enough room on the bus.  What a pity, I said.