15 Sep 2005
Ni hao or hello to all,
We realized after reading through the last update email (China update #3) that we hadn’t even mentioned how the kids were doing, as well as ourselves. Now this might not read as nicely as the prior updates because Peter is a much better writer than myself. But, here goes….
Peter’s work keeps him very busy. As you all know now, he is riding his bike to and from work. Two reasons for doing that: the exercise needed and it more often than not gets him to and from work faster than if he were taking the shuttle or a taxi. Cars so often get caught up in traffic jams and Peter can now just fly right by them and smile! He especially likes riding his bike home on Friday evenings as it gets him to the Lido fountain a lot faster and he can hang out and relax with the kids and I. His longest day is Thursday when he has a late night phone conference with Austin from 9:00 PM to midnight. That just gives him more incentive to come home early on Fridays!
Janet’s “work” keeps her quite busy. Her days are spent at home playing Elephun, reading Dr. Seuss, watching Shrek, or putting wooden puzzles together. There are also the mornings at the park, the afternoons at the Lido fountain, and the walking back and forth to the nearby grocery stores to pick up a few items. For 30-45 minutes each afternoon, she goes back to her prior career days and teaches Bailey “school”. Then there is always the cooking and cleaning up the kitchen and doing the laundry…..etc. And she has cleaners come in twice a week to clean! Don’t know when she would get that done on top of everything else. Her job is filled with rewards and she loves the “work”!
Bailey is definitely 2 years old and is determined to challenge us whenever she can. She is so full of energy and never stops. I have started teaching her school and she loves it. We’re learning alphabet, numbers, colors and shapes. Every day she tells me to put Samuel to sleep so we can do school. She loves to go to the park and play with her new friend, Sydney. She has become so independent. “I walk, Mommy”, “no help me”, “I get it”, “me do it”, “I push the buttons” (referring to the elevator), are just a few of the phrases we hear constantly. She still has her love of reading, which thrills both Peter and myself. If she had her way, we would be reading to her 24/7 I think. We’re not complaining though. That’s a much better option than watching TV all day. She still likes to greet the guard downstairs with “Ni hao” and she is starting to learn to say goodbye as well. One guard in his very limited English told us our daughter was very beautiful. The locals love to show off their English, no matter how limited.
Samuel is developing such an adorable personality. He ALWAYS has a smile for everyone he sees. He’ll raise his hand to them as if waving and smile from ear to ear. He sure knows how to turn on the charm. He’s starting to walk behind his push toy a lot, so we’re sure he’ll be walking on his own soon enough. He waves bye bye and also plays the “How big is Samuel…So Big” game. He loves to play pat a cake with his sister…well he loves to play anything with his sister when she lets him. He adores Bailey! He is also starting to become quite sensitive and gets his feelings hurt if we correct him or Bailey rejects him. He makes the saddest face and slowly starts to cry. It breaks my heart! He will put anything and everything into his mouth. We never had that problem with Bailey. It’s kind of scary sometimes because things aren’t always the cleanest here, so when he puts something into his mouth, you never know “what” is actually there along with the something. He already manages to aggravate Bailey by going into her room and pulling all the books off the shelf. It is going to be interesting to watch the two of them interact as they continue to grow older. All said, they do love each other and it shows.
We’ve finally managed to hire an ayi who will come to our house 4 days during the week and every other Saturday evening to watch the kids while Peter and I get some time alone. I am starting intense Chinese language lessons next week, 3 hours a day, 3 days a week. The ayi will stay with the kids while I am at my lessons. She will also help with day to day cleaning of the house. She is 23 years old and speaks very good English. I really think the kids will like her. She starts work on Monday, and I start my lessons. Having her will be helpful with learning Chinese as well. I look forward to practicing on her.
We do manage to get quite a bit of family time in in the evenings and on the weekends. We often go for walks or check out local family owned restaurants on the weekends. The kids love it because they get loads of attention. We love it because the kids are taken care of by the staff while we eat in peace! On Friday afternoons, the kids and I head to the Lido hotel and hang out by the fountain. The kids play in the water and I visit with a couple of other ladies who are there. Peter gets off work early and meets us there. It’s cool enough in the late afternoons to be able to sit outside and be comfortable. The kids love it and we enjoy the time as well. Don’t know what we will do when it gets too cold to sit out there. That’s our Friday evening activity. I try to attend the Schlumberger Spouses’ Association coffees when I can as it is a good way to connect to other wives in my situation. We’ve been attending Capital Community Church on Sundays and enjoy the worship services there. We’ve not managed to connect with anyone yet, but are starting in a home group Bible study on every other Monday evening. We’re hoping through that, we might be able to get to know some people better. Our church has an exciting guest coming this Sunday to visit the church. He is friends with a couple that attend the church and will be visiting with them – Steven Curtis Chapman, one of our favorite Christian singers. He is connected with one of the orphanages here in China and has adopted children from them. We were thrilled to hear that he would be singing at our little church of about 150 people. We’ll have the camera with us on Sunday!
Well, I’m sure you are feeling quite bombarded with long emails from us lately. We are working on getting a website going with loads of pictures on it as many of you have asked when we would be posting pictures for you to see. It should be out there soon. It all takes time and I have no clue how to get it started, so Peter has to find the time to do it. Once he gets it going, he can teach me how to do it and I can keep it updated. We’ll let you know as soon as it is up and running. Until then, God bless and take care.
Love,
Peter, Janet, Bailey and Samuel
The Adventures of the Cajunlimeys 