Happenings for NingNing

NingNing's last 3 days have been eventful.  I alerted him in China that we were a busy family :).  Saturday was haircut day.  NingNing has shown no signs of grieving, but when we talked about hair, he put up huge resistance.  We finally convinced him to accept just a "small" haircut.  When we watched James get his buzz cut, you'd have thought he was going to pass out right there!  But he survived and at least he can see now! Then we went to Grandpa and Grandma's (Wai Po and Wai Gong) to celebrate our August birthdays; Jessica's, Jr's and NingNing's of course.  NingNing actually picked the cake he wanted and then  we opened a can of chocolate frosting for him to try; he liked it!  So marble cake with chocolate frosting went on the "like" list.  On the "don't like" list are milk, eggs, cheese, Cheezits (is that possible??),  syrup, ice cream, spaghetti noodles (too bland).....
We gave him a small carved chess set I had bought in China, and the grandparents gave him a card with $10.  He opened it and said "Wawww", which apparently means "wow!"  When we got home, we asked him what he thought on Google Translate, and he said "he liked".  He also got a chance to meet my cousin (bao jie) and her boyfriend.

Sunday was church; I had bought silk shirts for the boys and had hoped they would wear them; both my boys looked so handsome!  NingNing won't believe he is nice-looking; always putting himself down, avoiding pictures if he can.  Even though I know he couldn't possibly understand a lot, he really seemed to pay attention when the sermon was going on.  For lunch, we met with a Caucasian friend who speaks Chinese.  He came out, said Ni Hao to NingNing and proceeded to converse in Chinese; NingNing's eyes got huge and he was speechless for a minute, then he joined in.

The conversation turned to sports and NingNing said he wasn't sure about doing basketball because he really wanted to concentrate on his English and doing well in school.  I thought it would be really good for socialization, but we won't push it if he really doesn't want to.

Handsome Son #1

Beautiful Little Ladies!

Handsome Son #2


Now.....school.  Today was the red letter day.  NingNing was tested for English proficiency, which demonstrated Level 1, which we knew.  Then a lady came in and evaluated him some using Google Translate; that took about an hour.  We then had to return at 1:30 to discuss what the school had decided to do.  There was an interpreter who helped us "talk" a little more in depth; found out he is doing ok, and there wasn't anything different he wanted or needed from us.  The translator said his name was "cute" and  I thought he would melt right through the floor; first time I saw him blush, lol!
Basically, it was decided that for this week, NingNing will go halfdays starting tomorrow, and will be "buddied" with another 8th grader.  They told him through the translator he's expected to do nothing but observe, watch, listen, and absorb English; they are absolutely doing their best to ensure his transition to our school goes as smooth as possible.
I had the translator (a senior Chinese student at UCM) ask NingNing how he felt about tomorrow and he said he wanted me to be there.  I was so thrilled that he is already bonding to the extent that he wants Mom nearby; so he will ride the bus with his siblings and I will follow behind and hang out in the library until time to go home.  He seemed happier knowing I would be close.

Later, our oldest, Jessica, had a softball game.  She's a senior, so we're trying to go to as many games as possible.  She got two great hits, and a couple RBIs.  NingNing enjoyed it, but started yawning, so we headed home once we knew the outcome (we lost) and got all 5 kids in bed by 9:15!  That's pretty much a miracle for us.

 

NingNing's first days

I know it's been only two days since we've been home, but I just had to post what's been going on.  Yesterday (Thursday) we just hung around basically sleeping.  NingNing got up in the morning, took a nap partway through the day and then went to bed when we did at 10:30.  James said he was up during the night playing on the Ipod and sat on James's bed showing him because the Ipod was dead!  They both got up at a decent hour this morning and neither one has taken a nap today, so hopefully they will sleep completely through the night (kinda weird that i'm saying that about a 15 and 14 year old).
NingNing spent part of yesterday and today getting acquainted with his two younger sisters.  He has learned more English in the last two days from our youngest, Judi, than our whole 18 days in China!  Judi knows no strangers and glued herself to NingNing since the moment they met.  They tussle and mess with each other, but I think she fascinates him, just because she talks non-stop.  BUT, it has served to cause him to begin copying her, which is wonderful to hear.  He copies her exactly and since she talks with such expression, it's hilarious to hear a 14-year old boy copying a 7-year old girl.
For instance, at this very moment, they are all sitting on the couch; he is playing a farm game, and the girls are telling him what the items are in English and he's repeating it softly.

Today we took NingNing to Walmart as he has begun to express specific opinions on foods he doesn't like; quite the change from China, let me tell you!  So far, he hates milk and cheese or anything that tastes like cheese, didn't like spaghetti noodles (too bland), ate scrambled eggs in China, but not here (again too bland).  We got on Google Translate today and figured out he likes Sunny D, grapes, and toast with jam, so at least we've found something he can eat for breakfast before school.  We also told him we understand if he doesn't want to eat a lot, but he needed to eat something once he's in school full-time.  And for dinner, thank goodness for stir fry in a bag until my culinary skills improve! We bought more noodle bowls to send to school with him until his tastes adjust a little more; they are easy to make and only 3 minutes to microwave.  Not the most nutritous, but we're talking school lunches as an alternative, so which is the lesser of two evils, really?  Also found another plaid shirt and a hoodie he liked, as well as underwear and socks.
NingNing was a bit taken aback by the amount of food and drink we bought; he gave over pushing the cart to Jr after it was about half full!

Then, at 3, we visited the school.  We met with the ELL coordinator and just walked him around the middle school area.  We had the boy who's offered to be his "buddy' for awhile there and his mom, who is herself an ELL teacher and has offered her services for free.  Even if the school doesn't use her, she's offered to have NingNing come to her house as often as needed after school to work on English.  She's recommended the Pimsleur method for us to purchase, which teaches based on phonetics and breaking down English phrases piece by piece.  NingNing listened to a sample audio lesson and seemed to like it.  Now the girls are on Google Translate "talking" to him; he's said more English in the last hour than I've ever heard and everything he's said has been perfect pronunciation.  Monday, he will be tested to assess his English level and then they will devise how much ELL instruction vs. mainstreaming he will need.  My guess is he might go half-days next week and then fulltime the following week, but we'll see.
I was a little afraid that might have been too much for one day, but he seems to have handled it all well. 

Newsflash:  just this minute, NingNing showed me what he wrote on Google Translate...he said our youngest talks a lot and has ADHD!!!!  Now, how on earth would he know that term?  We're finding out there are amazing depths to NingNing.

We also told him today we go to church on Sundays and that we believe in Jesus; he seemed to understand that pretty well; we mentioned his friends go to church now as well too.
Well, I could write all night, but will save more for later. 

NingNing's birthday present was.....

American citizenship!
We landed in San Fransisco at around noon yesterday on Tuesday, August 21, approximately 4 hours BEFORE we left China almost 18 hours ago!  Losing 13 hours time difference can really mess with your head.  NingNing had the longest birthday in history, about 37 hours total :) and is officially 14 now.
We were starved by the time we got to our hotel for the night and went to an Ihop.  James dove into the pancakes while NingNing ordered a burger and fries.  China portions are pretty small, so you should have seen his eyes when the burger came; the meat itself was 3 times as thick as anything we had in China, but he demolished it all!  This boy can certainly put away the food when he is hungry and is not overly picky. 
Also at the Ihop, I FINALLY got my first Diet Pepsi in 18 days!  Apparently Coke has overtaken China and all one can find is Diet Coke (only in Beijing) and Coke Zero (everywhere). 
Headed back to the hotel for some R&R; James finally zonked (he didn't sleep during the 4 hour or the 9 hour flight), but NingNing and I made it to about 9pm.  But the boys were awake about 4am and I finally gave up trying to sleep at 5:45a.  This was probably the only morning I haven't had a hard time getting these boys out of bed!

NingNing seems a little overwhelmed by all the English he's hearing, so we just stayed in the room to keep things low key.  He was on QQ with Seth while I was texting Seth's mom; we were talking about the boys and they were talking about us, I'm sure!

One more flight to KC, and then real life begins again, along with the work of learning English and making sure NingNing gets settled in school with the help he needs to have a good transistion.

Beijing and Hong Kong

We're in Hong Kong, Tuesday morning, getting ready for our longest flights of the trip.  I think today will be the toughest day for NingNing.
Saturday we did the Forbidden City, Tianneman Square, and the Olympic Parks.  The boys were really impressed with the Bird's Nest.

We spent our last day in Beijing on the Great Wall.  It was awesome!  The guide dropped us at this section called the Mutianyu section and there was a ski-lift to the top which we took.  Coming down we opted for the "chute", a toboggan ride all the way down the mountain!  Now that was fun!  We were going to see the Ming Tombs, but we overheard some people at our hostel say it was boring and not interesting, and we were exhausted from the Great Wall anyway, so we came on back and rested up for the trek home.
In Hong Kong, we're staying at the Silvermine Beach Resort.  Got here and just hung out, went to the beach for a bit, and then hung out some more.  Ningning enjoyed looking for mussels and looking at the other small animal life we found in the water.  The view driving in to our hotel was amazing.  I will post pictures the next chance I get.

We're back to no English again; I feel it's either stubborness, fear, or a mixture of both.  When he does say it, he speaks it perfectly, but last night, he refused to say even one English word, not even "James" or "Mom".  He's understanding a lot of what we say, because he either responds or laughs when I say something to James. Oh well, in one day English is all he's going to hear, so we'll see how it goes once we're home.  He's already out of his element, so I'm sure today is going to be difficult; we will be on American soil by the time I blog again

Lost in Beijing

We got lost in Beijing our first night here.  Our guide dropped us at our hostel and we were supposed to meet at 4; it was 230p.  We walked out our street to find a bank so we could eat.  We asked directions and headed that way.  Kept on and finally realized we weren't finding such a creature, so we stopped to ask a rickshaw driver with the Ipod.  He took us to one...great, right?  We hopped back in and asked him to take us to the McDonald's right by our hostel.  He took us to one waaaaaay far away; James and I were looking at each other like what the heck?  With no other choice and being really hungry, we grabbed food to go and flagged a taxi.  The driver looked at my map and couldn't figure out where to go.  FINALLY, NingNing spoke up and showed the driver where the address was and told him where we needed to go.  This is one of the first times NingNing has helped us out like that; he doesn't even speak up to order food; he points to what he wants and wants me to do it.  I've said it before; NingNing has big confidence issues; our guide in Guangzhou said no one gave him any direction at the orphanage; they just let him be and do what he wanted as long as he didn't cause them any trouble.  He also helped out today by speaking up and asking a couple of strangers where a bank was.  Just a few days ago, he never would have done that!

Met the guide on time (thanks to NingNing) and went on the famous Hutong tour by rickshaw and got to go in a family's home; I've done this back in 2004, but it was neat to see again.  Then we headed back to the hostel and the boys played badminton in the room (don't ask), and then watched a movie together.  Good times..........

First spontaneous English word!

"Eeeeev-a!"
Ok, what the heck?  This was NingNing's word today!  I've been waiting for 9 days for anything, like "Mom", "James", "hello", "goodbye", etc. and it's "Eva".  So we were waiting for our guide to bring his visa and Wall-E came on.  Apparently NingNing has never seen this before and thought it quite hilarious.  When Wall-E and Eva introduce each other and say each other's names, all of a sudden, NingNing says "Eeeev-a".  James and I wanted to crack up, but we didn't want him to think we were laughing at him, so we just grinned at each other.  Oh well, at least it's English!

Last day in Guangzhou and in three trips, I never realized that beyond Lucy's there's a little walkway right next to the river and even another restaurant!  The boys went to play badminton again while I ventured back to take pictures of the river scene.  Yesterday I also got stopped by the police; they asked to see my passport and wrote down my information.  I kept the boys away from that area as we didn't have NIngNIng's passport back yet; not taking any chances.

Had smoked duck's breast at Lucy's (yum) and the boys went to play pool again.  Our guide showed up at 830 saying our travel agency, SSIT was demanding the rest of their money NOW and would not let us leave Guangzhou until we did.  To anyone whose agency uses SSIT, beware; this would have been a perfect trip except for certain things they did and didn't do.  It's a long story that didn't end in Chengdu like I'd hoped but I won't waste my blogging on them. 

Thankfully, they are not involved at all in our Beijing days, so here's hoping for a happy ending!

Too many days in Guangzhou

Six/seven days is officially too long in Guangzhou.  Nothing much to do when you have kids who hate to shop, couldn't care less about the architecture, and just want to sit in the hotel room and zone out.   And let's face it, unless you want to spend money in the millions of stores there are around here, there really isn't much you can do once you've seen the typical sights.
  Yesterday we met up with the Gerbers again and a couple other families, one also with a 13-year old boy who has quite a history.  I find it interesting that the Chinese kids will not speak to each other from different families.  Don't know if that's just their way not to talk to people they don't know, or what.
   We rode back to the China hotel with them on their bus, and went to MacDonald's for supper, then hopped a taxi back to our hotel.  I'm sure there was one closer to us, but it gave me an opportunity to talk with other families.  I crave that adult interaction, as my two boys would prefer we sit in the room all day and do nothing but watch TV.  I thought NingNing would be interested in being in a different city that he's never been in, and I thought James would be more interested in China in general.  But where we are is so modern, and crowded, and urban, it's been "underwhelming".  If I could just get the boys out to the countryside, where people scrabble for a meager living, then it might make an impression, but then again, maybe not.  I think it is very hard to impress today's teenagers at all, no matter where you are, and have them appreciate what they have. 

We did go out and buy badminton rackets though, and played for about an hour on the courtyard behind our hotel.  Try playing badminton in 100% humidity; you will lose at least 2 lbs of water instantly!

Last night, we had a conversation on Google Translate.  NingNing typed that James was bullying him, YET when they settled down from their daily evening wrestling fest, NINGNING started things up again by whacking James with a pillow!  So he is NOT a total innocent in the byplay!  Not only that, but he still sticks to him like glue whenever we're out.
Our conversation went on and I explained about school, that it would be schooltime when we got home (not sure what he expected; I think later because they don't start back here until Sept. 1).  He was slightly taken aback by that.  I went on to describe the school day and that the school was hiring someone to help him out.  He considers himself very stupid and told the guide this; how very sad.  His teachers here must have really done a number on him, because he doesn't consider himself smart at all and doesn't think he can learn English.  He can repeat things just fine, but will not spontaneously use English still, even to express a need.  I have to ask him if he's hungry or thirsty or tired, etc., or just doing ok.  I never thought I'd say that having a completely compliant, non-needy child was a little frustrating, but it is, simply because you don't know what they want or need, and have to guess all the time.
I feel like there's something I should be doing different so that he will feel better about trying English, but don't know what.

    This morning we had our Consulate appointment, so that's the final step.  All that is left is for our guide to pick up NingNing's visa tomorrow, so he can leave the country.  Not only do you need a visa to enter China, you have to have one to leave as well.  We were in and out pretty quick; they asked NingNing one question, if he still wanted to go to America, and he said yes, so that's good :).

    Then we went to the Electronics market.  This is a huge area where, you guessed it, they sell every kind of electronic item imaginable, Ipads, Ipods, Iphones, video games, DVDs, etc.  I went looking for  a little movie shop we went to last time where we bought 92 DVDs.  Found it, and this time I was conservative, and bought only 29.  They were 8RMB apiece, or about $1.75.  Some of the movies are not even out of  US theatres yet. Then James found some XBOX 360 games for 5RMB, or .90 apiece.  The really weird thing is, though, that the Ipads and Ipods are MORE expensive than in America or on Ebay!
   By this time, NingNing was making it somewhat apparent that he doesn't like to shop AT ALL!  Nothing major, just facial expressions, yawning, and sighing.  James is more vocal about it unless of course he's finding something he's interested in.  On our way out, we lucked into a counter that was selling translators.  The one I've been looking at on Amazon was $130.  This one was $50, so we had NingNing try it out (he did so reluctantly).  The guide explained it was for school and he typed in "do not go for a stroll".  Ok, point taken.
Back to the hotel room for another rousing afternoon of electronic stimulation.  Later, however, I'm dragging them out and walking to the pedestrian street for dinner at the Guangzhou Restaurant; want to eat there at least once.
Probably won't blog until Friday night when we're in Beijing.  I don't anticipate any major outings tomorrow and we have to be in bed very early for the flight on Friday.  Will be very glad to get there, do our whirlwind sightseeing and then start home.