Thank God it's your Friday!

It ain't mine!

Today is AKIC Tuesday!

 

Portrait Painter

We have hired a new part-time trainer.  Richard is from Australia and married to a Chinese girl.  One of his hobbies is painting -- portrait painting that is.  I am envious of people who have that drawing skill.  But I do have an appreciation of the faces you can see in China.  Some of them are magnificent.  You see these weather-chiseled faces or stern solid faces that make you wonder.  What have they seen?  What have they done?

 

No Relations

Talking to the students about the Haiti Earthquake, I learned that the country does not have diplomatic relations with the PRC.  Haiti is one of the few countries in the world to recognize T.  So most of the students, it seems, had little to say about the catastrophe. 

 

I have also read that a country close to Haiti, Cuba, hasn't had much aid to offer.

 

Daddy home?

I received a strange phone call from Jenny while I was at work last night.  She told me that Tony was convinced that I was outside the apartment door trying to come in and so he was unlocking and opening the door to let me in.  Jenny wanted him to hear the sound of my voice on the phone to get the notion out of his head.  Apparently, this tactic worked because he threw the phone to the ground, angrily, when he heard me.

One month till the Spring Festival

As of Friday, there is less than a month till the Chinese New Year or the Spring Festival, as the locals call it.  The students told me thought that it didn't mean the Spring Festival shopping season had begun. (I had told them about the Christmas shopping season lasting for six weeks.)

Pagan Worship at Wuxiguide.net

Check it out!  Registration may be required.

How is your Chinese?

It is awful still.  But I do make the effort to open a book and study.  This morning, I pulled out my dictionary and was using its' radical chart and index to decipher the meanings of signs.  As I have said before, I made a big mistake in choosing to not study Chinese writing.

 

Pleasant Moment

I suppose you have to endure some things to appreciate those pleasant moments in life.  I suppose also that maybe pleasant things happen after you weather the unpleasant things.  Case in point, yesterday at Casa Kaulins.  My wife was on my case.  I won't get into the details but I have to say she was right to get on my case. (And I do have to thank God that I have been able to get someone on my case  -- for so long, I have been self-supervised and I was wont to always give myself the benefit of a doubt.  I did try to make things tough on myself but never excruciatingly so.)  Sometimes, though, her criticism is unfair, but I try my best to let it be -- she has to look after Tony by herself -- most Chinese wives have a mother-in-law to help them.  So, I don't blame her for having a short fuse.  (In the first year of our marriage, I yelled back at a her.  Boy, did we have some scenes.  I wondered if the marriage would last.)  Sometimes, I can't answer criticism because she has me dead to rights -- I screwed up and acted selfishly.  Yesterday, I was silent for both reasons, but mostly because I couldn't answer the valid criticisms.  Last night, I was in bed, lying beside Tony, after a bout of criticism from my wife.  I held Tony's hand as I fell asleep.  When he did, I took to reading and listening to some podcasts (Chesterton from EWTN).  Jenny came into the bedroom, and looked at me intently.  She asked if I was mad at her.  I said I wasn't but I fely fear of being chided again.  She then said she was sorry for being mad at me, but she loved me and wanted me to act better.

Great moment.  I am not alone.

And as Chesterton said somewhere, to love something is to want to reform it.

Wuxi Tony Update #512: Singing

Tony can do some singing. Already, he is a better singer than me, but of course, that is not hard to do.

You will also see the Chinese book I am currently studying.

Back to Work in Mid-January 2010

Haiti

Horrible news from Haiti.  One of the most miserable places on Earth has been struck with an earthquake right near its capital city.  I have been following the news on the Internet about it.  I notice that it has already become politicized with regards to what Obama is doing and what Bush had done in previous such natural disasters. I have read comments about it proving the non-existence of God.  

I can only pray that the rescue is done right.

Temporary Separation

The K family took the bus downtown yesterday afternoon.  Holding Tony I was able to get a seat at the front of the bus.  A pair of old ladies sat across from us.  They of course looked at Tony with curiosity.  After about ten minutes, a young woman grabbed one of the older  ladies by the arm.  I took it that the young woman was a relative who was accompanying the old woman for the day.  The young woman was indicating to the older woman it was time to get off the bus.  The old woman decided to go out the front door; the younger woman went out the back.  The older woman quickly got off the bus after which the driver closed the door.  The old woman then started knocking on the door.  Her younger companion had not gotten off the bus, having had a hard time getting through the crowded bus to the back door.  The bus started off as people yelled "Xia Che!" at the driver.  Eventually after 50 meters, the bus stopped and the younger woman got off.

The problem of drivers leaving before people have had a chance to get off the bus is constant -- I have seen numerous shouting matches about it.

The incident also shows the panic that can overtake one whenever one finds oneself unexpectedly separated from relations.  I have experienced temporary panics when not knowing where Tony was.

Putting things in other things, and moving things about

That is how Tony occupies his time these days.  Yesterday afternoon, he took all the clothes I had lain on the bed and put them into a hamper.  He also returned a plaything to its proper spot.

Sometimes, as my wife says, Tony can be good.

Tony at Baoli

Tony and I rode the escalators and elevators at Baoli.  There are elevators, there, that have windows and so give one a view of its large open courtyard.  Tony loves to ride these elevators.  Yesterday, we took about five trips up and down on them as the wife went through the checkout at Carrefour.

Wuxi Tony Update #511: The Real Thing

It seemed a good idea at the time.

A wonderful day off

Premature?

It may well be premature on my part to say that my day off is wonderful.  For who knows?  Something may go wrong.

 

Global Un-Warming

One of my students told me that he thinks that Global Warming is part of a plot by Western countries to stop countries like China from developing.  I told him that I thought Global Warming was part of a plot of developing countries to shake down Western countries for money.  Perhaps, Global Warming is just a plot to ruin the world all round.

 

Chinese in Cleveland

A student of mine tells he has a friend living in Cleveland.  This friend tells him that Blacks hate Chinese and that they will frequently tell his friend to go back where he came from.

 

People stare at me, and my appearing on the scene is enough to have them exclaim "laowai!" but I don't detect any animosity -- just curiosity and amusement.

 

An email from a Rare Reader

I never thought my blog to be inspirational.  But then I just got this email, from a rare reader, from which I have cut and pasted the following passages:

 

I still check your website now and again for those great Tony updates, in fact, you've inspired me a bit.  My son was born a couple of weeks ago;.....What has inspired me are your 'Tony Updates'. (Italics mine) My wife and I are thinking of relocating back to China this year and your video blogs seem to be a great way for the family back home to see the little one grow.

 

Congratulations to this rare reader and his wife.

 

It is so important for my parents to see their grandson that I think the 513 WTU's I have made so far just aren't enough.

 

 

 

Tony's strange manner of sitting.

In this third pair of photos, Tony sits on the couch.

Tony on an overpass

This overpass is in the park at which Tony (see previous entry) had been photographed entering.

Tony coming and going

I took these two photos at the entrance to a park near our apartment.