My teacher says....

My teacher says that most of what can be known about a culture is evidenced in their eating utensils.

Chopsticks - quiet, earthy, simple, peaceful, gentle, efficient

Fork and Knife - loud, violent (cutting, stabbing), aggressive, force-wielding, wasteful (so many sizes of forks and spoons), cold, etc.

And this strange feeling crept over me... of needing to defend my silverware drawer.

I kept quiet. In fact, I prefer chopsticks too (except when eating pancakes of course).

I really like my teacher.
She really likes her motherland.

to pull the pin, or not to pull the pin

Happy New Year!!

May your lives be blessed in 2010... the year of the Tiger!

Some of the fun things we did while Nana and Papa were visiting us

Emily was quite pleased to have another person to use all her tea party dishes with!

Emily chased bunnies through the grass, chased chickens and little boys through the bird market, and on another day watched fishes, monkeys, lions, camels, and even reindeer at a very depressing zoo we came across.


Scott and Dad fix electrical issues, sink caulking issues, toilet leaking issues, gaping holes in kitchen window issues, circuit breaker issues and on and on. Thanks Dad for all the fix-it help!! Home sweet home is running much more smoothly.... without running all over the floor. :)

Playing at an indoor playground while mommy shares with the other mommies about why Nana and Papa came to celebrate such an important holiday with us.

Grocery shopping...

A Fun Christmas Surprise....

My mom surprised me by bringing me this Irish Chain quilt that was a 3 generation project. I didn't know it was finished until she showed up here with it! 6 years ago I finished all the quilt squares by hand. But once Emily was born, the quilt squares never got put together... so my mom took them and put them together. Then my mom passed it to her mom, who did the quilting! I'm so excited to have it finished... and it is so beautiful! I can't believe how gigantic it is... and that is was all done by hand. Thanks to mom and Grandma!! We love it!!

Snowman Fridge

Nana brought these cool magnets from America to turn our fridge into a snowman. Emily really liked this idea!

Out exploring, with family from afar

Fun with Nana and Papa B

making more friends

We're not sure if this is a boy or girl friend. Their pants say "perm papa", but that still doesn't clear things up.

Just press execute

Yummmm....

Still Chillin'

The temps are still a bit cold, but are on the rise this weekend. It has been cold this week sitting in a classroom for 4-6 hours at 29 degrees, trying to learn a language! Scott is going to have to figure out how to stay warm in the classroom when December and January roll in! But we are encouraged as the forecast is for warmer temps this week.

Here are the girls just relaxing on the bed. Well, at least Emily is. Aubrey, not so much.


We're always glad to snuggle little Aubrey and keep a bit warmer!

Freezin

Today's temperature was 1 degree (Celsius). Snow in the forcast all week! We keep flipping the breaker as we try to run our space heaters simultaneously! Scott's classroom does not have heat! I'm glad I study at home.

PS - the post below is a video, not just a picture, in case you are one of the ones that missed it. :)

A day out and about

We had great weather on Friday and so we went out of town for the day to see what we could see in the countryside. The people were so warm and friendly with so many people inviting us to come and sit with them and eat with them. Emily was a big hit with everyone again, as they all wanted to pick her up and touch her hair. Emily is actually getting better with all the attention. Here are some pictures from the day out.