Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 91

Yawn... Up at 2:00 a.m. today. Read for an hour and half and decided my time would be better spent on Facebook. Natalie slept until 5:30. Yeah!

"Jet lag is your soul trying to catch up after flying."

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 90

Since we have jet lag, you'd think that Natalie and I would have actually had time to stage a picture today! But decided to use the extra time to call Angel and Mom in Florida!  Natalie loves FaceTime!

"Is Nikki still wearing diapers?"

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 89

Last day of school before Chinese New Year. Natalie is holding the hóngbāo (红包) that she will give this morning to Ayi's that ride the school bus with her and for the driver of the school bus. Hóngbāo means red envelope and is very common to see during CNY time. The red is to symbolize good luck and the envelope part is to hold money. Most workers in China will receive a hóngbāo with about a month's salary and it is considered a "bonus". This includes our Ayi and Driver as we are their employer. We will give them their envelopes tomorrow. Her caption is loosely translated as Good Luck and Prosper or gōng xǐ fā cái in pinyin. I realized that I have never really posted a lot about Chinese New Year and the traditions. Since we are here in town for a few more days, I'll try to post some more information!

" 恭喜发财"

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 88

What I usually see every morning...

"Nose in a book. Literally."

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 87

The actual picture I took for today was of Natalie sticking an entire slice of orange into her mouth and smiling. So it was an orange peel smile. But I snapped this one after she took it out and thought it captured the spirit of the moment much better!

"That made my smile hurt!"

The Move: A Short Story by Natalie Bramer

Many of you know that Natalie is usually very hesitant to share any of her stories that she writes. She doesn't even let Tom or I read them. I looked the other day and she had more than 20 fiction stories on her computer! So we have been encouraging her to complete a story and then share so that people can enjoy them. We also encouraged her to enter a local writing contest. The grand prize is an iPad2! The challenge is that it had to be 2000 words or less. This is difficult for someone who uses 4 adjectives to describe everything! But she finished it and we submitted it. It was a great process for her to go through. And me to go through. I had to keep reminding myself she is only 9 so in her mind boxes can and do "sit blankly"! And now we can finally share. Enjoy!

THE MOVE

by Natalie Bramer 

“We’re moving to Canada?!” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.

My dad nodded happily, like we had won the lottery. Ron was pumped, Nina was surprised. I was angry. Ron danced up behind me. “We’re going to Canada!!” He sounded happier about it. I glared at him.

My mom shot me a look. I refused to shut up. “We’re going to Canada?” I asked stormily, looking sulkily at my parents.

My father had a dangerous glint in his eye. He nodded sharply as he pushed his glasses up his nose.

I banged down my hand on the table. “I don’t believe you were so stupid that you took the job offer! How could you?!”

Mom turned to me icily. “Camarina, room. Now.” she pointed a finger at the staircase. I glared at her and stomped up the stairs, then slammed the door to my room.

For a while I lay on my bed, staring at my endless amount of posters that were pasted to my wall. “We’re moving.” I whispered. The reality hit me with a bang.

 “Have you got the snacks?” Mom barked at Ron. He nodded.

“Your pillows?” Mom snapped at me. 

“Yes.” I snapped right back.

Mom rounded on Nina. “Got the drinks?”

Nina nodded blankly.

Mom nodded approvingly and ushered us out the door.

Dad was loading the last of the luggage into the trunk, where thousands of suitcases and bags were scattered in the back.

“Ready, troops?” Dad asked.

Nina and Ron nodded eagerly. I just crossed my arms.

Dad ignored my stormy spirits and started helping us into the van. As soon as I got in, I stared out the window, although all I could see was the dirty blank wall of our garage. Nina was sitting next to me, and Ron squeezed into a tiny seat in the back, where all the luggage was.

I took one last glance at our house. The dead trees shifted in the wind, waving at me as if to say ‘goodbye!’.

The world was a blur of snow: at least outside the window.

It had been about six hours since we left; we had entered Canada and arrived at our home in Toronto.

Dad’s eyes twinkled as we pulled into the snow-coated driveway. “Grab your suitcases and go!” he announced as he parked the car. “We have arrived!”

The next day was busy. The boxes were still sitting blankly in all of the rooms. Occasionally, someone would slip something out of them and place it in its correct spot, but the house did seem to stay bare and cold.

I, myself, had more worries to attend to. Today was the first day of school.

As I undressed and pulled the uniform of the shelf, I pondered the question that had been in my head for days. ‘Would I make any friends?’ I slipped on the uniform. It had a skirt in it. I groaned inwardly. I hated skirts.

I emerged from the bathroom moodily, swinging my arms at my sides.

My mom was waiting for me in the hall. She wrinkled her nose in disgust at the sight of my hair, and sent me to Dad for a brush.

“Here you go, sport.” He handed me a brush wearily. “I swear, the boxes are multiplying.” He sighed and ran a hand through his messy black hair.

I jogged down the carpeted hall into the kitchen, where utensils, cutlery, boxes of frozen food and plates were strewn all over.

Nina was rooting through a box of Easy-To-Make Pancakes, a gooey mess of sour tasting mix, all ready to go. Nina knew nothing about cooking. She could barely make anything. But one of the things that she did know how to make was boxed pancakes.

I watched Nina pour the batter into a pan she had managed to find. She adjusted the temperature and pulled out her phone as the pancakes sizzled.

I joined Ron, who looked both tired and hungry. “We get to have pancakes.” I jammed a finger in Nina’s direction. I smirked as Ron’s hungry look vanished.

“What is that smell?!” Mom gagged as she entered the room.

“Nina’s making breakfast.” I said matter-of-factly. Mom nodded in recognition. “Pancakes?” she asked, taking a long sniff in the smoky air.

Nina entered and handed us each a charred pancake. We ate in silence. Well, we didn’t really eat.

Soon, a bus honked outside. Our cue to go.

I slipped my coat on, then threw away my pancake, snatched my bookbag and raced out the door into the chilly winter day.

The school bus for Toronto Eons Public School was much bigger than your average one. A lot of windows were lined down the bus, with faces studying me critically from each and every one. I stepped toward the front of the bus.

The bus doors opened automatically, and I stepped in to find thousands of eyes staring at me. I uncomfortably nodded and slipped in the only empty row left, the one right over the wheels, the ones that get the biggest jolts. I scrunched myself into the seat, trying to make myself look smaller as the occupants of the bus stared me down, some as young as five.

Ron had to sit next to me, and Nina sat with another girl who was texting away on her phone.

The driver shifted gears. He pulled his orange cap tighter on his nearly hairless head and started the engine. The bus vibrated when it was moving, so I felt extremely uncomfortable throughout the ride, with my insides scrambling around. Not just from the bus.

When the bus reached the school, I felt sick all the way to homeroom. The door to my classroom was littered with signs saying Ms Sterner, so it was easy finding my class.

I was really hoping that the teacher was not like Mrs. Paddington, my fluttery teacher I had in second grade.

Just my luck, my teacher Ms Sterner waddled up to me and took me by the shoulders. “Why, hello Camarina!” she said loudly. Several classmates looked up.

“Uh, you can call me Marina.” I said. I snuck a look at my classmates.

Most classmates stared blankly at me. I tried to smile as the knot in my stomach squeezed tighter. A girl with blonde hair smiled back kindly. “Hi, I’m Marina.” I managed to get out.

The girl smiled at me more, than gave a shy, small wave. I didn’t wave back.

Ms Sterner started a speech. When it was done, she asked “Can we have a volunteer to help Camarina out? What about you, Jessie?”

The girl who had waved nodded vigorously. “You can sit next to me!” she said excitedly.

I nodded numbly.

Jessie smiled at me again. I kept my head down, staring hard at the circles expanding from the wood.

A shrill whistle pierced the air. A teacher shook his finger at the boys playing soccer. I snuck a look as I skimmed the field. Nothing interesting.

“Hey Marina!” a cheerful voice said behind me. I turned to find Jessie standing behind me, grinning like a lunatic. “Whatcha doin’?” she grinned.

I shrugged. “Nothing, really.”

“You wanna jump rope with me?” she asked.

This was my chance to make a new friend! “No thanks. I’m fine on my own.” The words came out of my mouth without me thinking about it.

Jessie looked taken aback for a second, than said in a surprised tone. “Uh, okay.” She walked off towards her waiting friends.

I buried my head in my hands. My only chance to make a friend and I blew it!

Nina flagged me down after the bus rumbled away. “Tell Mom I’m going to Lilly’s house.” she told me, then set off towards the park with a girl.

I nodded. I already had to tell Mom that Ron was going to a kid named Matt’s house.

I trudged home, my feet unusually heavy against the light coating of snow. As I passed the park next to our house, I saw Ron and his friend engaged in a game of soccer with some other boys. Nina was still in sight, chatting with Meghan as they walked across the street.

My mom was waiting for me as I opened the door.

“Hey sweetie. Dad’s at work.” She looked up from a cardboard box that she was unpacking. “How was school?”

I responded by trudging over to the table, leaving my coat and bag in a heap at my feet and crossing my arms as I sat on one of the chairs.

Mom leaned away from the box. “Do you want to talk about it?” she asked, sitting down beside me.

I shook my head and crossed my arms even tighter.

“Oh, don’t be such a bad apple.” My mom persisted, resting a hand on my shoulder. I hesitated for a moment. Then the story tumbled out, from the second I walked outside to when I walked home.

My mom listened all the way, twisting a strand of her hair in her finger. “So Ron and Nina made new friends and you didn’t. Do you know why?” she asked softly, looking deep into my eyes. I didn’t move, just stared down at the tablecloth.

“Because,” Mom continued. “You didn’t try.”

I looked up and Mom stared back at me. “Well, I guess I didn’t try too hard.” I admitted.

Mom placed a hand on my head. “Tomorrow, you are going to go up to Jessie and ask her if you could jump rope with her.” She insisted, eyeing me apprehensively.

“All right, all right.” I put my hands up and gave a laugh. It felt nice to laugh, like I had been holding it in.

My mom smiled and stood up. “Now, dinner isn’t going to make itself. You can start with the salad…”

The sun was warm on my back as it drained the little amount of snow left. I was standing beside a large bush, trying to gather my courage. I could see Jessie and three other girls hopping as the long jump rope swished over their heads. I took a deep breath and emerged from the bush, slowly making my way to where the girls were skipping faster and faster.

“Teddy bear, teddy bear, turn around, teddy bear, teddy bear, touch the ground!” The rhythmic beat matched the speed of my thumping heart. I watched as Jessie touched the ground as the other girls repeated the chant.

One girl messed up. She was handed the end of the rope, the other gladly joined the middle. This was my only chance…

“Hey Jessie. JESSIE!” I bellowed at the top of my lungs. Jessie turned, looking surprised.

I ran towards her. “Can I play?” I panted, sweat pouring down my forehead.

“Sure.” She beamed at me. But it was more than just a smile. It was an act of kindness. A smile of relief.

Maybe even a sign of things to come.

The next day found me waiting in line to be a jumper. Slap…slap…the rope worked out a beat as it slammed into the stone ground. The spinners of the rope, who were named Meghan and Josie, were chanting a beat, spinning the rope faster and faster.

As I waited, I reflected on the day. The sun poured on my back as I stepped to the front of the line. I had had lunch with Jessie, Meghan, Josie and their friends, and Jessie invited me over to her house!

After the talk Mom had given me last night, I realized I really did act like a bad apple. Cranky, rude, and all the rest of that stuff. And when I had been more open to the situation, wham!, I made a friend. I listened to the chant for a few moments.

Then, smiling, I joined Jessie and her friends, jumping to the beat of the rope.

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 86

Not much of a photo today. I was annoyed that when I checked in her bag this morning, there was homework that was to have to been completed over the weekend (I know, it stinks that she has weekend homework in 4th grade, but we are in Asia for goodness sake!). So priority this morning was on completing that. It will be good to have this picture as a memory. Hopefully it will soon be a distant memory! At least I could use her real quote this morning.


Today she is trying out for the 4th grade musical. Singing audition. She really wants to be in the play, but was a little concerned that most parts were singing. I love her, but not much of a singer. Then she realized that she can use a Christmas song as her audition song, so she is singing Joy to the World. Not sure she will get a part, but I am super proud of her even trying out. Hard to believe this is the same girl who used hide at parties!

"Math homework? I had Math homework?"

Ayi's Grandson's 100 Days Pcitures

100 Days

I just had to post the pictures that the Ayi gave me of her grandson. Unfortunately, I have to call him "him" as I have only heard his name in Chinese and I don't have the pinyin version of it! I'll get Ayi to write it out for me next week and then one of my pengyou's to translate it!. For Chinese babies, the 100 Day Birthday celebration is a big day. This is an important day for the baby because 100 days birth celebration represents the wish that the baby will live 100 years. Instead of a big party, they took him for his first formal pictures. This is a big deal, because it is not cheap. I want to say it was around 1300 RMB or about $200. Ayi told me that this money was taken from the money they received at the 1 month party. The interesting part of that conversation was learning that a % of the money that was given to the family was earmarked for certain future celebrations like this. They also set aside some money to pay for his first birthday, which in fact will occur in a few weeks. This is because it is traditional to celebrate all births during Chinese New Year (lunar year). That is the traditional age or 虚岁(zhōusùi). And in fact, he is already one and will be two at the lunar holiday! Confused? But most families nowadays use modern age 实岁(shísùi) which is the actual birth date.

The violin to make him look sophisticated!

A couple of observations about the baby pictures. First of all, you may notice the haircut. The first haircut actually comes at the one month date. It was explained that the sides are shaved of all the hair that was considered to have grown in the womb. That hair was tied with a red ribbon and kept as a keepsake. So you can see that the top of his head has more hair. And they didn't actually use a razor to shave it, just scissors. Then there is the choice of composition. The gangster with glasses and pipe is my favorite! But what's up with the ear muffs? 


So, thought I would share these. Enjoy!!

Funny that they would choose a gangster look!

This is just cute!

Why earmuffs?

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 85

(FYI: yesterday I interrupted my process for getting the daily picture out. And it resulted in forgetting to update the subject to reflect the correct Day. It was Day 84, not 83. Luckily I am back into my regular boring process with no reflection so I caught the mistake! Please consider this if you have already taken my advice from yesterday!)
I know you are probably trying to guess what today's action is. Me too! Pretty sure she was trying to slide across the floor. It was not the most graceful thing I have seen her attempt. But it wasn't the most ungraceful either! 

"Slip Sliding Away..."

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 84

Picture today is crooked. Too lazy to change the lens so I had to lay far away on the floor to capture a spin (yes, that is what she is attempting). Laying there, I realized that I shove a lot junk into spaces below the knees. I might need to clean that up a bit! I can't straighten it with a crop as then I lose her head or her feet. I would hate for the spin to not look complete. But this morning what I noticed the most is how we've broken this task down into a routine. Last year we took 172 Daily Pictures. This year already we have taken 83. 155 times we stage, take the picture(s), load them, sort out the best, fix it (not often), export it, load it, caption, publish. I even have a method for sorting out the best: look at them all in full screen, mark any potential keeper with two stars, delete the others, re-look at the two stars and mark the better with three stars, delete, repeat until 1 is left. a little like doing an eye exam each day, "better like this... or this...". I think that as humans we prefer to break everything down into repeatable processes like this. It is soothing to give our brains a rest I guess. I have read articles about how little of our brain we actually use, and I suppose this mental automation contributes somehow. And our nature makes us desire to run on automatic as often as possible. We call that "simplify your life". BUT, I added this commentary because I stopped the automated process this morning and took a moment to really look at one of the pictures. I let the right side of my brain take over and pondered context a bit. I was thinking about the conversation Natalie and I were having during her spin efforts. Sigh, that led me to give her a virtual hug thinking about how much I love her. I think we all need to break our automation more often during the day. Take a moment and LOOK at the picture of your family next to your computer screen. Try to remember how you felt during that moment (hopefully it was proud but perhaps not) and let it wash over you. I promise it will make completing your task more fulfilling than when you do it on Automatic.

"Spinner, Spinner, Chicken Dinner"

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 83

In the name of art, I am stating that this photograph was supposed to be out of focus. My butt was too cold to sit on the freezing step outside any longer than two pictures and this was the better one! It is cold here in shanghai, almost 0 (celcius). We have been lucky this week and the temp has been milder than normal. But rain the next few days and this makes Shanghai very gloomy.  Well, Girl Scouts today and I don't have the newsletter done yet. Better get at it! 

"In addition to running at high speeds, gazelles also use a bounding leap, called 'stotting' or 'pronking,' to avoid predators."

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 82

Just goes to show you that sometimes the most interesting subjects are spontaneous! Oh, and yes, she did injure herself doing this. She is so like me!

"Hiiiiyaaaahhhhh"

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 81

Admittedly today's photo is not at the top of the best list. I am busy this morning preparing for my first real Photographer job. Yup. Ok, so it is for Tom's Supplier Conference and I am not being paid! I have two camera with different lens, a tripod, a video camera, and my laptop. This ought to be an interesting day!

"Ohhhhhh! Love my beanbag!"

Three Day Cook

Tuesday. New Year, so time to clean the pantry.  Who bought all these pastas? Two sizes of penne? Hmmm... Six boxes of crackers. Need to have another party and throw some cream cheese onto a plate. White beans. Huge purple beans. Are these split peas or green lentils? Whew, got all that stuff off the top of the pantry in. Well except that bag of peas/lentils. And today it's a little cold, so, soups on!

How to fix? Well, i'll start by soaking them. You do that with dried  beans, right? So into a bowl at 8. Tic tok out to walk.  (Which, by the way, was great.).  Into a pot at 3:30.  Six cups of water. Seems like too much. Oh well, I'll fix that later. Throw in some garlic. And what? Thyme? I'm thinking of cooking it down and then throwing into the blender [sadly, I don't have an immersion blender though I am coveting a Cuisinart Smart Stick CSB-76. Hint hint.]  5:00 and Nat's homework is done. Whoohoo! Check the pot. Have to add more water? Another two cups of broth. What's up with that? Still has a lot of bite. Too crunchy to whiz in the blender so hit the heat. Fixing up the tacos we are having for dinner and realize we wont be having soup any day soon.  Cooked until 6:00. Cost another cup of broth. At 7:30, I give up for the day. Into the fridge the pot goes...

Wednesday. Ignoring the pot of half cooked soup in the fridge.  Drag it onto the fire at 3:00.  Here we go again. Added another cup of broth. We're at 10 cups people! Still tastes like 3-minute Captain Crunch [don't make me explain that]. Chinese for dinner with no side of soup. One more cup of water. No broth, not wasting good broth on stone soup. At 6:00 pm it seemed to almost taste cooked. A bit of crunch, but edible. A little dente. Cook 10 minutes. Stir. Taste. Texture tastes like something thay would be awesome with warm naan. So, I add some some curry stuff. One more cup of water. I may this bag of peas/lentils into something! At 7:30 I have to get Natalie out of the bath and start putting in her dreadlocks. Long story. Phone rings, landlord selling villa may continue to interfere with our life. Surprise. 8:30. Done with mommy stuff. Night babycakes!

I head downstairs and think that my downstairs smells like a construction site. But there is a construction site next door so this is familiar. As I descend to the bottom step, I try to think back to the moment when I turned off the soup. Of course I would do that before I headed upstairs, right? Yes. Sure I did. As I enter the kitchen I see/smell that in fact I DID NOT turn off the stove. My pea/lentil soup is now a baked pea/lentil cake with a burned bottom. And it smells like burnt hair which might indicate that maybe it wasn't peas or lentils? I am too depressed to even clean out the pan. I toss it into the sink and add hot water half way up. I think I am chuckling as I close the door to the small kitchen, but I don't remember as I have worked hard to eliminate this particular memory out of the banks of my brain.

Next morning after Natalie goes to school, I open the door to the small kitchen. The pea/lentil bread has actually turned back into some sort of soup. I tossed it out for the cats.

So, after 12 cups of liquid, 7 1/2 hours of soaking before cooking, 10 hours soaking partially cooked in the fridge, 9 1/2 hours of cooking, and a final 12 hours of soaking in the sink, Soup's On!

I think I will stick with sandwiches for the rest of the winter.

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 80

Quick shot today. Was supposed to be more action. This was her "sliding" down the banister. Not so much action. Also harder to be clever with the caption the night after a girl's night out and three margaritas.

"Dinner is served"

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 79

Natalie is working on a story submission for a short-story contest. We (her teacher and I, not sure where Tom falls on this) thought it would be good to encourage her to get some of her stories out in public. She usually refuses to let anyone read them. So last night she was writing out a draft of the idea. Geesh! Talk about your troubled artists! Here is how the conversation went:
Me: You don't have to write chapters, it can only be 2000 words.
Nat: How am I supposed to tell a good story in that short of space?
Me: All your stories are good. Just write out your idea and the big "seeds" you want to include.
Nat: Mom, I know that. Stop giving me advice I already know. I am writing a reflection of living in China. I can't decide what shouldn't be included.
Me: That's perfect. Write them all down and we can talk through it.
She goes back to writing for 10 minutes...
Me: How's it going? Can I help? I have my own reflections on China, maybe that would help.
Nat: Seriously Mom, not helping. And I am now writing a realistic fiction about a girl who makes bad choices and has to get out of trouble all the time. But, it's just too hard to write such as short story. I'm already on Chapter 2.
Me: I don't think you want to use chapters, but ...
Nat: Hmmp.... This is just too hard! Why do they have that dumb rule about 2000 words. I can't write like this! You just don't know how frustrating it is to be an author with deadlines and restrictions. I'm going to go take a shower.
I snuck a look at her story after she left the computer. Let's just say that the angst directed at me as her "editor" might have been misplaced frustration. I hope her teacher has more luck talking her into a story today!

"I should NOT have tried to unplug the Wii!"

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 78

Today's picture subject indicates that someone has been playing games on their iPad...

"Angry Bird!"

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 77

Back to school! Though we had a wonderful holiday. It has been a year since the three of us have taken a vacation together (and in that Tom became quite the travel snob, but that's another post). We of course missed our family. Christmas is a different holiday for us when we are so far away. And another year gone by. Sadly, my blogging has become non-existent. My goal in 2012 is to a bit more writing. I already post a picture every school day. So not much more effort to add a few more words. But later today as I am cleaning out the pantry and have 8 boxes of crackers, 3 cans of pumpkin seeds, 4 bags of dried fruit I have been hoarding for some type of muffin bake-off, and a liter of salsa I have to find room for! Happy New Year to all of you!


Oh, and let me explain the caption. She was telling me some really long story about a dream she had last night. I really don't know if this was the actual quote but I do know it had something to do with mice, her school bus, and how in dreams everything fantastic seems average. I wish I was 9 again.

"...and so the mice were waiting for me when I got off the school bus. And in my dream I though that was perfectly normal!"