A Sad Day In China

Today was supposed to be back to the going to school schedule.  We all went to bed nice and early in order to make sure that we were up in time to walk to the bus.  Which we did at 7:20 in order to make sure we were there and waiting for the bus at 7:25.  Which we did and then 7:25 came - and then 7:35 - and then 7:45.... And we all started thinking - the time is coming, but not the school bus?  So I started texting Julie and long and short - we all got a freebie morning home today!  Eli and Jasper are super duper excited!  BUT - we still had to do school so Eli is doing all his laptop work and Jasper and I are going through his reading and spelling and its been a much easier morning with Jasper's school for some reason.  Words are coming easier and theres no whiny Jasper.  Maybe its the thankfulness at not being at Appletree.  I don't know but, whatever it is its working.

So we're sitting in the office and I'm looking out the window while Jasper is doing his writing and I see the park below and this is what I see....

And then a little later, I see all the old people coming out with the children.  This is another typical of China.  

You have your kids and your parents take care of them.  Its the cycle of life in China - you have kids so some day you can take care of their kids.  All the grandparents are out pushing baby strollers and picking kids up from school and taking them to McDonalds.  Most of the time the grandparents and parents live together but there are a lot of families that live totally separate.  I know I mentioned when I was here a year ago - one of the women I work with at the company here has a 3 year old daughter.  Jeri had her daughter and then had off work for like 6 months and took care of her daughter and then, she took her daughter to her parents who live about 3 or 4 hours from here and she left her daughter.  And he daughter has been there since then with the grandparents raising her.  Jeri will go out every few months and there are some times where her parents will come here and stay for a week or two, but for the most part, Jeri and her daughter are not together.  And when Jeri talks about this its just a normal way of life.  IN FACT, Jeri had gone to the states before she was married and she talks about how crazy it is in America that a woman has to take care of her children AND make meals AND do the laundry AND clean AND shop AND..... And this was all experienced from a woman she stayed with who was a stay at home mom and only had one child.  She just couldn't even imagine the pressure and high stress that would cause.

Back on today. 

So we're finishing up school and we took some time to make a welcome home banner for Zach and Julie since they come home tomorrow. 

And then we have lunch.
And then we have to walk over to co-op, two separate places, one for Jasper and one for Eli.  

And then we all come together again to go to a gym for PE.

And then we'll head home for melt in your mouth chicken.
And I have to say that its been fun cooking this week (I did spaghetti and meatballs last night and it turned out amazing!) I can't imagine being Julie and doing her schedule and then coming home every night and trying to be creative with dinner and not wanting to just cheat every night and go to KFC because the boys are always clamoring for it.  God love her!

And ending with one last site ... Ah, if you don't have a car, then you probably have a .......

Oh - and - just a picture of the 5 Ring Roads I mentioned.  The map at Eli's co-op...