Happy Birthday, A-Mae

Anna Mae is now 4 years old! What an exciting time in all of our lives. Anna is so full of life and happiness. She's also developing in her memory and emotions. The other day she saved a cookie from school for mommy to eat (a feat in itself to get it home in one piece). Mommy didn't immediately eat the cookie, and the next day Anna reminded mommy of it by asking, "Did you eat the cookie yet?" When mommy said no, Anna said as she visibly became emotional about it, "But I saved it for you!"

Anna got to have 3 birthday parties!

Her Chinese school threw her a birthday party.



She celebrated alone with mom and dad.



And then we threw her a party with her friends at the house.


Oh, and Jacquelyn made a cake that was simply out of control!

Some Observations about the Party Scene

For JK’s birthday I thought I’d take her out on the town. There was a band in town called Immaculate Machine. (I forgot the name, though, and kept telling people we were going to see the Immaculate Conception.) The band was from Canada. What they were doing in China, I have no idea. Their music was quite good. I always wonder what motivation rock bands have to go out on tour. This band didn’t seem to be in it for the party scene, or money, or hookin’ up. They seemed genuinely interested in the music…which is nice. Overall it was a good night. We had a fun time together.

While talking together, we made the following observations:
-Neither one of us have really experienced the party scene before
-Neither one of us particularly like it
-Both of us think it is quite smoky
-We both enjoyed the music
-We’re usually in bed by the time the headline band hits the stage
-I think we’ll do it again, sometime

Immaculate Machine's website:
www.immaculatemachine.com

Jeremy, The Police & The News

The other day some friends and I were invited to hear the local police explain how they can help us foreigners in case of a dispute. A local news crew was there ready with their cameras. We all sat down at the table while the police woman explained that if we have a dispute we can call the police and have a "sit-down" with the other party to resolve the problem. It is actually quite nice knowing that we can do that. After I volunteered to translate for English-speaking foreigners, the news team asked me why I volunteered.

Now, I've never been interviewed by the news before. I had no idea who to look at. To make things more confusing, it wasn't the reporter that asked me the question, it was the cameraman. Should I look at the camera, the reporter, or the cameraman? In the end I looked at the cameraman. Is there a standard protocol when being interviewed?

The Daddy Book

During Anna's bedtime routine, one of the things that we do is read, "The Daddy Book". First I will read it, then Anna will take her turn. It's one of her favorite books, which always makes daddy happy. How can I resist when she asks, "Daddy, can we read the daddy book?" Of course we can!!!, I always say.

Obama nothin', I can make the front page too!

A couple of weeks ago Obama made the the front page here in China when he won the election. Well, it turns out that it's not that hard to do! (For those of you who have kept up with us, you'll remember that I made the newspaper another time as well.)

I recently took the HSK (Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi - Chinese Proficiency Test). It is nick-named the "Chinese TOEFL". Over 600 students took the test at Qingdao University. In my particular class I was the only "Western-looking" student, as everyone else was *Korean. In fact, on my way to and from the test I didn't see a single "Western-looking" person!

The HSK test is quite difficult as it is only in Chinese characters. There were quite a few questions that I just had to guess at. I have to wait 50 days before I find out the results. If you don't see me blog about the results within 2 months, that means I probably didn't do very well on the test and am ashamed to tell anyone about it :)

PHOTO CAPTION: Overseas students take the "Chinese TOEFL"

*The Korean population is Qingdao is huge!

Video! Anna Mae Painting, Driving & Singing

Check out these video clips of Anna Mae while we were on vacation in Vietnam. The last clip is back home in Qingdao, China.

Olympic Torch in Qingdao

The excitement is growing here in Qingdao as the Olympics are getting closer. This past Monday there was an Olympic torch relay through Qingdao. It started at the sailing center and turned down the main road that passes in front of our apartment complex. It continued down and around Qingdao and ended up at beach #1 where it went on a sail boat across the way back to the sailing center.

As you can see in most of my pictures we couldn't see very much because everyone was waving flags, but just to be there was so exciting. It is interesting to be here as the Olympics come. I think that the local government did not want the crowd to be too large, so they told most people to stay inside while the torch relay was going on. They bused almost all the spectators in from around town. That is why they are all dressed alike.
There were actually suppose to be two other torch relays in the nearby area but for some reason or another they were canceled. So what happened is all the relayers came to Qingdao and were going to "run" in this one. All together there were 259 people that carried the torch. So instead of running 2 km they each ran 50 m (about 130 feet). So each relayer did not actually do much running.

Where we were standing we got to see the fire pass from one relayer to the next. Unfortunately, all the flags & cameras were in our way so I can't say I saw that actually happen. But after watching it, Jeremy & I were both very excited to see the Olympics, so I think the purpose of the relay did it's job.

Annual Goodbyes

If any of you have lived overseas before, you know saying "goodbye" to friends is an annual occurrence. This year is especially rough for us as some of our closest friends are headed back to their home countries or new assignments. Although we're extremely happy for our friends who are turning a new page in their lives, we're a little offended they didn't consider our feelings...

To all of our friends who are leaving, we're super excited for you. You will always be remembered by the Carmans. Thanks for all the good times we had together.

The Storm

by Jacquelyn Carman

As we were taking our evening walk the wind was blowing pretty strong causing rather large waves to crash up against the rocks. As I watched I was thinking, this is exactly how I have felt the past few days. Waves tossing me this way and that . . . how can I with stand all the turmoil. Then words from the song "Beautiful Lord" by Leeland came to my mind.

When the storm is raging all around me
You are the peace that calms
My troubled sea
And the cares of this world
Darken my day
You are the light that shines
And shows me the way
Oh, the beauty of Your majesty
On the cross You showed Your love for me!

Beautiful Lord
Awesome and mighty
I’m captured by this love I see
Beautiful Lord
Tender and holy
Your mercy brings me to my knees
It’s Your mercy that has made me free
Beautiful Lord

When my sin is all that I can see
Your grace remains the shelter that I seek
And when my weakness is all I can give
Your gentle Spirit gives me strength again
And oh, the beauty of Your majesty
On the cross You showed Your love for me

And I am lifted by Your love to sing!
It’s Your mercy that has made me free!

You’re beautiful, my Lord
You’re beautiful, my Lord

Spring is coming . . .

The weather is turning from cold to warm and sunny. Last weekend it was cold enough that we had to wear our winter hats, coats and gloves. It was cold, wet and damp. I was getting depressed fearing that the warm weather would never come. Today, to my great pleasure, it was warm enough I didn't even need a coat. The wind is still blowing pretty strong but it is not bitter cold any more. Anna & I went to beach today and were able to enjoying the shinning sun and the blue sky. Soon the flowers will begin to bloom!!

REALLY Snow @ the Beach

Now I can say that I have really seen snow on the beach. Anna looked at it and really wanted to go down and play. I thought that cold wet sandy snow did not sound like fun at all. So instead we splashed in the slushy puddles and just looked at the snowy beach.

Olympics coming to Qingdao

The day we arrived home from our trip to the states our helper told us that the Olympic center was open to the public. So after Anna laid down for a nap we took a nice walk along the beach and saw where the Olympic sailing will be held this summer. It is very simple but pretty. It has a very nice view of Qingdao's skyline. Walking around I could only imagine what it is going to be like this summer, very crowded with no where to move except into the ocean.

We were not too sure what these buildings are for but we each had our guess. We are guessing that the one in the air is for judges or cameramen. The one on the ground I think is like a lobby for the contestants. But whatever they are for I thought they looked pretty cool. Jeremy thinks they look old and retro and should have come up with a better design.



But it is kinda cool that we live so close (about a 5 minute walk). In the following blog I took some pictures of where our house is compared to the sailing center.

Our Home by the Olympics

In these two pictures I am standing at the Olympic center where the sailing will occur here in Qingdao. In the top picture you can see a building on the left that Jeremy and I guessed would be for the judges. If you look far to the right you see a bunch of apartment buildings with red roofs. That is the complex where most of our staff lives. We don't live there but we live literally right behind those buildings. (There buildings are taller than ours so you can't see them =( )

You can see now how close we are to where the Olympics will be held.

Snow @ the Beach

It snowed the Friday before Anna & I left for America. I was so excited to have my daughter play in the snow. Unfortunately, the ground was not cold enough for the snow to accumulate. I was sad that the snow did not stick but it looked really beautiful all day as it was snowing. I was a little bit jealous to find out that our friends who live 45 minutes inland had 3 inches of snow and were able to build a snowman. Oh well, we had fun on our little walk in the snow. I'm hoping it will snow while we are in the States!

Clammy Hands

Question: (Jeremy...rhetorically) "What child likes clams?"

Answer: (Our Chinese helper...unimpressed) "Any child who grows up in Qingdao"...duh.

Jeremy B-day '07

Annual Birthday-Bowling-Bash!!!

Not only did I (Jeremy) lose to everyone (except the 10 year-old girl), but I had the single worst night in my extensive once-a-year bowling career.

Question: Why do I choose to bowl on my birthday? I suck at it.

Answer: There's nothing better than lowering my self-esteem as I gain 1 more number to my age, and, yet again, lose the battle with the receding hairline.

*Note the tall guy mercifully covering my score.

Jacquelyn B-day '07

Happy Birthday, Jacquelyn!!!

For Jacquelyn's birthday, we had a small get together (only 20 people) to celebrate.

Below are the pictures from the party.

Lame, lame, lame

Last week I kept getting a message all in Chinese as I would try to access web pages. Randomly this message would pop-up when I tried to get to google.com, yahoo, or whatever. It would automatically redirect to the Chinese message just for a few seconds before again redirecting to the desired website. The first few times I just ignored it and because it only flashed for a few seconds I really didn’t have time to do anything about it. I saw that it was from our web provider (Here in China there is only one company who can give web service, by the way.), so I wasn't really worried about it being a virus. I finally got the bright idea to quickly copy and paste the message the next time I saw it. Now, remember, there was seemingly no method to the pop-up randomness…so I brushed up on my shortcuts (ctrl+a = “Select All” & ctrl+c = “Copy”) and did my normal web surfing. Finally, the message popped up again.

Well, I was able to copy the message. I did my best to understand the message…it had a lot of words I’m not too familiar with like “modem”, “router”, and the such. After my choppy translating work I came to the conclusion that I was way off because what I thought it said couldn’t be true. So the next day I went to work and had a Chinese person translate it for me. It turns out I was right! The message said something to the effect that I was breaking the service agreement by plugging into a router and using multiple computers on my internet connection. Again, let me emphasize the “my” in that last sentence. The message continued by saying that if I continued to “violate” the service agreement they would shut it off completely. What??? I can’t use multiple computers on my own internet connection? What’s up with that?

This creates a serious problem for us. For one, we really love having wireless connection in our house. Secondly, we do have multiple computers – desktop, laptop, work-issued laptop and most importantly, our new Skype phone that we paid way too much for. (Yes, the Skype phone does count as a computer according to the Internet company.) Thirdly, it’s just the plain principle that someone is telling me how I can and can’t use my own internet service that I pay for monthly.

Wait…it gets worse.

I had the previously mentioned Chinese person call the company to get details about the “service agreement”. It turns out that we can pay more to allow use of the router – RMB 30 PER COMPUTER!!! That’s just ridiculous. By the time we paid for all the computers we would have doubled our monthly fee. I’m willing to pay a bit more…but double??? Again, I reiterate…that’s just ridiculous.

I’m not sure how this one is going to turn out. I’ll have to let you know. No matter how it turns out, though…this is just lame, lame, lame.

Underwater World

We have been trying to get around Qingdao and enjoy the sites while the weather is still nice. So on Saturday we went to the Underwater World. It was pretty neat. It started off with a museum (which we didn't learn too much since everything was in Chinese), then had a large part devoted to salt water life and ended with a small section for fresh water life.

They had a large aquarium that you went under while riding on a people mover that was not more impressive then any other aquarium that we have been to.

My favorite part was there huge cylinder shape aquarium that was surrounded by smaller aquariums (pictured above with Jeremy's silhouette). Anna was not as scared as she was when we went to Polar world, she got up to the glass and enjoyed looking at the fish.

The creature that fascinated me the most was the spider crab. This thing was huge! But I didn't get to observe it as long as I might have liked since Anna was ready to be done and go home.