It is difficult to expertly express my disappointment over the changes that have been made to the Boy’s Day Out and I think the reasons that I can only write this weak blog post (rather than get to the nuts and bolts of the issue) are the same reasons that this Boy’s Day Out will be completely unlike any of its forebears.

Just a little last taste of China for you all before we head off to Australia for 3 weeks:

We are surrounded by this kind of weirdness everywhere. This sign is near the club house/management office of our compound. Kind of an odd analogy they are using since no-one in China has private firearms.

Just wanted to post a picture of us going off to the WinterParty last weekend (or the one before that…). I really like my new dress and basically wanted to show it off! It’s so well made and cost about $150 (or less i’m not sure because we bought a heap of stuff together) and it’s tailor made just for me. I felt pretty special and the compliments actually got a bit overwhelming! I think next year I might wear something less red!!

Sometimes people overreact to literature. That is because often people are very stupid. Sometimes though it’s because they missed the point. Someone once told me that they didn’t like a particular children’s book because at the end, one of the characters shared his gift with the others so they were all equally special.

“Why should I teach my children that they have to share what they’ve earned?”

I was a little taken aback and didn’t really say anything. What I should have said was, “So they grow up able to interact appropriately.”

The book is not promoting communism or mud-brick living. It is aimed at little kids who are inherently selfish and need to learn the basics of sharing and cooperation so that they can be part of civilization in the future. I thought it was pretty obvious, but clearly I was mistaken.

On the other hand we just bought a copy of Jack and the Beanstalk for M. She quite likes it and refers to the giant as Daddy. Fair enough, the giant is a lot bigger than everyone else in the story and I am a lot bigger than everyone else in M’s world.

Anyway, Jack grows a huge beanstalk which he then climbs up to discover a giant’s castle. He then breaks into the giant’s castle and steals everything that is not nailed down and flees when the giant wakes up. I’m not sure this is a positive message to be sending to impressionable minds. Luckily we have the watered down version. In the original material, after breaking in and stealing everything, Jack also kills the giant.

I can imagine the future “Beanstalk Defense” being used in court.
“Your honour, my client was read Jack and the Beanstalk as a child and so the idea of breaking into someone’s house and stealing their stuff and then killing them when they try to get it back is something that was an accepted part of their world from a very early age.”

Here is my class. They are a super group of kids and work very hard. Sometimes I feel like I push them too hard; then I write 19 reports for a total of 10000 words. Sheesh.

To give you an idea of how different life is here…

Today I went to the supermarket without either of the kids. I rode my bike there, browsed the aisles for 20 minutes and came home. Then I took off my hat, coat and gloves and put them all away neatly. The I went to the kitchen and unpacked the groceries. Then I went to the toilet. Finally I sat down, took the baby from the Ayi and fed him. Then I played with him for 20 minutes, then gave him back to the Ayi and made myself hot chocolate and came upstairs to write this (with both my hands).

Here’s how the same story would have gone in Germany:
Went to the supermarket with both kids. We walked down Kölnerstr. and then rushed around the supermarket. The kids are whinging and I need to get home and use the toilet! Of course I forgot a few things so I stopped at the drugstore and Turkish market on the way home. Lukas started crying before we got home, so as soon as we got into the building I took him out of the stroller and then argued with Em for five minutes about walking up the stairs. I eventually picked them both up and carried them upstairs. Got into the flat and took off Lukas’s coat and hat, then Em’s coat, hat, gloves and boots, then my coat. All left in a pile in the hallway to put away later because Lukas is by this point screaming. Em says she wants something to eat, so I quickly grab a yoghurt from the fridge and give it to her and hope she doesn’t make a mess.

Then I sit down and feed Lukas. Then I change Lukas’s nappy and make Em sit on the potty, which as per usual takes 20 minutes. Lukas winds up coming into the bathroom with me because he’s getting tired and cranky so doesn’t want to be on his own in the living room. Finally, Em’s done so we wash her hands and get her dressed. Then I get Lukie ready for his nap and put him down. After about 15 minutes and 3 visits he’s asleep.

Then it’s time for Em to have some lunch, so I make her a bowl of pasta and sit her in her chair. Then I remember the defrosting groceries which I left in the stroller downstairs. Making Em promise to stay in her chair, I bolt down the stairs and grab all 4 of the heavy bags and lug them upstairs. Thankfully Em has not gotten out of her highchair and I unpack the groceries while she eats. The I clean her up and send her to play in the living room.

Then I remember – toilet! So I finally get to go to the toilet, with Em giving a running commentary the whole time. Then we play together for a while and finally she goes to have her nap too. I go down to the laundry and retreive a wet load of laundry and put on another one. Come upstairs and make myself a sandwich.

I’m eating my sandwich when I hear Lukie wake up. Well, he’s been down for over an hour, I guess it’s time for him to get up. Gobble down the sandwich and hope that he’ll be happy for long enough for me to fold the load of laundry that’s currently on the drying rack and hang out the new load. Maybe tonight I’ll get a chance to update the blog.

OK, so it might sound a bit crazy but that is how it was in Germany – I was really really busy and there were always things piling up that I hadn’t done yet (note how the coats never got hung up in the above story?). It wasn’t impossible and I did have great days hanging out with the other mums in Düsseldorf (where virtually no housework, cooking or grocery shopping got done) but life was so much more stressful. I don’t know how I’ll ever go back to living in the real world bow that I’ve experienced the joys of having an Ayi.

Just to verify, to the readers who are mums too, this story doesn’t sound over the top does it? It’s pretty realistic as far as I can remember.

Gabby goes to Kindy with M and she is about the same age. Gabby’s parents are colleagues of mine, although they are in the middle school and the high school.

M often asks, “Gabby come play Emmy’s house?”
This is what happens when they get together.

Lukas transport

The above is supposed to be a video. I am still working out how to put videos into the blog. If it works this time, then I will try to figure out how to m,ake the video show in the site, rather than just being a link.

When Emily was a little baby she hated having her arms manipulated into sleeves. It was the one thing that was garunteed to set her off. For Lukas however it is his nose. Whenever we try to wipe his nose it is for him like the world is ending.