Where did October go?

It's been such a long time since I sat down to write anything on this blog. The days in October just slipped by, most quite full and meaningful. I think it is the same all over the world; the Fall days tumbling past. Of course, here in the Spring City we transitioned from cool rainy days to colder ones. Which leads me to the following proverb.... We have "four seasons like spring; except when it's cloudy, and then it feels like winter." (They never tell you the second half of that proverb.) The climate does seem to be changing here. Anyway, October.... Early in this month I had the rare opportunity and pleasure to travel with Allen and see him using his talents and gifts. We went to Singapore and left the teenage boys home without me for the first time ever. Pete went to stay with a friend, and Tim and Josh (though cared for by our househelper Hai Zhen) had complete responsibility of getting up and out, and anywhere they needed to go, and homework done, etc. They did beautifully. Thank you to our friends in the neighborhood who kept a watchful eye and were available if needed, and to David who went with Josh to his first hockey practice. Hockey!? Yes, after watching "Miracle" several times, Josh has skated into the world of hockey. It all started with rollerblades, but now he is on ice. It is different, but he's learning and loves to be doing something that none of his friends or brothers have tried. There is an adult ice hockey team in our city. They skate at the one rink in town in the Hongta sports complex. And they let younger hockey enthusiasts practice for an hour before their game. Some times they get to play in the game as well. So our Virginia boy, who'd never even seen much ice is now scraping it up to a fine dust. Also this month we had a special retreat time with our co-workers, Science Fair work began in earnest for the older boys, and we had our first China trick-or-treaters. We sure miss the brilliant changing leaves, and the smell and warmth of a crackling fire in the fireplace, and football. But life here has it's own rhythm and surprises.

Josh has a real hockey helmet now.

In Honor of Heidi

Whenever I read the book Heidi, I'm left with the impression that goat cheese must be the creamiest, most delicious and satisfying food there is. Thankfully, when we moved here, we came to one of the select places in the world that make and serve goat cheese. I was able to try it first, here. Now when we are out to eat, we often order it fried golden and crisp on the outside.
But I also use it as a substitute for ricotta cheese in lasagna. It crumbles up really well. No, it doesn't taste like ricotta, but it works for our family. We officially invite you, our friends and loved ones, to come for a visit and try our local specialties some time:)

In Honor of Tim's 15th Birthday....

Living with an Aspergers Teen

Tim set up and had me take this pic. I think it looks cool.

I am always on the learning curve, but not to the intensity that he is. He is continually absorbing and processing or rejecting data. He showers me with incredible tidbits of miscellaneous and here before unknown information, and he is fascinated by patterns (in music, in art, in daily life). Music, especially neo-metal, soothes and orders his world. He is seldom seen without headphones. They are semi-permanently attached. Friendships are important as well as drama. On the stage he can pretend to be someone he is not. His worldview is pretty much good versus evil, right versus wrong. It can be a bit black and white, not much gray. Black and white especially in terms of how he thinks the world should operate/function. A crack or rift in this reality severs the nerve endings (especially someone who thinks all things related to the computer should work flawlessly and in the user’s favor). It is inconceivable and blatantly wrong for things to work in opposition to the Aspie's thoughts. Things should work as they are supposed to. Ambiguity is stressful. Wrongs should be righted. Evil should be punished. Truth, as it is seen by this Aspergers teenager, must be spoken and defended. Rights should be protected. This means that he has an incredible sense of justice, but also not a great deal of patience. His thoughts get stuck in a rut and play over and over like a scratched record on an old-style record player. He is merciful and kind and very much wants to learn about the people he likes’ feelings and how to appropriately respond (unless, of course it’s his own brothers, whom he likes, but places in a totally different category all together).

I thought I’d let you see a glimpse of his ideas on Apergers. These are some excerpts from a list we compiled for “You Might Be an Aspie if….”

• Your favorite attire is comfortable jeans and a t-shirt – for school… for PE… for the beach… for sleeping
• You understand and can express the thoughts of your dog better than the thoughts of the girl sitting next to you in class
• You want to know “Why” all the time
• You wear headphones to and from school to block out everything else and spend your time before class circling the basketball goal
• You are intimately familiar with the Marvel Universe
• You prefer to go out in a foreign country where people don’t understand your language than in America where they know what you’re saying
• You’d rather starve than talk to the person at the counter of a fast food restaurant.
• You’d rather go out to your friend’s house and look in his window to see if he’s home than call him on the phone (risking talking to another family member).
  
• You wonder why people aren’t logical.
• You can’t explain your mental math and you certainly wont write it down.
  
• You can create a family tree connecting the Adams family and the Munsters as well as several other families of Gothic villains.
  
• You have very decided opinions.
• You think your classroom smells like a restaurant.
• “I can’t think in this light.” (Environmental distractions are very real.)
  
• You’d rather go out at night than during the day.
• You’d like to revive Victorian clothing because it’s so cool.
  
• You think arguing is a sporting event.
• You like acting because you can actually be somebody else outside of your head.
  
• Your favorite item to hold when thinking is a strong thin wooden stick or sword.

As you can see Tim is an extremely creative and at times thought-provoking writer. He also is a semi-cartoonist, but doesn't have a lot of confidence in his drawings.

He also has a soft heart and curiosity for the underdog, the poor, the unusual. I think this relates to how he feels the world should work and to his identification with them in ways. He has been a challenge and a blessing in our lives that we could never have imagined, and now would feel incomplete and a loss of a great treasure without. I should mention here, he speaks strongly against curing autism. He wants help in areas that he knows are his weaknesses, but also to walk in and be appreciated for his many strengths, especially his unique ways of thinking and seeing the world.

We love you, Tim!
HAPPY 15TH BIRTHDAY!

Zhongqiujie, 中秋节, Mid-Autumn or Moon Festival

The Mid-Autumn or Moon Festival is fast upon us being the 15th day of the 8th month on the Lunar calendar and 25th of September this year on the Gregorian. You can google "Moon Festival" and find all sorts of information about ways to celebrate: eating round fruit, gazing up into the sky at the luminous orb, saying odes to the moon, and especially eating mooncakes. In our city people tend to go home to family and be together over a meal. It really is a special time in this way. They also exchange all sorts of elaborately boxed mooncakes. This area is especially notorious for its ham ones which Josh likes. The rest of us tend to prefer the fruit filled; though you can get some with bean paste and egg inside as well. Among the foreigner community, we have this theory that mooncakes are much the equivalent of our Christmas fruitcakes which get passed around and around the relationship circle. We think we have detected a good bit of mooncake regifting. I myself do like fruitcakes; but in this season, I am holding out for the over 200 kuai giftset of Dove chocolate mooncakes. Yeah right:)

ham mooncakes

Another nice link to Moon Festival information can be found here.
Also the Moon Festival comes right before another huge holiday, National Day, which is October 1st. This is the remembrance day of the formation of the Peoples Republic of China which took place in 1949. Many people will take a week or so off from work and travel or play. Like May Holiday it is consider one of the Golden Weeks.

Er Kuai 餌塊 ("R-Kwhy")

Well, Josh is very sad because his erkuai guy, who stood under the big red umbrella by the bus station, seems to be gone. Every morning before school Josh would get up, shower, get his stuff together, and go buy erkuai for breakfast before getting on public transportation. Now there is a huge, gaping hole in his morning routine and stomach. Some of you may remember from earlier posts that he even dreamt about this particular food while we were away at the beach. So what makes erkuai (a thick kind of rice flour pancake or tortilla) so special? First of all, it must be said that the guy by the bus station was the best at making it. In addition he was always smiling and seemed to have a rhythm to his work.... Take your order, put the thick rice flour pancake on the grill, turn over a few youtiao (a deep fried twisted dough stick) that were already crisping there, turn over the erkuai, pick up one that's done, move a youtiao, fill the pancake with sweet or spicy stuff, put in the hot youtiao, more sauce, roll it up (all the while flipping and turning others), put sauce on the top opening and sprinkle on some crushed peanuts, put in a plastic bag, take the 1.50yuan (20 cents), and off you would go with a rather filling breakfast. He never ceased his vendor's symphony, until all of his ingredients were gone. Josh's favorite type was spicy. Inside it contained bean sprouts, lufu (spicy fermented tofu), spicy ground pork, chili paste, and youtiao. Personally, I don't know how anybody can stand anything so hot. I liked the non-spicy with it's sweet sesame paste, crispy youtiao, and crushed peanuts. This vendor knew his customers and, if you were a regular, could fix your order without a request. I believe erkuai is unique to our part of China and originally comes from the Dali area where the Bai or White minority people live (white being an important color in their culture). This is probably why our friend is gone. He may not have had a permit to sell on the street or he may not even be a legal resident of our city. Anyway, the whole family misses him. I'll still try to get a photo of this treat for you, as there are a few other vendors around town. But it wont taste as good as what we've been used too. When you've eaten from a master, nothing else is quite the same.

Torch Festival

August 6, 2007 (June 24th of the Lunar Calendar)

This year our family had the adventure of traveling to and watching one of the major festivals of a minority people in our area. The people are called the Yi (pronounced "E") and the festival is 火把节 (HuoBaJie) or the Torch Festival. There are 100's of different tribes of the Yi people, with different costumes and languages; but they seem to share this festival in common. One popular legend of the festival's origin tells the story of a heavenly king (devil) who sent a spirit or strongman to destroy the Yi people. This angered the spirit of the earth; so he engaged the strongman in a wrestling match. The match went on for three days and three nights. All the while the Yi people supported the earth spirit by playing their three-stringed guitars & flutes, clapping their hands, and stamping their feet. The earth strongman or spirit triumphed and the heavenly king was furious. He sent a plague of insects to destroy the Yi peoples' crops. In response these rural people lit pine branches or torches. The smoke killed the insects and their crops were saved.

We watched the festival in the capital city of an Yi prefecture; so it wasn't the same as being out in the rural areas, but it was very lively. There were lots of people dressed up in lovely embroidered costumes (whether the were actually Yi or not); all forming up to join in the traditional circle dancing. Yi guitar players and flutists were also out. There were parades, performances, and fireworks. And of course, the lighting of a huge bonfire.

To be honest that part of the celebration was a bit disturbing, as there was a shaman present who sacrificed a live chicken prior to the pine logs being lit. Then the fire was ignited and the Yi people lit their torches from it and ran out from the gathered crowd into the dark night. I guess there is a truly fearful aspect to all this in that the ceremony is meant to ward of the year's evil.

We stayed in an interesting community that was newly built, but meant to represent a sort of idealized Yi village. There were canals running through it and a water wheel, Yi restaurants, and many souvenir shops. The boys would want me to mention that Yi fried potatoes are delicious. The potatoes are small, round, crispy-skinned on the outside, and plenty salty. They could have eaten them for every meal.

We had a good visit, especially exploring through the Yi neighborhood as people danced and sung and played with the bonfires and torches. We were also able to participate in an English club in that city. The only low point of the whole trip was that Josh got terribly sick our last night there.

All in all, though, it was a great experience to end the summer with.

Good-bye to Aonang & Thailand

As you can probably tell we really enjoyed our time at the beach. But the boys began to feel ready to get back to their home in China. (Josh even had dreams about his favorite Chinese breakfast food - er kuai pronounced "r-kwhy.") Swimming and the monkeys were big favorites; and we also enjoyed having McDonald's, brick oven pizza, Slurpees from 7Eleven, and the delicious Thai food at a restaurant outside our gate (also their fruit shakes). We continued to play cards to pass the time until food came. And we watched way more natural disasters and airplane crashes on Discovery Channel and National Geographic than we thought could actually happen. There were also a few fun movies on; particularly "The Pink Panther," which the boys loved. One special surprise from this trip, was that the boys' first grade teacher, her husband, and adopted daughters were vacationing at the same hotel that we were. It was nice to catch up and share stories, especially since we moved away right after Tim finished second grade. My favorite thing from our vacation (other than hanging out with my guys) was walking on the beach collecting shells. Being alone with my thoughts and the beauty all around was a treat.

Good-bye to the monkeys

The restaurant outside the gate

Monkeying Around

Taking a drink

Walking down the beach to see the monkeys

Waiting - the dog isn't helping any

Tim especially enjoyed observing and interacting with the monkeys.

Making friends

At the Pool

Aonang Villa pool

What boys do in the pool....





Mostly the boys liked to compete & wrestle, wrestle & compete. Their favorite competition was the jumping contest which we held in the deep end. They got to make their biggest and smallest splash, their furthest jump, their craziest jump, and their best lifeguard jump. Then back to wrestling


What boys do when they're tired of swimming

Exploring Aonang

On our first trip down the beach, we discovered a rustic wooden walkway that led across a little outlet and up the side of the limestone mountain. The boys coaxed me to follow it at least part of the way; and the whole family came back later in the day and hiked through the jungle-like foliage, down the other side, and unto a private beach. (See picture below)

On our way back

Josh cools his feet in the shallow stream. Notice his monkey friend nearby. We first encountered the monkey community on these two walks. One older gentleman monkey even passed us on our way back to Aonang Beach as he dexterously maneuvered along the handrail. He gave Allen a wide berth as Allen came walking along in the rear position carrying a long bamboo walking stick.

Aonang

Aonang Villa Resort

After leaving Klong Muong we moved to Aonang for a few days. We have stayed here several times before and love the beautiful beach and the family atmosphere. It is a little more built up with a McDonald's and a few 7Elevens, more vendors, restaurants, and hotels; but it still has a small beach, less commercial feel to it. We were there during the low season as well. The rainy season is the low season in Thailand. Our hotel was still fully booked.

Aonang Beach looking left


Aonang Beach looking right


Thai Longtail boats

Good-bye to Klong Muong

Klong Muong Beach was pretty private. The road around it only hosted a few Thai minimarts with limited supplies. One had gotten in a stash of Diet Cokes which we put a good dent in. There were 3 or 4 Thai or Indian/Thai restaurants. We found one we liked and ate there almost every meal. Peter ordered Tom Yam Gong (spicy soup with mushrooms and shrimp) the first several meals. The Chicken & Cashewnuts, Thai Sweet & Sour, Garlic Pork, and Fried Rice in a Pineapple were all favorites as well. There was also this one Rotee maker. She wore her head covering as she was Muslim and fried the thin pancake on the large, round, flat grill so crispy; slicing the banana long into four strips while still half in the peel, and covering the whole folded treat with chocolate syrup.

Yet another meal at Le Cafe Terrace. We played a lot of cards waiting for our meals.


Crab boys - Tim and I had a great time chasing sand fiddlers with a flashlight out on the beach one night. The resort has a little bit of a crab theme because there are so many there.

Good-bye to Sheraton Krabi Beach Resort

Klong Muong Beach Day 5

Peter makes friends with RahRah

Feeding Time


Pete finally climbs on

The elephant's trainers were extremely friendly and helped any willing man, woman, or child to climb on top of RahRah. But eventually they would speak out a certain Thai command and RahRah began to shake. No matter how hard you tried there was no staying on after that.

Klong Muong Beach Day 4

Scuba lessons & Chicken Fights

Josh & I took advantage of a free scuba lesson at the hotel pool


Note that Peter who was too young tried to learn as much as he could as well.


Post-lesson chicken fights