settling into school

Hello everyone!

We finally have a blog. Wahooo! Now that we have this up and running, I'm not sure what to say.

Let's start with today. Emily and Gabe went to thier 3rd day of school. I really like thier teachers, Miss Vierra and Mrs. Claussen. They seem to be very used to new students and have a lot of ways to help new students feel welcome and understand classroom rules. Emily's classmatedsput together a poster with all of thier own personal advice on how to be a good student in Miss Viera's class. I thought that was pretty clever.

Gabe and Emily both have swimming for PE during the next two months. Today when I picked up Gabe he said, "Mom guess what? Before we went swimming, I had to get naked!" All the boys had to change in the same room and "everyone saw everybody's everything." according to Gabe. It's never a dull moment with him.

I like the school in general. Although, it is strange having to show ID to a guard before going on campus. They have that place pretty secured with a huge fence and guards everywhere. It's nice but strange.

Today was the 3rd day we had our A yi. I like her a lot but I don't understand her mandarin. She comes from a province in southern china called si chuan. She has a really thick accent which makes it hard for me to understand her. I was hoping to improve my chinese as well as have the kid's learn chinese with this whole A yi things so I'm not sure if we are going to continue with her. We'll see. It has been really nice to have someone make dinner while I help the kids with homework and hold a crying baby.

Most of you know a lot about the first two weeks of us being here so I won't go over all of that. I will keep you posted on our adventures in China.

love,
ali