Bye-Bye Daddy

Brett was only able to be in Canberra for the week - which we crammed with lots of friends and family time. Here are a few snippets:

BBQ after BBQ:

The Graham clan and the outlaws gathered for a BBQ at the Cotter.

We hung around with our cousins,Chelsea and Alex are princesses,

threatened our older cousin for his toys,

did Ring-A-Rosy with Uncle Bernie and Chelsea,

saw lots of Grandma who likes to help us watch tv, and spent some extra time checking in with Daddy.We then took Daddy to Sydney airport and said goodbye so he could go teach his students and we could travel north to Armidale for further fun and adventure.

Wedding Belles

Ahh weddings. Everyone loves a wedding. We travelled a long way but it was worth it - plus it was the first time Sebastien met the family (except grandparents). Heavy on pictures - but it was a lovely day.

The Bride and Groom - Clare and James
Bride and Groom with her father and his partner
Bride and Groom with his parents
Bride and Groom with the entertainment.
Alex had plenty of relatives (thanks Aunty Lyndall and Aunty Chelle) to entertain her.
Sebastien was still finding his feet - but by the end of the first week in Australia he'd worn holes in the bottom of those handmade chinese shoes.
Alex was surprised to get her own 'bling' after behaving so nicely during the ceremony- it even matched her sparkly shoes and sparkly headband.
Family shot and Sebastien and Alex.


Relaxing after the ceremony on Lake Burley Griffin.
Heading off to the reception which was held at the Botanic Gardens - it was a lovely day which was wonderful as it'd been horrendously windy the previous day. My talented aunt did the flowers and mum made the cake - of which I haven't a photo at the moment but once I do I'll add it in.

A trip to Australia - Canberra (I)

We had a family wedding to attend on the 1st of November - Uncle James and Aunty Clare were tying the knot in Canberra, Australia so we organised to spend some additional time in Australia, except for Brett who was only able to spend a week in Australia before heading back to China to work.

Brett picked up Alex from school at lunchtime - a novelty for her - and they collected Sebastien, me and the luggage from our apartment on the way to the airport. We're still working out the best way to take to get to the airport from our apartment - except we knew that our taxi driver was taking us "the long way around" this time, aka "the scenic route" - on the round island road. At double the price, this won't happen again as we've worked out the things to say to get us on the right roads there.

We were flying via Hong Kong and had several hours to kill in the Hong Kong airport which was easier said than done as it was right at dinner/bed time when we were there and we were totally out of routine. In any case, we had been totally thrown when, upon arrival at Hong Kong airport we went to collect Sebastien's paper ticket (lap infants are the only ones, and only on certain airlines, that require a paper rather than electronic ticket), only to be asked where his visa was to get into Australia. Hmmm, he's an Australian citizen and granted, he is traveling on an american passport because we had run out of time to apply for an australian one, but really - he needed a visa? News to us and we were flummoxed. We're partway through our trip to Australia and we find this out - and where do we obtain such a thing when we're in transit? They rang someone in the airport and around 15 minutes later he had an "electronic" visa in his american passport - at no charge. Whew.

Our flight from Hong Kong was an overnight one - though you try telling that to two excited kids! They were given special kids bags with all sorts of goodies in them and Alex wanted her headset on pronto. Thank goodness for children's tv and the Wiggles! Alex loves planes and told us on taking off that the vibrations of the plane were tickling her. And she definitely has a taste for speed, calling out on takeoff "faster and faster and faster and faster and - wheeeee! We're going Mummy!" But in the end they must sleep - if only for a little while. Sebastien is already too big to be really comfortable in the plane bassinet. If I had him he wanted to nurse and was annoying other passengers with his whinging so Daddy to the rescue:
Thank goodness for four seats!

After a mere 9 hour flight we landed in Sydney and were met by Aunty Chelle, Grandie and Poppie - what excitement there was! Grandie and Poppie were lending us a car for our stay in Australia which helped out a lot on our travels. We crammed the luggage (including a double stroller) into the two cars and drove the 3 hours to Canberra. Then it was time to settle in to Aunty Chelle and Uncle B's house - a house full of fun and adventure:

A toy box with dressups - and family members to dress you appropriately (thanks Grandie and Aunty Chelle).
An arcade machine with many games on it - and family members to teach us the tactics (thanks Uncle Pip and Uncle B).
Did I mention dogs? Bruce and Anika kindly let the kids have the run of the house whilst they stayed outside - though the kids wanted to join them at every opportunity. Aunty Chelle even had a box that was promptly turned into Alex's own private kennel.


Grandparents-in-laws with no experience of granddaughters pouring them tea from a "silver" service.
Sebastien fell asleep on just about everyone - Uncle B's reward for babysitting :)And Grandie got some sleeping baby action too.But the main event was the wedding - and paking in as many Aussie BBQs as possible in a week for Daddy who would be returning to Xiamen at the end of the week

Things that make you go "Oww"

I come home from my day off and find:
Busted his lip and has many scrapes on his face from falling down some large stone steps. Nothing that'll scar though.

Chinese acquisition after six months

Actually a little over four months as we spent two months in the middle back in Australia. Quite a difference - Alex talks to passersby, throws out little sentences at her brother as they play, plays with other chinese children and throws the occasional sentence at her parents. And yes, we have heard both "Mummy - you're saying it wrong!" and "I don't understand you - you're not teaching me english." when we ask her to do something. Here is a video of Alex speaking some chinese.

Halloween in China

What's a person to do to celebrate Halloween in China? Especially someone whose daughter became enthusiastically aware of what Halloween entailed only last year? Well decorations and some costumes are available in some stores in Xiamen, but it is not nearly as ubiquitous as in the States.










We had seen some advertisements for an expat party for kids located at a school out near the huge mall - and we decided to join Sam and his mum Ellie. We caught a taxi out there and not knowing how long exactly it would take to get there, arrived way too early - they were still decorating. But we paid the admission and the children received cool bags with a drink and novelties in it - the bag would be an easy way to store all the candy.










They still let us in which had the bonus of letting Alex, Sebastien and Sam play on the school's play equipment all by themselves for around a half hour before we got them dressed into their costumes - there was a cool trampoline that Alex and Sam loved - Sebastien wasn't so sure.













Sam became a ferocious tiger.














Alex a fairy princess.













Sebastien was content to just be a fan of Thomas the tank engine.














There were games to play



and candy to be had (Sam had quite a stash by the end) and a magician to entertain. We finished by enjoying some barbeque kebabs, potatoes and corn.

It was all too much for Sebastien who just crashed where he was laid.










Then we walked to the main road to catch a taxi home and examine our loot! What a great time we had - even without trick or treating.

What do you mean "Noise"?

After almost a month and a half of preschool and not quite two months in our apartment we have two firsts:

1) Alex falls in the squat toilet at school.

2) We get several noise complaints by our downstairs neighbor.

Now Alex arrived home from school in completely different clothes (she had a spare set at school in case of accidents) and sported a tremendous long and dark bruise on her thigh (that's a nicely scratched mosquito bite on her calf). Her teachers rang Linlin to explain what had happened - apparently Alex had lost her balance whilst in the bathroom and fallen into the tiled trench toilet. Nice. What was nice, though, was that the teachers laundered her clothes.

A previous Fulbright family had left us many things - including toys - and Alex was very keen on her plastic high heels. Unfortunately our downstairs neighbor was not nearly as keen and he made several visits to us to complain about the amount of noise and also that it started too early in the morning (remember Sebastien was up and ready for the day before 5am most days). He complained about the heavy walking that he could hear and wanted to teach us how to walk properly (though we go barefoot/ sock footed or slippered in the house). He also wanted us to keep the kids in bed until 9am!! I mean, Alex and Brett have to leave by 7.15am most mornings in order to make it to the school bus on time so that wasn't going to happen. I said that I'd try to keep them in bed til 6am - somewhat of a compromise. As well, we banished the high heels and put foam on the floor of the playroom in an effort to dampen the noise. We still had a complaint (this time Brett was home and I was away) and whatever Brett conveyed has meant that we haven't seen our neighbor (other than in passing) since.

Golden Week = Family Time

Well not exactly - whilst Alex had the week off of school, Brett needed to spend a lot of this week working but we did manage to visit Honshan Park which is only a few blocks from our apartment. Lots and lots of steps suited Alex and Sebastien - not my knee! The park had a couple of air-filled arches at the entrance that seem ubiquitous whenever there is a festival or a store is opening.Permanent flower beds seem few and far between here in China - instead you find beds of temporary flowers and plants still in their pots - oftentimes the pots are taped together to keep a certain shape. This is the case not only in parks but also on the sides of roads and near buildings.There is a temple that you can visit which exhibits traditional construction. Buddhists believe that temples are a sanctuary for animals, and that if they release animals in the grounds of a temple it will bring them good karma. Hence you will find the temple ponds teeming with all kinds of life - frogs, turtles and fish. This was true here too and we spent some time watching the turtles sticking their heads out of the water. In a tropical environment, things rot fast. So there is a proliferation of these outdoor settings made of stone - boy are they heavy though! I was thinking of getting some for our balcony so we could eat dinner at a table instead of just moving our dining table chairs outside each meal - but I'm rethinking it now!I do love the tiled terracotta roofs with the upwards pointing ends to prevent evil spirits gaining entry - plus the roof covered in debris in the background is pretty typical of many buildings here.
Sebastien is still small enough to be carried in the carrier which helped with the steps. In fact the park had many meditative nooks and crannies - Brett took this photo of a water lily pond with the "hairy tree" in the background.
That man-made waterfall at the entrance of the park was very soothing and also ended in a pool that enticed small fishermen. We did venture through the tunnel behind us - it took us through the mountain to a street somewhere in Xiamen. But without our map we were clueless. Brett tried to take us through some private apartment areas but we were turned back by a persistent security guard. Pretty hard to blend in when you're laowai!And Sebastien has a nice rash localised on one arm and hand - it hasn't grown just blistered and crusted over. We aren't sure whether he brushed against something or whether one of the (seemingly) thousands of people who touch and fawn over him has given him something. But otherwise he is fine. We took this photo to document where it was located and to work out whether it was spreading and hence whether it merited another visit to another hospital.

So this post is heavy on the photos - a nice difference to other recent ones!