Anna's New Year's Eve Post

hi this is anna. i miis you. this is the stove. do you thingck that it is prity. do you?,, see the markings?,, i hop you are doing fine. if you are not doing wel dot tel me. rumber this is not a post to throe in the trash. and gucss what it is nooyees eve and gucss what tumroe is chiesnooyee. i ,am rily haphhy. ilix the post
you set to use was vahry funny.did you,er mother do it or did you do it?,, do you wish us a mary crissmiss? did you now that sharleen has glasis ? and guise what! junie b.jones hats jim!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.junie b.jones what hav you dun!!you,v yulld in the classroom!! and guise what!!jonieb.jones lave,s
lucille!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

Love, Anna

Hi, This is Anna's dad. We finally have our new camera up and running and so new pictures are coming! This is the stove which we use to heat water (which must be boiled before you can drink it,) and heats the room in which the kids sleep. We are lucky enough to be able to afford coal as a fuel. The last time we were in China, Anna's mom and I had to use Yak dung as a fuel source--as do so many people in this part of China. In the picture, you can see lumps of coal and the tools we need to use to work with the stove without burning our hands. The red bottle thingy is a Kai Shui Ping. It is a giant thermos into which you can pour the boiled water to maintain it's heat all day. We use four of them. This stove also has a small oven (the door on the right). We have tried to make brownies once. It is hard for us to regulate the temperature but fun to do.
That's all for this post. Hope all are enjoying a winter break back in Portland. (I am being a mean daddy and making the kids continue with their homework all through the break!)

Anna's Dad.

Noah's 5

Yesterday, we went to a school in a small village near RebGong. It was sad. The playground was a gravel covered, run down, basketball court or you could play around the buildings. Unfortunately there is no play structure, so the only games you can play are games like tag etc. etc. The kids there got bread for lunch, my dad said that's a special treat for them. I tried to get a soda for them from the Principal's 's office but dad said it wasn't mine to give. Since the kids were Tibetan I had to put up with them talking Tibetan all the time. At least it was fun to play with them. ( They were first/second grade).


After a little while we went up to a monastery on top of a hill. That monastery was made with one of my mom's friend's donation. Then we went to yet another house and had more food! Then to yet another house with more and more food! By the time we got home we were loaded with bottles of soda, a bag of cookies, a bucket of sour yogurt, some bread and tsampa flour*.


* tsampa flour: a flour made of roasted barley. Add sugar, butter, hot water or tea and barley flour to a bowl make cookie-dough like tsampa. Once hot water is added you stir it up with clean hands and then you reach in and SCRUNCH it up and scrape it off the sides of the bowl. Once that is done it is ready to eat. You eat tsampa by rolling it up in a ball and you hold it in one hand then bite it!



bye, all!

Settling In (Cain's post)

Here are two pictures from our new home in Tongren, (also known by its Tibetan name Rebgong.) A traditional Tibetan village home is formed of pounded dirt walls which make up the exterior of a courtyard space. The home is built inside of, and connected to, these walls, with a center courtyard for work and play.
Here you can see Noah and Anna in what we call the sunshine room while they do their homework. You can see some of the beautiful Tibetan woodwork and carvings all around. The glass walls run around the inside of the courtyard, giving us some protection from the cold winter air. Because we are at a high elevation, the sun's rays are very strong and the room warms from it's unheated nighttime lows (in the single digits) to 65 or 70 degrees in about an hour and a half. [The kids and I wish we could show you more pictures of how we live here, but our camera is broken!] We live in a small town that is in a high mountain valley. Tongren is approximately 7500 feet above sea level. (Timberline Lodge is 6600 feet above sea level.) The valley is perhaps 3/4 of a mile across with high mountain ridges rising at least another 1000 feet to the East and West. This means the Sun doesn't get to us until about 9:30 in the morning and is behind the next ridge by 4:15 in the afternoon. We do our best to get everything done during the warm sunny hours.
The kids are definitely missing their friends and teachers back home. So far, we have had only a few opportunities for them to get together with children their own ages. Noah does get to play soccer with high school kids several times a week. Now that we are better adapted to the elevation here, we hope to get out for a trek up the mountain soon!
That's about it for this post. Noah has started a post which should be up soon. We also will have more pictures once we get our new camera.
Best wishes to everyone back home!
Noah, Anna and Rosa's dad

Noah's post 4

Well, we're done traveling and flying an' every thing else. Rebgong: a small village where mutton* is the meat, Tibetan is the language and friends are scarce. So my DS is my friend as my mom says. Which is true, of course. Tip for Leo: look for HM's in Pokemon teach it to a pokemon and it can do special things (such as cut down small trees.)

It's a hard time in RebGong. For heat we have a black stove which needs to be constantly stoked with coal. Mom and dad have a small heater (that we bought in Beijing) in their room but our room is still warmer and is referred to as the Stove room. There are also rooms such as: the sunny room--it is usually very warm because of all the wall size windows; secret room (is the place were the girls wanted to sleep. It's a small room with mats to sleep on and it's very own tv,) and the " kitchen" which is as cold as your garage at the best of times but at least it is usually well stocked. For a sink there is a big bowl called a basin* to which you must constantly add hot and cold water . Pit toilets and everything else* make it VERY VERY hard to get used to living here. But adapting is all part of the business for us, a few good things:
1. I get to play my DS

2. When we get home, we'll have super stamina! Because living in the mountains let you store more oxygen in your blood since there is very thin air in the mountains.

Near our house is a college where I go regularly to play soccer with the students. The field, as you can see in the picture opposite, is nothing like our school's. It is mostly dust and gravel, no slide tackling here! The field is the normal large field. On one side is concrete stairs/grandstands and on the other is a ditch.

In Rebgong children go to the bathroom on the streets, gross right? You can never tell what the wet stuff on the ground is or if mud is really what it looks like. Yesterday I went on a walk with my mom and got bitten by a dog, dogs are watch dogs in China.






All around the monastery are wheels like the ones in the picture to the right. You can only spin them when you walk clockwise around the monastery and then you can only spin them clockwise . People believe that a special prayer is said when you spin the wheels.
In case you don't know, Buddhism is very bloody in monastic dances. It's all about fighting demons and driving them back. Some people will hold fake skulls and you can see the brains of the skull, while dancing. How gross is that?!!?




* mutton: sheep meat * basin: a big plastic or glass bowl used for washing hair or hands

* cold nights, no indoor plumbing, no dish washing machine, no dryer, water has to be boiled before it can be drunk.


Bye, everybody!

Anna's Post 4: Anna in Rebgong

This is the champion horses. The beautifulest one is the one my Mom's riding. She was first place. The ugliest one was 12th place. The one next to the beautifulest one was 2nd place. The one on the bottom was third place. The smallest one was 4th place. The man who you see is in the pen where the champion horses are. He said that the beautifulest one will get lots of flowers and balloons over her. My mother was very beautiful and put on lipstick!

Remember, this is NOT a note to throw in the trash!

Ilex, you are very funny. This is how the note back was very very funny, Oh, that was very very very very very very funny! The man in the picture painted his nose! and put on a silly hat and put on a mask!

I love you all guys!
Anna

Rosa Post 3: Rosa in Rebgong

I live in Rebgong. Rebgong is a little city in Qinghai. I live in a new house now. It looks like the one that was in the picture my mom showed me after she came home this summer.

This picture is where we eat lunch. You can tell because there's a table with food and a couch where we sit down and eat. We eat dinner there too. I don't really sit on the couch but I sit on a stool. Soon my tummy started hurting because I was nervous about this day that we didn't really get locked out of the house, but Mom was just learning about the key. When you get nervous your tummy tightens up.

You can tell it is night in the picture. In the windows there's a moon and some stars. That's why you can tell.

Now I feel a little better.

Ilex, your note back was very funny to me! I miss you all,

Love, Rosa

Noah's Birthday (Cain's post)

So Noah is turning 10 on Friday and he's half way around the world from his friends. He won't even get much of a celebration on his actual day, as we will be flying from Beijing to Xining in the morning. We did have some Mongolian hotpot on Wednesday with our longstanding Beijing friends and their daughter Hua Dun (who is also 10). If you look closely, you can see that each person has their own cooking pot (with either a salty chicken broth or a spicier soup) in front of them. On the table are various meats, tofu, vegetables, noodles and shrimp. Each person grabs what they want and puts it in their pot to cook. Fish it out when ready and eat; simple as that. I think the kids liked it a lot.

When we came home Wednesday night, the kids got to have a dance with their mom and jump on the bed. (No more monkeys jumping on the...) Then tonight, Thanksgiving night, Noah had a cake and he even wore the pink crown which Char got for him at the bakery. He's a good kid!


Happy Thanksgiving to all of Anna, Rosa and Noah's friends!

Loose Teeth and A Family Picture

Here are two family pictures from the temple of Heaven. It was a bit windy that day so we were buttoned up, but the sun felt nice! It was a great day for sightseeing, as have been most of the days since we've been here. I highly recommend spending a few weeks here in Beijing seeing all of the sights!

The other picture shows that Rosa has now joined Anna in losing both of her front teeth. She was very interested in learning whether there is a Chinese Tooth Fairy and whether she would get Meijin or RMB. (She got five kuai for each tooth this week!)

We are off to Qinghai on Friday of this week. We will try to get back online as soon as possible to let you all know how things are going for us!

Happy Thanksgiving and enjoy the holiday season!
Noah, Anna and Rosas' dad

Anna's post #3

I went to the Temple of Heaven. I saw a big red gate and a pathway to the echo wall. But we didn't go that pathway, we went on the main pathway like in this picture. When we got there, I thought that it was a dead end. We also played in a forest of trees around the temple. It was all laid out in rows and diagonals. I did nothing there but my sister and brother played tag.
Rosa, mommy and me sat on the steps below the temple for this picture. The temple was very, very beautiful and had lots and lots of pretty colors. It was a sunny day and I liked going there.


This is a picture of our friend Hua Dun. She is playing her Erhu, a traditional Chinese violin. It has two strings only. She played beautiful songs. We were sitting in the courtyard of our highrise. There is a nice little park there. My daddy says there is more information about the Erhu and a sample of this music at this website: http://www.philmultic.com/home/instruments/erhu.html

This week I am leaving Beijing and going to Rebgong. I am thinking about all of my friends and hope you are doing well.

Anna

Noah's post #3 Temple Of Heaven

THE TEMPLE OF HEAVEN
This is a picture of a firewood stove. It was used for burning ...guesses anybody?...I will answer that with answers to comments, so if you have a guess write comments. ( Hint: something dies ) In the picture I am preparing to "walk-the-dog" on my yoyo. It's the red dot next to my knee. Before we went to the Circular Mound Altar ( where the stove was ) we wandered a giant garden of small pine trees. I tried to lose my sisters. Sometimes it would work and I would hide behind a tree and watch. Then, once or twice, when they would walk past I would jump out and rrrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
them.














This, as my dad told me, was for burning the first born son-so we should keep up the tradition hahaha! and tried to put me in one. Later I played the same trick on Rosa but changed it to the second daughter that is to be burned. Really it is for burnt offerings.







This is me doing an "around-the-world." I love to play with my yoyo because it is from my favorite yoyo show called Blazing Teens. It has all these cool special effects like if you can do a trick for a long time a flame dragon will appear etc. etc. Mrs. Reichers I am still doing homework . It's only on Sundays and Saturdays that I escape regular classwork. I know about 5 tricks and thats it for tricks.





For your enjoyment a family picture with the Hall For Good Harvest behind us. That day it was very windy until we got into the small forest.



I hope you enjoyed this blog entry,
goodbye!

Noah's post #2

A few days ago my family and I went to the old Summer Palace. At the gates there were two statues of traditional Chinese lions. In the picture next to this paragraph is me being eaten by a male lion. Inside the palace there were lots of pathways to walk around on. Mainly the paths were next to a lake, a man made giant lake. Me and the girls wanted to (and did for a while) play hide and go seek. Only when we were in the ruins
were we allowed to play hide and go seek.




You see that picture right underneath the other paragraph? That is a picture of the labyrinth. I loved wandering in it because I wanted to lose myself in it. Unfortunately, the walls were only up to my shoulders so if I did get lost in the labyrinth all I had to do was look around. Also I could climb on top of the walls so why bother to get lost? Because I like it. Once we got to the center it was time to go home. Even when I asked and tried to persuade my parents, even pleaded with them, I couldn't get them to let me show them the back garden.


MORE!
RIGHT THERE!

Yesterday we went to the Great Wall. About every 40 feet there were battle towers. To continue walking you have to go through those towers. The girls and I found a way to the top of most of those towers. Some you had to go to the top, others you couldn't go on top. That picture is one of the girls and me standing on top of a tower. Up there there are lots of bits and pieces of the battlements and a part of a wall.






This picture shows part of the great wall. Farther down it starts to slant up hill. That is where stairs start going up to the unrestored part. Only
I-out of my family -was able to walk to the top. My mom couldn't go because of her knee surgery, my dad tried to go up like me (and would have) if mom had not called to him to tell me to come down. My sisters, like my dad, tried but failed. I liked going to the great wall because to go up you had to run the gauntlet*then you could either walk or take a ski- lift- like-thing but closed in a cart.

*the gauntlet as in lots of salesmen and woman

this is Noah,
signing off.

Anna's post #2

On Saturday we went to the Great Wall. The weather was sunny and warm for November. It was fun. The views were great and we had lots and lots of playing tag. The Wall was beautiful. This steep part climbing the mountain was all steps. I went up all the way. I was tired. Then we had to walk carefully down again and all the way back to the cable cars. The cable cars took us a long, long way down the hill. We took a secret passage back to our taxi.
Goodbye!
Anna

Rosa's post #2

This week we found a new park near our home. There are three slides. I like the straight one a lot. It is very fast especially when my brother gives me a push. There is also a bumpy slide. When I hold my brother's feet and my sister holds his shoulders and I am going down backwards it is very fun! I bonked my head on the side of the swirly slide when my brother pushed me too hard. So I went to my parents and hugged them before going back to play more.
When we went home, I was very tired.



This is a camel. I love camels. My family and I went to the Great Wall this past weekend. My mommy said we could get a ticket to ride the camel. The camel's hair was very soft! I was comfortable.

After this picture, we took a cable car up the mountainside to the Great Wall. I ran up and down hills on the Great Wall. We went on top of some of the guard towers on the Wall. I could see very, very far. It was a lot of fun!

Love, Rosa

Rosa's post#1

We have been in China for a week now. We went to the Beijing Zoo this weekend. We saw this Pelican and my mom took this picture. I watched it for a long time. I found its long beak very interesting. I like how it is colored white and has a long neck. It was fun watching it put its beak in the water and try to catch fish. Other birds were checking out the garbage cans and eating orange fruit from the trees. On a bridge I saw two birds which were so loud that I thought they must be mean!

Besides the birds, we saw: Ostriches with pecked tail feathers, wolves, foxes, giraffe's, Rhinos, and several zebras. I think that this Zebra in the picture is cute! It looks like a small striped horse. I saw two zebras fighting each other by biting at legs and yelling: "this is my territory!"

So far, I think China is very fun! Everyone comments on my sister and me being twins and asks if they can take a picture of themselves with us. My mom and dad usually say no--but sometimes we get to. I like Chinese people. I try to speak Chinese sometimes. I haven't met very many kids yet.

Love, Rosa

Anna's post #1

I like China!
The picture on the left is of Noah climbing into an elephant slide made out of concrete. I named her Sally. The other is a larger slide next to the first where Rosa and I were playing.
This park is located next to the Friendship Hotel where we stayed our first two nights in China. We are going back there today to play.
While this park has some fun kids' stuff, it mostly has adult-size exercise equipment. Of the five parks we have seen, all of them have mostly adult equipment. We have fun on those too.
Another kind of park we went to is called Tian An Men square. We played tag in the park and got to go up on top of one of the gates (a really big wall.)
I love all of you classmates and especially miss my teachers.
Zai Jian!
Anna

Going to China--Noah's post

Going to China is fun! On the plane you get to: watch movies, listen to music, watch the plane's progress, etc., etc. You get three meals: lunch, dinner, breakfast in that order. I watched "Cars" and "Chicken Little" for part of the flight. The other parts I read, ate and played Pokemon on my D.S.

When you get to China, watch out for jet lag!! It makes you cranky and tired and so on at the wrong times. There is a lot of new stuff going on and new things to look out for and learn. It can be frustrating for me and my family.

We have been here a week. In that time I have been to a hotel and have moved to an apartment. Next to our apartment there is an exercise playground [for adults and kids.] We go there almost every day. Today we went to Tian An Men square or Gate of Heavenly Peace where Mao Ze Dong is buried. No, check that, mummified. It was amazing how strong it`s defenses are. Six foot thick walls and three different walls!

I don`t use my Chinese as much as I expected. Still, I do get chances to use it and sometimes do, but my mom does most of the talking. Tomorrow,we will start school work.
That's all, folks!
Noah

Welcome!

Welcome to the blog of Noah, Anna and Rosa while we journey in China. Here you will be able to find a posting from each of us at least once a week (when we have internet access.) We will be leaving on Monday the 29th of October for Beijing, the capitol of China, where we will be living for 3 to 4 weeks. Thereafter we will be moving on to Tongren in Qinghai Province in Northwest China. See if you can find it on a map. We don't really know what to expect yet, but we will be journaling our experiences here as we discover what is ahead!
We will miss our friends while we are gone. Please keep in touch with us! We will answer as many questions as we (or our parents) can.