Cookies Exchange Today!

We had a very fun international cookie exchange today!  There were Japanese, Americans, and Australians.  As the hostess I ended up with a lot more cookies than I put in!  Ana however was in solitary confinement as there were other small kids present.  She got her own selection of cookies in the room--so she was all right with it!  Clean up took a while, but I hope we do it again next year (and Ana is not sick during it). 
Sorry for the fuzzy pictures--it's my camera. 

The Second Time

On Sunday morning I got to go back to the hospital as Ana had been unable to sleep due to pain in her ear.  I had to take a friend to translate as the international clinic is not open on Sundays.  It was an experience and a half.  We first went to the pediatrics unit(which was packed out).  I learned some tricks of the trade from my friend.  Don't go in the shortest line--the busier doctors are usually better.  You have to go into the room and slip your paper in the stack and stick around to make sure it stays in order.  You need to be in the room ready to go when the doctor calls your name or she quickly moves onto to the next patient.  Everything depends on you being a wee bit pushy and aggressive!  Then we were sent up to the ear doctor.  But the entry fee you pay has to be from the right department--so my friend Tien went to get it changed (from pediatrics to ENT) while we sat and waited--Ana was pretty much a slug.  This doctor changed the antibiotic and ear drops to stronger ones.  What's really interesting is that there is often no children medicine---they are just to take a portion of an adult dose.  Ana can now swallow pills :) 
Very thankful today for friends so willing to help even when it takes them away from their own family.

China's Class Party

This is China's very small class.  This shows you the make up of the school.  China is one of two black kids--him and Mitike-- in the whole elementary.  He does have ONE Caucasian class mate.  The teachers are almost always American with a co-Chinese teacher. 

This party was for the December birthdays.  They had pizza, cupcakes, and chips.  (Pizza is a BIG deal here!)  Matt attended the party as he was free and already at school.  It's good for dad to get some experience in class partying!! 

30 Cinnamon Rolls?

After the doctor Ana got to help Ayi make the cinnamon rolls (notice her little yellow rolling pin).  She's super at making mass quantities of baked items! 

My camera will no longer take pictures in Auto Focus mode.  So now I have to search out a Chinese staff member to help me get it repaired or start taking all pictures manually or look for a new camera body!

The First

About and hour after she went to bed  last night Ana woke up with her ear hurting.  So today we made our first trip to the hospital.  It has a designated international clinic in it.  There were no appointments left with the English speaking doctor (he only works in the morning), so an English speaking nurse went downstairs with us.  There are some major differences in health care here.  People wander in and out of the examining rooms asking the doctor questions when he's seeing someone else.  I don't think there is really a "line" for seeing the doctor--it's whoever gets there first.  Thankfully the nurse (who was extremely helpful) went into the office and sat there.  As expected Ana had an ear infection.  We then went back to the International Clinic paid our bill and waited for our prescription to be filled.  They brought it to us and explained the instructions and we were out of there.  45 minutes, less than 30 US dollars (including the medicine), and a relatively stress free experience.  Not bad!

National Staff Christmas Party Part 1

 Three families hosted this party.  We're guessing that around 40 people besides our families came.   Above is most of the men at the party.  We had made some gingerbread playdough which was a big hit with the children. 

 My main contributions to this party were desserts.  I couldn't believe how quickly everything went.  Nobody was afraid of it being too sweet.  I have to say that the pecan bars I made were easy and AMAZING!! (Thanks for the pecans mom!)

Here's Ana in front of the Hedricks Christmas tree with some new friends! 

It was really a lot of fun to co-host and to get to know some people I have NEVER met although I see their names on e-mails all the time.  Ana, of course, had a ball--esp. since she was up two hours after her normal bed time!  The food must have been pretty good because there was almost NOTHING left--have to make more next year :)

I'll post more on this soon when I get some photos from some other people.

Christmas Around Town

Our Fellowship is at the Intercontential Hotel.  They had a GIANT (fake) Christmas tree in the lobby. 

 They also had a Gingerbread house.  We watched the chef glue on the gingerbread bricks.  That's A LOT of baking to cover this house!

 Here's the purple Christmas tree (as promised)!  It's actually kind of pretty!

Although this is nothing compared to Orchard Road in Singapore, I'm really glad for the chances to see Christmas decorations around town!

I'll try to keep posting, but we've got a busy week ahead!  Thanks for reading!