Finished

Even though Mitike's hair probably only has about 60 twists, it still took me quite a long time.  Some of her hair is just about this length, while sections in the front and sides are much shorter.  I think next time I'll add in another piece of yarn to make them appear thicker.  The beads really do help to pull it down and don't take too long to put in.  When I do this again, I'm going to teach Ana how to do the beads!

Too bad we're NOT finished packing :)

What Did I Do Today?

Yarn Twists--four hours in I'm about 5/8th of the way finished.  (I'm hoping this can last the two weeks in Thailand--her hair usually only gets one week out of a style.)  I'll post a picture when I'm done.  I had thought of adding beads, but I honestly won't have time--we have nothing packed :)

Happy Chinese New Year!!

(for all you Americans--it's the year of the snake!!)

 

Dress Up Days

For China Day Ana wore Mitike's old che piao.  Everyone loved it (I think because it's a little different from the ones here).

She also enjoyed wearing her pajamas to school because 1.  She was the first one ready in the morning and 2.  "I can tell my teachers I have a tail on my bottom."  (Thanks Wongs!)

Chinese Calligraphy

We have great Chinese teachers.  They do their best to make the lessons as engaging as possible.  So, for fun, we got to try some calligraphy.  You start with a felt pad to catch excess ink and practice on rice paper.  When you get good enough (in your own opinion) you do it on the red paper.  It was difficult for me to hold the brush correctly, but I'd love to give it another try!!

Matt and Chris giving it a go at the main campus. 

The Best of Both Worlds

Qingdao is a very special city!  It has beautiful beaches and (as seen above) gorgeous mountains.  It has lots of great Western food and (of course) some great Chinese.  Now, if we could just get some Southeast Asians to move up and open a restaurant, my life would be complete!

Chun Jie part 2

After making our dinner, we headed over to try our hand at paper cutting.  We didn't get to try the calligraphy.  Ana, our scissor master, (from age 2 when she cut off all her bangs) did suprisingly well on a rather complex butterfly.  I think it's great that these traditional activities can keep the kids busy too!