it turned out to be date day with Luke

The big four this time, plus the parental units went to a wedding on the outer edge of the 10 o'clock side of town ( not nearly as far from here as it could have been), leaving me at home to "baby sit" this guy.  It turned out to be a great day.  How can it miss when he starts it with a long nap and wakes up to a little ball playing.  And as Laura blogged he does indeed enjoy playing ball.  Other toys have little interest for him and he just keeps going back to a ball and brings one to you to engage with you with them.  Reminds me very much of Stephen in that regard.

 In addition to liking playing ball like Stephen did, Luke also is big like Stephen was.  The photo below could be one of Stephen but it is of Luke.   Looks so much like Stephen did (from the back)  it is un-real.  As a baby Stephen had for a baby a huge body structure, with a solid, firm, stocky build, with light wispy curly blond hair.  He had big wide hands, thick thick legs and was a guys guy.  (By the way that still pretty much describes Stephen)

Matt has a brother that I understand  pretty much fits close to that description also so I am going to go pretty far out on a limb here and predict that Luke will not play wide receiver or defensive back on a football team.  Somewhere real near the center position will be his most likely slot on a team.  Linebacker will be about as far from the line as he will get.

Look at that photo below, if that couldn't be Stephen, I don't know who it could be -- but I took it today of Luke.  And the two of us had a grand time too.

 We  went out to eat at a nearby restaurant and we had fried rice with two spoons and a Coke and a milk from home.

Check out the hand and leg size.  The boy can eat too.  Likes his groceries - no surprise there.

Luke alos liked watching the cooks and the action at the noodle making table, note the noodles being swung into the air in the background.  This is a Moslem restaurant- guys with the hats - and they do not sell beer and I had to supply my own Coke, but they are fun to watch and take an interest in us.

 We eat here often and the owner comes to talk with me in Chinese of course.  I figure he either is amazed at my ability to say so very little in Chinese or figures that if he says enough to me in Chinese I will eventually understand.  I speak back to him in English.  He does not appear to understand.

Fortunately other customers did not interrupt us bother us or fawn over Luke and his blue eyes as is often done.  In other words, the only person who took Luke's photo was me.

Luke did not take a photo of me as is the custom on one of our date days -- in the future he will undoubtedly  do so, but this year, well we just had to much going on.

the following photos are from earlier in the trip and I wanted to put in just to show off grandson's endearing trait of grinning for the camera.  Photo number one is just him playing ball again, rolling back and forth with someone.

 photo number two comes with "Luke "  ' smile" and smile, he does, all scrunched up, eyes squeezed closed, lips curled and grin griped ready for the camera.  Grandaddy and his parents think he is cute.  I suspect he does too.

By the way, after a long leisurely lunch, we strolled back by way of a market street and got home in time for our afternoon naps which both of us enjoyed.  A great way to spend a date day with a grandson and I got to miss a wedding and a long car ride too.

twice into town - Metro and Apartment looking

Early in the afternoon, Mat, the big three, and I went to the Metro to do some serious grocery shopping.  I was first struck by the intersection being constructed just beyond the parking lot to the Metro.  Metro is a German store much like Costco or Sams Club and is also where Stephen and Jen have shopped in Panama

This one though is in China, and has a stuff like you would expect in one of those ware house retail stores and lots of lots of people.

The kids of course have a blast.  We had two shopping carts - Matt sent me to find some stuff and I found him and the gang by sound first, sight second.

This is the road that is under construction near the Metro,  imagine putting a second level (or more) over Glenwood Avenue in front of Crabtree,  or I-40 business through Greensboro.

Not that it is needed or anything.   And public transportation is good too.  I counted seven busses in sight going our direction at just one stop light.  There is also a subway system.

Later in the day I was back in town this time with the adults, Matt and Laura as they are considering moving to a new location.  This building - or another one -- goodness they look alike, tall, in gated complexes, with highly landscaped yards, and next to each other, close to major roads is where they will live.   There!   I just described where they and several million other people live.  The "tall, close to major roads and some degree of effort at stylized landscape" would describe most city housing here and more people live here than do in North Carolina

I have often said China is a land of contrast, here we are walking toward a shopping center near the above apartment complex and took a shortcut through a construction site, ( what ? someone said lookout ? be careful !   no people obviously needed a path, and someone else obviously saw a chance to grow a few vegetables, and the construction never seems to stop (not background of this and following photo)

Just past the foot path though the "garden", we came out under the highway toward a row of rather grand shopping centers, think Southpoint Mall, or Crabtree  or something very nice with US and European and high end Chinese retail.

Patt and I took the kids to play in a play area and to eat in one of these places last year and I wrote about it.  The bridge above is of course a highway.  Note the bicycles and bicycle cart going under the bridge.

the Chinese highway engineers do not seem to be afraid of using asphalt.  Now pedestrians seem to be given very little consideration, especially considering how many there are of them--- let 'em walk -- walking is good - so walk far -- seems to be the philosophy.

The photo next photo after this one is taken from the shopping center looking back towards where I am standing as I took this one but looking a little to my right -

  at the right side of the  photo below under the lighted bridge is where I was standing when I took the above photo.   The major road with the lighted "A" shaped bridge is the main north south road through town.

We had a nice dinner at a Japanese chain restaurant in the mall.  The kids were back home with three baby sitters.

Chess tournament

Sunday we spent a little time in a park that was hosting a chess tournament.  This is not your rook, castle, queen, king, pawn chess we are familiar with but Chinese Chess which is much more complicated and intricate, so I am led to believe, and consequently a game for gentlemen of intellect and culture.  It certainly is a game of men who smoke cigarettes. Just walking through the outdoor area in which this tournament was being played was enough to expose one to serious side-stream smoke and put one at high degree of risk for lung cancer.

this was an official tournament, note the little timer thingee on the table and participants were numbered as were tables. It seemed so efficient.  

 Most games are played with spectators, who are quiet except after a winning play when the person who executes such a play exclaims loudly (somewhat contrary to the culture claim) and plays with a flourish, slamming the marker on the board whereupon the spectators all apparently feel free to offer their advice on how they would have prevented the defeat or won the point much the sooner.

Note the old guy below on the left.  I think it is a rule that the older the guy --means the hands must be held behind the back as illustrated by this gentleman.  The infant to the right is somewhat unusual in my observations of these games, but this child will certainly inhale enough cigarette smoke to be considered a heavy smoker so perhaps it all balances out.

 At some point announcements were made and everyone got up, assembled in rows behind signs (Matt said they represented regions or major neighborhoods in this part of the city) and were talked to by guys with microphones (note Julianna at right (  the tournament was part of the city-wide May Day / International Labor Day holiday activities I think -- if not it could have been).  That is a big chess piece on the lower right of the billboard.  (often wrong never in doubt on this factoid- but I am pretty sure - if not it sure looks like one to me)

 Same scene from the reverse angle, also note the photographer for the event taking a picture not of the participants in the event but of Julianna, Lydia, Isaac and John Paul.  The photographer also got Matt in the picture but was probably not trying to ( no offense there Matt -- just the facts,  the photographer would not have taken a photo of me either )

Going to church on the bus

Today, Sunday with a gently, very gentle, perhaps closer to imaginary rain, and all of us except Laura and Luke went to church.  They chose to stay home, the reason being we were riding the bus into town and for some reason, Laura thinks taking 13 month old Luke on a two bus 45 minute ride on way is not an adventure.  Go figure.   

 As I said the rain was not all that intense.  and Matt double checked bus routes and such

Actually the first bus we rode was the old familiar Big Yellow #300 that I rode so frequently last year and was the subject of a blog or two in the past.  We were fortunate and got onto one of the rare uncrowded ones.   It is a national holiday of some sort and that may have had something to do with the vacant seats.

Oh-- the reason we are bus riding is that for this particular day due to the last number on the license tag of their car they can not go into the city center.  There is a rotating cycle of numbers and days to limit cars in the center of town.

 The bus ride was fun of course.  I had a ball -- as did the little kids.

The elevation makes the vies so much different from riding in a car.

of course if you do not have a window seat it is not as interesting.

but I still had fun.

A date with Julianna at Flavorful Noodle Village

While I mentioned in previous post that I was rapidly improving in my ability to communicate, I will admit that I did not translate the sign below.  Matt did the translation of the sign above the restaurant and even he acknowledged that it was a bit of a rough translation but we could "go with it" since it did sound good.  And it does sound like a good Chinese restaurant name -- and the ambiance fits too.  

Oldest granddaughter and I had a date.  We went for a ride on Matt and Laura's motor scooter and then toured the offerings of street food vendors and "fast food" shops along the various restaurant rows in front of the University where Matt teaches.  This one won out - in part because I had tried it before on my own one morning and we could not find a place serving the local version of meat and vegetables on a stick or shau caou.  

We had rice noodles with tomato and fried egg.  I got it by accident one day and really liked it.   The drinks are mango and a fruit mix.

 There you see one of the restaurant rows behind Julianna as we select our table prior to ordering.  Our dates are quite the big deal and we enjoy them very much.  This was not a cloth napkin type place --note the Sichuan Airlines baggage handler in the background with his pants legs rolled up.  We were fortunate that no young, or old, man had his shirt rolled up barring midriff.

On our dates we take photos of each other so below is the one Julianna took of me.  We are a bit of a curiosity and get more than a few passing stares despite the fact that this is an University community and an international airport community where many of the people work with the airlines in various capacities.  It is quite common to see pilots or flight attendants in uniform.  Fortunately though no one speaks to us or makes a big deal over us as has been done on more than one occasion.

As is obvious from the store to my left, it is not all restaurant row.  That is a plumbing / building supply retail store with squatie toilets right there to be picked up should you be in the market.  Other building supply materials are available including sinks and orange hard hats.

Earlier in the day, I regaled the kids with photos from the last time the kids were in the USA and a special treat was seeing a photo stream of Raleigh that Jen has sent and seeing a series of old photos of Laura and Stephen that I had scanned and were in one of the files on the computer.

And of course I spent some time helping them with life skills, here we are doing refresher work with the girls on rummy.   Please note, if they win, they win, if I win, I win.  We play cards with winning as an objective.      

Now Isaac is a year or so away so he and I were playing Buzz LIght Year car cards.  Isaac presorts so he gets Buzz and I insist on the tow truck character - I forget his name. (I had it this afternoon, but it is gone now -- you get my age and you will know what I am talking about) 

Lydia's houdong (school activity day for parents to come)

It should be obvious from the title that my ability to speak Chinese is improving by leaps and bounds despite the fact that yesterday (Thursday was Juliana's houdong and I missed it- some parental units occasionally miss a note home from school or something).  Be that as it may, thankfully Lydia's did not involve parental participation.

The day began with parents observing the kids doing morning physical activity on the rooftop play area.  Play was organized and granddaughter was an enthuastiatic participant.  No surprises there.

Some of the play is quite intricate with detailed direction following requirements and dance like moves involved.  Lydia and the girls do well with this type activity.  The boys, well, they seem to prefer chasing one another.  I do not know how much is normal and how much is "for show".  It was a reported normal day according to reports of a parent who spoke English and so advised me.

The class room was full 35 kids on the houdong day and more parents than that.  Present and future big problem for China--  21 boys and 14 girls.  That is not an unusual observation.  Another observation is Lydia and perhaps only one or two other children had another sibling in the house.  Hence a room full of only children --that means the child has two parents and four grandparents.  Those children in China now have a name - Little Emperor -- and they act like it too-- if the 6 year olds are an indication, keep me away from a room of 13 year olds.

A few other notes.  One mother tried unsuccessfully to stop her son from picking boogers, another worked on keeping her son looking at the teacher, while two other parents ignored their sons kicking each other,(so did the teachers) (though the teachers did seem to keep distracted talking and other behaviors to a minimal level)

Taking deliberate time for healthful type activities was a big deal such as - drink water, (here we are taking our water break - with water cup - (girls first then boys) other health type activities were cool down after sports activities , stretch before the exercise, and the place was very very clean and it had lots of teaching aids.  I was impressed.

and below are part of the parents and the other sibling - or what I assumed was a sibling - (the ratio of cameras to students was decidedly fewer than for Isaac's houdong.)

School days with Isaac

Today was some kind of parent- student activity day for Isaac's class.  As Matt was working, Laura was other occupied (go figure) I got to be the parental unit for Isaac.  I was not the only grandfather present, nor the only English speaking adult.  Several of the parents spoke with me, some on holiday from work, others, just not working I guess.  Anyway, there place was full of kids and parents.

The kids did some sort of class participation thing then had a joint parent / child craft activity.

Isaac proudly shows off our craft.

We followed instructions,

as did they rest of the class

note girl to Isaac's right, blue sunbeams too.

 On a trip up the stairs I got a look into the kitchen.

  Making noodle soup someone said.

 Later there was an outside activity that was physical in nature,

 sorta like rhythm gymnastics.

  Note the number of cameras per adult. 

 I think it was almost one to one.

 Isaac and some parent encouraged buddies.  I do not think these are his real friends in the class.

 One of the hoots of the day was the parent relay race.  Unbeknownst. to me we had been divided into teams.  Teams for a relay race as in we are talking "lets win this thing".  Somewhere someone  on each team had decided that "we" were going all out to win this thing And it was ON.  The racing was spirited and full speed.

 I unfortunately found my self running anchor.  He who migrates to the back of the crowd gets his due.  Our team also had a runner fall.  Guess who got to be the last one to cross the finish line.  Yup  that would be me.

Thankfully we got a second chance -  teams reorganized - --most importantly our team had a young father who was now running anchor.  We did not lose -- as no one on our team fell either.  I too ran full out and am in probably 400 photographs -- probably more-lots more.  (note the effort in these runners-- I am serious this was serious)(it was a hoot - loved it)

Isaac and I had a good day and we and all other participants got heart stickers for some reason or other.

Big Change of Scenery (subtitle ) Off to see the GrandChildren

About two weeks ago, Laura called and asked if one of us (meaning me I assumed) could come do a little child care for a couple of days as Matt was going to be out of town for a few days so here I am.  

 In addition to HoneyNut and regulation Cheerios, Patt sent flashlights as Luke is discovering

and science kits with insect study guides.  Look out ants, beetles and flying insects.  

More than one ant was captured and studied under magnifying lens and a few may have not fared well during the capture process.  

In addition to unloading books, study materials, toys, clothes are often a big part of travel accessories.

 and trying on new stuff is a big deal and new favorites are quickly established.

We of course ate well and after a full day and a half of airplane and airport terminal food, I was ready for some good meals, which were very nice to have.

and some good play time, including of course playing ball with my grandsons.

Reading - or rather point at pictures with John Paul is also a big part of our activities. - John Paul poses so completely for a photo it is a real sight to see. -- note below.

 Matt kneeled down to be on his level for a photo that Laura was trying to take with their new camera and John Paul, copied Matt's pose perfectly -- just for the camera.

So I am dong some child care -- and really enjoying it too.  More to come.  I think I may have made mention that this week was going to be a busy one.  Well next week will too.