The Mistake of the Outdoor Park and the Teacher Meeting

So today did not start of terribly hot, just humid and bearable warmth. The boys and I walked to the store and got rice for tonight. I told Danny, who has been dying to go to the outdoor park and ride his bike that today we could do both (it has been raining since we arrived in China last week due to the typhoon). This idea all seemed great as we walked back and forth from the store, so we dropped off the rice and picked up Danny's bike.

Going bike riding (or practicing really) is no easy feat here as I have to drag the bike out of our storage room at the back of our apartment, get Josh in his stroller, and push both stroller and bike into the elevator. One would think the hard part is over, but that is actually the easiest. Here in our community they have made hills all over and our apartment building is at the base of the largest hill, which is quite steep. The entrance to our community, and all the parks are on the other side of this hill. Of course in addition to hills, they also have a lot of lakes/ponds. We therefore keep to the main sidewalk in front of the apartment buildings and avoid the paths behind connecting the parks. No need to get going on the bike careen down a hill and into a fairly deep lake. For similar reasons, I do not have Danny get on his bike until we get down the steep large hill. Therefore, this leaves me to push the stroller and drag the bike up and down the large hill. On a good day this is quite a task, but today it has moved from tollerable heat and terrible humidty to sweltering and unbearably humidity.

So, I am coaxing Danny up the hill, while pushing Josh in the stroller and dragging the bike with my other hand. I can only imagine the site we (or I) make going up and down the hill. Then of course, you can only imagine what happens when we finally get to the spot where Danny can get on the bike and safely manage to bike to the park. Oh you guessed it, the front tire is completely flat. Hence, I then got to do the same exact drill of pushing Josh up the hill dragging the bike with us, while Danny walked ahead. Now I do not know if it was my exhaustion at this point, or the hill truly is steeper on this side, but I had to stop three times to align the stroller and its wheels, while balancing the bike so it did not roll back down the hill, before we made it to the crest of the hill and the easy descent. We finally arrived home and then headed back to the park.



Now, my first hint that going to the outdoor park (there is an indoor one we have been at all week due to the rain) this was just a plain dumb idea is that there is no one outside. No children, no parents. Only the workers cutting the grass and trimming the bushes that are being paid to be there. Basically, we remained at the park for 5 minutes. At which time I told Danny we had to head to the clubhouse and play there. I was about to pass out myself and Danny looked like he just came out of the bath his hair was so wet. Thankgoodness for that indoor park. The funny part in it all is that as we entered the clubhouse, sweating profusely and praising God for the inventor of air conditioning, a Chinese lady exits through the door at the same time. She is dressed (I kid you not) in jeans and a sweater. I just thought to myself--exactly what temperature does she go, "wow its hot, let me put on a t-shirt and shorts"--100, 110, if this temperature here is too cold?



In the afternoon, I headed to the school for the meet the teacher meeting. There was a little confusion over the date of this event as two e-mails were sent. Both exactly the same, right after each other with different dates. One for today and one for tomorrow. The second e-mail did not say anything about the first one, or that it was a mistake. So, on Monday I went to the school and asked what day the event was being held, and if it was just parents or was for the kids. The first reply was "if you want to bring them you can". The Chinese tend to be round about in how they speak, so I was not sure if she was telling me no, but not wanting to offend me. I therefore asked the question again, this time asking if parents usually brought their children, or if it was just for parents. She informed me it was for the parents.

So fast forward to today. I raced over to the meeting, and I am greeted by the head of the school and the girl that told me it was just for parents. The head of the school asked me where Danny was. I looked around and there were all the parents with their kids, and I realize it is for Danny to meet the teacher, not me. The school is an English speaking school, but the secretary (the women I had spoken with previously) speaks English, but what I can only term really as Chinenglish--when they speak they use English, but the order they put it in or the words they use, make it so what they say makes absolutely no sense. (see Dustin's earlier blog for more of this)



So, I just smiled and said I would quickly go get Danny. I ran all the way back--no small feat in this weather, even if we live across the street. Danny was excited to go and he ended up having a fantastic time. We started in his classroom, but it was just myself, Danny and his friend Jule (pronounced Ula, she is from Germany). Ula's mom was downstairs at first dropping off her son Matis. All the other childrenn have not returned for the summer. I guess the older kids do not start right now. Danny's teacher Nick is very nice. He is from New York, but knows Japanese and has taught in China for the past couple of years and speaks fairly good Chinese as well. In addition to being Danny's primary teacher, he will also be teaching Danny's gym class and swimming class (these are two days a week that we have Danny going full days).

Outside the classrooms is a huge play area (reminded me of my kindergarten/preschool) they had the dress up clothes, kitchen area and they also had a slide jungle gym that ended up in a pit of those plastic balls. Danny loved playing in this and then later dressed up with Ula in superhero costumes, while Nick their teacher put them on his back and ran them around. Needless to say he has found a nice comfort level. Hopefully, Monday will go well when more of the children should be in his class. His class is small with only 11 children. Danny is one of four Americans, and the other children are from all over the world. It should be quite cool.

Overall, I think we are excited about Danny's school and have learned the important lesson of checking the bike tires before leaving the apartment and never ever go to the outdoor park in humid hot weather. Not bad for one day.