Gogovivi

Bear with me...

...while I brag a little. If you remember my last post, I was pretty proud (though trying to be subtle about it) of Vivian's painting of a dog with its little front paw stuck out in what can only be a 1st grade mastery of perspective. She completed that project in her Chinese art class (which she attends weekly after her hour of language lessons). In China, and in this class, art is taught by the time-honored method of copying. Emulating? No, its straight-up copying, where the more your version mirrors the original, the more highly regarded it is.

I confess, the dog painting was a copy. An interpretation of a photograph, but a copy nonetheless.

This week's painting has blown the lid off that poor dog. Today Vivian painted a magnificent Christmas tree. The tree sprouted in her brain and grew out of her paintbrush into a full-fledged original work of art. Its beautiful, expressive, and original, and I think its brilliant.

I couldn't be more proud.

Areas for improvement

Vivian's first grade report arrived yesterday. In academics, she is doing absolutely great. In social development, improvement is needed...but then she's only 7 and living in a new country and at a new school, so I expect the transition to take a while.

Her teacher reports:

• She is a great writer when she is motivated. "When motivated" is the kicker.
  
• She is good at any kind of drawing. I agree - see her recent painting, below
• She needs to improve on showing proper reverence during liturgy and prayer. This one kinda cracks me up. That she is showing any reverence is somewhat amazing considering her pagan upbringing.

Otherwise, it was the usual stuff: she's doing well, has a good attitude (when she's motivated) and generally settling in ok.

Girls in Uniform

We have so many great friends in Qingdao, all of whom will be missed. Here Vivian and our upstairs neighbor Lola are rockin' their YCIS uniforms!

A Cold Day in Jimo

Jet lagged and cold, and against all the instincts that told me, begged me, to stay home, be warm, and rest, I boarded the 8:30 am bus to Jimo City. Jimo is one of those ubiquitous, faceless towns that form the suburbs of Qingdao: without any obvious reason for being, sans any apparent charm or character, but housing millions of Chinese in apartment blocks notable only for their sprawl and anonymity. Or so it seems to me, through my critical, tired, myopic expat eyes.

When finally we arrived at the primary school, in the village beyond the reach of the urban sprawl, our bus was met by two long columns of children, clapping excitedly and proudly greeting us while waving tall red flags symbolic of the pride and heritage of China. The anonymity of the suburbs vanishes amidst this sea of young faces, so excited and optimistic, but also nervous and shy. The foreigners are here. 

I came on a bus full of foerign students on their annual school charity project. Throughout the month of December, students and families from Vivian's international school collected bags full of basic necessities to share with needy families: cooking oil, rice, warm blankets and clothing, even coal for their coal-burning heaters. Today we would distribute the bags at a rural school, and my purpose on the trip was documentation.

It was the worst kind of day for photography; the skies were thick with coal smoke and the sun was so deeply shrouded that shadows were absent. Gray, gray, more gray. Plus cold, frigid cold...but still I managed to find scenes of surprising beauty in the grayness, in the faces, and in the moment.

This wasn't just a school event; it was a community event. The students from both schools were excited, and the excitement spread beyond the walls of the school. Look carefully at the photo below and behind the lone girl watching from a distance you see the crowd of families and friends waiting in anticipation behind the locked gate.

As always, my camera loves faces more than anything else; as always, my camera is not disappointed.

Wednesdays with Vivian: Year 1, Day 1

In case you were wondering, we made it back from our European holiday. We arrived in Qingdao last Monday, just in time for one fantastic last hurrah before school started on Wednesday. I mentioned earlier this year that although she is not yet six years old, in her British system school, Vivian has already graduated from Kindergarten and is now starting Year 1. 

First days: (L) Year 1 2011, (R) Kindergarten 2010

How is this possible? How is she old enough to be in primary school? Geez...her childhood is slipping away so fast. As you might guess, I have a lot of thoughts about that...but they will stay in my head.

We don't have many clear traditions in our house, but I think I have accidentally struck upon a new one: that of taking a portrait every first day morning before school. This year I was a little rushed in the morning hustle (her bus comes at 7:20, ouch!), and I hadn't planned in advance to take her photo. Consequently, the photo is not nearly as nice as last year's. Next year I'll be more cognizant of the need to get it right(er). Won't it be fun, years down the road, to look back on her growth and maturation as she starts school every year? Chances are she won't appreciate it as much as I will, though.

Vivian's Lost Year

Yesterday Vivian, at 5 1/2 years old, graduated from kindergarten. This September she will start Year 1, aka First Grade.

Now, I could be mistaken, considering that I have never raised a child in the States, but I think that if Vivian was going to school in Oregon, she wouldn't start first grade until September 2012. An entire year later (she is, like I was, a November baby, which will make her one of the oldest children in her class). The explanation for the difference is that her school in Qingdao is a British system school, which has 13 years, with Year 1 starting at age 5.

Though I rolled my eyes and said a few words to myself about the utter ridiculousness of a graduation ceremony for preschoolers, I am feeling a little bit emotional about the whole thing. About time passing too quickly, about my daughter growing up too soon, and about starting school in a foreign country when I really expected, all along, that we would be back home in time for school. Mostly, I am feeling that she is starting school too early and that we have, somehow, lost a year. She is only five. She should be starting kindergarten, not graduating from it!

I am assuming (fingers crossed) that we will be back in Portland in time for the start of Actual First Grade. That is, by fall 2012. Until then, Vivian will start Year 1, and Bruce and I will go along with it, even though, in our heart of hearts, we know that she is still, really, in kindergarten.

Wednesdays with Vivian: Gingerbread

Vivian's class got a little surprise treat for the holiday season today: a field trip to the Intercontinental Hotel Qingdao, where the hotel pastry chefs spent the morning building gingerbread houses with each of the children.

Yes, that's right. A complete gingerbread house for every child.

In the past year, the Qingdao expat community has enjoyed several family events at the Intercontinental: Father's Day cake baking, St. Martin's Day lantern parade, the German Holiday Market, and now this, gingerbread houses for the tots. Each event keeps getting better, and exceeding my expectations. Today I thought that the children were simply going to decorate gingerbread men, but a complete gingerbread house? And one for every child? Delightful. I am very thankful for the family of benevolent spirits that manages the Intercon these days. They are a big asset to our community.

 

Summer's over

I can't believe summer is coming to an end, if you define "summer's end" as the time when children return to school. Vivi's school starts on Wednesday, and it feels somehow wrong to start mourning the passing of another summer while we're still in the thick of it.

Way back at the first of June, I was pretty anxious about the prospect of Vivian being home full-time for the summer. Ever since she was 18 months old, she had been in school year-round, unless we were traveling. I had an urgent and compelling reason to take her out of school, though: the incomprehensible violence at Chinese kindergartens continues (the most recent case happening quite near Qingdao) and I almost couldn't stand watching her walk into her school every day, alone, and feel the almost palpable fear of never seeing her again. I have lived through the death of one child, and at the time I thought the death of my son was the worst possible loss. Six years later, I have learned that a greater loss is indeed possible, and I wasn't willing to risk it anymore.

  

Safety aside, I also had fantasies that it would be good for my relationship with Vivian to spend a lot of time together. What I didn't anticipate is how much closer she and I have become, how I understand her better, and how much more patience and empathy I have developed. Since I'm not her and she's not able to articulate such things, its hard to say in what ways being at home has been good for her, though I can say that despite a few rough patches this summer (like the two week phase when she complained about one little pain after another every five minutes for seemingly forever), her behavior has been very, very good and we have even had a recent run of several days when we didn't have a single significant conflict. Imagine a day with no yelling, no crying, no threats, no consequences. It was bliss. That's what I'm going to remember most about this summer. That and all the extra cuddling we did.

 

Off she goes to school. Tuesday afternoon we had a little "beginners day" to acquaint ourselves with her teacher and the school. Wednesday is the Real Deal, Day 1. She's beside herself with excitement and I can't blame her. Its going to be a great year.

Dog Days photo project Day 1

School is out for summer! And for our family, for the first time, ever. Since Vivian started going to nursery school at the tender age of 18 months, she has been enrolled in Asian schools, which run year round*. Consequently, I have never had the summer holidays to contend with. And it is honestly striking fear into my heart. We have six long weeks ahead of us until we leave on our summer holiday in Japan.

Six. Long. Weeks.

I'm not sure I can do it! It = entertain my child and keep her off the TV and get anything done. And not go crazy.

I'm not that {imaginative, engaged, entertaining}. I'm too {self-centered, task-oriented, impatient}.

What are we going to do in a place that doesn't have a lot for kids to do?

Mondays - I'll think of something.

Tuesdays - playgroup

Wednesdays - swimming lessons

Thursdays - I hope I'll think of something

Fridays - who knows

In the meantime, I am going to be really trendy and start a photo project. Many photographers in the blogosphere are doing 365 projects (new photo every day) or 52 projects (new photo every week). I'm going for the Dog Days project and blog a new photo of our summer holiday every day. The topic will be what Vivian and I do to keep occupied. I get weekends off if I want.

To start, I give you Day 1. Kids birthday party at the playground.

*Vivian's school, the Big Apple, is also Chinese but we chose to withdraw her for the summer even though the school is still open. Recently there has been a string of severe violence in kindergartens around China, plus we are not satisfied with the management of the kindergarten. She starts at a new school in mid-August.

Back in her lovin' arms

We just got back from another visit to Busan. Every visit is bittersweet. Every time we visit more of our friends have moved on, there are more new faces, and I wonder more and more about this strange life we have chosen, this expat life where we belong to a community for a while, then move on, our paths crossing those of so many others who are on similar but anti-parallel paths.

But one person who isn't going anywhere is perhaps our dearest and most beloved friend, Park Sungae. She was Vivian's first teacher, from age 18 months to 3 years. Despite the enormous language barrier between us, and our only occasional communication, our connection to her remains strong and real. This trip, she came by and picked Vivian up in the school bus and they spent a day together, a day which left Vivian glowing and me crying because I miss having her in my life and in Vivian's life. This woman is a powerful force of love, I'm telling you. I've never known anyone like her. Every time we leave Korea I wonder if we will ever see her again, and my heart breaks again, just a little bit.

I'm filing this one under "Moments that make life worth living."