Yesterday was a great day...
Macy is doing great in math
(I have her in pre-algebra now,
but I think she will jump to algebra soon).
Macy is doing great in math
(I have her in pre-algebra now,
but I think she will jump to algebra soon).
We also went to the library again
and I was thrilled to find some beginner-reader books
that weren't 'preschool' looking.
They were books on historical figures,
with great pictures and factual information,
but on a VERY easy reading level.
I wasn't sure how open our shy girl would be to read
to me, but to my surprise, she readily did it!
I would read a page so that she could hear
me pronounce the words
(even English words that she already knows, need a lot of polishing
on how she says them...her accent is THICK, as you can imagine),
then she would read the page back to me.
It worked great!!!
We will continue to do that.
Repetition is the key, I'm sure.
************
Just thought I'd share a funny little story from Ch*na.
When we were at Macy's orphanage,
we met a lady who was working with a small group
of children singing Chinese opera and playing traditional
Chinese instruments.
It was.....
interesting music.
Very traditional...and very loud.
I stood and watched for a while before the
older lady made one of the kids get up,
then she motioned me to come sit and listen.
Up close...up really, really close.
It was SO LOUD but I just grinned and enjoyed it.
It truly was good.
They were all very talented.
But then she took a break and wasn't shy to start
asking me questions (via our translator, George).
She wanted to guess my age.
Yikes. Are you kidding me, lady?
I'm at a fragile state of mind now that I'm, gulp, 40.
Oh, she insisted to guess.
She said
that I couldnt' be a day over 35.
Suddenly I'm thinking I'd like this lady to join
our family and wondered what it would
take to adopt her as well.
Though now that I think about it....
perhaps George just changed the number a bit
to soften the blow.
No, I'm quite sure I heard the number
35
come out of her mouth.
The kids all around her totally agreed with her
guess.
THEN....
she insisted...INSISTED....
that I guess HER age.
What kind of warped game is this?
Sweat was forming on my forehead.
My heart was pounding.
Women just don't do these kinds of things
to each other.
I thought it was a rule, world-wide.
I took a deep breath....
gathered my confidence and blurted out,
50?
With a clenched jaw and sweaty pits,
I waited for her response...
HAHAHAHAHA!!!
George, with his incredibly great smile said,
"No!! She's 65!!!"
WHEW!!!!!!
I made a friend for life.
She then went on to ask me a ton of questions,
including, asking what I eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
She simply COULD NOT believe that I don't have
rice every day.
Listen lady, I do get my carbs in other forms...don't you worry.
She was such a delight, as were ALL
the sweet kids there.
Oh my heart.
Every time I look at the pics from that day,
I get all mushy.
the sweet kids there.
Oh my heart.
Every time I look at the pics from that day,
I get all mushy.
10 comments:
Oh my not the dreaded age game! Yikes- i'd be sweating too! So glad it turned out well- whew!
Every time I see your pics from the orphanage- Shu Li with her friends I want to bring those lovely girls home!
Thank you for sharing this incredible journey and daughter of yours with us!!
Sheesh, had I known you liked playing the "I want to know everything about you" game with the Locals, we would have walked around more! Trust me, the fascination wears off! You start saying things that you pull out of your sock just to see what the reaction is!
Love the news, and pics about Macy!
Hugs
Lynsay
Great story Lori......
There is a huge series of books by Helen Frost / Pebble Books / www.cap-stone-press.com that Lindsi likes to read for her AR tests. They are easy readers & all factual. This series is called Our World & has several books about countries & their cultures. A Look At China, A Look at Australia, ect.....
They have a series on body parts...Bones, Heart, ect...
A series about fruits & vegetables, a series about animals.
Lindsi likes them because the facts are concrete. Sounds like Macy would enjoy those too. About a 1.7-2.2 reading level.
Oh, my, I don't like that age game, either! Our friends, while in China, guessed our ages (early 50's) and they guessed that we couldn't be over 35 or 40, since their parents were that same age. Their jaws dropped when we told them that we were over 50 - they honestly couldn't believe it! Now that we are going to meet their parents this time, I hope their parents don't feel weird.
Oh how funny! Glad you guessed UNDER her age. :) That last picture---sniff, sniff. The look on the face of the girl in the foreground as she looks up at Macy...wow.
Oh my goodness, I am laughing out loud again!!! That is seriously funny!! And she does look 50-ish. Good job!
And wow, Macy is doing great in math! I have a Korean soon-to-be sister in law. Her family came here when she was 8. She and her sister learned English from watching TV. : ) But she never to this day felt very comfortable in the subject of English. (Oh, she's definitely fluent. I am talking about academically.) But she LOVES math, and always felt comfortable with it because it's the same everywhere. She ended up being an engineer and making lots of money! : )
LOL...too funny! I wouldn't have felt comfortable having to guess her age, either...yikes! You pulled it off well. :)
What sweet pictures. I love the last one where the girl is looking up to Macy.
Ugh with the age game. I am horrible at it. For some strange reason, my 6 year old is obsessed with my age. He is constantly asking me how old I am. (not too quietly either:-) Way to go guessing under her age!
What an absolutely wonderful story. I chuckled all the way through :) What a precious treasure of a lady.
How wonderful to hear that Macy is doing so great on reading and math. Sounds like you have a seriously smart kid on your hands.
Sending you a huge hug, dear friend.
In China, it's actually POLITE to talk about age and weight! It's as common as asking how someone is doing in America!!! Not rude at all there. haha.
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