We had a great day at the NIS International day yesterday. This is an annual event to highlight all the different countries represented at NIS. The School gym is turned into a virtual Hall of Nations. I believe there are 44 different countries represented at Nanjing International School (NIS). I think they had 24 different booths set up in the gym representing the many different countries. It was great to see everyone and the pride they have for their country. We had a great booth representing the USA. There were hundreds of hours put into planning and putting the booth together.
They made a quilt and each family had the opportunity to design a block for the quilt. Our kids did two blocks. One with a pioneer covered wagon to represent the Westover Pioneer heritage and a Viking Helmet to represent the Benson heritage. Brannon, Alauna and I also made about 80 cookies for the event. In all we had over 1,400 cookies at the USA booth. In addition to the booth they also had talent event in the Performing Arts Center. They had dancing, singing, poetry and other acts from the many different countries. The theme of the US booth was the diversity of cultures that makes up America. For the performance they had three different individual dances. One was ballet, one was Indian Bollywood and one was Irish Dancing. The Irish dancer was amazing. They all of the kids dance to We're the Kids in America. It was a great performance. They spent a lot of time preparing for it. Declan really wanted to dance. During the dress rehearsal he did a great job. They during the performance I think he got a bit of stage fright. He just stood on the stage and stared into the audience. He is such a cute kid.
Here is a video of the dress rehearsal where Declan is dancing along. Tiana, Marissa, Brannon and Trevon are also performing. (videos are having issues. I'll post later)
The highlight of the night performances was the Korean students performing Gangham Style. I think Gangham Style has enjoyed it's 15 min of fame already, but these kids did a great job and it was great to see them perform.
Yesterday was also a great day for Mikayla. She went to Beijing with the theater group from school and performed in the ACAMIS (not sure what it stands for, but I think the governing body of International Schools in China) Speech and Debate competition. She performance a duet performance with a classmate. They performed a scene from a play and they took FIRST place. I was so excited for her. She works so hard on her drama and it is great to see her have success. I wish we could have been there to see her perform. I love watching her perform. She is so talented and works so hard at it.
We are really blessed to have all of these experiences we are having in China. It is never easy to live here in China but we are constantly seeing, eating, hearing and experiencing things that are completely different than our "Normal". After living here our "normal" will be very different and very broad. Whether we like it or not our family is learning to see the world in a different view. I think that this has taught us to understand, enjoy and appreciate other peoples cultures and the things that are important to them. I also think that it has caused us to truly understand what is important to us. I think those things have become even more important to our family. Today we went to Shanghai for district conference for church. Other than waking up between 4:30-5:00am to catch a 7:00am train it was a great conference. One lady talked about the culture that we are building in our family. That really caused me to reflect on what culture we are building in our family. It was a great opportunity to think about what is most important to us and are we doing it. We have continued our culture here in China of eating dinner together. We did this in the US but that has really become even more important for us here in China. It is a great chance for us to gather as a family and enjoy each others company. Hopefully we laugh a bit, learn from each other and enjoy the time together. We also end dinner with reading the scriptures and saying family prayer. This is a part of the day that I really look forward to and really miss if I'm not part of it.
I also love shopping with the family here in China. I think we go to Suguo (local grocery store) or the fresh market a lot more as a family or with some of the kids than we did in the US. I really enjoy it. I love the weekly trips to the vegetable market. Sometime soon I will take some video and pictures of the fresh market and post here. It is one of my favorite parts of living in China.
Our kids have also developed a strong sense of independence here in China. Brannon needed some new shoes. He is so hard on shoes because he plays so hard. So on Saturday Brannon and Marissa rode their bikes down to the shops by Suguo to buy shoes and whatever other treasures they could find. Brannon and Marissa both came home with a new pair of shoes. He had bought some Converse All Stars (knock-off I'm sure). He even negotiated them down. I asked him if they walked away (key step in negotiating in China) and he confirmed that they walked away. I was so proud. They have learned well. They are such good kids.
As we travel I am constantly counting to six. As we are travelling through the train stations my kids lead the way. They know how to read to boards to know what waiting room they are in, they grab their tickets and jump in the flood of people and pop out of the other side of the ticket gates. It's at times a bit like salmon swimming upstream and occasionally jumping out of the water. I just keep looking for blond heads to pop up amongst the current of black hair.
I have often said and will say again that this is the best thing and the hardest thing our family has done. Both statements are still true.
Take Care,
Boyd
