Sign of the Times
When I walked out of the bedroom this morning I could see that a light was on in Cici's bedroom. I walked through our home office and down the hallway to her bedroom to check on her. She was sound asleep, so I turned off the light with the wall switch near the door. It was close to midnight when we got home last night after picking her up at school around 11:30 after the football game. It was an away game, so we were there at school waiting for her until the bus arrived with the band members. Cici was asleep in the back seat of the car before we were out of the parking lot, and she was still half asleep when she walked into our house when we got home.
I knew how she felt. I had crashed thinking I would take a nap shortly after Ping and I got home from the office, but I didn't wake up until 9:30. Cici took a shower when we got home, then sat beside Ping and me on the sofa for a few minutes before going to her bedroom. When I told her good night a few minutes later she looked ready for bed. She apparently fell into bed and asleep before she turned off the light in her room.
Band is an elective, but as much as Cici dislikes the early morning practices and the late nights at football games, she doesn't want to give it up. She virtually never practices outside of school, yet she always nails near perfect scores and grades in the class. A class without homework is a good thing, because of all the homework she has in other classes. Another class with no homework is her Webmaster class, another elective. This one I sort of steered her into, because I think she will learn valuable things and she has a knack for working with computers. That has turned out to be a good selection. She has earned nothing but perfect scores on everything she has done in the class, and her new skills are already starting to show.
Meanwhile, Ping drove to the fitness club to pick up the schedule for exercise classes while I was asleep last evening. She was disappointed to see that her favorite instructor, a Chinese lady, was not listed on the schedule. This is what happens when you go to China, I told her. Everyone misses you. She stopped teaching because you were not here. What is this? Ping wanted to know. Salsa - that is a type of dance, I told her. Did you exercise tonight? I asked. No, I just steamed my skin, she said. She enjoys sitting in the sauna and letting the steam do its work.
But someone else got some exercise. Defenenity (Infinity) is so clever, Ping told Cici and me last night. He is very quick to eat his food, catching all of it before it falls from the top of the water. He swims very quickly, she said. Ping is such a strong swimmer that I think she admires the way he moves through the water.
Speaking of water, I have reminded the girls that at this time last year we were going through the no electricity phase after Hurricane Ike. It is like a distant memory for us now. So much has happened in our lives since then. Time is passing so quickly, Ping said last night as we drove to school to pick Cici up. Yes, I thought, and I can see how many things have changed. I was admiring her driving. Ping was driving her new car with one of her favorite feng shui CD's playing in her 6-CD changer. She drove confidently through the neighborhoods until we reached the entrance ramp for the Interstate. She drove up the ramp and merged smoothly into the traffic. You drive as though you have always lived in Houston, I told her.
She laughed and told me that her Chinese friend who had visited us at the office this week will not drive on the freeways in Houston. She always stays on the roads beside the freeways. The mother of Cici's former Chinese classmate is the same, Ping told me.
But Ping is a different kind of woman, and we are raising a different kind of daughter. These girls are very smart, and they are very confident. They merged just as smoothly into life in America as Ping merged into the traffic on the Interstate last night.
I knew how she felt. I had crashed thinking I would take a nap shortly after Ping and I got home from the office, but I didn't wake up until 9:30. Cici took a shower when we got home, then sat beside Ping and me on the sofa for a few minutes before going to her bedroom. When I told her good night a few minutes later she looked ready for bed. She apparently fell into bed and asleep before she turned off the light in her room.
Band is an elective, but as much as Cici dislikes the early morning practices and the late nights at football games, she doesn't want to give it up. She virtually never practices outside of school, yet she always nails near perfect scores and grades in the class. A class without homework is a good thing, because of all the homework she has in other classes. Another class with no homework is her Webmaster class, another elective. This one I sort of steered her into, because I think she will learn valuable things and she has a knack for working with computers. That has turned out to be a good selection. She has earned nothing but perfect scores on everything she has done in the class, and her new skills are already starting to show.
Meanwhile, Ping drove to the fitness club to pick up the schedule for exercise classes while I was asleep last evening. She was disappointed to see that her favorite instructor, a Chinese lady, was not listed on the schedule. This is what happens when you go to China, I told her. Everyone misses you. She stopped teaching because you were not here. What is this? Ping wanted to know. Salsa - that is a type of dance, I told her. Did you exercise tonight? I asked. No, I just steamed my skin, she said. She enjoys sitting in the sauna and letting the steam do its work.
But someone else got some exercise. Defenenity (Infinity) is so clever, Ping told Cici and me last night. He is very quick to eat his food, catching all of it before it falls from the top of the water. He swims very quickly, she said. Ping is such a strong swimmer that I think she admires the way he moves through the water.
Speaking of water, I have reminded the girls that at this time last year we were going through the no electricity phase after Hurricane Ike. It is like a distant memory for us now. So much has happened in our lives since then. Time is passing so quickly, Ping said last night as we drove to school to pick Cici up. Yes, I thought, and I can see how many things have changed. I was admiring her driving. Ping was driving her new car with one of her favorite feng shui CD's playing in her 6-CD changer. She drove confidently through the neighborhoods until we reached the entrance ramp for the Interstate. She drove up the ramp and merged smoothly into the traffic. You drive as though you have always lived in Houston, I told her.
She laughed and told me that her Chinese friend who had visited us at the office this week will not drive on the freeways in Houston. She always stays on the roads beside the freeways. The mother of Cici's former Chinese classmate is the same, Ping told me.
But Ping is a different kind of woman, and we are raising a different kind of daughter. These girls are very smart, and they are very confident. They merged just as smoothly into life in America as Ping merged into the traffic on the Interstate last night.
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