Spring Festival in Houston
We gave Cici her other Valentine's Day present when we got home from visiting some of our good friends last night. She was so delighted with her waffle maker that she wanted to cook some immediately, so Ping and I went to the store to purchase some waffle mix and some syrup. There were many kinds of syrup available, but almost all of them were made from corn syrup. I wanted Cici's first experience with waffles to be the best, so I bought a bottle of maple syrup. I was surprised at its price; it was sort of like buying real jewelry instead of fake jewelry. But it was worth it. Cici loved the syrup and her very first waffles.
Ping and Cici stayed awake and watched more of the Chinese New Year festivities on their computers. In China they call this Spring Festival, and the festivities last for the entire week. The girls sat next to each other on the love seat, each with her laptop open and showing a different Chinese celebration. That way they could each enjoy double celebrations of the New Year.
I went to bed because I was responsible for waking Cici early this morning so I could take her to the church where her band will play this morning. She had to be at the church before 7:30 this morning and won't be finished until 12:30 this afternoon. It seems rather unfair to the kids to require them to sacrifice their Valentine's Day in this manner, but it is part of the life of a band student.
This school activity disrupted our plans for brunch at Tokyo One, to be followed by going to watch the movie Avatar. We can still do this, but not at the more convenient times that we had planned. Cici was dressed all in black for the concert; even wearing a black coat. But she set if off with a long woolen black and white scarf on this chilly morning in Houston. She looked very sophisticated when I dropped her off at the church.
But the girls were unusually verbal for Valentine's Day, and they had their own little surprises for me. I discovered a large bag of barbecue potato chips that the girls had hidden under the blanket on the ottoman by the chair where I sit in the living room. I found a box of chocolates hidden where they knew I would find them in our bedroom. Then I had the electronic greeting card from Cici, and two electronic greeting cards from Ping.
I sent you cards with many honey words, Ping told me. I know this is out of character for the girls; they are not prone to using honey words with anyone, not even with each other. But they are learning. Just give us time, Ping has told me in the past. We are not accustomed to using honey words. It is not part of our culture.
So it mean't that much more to me when I received the electronic greeting cards from the girls. They were written in Chinese and I couldn't read those words, but the girls had written their own messages to me in English. One of Ping's cards showed the king and queen from a deck of playing cards with the lights flashing "Match." The other one showed a couple walking together from a small outdoor cafe to a florist. Our life is so wonderful because our family is together, Ping told me. We will always be together. Your two chickens will love you forever, and I love you my dear Niubaobao.
Cici's card showed a baby elephant walking up to an adult elephant and pushing on the adult with its little trunk to get its attention, then saying the honey words in Chinese. Ping read those words to me, but I loved the words that Cici wrote so I don't even recall what the greeting card itself said in Chinese. But I did it the old fashioned way, giving each of the girls a Valentine's Day card on which I hand wrote messages to them in addition to the message that was already on their cards.
I stumbled across something surprising about the school where Cici is auditioning. In 2008 it won a Grammy Award. According to the article, more than 20,000 schools were considered but only 14 received a Grammy Award for Signature Schools, recognizing and rewarding excellence in music education. Even more surprising to me was the fact that this was the 5th time that the school has received a Grammy Award for its music education curriculum. This is a pretty good indication of the level of competition that Cici faces in trying to gain admission to this school, I believe. It is like trying to gain admission to an elite college.
Ping and Cici stayed awake and watched more of the Chinese New Year festivities on their computers. In China they call this Spring Festival, and the festivities last for the entire week. The girls sat next to each other on the love seat, each with her laptop open and showing a different Chinese celebration. That way they could each enjoy double celebrations of the New Year.
I went to bed because I was responsible for waking Cici early this morning so I could take her to the church where her band will play this morning. She had to be at the church before 7:30 this morning and won't be finished until 12:30 this afternoon. It seems rather unfair to the kids to require them to sacrifice their Valentine's Day in this manner, but it is part of the life of a band student.
This school activity disrupted our plans for brunch at Tokyo One, to be followed by going to watch the movie Avatar. We can still do this, but not at the more convenient times that we had planned. Cici was dressed all in black for the concert; even wearing a black coat. But she set if off with a long woolen black and white scarf on this chilly morning in Houston. She looked very sophisticated when I dropped her off at the church.
But the girls were unusually verbal for Valentine's Day, and they had their own little surprises for me. I discovered a large bag of barbecue potato chips that the girls had hidden under the blanket on the ottoman by the chair where I sit in the living room. I found a box of chocolates hidden where they knew I would find them in our bedroom. Then I had the electronic greeting card from Cici, and two electronic greeting cards from Ping.
I sent you cards with many honey words, Ping told me. I know this is out of character for the girls; they are not prone to using honey words with anyone, not even with each other. But they are learning. Just give us time, Ping has told me in the past. We are not accustomed to using honey words. It is not part of our culture.
So it mean't that much more to me when I received the electronic greeting cards from the girls. They were written in Chinese and I couldn't read those words, but the girls had written their own messages to me in English. One of Ping's cards showed the king and queen from a deck of playing cards with the lights flashing "Match." The other one showed a couple walking together from a small outdoor cafe to a florist. Our life is so wonderful because our family is together, Ping told me. We will always be together. Your two chickens will love you forever, and I love you my dear Niubaobao.
Cici's card showed a baby elephant walking up to an adult elephant and pushing on the adult with its little trunk to get its attention, then saying the honey words in Chinese. Ping read those words to me, but I loved the words that Cici wrote so I don't even recall what the greeting card itself said in Chinese. But I did it the old fashioned way, giving each of the girls a Valentine's Day card on which I hand wrote messages to them in addition to the message that was already on their cards.
I stumbled across something surprising about the school where Cici is auditioning. In 2008 it won a Grammy Award. According to the article, more than 20,000 schools were considered but only 14 received a Grammy Award for Signature Schools, recognizing and rewarding excellence in music education. Even more surprising to me was the fact that this was the 5th time that the school has received a Grammy Award for its music education curriculum. This is a pretty good indication of the level of competition that Cici faces in trying to gain admission to this school, I believe. It is like trying to gain admission to an elite college.
Where I go shopping, the real deal syrup(and that's the only kind they carry) isn't that expensive. However, it's all in containers that are not transparent, and I like to be able to see the syrup. Silly I know!
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My grandfather always put the molasses he made in tin pails, and he made a lot of molasses. You might have had trouble with those tin pails, Smitty, but the molasses was awfully good. Maybe you could have dipped some into see through containers. The maple syrup I bought came in a very nice clear glass container, so it would have worked for you.
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Another thing about buying syrup - I always feel like I don't know what kind I want to get. It's like buying wine!
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It's a sticky situation, Smitty.
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