The stack grows higher.  Rather than putting the books away, I have just stacked them beside the recliner where i read them in our home office.  I place each book in turn at an angle from the books beneath them in order to add stability to the stack.  It is at least three feet tall now.  These are the books I have read since you went back to China this summer, I told Cici last night when I finished reading one more.  Many books that I want to read are not available on Kindle, so I have continued to acquire books in the traditional way.

The most recent completion was Dragon Seed, by Pearl Buck.  It tells the story through the eyes of a Chinese farmer of when the Japanese invaded and occupied China.  While Cici studies American history in school I am studying Chinese history at home.  She studied for a test two nights ago with my help, and now she knows how the U.S. Constitution came to be, and the great debate between the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists. 

After we talked about this part of American history we talked about the cultural revolution in China.  We talked about the cultural revolution that isn't taught in schools in China; the cultural revolution that is exposed in books that are banned in China.  All of my knowledge about the cultural revolution comes from Chinese authors who lived through it.  They each have a story to tell and by reading many such stories I have begun to form my own perspective about what really happened during the cultural revolution.

China may have 5,000 years of recorded history, and America only 200+ years, but the American constitution has stood tall during many years of turmoil and conflict in China, as Cici just learned.

At the same time, we are having small conversations in Spanish and learning to count to 100 in Spanish.  My little senorita is learning the language of love.