Kid and Caboodle » chinese

Extracurricular activities

Peggy Hu — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 16:40:00 +0000

Today we took A.J. to a trial Mandarin Chinese class. The class is set up like a regular preschool class; children learn through playing games, singing songs, doing art projects and other fun activities. After the trial class, we asked A.J. what he thought about his experience. He said he had fun and would like to do it again. The teacher said A.J. would fit in with the class just fine even though it is already the third week of the summer term, so we happily registered A.J. for the rest of the term. Since we were there already, we decided to register him for the full 2008-2009 academic year as well. Hope this works out!

This means, of course, that Chris and I will have to start studying Mandarin again so we can keep up with our son ….

A.J. also expressed interest in taking tae kwon do classes recently, so we’ve signed him up at a place where many of his classmates go. I’m wondering whether Chris and I also should take some tae kwon do classes so we can defend ourselves from A.J.’s new repertoire of punches and kicks ….

A.J.’s bike riding also has inspired Chris to buy a proper bike rack for my car and to look into getting his own bike cleaned and repaired. I should probably get my bike checked out at the same time. Maybe we can all do some family bike rides and thereby get exercise while enjoying ourselves!

It’s amazing the influence that little kid has on our lives ….

Healthy eating habits

Peggy Hu — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 01:17:00 +0000

Today A.J. and I went over to the home of one of his classmates. The two kids seemed to get along very well, and I enjoyed socializing with his classmate’s mother, who is Chinese. Both A.J. and his classmate are only children, so I think it was good for them to have the opportunity to play with someone else of the same age. Apparently they are only one month apart. The classmate’s mother and I talked about the types of food our kids like to eat. It seems that A.J.’s classmate only likes to eat Chinese food, and fresh fruit. This is a healthy habit, but it is causing some concern at school because A.J.’s classmate won’t eat most of what the school serves at lunchtime. I noted that it is possible to eat healthily in different cuisines. Because the classmate’s mother is Chinese, though, that is the only style of cooking she knows. Being Chinese, she also doesn’t like dairy products or raw vegetables. I did find it interesting that she not only served the kids a big plate of fresh watermelon, but also chips and cookies, though!

We plan to invite A.J.’s classmate and his mother over for a playdate in return soon. Perhaps I will take the opportunity to introduce them to some healthy, but non-Chinese snacks.

Think Positive – Day 11

Peggy Hu — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 01:40:00 +0000

Had a productive day at work today. It was tough — Wednesdays generally are for me — but it was productive despite some miscommunications and network problems this morning.

Found one of my Mandarin textbooks and got through the first nine chapters without much trouble.

Treated myself to some Asian food for dinner — shrimp with a black bean sauce and vegetable pad thai.

We have a small ant infestation in our house right now, but the exterminator will be coming tomorrow morning.

I’ll be telecommuting tomorrow, which means I’ll get to sleep in an extra hour and have an extra hour at the end of the day before I have to pick up my son from school. Yay!

Tackling Mandarin Chinese again

Peggy Hu — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 03:19:00 +0000

After our recent trip to Taiwan, my husband and I have decided to start studying Mandarin Chinese again. Both of us have studied it before, but not at the same time and not recently. Our 5-year-old has expressed an interest in learning Chinese as well, so right now we are looking for a facility in the area that teaches young kids as well as adults. In the meantime, we’ll probably start playing with the Rosetta Stone software I bought in January and dust off our old textbooks, tapes and flash cards (assuming we can remember where we put them ….). I’m hoping that this will become a family activity that we will continue for many years to come. I would like to become proficient, if not completely fluent, in Mandarin; I felt mildly embarrassed during our recent trip when people found out I could neither read nor speak Mandarin (although I do speak Taiwanese on a middling level). I know this project will be tough to complete, but I think it will be worth it.