Near our place there’s a big tent that’s been set up with a multimedia exhibit. It’s fantastic.
Inside the tent there are lights which interface with various kinds of materials. Well worth seeing.
As it was very dark inside, I couldn’t take very good snaps, but I got this nice one of Asher.
I’ve just discovered how to embed YouTube videos into the site (I know, I know, about 3 years behind everybody else). So I can see myself going a little crazy with the embedding. This one’s for Asher to watch later. I hope he doesn’t ask for some cake as a result!
We asked a fine young Chinese guy called Calvin to come around to our place on a paid basis to play with Asher and strictly use Chinese.
Calvin works locally, and I got chatting to him and offerred that he come around and teach Asher. It turns out that Calvin is from Wuhan, where we lived for six months last year.
It worked very well. I expected much worse, but Asher was very willing to play and converse in his beginner’s Chinese. Of course Asher did a poo as soon as Calvin arrived, and needed a nappy change. And towards the end of Calvin’s stay there was a bit of a temper tantrum. To be honest I didn’t think Asher would put up with the whole thing at all. He’s only a bit over 2½.
We’re having Calvin over again on Friday. Looking forward to it.
Below is a song that Asher is learning. You’ll definitely need Chinese characters enabled on your computer to be able to see it properly. It required a little bit of editing because there are a couple of different versions. I’ve retained the Beijing 儿 where it stood in one version.
It’s about a white baby rabbit, waiting for its mother to arrive home. At first a wolf comes and tries to gain entry, but the wise baby rabbit refuses. Later the mother arrives, who is welcomed with joy.
小白兔乖乖
把门儿开开
快点儿开开
我要进来
不开不开不能开
妈妈没回来
不能把门开
小白兔乖乖
把门儿开开
妈妈回来
我要进来
快开快开快快开
妈妈回来了
我来把门开
This is a picture of Asher and I outside Walmart and McDonald’s in Wuhan, China. Not ever having spent a great deal of time in the US I’d never actually been to a Walmart. So this was my first and only time.
Walmart in Chinese is 沃尔玛.
McDonald’s is 麦当劳.
These words are basically loan words, which sound similar to Walmart and McDonald’s, respectively.
I hope to write a bit more about our trip to China on here at some stage.
This post is a bit of a follow-up from a previous post:
http://www.jamesforsyth.net/asher-loves-thomas-and-toast/
Thanks to my friend Rachel, we have been introduced to a Chinese kids’ cartoon called 舒克和贝塔. It’s about two mice (not much of a review, I know, but that’s all I understand of it so far!). The whole thing looks a bit like Itchy and Scratchy from the Simpsons.
Asher hasn’t been that interested in it yet. He just wants to get back to watching 汤玛士小火车 (Thomas the Tank Engine), which he regards as far more important. Last night we tried to read to him in bed, and he insisted on having all his six train carriages in bed with us.
Today we took Asher to Hudson’s. We bought him a muffin, which looked sturdy enough because the top was nice and crisp. I hear that there’s a craze in the U.S. these days of eating the muffintop alone (see the Seinfeld episode), which has nothing to do with another kind of muffin top. Underneath the top everything else underneath quickly disintegrated into crumbs. He ended up totally covered with the stuff. I took him, then the cushion he was sitting on, outside for a good shaking down, to the amazement of the baristas.
Asher doesn’t realise yet that the layered look might be ok for shirts, jumpers, pullovers and jackets but looks a little strange with hats.
Asher has a new set of three Thomas the Tank Engine trains, from the “Sodor Collector’s Pack”.
As part of our ongoing efforts to teach him Chinese, as well as English (the latter he learns automatically without our intervention), we only let him actually watch Thomas the Tank in Chinese - the same goes for all other TV. It can quite easily be downloaded.
Thomas the Tank in Chinese looks like this: 汤玛士小火车. If your browser isn’t set to view Chinese it will look like a bunch of nonsense symbols or question marks.
Other shows Asher likes to watch are:
The latter is a link to an online store where you can buy the DVDs. I was unable to find the official page, if existent. Any help would be appreciated.
Asher has a total fixation for these new toys, which fits in nicely with our agenda of keeping him excited about watching Chinese TV.
Asher likes toast as well.
Dimitri and Asher called each other up before last night’s get-together to check what they were wearing. They really are a trendy pair.
Asher still has a bit of separation anxiety when it comes to us leaving him in Sunday School, so one of us needs to hang out with him while he’s there. It isn’t a problem in childcare, because he knows there’s no other option, whereas in Church we’re just in a nearby room.
It is very important to us that we give him a good start with making Christian friends. People we are friends with from an early age can become very close friends later in life because the common past is shared with very few people.
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