Brilliant Children and Jade

Hello from Nanchang.  I hope this post finds everyone happy and healthy.  I have been very busy as the semester is winding down and I have only one more week until finals.  I has been a crazy time with my students getting ready for their final exam but we still try and have fun as we learn and have even had some students over for dinner a few times.  Cooking Chinese food for Chinese people was a little nerve wracking at first but now that I have done it a few times my confidence is building.  When I get back from winter vacation I will even have a couple of cooking lessons.

But today I want to blog about a trip I made yesterday to an orphanage for the deaf yesterday.  A friend of mine was going and asked if I would like to go so I went with her.  It was such a great experience.  The children were so sweet.  It was on the outskirts of Nanchang (on the other side of the city from where I live) and a van picked us up in downtown Nanchang along with a few other people.  We took some arts and crafts supplies so that we could play with the children.

The little boys and girls were so cute and ranged in age from about 4 to 8 years old.  

The stickers and glitter were very popular with all of the kids.

If you notice all the children are bundled up in coats.  It gets quite cold in Nanchang, but it was actually a really nice day.  Not too cold (about 48 degrees) and the sun was out and shinning.  

We also went inside and sang songs with the Children although since they are deaf (and speak Chinese when they do speak) they didn't really sing too much.

They did enjoy the song, "Where is Thumbkin".  If you notice the little girl in the dark blue jack in front of the teacher in the light blue jacket, although didn't sing, did follow along with the hand gestures.

All of the kids were great.  I really enjoyed playing with them but this little girl impressed me so much (the same one that followed the hand gestures in the song).  All of the other little kids wanted to do the crafts, but not her, she wanted to write.  She brought over a little story book and had me sit with her and hold the book while she copied the characters on the pages.

She is only 5 years old and she wrote this whole page while I was there (which was about 5 pages of the story).  She would have kept going but they called us in to sing songs.  I have to confess her Chinese script is way better than mine!  She is so bright and intelligent and really made a big impression on me.  When it was time to go she gave me a big hug and the paper she had been working on.  It is now hanging proudly on my living room wall.  We stayed for a few hours having fun but the memories will stay with me for a life time.  I'm so glad I had the opportunity to go.  I can hardly wait to go back and see her and the other kids.

I will be celebrating my birthday this Wednesday 12/12/12 and I am so lucky to be here in China getting to have so many new and wonderful experiences all the time.  I even have a new name.

                                                          李 玉 轩

李 玉 轩 (Li Yu Xuan) which means Li (my family name, just a transliteration of Le in LeCroix), Yu which means Jade and Xuan which has many meanings such as brilliant, smart, cool (as in she is so cool not it is cold. Xuan is a word from ancient times.).  So the English translation of the name is Brilliant Jade.  I held a contest (which was also a homework assignment) where my students got to ask me questions about myself and then choose a name for me.  I gave them two weeks to think about it and they did a great job.  They had to write a paragraph saying what the name meant, along with the Chinese characters and the pinyin.  I picked the top 5 (one from each class) and I will be taking them out to dinner at a restaurant in downtown Nanchang.  At the dinner I will announce the winner and that student, a girl named Vivi, will get an additional prize.  I haven't bought the gift yet but will be going to the market tomorrow with a Chinese friend of mine to pick it out.  I'm thinking a quilt for the bed since it gets so cold here in Nanchang and there is no heating in the student dormitories.


It is late and I must go to bed!  So I will sign off for now.  I hope everyone is having a happy holiday season and I send you all good thoughts and warm wishes.

Until next time,

Me  :  )