A Bar Mitzvah with Chinese Characteristics

Yesterday, Cara and I had the honor to attend the Bar Mitzvah of a former student of mine. It was a first for both of us and proved to be a wonderful occasion. We bagan the celebration in the morning with a religious service at a downtown hotel in Beijing. For the service women and men were divided and seperated by some planters in the middle of a modest sized room. The rabbi sang most of the prayers in Hebrew with a beautiful voice. For two hours Cara and I stood and sat trying to follow along with the readings with the help of a book in both English and Hebrew and some assistance from our more knowledgable neighbors. During the service, my former student read several passages from the Torah which is a very large scroll. He spoke of the story of Noah and the flood and followed a similar sing song reading as the rabbi. After the service, a lunch was hosted by the family. In addition to very nice food and drink there were several speaches from family members, the rabbi, and my former student. During the meal, the election in the States was the only topic of conversation. The man to my left has been working for the Democratic Party going door to door in rural Virginia to reach out to undecided voters. In the time since August he has sensed a change in attitudes about Obama and he felt strongly that Obama would surely win the election. At one point the rabbi joked about speaking on behalf of Obama, there were catcalls and clapping of agreement. If this small gethering is any indication, the Jewish community is solidly on the side of Obama. In fact, it seems the entire American faculty at our school are also Obama supporters. As an aside, we will be attending a post-election party at a friend's house on Wednesday, so win or lose we can make a toast, or drown our sorrows among friends.

When lunch was finished we went back home, about a 30 minute drive and played with Gabby for awhile. She stayed home with Chen Ayi (In China, the nannies, maids, etc. are called Ayi, it is a bit like Auntie) while were were away, and would be looked after by Chen when we went to our second part of the Bar Mitzvah celeberation, a dinner at a replica of a French Chateau! The hall for the initial reception was simply palatial. It was a three level rotunda with giant entryway stair, a gorgeous painted dome and giant crystal chandalier. The doors opened up to a large patio with gardens and fountains. A folk music group (two of the members are from Port Townsend, Washington) played traditional Jewish folk music which eventually turned into traditional Jewish dancing. Although I did not join in the dancing, I enjoyed watching the events unfold.

We were then lead to the dining hall which was huge and marble clad. We sat with several other teachers from our school and simply relaxed, drank wine (too much) and took in the cultural experience around us. The meal was entirely vegetarian with most items made to look like something else, but made of tofu. There were tofu meatballs, tofu sea cucumber, but also veggies in between courses. Overall the food was great. When we managed to get a ride back home at 10:30 the dancing and singing was still in full swing. I was very grateful we were able to join in this experience and felt honored to be included.

Halloween in Beijing

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There is quite a bit to do in Beijing for us Americans... The first set of pictures are of Gabby at a Halloween party at the local bilingiual pre-school. The second set was when we went trick-or-treating in one of the local compounds, Gahood. The last couple of pictures were of Gabby in her purple butterfly costume. As always, she had a ball...

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Hello to all family and friends around the world. In the ever shrinking world there are more and more ways to keep in touch. We hope that this blog will become a space where we can share our lives with you. Stay tuned for stories, pictures and video from the Far East.

May 2008 Gabby Update

One word this month- PERSONALITY. Gabby is 11 months old now and is definitely becoming her own little person. She’ll discover new noises that she can make with her tongue or mouth and then she’ll start laughing hysterically. Of course, this makes us laugh and reinforces the behavior. I think she’s getting a kick out of being a little comedian. She’s starting to understand Chinese, especially when we say “Zijian” (goodbye) because then she’ll start waving bye-bye. Although pointing at things seems to be the preferred way of communicating, she does the sign for “more and “cheese” now. Another thing she’s been doing… She’ll point at something, like an ant on the ground, and go “Ooooh,” which cracks me up. Of course we think she’s perfect in every way, but I still think we have our work cut out for us as parents. Travis and I have seen a bit of a temper in our little girl. She actually stamped her feet when we wouldn’t let her play with something she wasn’t supposed to. I have no idea where she learned that. Is that an innate thing in toddlers? So far redirecting her works well, but I know the day will come when she says, “no!” Gabby continues to grow and amaze us… She loves to climb on everything and has long arms that grab things off of the kitchen counter, so we’re constantly on the lookout for safety hazards. Our ayi always says that Gabby is very busy, which is so true. She’s that kid that runs around and tries to get into everything and explore. As most babies are, she’s curious. She also went to her first concert, called “Rynostock,” where all the local Beijing bands get to play. She had a good time bouncing up and down and we had a blast with her too. Our ayi also says that, “everybody likes Gabby,” in our compound- which makes me feel good. It’s nice to know people like your kid. All in all, May has been a busy month with lots of play dates and things going on. Now that the weather is nicer, we’ve been going outside a lot. We have a fountain and an area with fish in our compound. She LOVES watching the fountain and gets so excited when we walk up to it. She also likes to stare at the fish and point at them, so walks now have been more and more fun as she is so interested in the world around her. Oh! And one last thing… she squeezes you back when she gives a hug.

April 2008 Gabby Update

Gabriella is 10 months old and things are going smoothly. April was a big month for us in the Tebo household- walking, running, climbing (really fast up the stairs!), more dancing, giving high fives, pointing at everything and saying “dada,” and being little miss curious. She loves opening up drawers and cupboards and getting into stuff. I know this is nothing new for a baby her age, but it’s nice to know she’s hitting all the milestones… Her attention is a little better and she can sit still longer. She can actually sit in your lap and let you read to her without getting too antsy or without trying to tear-up the whole book. Travis reads her “Click-Clack Moo” which is her favorite book at the moment. Oh yes- that book and “Bard’s Rhyme Time” because it’s a flap-book and she enjoys opening and closing the flaps. Right now, she enjoys playing with her toy cars and Buzzy Bee (which is a New Zealand toy that a Kiwi buddy got us). This month we went to Tianjin to a Hyatt Regency Resort and spent two nights there. We got a coupon for two free nights because Travis teaches the General Manager’s daughter. It sounds really great, but nothing was open yet, such as a swimming pool or workout facility, which was disappointing so we drove into to Tianjin. We went to Food Street and ate some dumplings and then culture street to check out the shops. Gabby enjoyed all the attention and was flashing her smile every chance she got. It wasn’t a super-exciting trip but we had fun as a family and it was good to get out of Beijing.

March 2008 Gabby Update

Gabby is 9 months old now and changing everyday (Duh. She’s a baby, I know)… She’s still not officially walking but has taken five steps. She continues to cruise and is even trying to climb things. AAH! She’s showing more affection now and even initiates kisses (which hurt because she wants to bite my lip) but they’re sweet and sloppy and oh so awesome. She’ll also come up to one of us and cuddle, which just makes me melt every time. She loves being tickled under her arm, holding hands, and she loves Earth’s Best brand of prunes and oatmeal. Thank goodness she’s learned to like bananas because they’re so easy to eat and good for you. Now we’re on to finger foods which is going okay, although I still need to coax her to stick the food in her mouth, but we’re getting there. Go figure. She’ll stick everything else in her mouth. Her new thing now is dancing. It totally cracks me up! She gets a big grin on her face and moves up and down. She also plays peek-a-boo with us. She’ll pull a blanket, bib, or anything else over her face and pull it down really fast to reveal a delighted grin and a little squeal. Love it! Vocalizing is becoming better and better too. Whenever she says “nay, nay, nay” that’s bad. I’m not sure of she’s trying to say no or what, but it does mean she’s ticked off about something. In addition to being a busy month, my mother and father came for a visit which was great and I know she loved the extra attention and cuddles. We did some touring and took Gabby to the Temple of Heaven where she got her first experience with being mobbed by Asian people wanting to take a picture of the Western baby. She did good, but looked a little confused. We also saw the very first major league baseball game ever played in China (Padres vs. L.A. Dodgers), which was also Gabby’s first one. We had fun, although it was a bit too windy and there were no proper toilets. Just imagine port-o-lets Chinese style where you have to squat. Not very convenient for changing a diaper but we survived.

December-February 2008 Gabby Update

Gabriella is 8 months old now and full of so much life and personality! We went to the doctor this week and she’s 19.5 pounds (75th percentile) and 29.5 inches (97th percentile). As with all babies, lots of “firsts” have been happening… A week after she turned 6 months she was crawling, which quickly became standing-up, and then cruising all over the place. Just two days shy of turning 8 months she took her first steps. Although not officially walking, I’d say we’re well on our way but who knows. She’s been standing by herself for longer and longer periods and every day she does something new or looks different. Her speech is sounding more like words as well. The day she turned 8 months (February 28th) was when she reached out to Travis and said, “Daddy!” Travis and I both agreed we’d consider that her first word and it’s now officially in the baby book. However, she did say “Hi!” to a real estate lady back in December but Travis won’t count that. The teeth are coming in, which I felt first before I saw them. I like to kiss her on the lips (Oooh, those sweet kisses!) but just last week she bit down on my lip really hard and there was no mistaking that two little teeth are starting to poke out. Eating is going well, except she really doesn’t like bananas, which I find strange. She’ll eat these nasty pees but not mashed-up bananas. What? I haven’t given up yet, though. My mom said I didn’t eat bananas either so maybe it’s genetic. She has such a wonderful laugh! I’ll get up close to her face and say “hi!” and she busts out laughing. I think she’s going to be a really fun kid. We celebrated Chinese New Year in February and stayed at a hotel down the street from Tiananmen Square- but too bad we all were sick… I took Gabby for a walk and she got a tiny bit of wind burn on her cheeks because it was so windy. Oh well, the weather is getting better here so there’ll be time for more walks.