Watch out China, Momma's learning Chinese!

Sorry everyone for neglecting the blog for so long!  I actually have a decent excuse this time.  I have just completed my first full week of formal Chinese lessons!  I'm taking classes at the same place my husband is enrolled, called TLI (Taipei Language Institute).  For now I'm just going twice a week, but it's already making a big difference. I've been picking up so much just from passive listening around the city, but to get a handle on the basic sentence structures and vocabulary is now helping me put together the basic phrases I need to get around.  Don't get me wrong, I don't have high hopes for picking up serious character recognition skills, but if I can acquire survival conversational Chinese it'll be much easier getting around town by myself.  So wish me luck!  So far, so good!  Lessons are taught one-on-one, so it's very intense and participation is a MUST!  For any China FAO's looking to enroll in TLI, remember that you can roll over extra hours to your spouse without paying any additional fees.  I was able to take some of Sonny's hours because a FAO leaving the country recently gave her extra hours to Sonny.  It's worth asking whatever school you plan to attend whether or not spouses can benefit from hours not used. I am basically taking classes for free, what could be better?  Below is the best photo I could find on the internet, but here's also a link to the school's website to see all that they offer (even dance, cooking, and caligraphy classes available).
http://www.bjtli.com.cn/

 VERY low-resolution photo of TLI  I found off the internet, will post a better photo later.

If you're wondering how I got the time to get away from home to go to school, and where the kids are during all this time, I guess it's time for the latest on our newest addition to the family.  Her name is Sun Ayi, and she's a 50-something housekeeper/nanny whom we hired about a month ago.  The word Ayi literally means "aunt", and and Ayi typically works in the household doing anything from cleaning, to grocery shopping, to looking after the children, laundry, cooking, ironing....sounds amazing, right???  We found our Ayi from a US Embassy family leaving China and looking to find Ayi a new family. 

Our main reasons for hiring an Ayi were 1) to expose the kids to Chinese in the home, not only when we go out in the city.  Sun Ayi does not speak any English, so needless to say it's a challenge for all of us (except maybe Sonny) but it was exactly the kind of force-feeding that the kids and I need.  The other reason was 2) to give Sonny and I an opportunity to do things in Beijing that are difficult to do with kids and to also give us some alone time if we want to go out to eat or go sightseeing.  The opportunity arose for me to take classes at TLI, and we jumped at the chance to enroll me!  I definitely regret NOT taking classes at DLI in Monterey when Sonny's Chinese class was open to spouses, so I wasn't about to let a second chance pass me up. 

So far I have nothing but great things to say about Ayi.  She is a natural with our kids, and although Isabelle can take advantage of the language barrier on occasion and sneak a treat from the snack drawer even when Ayi is telling her not to, Ayi takes it in stride and is very patient with both Isabelle and Jacob.  And they adore her!  I have to say though, the moment I sort of fell in love with her was the day I was sick with the flu, Sonny was in Tibet, and she took the kids to play at our building's playground and playroom all day while letting me sleep.  Not only that, but that evening before she left she made a MEAN chicken noodle soup-Chinese style!  She's fitting in just fine!

To other families moving to Beijing soon, I would highly recommend looking into hiring an Ayi, especially if you have children.  For our specific program, in which  we're only here for a year, I've found that having an extra pair of hands around the house really helps us get more done, faster.  Not only that, but there really is alot of historical sight-seeing to do around town that the kids really aren't always going to be enthused about, so it could really free up some time for the adults to go out and see parts of Beijing that they otherwise might have not tried to do.  And last but not least, Ayi's are extremely affordable, whereas hiring a private nanny in the U.S. is nearly impossible to sustain for a military family.  That's a pretty good selling point for me, especially now that I see how protective our Ayi is of our kids and how seriously she takes her job.  That's why I really would more or less consider her a part of our family now.  The US Embassy releases a weekly newsletter called The Great Wall Gazette, and in it are classified ads where Ayi's are listed for hire, and they usually come highly recommended by their previous Embassy Staff employers. Another great source is Beijing Cafe, which is a yahoo group of Beijing Expats where classified ads, job listings, and other general info from other residents is posted and shared for others to see.  You can expect to find it easier to hire an Ayi in the summertime, as most expats are moving in and moving out of the country at that time and the number of Ayi's looking for work sharply increases.  If you're in Beijing or coming to Beijing soon and thinking about going this route, feel free to shoot me an email if you have any other questions or recommendations.

Hope everyone's summers are going well!  Enjoy the weather, the break from school, the upcoming vacations, and know that while we miss home, we are really having a great time!  And also, thank you so much to our family and friends who have sent us care packages.  The kids especially love opening up packages from home, and weve gotten so much great stuff that we really have put to great use!  So thank you guys, you know who you are!  We love you!