What were you grateful for this week?
Visiting beautiful scenic spots in Hangzhou, and of course Chinese food always.

What was the most difficult or challenging part of this week?
Keeping my energy up with the kids.

Tell us about a “wow” moment you had this week. 
I’ve been creating a book with pictures and sample sentences to help with Oscar’s difficult words. Also I’ve been helping Grandma clean up after dinner.

Tell us about your week!
I was just running around the house with the Grandmother hunting down a house fly to no avail.

So my time may be limited for this one. Nevertheless, here we go.

Friday the Au Pair representatives came up to Hangzhou for a series of meetings so they dropped by the house. We had a very long conversation about religion and politics at the dinner table over some delicious chicken and crab. It mostly involved explaining the origins of Judaism and why they are different from Christians, and how Chinese communism is drastically different than Karl Marx communism. All parties involved left informed, educated, and full of crab.

Saturday morning we all went down to the school for their annual 5k fun-run fundraiser event. We got their just in time for me to be thrown into the 5k starting line and start running without stretching. I definitely regretted this afterwards. But hey, between waiting for the kids to come within eyesight and the traffic stops, I still ran a 30:00 flat.

After that the kids went crazy on the slip-n-slide and I got some Indian food which was ammaaaaazzzzziinngg. We headed back home just in time to shower and then get right back in the car for a short trip to West Lake. We ate lunch at a beautiful restaurant at the foot of the tea mountains, and then hiked up said mountains for pictures and exploring. We passed lots of tea bushes, some creepy crawlies like giant centipedes and ants eating dead snakes, a few graves from the Chinese Civil War era, and a giant, steep, slippery, gaping cave that should have definitely been gated off but wasn’t. Towards the end of the hike we went into a far-less-precarious cave full of old Buddhist statues.

When we got home, I was supposed to have the afternoon to myself to rest, but Oscar was still super full of energy and would not leave me be, so we played for another couple hours or so. I went out that night and met up with Heddi (the Au Pair agent who’s been helping me along the past couple months) and a fellow Au Pair named Jasmin from Germany. We went shopping around Ding’an street shops and ate some way-too-spicy street food before exchanging WeChat info and going our separate ways.

Sunday morning I attended Sacrament Meeting at the local LDS Branch. It was a great meeting about the importance of music in worship. All of the members were very warm and welcoming. It was fun seeing Jacob Wadsworth too, considering he’s my brother-in-law’s brother and we just happened to plan two separate trips to Hangzhou, China that ended up having the exact same time line. Small world for Mormons.

The past couple of days I’ve felt more confident in speaking sentences in Chinese whether they’re correct or not. I’ve leveled up from buying random fruit on the street, to explaining how I want my hair cut and how I forgot my bag at the barbers and needed to return as soon as possible. So.

When I was younger, one of my favorite games on the PS2 was Dynasty Warriors 4. This game planted the seeds that would later lead to me moving to China. It was so dope. I loved how each character was so unique in their abilities on the battlefield, and how the game integrated real historical ties to each of these individuals. As I was on the bus the other day, it made me wonder… “I wonder if any of these people on the bus are descendants of legendary leaders and warriors from ancient Chinese times.” I think the Chinese are aware of how incredible their history and culture is, and what action they need to take to preserve it. One thing I believe that has been preserved better than any, is that their mothers demand the highest standards possible for their children. I’ve never seen a woman more dedicated to anything in my life than my host mom to her children’s success. Sure, it can be overbearing for the kids at times. That’s how most child-parent relationships work. But man, she sure is setting these kids up for great things in the future. They have no idea how lucky they truly are. I’d like to imagine that same tenacity in motherhood is what made Lu Bu an intimidating and skillful warrior, Cao Cao a brilliant strategist, Guan Yu a wise and spiritual leader, etc. I’m sure they also had their fare share of tantrums and protests along the way, and I’m sure mothers lost lots of hours of sleep because of it, but I’m also sure it paid off BIG TIME.

Tune in next week for another exciting round of obscure video game references and normie gifs!