Bruno

Their soles were completely ripped out and strewn in little pieces all over the bed.  They were my favorite shoes.  I thought the house was abnormally quiet when I walked in.  After a long day, all I wanted was to plop down on my bed and hang with my dog. 

"BRUNO!" I thundered.  I tumbled down the stairs yelling, "BAD DOGGIE! COME HERE!".  I crossed my arms and grimly waited.  His paws scraped the hardwoods as he reluctantly dragged his feet to me.  His body posture screamed GUILTY.

His head drooped.
His tail drooped.
His belly sagged.

Now I was the one who felt bad.  I reduced my happy puppy to this lump of misery.  "Oh, Bruno", I sighed.  I sat down and we snuggled.  He ventured a kiss.  No reaction.  He laid his head on my lap.  My hand automatically lifted to stroke his back..  I felt him relax under my caresses.  We knew he was forgiven.

Jetty Island Day Trip - July 26th

Charlotte, Josie and our friend, Fiona (1st Sp) are pictured here on 

the ferry to Jetty Island, just off the Port of Everett. 

We went over on the ferry today to Jetty Island with our younger siblings and our moms. It's super fun and the beaches are really beautiful. There are no buildings, no electricity and no plumbing on the island (just a bathroom by the dock). We want to come back every week!

Jetty island is a man-made island composed of river sediment. The Port of Evertt gained ownership of Jetty Island in 1929 and, with the help of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, built a new marsh of dredged river materials in 1889. 

Juvenile salmon, waterfowl and bald eagles are just a few examples of the wildlife currently living on Jetty Island. 

Celebrating Canada Day in Canada

Whereas July 4th is considered the birthday of the United States, July 1st is the birthday of Canada!  We vacationed in Canada on July 1st and stayed at a condo right on the inner harbor where they set off the fireworks.  We had a perfect view of the water.

We watched the fireworks from the lawn outside of the condo...

It was very beautiful to see them against the background of the lit up parliament buildings...

Leshan Giant Buddha

We went to see the Leshan Budda. It is a World UNESCO site and is a two-hour drive from Chengdu.
Construction of this giant Buddha was started in 713 AD during the Tang Dynasty, and was led by a monk named Haitong.  It was carved into a cliff face overlooking the Dadu river and the Min river.  The Giant Buddha was built to calm the swift rivers and protect the boatmen.

There are two ways to approach the Buddha. One is on foot to climb the mountain and see the Buddha from its head. The other way is by boat to see the whole body.  We went on foot and saw its big face!

Can you see the people on cliff? You could go down on the stairs on the cliff to see the Buddha from the ground level. It was too crowded, with heavy rain, so we decided not to do it. We will definitely go back and do it next time.  

The Buddha is 71m tall, his ears stretch for 7 m and his shoulders span 28m and each of his toes is 8.5m long. It is HUGE!!!

There is a beautiful temple behind the Buddha.

We had a relaxing day trip.

 

Dragon Boat Festival

June 23rd was a Chinese national holiday called Dragon boat festival (Duan wu Jie). It was the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. Chinese people celebrate this holiday by eating Zongzi (rice wrapped in bamboo leaves)  and watching dragon boat races.

 

Here is a quotation from Wikipedia about this holiday. "The best-known traditional story holds that the festival commemorates the death of poet Qu Yuan (c. 340-278 BCE) of the ancient state of Chu during the Warring States Period of the Zhou Dynasty.  A descendant of the Chu royal house, Qu served in high offices. However, when the king decided to ally with the increasingly powerful state of Qin, Qu was banished for opposing the alliance; he was accused of treason. During his exile, Qu Yuan wrote a great deal of poetry, for which he is now remembered. Twenty-eight years later, Qin captured Ying, the capital of Chu. In despair, Qu Yuan committed suicide by drowning himself in the Miluo River on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month.

 

It is said that the local people, who admired him, dropped sticky rice triangles wrapped in bamboo leaves into the river to feed the fish. The rice was wrapped so that fish would not eat Qu Yuan's body and eat the rice instead.[6] This is said to be the origin of zongzi. The local people were also said to have paddled out on boats, either to scare the fish away or to retrieve his body. This is said to be the origin of dragon boat racing."

 

 In Japan, we have similar celebration which is held on May fifth. This is called " Kodomono hi" (Children's day). Although it doesn't have the same meaning as remembering Qu Yuan, Japanese eat the same thing called "Chimaki" in Japanese to celebrate all children's well being.

 

Among the Japanese expat wives, we made "Zongzi" together.This is how we made the Zongzi that day and the boiled bamboo leaves were in the center.

 

 

 

Inside the sticky rice is seasoned beef and nuts.  The rice is wrapped in bamboo leaves like Origami.

 

 

 

The leaves are tied to the rice with cooking thread.  These are Zongzi!  They can be boiled or steamed as they are for thirty minutes.

 

 

Sneak Peak of a Classroom

This is my classroom on the second floor at the new McDonald International School Building.  It will the be the classroom for second grade literacy.  Most classrooms 1st - 5th will look similar as the space will not change much.  The exceptions to this will be Kindergarten classrooms which will be larger and equipped (some of them) with restrooms in the rooms. 

It is hard to see but I will have a view of the Cascades!  It is not obvious in the video but they kept the old chalkboards and mount them on sliding walls that goes up and down.  When raised, the walls reveal a "closet" for backpacks and coats.  When lowered, the walls hide the closet and will be usable chalkboards.  The projector will be mounted on the ceiling.  Yay!  It was a big hit with all the teachers to no longer have a tech cart in the middle of the room that everyone trips over on a regular basis.  We also have air conditioning in the form of a ceiling fan.  Hey, this IS still a public school.

Sneak Peak of the New Library

Here is a sneak peak at our new library and computer lab at McDonald International.  It is on the third floor with a spectacular view of the mountains.  This video is a couple months old but the room was close to completion by then.  Books and the rest of the furniture will be moved in August.