Hallie the Star

I mentioned in a previous post, that Hallie was in a commercial.  The commercial was filmed over two days.  The days were very long.  We arrived at the first location around 6:30 am and were not finished until 9 pm the first day and  about 5 pm the second day.  Hallie was great.  She got up early and did not complain.

The production director is a Chinese born Canadian living in China.  The camera guy or filming director was from New Zealand.  The main director working for Turner (CNN) was from Singapore and spoke English with a British accent.

The commercial will be shown on CNN in the US and Europe.  It will be about a family visiting Hangzhou on vacation.  It should be on very soon.

It takes a big crew of people to shoot the video for a 30 second commercial.

Hallie on a boat on West Lake with some of the crew and her  "parents".

Wherever they were filming, lots of people took pictures.

Hallie's "parents" taking a picture of their girl.

Simulated sun set.

 

Our Super star!

Trick or treat

The Chinese do not really celebrate Halloween.  Like Christmas, Halloween is starting to catch on here.  But it is not really a big deal.  However, for my kids it is a very big deal. It is difficult to get good costumes or even the stuff to make a good costume, so I have to plan far in advance.

I got the stuff for the girls' costumes this summer while we were in the states.  I did not get anything for Liam.  Luckily I found the idea and directions to make this spider costume on the Internet.  Liam thought it was cool, and I could get the stuff to make this costume here!

Eryn was a princess.  She was going to be Rapunzel, but decided that she did not want to wear a wig.  I am glad she told me before I made the wig.

Hallie was Big bird.  The feathers were  boas that I bought at a fabric store in the US

Hallie was big bird and her best friend Bliss was Elmo.  (I made Elmo's hat too)  Jon helped.

Bliss, Hallie, Eryn, Carissa, and Liam ready to go trick-or-treating.

Margaret brought over several kids to all go trick or treating together.  This is not a normal Chinese activity, but she told several families to be ready for us.

I am thankful that the kids were able to celebrate and have a good time with their friends.

We found pumpkins!

Every year in October, we look for pumpkins that actually look like pumpkins.  This year, we were able to find three small orange (and round) pumpkins.  

When we cut them open, they looked like real pumpkins too!

Hallie actually carved her own pumpkin this year!

Here are the finished products!

And here they are all lit up!  They molded in a week--I did not take a picture of that.  

Guest Blog: the Russells

This past week, Marti and Ray Russell from Clear Creek were visiting China. I asked them to write something about how they saw China.  We have been here long enough that we do not see it as other people do.  Ray wrote this before he left our house.  They continued their adventure by taking to a train to ShaoXing, staying a couple of days, and then taking another train to Shanghai.  They are at a hotel in Shanghai right now and will fly home tomorrow evening.  You should ask them about their trip!

Here's the guest blog:

This week my wife Marti and I have had the unique experience of spending the week in Haungzho. As our week with the Davis and Hardin families come to an end Jennifer asked me to write down some thoughts and reactions to our first time in China. The first thing I would like to express is our gratitude to both families for allowing us to intrude their homes to experience what life is like. They have been so gracious and loving to us while we have been here. Now to the experience.... First, China is very different from what we imagined, it is full of life and is very modern in many ways. It is not however at the same level as we are when it comes to toilet hygiene. That may have been our biggest challenge when in public. Another challenge is of course the language, in many countries you are able to function through reading text or finding an English speaking individual, China is not one of those places. The language is so different that it is very hard to get where you need to be without a base knowledge of Chinese. We also realized the modern amenities we take for granted like clothes dryers and dishwashers, these things make our lives so easy and the lives of the families here in China so much more difficult. The final thing we have notice on the negative side is the second hand smoke! China has not received the news that smoking will kill you yet and they do quite a bit of indoor smoking! On the positive side, the food is outstanding! From the first morning where Jon took us to street a vendor the eating experience has been fabulous! The food is full of flavor and so very healthy, it is also very different from American Chinese food. I was also able to go to class with Jon and Josh this week which was a great. They both allowed me to to answer questions and ask questions Of the students who were so excited to speak to a 'real' American! Also I was given a Chinese name meaning 'so very handsome' much to Jon's chagrin. These students were fun to interact with and I was even given a demonstration of real Chinese hip hop dancing, if only I had thought to video! Finally, is it so very obvious to both of us that God is at work through the team here. The study I was able to experience was amazing and the believers here truly want to serve and follow. God is blessing these families and the work they are doing here in China!

Thanks for sharing Ray.  We had a great time with you!