The pregnancy is progressing

Fourteen weeks and little things are beginning to change.  Ying is slightly more mercurial in her moods, but I continue to take it all in stride.She is also beginning to show a small baby bump.  Every now and then I listen at her tummy for a heartbeat, but it is still to faint to hear.

 It looks like I might be transferred to another city soon.  The latest information is that I will be transferred to Nantong.  Unlike Kunshan, where I am currently the only foreign or resident teacher, Nantong has two other foreign teachers, so I will have somebody to talk to.  I called one of the teachers and he and his wife said that the apartment provided was less than desirable, but since it is not that far from us, Ying and I are going to take a train to the city to see if what they say is true or if they are exaggerating. If they are right, we might consider using the allowance to rent another apartment in the area.

Right now all I can do is sit around and wait for the company to decide what I'm going to do and when we are going to make the move.  I just want to get back to work and hopefully repeat the successes I had in Kunshan.

Until then I'm enjoying a short vacation.

Ying is 12 weeks along.  We went for an ultrasound and the baby is @7cm in length. I wish I could post a picture of the scan, but alas that isn't possible right now.  If it wasn't real to me before, it certainly is now.  No idea about sex, but I'm still hoping for a girl.

Huge life changing events on the horizon

The year of the Dragon and the month of March have been life changing events for Ying and I.  It all actually started in January/February during the Chinese New Year holidays.  I had a month off from school so we went to Yanji (NE China) to visit family and friends.  Once the holidays were ended, I came back to Kunshan for work and Ying stayed in Yanji to spend another 2 weeks with her mother then fly back.  While she was there, EVERYTHING that was supposed to happen did and  and on 27 February when she came home, there was the usual celebrating and re-bonding us married couples do after a separation.

In early March I got an e-mail that home office would be visiting the schools they were contracted with to administer the International (US High School (+AP)) Program to evaluate the teachers and decide who they would offer contracts for the coming school year.  I was dreading the day they would drop into Kunshan and observe one of my US History classes. For those who don't know I teach kids who have decided to forgo the China's National Higher Education Entrance Examination (the Gaokao) needed to qualify for the top Chinese universities and instead apply for universities abroad, usually in the United States.  So far three of my students have decided on schools.  Winnie, a small quiet girl has selected Miami University- Oxford, Ohio, Sarah, the class leader, has chosen on Ohio State and Mammon, a girl as devilish as her name implies, has decided to go to Univ of Washington.  Of the two boys, I think Daniel, a thinker if there ever was one, has expressed a desire to go to Boston University and Frank, a real basketball fan, is torn between Syracuse, Virginia Tech and Ohio State. 

Then last Saturday (March 25th) Ying notices her "usual monthly visitor" was late so she went to the pharmacy and got "THE TEST" and sure enough, she's pregnant.

Initially I was stunned, but then I got excited.  After so many years of waiting, I am finally going to be a father. We told family and friends on both sides of the world and all are ecstatic. Since then we discussed different names we liked.  The boy's name was easy.  My grandfather, my father and I all have a first name that begins with a C and the middle name Edward.  I wanted to continue the trend but also wanted to make some changes.  I have always liked the name Casey and even used it as my society name in the SCA (although I used the original Gaelic spelling of Cathsasch) and part of my nom de plume on the internet, we decided it was a perfect first name.  I wanted to get away from Edward as a middle name but still honor my family.   I had learned through my research that I had a Great (to the 8th) grandfather named Enoch, His name would be Casey Enoch Sharp.

A girl's name was difficult since there were to few girls on both sides of my family and Ying did not want ti give her an actual Chinese name, we decided on a western name that would be easy for the Chinese family members to repeat.  We decided we didn't want to follow the C-E trend for her.  I could have used the name Casey for her to, but I wanted her to be unique.  In the past, I've known many women named Lexi who were outstanding people.  Ying wanted her middle name to be Marie or something similar, but I told her my last two ex's initials were L-M-S and I just would not be comfortable seeing those initials for my daughter and not think of them so I suggested Ann.  Ying immediately liked it and said it could be easily repeated and if necessary "Chinafied" for the Chinese family members, so if it is a girl, her name will be  Lexi Ann Sharp.

Finally if this month wasn't eventful enough I get an e-mail from home office that solely based on excellent feedback from the students, their parents and I guess the woman who is the school liaison for the company my performance as a teacher and not coming to actually observe me in class, offered to renew my contract for next year.  Needless to say, I accepted and tomorrow (Saturday) I and the other teachers will be conducting interviews with the students who want to enter the International Program and eventually go to college in the US.

I'll be trying to remember to make regular reports about our progress as we wait for the blessed event.  Until then, Y'all  take care.

Our Thanksgiving dinner in China

Last Thursday was Thanksgiving, but I had to work, so we decided to celebrate on Friday.  Since turkeys are hard to fine in China and it was just us two, we opted for a duck.  It came out great.  Ying even made her own cream of mushroom soup and fried onions for the green bean casserole. This was our spread.

The entire meal

The Guest of Honor

Green Bean Casserole

Dressing

Sweet Potatoes

Broccoli

 Mashed Potatoes

 And there ya have it, the Sharp family Thanksgiving meal in Kunshan China.  Happy Holidays and I will try to post more during the holidays.

It has been a while....

I have been busy with my job and felt I had little to write about, but figured I needed to get on the ball.  Ying continues to amaze me in the kitchen.  Lately, when I go to the supermarkets I'm looking for bread I can use as buns for hamburgers and hot dogs.  Lately there has been some negative publicity on the purity and safety of processed food in China, so Ying has little trust in it.  She knows I have been craving burgers, chicken sandwiches and the like, but like her I'm not keen on going to Micky D's or KFC to feed my craving, so she decided to do something about it. 

She looked up a recipe on the internet for hamburger buns and found one from of all people, Paula Deen.  Ying loves Paula's recipes and decided to give it a try.  It was so easy. this was the result.

The recipe called for a dozen, but the size was what I would call a White Castle or slider size, but the burger tasted great.  Since then she has cut the number down to 8-10 and has gotten a more standard size bun. 

She has also improved on her peanut butter cookies

and as hard as it is for me to share with my class, I always do.  The kids love them..

More cooking in the kitchen

First, instead of going to Hefei after two weeks orientation in Nanjing, I had the chance to go immediately to Kunshan and start teaching now.  We have been here for a couple of weeks and Ying likes it.  There are trees all over the area, canals criss cross the city, but most of all we have a huge three bedroom apartment all to ourselves. But more on that later.  Since we have been here Ying has made all the usual American foods I like, but tonight she decided to try Mexican and make beef fajitas.  I'll post the pictures and let you decide if they pass muster.

Beef w/ green pepper and onion, salsa and tortillas (all home made)

The final product (for the record, this ain't your Taco Bell kind  fajita--- It tasted wonderful, especially when accompanied with  beer)

I was cast in a CCTV movie

Soon after we returned from our trip to Hong Kong, a friend of Ying's called and told her that the Chinese TV network, CCTV, was filming a TV movie called "My Home, Chang Bai Mountain" and they needed some foreign faces in a few scenes.

 The friend who got me the role and Ying

When we got to the filming I was told that I was cast in a speaking role as a "Mr. Johnson" who was in China to look for some acts to book in the US.  In an attempt to save time, unknown to me, they taped my rehearsal with the translator and they liked it so much they decided to use that instead of actually having doing it on camera.  They said they would just dub it over some action shots I did in a night club with the male lead, Bai Wei.  The last shots were actually at Chang Bai Mountain, which is similar to Crater Lake in Oregon.

The guy in the white shirt was the producer, Gao Ning and the other is the director (sorry, don't know his name).

This is a picture of Ying and me with the lead actors. The man is Bai Wei and the lady is Sun Qian.

This is the actress playing our "English speaking tour guide," but because she was having some trouble expressing herself, they asked Ying if she could do a scene and describe the waterfall flowing out of the Chang Bai Mountain lake.

 

These are some Russians who appeared with us...

I'm not sure as to when it will be broadcast, but I'm looking forward to seeing it when it does.