In Which There is Rumpusing with Wild Abandon

This is us. The one showing lots of shoulder (in her Chengdu, China Marine Ball ball gown!) is the EFM who writes this blog. The one wearing a tux (James) is the employee who moves her (and their two sons) around all over the world. The red link, below, is how you can get in touch with me...

The time in Chengdu, China

Chengdu: city of fabulous food and beautiful Buddhist monasteries!

In Our Same Boat (with State)

Beyond the Cornfields
Brand-new State Department family in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Love their two little girls (she just recently had a baby while being posted in Dhaka), horticulture, traveling and adventure!
Email From The Embassy
State Department family formerly in Beijing, China, and recently posted to Amman, Jordan. A trailing spouse, she's also a writer, and frequently publishes articles with major news sources. A very experienced State family, this new post is something like overseas post number six or seven for them.
Just US
A beautiful family of seven - they have arrived at their new post: Jerusalem! They just finished off an unaccompanied tour to Iraq and are very much looking forward to sightseeing around the middle east.
Our Life
State Department family on their second post...Tijuana, Mexico. It's their first overseas assignment and they have two little boys. They love Tijuana so far and post pictures frequently! They also get to enjoy the best of both worlds for they can sneak over the border into San Diego when they want to!
The Dinoia Family
State Department family formerly in California, now in DC for a DC tour. Next, the husband will do a one year unaccompanied tour. A very experienced State family (formerly in Iceland and Caracas) with a blog that has been around quite a while and has great archives. Jen has a sweet heart and a lot to give!
The Perlman Update
State Department family formerly in Chennai, India, who then did a year-long unaccompanied tour in Iraq. They are now on a DC tour and after that will do another unaccompanied tour (Afghanistan). She totally tells it like it is and doesn't sugar-coat what life is really like. Witty, snarky, funny and down-to-earth. Look elsewhere if you want fake. Read if you want REAL.
Where in the World Am I?
State Department family formerly in Bujumbura, Burundi and now in Hyderabad, India. They just had their first baby this summer - a beautiful little girl- (there's a separate blog about this) and she also eats gluten-free (with a separate blog, also).

One of the most intriguing things about Chengdu is that it is a seamless blend of ancient and modern... all together, side by side.

Can't Live Without (non-State)

Crass-Pollination: An ER blog
The best ER nurse blog EVER!
Doctor Grumpy in the House
The best doctor blog EVER!
In Which...
My IRL friend, a stay-at-home, homeschooling Mama of seven. Her darling daughters are, goshdarnit, probably too young to be hoped for as my future daughters-in-law.
The Crib Chick
My IRL friend, a stay-at-home, homeschooling Mama of five. Hopefully two (Any two! I'm not picky!) of which are my future daughters-in-law.
the underwear drawer
An anesthesiologist who is possibly the most talented & entertaining writer ever. I've read her blog ever since she started medical school. No, don't know her in real life. Wish I did.
The Bloggess
This blog is both hysterically funny and hilariously irreverent. I actually let my 17 year old son read it (who loves it as much as I do!), but wouldn't even CONSIDER letting my 12 year old son read it. Which is about all the description it needs!

The grounds of Chengdu monasteries can be very, very peaceful...even though they are smack dab in the heart of a city of millions of people.

Specifics

Blog powered by Typepad

« Have Waved the White Flag. And Admitted Defeat (or: Buh-Bye School)... | Main | Let's Talk Money: One Little Word Can SCREW STUFF UP, Y'ALL! »

09/29/2010

In Which There is Rumpusing with Wild Abandon

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMILY (OUR LIFE)!!!!

Emily is a true kindred spirit. And since she has been hoping for people to celebrate her birthday with her, our family just had to join in!

Matthew learned her name in Chinese (both Pinyin, or the tones, which are at the top and underlined in pink, and also the characters):

And don't even ask why her name isn't capitalized, MOM. That's how the Chinese teacher gave it to Matthew. If the Chinese teacher doesn't capitalize the name "Emily" when it's written in Pinyin, then Matthew doesn't, either. Picky!

Anyway, so after learning Emily's name in Chinese, Matthew learned how to write out the Happy Birthday song in Chinese. Then he added Emily's name (the three characters) into it. Then Zachary decorated it, so it would be festive:

See the part I underlined in pink? That's Emily's name. The rest of it is the Birthday Song in Mandarin.

We had ShamWow The Daring Panda sing it to her:

Because he speaks/sings Chinese fluently and with the correct tones. Always. Since he's all, you know, NATIVE CHINESE and all, being a panda.

Then I donned my festive Birthday Apron (that my very talented Mom sewed for me to celebrate special occasions like this one! Thank you, Mom! You're forgiven for assuming that Matthew forgot to capitalize Emily's name in Pinyin.) and baked my family's favorite dessert:

And we will FEAST on them (they're like a combination between a cake bar and a cookie bar, and they're called Chess Bars. My guys LOVE LOVE LOVE them!) later, in celebration of you. My dear friend in Mexico, whose BIRTHDAY it is!

Posted on 09/29/2010 at 12:41 PM in Matthew, Me, Posts referencing fellow State bloggers, ShamWow the Daring Panda, Zachary | Permalink

Comments

You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

You guys are AWESOME!!!!

Thank you so much, Matthew, that is fantastic.

Isn't true that most people's favorite word in any language is their own name? (Thank you Dale Carnegie and his famous book). I must admit, this is truly special. I love it!

Perhaps someday, we will all be able to celebrate birthdays together! Then we can all eat Chess Bars and wear fancy aprons. And go to Cheesecake Factory together! What is the flavor of Cheesecake that is the best?
Thank you Kolbi, you are the greatest!

Posted by: Emily | 09/29/2010 at 01:47 PM

What a great way to celebrate Emily's b-day! I would love the recipe for chess bars if you ever want to send it my way!

Posted by: Melissa | 09/29/2010 at 02:15 PM

Emily! Happy birthday! And we oh-so-enjoyed your birthday chess bars, which the Darings so graciously shared with us. *grin*

Posted by: TulipGirl | 09/29/2010 at 08:05 PM

I know you really WERE asking, and so I'll burden you with the answer: because pinyin isn't a language. It's basically just Chinese's version of the International Phonetic Alphabet, which doesn't capitalize proper nouns, either.
And now you know, whether you wanted to or not. ;)

Posted by: Chelsea | 09/29/2010 at 08:14 PM

That is so darling.

Posted by: Bridget | 09/30/2010 at 07:09 AM

ps it's dulce de leche cheesecake, Emily! And to use Kolbi's expression, "oh my word, is it delicious!"

Posted by: Bridget | 09/30/2010 at 07:10 AM

@ TulipGirl- not as much as WE enjoyed YOUR dinner!

@ Chelsea- thank you so much for clearing that up! I actually didn't understand why it wasn't capitalized. So I tossed my poor Mom under the bus... but it was really I who had no idea! I just didn't want anyone to think that Matthew was illiterate. :)

@ Bridget- Oh HECK YEAH it's Dulce de Leche cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory! That stuff is to DIE FOR!

Posted by: A Daring Adventure | 09/30/2010 at 05:43 PM

The comments to this entry are closed.

James loves me. And our sons. And his job. But not having his picture taken. In 2011 he finished up over a year and half of training, and in the fall of 2011 we got to our first overseas post - Chengdu, China!