Notepad, worklog, tasks, etc.

Easter day should be a religious holiday. American people may think it’s boring for children. They invent egg hunting activity for Children. Lele joined the egg hunting at Seattle woodland zoo last Saturday. Some people put colorful plastic eggs on the grass. They also put some tree branches and hide some eggs under the branches. Children rushed into the grass land to pick up the eggs. All children had baskets or bags to store the eggs. Lele picked up slowly. At the first time he picked up every egg he saw. At the second time he just picked up the  whole egg in his favorite colors. When the game finished, the eggs were supposed to put into a recycling can. Lele refused to put back the eggs. He wanted to take them home.  We told him the eggs couldn’t be taken home. He finally emptied his basket onto the grass instead of in the reclycling can.  That’s fine since there would be another round in 30 minutes.  Lele wanted to take the carousel . We would like to give him the idea that it is not something free. So we asked Lele that he must co-pay one of the two dollar ride fee. Not sure how much idea Lele know about money at this age: he always agrees to co-pay.

I didn’t think of volunteer until I felt my English was so bad during I prepared the job interview. Since applying H1B visa is not predicatable, many big companies don’t recruit people like me who need H1B visa sponsor. That means I will still be jobless. Being a volunteer is a good way to improve my English and communicate with other people.

I  first applied to volunteer in Redmond retirement center which is next to our community. After filling the application form, I waited for a month for background checking. During the course of waiting I asked  the result whenever I passed by the center. I thought I was a little  bothersome to them. Anyway I was full of passion to be a volunteer at that time. I immediately talked with the activity coordinator as long as I knew I passed the background checking. She thought I was fit for visiting  person or playing card games with the old people. Then she asked me if I was good at painting nails after two weeks. I waited two more weeks for scheduling my volunteer. I didn’t get any notifications from them. I called and wrote to her. No reply. So finally I knew they were not interested in me. I gave up the retirement center.

Last Friday I searched the internet and learned the starlinght children foundation needs volunteer.  I filled their online application form and got a call from an activity coordinator. We met on Monday and talked about my volunteer. I volunteered at the foundation yesterday. What I did was to label and count the donated toys.  I worked with another volunteer James.  The work is simple and senseless, but I like to chat with James. I will write a post to talk more about James.

I have been attending the ESL class held in Redmond library since February. There are usually about 15 students in the class. We are from different countries, China, Japan, Iran, France, Maxico, India, etc.  We like our teacher who is a beautiful and has a sense of humor. Last week we had a writing test. Yesterday is our last class in winter quarter. The teacher annouced that there were three students would be out of the class because their scores were high enough to graduate from ESL class. We were so surprised when we heard the news. The reason sounds a little ridiculous. The three students asked to continue attending the ESL class. But the teacher refused the request because of the college rule. They looked disappointed.  The teacher told me my score was close to the graduation requirement :P.

Today we went to Bellevue botanical garden  with another two-kid family. It has been raining for about one week. The sun came out this morning. It seemed a good day for outside activities. Lele was scribbling  on his new magnetic drawing board (the gift for his third birthday) when we decided to go to botanical garden. He refused to go out at first since his was still interested in his new toy. I told him we would invite his friend to go there together. He finally put aside his drawing board.

We spent about two hours at children playground near the botanical garden. During the course of playing, Lele showed a will to play with a same age boy. Lele followed the boy up the hill and helped him to carry a small broken tree. Actually the boy was so strong that he could move the tree alone. The boy’s mother was walking their dog. It was  grey curly hair dog. The mother saw Lele was very happy to watch the dog when the dog caught a ball.  She gave Lele the ball and asked him to throw the ball. In case of safety she said to her dog to sit. Following her words, not only the dog but also Lele sit :).

There are many kinds of plants in the botanical garden. But it’s a little early to visit. We didn’t see many flowers in the garden. Xudong saw a hummingbird eating the nectar. It flied away up to tree when we were close to it. It’s bigger than what I imagined.

I am taking ESL class in Redmond class, so I have to write some essays now and then. Today we have a writing test. It asks us to write an essay using unreal conditionals. It’s a good chance to practise English writing. I am not good at writing especially for a test. It doesn’t matter with which language. It seems like my head stops working when I am in such a situation. Even in Chinese I cannot write much more than what I can write in English.

Today I presented Olympia tourism in our class. Since I fully prepred at my presentation, I felt good when I presented it. It’s another good way for me to learn English. I haven’t started to record the parenting book. Tomorrow will be a good day to do so.

It’s funny that Xudong is the organizer of Chinese Single Association. . My friend asked me to introduce her a boy friend. I thought Xudong could help to find a proper Chinese man for her. To my surprise, Xudong  organized such a group. He told me they have more than 100 members.  Unfortunately the association is not helpful to solve my friend’s problem.

He held a party for his association at our place. Frankly speaking, I dislike the party. Everyone in the party looked like Chinese, but they speaked English. Nothing wrong with them, but I didn’t feel good about this. I didn’t know their background. So it’s like many stangers to spend their boring time in our place. It’s weird for me. Now Xudong is  planning to hold another stanger party this weekend because he doesn’t know how to refuse others. I don’t want to argue with him, but it really annoy me.

Long time no “quan jia fu”, which means “whole family photo”. Today we went to the Sammamish river side with tripod and took several good shoots. Lele is almost three and it is a nice gift for him too…

I borrowed an parenting book, how to talk so kids will listen & listen so kids will talk, from my a mother with two kids. I planed to buy a Chinese version of this book. She told me this English book is written very lively. I was deeply grasped by it. It is written in easy English but it decribes many familar scenes to a mother. I haven’t finished the first chapter, but I think I have learned how to acknowledge child’s feelings. Lele is too young to have so many problems. He is too young to express himself very well. (I am grown-up, and it’s still difficult to do it perfectly. Sometimes I doubt if I am too strict for a three year child.) I usually give Lele advices or question him when he complains to me.  Sometimes I ignored his complain. Since I get a book to tell parents how to improve the communication skill, I wish I would become a kind mother. This book is talking about how to deal with children’s feelings, but I think it is also applicable to grown-ups. Another idea about  this book is I am going to record the recitation of this book. I think it’s a good way to improve my English, whatever the vocabulary or accent.

This morning I met Lele’s father. This Lele is not our Lele. He is Lele’s classmate. I talked with the father for a while. I learned they bought a  house at Woodville two years ago. It costs $500,000. They pay back the  bank loan about $2,000 per month. They had to save about $100,000 for the downpay before they bought the house. Both he and his wife work in Microsoft. So they don’t feel hard to pay back the loan. I didn’t have a house dream before since Xudong’s salary cannot support a house. I thought I would find a job this year. Now I am afraid it cannot become true. That is one of reasons that I am not happy. I am trying to change my attitude since I cannot change the fact. I am trying to find a way to make money, but I am depressed easily if I don’t get money soon.

I am a stay-at-home mother. My son has enrolled in a daycare. So we can say I should have a lot of time for myself, at least from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm.  I should have time to do anything what I want. The fact is I always feel I don’t have enought time to do what I want to do. The only problem is I lack the time management skill. I know the concept of time management. I tried to follow the principle to execute my plan. But the result is not as good as I expect. So I think I need a cusomized way to use my time more efficiently.