Adoption story - link

We are in close contact with a half-dozen families here who have, or are trying to adopt Chinese children. We know of many other foreigners in town who have done likewise. We have learned through them that adoption is no easy process - though there are many children, the paperwork and the expense is tremendous.

This article from the AP confirmed what we already knew - the process is slowing down for Americans to adopt Chinese kids, unless the kids are labeled "special needs." Unfortunately, one unintended side effect of China's reproduction policies was that parents become more choosey when giving birth to kids who are less than "perfect"...

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i-t5F4Xn2dj_Fcu74hNv5SAr9ClwD9END8Q01

I am thankful for those parents I have met - foreign and Chinese - who are willing to adopt. Kids in orphanages simply need the love and attention that only a parent can provide.

-alan

Oh the places they'll go!

This past weekend, 3 of our students - fresh off their 2nd consecutive victory at the regional science fair - traveled to Beijing to take part in the filming of an award ceremony put on by Phoenix Television, a Hong-Based satellite TV station. The students were awarded the "Most Influential Chinese" award, and were given honors among 10 other groups for their achievements in 2009-2010.

This link takes you to a 10-minute segment of the show, during which the students were presented with an award and interviewed. It is all in Chinese - but you can understand the format: introduction, video montage, present the award, students thank their parents, and a few questions from the hosts.

http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/aDA6BPNzkro

I still do not know the full story about how they were selected, but from what I have heard and seen, the kids were treated like true VIPs despite their young age. They had a fancy hotel, limousines to drive them around, received real gold trophies, staged a press conference, were constantly surrounded by reporters and autograph seekers, and even had a woman come up to them with a cell phone, asking them to say some inspiring words to her children. It was a big honor for them, and good potential publicity for our school - but even more, it is amazing to see the talents and accomplishments of the students we teach.

-alan

Good news from TJ!

Some of my students are in Tianjin this week, competing in the regional qualifying tournament for the Intel Science and Engineering Fair. For the second year in a row, these students were awarded the "Best in Tournament" award, meaning they will be flown to California in May for the Fair.

I would like to take credit for their success, but their project is related to computer science and has NOTHING to do with AP Biology. So I do not know how well that will work...

Two more days of school left until spring break! There is a middle school party on Friday after school - it was supposed to be a lockin, but was changed abruptly yesterday to a party. The kids are disappointed. I would be lying if I said I was also disappointed...

I also have a phone interview tonight - just a preliminary interview, nothing to get too excited about.

[**Note - I rode to school to call the school, only to receive a recently sent email canceling the appointment. Sigh. Time to ride back home...]

-alan

Dust issues

The news reports are coming in - the latest dust storms are racing across China. All the major papers are showing some interesting pictures of Beijing and other cities to the north and east, such as the Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/22/AR2010032200676.html

The north of this country is well known for its dry climate and rapid desertification. Thus, the occasional dust storm is no surprise.

But for a science teacher, this is a nice teaching moment!

Thankfully, the dust is all well north of here. Though we are going through a drought as well, for the spring rains have yet to show up. I can count on one hand the number of times it has rained here in the last 6 months. Yet the air is not dry. Funny climate!

-alan

Check out our new place!

Though there may be a few formalities yet to be completed, we have agreed to a lease starting July 1 for an apartment in Chicago.

It was quite a find; I had come home the night before from the 30-Hour Famine being held at school. The kids all ate at midnight, but I left early and went to bed. So I really fasted for more like 36+ hours, including sleep. As a result, I woke up feeling terrible - nauseous and weak as a kitten. It took all my strength just to get to the kitchen and pour some juice. Rachel was still at school at this point, because the kids slept over...so no one was around to help me.

In my weakened state, I popped in a movie and plopped down on the couch, munching on crackers. By 11am, Rachel was home but I was still in no mood to do anything strenuous. So, in a moment of mental weakness, I surfed on to Craigslist to search for apartments in Chicago.

I had previously forbid Rachel from doing this exact thing, because it is senseless to search for apartments more than 1 or 2 months ahead of your projected move-in date. [though she did not really listen] All that will happen is that you will see nice apartments that you just cannot have. This happened to us in 2006, when we ended up leasing an apartment 3 months before we actually wanted to move.

Apparently I was wrong.

Because after looking around a bit, I saw a new post for a 3 bedroom apartment in Armour Square...available June 30, 2010. What timing! Rachel had not seen it, and probably would not have found it. So I showed it to her, and she emailed the landlord...

...who happened to be a Chinese woman from Xi'an. They struck up an email correspondence, and we eventually decided to take the apartment. Our new Chinese friends will live upstairs, as our landlord and neighbor. Rachel is quite excited.

The apartment is technically in Armour Square, a sliver of a neighborhood east of Bridgeport and west of 90/94. US Cellular Field (home of the White Sox) is in Armour Square, though most would just call the area we will live part of Bridgeport. Chinatown is just to north. It is a good location and good price.

So though we were not really looking, God provided for us!

View Larger Map

-alan

Science Olympiad

As promised, I am uploading some pictures taken from last week's Science Olympiad. I organized 10 events, of which students participated in 4. The favorites were Egg Drop (build a delivery system for an egg to protect it from cracking, with limited resources) and Bottle Rocket (design a plastic bottle to pressurize and blast into the air for as long as possible).

Chinese students from the school next door run in the background, as Storm the Castle competitors set up their catapult to launch.

These students will learn in chemistry class to not smell unknown chemicals so closely.

Safety goggles are in use for bottle rocket!

3 stories below is the target for Egg Drop.

Students work furiously in the math quiz bowl to get their answers in.

I think the kids had fun, and most of the feedback was positive. I was proud to see all the impressive-looking projects that they created. Almost none were disqualified - which was a huge improvement over last year, when they obviously did not read directions well enough.

Thankfully, I was supervising detention the past two weeks, so I had lots of help setting up/cleaning up thanks to this forced labor group.

-alan

Update?

It's been a week since we have been on the blog, and I feel a little ashamed! (Rachel was once told by a friend..."tell your husband to stop being lazy and start updating the blog")

Things have been....hard to describe. A lot of big stuff has happened in the last week, and though it has not been stressful, I have not had much opportunity to come online and type about it.

We connected with a landlord in Chicago - and may have an apartment already lined up. Crazy, right? I will let Rachel tell the story.

I also had a job interview on Monday. It was with Christ the King - a new Jesuit school in Chicago's Austin neighborhood. It is probably the only non-public school that I would consider, because even though it is private, 100% of its students are classified as low-income and most are from the poor neighborhoods of the West Side. I interviewed for an environmental science position. We shall see what happens!

I will post some pictures from last week's Science Olympiad later today....maybe? The weather has turned beautiful. More trees are blooming, and we are getting sunshine (gasp!) and warmth. It is nice to have an early spring!

Time to prep for classes.

-alan