School Janitor muttering "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear ....."

Transportacion ~ un video para mi amiga Gemma

Asi que, un dia yo decidi grabar parte de mi viajecito que hago los miercoles para mi amiga Gemma. Por eso estoy "hablando" con ella en el video.

So, one day I decided to record part of my little trip I do every Wednesday for my friend, Gemma. That's why you hear me talking to her.c

Top Five Reasons to buy a Chinese Darth Vader Mask

In Tianjin there are five kinds of days to ride bikes - when it's cold, when there is pollution, when it's clear, when it's rainy, when it's windy, when it's just right,( so very rare) and when it's hot.
Today it was hot. But I still wanted to go to the store. I went wearing sunglasses and then stopped on the way home to buy my "Darth Vader Mask" . I began to think of all the amazing purposes this great mask has.
So here are the top five reasons to buy your very own Darth Vader Mask:

1. It is cheap. About $2.00
2. It keeps the dust and wind off your face.
3. You don't need to wear sunglasses
4. You are in style
5. No one recognizes you.

Only three disadvantages:

1. You look like Darth Vader
2. Your hair gets all messed up
3. If you try to drink your water it gets a little tricky.

We live in that pink building in the background.

I love being the subsitute teacher !

Second Grade I only had less than two hours with these kids on Thursday morning. They are a lively and very fun bunch of kids. Recess time

Sara, the blondie, is everyone's friend it seems. That morning she brought some silkworms she had found to give away and they were all so excited.

Silly picture.

First grade - the boys love to play soccer every chance they get........ The girls sit quietly on the side lines telling me that they can't play because they don't have the appropriate shoes for soccer.

These kids have computer class with portable wireless laptops. The assignment that day was to type in a very long web address to get to some educational games. For some just that task took almost ten minutes.

It was Gloria's turn to lead in the multiplication flash cards.

Going around a bus

The other day I was biking to school with my right hand on my camera and my left hand on the left bike handle. Approaching a bus from behind, with people getting ready to get on, here is what one does here instead of waiting. It always works. Sometimes you have to race the bus if it starts up sooner than you expect. LIFE IN THE FAST LANE. What a ride ! Being a lefty makes it right to go around the left, right?

Another Walk Down Memory Lane

Here is a little movie I made back in 2005 after a summer visit in the USA with a lot of very special people....mainly grandkids. There were only seven then.....now there are 12 and we are so incredibly blessed to be able to visit them as often as the Lord permits. Children are a heritage from the Lord, gifts from God !

God Loves You

The Kindergarten class sang in Middle School Assembly last Monday, May 11. These kids are so cool !!! I'm their music teacher on Wednesdays and have loved getting to know them this year ! They will be graduating to first grade on June 2.

Roll over Beethoven !!!

Here is my own version of "Fur Elise" by Beethoven played on my 60th birthday in Madrid, Spain. I've been playing it with this Spanish beat for years, and finally it's been recorded (sideways.....whatever !).

Madrid, SPAIN !!!

About thirty-four years ago our family went to Madrid, Spain to live and work. We lived in the center of Madrid for the first four years and then in 1979 moved to La Poveda (Arganda) on the outskirts of Madrid where we bought an apartment. That was our home for the rest of our time in Spain. We've owned that apartment for thirty years now and recently decided to sell it. Matt, my second son who lives in Mexico now, has been helping me during the last two years with all the paperwork, phone calls, legal aspects and information. We needed to go to Spain to get the apartment ready to sell and to sign many papers with a lawyer (inheritance issues), notary, a bank, a realtor. It took several days to do all that, but we perservered and got most of it done.

Well, since we love Madrid so much we just could not help but enjoy ourselves to the max ! We both arrived the same day (April 16)...Matt from Mexico City and I came from Beijing. Many of our dear Spanish friends offered places to stay, a car to use, cell phones, and invited us over for meals. We are so blessed. Needless to say, we still love Spain and the Spaniards. A beautiful country with beautiful people and customs. It had been five years since Matt had been in Spain, and it had been eight years for me, so we were super excited about being back. I loved being in a country where I was not stared at for looking so different, and where I could speak and understand the language. Many of our old friends welcomed us with open arms and hugs and kisses. And many of my friends are now Grandmas (Yayas !) like me, so of course we all wanted to talk about our grandkids.
I've known Gemma since she was a young teenager and now she is the mom of three precious boys and wife of our dear friend Carlos who became a Christian when he was a teenager. I stayed with them for over a week and we got to catch up on many years of being apart. She treated me like a queen all the time ! I loved it.

We were able to attend the Arganda church and share about Mexico and China. Here we are with good friends, Jesus and Esme.
I've known all these ladies way over twenty years now ~ they still meet occasionally for brunch (without me !!!) All have lived in Spain for a long time. I was so happy to be able to get together with most of them and we all got to share our stories.