EM-TALK

The Shopping

Shopping is a 'lil different here.In America almost everyone loves shopping @ the mall.The Americans hate it here .If u were Chinese and u wanted 2 buy a computer chair then it would cost bout 498 yuan.Now if u were a foriegner then it would cost 600 yuan.U have to bargain no matter where u go, unless u go to a grocerie store or buy food,but if buy appliance u have to bargain. When u take a translater w/ u if the price is to high 4 them then u don't get it. The malls are so different, because they don't have shops they just have open booths or counters. They have alot of bakeries and the bakery food is so good. They have cream puffs(whipped cream in a pastry) and really good raspberry thing with coconut.....but it doesn't really taste like raspberyy. The mall food court can be disgusting but the food is usually really good and always really cheap. They have dogs wandering around in the malls. They have meat sections @ the mall and it is not a pretty site.Jameson can't go 2 the meat section cuz it makes him sick.There's chopped up fish everywhere chicken parts, cow parts, and I mean every parts of the animals pig and goat, and lamb parts.The weirdest thing that i

JAY SAYS

Today is the 26th of January 9:28 and 50 seconds pm. But I'm going to tell you about yesterday.
It was Chinese New Years.....sometimes all those fireworks can be a pain in the bahooki!! They did them all day and all night. And so we went to the Principals house to eat dinner around one o'clock. We were there until 3:30. We ate chicken wings, chicken legs, hush puppy things and a whole bunch of fruit and really weird drinks. The drinks were like Pepsi with an orange in it. It was only okay. We then went to a meeting around 4pm and then went to the school my parents teach at around 7pm. One of my mom's students from her English class brought us fireworks so we set them off in the schools parking lot. We had Chinese firecrackers, Roman candles, bottle rockets and sparklers and some other Chinese thing we don't know what it's called. So the city was suppose to do fireworks at 7pm, but they didn't do it so we went back to our apartment with other team members and we played games, ate spaghetti casserole and watched America's Funniest Home Videos. We played games and stayed up until midnight. Then everyone left and we stayed up for another hour or two. Emma, Selah and I watched some tv on her portable DVD player and my dad watched Star Trek(Voyager) and my mom and Joseph were out by 12:30
I can name all we did today in one sentence. Totally nothing!!
Happ New Year + Chinese!!

JUST A FEW PICS OF OUR FACES

JOSEPH

EMMA

JAY

SELAH WITH A FRIEND

WEARING MATCHING HATS

IN THE KNOW WITH JOE

Just showing you my handsome face today. This picture was taken at the spaghetti party our family had for my mom's English students. They ate spaghetti and I just played. It sure was fun!

IN THE KNOW WITH JOE

I am so busy these days. I spend my days making my mom and the rest of my family crazy because I get into so much. I walk in my walker with wheels and my family doesn't remember that I can reach everything on the coffee table and everything at my level. I have recently tipped over drinks on the coffee table and I always want to play with the trash can liners. I eat everything I get my hands on and someone is always fishing things out of my mouth. Today I drank from a straw. Emma always tries new things with me and tonight she help a cup with a built in straw up to my mouth and I drank water up the straw. I love to talk all the time and my favorite phrase is "DADA", but mom always wants me to say "MAMA". Sunny, our family helper talks to me in Chinese so hopefully I'll pick up real words some day. I am crawling now, but hesitate to because our floor is so hard and it hurts my knees....so I crawl on one knee and keep the other bent. I am almost pulling myself up into a standing position....dad says I will be doing that soon. My mom will post more pictures of me soon....her favorite is the one of me in the tub on this blog.

SITTIN' WITH SELAH

Hi everybody. It is fun and cool here in China. I wish I could be there with you guys. The weather here is not that cold. It's really windy though sometimes. At the Hope School, where we do our homework,the bathrooms are a little different than the American bathrooms. They have a whole in the ground.Some of the toilets have a button on the top instead of on the side. I have to go now....
YOu're good friend,
Selah

EM-TALK

Hey- I just wanted to tell you about the bread here. It is sweet and weird. They don't have icing here. I think it might be too sweet for them. They have whipped cream which I am kind of happy because I don't like icing too much except for chocolate. In Korean class last Friday we had 2 tests. One test was where we had to listen to what the teacher said and we had to write it down in Korean, of course. I got a 96% on that test. The other test we had to write down the words she wrote on the board ,which were the words from the other test and we had to convert it to English. The other students had to convert it to Chinese. I don't think I did too good on that one. This Friday my mom's second English class students are coming over to our apartment. We're going to have spaghetti and probably play the Wii and some of our American board games. There are only 4 students in her class. In her first class she has 18 students. But only the 4 in the second class are coming over....thank goodness!! I hope to take some pictures of what the Chinese women wear and then post them. They wear freaky clothes sometimes. They will wear a fancy top, with shorts with leggings under the shorts and really really really fancy tall boots.Well I better go...my mom is booting me off. Talk to you asap.
Luv,
Emma

JAY SAYS

Today was a normal day. I woke up and sat in the living room to study my Spelling words. My dad told me to get up and get dressed. I did and then I packed my bag for school. Then I had a can of apple juice with chunks of apple in it...it was new and only okay. After that I played with Joseph. Then I looked in th 'fridge like I do every morning. I went to school and did all my Monday subjects. Then we walked to the Korean grocery store and we got some junk food because they have the best junk food there and then we took a taxi home. We live on the third floor and our helper, Sunny, had lunch ready for us. I ate rice and chicken wings but she also made radish strips and chop chay. If you're wondering what chop chay is, it's clear noodles with vegetables like carrots and cabbage and stuff and it's cold or you can heat it. I did the rest of my school work and I studied for my Science test that I'm having tomorrow. My mom told me to leave the living room because I was being loud and so I went to play with Joseph in my room and then I played with him in my parents room. Then I got on nick.com and played a few games. Now I am typing this and we'll eat dinner soon. We are having chicken breasts, mashed potatoes and no gravy (boohoo) and corn. Tonight I will probably play with Joseph more and watch Gilligans' Island Season 3 or play our Wii.
Jay signing off.
PS I like Pie
PPS I haven't got a haircut yet.

IN THE KNOW WITH JOE

I am getting along so well here in China. It's getting colder (today it was 26 F.) so my mom bundles me up in a Pooh bear snow suit with ears and carries me in a carrier. Everyone stops to look at me...some even laugh, but that's okay I laugh with them. We went out for pizza tonight. The owner holds me the whole time my family eats and she talks and sings to me in Korean. I listen to her and don't even fuss. At our apartment I walk around in my walker with wheels and get into everything (the cords of the DVD player, dirt in a big potted cactus and anything on the coffee table!) I even got stuck under the coffee table once because I can scoot around...but I'm not crawling yet. My brother and sisters always try to get me to wave bye-bye, but I will only do it sometimes. Dad says I'm getting too big because I'm so busy .

I'll let you know more about my time in China another day..........Joseph

SITTIN' WITH SELAH

It is fun here in China. Yesterday it snowed beautiful snow. Joseph is so big now. I still share a room with Emma and last night she pushed me off the bed.

We have pet fish that we're taking care of for the ranch so they won't get cold during the winter. Some are spotted and some are big. My dad needs to change the filter, it's dirty.

I like to eat a fruit that is like an apple and a pear together. And I hate homework. Here in China it is so cool and awesome and we get to have an adventure. We walk to school and sometimes we go shopping for hair clips and clothes, I have to go now to do homework,

Bye-Bye

JAY SAYS

When we got off the plane in Yangi, Jacob and David were the to meet us. David is 6ft and has a shaved head and white hair. Jacob is Chinese but speaks good English. We went to the ranch first to see the horses and the cows and then we went to the Hotel where we stayed for 2days. For dinner we went to a Bi Bin Bop and chicken wing place that I really like....especially the chicken wings!!

We have been in our apartment for a month now. I get my own room and the girls share"loser". Don't tell my mom but when she isn't around we poke our heads out the window and yell "NI HAO" out the window, which means "hello" to the Chinese people. If they look up we hide and if they see you then you're out.

We also have had some funky foods.....I'll tell you about those later.....That's it for Jay-Says.....oh yea....I haven't cut my hair yet~

EM-TALK

I justarted korean cass.I'm do n ok i guess.There r 2 boys and 3 girlkbesides me.The girls r real good the guys well.1 of them right a little faster than me wich is not that fast cosidering I'm the slowest in the class.He doesn't read as well as I do.The fastest girl in the class also takes english.I learned that if u call some1 bun wich means stupid then that is like really bad.Here is an example.If u say that u r bun then thy say o no u r not no no no don't say that.The people in my Korean class sometimes point ave a at me or say maygworen wich means American in chinesse.I kinda hard time with that cause I don't know if they r say n bad stuff about me or not.It snowed yesterday wich was the 20th.If we r really bored we will yell out the window ne how wich is hello in chinesse.Then if the people turn and look for some1 we quickly hide.My mom doesn't like us play n that cause we r on the 3rd floor so we do it when she is not around but she's always around so we don't get 2 play it as muck as before.1 u.n. is like 14 cents here.100 u.n. is $15.We can find alot more chocolate here than wut I thought.If we wunt to get hamburgers then we have 2 buy the meet get it in 2 patty form then go 2 these 2 ckicken sandwiches places and get buns,They mayo but no cheese wich I thought waz wierd but o well.1 of the American families said that for about 5 slices of cheese it would be 25 u.n.I bet u can ptobolly figure that out.I would luv 2 hear wut is gi n on in the u.s. so right me back a.s.a.p.I should answer unless some thing is go n on with our computer or I have gobs of korean and american homework.O, before I foreget I'm in an all adult class.Well I gotta go talk 2 u guys soon.

Luv
Emma

WE'RE HERE IN CHINA

We have finally settled in enough to start playing with our blog. We will write regularly now about our experiences here in China like what we're doing, who we're meeting, what we're eating and what we don't like. We hope you read often and let us know what's going on back in the States.

Love,
The Howe Kids

EM-talk

I FEEL HAPPY
___________

Welcome to our blog!

This is the place to find out everything you want to know about Emmalee, Jameson, Selah, and -of course- Joseph! We will share with you how we are doing, what we are doing, how we are feeling, what we are eating, and lots more information that you didn't even know you wanted to know!