Spring has sprung

Well I think I've finally emerged from hibernation after all this cold weather and snow.  Really, I have had the winter blues big time but now the snow has almost melted from the yard and the temperature is rising.

Back at the beginning of March Snow celebrated her 18th birthday.  She had a little party at the house with several of friends.  The girls enjoyed playing Wii Just Dance and ate Chinese food of course.

Turning 18 in England is a really big milestone especially since it is the legal drinking age.  It is a rite of passage to go to the pub once you turn 18, but here it is 21, which seems a long time to wait if you ask me.

It's hard to believe Molly and Snow finish school in just over 2 months' time.  That's 3 months of summer vacation.  What!?  Three whole months of laying in bed until noon and then finding excuses to not tidy their room.  Well Molly anyway - Snow will be back in China for most of the summer then she will be back with us for her senior year.  Yes, we asked her to stay another year, mainly since she is easy and fun to have around, but it seems we have to do some preparation for solo living once she goes away to college.  We knew she is not much of a cook but the only thing she has been able to cook by herself is ramen noodles - the college staple!  This week I started making the girls make their own lunches.  Snow didn't even know how to make a sandwich.  I took it for granted that she would know, but it was comical watching her struggle with not knowing how much honey mustard to use, how to put the ham on the bread and cutting the sandwich (with a totally inappropriate knife).  Seriously, we have some cooking lessons to get on with.  I fear I have already left it too late....but then again there's always ramen noodles!

Chinese New Year celebrations

Happy Chinese New Year everyone....the year of the horse has begun.  Yesterday we attended a huge banquet in China Town, Boston, with other hosting families, students, members of school faculty and Eduboston staff.  Paul flew in from Holland just in time after spending 2 weeks away from home.

Snow and some of her dance team did the fan dance despite being full of a cold, plus there was the traditional dragon dance that is often performed at New Year.

It is traditional for older people to give red adourned envelopes containing money to younger family members.  There was a drawing for 30 or so of these and Erin and Snow got lucky, but not me.  I'm lucky in love, unlucky in life!

We all had a great time, but for me, I really enjoyed meeting other host families and sharing experiences with them.  Chinese New Year celebrations actually lasts for 15 days so there's a good excuse(if you ever needed one) to go out and party!

  Good friends - Jenny, Cici and Snow

 Molly, Cici, Erin and Snow

The return of Snow and more snow!

Snow returned back from China in the early hours of Saturday morning after a 5 hours delay - urgh!  This was due to a major snow storm over January 2nd and 3rd, resulting in 8 inches of new snow and 2 snow days for Erin.  We all received gifts from her trip - green tea, a book of Chinese stamps, a picture and illustrations of the animals depicting Chinese New Year.

   

China celebrates New Year (aka Spring Festival) according to the lunar calendar so the actual date changes yearly but is in either January or February.  Each year is named after one of twelve animals and this year, the year of the horse, starts on January 31st and is celebrated for 15 days.  That's my kind of celebration!

Today all three girls returned back to school.  Molly has decided to take up band, which is a before-school activity starting at 6.40am, which means both Molly and Snow have to leave the house at 6.35am three days a week.  Snow was a trooper and was quite happy to go into school much earlier than usual.  She has struggled with the time change so we haven't seen much of her since she returned, but with all this sleep she's been having she should be up bright and early for school tomorrow!