life and times of the covners family in suzhou, china: June 2008

Suzhou Night Market

We are in a long rainy season this year. Every day it is rain. Last weekend was exception. We had a nice clear day. Jesse took us to a night market in west side of SIP on Saturday. We had Chinese style of BBQ skewer (xiaokao).

It is actually a restaurant street. They put tables and chairs out. There are some beggars walking around to ask some money. I didn’t want them to disturb our dinner. I choose to sit inside. However Akiva suggested to sit outside. In fact he loved to look around people walking by. He paid 5 Yuan to buy a bag of steamed peanuts. We had a guy to play Chinese guitar and to sing Chinese kid’s song for us (20 Yuan per song). Of course some beggars came by. Aiva told an old beggar “NO!”.

Wuhan Famous Roasted Duck Neck

I thought BBQ was excellent. There was only a little bit of meat on skewer. So I can eat 20 skewers yet still hungry. I actually like a little meat part. It is quicker to cook and I don’t need to worry about too much if the meat is cooked or not. Kenaz is such a good eater. He grabbed a skewer by his self and enjoyed it (His favorite word now is “by myself” in Japanese).

We all loved the taste and atmosphere. Sunday we went back again!

Akiva's first big girlie performance

Akiva was part of a graduation ceremony yesterday...he graduated from "small small class" to "small class". And to celebrate, the teacher dressed the whole class in traditional Chinese baby clothes called "Du-Bu" and then made them dance. (I have seen adult women in Shanghai wear the same Du-bu on the street BTW...but that is another story)

Note that Akiva's face looks just like his mothers. So when he wear's girly cloths, he really looks girly. I believe that if he hates his parents later in life, this may be one of the singular instances he will point to as evidence concerning how his parents messed him up (just as I point to my father getting frustrated with me when teaching me how to play catch with a baseball)

So Akiva's class-mate Lou Xiao Yu ("Little Rain Lou" ) was supposed to dance with Akiva. Akiva stuck out his tounge out and being silly. The little girl kept pulling on Akiva and grabbing him. And Akiva just shrugged her off. Which tells me he is learning to not let himself be manipulated by the crazy girls who want him dance.