WHY I FEEL SKINNIER IN CHINA

I've been having a hard time finding time to post lately. My children love being on the computer and so I asserted myself tonight and kicked Jameson off, that's the only way for me to have enought time in front of the computer to post. Funny things happen to us all the time so I'd like to share just a few tonight in hopes it makes you smile. We have learned to laugh at ourselves daily....so it's okay if you laugh at us too.
When hailing a taxi here, you simply raise your hand slightly and a driver knows to pull over. It's a subtle movement. One day as Selah, Jameson and I began our walk to school, I realized the wind was cutting thru my pants and so to be the popular mom I suggested we take a taxi. Jameson eagerly said he'd flag down the taxi. He ran ahead of me and flailed his arms as if his pants were on fire!! A taxi slammed on his brakes and the man who was in the back seat got out to give us his ride. I imagine he thought we had an emergency and felt we needed the ride more than he. I refused to get in and explained the misunderstanding as best I could with body language. The man was kind but I couldn't see getting into the taxi and not saying "Take us to the hospital....quick!" Instead all I could say was " my pants were thin so I wanted a ride" We continued walking and I flagged down the next taxi. Jameson learned his lesson and now he flags down a taxi as well as the Chinese do.
The first several weeks we were here I thought I was shrinking! My jeans were so loose and it appeared I was losing weight like crazy. Then I realized that because we don't have a dryer and because all our clothes air dry after being washed, my jeans were not shrinking....and because I have to wear them a few days in a row I was stretching them out. I may not be skinnier in China but my jeans help me feel like I am!
Last Saturday in my English class, I asked one of my students if I was saying the Chinese for "English teacher" correctly. I said "ying yu" for English and she corrected me and said "ying row". I was surprised I've been saying it wrong for the past 6 weeks so I double checked with her. Once again she said "ying row". We discussed this for awhile and I said how do you say "English " and she said "mutton" Over and over we tried to figure what each other was saying. It was like the who's on first routine. Finally we realized that she thought I asked how to say mutton. I laughed because if I would not have persisted with correcting her, I may have gone around the city telling everyone that I'm a mutton teacher!!
I'll write more later.......so much to tell!

Andra