Leading up to the Opening Ceremonies we had a fun day of preparation and exploration.
First we decided what teams we were going to follow during the games. We will all follow USA and China, to make it fair.
To decide on individual teams we looked over some flag stickers I got with my Rainbow Resource order. This helped narrow the selection. We called out different countries we were interested in, discussing who we thought would have the most medals. When the boy decided he wanted the history of the last few games. After a quick Google search we determined that Russia and Germany were two countries with strong Summer game performances in the past three games. With that knowledge, the boy chose Russia and the girl agreed to take Germany. I decided on Japan.
I printed out blank flags of China, USA, Germany and Japan. I had to make Russia, thankfully it is a very simple design. In preparation we colored all the flags, found the countries on the map and colored our maps as well. We talked about the Olympic rings, the torch and found our names in Chinese. Here is my name, I think I will stick with English.
After some errands in the afternoon we found ourselves at the Oriental Mart. Interesting place I tell ya. Live crab, a large variety of fish, squid, octopus and other bizarre things. We decided on a spice pack to make a curry dish and many oriental candies and treats. The ice cream marshmallows were very yummy. We will sample the others throughout the week.
For dinner we went to China King Buffet. All you can eat Chinese food. We passed on the squid but loved the pineapple chicken. Here is my plate, from top right around clock wise. Crab dip, chicken wrap, sweet and sour chicken, lo mien noodles, broccoli, rice, pineapple chicken and terriyaki on a kabob.
The kids did really well with their chop sticks.
Even little girl with the noodles.
After dinner we settled in at home to watch the Opening Ceremonies. As mentioned above, AMAZING! The kids both had ambitions to stay up until midnight. Little girl crashed out at 9pm.
The boy made it a good share through the parade of nations. Finally, exhausted he succumbed to sleep with the request that I wake him up for the torch.
I tried to rise him when the United States team arrived but he did not budge, at all.
I kept my eyes open as long as they would allow but I too drifted off. Only to awaken to the cheers for team China. I acknowledged them and went right back to sleep. Only to wake up again at the finale of the torch lighting. As NBC said "Goodnight." I carried my little ones to their beds and said "good night" as well.
What a swell first day.
2 comments:
Wow! You are doing great. Thank you for posting your plans and showing us how you are doing with them. I love that the Homeschooling can be incorporated throughout the day including dinner. Love you dear lady and love seeing your family learn together. You are getting me closer and closer to the homeschool thing myself. (Not yet)
You should have the kids eat Pocky Sticks - they are a favorite of the Chinese & Thai's. It's like a chocolate stick. The chinese also eat alot of as we call them... potstickers, or JiaoZi (pronounced jOW-zIt). We ate a ton of those. It's so great that they are learning about a new culture. It's crazy for me to see so much of a country that I have been to on American TV!
Post a Comment