The Chinese Language Wave

My friend Jen W. sent me the following article from the NY Times. Looks like we won't be alone in our attempts to learn Mandarin.

October 15, 2005

Classes in Chinese Grow as the Language Rides a Wave of Popularity

By GRETCHEN RUETHLING

CHICAGO, Oct. 14 - The future of foreign language study in the might be glimpsed here at Louisa May Alcott Elementary School, in a classroom where lanterns with cherry blossoms and pandas dangle overhead, and a paper dragon, an American flag and a Chinese flag hang from the wall.

One recent morning, a class of third graders bowed to one another and introduced themselves in Chinese, and a class of fourth graders practiced writing numbers in Chinese characters on marker boards. Chinese classes began at Alcott in February, but more students are already choosing it over Spanish.

"Chinese is our new baby," said David J. Domovic, the principal at Alcott, on the North Side, one of 20 public schools in the city offering instruction in Mandarin. "Everybody just wants in."

With encouragement from the Chinese and American governments, schools across the United States are expanding their language offerings to include Chinese, the world's most spoken tongue, not to mention one of its most difficult to learn.

Read More

Fun with Flickr

I recently signed up with the photo sharing site called Flickr. It is great place where you can upload and share your images with the world. If you like photography, you can spend hours hopping from one image to another in whimsical ways.

If your images are good you might get a following and accumulate some fun comments to your work. Visit Flickr.

New Translation Service in China

I just learned about a new service that is available to travelers in China. It is called China Help Line (http://www.chinahelpline.com) and it promises to make interaction with non-English speaking Chinese a lot easier. Just call the service (021-6100-9700), explain what you want to say to the operator, hand the phone to the person you are trying to communicate with and voila. You have to sign up with the service beforehand and it only costs 37 cents per minute.

Now if only my cell phone would work in Beijing we won’t have any problems getting around.

Adoption from China: a Primer

Here is a brief breakdown of the major milestones in our process to become parents through adoption. In parentheses is the date we completed the step.

At the bottom you'll find a short list of some of the commonly used terms. I will continue to add to this list as needed, but I can't promise it will always be alphabetized.

Process:

• Applied to adoption agency (12.5.04)
• Pre-adoption group meetings (01.19.05 & 01.29.05)
  
• Home study meetings (03.22.05)
• Complete dossier for China (12.20.04 to 5.01.05)
• Home study report (03.25.05)
  
• Letter of application andcommitmentt
• Birth certificate
• Marriage certificate
• Letter of health
  
• Certificate or letter from local police (stating that neither applicant has criminal record)
• Letter from employer
  
• Letter of assets
• Proposed guardian information and assets
  
• Passport copy
• BCIS Form 171-H (Notice of Favorable Determination)
• Authentication of dossier (04.26.05 to 05.15.05)
• Dossier sent to China (sent beginning of May, logged in at CCAA May 17, 2005)
• Referral receive from CCAA
• Travel to China
• Adoption decree issued, new birth certificate and Chinese passport issued in provincial capital of child's current residence
• Travel to US Consulate in Guangzhou for exit interview and to obtain visa for baby to enter the US
• Return to US, child receives automatic US Citizenship upon entry to US
  

Definitions

CCAA
China Center for Adoption Affair

Dossier
A collection of papers, or other sources, containing detailed information about a particular person or subject, together with a synopsis of their content (source). As the definition implies, the dossier represents the sum total of our 5 1/2 month effort to convince every authority imaginable that we are worthy to adopt a child. Each of the documents had to go through a complex set of certifications to make them acceptable to the foreign court. Dossier preparation is one of the agency's services.

Home Study
A home study, also called an adoption study, is a written description of you and your family prepared by an adoption agency or private adoption professional. It is used to determine which child would best fit into your home. The home study process should be an educational and enlightening experience for the prospective adoptive family.

You can expect some or all of the following to be part of the process.

• interviews with the parent/s individually and together (if a couple)
• group meetings involving several applicant families (many agencies do this)
• autobiographies written by each parent
• a home visit
• medical reports from your physician
• references from friends and associates
• proof of employment
• investigations into any criminal record, including the state's child abuse registry
• participation in adoption information training classes
• personal finance information
• copies of tax returns

In the course of the home study process, you will have the opportunity to talk with your social worker about the following topics:

• why you want to adopt
• your readiness to parent
• your family's values
• your hopes and expectations for the adoptive child
• your family's strengths and weaknesses
• how your family handles crises and change
• where you'll get support or professional help, if needed

Referral
Our child's name, photo and medical history. Prior to overnighting it, China usually faxes the package to the agency, at which point we are contacted and asked to come in as soon as possible to review. We only have a week to agree to accept the child. The amount of information contained in the package varies from child to child and from orphanage to orphanage. We have seen a fairly complete referral with half a dozen pictures, an actual birth date (pinned to the child's shirt by her birth mother), and quite detailed medical and personality information to a spartan one with only a single black and white mug shot with spotty medical history and no information from the care giver. We will be taking whatever medical information we are provided to a Chinese colleague of Michelle's who will translate the report and look for anything unusual. We might also take the translation to a pediatrician that specializes in reviewing foreign medical reports for international adoptions.

Travel Invitation
This basically refers to the visa process required for traveling to China.

Lang Lang

We went to the Kennedy Center for a little Chinese culture. The month of October is The Festival of China, 'the largest celebration of Chinese performing arts in American history.' Since we are going to soon be a Chinese American family we're looking for opportunities to expose ourselves to the culture whenever we have an opportunity. This series of programs will be a great way to deepen our understanding and appreciation for our childs country of origin.

For our first night we chose to see the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra with our friend Jason and Trish, who are also adopting from China. The orchestra was one of the first founded in China after the cultural revolution in 1949. It might sound silly, but I don't think I have seen such a large orchestra on stage before. They had a very large and powerful sound. Three pieces by Chinese composers were on the program:

• Cantonese Music Suite, Op. 51
• Iris Devoilee (Iris Unveiled)
• Yellow River Piano Concerto

Due to a scheduling change the first piece they performed was Iris Dévoilée, by Chen Qigang, a mélange of sorts that tried to evoke 'the multifaceted female disposition.' I wasn't impressed with the piece as a whole, but rather with moments. There were parts for 3 female voices and 3 traditional Chinese instruments. One of the female voices was a performer with the Peking opera. I have to readily admit to having almost no previous exposure to Chinese Opera. Having it thrust at me in the midst of a western style orchestration was probably not the most appropriate introduction. She was beautifully dressed in traditional attire with an impressive red headdress, but when she opened her mouth out came a rather contraditory screech that was like nails on a chalkboard. I'll have to give Chinese Opera another change, at another time.

The 2nd piece was lovely, but you could tell that the audience was eagerly waiting for the finale with the piano soloist Lang Lang. I had heard his name before this evening, but I had no idea of his following in China nor his world-wide fame. He didn't disappoint. The Yellow River Concerto is full of drama, speed, and flare, the later quality allowing Lang Lang to exhibit his exceptional dexterity and virtuosity on the ivorys.

As might be expected in a performance of this nature at a festival of China, the audience was overwhelming comprised of Chinese. I was most impressed with the fact that a majority of people brought their young children. This is usually not the case for a typical Sunday evening performance at the Kennedy Center. It was rather nice to see the kids sitting quietly and enjoying the music with their parents. I hope Michelle and I can overcome the general American tendency to exclude their children from such 'adult' performances as we raise our daughter.