Do you want to know how many different kinds of animals you can make out of a pair of socks?

Alot. That one on the far right is supposed to be a Spider. That is why I gave it an elastic 'web' comming out of his back. I made it for one of my students, because I am friends with his mother. His English name is Spider because he likes Spider man. Think of what name you would have picked for yourself if you were allowed to pick an English name at age six. Exactly. That is why I have students who go by "Cinderella", "Flower", "Pig", "Spider", and "Gogo". The rest of them are content to go by names that I gave them at the beginning of the year.

I made the sock dog for another friend's child. Her name is Xin Yue, which means 'happy heart', which is the same meaning as my Chinese name, Xin Yi. It is a relatively common name for a girl.

And so begins week eight of quarantine. This might well be the final week, because the students go home next Saturday. School will be out for the summer.

We have started to clean up the house, deciding what will be left in China, what will continue on with us to Laos, and what will return to the U.S. It is forcing me to face my pack-rat, Great Depression tendancies. Anyway, it is kind of fun to play Santa Claus to my Chinese friends, giving them the stuff that we don't want to take home. One of my friends already claimed the vitamins.

Be my guest. Oh, and don't forget to e-mail me your address if you want a postcard from Laos or Thailand in a couple weeks...so far I have three takers.

ckb

Sunday, Jun. 01, 2003 at 3:55 PM