Olympics & Music

The opening ceremony of the Olympics was pure magic. That was one performance that in your mind you were saying "What's next". How could 2,000 people be in sync to that magnitude? Amanda wasn't that interested in watching it, but it taught us even more about our daughter's heritage and why she is the way she is on such a deep level.

Even with the most simple tasks, Amanda wants to get it right. She will start over and over again if she makes a mistake or if something isn't up to her standards. I have explained to her that if she gets a word wrong while reading, she doesn't have to go back to the beginning of the story. I don't want to discourage her from trying her best, but want her to know it's okay to make mistakes.

It's very important to me that Amanda learns music. She just started taking piano lessons with my sister. While others were bringing back pearls and other mementos for their daughters from China, my greatest find was a musical instrument. I decided which one to look for one day when I was alone with Amanda in a park near our hotel in Nanning. An elderly man was playing the most beautiful and haunting instrument that resembled a violin.


The following week when we were waiting for her Visa in Guangzhou, I went into a shop called Jennifer's Place. It was where all the families shopped for inexpensive gifts and they by far had the most reasonable laundry service. I spotted this special violin on a shelf, but it looked like a cheap souvenier. I asked the shopkeeper if she had any others. She said that she had one in their backroom. She brought out this dark snakeskin case and inside was the real thing! It was an authentic "Erhu". I bought it.


As we came through customs in Detroit, there we were, carrying our priceless Amanda, 2 weeks worth of luggage and the snakeskin case, which I promptly declared to my sister. I told her that her job as Amanda's official "Ayi" (Auntie) who can only be the sister of the mom, was to teach Amanda the Erhu. So, we're starting with piano and will go from there.



Check out the 12 Girls Band playing Cold Plays "Clocks". There you will see what an Erhu is!