Lea Xu "Here and There" China & US : Dance: A Gift from the Past and Present to my Girls

Lea Xu "Here and There" China & US : Dance: A Gift from the Past and Present to my Girls

Dance: A Gift from the Past and Present to my Girls

 It has been 24 years since the last time I was on stage.  I had a solo performance in a Korean dance called "Dancing in Autumn" last month.  That date was also the celebration of the 20^th anniversary of  the Hengda dancing school    It also happened to fall during Louie’s recent month long absence when he traveled to Tibet.   Being a “single” mom (temporarily) with three children, in addition to work, cooking, cleaning and chauffeuring the girls around for after school activities,  it was extra busy with the addition of the group and private lessons.    One might  wonder whey I decided to take the assignment.  It really felt like it was the right and especially appropriately timed opportunity for me.

    You see, it was that 14 years ago when I first learned the same dance. Then, I found that I was pregnant with Selena, our oldest daughter back in early 2002.
 I have always been a big fan of dance, I started to learn dancing when I was six years old.  Dancing had always been in my heart up until I was pregnant with one after another with three of my daughters. Of course I am much older, bigger than when I was practicing rhythm gymnastics in college.  I have  lots of vivid memories of doing both choreography and dancer myself since middle school years.    Taking care of three children, along with practiced and rehearsal again and again was a challenge for my body and time commitment at this age.   

 However, when I was told by  an audience member, they heard a girl said “She is my mom.” at my performance, I knew my girls were really proud of me.  In some ways, this is one of the best moment that this proud mom  could ever have. *******************************************************************************************

Me During College Gymnastics 

Food & Memories Connect to "Home"

     Whenever I see my friends from China post pictures of food in We Chat (China' equivalent to Facebook), I want to fly back to China right at that very instant. It's not just about the food only, it is also just a much about the dining experience and connection with friends and relatives.  It brings a feeling of warmth, homey – relaxed and comfy. 

     I never really knew how much I would miss China until after we returned from Guangzhou to Seattle after living in Guangzhou for a good six years.  It's easy to miss the times when girlfriends can get together almost any time before picking up girls from school  or after dropping them off at school, birthday parties, at the salon, meet for coffee, food or simply for no reason.  Life was more relaxing, flexible and enjoyable.

      It may sound odd to people in N. America -- but there, one does not have to worry about making appointment way ahead of time.  When going out to eat, one does not have to wait in a crowd waiting for seating in a few very limited option of restaurants.  Also, a person does not have to keep your voice down even though others might talk loudly. 

     I miss China because I feel well connected with the culture, the language and the people.  Being a mother, I have done my best to invest my time and energy for my children by bringing them to China to learn Chinese and take them back to the US for a “better” education for their future.  Like most Americans, I only want to be part of their lives for a period of time and then I like to live in my country, even though it is still developing.  If you ask me, what is the real difference between China and America? I would say, being born in China, I still found “East or West, home is the best”.

Lantern Festival

Our family has done just a little for Lantern Festival today, since school schedules in the US don't really accommodate that.  The first photo below shows the glutinous rice balls I made for breakfast this morning.  I've posted a few more below that show some of the celebrations happening in China now. Hope your family has a wonderful weekend!

Chinese New Year Memories and Plans

Jasmine was asking me yesterday when we were in Starbucks, “Mommy, what was your Chinese new year like when you were my age? And, if I ask about Grandpa being with you at the time, please do not cry, all right?”

I told her I would not cry, as I LOVE to talk about times when Grandpa was with us.  He cooked the best Chinese food for New Year’s Eve, usually when Grandma and I would take a shower and change into our new year clothes on the afternoon of New Year’s Eve. 

“Didn’t you need to help to prepare the New Year’s Eve dinner?”  she asked.

No, actually we did not have to.  Grandpa just enjoyed cooking, which is like your daddy.  But your grandpa liked to do everything himself.

“What did he cook for you?” 

He cooked fish, chicken, hotpot and lots of tasty food.  Grandma and I would get to watch TV after our showers, and we would wash clothes and clean the apartment.  It was the best thing to do -  just relax, eat and watch TV like you girls do on the weekend.  Grandpa did watch the Chinese New Year TV Gala with us after dinner.  Oh, he would do the fireworks right before New Year’s Eve dinner and after midnight. But he napped during the TV program, I guess he was tired.  On new year’s day, he would get up first, just after another round of fireworks. He would cook new year’s breakfast for us including a new year’s cake, ginger sugar tea and rice krispies.  It was like room service, we did not even have to get up to have breakfast!   Hongbao was always exciting.  But being taken care of, shown by each delicious meal made with love and joy is the most impressive memory.    I remember once, soon after breakfast while we were watching TV in bed, we were called to have lunch.  Of course, there were a lot of different varieties of food like the German Krispy Pork. Eating around the hotpot was always the best time for my family.  Ever since being a little child, spicy hot spot is my favorite.  Grandpa never complained. He cooked for us and enjoyed eating himself as well as watching us eat! J 

Lea as a teen & her dad 

“So grandpa was like daddy, sounds like he was a great chef.”     

 Yes. And, New Year’s here in the States will be celebrating like what we did in China – get together with friends or as a family and have at least one big MEAL.  On the menu, daddy has already written down: baked salmon, roast chicken, steamed clam, fried chicken wings, double-fried pork and hot pot. 

“So you are lucky to always have great cooks, Mom.  We are lucky too to have daddy.” 

 Yes honey, we should always appreciate what we have and enjoy it.  So we won’t regret things one day, when they are no longer with us. We should keep our memories vivid and sweet.  No tears at all.  This is the New Year spirit – always appreciate and enjoy life.

Jasmine Sings

Jasmine, my youngest daughter, and I have just returned from a short visit to China. It was a fun whirlwind of a time. It is the first time she and I have traveled for such a distance, having extended “mom and daughter” time. This purpose of this trip was to attend and participate in the ceremonies to announce the Top Ten Children’s Songs and Top Ten Young Performers in China. There were more than 175 performers participating in the show, showcasing more 120 original children’s songs. Though I received notice that Jasmine had been included in the Top Ten Child Performers in China, and that her song had also been chosen among the Top Ten Children’s Songs, I did not want to spoil her surprise. I waited until she was on stage and it was announced on live TV during the awards show the evening of January 10th . That is when she found out the news. It was hard to resist telling her ahead of time, particularly during the ceremonies, when she asked me if I thought she had a chance, but I wanted her just experience the moment and enjoy the surprise. 

The reason for this opportunity originated while we were still living in Guangzhou during 2012. Jasmine has always loved to sing, and she had been taking voice lessons and it was recommended for her to make a short album. She chose a song about happiness by Han Chun, a well-known song writer. The song received quite a lot of air play. Similar to the US, there is a “billboard chart” of popular songs, this particular one is somewhat new and it is centered on children’s songs. Her album began to climb this children’s song billboard. It climbed the charts for several weeks, rising from number 18, 13, 11, 9 to 7. It was then number 2 in the country for two weeks and spent one week at number one in the country. In fact, for eight weeks between June 1st and July 20, her song was listed among the top 20, and was receiving about 20,000 daily hits. 

So, all of this led her to being invited the awards ceremony in January. This awards show included several different types of awards, such as Top Ten Composers; Best Female singer; etc. She was included in the two categories of Top 10 Songs and Top 10 Singers. In fact, Jasmine is one of the youngest singers to be listed on the Top 20 songs, which is quite fun for her. Although just eight years old, she is a rather relaxed and calm personality, though once she gets on stage to perform, she seems to “blossom” and become quite the performer. I’m including a number of photos from the evening’s event and some “selfies” she and I took along the journey. The master of ceremonies asked her several questions during the evening and asked if she preferred to speak English or Mandarin, to which Jasmine replied “Either one is fine” and he was quite taken with that!

Our short trip was a delightful time of mom and daughter togetherness time. We crammed our time completely full to be able to see as many friends and also family as possible. My aunt and also my mom were able to come to the festivities and Jasmine was able to see a few China school friends. Wow, it was a whirlwind time of delightful fun. It was also a glimpse into my daughter’s growing personality, as she seemed to take it all rather casually and simply and just enjoyed the experience on the red carpet at the awards equal to the fun she had seeing her school chums and visiting family. I was not only proud of her for her accomplishment, but also how calm and grounded she was during all the commotion of the ceremonies, autographs and pictures. What an honor and delight that we got to do this -- and though it was hard to keep the secret – it was fun to watch her find out! This experience will always hold a special place in my heart, as does Jasmine!

t is time of the year to reflect and pause and express thanks. Here are some of our family’s personal reflections we recently discussed at home.  I captured them and am sharing with you, our friends.
Family and friends are the ones we appreciate the most.  For me, besides my parents, my husband, my children, my friends and the staff  at Lotus Travel, I am thankful for meeting many people whom I’ve met either in person or not throughout my life.  I think each encounter is one I can learn from.  The flower man who sold flowers everyday downstairs of our Guangzhou apartment; the bike dak guy who worked to pursue his dream of meeting his loved girl; and many others who taught me to appreciate, love and be totally present in the moment.



The year of 2014 has been filled with challenges and blessings. Our girls have had a big transition with change of countries, language and schools.  The hardest transition has been the language.  Louie and I have been working around the clock again without helping hands after living in China for six “comfy” years with a nanny to assist us. The transition has been smooth so far. It turns out our girls LOVE the school here; they are blessed to have GREAT teachers.
Louie works the same as before.  A lotJ! This year he has traveled twice to lead groups; during the summer time he led two groups and he also is leading one during Christmas time.  He continues loving what he is doing and has more followers to Uncle Louie Tours each year.  I take a lead role at home with a focus on the girls’ schooling, including communication with teachers, volunteering and after-school activities.  There is also chauffeuring the girls for dancing, singing, swimming, soccer, piano and more! Selena still loves reading; her favorite book right now is “Fault in our Stars”. Being in the school here for just six months, Selena has already become one of the top students. Liane loves sports; she plays front position on the “She-Hawks” soccer team and scored 13 out of 21 for her team (undefeated so far) this season.  Jasmine continues her voice lessons; we have learned that Jasmine was nominated in five categories of the Top Ten Chinese Children’s Singers. Also, we’ve been notified that one of Jasmine’s songs was nominated among the Top Ten Chinese Children’s Songs. This is the very first time that the Chinese Songs Listing Board has given awards to Chinese children. We are really proud of her. Selena and Jasmine are also learning Chinese dance and Ballet from Mr. Li HengDa, the judge for ‘So You Think You Can Dance?” China-US Competition.  All three girls play piano; Louie is a good monitor/supervisor of daily practices

For me, two memorable events happened this fall.   First of all, I traveled and visited the FCC group in Vancouver, BC.  Also accompanying me was Jenni “Fang” Lee of the documentary “Somewhere Between”.  Though we had talked on the phone previously, this was our first in-person meeting.  Spending time with Fang was as delightful as I had anticipated!  While she spoke to FCC kids, I spoke to adults; then I was able to hear her perspective as an adult adoptee and appreciate her experiences of traveling back to China 14 times following her adoption.  Her discussion/ Q&A time with parents was compelling.  I also was able to share about our family’s experience of living in China for the past six years.  There were lots of rewarding experiences to discuss about living between two cultures.

Another delightful experience was joining 2014 Holt Portland Gala in order to raise funds for providing medical support to children in China.  Lotus Travel was one of the key sponsors of this event. Our youngest daughter, Jasmine was honored to sing a beautiful Chinese song at the VIP reception of the event, and it was a rich time with Holt families, board members and friends at Holt.   I recently read (in Chinese) that provided a comprehensive overview of China adoption during the last twenty years. Mr. and Mrs. Holt were highlighted in the article as the pioneers of international adoption. All of this caused me to stop and consider how fortunate we have been.  Louie and I started working with families twenty years ago, about the time that adoptions from China began to get started.  We have been involved in a very personal way, with helping families connect and travel to meet their child for whom they earnestly worked and waited.  This opportunity – to be in the midst of this life-changing journey for so many – has enriched us immeasurably.   I wish you and yours the very best this coming year!                                               

Blessings,
Lea Xu