Christmas at the Big Apple

Now that we're in our own home, we're not as Internet impaired as we were while in the hotel, though it did take me about 10 times longer to upload this post than any other, ever. Here, at last, is the post I wrote weeks ago on the day after the Christmas pageant at Vivian's school, but was unable to upload with the video content. I hope its not too late to get you into the holiday spirit.
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The Christmas pageant at the Big Apple School was a true cultural experience and a great welcome to Qingdao. It all started out with the usual cute kids in Santa suits singing while picking noses:

And from there, it progressed into so much more than we ever expected. Among the highlights were a truly impressive, looong dance by a troupe of 5 or 6 year old girls:

A fan dance with plus vocal talent, performed by the teachers:

Another kiddy dance troupe, this one in true Village People style:

A Kung Fu demonstration: Vivi's Uncle Louie would have loved this kid. He was very serious about his sport. Very disciplined,unlike the other kids who were doing the usual giggling and goofing off:

A beautiful solo performance of a traditional Chinese dance by Vivian's teacher Laila:

And if all that isn't enough, a little Chinese pop bump-n-grind dance by more teachers. Bruce and I were too overcome by stunned hilarity to get much on video, but we did manage to capture what may be the best part. What exactly this has to do with Christmas, Bruce and I could only speculate between gasps of hilarity and wiping the tears of mirth from our cheeks. We're all for sharing cultural gems, but we really hope Vivi doesn't learn this particular dance in school.

That was, of course, a hard act to follow. When Vivian's class finally got on stage, poor thing, she just wasn't quite sure what to do. All the other kids had been practicing for months, but as you know Vivian has only been at that school for two weeks, so she didn't quite get the routine. So what did she do? She stood there for a while, then put her pom-pom on her head, then she covered her ears. Poor thing, at least she didn't cry. And at least she wasn't left out.

WhenI lasked her later, she said she had loads of fun. And that's what I was worried about, that she have fun.

The pictures are a little disappointing, but I forgot the battery for my good camera at home. Maybe next year I'll do better!