News Finally Made Public

The big news that I haven't been able to share the past few weeks has finally been made public here.  My brother Thomas and his wife Margeret are pregnant and due April 22nd!  I am really excited for them, and looking forward to being an uncle for the 4th time.

Here is Thomas and Margeret who recently moved out to Houston, Texas as my brother was signed from the Patriots to the Texans.

I became an uncle for the first time almost 3 1/2 years ago when my oldest sister Keri had this stinker/sweet heart/drama queen/diva/trouble maker/just plan fun little girl named Skylar.

Then again when the "aloha baby," Hannah, was born to my second oldest sister Jennifer a year and a half ago.  I got to meet her for the first time this past summer when I flew out to Hawaii.  She is a little eating/giggling machine.

Then for a third time this past April 1st when Keri had her second child, and the first boy of the family named Finley.  He is a CHUNK and a happy little man.

So, will the first child carrying the Austin name even the numbers out at 2 boys and 2 girls, or will it be another girl?  We will all have to wait with them till April to find out as they will be keeping it a surprise.

Eating Baby Angels

I received the most wonderful gift today...

I was given this box.  My sponsors (and dear...dear, dear, dear friends) returned last night from Hong Kong and had this wonderful box with them when they arrived.  When I saw it sitting on the table I was seriously looking for the rainbow that must have ended at this location.  However, I refrained from getting my hopes up after my Mid Autumn Festival lesson on how dangers that can be.  I told myself, "Joshua hold it together there could just be a t-shirt inside", but NO.  I removed the box from the refrigerator and opened it to find this...

A formation of donuts so spectacular!  Lined up in ranks like Civil War soldiers standing before a battle the delicacies laid glaze to glaze waiting for me to arrive.  It was as if twelve big eyes were as excited to see me as I was to see them, for my eyes went wide to match my gapping mouth.  A dream come true...

This moment reminded me of a great video that my sister Jennifer showed me.  This is for you Jenn.

Now go, find your nearest Krispy Kreme and....enjoy!

Mid-Autumn Festival

This past Monday was the Mid-Autumn Festival here in China.  They compare it to our Thanksgiving.  It is a time when Chinese families get together and enjoy a meal with each other while watching the moon.  I heard about this celebration about a week before the big day, and got pretty excited about it.  I'm not really sure why I got so excited...Maybe the word "Thanksgiving" created a natural reaction in my body that subconscously made me think of my mother's Thanksgiving feast.  I don't know...but I was excited.  So...it was cool, but it didn't make "all of my wildest dreams come true"(little shout out to you Bekah).  In other words, it wasn't everything that I had been building it up to be.  First of all the city I live in is so big that the polution literally blots out the sun.  So, the moon had no chance.  That's okay I've seen the moon before I was more excited about the "feast."  Well...then I remembered that my only Chinese friends are those at the local universities...and they don't have kitchens.

So instead I had a fun night of hanging out with some friends on campus playing guitar and singing songs in Chinese and English.  We even let off one of the traditional Chinese floating/flying fire lanterns.  I still don't have a new camera so this is a picture off google images.  Ours looked like this but "China" red.

Yet again my imagination and expections slightly got the best of me after hearing about the lantern.  I started picturing something really magical and majestic like from the movie "Tangled."  Yes, I've seen it and will say proudly that I enjoyed it (Pretty much anything made by Pixar I will see).  Well...our latern didn't really want to fly.  We held it as it filled up with hot air, but it didn't want to go anywhere.  We were starting to feel the pressure as a crowd started forming around us to see it fly away.  Finally, after having to wait much longer than normal (or so my Chinese friends said) our lantern took to the air.  As it started to rise my friends began to explain to me that the latern represents hope.  The hope of the people, family, and county.  The words weren't far from his mouth when our lantern came crashing back down......happy Mid-Autumn Festival everyone!

Stereotypes

What is the most stereotypical scenario you can imagine when thinking about China?  Well a few weeks ago my "stereotype fantasy," if you will, came true...I walked into Trust Mart (our local department store chain that is of course own by who else?  Wal Mart) and found a group of people huddled around one of the TV's on display.  Upon closer examination I saw that they were watching.....wait for..... King Kong fight Godzilla!  People does it get any better?





Later that day while reflecting on the moment I decided to give back to "The People" of The People's Republic of China by filling what I thought to be the most stereotypical America scenario...(or at least the one most redible accessible to me)



So I rode my bike around town the whole next day wearing a cowboy hat (that was left in our apartment) and singing country songs.

It is a give and take relationship. So, China...thank you and you're welcome. 

Rewind: Summer Part 4

I recently realized while looking through some pictures that I never posted about the great time I had at my oldest sister Keri's house during the summer.  And since I don't have a camera till my new one arrives from the States, (my primary camera was stolen and my secondary stopped working after one day) I thought I would rewind a little and share some pictures from that trip.  This post would have followed Part 3 in the sequence of posts about my early summer adventures.  After leaving my great friends Spencer and Anna's wedding I traveled up to meet...

this little guy for the first time, (my nephew, Finley Paul Rue)

and this wild girl (my oldest niece Skylar Nicole Rue).  These pictures pretty much encapsulate my time with each of them.  Finley slept, while Skylar didn't really ever stop talking or moving.  She is hilarious and a lot of fun.  This picture was taken just after she attacked a chocolate ice cream cone.  Her daddy would be so proud.

I hadn't seen my parents but a few hours in the past six months, so it was really nice that they were there when I arrived.  We got to celebrate my dad's belated birthday together the next day.  We were a few weeks late, but the cake was fresh.  Skylar probably thought it was her birthday again because she got to blow the candles out...a few times.

 Soon after my parents left Naomi, one of their cadets from West Point, arrived from nearby Fort Drum for a few days of R&R.  Skylar had a lot of fun playing with her...so much for R&R.  The first day we headed over to the YMCA pool for some aquatic fun.

 There was lots of splashing and screaming.

I also taught her how to turn a noodle into a squirt gun.  We had fun shooting the other kids in the pool with it.  What else are uncles good for than teaching devious activities?

A few days later we got out of the house to see the amazing Watertown Zoo.  It wasn't much more than a petting zoo with a lot of broken "under construction" exhibits.  However, we did have the Brown Bear walk right up to the glass to say hello.  He was one of the few animals that didn't look like a "hand me down" from a larger zoo.

 Probably the coolest thing we did besides hanging out together was a boat ride on the St. Lawrence River.  Keri lives only about 30 minutes from the US/Canada border not far from Lake Ontario.  The St. Lawrence separates Canada and the US near a place called 1000 Islands.  Yes, it is where the salad dressing was invented.

It was normal to see planes and yachts parked in front of the massive homes.

The islands are mostly personally own by millionaires who build monstrous houses on them.  This was the craziest of them all, Boldt Castle.  The castle has an incredible story behind it that you'll have to read about sometime.  I think I could write an entire blog post about this building alone.  At the end of our ride we got to tour the castle and the island it sits on.  (Heart Island, the owner blew up sections to make it into that shape for his wife he gifted the castle to...all part of the story.)

One of the bridges that rises above the river spanning between the US and Canada

Later in our trip Skylar got to take control of the boat.  She was even given a little paper saying that she was now certified to drive.  She was pretty proud of herself.

An incomplete family picture.  We are all really excited for them as their daddy, U.S. Army Captain Micah Rue, will be returning from a year in Afghanistan in only a few days.  Thanks again for your service to our country Micah. (I just noticed the ladies shirt in the background.  That's pretty fitting.)

This was a pretty scattered post.  Too much to cover and not enough time to write.  Well it was some great family time!  I miss those munchkins.  Thank you for your wonderful hospitality Keri.

What better way to end a post but with Skylar's super hero pose?

Big Person Little World

I don't know if you have ever seen the show "Little People, Big World" before or not.  In short (ha ha no pun intended) it is about a dwarf midget "little person" (that sounds a lot more demeaning if you ask me) man and woman who get married and have three normal regular "typical" children and one "little person" child.  The one or two episodes I've actually seen are fairly interesting.  It shows all of the many challenges that they face because they are smaller than the "typical" person.

Well living here in China I feel like my life is this show, just the opposite.  Now presenting, "Big Person, Little World."

 

Yes, I have been fairly big for many years.  I hit 6' 2" the summer after middle school.  However, size is a very relative thing.  Example, last year I lived with four guys: Jay 6' 10", Derek 6' 4", and well...Ellis at 5' 10" (he's a cute little guy).  After living with those guys I felt pretty average if not below average in stature.  I have also been around football players nearly my whole life.  Therefore, it has taken a little getting used to feeling like a freak of nature her in China.  I didn't have people coming up to me everyday in the States to touch my arms, try and reach my head, or explain to me in Charades that my thighs are bigger than their waste...yeah that one can hurt sometimes.

I had some prior experience of couping with the difficulties of being a larger than the normal person before arriving to China.  I never expect to find my sizes in Goodwill, to be comfortable in planes, trains, or automobiles, along with other things.  However, these were nothing compared to living over here.  I tried to find some shirts the other day...good thing I've lost weight since football, the largest they carry is a XXXL.  It is approximately the same size as a large in the U.S.  I gave up on shoes pretty quickly after I found out that a size 14 is equal to a XXXXXXXXXXL (10XL). 

However, there do seem to be some perks as well. Examples: playing rugby, basketball, or trying to be found in large crowds by friends I'm meeting. In basketball they call me Shaq and always want me on their team. It great because I loathed basketball back in the States, but now that it is so much easier I kind of like it. 

The bottom line, I learned quickly that you just have to have fun with it. Hence my Chinese name  Dà yú nǐ, which means "bigger than you."