when is dance class?

My girls are in an extra-curricular dance class at their school.  They love it.  And so do I.  We're so thankful for this little class. 

I could quickly list about fifteen reasons I am grateful for our local school (and dance class) experience.   And I'd come up with even more reasons if I had time to sit and think about it (note: I have little time to sit and think these days! ha!)

One of my top reasons to be grateful? Local school is teaching me SO MUCH about this culture!  After years of living here I still have (oh so) much to learn, and the local school experience is a great vehicle for learning it.  I'm also watching my kids pick up on all sorts of little local-isms..... turns out that they are not only learning to speak Chinese, but they have certain ways of "thinking Chinese". 

Maybe one day I'll do a whole post on little idiosyncrasies that I find cropping up in their conversation, or their actions, or their thought processes that make me cock my head and think "they totally think like a Chinese person in that aspect, and I bet they learned it at school". 

So back to the dance class scheduling craziness I'll-never-get-used-to-this-part-of-the-culture stuff :) 

The class is scheduled for 5:45 on Fridays.  And so far this fall the class has met four times.  Only one of those meetings was at the originally scheduled time.  The other three meetings were: Tuesday at 5:45, Thursday at 5:45 and Friday at 11:45.   We typically have about 36 hours notice that the class time is changing. 

Yet if you walked up to the school right now and asked them "what time is the dance class?", they would answer "Friday at 5:45".  Even though their current success rate at actually meeting at that time is only 25%!!!!

I'm not sure how other families flex so well with all this last minute schedule changes, but I'm juggling the needs of five little people (and a husband who conveniently works different evening hours - especially, you guessed it! on Tuesdays and Thursdays!) 

When dance class happens (as it is scheduled to happen!) at 5:45 on Friday our family runs smooth as silk - quick early dinner for the littles, Matt runs the girls off to class, I start bedtime for the others then walk to go pick up the girls while Matt finishes up with the boys here.  I actually really enjoy the evening walk to go meet them, it's one of my best "down time 20 minutes" of the week.

But when dance class happens at other times... well, it takes a little (or a LOT) of flexing from this Mama.  And I'm learning to do it graciously.  And watching my girls take it in stride!  This is how they roll - or rather, how they are learning to roll with the culture.  

I might need a few semesters of local school myself.  Or, I guess, in a way I'm getting my own "schooling" just sending my children!  So thankful for this -

A random pic of our big three dancing at home.  We have a Chinese praise and worship DVD produced in Hong Kong that totally reminds me of Kids Incorporated (remember that?) without the cheesy acting.  My girls are big fans.  Even Isaac will participate with the big sisters :)  John Paul knows the hand motions too, and I spot him waving his arms from his car seat in the back of the van when I play this CD.