Book 48: Words Apart
August 10
Today was our first day back from our amazing month-long vacation across the United States. Regular life is going to seem so boring. But it’s nice seeing our pets again, and for me, it’s nice to be able to SEE again! Since my old glasses are currently resting at the bottom of a chasm in Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico, Mom took me to the ophthalmologist today and I got a new pair. I was going to get round blue rims like I’ve always had before, but changed my mind and opted for rectangular purple ones. I’m not quite used to them yet, but I will be eventually.
I just heard the front door open, which means that Mirisen and/or Harrisson is/are back from visiting Annabel and Sarabi Karini next door. They went over to get our gerbils while I was at the ophthalmologist. We picked Surprise up from the Reeveses’ as soon as we got home this morning, but we didn’t get to see Brian, Benny, or Jarrett because only their mom was home. Surprise and the cats were all very excited to see us!
August 10, later
Well! OK, maybe being back at home won’t be as boring as I thought.
Right after I finished writing that last entry, Mirisen and Harrisson both burst into my room. “Guess what,” said Harrisson breathlessly.
“What?”
“There’s gonna be a new girl in our neighborhood and she’s coming in two days!”
“A new girl?” That was interesting. “Living where? Did someone move out while we were away?”
Mirisen shook her head. “No, she’s coming from China to stay with the Zhangs for a month. She’s their niece and she’s nine years old. She’s coming for cultural and language immersion.”
“So she doesn’t speak any English?” I asked.
My siblings both shrugged. “She might speak some, but I’m pretty sure she doesn’t speak a lot,” said Harrisson.
“Either way, it’ll be really cool,” Mirisen added. “We can teach her English, and she can teach us Chinese!”
August 11
All of our neighborhood friends were in our yard today. Shelly Weimann, Leroy and Adelyne Walsh, Brian, Benny, and Jarrett Reeves, Molli Benson, Lucylynn Sevies, Annabel and Sarabi Karinis, Richard and Tara Dell, Robbie Cumper, and even Matthias Adrondetsky Rechibiaugh.
“Surprise!” they all yelled when we came outside.
“It’s your welcome-home party!” Sarabi explained.
We played a bunch of games and told everyone about our trip. Then we asked about the new girl.
“We don’t know much about her yet,” said Brian. “But the Zhangs promised they’d bring her over and introduce her when she gets here.”
“Guys, I have the best idea ever!” shouted Robbie. “We should do a surprise party for her too! To welcome her to the neighborhood!”
“I’m not sure that’s the best idea, buddy,” said Leroy thoughtfully. “It might be kind of overwhelming. Keep in mind, this is a whole new country for her. It’d probably be better for her to meet us slowly, just a few at a time.”
Most of us agreed that that made the most sense. But then everyone wanted to be the first to meet her.
“Guys, the Zhangs said they’d bring her over and introduce her to us,” Annabel finally reminded everyone. “Why don’t we just leave it at that, to start?”
We decided that was the best option. But it’s going to be so hard to wait!
August 12
We didn’t have to wait long. Early this afternoon, Mirisen, Harrisson, and I were playing volleyball out front with Annabel, Sarabi, and Jarrett. Suddenly, Harrisson yelled, “They’re coming!”
We all looked over and saw the Zhangs walking across the street, with a little girl between them. Harrisson, Sarabi, and Jarrett raced to meet up with them. We older girls hung back to give them some space.
But the Zhangs kept walking toward us, so we finally went to join them. “Hello,” Mrs. Zhang greeted us in her soft Chinese accent.
“Hi,” I said to her, and smiled at the little girl, who looked younger than nine. She gave me a shy smile in return.
“This is Chunhua,” Mrs. Zhang told us. “She arrived this morning. She speaks Mandarin, and only knows a couple words in English, but she’s very excited about meeting all of you.”
We all said, “Hi Chunhua,” except for Jarrett, who scrunched up his face and asked, “How do you say her name?”
“Choon-hwah,” Mrs. Zhang repeated, slowly and clearly. “It means spring flower.”
“That’s pretty,” Annabel said to Chunhua, who smiled but clearly had no idea what Annabel was saying.
“Hey, Chunhua, do you want to come play with us?” Harrisson asked, pointing at the volleyball net set up in the yard.
Chunhua looked up at Mrs. Zhang, who translated Harrisson’s question. Chunhua seemed to think for a moment, then nodded to Harrisson. She spoke a little bit more with the Zhangs, and then Mr. Zhang asked us, “Are you all planning on staying out here for a while?”
We nodded. It was a beautiful day.
“Okay. Chunhua can stay out as long as she wants. If you need to go in or do something else, you can send her home. Otherwise, one of us will come get her in a few hours.”
“Sounds good,” I said.
We led Chunhua over to the volleyball nets. “You should be on our team,” Sarabi told her. “We’re losing.”
Chunhua gave her a tentative smile, and Sarabi motioned her over to the side where Jarrett and I were standing, ready to resume the game. Chunhua followed slowly.
“What if she doesn’t know how to play volleyball?” asked Jarrett. “Do they even have volleyball in China?”
“I’m sure they do,” I told him. “And it’s pretty easy to figure out how to play by watching.”
It was the other team’s turn to serve. Annabel did a nice serve over the net, right to Chunhua. Chunhua caught it.
“That’s not what you’re supposed to do!” exclaimed Jarrett.
“It’s fine,” said Sarabi. “She doesn’t really understand.”
We all watched as Chunhua threw the ball over the net to the other team. “See, she at least knows we have to get it back to them,” Sarabi commented.
We continued playing, and every time the ball came near Chunhua, she caught it and tossed it back over the net. We couldn’t really keep track of points anymore, but that was okay.
After a while, we got hot and tired. Mirisen flopped on the grass and the rest of us followed suit. Chunhua sat next to me. I wanted to talk to her—ask about her life in China, about what it was like to come here and how she liked the United States so far—but I couldn’t figure out how to do that with the language barrier. So I just smiled at her and she smiled back.
We were still sitting there when Mom opened the front door and said, “I’m going to let Surprise out, okay?”
“Okay,” I called back, and Surprise came bounding toward us.
Chunhua gasped and got up, backing away as Surprise got closer. I hadn’t even considered the idea that she might be allergic or scared of dogs. I held onto Surprise’s collar as she tried to sniff Chunhua. Chunhua allowed Surprise to sniff her, but looked a little nervous.
“It’s okay,” I reassured her, petting Surprise. “She’s a nice dog. She won’t hurt you.”
Chunhua watched all of us pet Surprise, and finally gave her a pat on the head. “See?” I said. “Good dog.”
When Mr. Zhang came from across the street, Chunhua ran over to him and pointed at us, jabbering away in Mandarin. Mirisen and I looked at each other and shrugged, having no idea what she was saying. I hoped it was all good things.
Mr. Zhang smiled at all of us and said, “Sounds like you had a good time together.”
We all nodded.
“Chunhua says she wants to come back tomorrow. Is that okay?”
“Of course!” exclaimed Mirisen. “Any time she wants!”
Mr. Zhang translated for Chunhua and she smiled at us. Then they went back across the street. “Bye, Chunhua!” I called.
“Bye!” she called back.
“Hey, she knows a word in English!” exclaimed Harrisson.
“I bet she’ll learn pretty quickly if she keeps hanging out with us,” remarked Annabel.
August 13
Chunhua came over again today. This time it was just Mirisen, Harrisson, Jarrett and me. We were playing volleyball again.
“Hi Chunhua!” Harrisson called, waving.
“Hi,” she said, waving back.
“We’re doing boys against girls, so you can be on their team,” said Jarrett, pointing at Miri and me. Chunhua walked over and joined us.
We played volleyball for a little while, and then Jarrett said, “Hey, let’s go bounce on the trampoline!”
Jarrett and Harrisson started running toward the Reeveses’ trampoline. Chunhua hung back. Mirisen pointed toward the trampoline. “Trampoline,” she said clearly. “Want to come?”
I also pointed at the trampoline and mimed bouncing. Chunhua seemed to make the connection, and understand that we were inviting her. She nodded.
On our way to the Reeveses’ backyard, Chunhua looked at me and said, “Name?”
“My name?” I asked, pointing at myself. She nodded.
“Allisen,” I said clearly.
“Al-sen?”
“Yes!” I nodded. “Allisen.”
Chunhua pointed to herself. “Me Chunhua,” she said. She turned to Mirisen. “You? Name?”
“Mirisen,” said Mirisen.
“Me-sen?”
“Mm-hmm!” Mirisen nodded encouragingly.
We reached the trampoline, and I pointed to each of the boys in turn. “Harrisson, Jarrett,” I told Chunhua. She nodded but didn’t try to imitate their names.
“Hey, guys,” I said to the boys. “We want to bounce too.”
The boys stopped bouncing, allowing Mirisen, Chunhua and me to climb on. “You have to take your shoes off,” I told Chunhua, pointing at my socked feet. Chunhua quickly slipped her own shoes off and placed them with the rest of ours.
I wasn’t sure if Chunhua had ever been on a trampoline before; she seemed a little unsteady. I told Harrisson and Jarrett, who had a tendency to go a little crazy, to bounce more calmly than usual.
We bounced until Mrs. Zhang came to get Chunhua. “Bye Al-sen. Bye Me-sen,” Chunhua said, waving to us. She’d remembered our names!
“Bye, Chunhua!” I replied. “Come back tomorrow!”
August 15
Today Chunhua arrived right as Brian, Benny, Jarrett, Annabel, Sarabi, Richard, Tara, Mirisen, Harrisson and I were all getting ready to play Capture the Flag. Jarrett and Tara were the youngest, so they were the team captains. “Richard,” Tara said, picking her first team member.
“Chunhua,” Jarrett chose. Chunhua looked at him, but didn’t know what to do.
“Go with Jarrett,” I told her, pointing. She went and stood next to him.
Tara picked Sarabi next, and then Jarrett chose me. I was glad to be on his team, because that meant I could help Chunhua.
We all went to our respective “lands” and tried to figure out where to hide the flag. “What play?” Chunhua asked me.
“Capture the Flag,” I told her. I tried to think of how to explain the game. I pointed to the flag, which was Benny’s baseball cap. “That hat,” I said. “We hide it.” I tried to mime hiding something with my hands. “Other team,” I continued, pointing in the general direction of where the other team had gone, “They try to take the hat.” I pretended to snatch something out of the air. “And we—” I motioned to Chunhua, me, and everyone else on our team—“try to take their hat.”
I could tell Chunhua was trying to understand, but had no idea what I was saying. I didn’t know how to explain it any better, but I figured she’d pick up on the game once we started playing.
Or not. Do you know how complex Capture the Flag really is? Richard ran past us, and I realized I hadn’t explained the part about tagging the other team. “Other team,” I said, pointing to Richard, who was now being chased by Jarrett. “We tag.” I acted out running and tagging someone.
Chunhua didn’t get it. While kids from the other team ran past us, she stayed where she was, even as I chased and tagged people. After a little while, she came over to me. “Tam-leen?” she asked, pointing at the trampoline.
“Yes! That’s the trampoline,” I said, smiling and nodding.
“Play?” she said. “You, me, play, tam-leen?”
I understood what she was asking. “Uh…” I looked around. The Capture the Flag game was still going on, but clearly Chunhua wasn’t getting much out of it. “Okay,” I said.
As Chunhua and I bounced, I tried to think of something I could say. I couldn’t really think of anything she would understand. So I just did a seat drop. Chunhua grinned and imitated me. Then she said, “Look!” and did a knee drop. I said, “Look!” and did a split in the air. And we kept it up like that.
I was a little bit bummed that I had to miss the rest of the Capture the Flag game. But bouncing with Chunhua was fun too.
August 17
Today is Pete’s 21st birthday. Mirisen, Harrisson and I were in the kitchen, making a cake for him, when the doorbell rang.
I went to answer the door. Chunhua was standing on the front step, smiling sweetly. “Hi Al-sen,” she said. “Play?”
It was a sticky situation—I didn’t really want to go out and play; I wanted to keep making Pete’s cake. But how could I explain that to Chunhua?
“I’m making a cake right now,” I told her, miming mixing something with my hands. Chunhua didn’t seem to understand. Then I had a better idea. I held up one finger. “Wait,” I said. I ran back to the kitchen and took the actual bowl from the mixer.
“Hey! What are you doing?” Harrisson protested.
“I’ll bring it right back!” I promised.
When I reached the door, Surprise was sticking her face out and Chunhua was petting her. I was pleased at how quickly Chunhua seemed to be getting over her fear of Surprise. She still didn’t look completely comfortable, but she looked a lot more at ease than she had last time.
I held up the mixing bowl and showed Chunhua what was in it. “Cake,” I said. I pointed at myself, then at the bowl, then the kitchen. “I’m making cake.”
Chunhua’s eyes lit up. “Birthday?” she asked.
“Yes!” I exclaimed, surprised she knew that word. “My brother’s birthday.”
Chunhua nodded. I think she understood! Then she pointed at herself. “Me, birthday… five…” she seemed to be trying to think of how to say something. Eventually, she gave up and repeated, “Five.”
“Oh,” I nodded, even though I didn’t know what she meant. “Five.”
She nodded. Then she cocked her head to the side. “Play?”
I sighed. Maybe she hadn’t understood. I didn’t want to close the door in her face, but I really did want to keep making the cake.
Then it hit me. Duh! “I’m making this,” I told her, pointing at the cake batter. “You want to help?” I pointed at Chunhua, then into the kitchen, raising my eyebrows in a questioning manner.
Chunhua looked at me excitedly and nodded. I led her into the kitchen, and she looked around at everything. “Nice,” she commented.
Mirisen was adding the last ingredient (vanilla) into the cake batter. “Hi Chunhua!” she said brightly.
“Hi Me-sen.” Chunhua looked at Harrisson. “Hi—name?”
“Harrisson.”
“Hay-son?”
Harrisson shrugged. “Close enough.”
“Hay-son, you birthday?” Chunhua asked.
Harrisson shook his head. “No, it’s Pete’s birthday. He’s our brother.”
I led Chunhua over to the living room and showed her a picture of Pete. “His birthday,” I told her.
She studied his face. “Twenty?” she guessed.
“Twenty-one,” I replied. “Good guess.”
Chunhua pointed to herself. “Me nine,” she said. “You?”
“Fourteen,” I told her. “And Mirisen’s twelve and Harrison’s ten.”
When we got back into the kitchen, the cake was already in the oven. “Hey Chunhua,” said Harrisson. “Wanna see my room? Upstairs?” He pointed up.
“Okay,” said Chunhua. All four of us headed upstairs. Harrisson showed her his room first, then we went into Mirisen’s, then we went into mine. “Nice,” Chunhua remarked, looking around wide-eyed at everything. “Big house.”
“Yeah,” I agreed.
“Me house, China house, no big,” Chunhua explained.
“Oh. It’s really small?”
“Small. China house small.”
We went outside while the cake was cooking, and Mirisen diligently kept an eye on her watch. She took the cake out at the right time, and then we played tag (I guess every kid knows how to play tag) and then we went in to frost the cake. “We’re going to make frosting,” I told Chunhua, acting out frosting a cake. “You want to help?”
Chunhua nodded eagerly.
The frosting needed powdered sugar, butter, milk, and cocoa. Mirisen whipped the butter and Harrisson put the cocoa in. I gave Chunhua the one-cup measure and the bag of sugar. “Two,” I told her, pointing at the cup, then the sugar.
Chunhua put two cups of powdered sugar in the mixing bowl. I added the milk, and we mixed it up.
“Now for the best part,” Harrisson announced. “The taste test!” He stuck a finger in the bowl and came up with a glob of frosting.
Mirisen and I did the same. “Wanna try?” I asked Chunhua, pointing at the bowl.
She dipped her finger in as well and took a taste. “Mmm!”
I got four knives, and we worked together to frost the cake. Mom came out of her office and introduced herself to Chunhua, then took pictures of us as we ate all the remaining frosting.
Laughing and eating frosting together in the kitchen, it was easy to forget that Chunhua didn’t speak English. She just seemed like any one of our friends in the neighborhood, hanging out and having a good time.
August 18
A-ha, that’s what Chunhua meant yesterday when she said “Me, birthday, five.” She was trying to tell me that her birthday was coming up in five days.
Today, Mrs. Zhang and Chunhua came over to our house. “We are having Chunhua’s birthday party on August 22,” Mrs. Zhang told us as Chunhua handed out invitations.
Chunhua added something in Mandarin. “She also wants to invite the two other girls and the little boy with glasses,” Mrs. Zhang translated.
“Oh, Annabel and Sarabi and Jarrett,” I said. “Sure.”
Mirisen, Harrisson and I took Chunhua to the Karinis’ and Reeveses’, and then we all played volleyball and took turns on the trampoline.
August 21
I feel kind of bad saying this, but it’s a little bit tiring having Chunhua here. She’s been coming over every day, and I’m the one she always wants to hang out with. Not any of the younger kids who are more her age. Me.
Which is fine, I just… kind of want to spend time with the kids my age too. Yesterday, we were with the Reeveses, Chunhua, Molli, and Lucylynn. Everyone was playing Kick-the-Can, but Chunhua didn’t understand the rules and just wanted to bounce on the trampoline with me. So I bounced with her, but the whole time I was wishing I could be playing Kick-the-Can with everyone else.
I really do like Chunhua, and sometimes I have a lot of fun with her. But other times… I get a little bored and almost wish she didn’t like me so much. Is that bad?
August 22
Chunhua’s birthday party! The party was in the Zhangs’ backyard, where there were balloons and party streamers tied to every tree. Mr. and Mrs. Zhang and Chunhua were sitting at one of the plastic tables they’d set up, but they got up when they saw us coming.
“Happy birthday, Chunhua!” I exclaimed.
“How do you say ‘Happy birthday’ in Mandarin?” Mirisen asked Mrs. Zhang.
“Shēngrì kuài lè,” Mrs. Zhang answered.
“Shēngrì kuài lè,” Mirisen repeated.
Chunhua smiled. “Xiè xiè. Thank you.”
Annabel, Sarabi, and Jarrett arrived, and we all played for a while. Then Mr. Zhang called us over for cake.
The cake had white frosting, and written in pink letters were the words Happy birthday Chunhua, along with Chinese characters that the Zhangs told us meant the same thing. We all sang “Happy Birthday,” and then Chunhua blew out the candles and cut the cake.
“Do they celebrate birthdays in China the same way we do here?” Mirisen asked Mrs. Zhang.
“Not really,” Mrs. Zhang replied. “Cakes and presents are becoming more popular now, but one of the most popular traditions is longevity noodles. It is a very long noodle that the birthday person tries to suck up as much as possible before needing to bite it. It is a symbol of a long life.”
“Is Chunhua going to do that?” asked Harrisson.
“She will do it tonight at suppertime,” said Mrs. Zhang.
Chunhua sat across from me at the table. As we ate, she looked up and said, “You… me… English?”
I didn’t really get what she meant. “Yes, I speak English,” I said, smiling and nodding.
“No.” Chunhua shook her head. “You, me, English.”
I still didn’t understand. I gave her a little smile and a shrug, the same thing she usually did whenever she didn’t understand something.
Chunhua got up and went over to talk to the Zhangs. When she came back, she told me, “I want you teach me English.”
“Oh!” I exclaimed. “Okay.” Then I hesitated. I didn’t have the slightest idea of how to teach someone English. In my Spanish classes at school, we’d started by learning the alphabet, the numbers, and the days of the week. But it wouldn’t make too much sense to start there with Chunhua, and—oh yeah—my Spanish teachers had always taught us in our native language. I didn’t know any Mandarin.
I pointed at the table. “Table,” I said.
“Table,” Chunhua repeated.
I pointed at the cake on my plate. “Cake.”
“Cake.” Chunhua repeated. We continued like that, for about seven more words. Then I tested her. “What’s this?” I asked, pointing at the table.
“Mmm…table?”
“Good! What’s this?”
“Cake.”
After I quizzed her on all the words, I said, “I want you to teach me Chinese.”
Chunhua smiled and pointed at the table. “Zhuō zi.”
“Zhuō zi,” I repeated, and she proceeded to teach me the Mandarin for all the words I’d taught her in English. We kept that up until Mrs. Zhang announced that it was time for Chunhua to open her presents. Mirisen, Harrisson and I had gotten her an art set, and her eyes lit up when she saw it. “Ooh!” she exclaimed. “Nice! Thank you!” She opened Annabel and Sarabi’s gift (a bead set) and then Jarrett’s (a beach ball). While we all sat around making things with the beads, the Zhangs taught us some Mandarin. We learned the numbers up through ten—yī, èr, sān, sì, wŭ, liù, qī, bā, jiŭ, shí, and how to write them down. We also learned how to say “hello” (Nĭ hăo) and “good bye” (zài jiàn).
I could have sat there and learned Mandarin all day, but Jarrett became bored and wanted to play a game. “How about Capture the Flag?” he suggested.
“But Chunhua doesn’t know how to play…” Annabel began. Then she gasped. “Oh! Mr. Zhang, Mrs. Zhang. If we explain the game to you, can you translate for Chunhua?”
They did. We started playing and Chunhua caught on really quickly this time. Yay! Now we have one more game that Chunhua can play with us!
August 24
Today Chunhua came over with a notebook. On one page, she’d written the entire English alphabet, in very neat printing. On the next page, she’d written Xu Chunhua, and next to it, some Chinese characters. “China name,” she explained, pointing.
“Cool,” I said.
She handed me a pencil. “You name?”
I wrote my name where she showed me in the notebook, and Chunhua smiled. “Al-sen. Teach English. Me.”
We spent a couple hours teaching each other with that notebook. I’d write an English word and she’d copy it, then she’d write the Chinese character for that word and I’d copy it. Mirisen came out and joined us, and then Harrisson, and the four of us had fun teaching and learning together.
Brian, Benny, and Jarrett came over just as we were finishing up, and Chunhua stood up and waved at them. “Play Capture the Flag?” she asked.
We split into teams, and then Benny texted Molli, Lucylynn, and Leroy, and they came over as well. We had a lot of fun, and it was so great because this time I actually got to play with everybody.
August 27
It’s so cool how much English Chunhua is learning! Yesterday, Mom let Surprise out while we were playing in the yard. Surprise ran over to Chunhua and started licking her. “Hi Doggie,” said Chunhua. Then she looked at me. “Dog name what?”
“Surprise,” I said. We pet Surprise a little and then Chunhua said, “You family, Surprise, story?”
“Story?” I asked. “Oh! Story of my family getting Surprise?”
Chunhua nodded.
“Okay…” I said. “It was Harrisson’s birthday. He was turning seven.”
Chunhua thought for a moment. “Three year?”
“Yep. Three years ago. My mom and dad, they had a secret.” I put my finger to my lips. “Oh his birthday, we ate dinner, then we ate cake, then Harrisson opened presents…” I acted each of these things out. “And then my mom and dad said, ‘There’s one more present.’”
Chunhua grinned. “Surprise.”
I nodded. “Yep! It was Surprise. We were very happy.”
If you think about what just happened, it’s pretty amazing. I mean, Chunhua’s been here for barely over two weeks. When we first met, she couldn't understand a word I said. Today, she was able to understand the entire story of how we got Surprise!
Chunhua is going back to China on September 5. That’s too bad—I bet she’d be speaking English fluently if she just got to stay for a couple more months. And I’m really going to miss her.
August 28
We taught Chunhua a new game today. The Reeveses, Karinis, Dells, and Lucylynn were all over in our yard, and Tara wanted to play Ghost in the Graveyard.
“I don’t think we can,” said Richard, glancing at Chunhua. “She doesn’t know how to play.”
“We can teach her,” I said confidently.
I decided to change the counting a little—we usually count “one o’clock, two o’clock…” all the way up to midnight, but for Chunhua’s sake, I figured it would be easier just to count to 24.
“One person,” I said, holding up one finger, “hides. We—” I motioned to everyone—“close our eyes” —I closed my eyes—“and count to 24. Then we look for the person. If we see them, we say, ‘Ghost in the graveyard!’ and run back here. They try to tag us.”
Chunhua gave me an apprehensive look. “See them, say… what?”
“Ghost in the graveyard,” I repeated. She smiled that little smile she always did when she was trying to understand but couldn’t.
“Maybe we could shorten it, suggested Lucylynn. “How about ‘ghost yard’?”
“Ghost yard,” Chunhua repeated, sounding relieved. “Okay.”
So we played “Ghost yard.” Chunhua caught on quickly. After a few rounds with other people being the ghost, Chunhua took her turn as the ghost, and did it perfectly.
August 31
Nooo! It’s almost September! Only 5 days until Chunhua leaves!
Chunhua, Mirisen, Harrisson and I were playing on our rope swing and swingset today, when Mrs. Zhang came over and told Chunhua it was time to go shopping. Chunhua and Mrs. Zhang talked back and forth a bit before Mrs. Zhang turned to me. “Chunhua is saying she doesn’t want to leave,” she explained. “I have to go shopping now for dinner. Chunhua wants me to ask if she can stay with you.”
I thought about it. As far as I knew, we weren’t going anywhere, and we’d probably spend the next few hours playing outside with Chunhua anyway. “Let me just check with my mom,” I said. Mom was fine with it, so Mrs. Zhang left and Chunhua stayed with us.
Twenty minutes later it started to rain, and we heard the faintest rumblings of thunder. “Let’s go inside,” I said, pointing at the house. Mirisen, Harrisson, and Chunhua all followed me inside.
“What do you guys want to do?” Harrisson asked once we were inside.
“I know,” said Chunhua. She covered her eyes and started counting. “One, two, three…” She pretended to hide behind the couch.
“Hide-and-seek?” said Mirisen. “Good idea.”
So we played hide-and-seek. We played for probably an hour before stopping for a snack. “Pretzels, Chunhua?” Harrisson offered. “Or goldfish?”
Chunhua took some of each, and so did the rest of us. When we were done with our snack, we went on a cat hunt—Tuxio had come to say hi while we ate, and Mirisen had told Chunhua that we had one more cat, so we went off to find Leelee. We eventually found her lying on my bed. “Pretty!” exclaimed Chunhua, petting Leelee’s striped fur. “Me, China house, no have cat. No have dog. I like cat and dog. I say, ‘I want!’ Mom say, ‘No! No cat, no dog!’ I say, ‘Awwwww.’”
Seriously, I cannot believe how good her English is getting! I made a sympathetic noise. “Too bad,” I said. “I like cats and dogs too.”
Chunhua moved around my room, looking at everything. She picked up one of my Littlest Pet Shop animals from my bookshelf. “This, I have!” she exclaimed.
“You do?” I was surprised. I guess it makes sense that kids would have the same toys in China—and Littlest Pet Shop animals are probably made in China anyway—but I’d never really thought about it.
“China house. I have.” Chunhua was excited. “Play?” she suggested.
So I took out the rest of my Littlest Pet Shop animals and we played with them. It was fun—it’s been a while since I’ve actually played Littlest Pet Shop. We each chose which pets we wanted to be, and which stores and places we wanted to own. Chunhua walked her bunny into my store. “Hello,” she said. “I want ten food.”
“Ten foods!” I exclaimed. “That’s a lot! Okay, here you go.” I had my Beagle give the bunny some pretend food.
“Who wants a new collar?” Harrisson asked as his Boxer wheeled around a cart of collars. “Ten dollars apiece!”
We played Littlest Pet Shop until Mrs. Zhang came to pick Chunhua up. “Come back tomorrow,” Mirisen told Chunhua. Chunhua smiled and nodded.
I’m going to miss her so much.
September 2
I’m really glad school starts so late this year—September 9th. I miss my friends, but I’ve been keeping in touch with them through email and Facebook and the occasional phone conversation, so it’s not too bad. I’m just glad that I have all these uninterrupted days to hang out with Chunhua!
Today I went over to the Zhangs’ house. Just me—Mirisen was doing something with Annabel, and Mom had taken Harrisson shopping for new sneakers.
“You want?” Chunhua asked when we entered her kitchen, pointing at a big bunch of grapes.
“Grapes? Sure.” I said. We sat at the kitchen table, munching grapes.
“You like watch TV?” Chunhua asked me.
I shrugged. “Sometimes.”
“You like Disney Channel?”
I shrugged again. I’d never watched any of the Disney Channel shows. “I like Disney movies,” I told her.
“I like Hannah Montana,” said Chunhua, which surprised me, since Hannah Montana is an American show that, of course, is in English. But I guess they must have dubbed-over versions in Chinese.
“I love Hannah Montana music,” Chunhua continued. “You like Hannah Montana music?”
“I don’t know any,” I told her.
Chunhua’s eyes got big. “Wait,” she told me. She ran out of the room and came back a couple minutes later with a small CD player. She plugged it in and pressed Play. “Hannah Montana,” she said, pointing.
We listened to her Hannah Montana CD—which was all in English—while we ate grapes and colored with the art set my siblings and I had given Chunhua for her birthday. It was a fun afternoon.
September 4
I feel like crying, because tomorrow is Chunhua’s last day here. Wasn’t it just a couple days ago that she got here? She’s been hanging out with us almost every day, so when she leaves, it’ll be almost like losing a little sister.
But. Instead of wasting this last day being sad about what’s to come, I’m going to enjoy it. Guess what—we get to go over to the Zhangs’ for dinner tonight, and then they get to come to our house for dinner tomorrow night! We’re planning a special good-bye party for Chunhua.
September 4, later
Dinner at the Zhangs’ was fun. My entire family came, including Pete. Chunhua met us at the door, bouncing excitedly. “Hi! Come in!”
Dinner included chicken, fried rice, and a vegetable dish. It didn’t taste anything like the Chinese food we get in restaurants, but boy was it good! “This is real Chinese food,” Mr. Zhang explained. “The Chinese food you get in restaurants is Americanized Chinese food. It’s not what people really eat in China.”
When we were done eating, Mom, Dad, Pete, and the Zhangs sat around talking, and Mirisen, Harrisson, Chunhua and I hung out in Chunhua’s room, listening to Hannah Montana and making things with beads. It was past 10:00 when we left, which means that now it’s nearly 11 and I need to get to bed! Tomorrow’s going to be a big day!
September 6
Chunhua is on a plane home to China now. Sigh. But yesterday was super fun.
Everyone showed up in our yard by noon. It was kind of like the party Robbie had suggested before Chunhua came. Chunhua had met all the kids in the neighborhood at some point during her time here, but my siblings and I were the ones she’d spent the most time with, so that’s why the party was at our house.
We played all the games we’d been playing over the past few weeks—Capture the Flag, Ghost Yard, Kick-the-Can, volleyball, and a massive, 3-yard game of hide-and-seek. We also made sure Chunhua had some time on the Reeveses’ trampoline and our rope swing.
At 5:30, the Zhangs arrived for dinner. Chunhua hugged Annabel, Sarabi, and Jarrett goodbye, since it was the last time she would see them. My siblings and I still had a couple hours with her.
We went inside and had make-your-own pizzas for dinner. “Have you ever had pizza before?” Harrisson asked Chunhua.
“You’d be surprised,” said Mr. Zhang. “They have a lot of popular American restaurants in China. The menu is a little different, but they do serve American food.”
After pizza, Mom and Dad took out ice cream and my siblings and I set up the toppings. We all went around with bowls and made heaping ice cream sundaes. “Chunhua, how do you say ‘yum’ in Chinese?” Mirisen asked.
“Hăo chi,” replied Chunhua.
“Hăo chi!” Harrisson exclaimed, pointing at his sundae.
When we finished our sundaes, Chunhua looked at me. “Play, up, you, cat, dog…” she held her fingers a few inches apart.
“Littlest Pet Shop?” guessed Mirisen.
We went up to my room and got out all the animals. Chunhua chose the white bunny again. “This one, I like,” she said. She picked up a gray kitten as well. “And this one I like. Cute.”
We played until the Zhangs came up at 11 and said it was time to leave. Chunhua’s flight was leaving at 5am, and they needed a couple hours to sleep and to make sure all her stuff was packed.
“Here,” I said to Chunhua, handing her the white bunny and gray kitten. “You keep these. Take them to your China house.”
Chunhua looked very happy. “Me? Thank you!”
Mom took a bunch of pictures of us with Chunhua, and then Chunhua gave us each a hug. “I miss you,” she told me.
“I’ll miss you too, Chunhua,” I said.
“You know, Chunhua’s family has an email address,” Mrs. Zhang told us. “I can give it to you so you can keep in touch.”
“That would be great,” I said. So Mrs. Zhang wrote down Chunhua’s family’s email, and I wrote mine and gave it to Chunhua.
We exchanged a couple final hugs, and then Chunhua left. It’s sad to think that she won’t be at our door tomorrow, asking us to play with her. It’s sad to think that we might not ever get to see her again. But there’s a possibility that we will, because the Zhangs still live across the street, and who knows? Maybe she’ll come visit them next summer too.
And for now, whether that happens or not, at least we have a way to contact her. And I know we’ll stay in touch!
Book 49: Don’t Bug Me, Buddy
September 9
First day of school! My friends and I had planned to meet in the lobby of the high school entrance. The first friend I saw was Kim. We both squealed and ran to hug each other. Then we found Stivre, then Shevea, then Ellie. I kept looking around for Jack, and finally Kim put her hand on my shoulder and said, “Hey, don’t start hyperventilating or anything, but he’s right over there.”
I looked and sure enough, he was walking in, just a few feet away. Something about seeing him in person for the first time in over two months gave me these crazy butterflies in my stomach. I ran my fingers through my bangs, smoothing them out, and then called, “JACK!”
He grinned when he saw me. “Hey! Allisen, what’s up?” He came over and hugged me. “New glasses, I see. They look great on you.” He tapped the purple rectangular frames and I tried not to grin too widely. “So, how was your cross-country trip?”
“Oh my word, it was amazing. I wish you could’ve been there, we did so many cool things…” I gave him a brief overview of what we’d seen and done on the trip, then asked, “How was your summer?”
“Well, it was nowhere near as cool as yours, of course, but it was good. We went to the beach, got together with my cousins, hung out, relaxed. You know.”
I was about to ask what kinds of things he’d done with his cousins, but Stivre interrupted before I had the chance. “Hey, Jack! Remember us?” He motioned to himself, Kim, Shevea, and Ellie.
“Oh! Hey guys, good to see you again.” Jack went around greeting each of them in turn, and then we all stood around talking. It was so great being with my friends again.
When the bell rang, we all went off to our respective classes, promising to meet up for lunch. Kim and I consulted our schedules and found that we had first-period biology together—yessss! As we walked together toward the science wing, Kim grinned at me. “So, this is gonna be the year, right?”
“What year?”
“The year that you and Jack finally get together?”
I hid my smile and hoped I wasn’t blushing. “Kim… why would you say that?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because the two of you have had a crush on each other for years, and now we’re sophomores, and it’s more obvious than ever that you guys are crazy about each other.”
Now I was most definitely blushing. “I haven’t had a crush on him for years.”
“Really?” Kim smiled like she didn’t believe me. “Well, say what you want, but you definitely have a crush on him. And he totally likes you.”
She’s right, of course. But I’m not sure I want anything to change. Will things get weird if Jack and I actually “get together”?
After biology, I had health with Kim and Ellie, Spanish 3 with Shevea, and American History with Jack. Vee is also in my health class, and I made sure to smile at her and say hi. She gave me the tiniest smile in return.
August 10
Today was our first day back from our amazing month-long vacation across the United States. Regular life is going to seem so boring. But it’s nice seeing our pets again, and for me, it’s nice to be able to SEE again! Since my old glasses are currently resting at the bottom of a chasm in Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico, Mom took me to the ophthalmologist today and I got a new pair. I was going to get round blue rims like I’ve always had before, but changed my mind and opted for rectangular purple ones. I’m not quite used to them yet, but I will be eventually.
I just heard the front door open, which means that Mirisen and/or Harrisson is/are back from visiting Annabel and Sarabi Karini next door. They went over to get our gerbils while I was at the ophthalmologist. We picked Surprise up from the Reeveses’ as soon as we got home this morning, but we didn’t get to see Brian, Benny, or Jarrett because only their mom was home. Surprise and the cats were all very excited to see us!
August 10, later
Well! OK, maybe being back at home won’t be as boring as I thought.
Right after I finished writing that last entry, Mirisen and Harrisson both burst into my room. “Guess what,” said Harrisson breathlessly.
“What?”
“There’s gonna be a new girl in our neighborhood and she’s coming in two days!”
“A new girl?” That was interesting. “Living where? Did someone move out while we were away?”
Mirisen shook her head. “No, she’s coming from China to stay with the Zhangs for a month. She’s their niece and she’s nine years old. She’s coming for cultural and language immersion.”
“So she doesn’t speak any English?” I asked.
My siblings both shrugged. “She might speak some, but I’m pretty sure she doesn’t speak a lot,” said Harrisson.
“Either way, it’ll be really cool,” Mirisen added. “We can teach her English, and she can teach us Chinese!”
August 11
All of our neighborhood friends were in our yard today. Shelly Weimann, Leroy and Adelyne Walsh, Brian, Benny, and Jarrett Reeves, Molli Benson, Lucylynn Sevies, Annabel and Sarabi Karinis, Richard and Tara Dell, Robbie Cumper, and even Matthias Adrondetsky Rechibiaugh.
“Surprise!” they all yelled when we came outside.
“It’s your welcome-home party!” Sarabi explained.
We played a bunch of games and told everyone about our trip. Then we asked about the new girl.
“We don’t know much about her yet,” said Brian. “But the Zhangs promised they’d bring her over and introduce her when she gets here.”
“Guys, I have the best idea ever!” shouted Robbie. “We should do a surprise party for her too! To welcome her to the neighborhood!”
“I’m not sure that’s the best idea, buddy,” said Leroy thoughtfully. “It might be kind of overwhelming. Keep in mind, this is a whole new country for her. It’d probably be better for her to meet us slowly, just a few at a time.”
Most of us agreed that that made the most sense. But then everyone wanted to be the first to meet her.
“Guys, the Zhangs said they’d bring her over and introduce her to us,” Annabel finally reminded everyone. “Why don’t we just leave it at that, to start?”
We decided that was the best option. But it’s going to be so hard to wait!
August 12
We didn’t have to wait long. Early this afternoon, Mirisen, Harrisson, and I were playing volleyball out front with Annabel, Sarabi, and Jarrett. Suddenly, Harrisson yelled, “They’re coming!”
We all looked over and saw the Zhangs walking across the street, with a little girl between them. Harrisson, Sarabi, and Jarrett raced to meet up with them. We older girls hung back to give them some space.
But the Zhangs kept walking toward us, so we finally went to join them. “Hello,” Mrs. Zhang greeted us in her soft Chinese accent.
“Hi,” I said to her, and smiled at the little girl, who looked younger than nine. She gave me a shy smile in return.
“This is Chunhua,” Mrs. Zhang told us. “She arrived this morning. She speaks Mandarin, and only knows a couple words in English, but she’s very excited about meeting all of you.”
We all said, “Hi Chunhua,” except for Jarrett, who scrunched up his face and asked, “How do you say her name?”
“Choon-hwah,” Mrs. Zhang repeated, slowly and clearly. “It means spring flower.”
“That’s pretty,” Annabel said to Chunhua, who smiled but clearly had no idea what Annabel was saying.
“Hey, Chunhua, do you want to come play with us?” Harrisson asked, pointing at the volleyball net set up in the yard.
Chunhua looked up at Mrs. Zhang, who translated Harrisson’s question. Chunhua seemed to think for a moment, then nodded to Harrisson. She spoke a little bit more with the Zhangs, and then Mr. Zhang asked us, “Are you all planning on staying out here for a while?”
We nodded. It was a beautiful day.
“Okay. Chunhua can stay out as long as she wants. If you need to go in or do something else, you can send her home. Otherwise, one of us will come get her in a few hours.”
“Sounds good,” I said.
We led Chunhua over to the volleyball nets. “You should be on our team,” Sarabi told her. “We’re losing.”
Chunhua gave her a tentative smile, and Sarabi motioned her over to the side where Jarrett and I were standing, ready to resume the game. Chunhua followed slowly.
“What if she doesn’t know how to play volleyball?” asked Jarrett. “Do they even have volleyball in China?”
“I’m sure they do,” I told him. “And it’s pretty easy to figure out how to play by watching.”
It was the other team’s turn to serve. Annabel did a nice serve over the net, right to Chunhua. Chunhua caught it.
“That’s not what you’re supposed to do!” exclaimed Jarrett.
“It’s fine,” said Sarabi. “She doesn’t really understand.”
We all watched as Chunhua threw the ball over the net to the other team. “See, she at least knows we have to get it back to them,” Sarabi commented.
We continued playing, and every time the ball came near Chunhua, she caught it and tossed it back over the net. We couldn’t really keep track of points anymore, but that was okay.
After a while, we got hot and tired. Mirisen flopped on the grass and the rest of us followed suit. Chunhua sat next to me. I wanted to talk to her—ask about her life in China, about what it was like to come here and how she liked the United States so far—but I couldn’t figure out how to do that with the language barrier. So I just smiled at her and she smiled back.
We were still sitting there when Mom opened the front door and said, “I’m going to let Surprise out, okay?”
“Okay,” I called back, and Surprise came bounding toward us.
Chunhua gasped and got up, backing away as Surprise got closer. I hadn’t even considered the idea that she might be allergic or scared of dogs. I held onto Surprise’s collar as she tried to sniff Chunhua. Chunhua allowed Surprise to sniff her, but looked a little nervous.
“It’s okay,” I reassured her, petting Surprise. “She’s a nice dog. She won’t hurt you.”
Chunhua watched all of us pet Surprise, and finally gave her a pat on the head. “See?” I said. “Good dog.”
When Mr. Zhang came from across the street, Chunhua ran over to him and pointed at us, jabbering away in Mandarin. Mirisen and I looked at each other and shrugged, having no idea what she was saying. I hoped it was all good things.
Mr. Zhang smiled at all of us and said, “Sounds like you had a good time together.”
We all nodded.
“Chunhua says she wants to come back tomorrow. Is that okay?”
“Of course!” exclaimed Mirisen. “Any time she wants!”
Mr. Zhang translated for Chunhua and she smiled at us. Then they went back across the street. “Bye, Chunhua!” I called.
“Bye!” she called back.
“Hey, she knows a word in English!” exclaimed Harrisson.
“I bet she’ll learn pretty quickly if she keeps hanging out with us,” remarked Annabel.
August 13
Chunhua came over again today. This time it was just Mirisen, Harrisson, Jarrett and me. We were playing volleyball again.
“Hi Chunhua!” Harrisson called, waving.
“Hi,” she said, waving back.
“We’re doing boys against girls, so you can be on their team,” said Jarrett, pointing at Miri and me. Chunhua walked over and joined us.
We played volleyball for a little while, and then Jarrett said, “Hey, let’s go bounce on the trampoline!”
Jarrett and Harrisson started running toward the Reeveses’ trampoline. Chunhua hung back. Mirisen pointed toward the trampoline. “Trampoline,” she said clearly. “Want to come?”
I also pointed at the trampoline and mimed bouncing. Chunhua seemed to make the connection, and understand that we were inviting her. She nodded.
On our way to the Reeveses’ backyard, Chunhua looked at me and said, “Name?”
“My name?” I asked, pointing at myself. She nodded.
“Allisen,” I said clearly.
“Al-sen?”
“Yes!” I nodded. “Allisen.”
Chunhua pointed to herself. “Me Chunhua,” she said. She turned to Mirisen. “You? Name?”
“Mirisen,” said Mirisen.
“Me-sen?”
“Mm-hmm!” Mirisen nodded encouragingly.
We reached the trampoline, and I pointed to each of the boys in turn. “Harrisson, Jarrett,” I told Chunhua. She nodded but didn’t try to imitate their names.
“Hey, guys,” I said to the boys. “We want to bounce too.”
The boys stopped bouncing, allowing Mirisen, Chunhua and me to climb on. “You have to take your shoes off,” I told Chunhua, pointing at my socked feet. Chunhua quickly slipped her own shoes off and placed them with the rest of ours.
I wasn’t sure if Chunhua had ever been on a trampoline before; she seemed a little unsteady. I told Harrisson and Jarrett, who had a tendency to go a little crazy, to bounce more calmly than usual.
We bounced until Mrs. Zhang came to get Chunhua. “Bye Al-sen. Bye Me-sen,” Chunhua said, waving to us. She’d remembered our names!
“Bye, Chunhua!” I replied. “Come back tomorrow!”
August 15
Today Chunhua arrived right as Brian, Benny, Jarrett, Annabel, Sarabi, Richard, Tara, Mirisen, Harrisson and I were all getting ready to play Capture the Flag. Jarrett and Tara were the youngest, so they were the team captains. “Richard,” Tara said, picking her first team member.
“Chunhua,” Jarrett chose. Chunhua looked at him, but didn’t know what to do.
“Go with Jarrett,” I told her, pointing. She went and stood next to him.
Tara picked Sarabi next, and then Jarrett chose me. I was glad to be on his team, because that meant I could help Chunhua.
We all went to our respective “lands” and tried to figure out where to hide the flag. “What play?” Chunhua asked me.
“Capture the Flag,” I told her. I tried to think of how to explain the game. I pointed to the flag, which was Benny’s baseball cap. “That hat,” I said. “We hide it.” I tried to mime hiding something with my hands. “Other team,” I continued, pointing in the general direction of where the other team had gone, “They try to take the hat.” I pretended to snatch something out of the air. “And we—” I motioned to Chunhua, me, and everyone else on our team—“try to take their hat.”
I could tell Chunhua was trying to understand, but had no idea what I was saying. I didn’t know how to explain it any better, but I figured she’d pick up on the game once we started playing.
Or not. Do you know how complex Capture the Flag really is? Richard ran past us, and I realized I hadn’t explained the part about tagging the other team. “Other team,” I said, pointing to Richard, who was now being chased by Jarrett. “We tag.” I acted out running and tagging someone.
Chunhua didn’t get it. While kids from the other team ran past us, she stayed where she was, even as I chased and tagged people. After a little while, she came over to me. “Tam-leen?” she asked, pointing at the trampoline.
“Yes! That’s the trampoline,” I said, smiling and nodding.
“Play?” she said. “You, me, play, tam-leen?”
I understood what she was asking. “Uh…” I looked around. The Capture the Flag game was still going on, but clearly Chunhua wasn’t getting much out of it. “Okay,” I said.
As Chunhua and I bounced, I tried to think of something I could say. I couldn’t really think of anything she would understand. So I just did a seat drop. Chunhua grinned and imitated me. Then she said, “Look!” and did a knee drop. I said, “Look!” and did a split in the air. And we kept it up like that.
I was a little bit bummed that I had to miss the rest of the Capture the Flag game. But bouncing with Chunhua was fun too.
August 17
Today is Pete’s 21st birthday. Mirisen, Harrisson and I were in the kitchen, making a cake for him, when the doorbell rang.
I went to answer the door. Chunhua was standing on the front step, smiling sweetly. “Hi Al-sen,” she said. “Play?”
It was a sticky situation—I didn’t really want to go out and play; I wanted to keep making Pete’s cake. But how could I explain that to Chunhua?
“I’m making a cake right now,” I told her, miming mixing something with my hands. Chunhua didn’t seem to understand. Then I had a better idea. I held up one finger. “Wait,” I said. I ran back to the kitchen and took the actual bowl from the mixer.
“Hey! What are you doing?” Harrisson protested.
“I’ll bring it right back!” I promised.
When I reached the door, Surprise was sticking her face out and Chunhua was petting her. I was pleased at how quickly Chunhua seemed to be getting over her fear of Surprise. She still didn’t look completely comfortable, but she looked a lot more at ease than she had last time.
I held up the mixing bowl and showed Chunhua what was in it. “Cake,” I said. I pointed at myself, then at the bowl, then the kitchen. “I’m making cake.”
Chunhua’s eyes lit up. “Birthday?” she asked.
“Yes!” I exclaimed, surprised she knew that word. “My brother’s birthday.”
Chunhua nodded. I think she understood! Then she pointed at herself. “Me, birthday… five…” she seemed to be trying to think of how to say something. Eventually, she gave up and repeated, “Five.”
“Oh,” I nodded, even though I didn’t know what she meant. “Five.”
She nodded. Then she cocked her head to the side. “Play?”
I sighed. Maybe she hadn’t understood. I didn’t want to close the door in her face, but I really did want to keep making the cake.
Then it hit me. Duh! “I’m making this,” I told her, pointing at the cake batter. “You want to help?” I pointed at Chunhua, then into the kitchen, raising my eyebrows in a questioning manner.
Chunhua looked at me excitedly and nodded. I led her into the kitchen, and she looked around at everything. “Nice,” she commented.
Mirisen was adding the last ingredient (vanilla) into the cake batter. “Hi Chunhua!” she said brightly.
“Hi Me-sen.” Chunhua looked at Harrisson. “Hi—name?”
“Harrisson.”
“Hay-son?”
Harrisson shrugged. “Close enough.”
“Hay-son, you birthday?” Chunhua asked.
Harrisson shook his head. “No, it’s Pete’s birthday. He’s our brother.”
I led Chunhua over to the living room and showed her a picture of Pete. “His birthday,” I told her.
She studied his face. “Twenty?” she guessed.
“Twenty-one,” I replied. “Good guess.”
Chunhua pointed to herself. “Me nine,” she said. “You?”
“Fourteen,” I told her. “And Mirisen’s twelve and Harrison’s ten.”
When we got back into the kitchen, the cake was already in the oven. “Hey Chunhua,” said Harrisson. “Wanna see my room? Upstairs?” He pointed up.
“Okay,” said Chunhua. All four of us headed upstairs. Harrisson showed her his room first, then we went into Mirisen’s, then we went into mine. “Nice,” Chunhua remarked, looking around wide-eyed at everything. “Big house.”
“Yeah,” I agreed.
“Me house, China house, no big,” Chunhua explained.
“Oh. It’s really small?”
“Small. China house small.”
We went outside while the cake was cooking, and Mirisen diligently kept an eye on her watch. She took the cake out at the right time, and then we played tag (I guess every kid knows how to play tag) and then we went in to frost the cake. “We’re going to make frosting,” I told Chunhua, acting out frosting a cake. “You want to help?”
Chunhua nodded eagerly.
The frosting needed powdered sugar, butter, milk, and cocoa. Mirisen whipped the butter and Harrisson put the cocoa in. I gave Chunhua the one-cup measure and the bag of sugar. “Two,” I told her, pointing at the cup, then the sugar.
Chunhua put two cups of powdered sugar in the mixing bowl. I added the milk, and we mixed it up.
“Now for the best part,” Harrisson announced. “The taste test!” He stuck a finger in the bowl and came up with a glob of frosting.
Mirisen and I did the same. “Wanna try?” I asked Chunhua, pointing at the bowl.
She dipped her finger in as well and took a taste. “Mmm!”
I got four knives, and we worked together to frost the cake. Mom came out of her office and introduced herself to Chunhua, then took pictures of us as we ate all the remaining frosting.
Laughing and eating frosting together in the kitchen, it was easy to forget that Chunhua didn’t speak English. She just seemed like any one of our friends in the neighborhood, hanging out and having a good time.
August 18
A-ha, that’s what Chunhua meant yesterday when she said “Me, birthday, five.” She was trying to tell me that her birthday was coming up in five days.
Today, Mrs. Zhang and Chunhua came over to our house. “We are having Chunhua’s birthday party on August 22,” Mrs. Zhang told us as Chunhua handed out invitations.
Chunhua added something in Mandarin. “She also wants to invite the two other girls and the little boy with glasses,” Mrs. Zhang translated.
“Oh, Annabel and Sarabi and Jarrett,” I said. “Sure.”
Mirisen, Harrisson and I took Chunhua to the Karinis’ and Reeveses’, and then we all played volleyball and took turns on the trampoline.
August 21
I feel kind of bad saying this, but it’s a little bit tiring having Chunhua here. She’s been coming over every day, and I’m the one she always wants to hang out with. Not any of the younger kids who are more her age. Me.
Which is fine, I just… kind of want to spend time with the kids my age too. Yesterday, we were with the Reeveses, Chunhua, Molli, and Lucylynn. Everyone was playing Kick-the-Can, but Chunhua didn’t understand the rules and just wanted to bounce on the trampoline with me. So I bounced with her, but the whole time I was wishing I could be playing Kick-the-Can with everyone else.
I really do like Chunhua, and sometimes I have a lot of fun with her. But other times… I get a little bored and almost wish she didn’t like me so much. Is that bad?
August 22
Chunhua’s birthday party! The party was in the Zhangs’ backyard, where there were balloons and party streamers tied to every tree. Mr. and Mrs. Zhang and Chunhua were sitting at one of the plastic tables they’d set up, but they got up when they saw us coming.
“Happy birthday, Chunhua!” I exclaimed.
“How do you say ‘Happy birthday’ in Mandarin?” Mirisen asked Mrs. Zhang.
“Shēngrì kuài lè,” Mrs. Zhang answered.
“Shēngrì kuài lè,” Mirisen repeated.
Chunhua smiled. “Xiè xiè. Thank you.”
Annabel, Sarabi, and Jarrett arrived, and we all played for a while. Then Mr. Zhang called us over for cake.
The cake had white frosting, and written in pink letters were the words Happy birthday Chunhua, along with Chinese characters that the Zhangs told us meant the same thing. We all sang “Happy Birthday,” and then Chunhua blew out the candles and cut the cake.
“Do they celebrate birthdays in China the same way we do here?” Mirisen asked Mrs. Zhang.
“Not really,” Mrs. Zhang replied. “Cakes and presents are becoming more popular now, but one of the most popular traditions is longevity noodles. It is a very long noodle that the birthday person tries to suck up as much as possible before needing to bite it. It is a symbol of a long life.”
“Is Chunhua going to do that?” asked Harrisson.
“She will do it tonight at suppertime,” said Mrs. Zhang.
Chunhua sat across from me at the table. As we ate, she looked up and said, “You… me… English?”
I didn’t really get what she meant. “Yes, I speak English,” I said, smiling and nodding.
“No.” Chunhua shook her head. “You, me, English.”
I still didn’t understand. I gave her a little smile and a shrug, the same thing she usually did whenever she didn’t understand something.
Chunhua got up and went over to talk to the Zhangs. When she came back, she told me, “I want you teach me English.”
“Oh!” I exclaimed. “Okay.” Then I hesitated. I didn’t have the slightest idea of how to teach someone English. In my Spanish classes at school, we’d started by learning the alphabet, the numbers, and the days of the week. But it wouldn’t make too much sense to start there with Chunhua, and—oh yeah—my Spanish teachers had always taught us in our native language. I didn’t know any Mandarin.
I pointed at the table. “Table,” I said.
“Table,” Chunhua repeated.
I pointed at the cake on my plate. “Cake.”
“Cake.” Chunhua repeated. We continued like that, for about seven more words. Then I tested her. “What’s this?” I asked, pointing at the table.
“Mmm…table?”
“Good! What’s this?”
“Cake.”
After I quizzed her on all the words, I said, “I want you to teach me Chinese.”
Chunhua smiled and pointed at the table. “Zhuō zi.”
“Zhuō zi,” I repeated, and she proceeded to teach me the Mandarin for all the words I’d taught her in English. We kept that up until Mrs. Zhang announced that it was time for Chunhua to open her presents. Mirisen, Harrisson and I had gotten her an art set, and her eyes lit up when she saw it. “Ooh!” she exclaimed. “Nice! Thank you!” She opened Annabel and Sarabi’s gift (a bead set) and then Jarrett’s (a beach ball). While we all sat around making things with the beads, the Zhangs taught us some Mandarin. We learned the numbers up through ten—yī, èr, sān, sì, wŭ, liù, qī, bā, jiŭ, shí, and how to write them down. We also learned how to say “hello” (Nĭ hăo) and “good bye” (zài jiàn).
I could have sat there and learned Mandarin all day, but Jarrett became bored and wanted to play a game. “How about Capture the Flag?” he suggested.
“But Chunhua doesn’t know how to play…” Annabel began. Then she gasped. “Oh! Mr. Zhang, Mrs. Zhang. If we explain the game to you, can you translate for Chunhua?”
They did. We started playing and Chunhua caught on really quickly this time. Yay! Now we have one more game that Chunhua can play with us!
August 24
Today Chunhua came over with a notebook. On one page, she’d written the entire English alphabet, in very neat printing. On the next page, she’d written Xu Chunhua, and next to it, some Chinese characters. “China name,” she explained, pointing.
“Cool,” I said.
She handed me a pencil. “You name?”
I wrote my name where she showed me in the notebook, and Chunhua smiled. “Al-sen. Teach English. Me.”
We spent a couple hours teaching each other with that notebook. I’d write an English word and she’d copy it, then she’d write the Chinese character for that word and I’d copy it. Mirisen came out and joined us, and then Harrisson, and the four of us had fun teaching and learning together.
Brian, Benny, and Jarrett came over just as we were finishing up, and Chunhua stood up and waved at them. “Play Capture the Flag?” she asked.
We split into teams, and then Benny texted Molli, Lucylynn, and Leroy, and they came over as well. We had a lot of fun, and it was so great because this time I actually got to play with everybody.
August 27
It’s so cool how much English Chunhua is learning! Yesterday, Mom let Surprise out while we were playing in the yard. Surprise ran over to Chunhua and started licking her. “Hi Doggie,” said Chunhua. Then she looked at me. “Dog name what?”
“Surprise,” I said. We pet Surprise a little and then Chunhua said, “You family, Surprise, story?”
“Story?” I asked. “Oh! Story of my family getting Surprise?”
Chunhua nodded.
“Okay…” I said. “It was Harrisson’s birthday. He was turning seven.”
Chunhua thought for a moment. “Three year?”
“Yep. Three years ago. My mom and dad, they had a secret.” I put my finger to my lips. “Oh his birthday, we ate dinner, then we ate cake, then Harrisson opened presents…” I acted each of these things out. “And then my mom and dad said, ‘There’s one more present.’”
Chunhua grinned. “Surprise.”
I nodded. “Yep! It was Surprise. We were very happy.”
If you think about what just happened, it’s pretty amazing. I mean, Chunhua’s been here for barely over two weeks. When we first met, she couldn't understand a word I said. Today, she was able to understand the entire story of how we got Surprise!
Chunhua is going back to China on September 5. That’s too bad—I bet she’d be speaking English fluently if she just got to stay for a couple more months. And I’m really going to miss her.
August 28
We taught Chunhua a new game today. The Reeveses, Karinis, Dells, and Lucylynn were all over in our yard, and Tara wanted to play Ghost in the Graveyard.
“I don’t think we can,” said Richard, glancing at Chunhua. “She doesn’t know how to play.”
“We can teach her,” I said confidently.
I decided to change the counting a little—we usually count “one o’clock, two o’clock…” all the way up to midnight, but for Chunhua’s sake, I figured it would be easier just to count to 24.
“One person,” I said, holding up one finger, “hides. We—” I motioned to everyone—“close our eyes” —I closed my eyes—“and count to 24. Then we look for the person. If we see them, we say, ‘Ghost in the graveyard!’ and run back here. They try to tag us.”
Chunhua gave me an apprehensive look. “See them, say… what?”
“Ghost in the graveyard,” I repeated. She smiled that little smile she always did when she was trying to understand but couldn’t.
“Maybe we could shorten it, suggested Lucylynn. “How about ‘ghost yard’?”
“Ghost yard,” Chunhua repeated, sounding relieved. “Okay.”
So we played “Ghost yard.” Chunhua caught on quickly. After a few rounds with other people being the ghost, Chunhua took her turn as the ghost, and did it perfectly.
August 31
Nooo! It’s almost September! Only 5 days until Chunhua leaves!
Chunhua, Mirisen, Harrisson and I were playing on our rope swing and swingset today, when Mrs. Zhang came over and told Chunhua it was time to go shopping. Chunhua and Mrs. Zhang talked back and forth a bit before Mrs. Zhang turned to me. “Chunhua is saying she doesn’t want to leave,” she explained. “I have to go shopping now for dinner. Chunhua wants me to ask if she can stay with you.”
I thought about it. As far as I knew, we weren’t going anywhere, and we’d probably spend the next few hours playing outside with Chunhua anyway. “Let me just check with my mom,” I said. Mom was fine with it, so Mrs. Zhang left and Chunhua stayed with us.
Twenty minutes later it started to rain, and we heard the faintest rumblings of thunder. “Let’s go inside,” I said, pointing at the house. Mirisen, Harrisson, and Chunhua all followed me inside.
“What do you guys want to do?” Harrisson asked once we were inside.
“I know,” said Chunhua. She covered her eyes and started counting. “One, two, three…” She pretended to hide behind the couch.
“Hide-and-seek?” said Mirisen. “Good idea.”
So we played hide-and-seek. We played for probably an hour before stopping for a snack. “Pretzels, Chunhua?” Harrisson offered. “Or goldfish?”
Chunhua took some of each, and so did the rest of us. When we were done with our snack, we went on a cat hunt—Tuxio had come to say hi while we ate, and Mirisen had told Chunhua that we had one more cat, so we went off to find Leelee. We eventually found her lying on my bed. “Pretty!” exclaimed Chunhua, petting Leelee’s striped fur. “Me, China house, no have cat. No have dog. I like cat and dog. I say, ‘I want!’ Mom say, ‘No! No cat, no dog!’ I say, ‘Awwwww.’”
Seriously, I cannot believe how good her English is getting! I made a sympathetic noise. “Too bad,” I said. “I like cats and dogs too.”
Chunhua moved around my room, looking at everything. She picked up one of my Littlest Pet Shop animals from my bookshelf. “This, I have!” she exclaimed.
“You do?” I was surprised. I guess it makes sense that kids would have the same toys in China—and Littlest Pet Shop animals are probably made in China anyway—but I’d never really thought about it.
“China house. I have.” Chunhua was excited. “Play?” she suggested.
So I took out the rest of my Littlest Pet Shop animals and we played with them. It was fun—it’s been a while since I’ve actually played Littlest Pet Shop. We each chose which pets we wanted to be, and which stores and places we wanted to own. Chunhua walked her bunny into my store. “Hello,” she said. “I want ten food.”
“Ten foods!” I exclaimed. “That’s a lot! Okay, here you go.” I had my Beagle give the bunny some pretend food.
“Who wants a new collar?” Harrisson asked as his Boxer wheeled around a cart of collars. “Ten dollars apiece!”
We played Littlest Pet Shop until Mrs. Zhang came to pick Chunhua up. “Come back tomorrow,” Mirisen told Chunhua. Chunhua smiled and nodded.
I’m going to miss her so much.
September 2
I’m really glad school starts so late this year—September 9th. I miss my friends, but I’ve been keeping in touch with them through email and Facebook and the occasional phone conversation, so it’s not too bad. I’m just glad that I have all these uninterrupted days to hang out with Chunhua!
Today I went over to the Zhangs’ house. Just me—Mirisen was doing something with Annabel, and Mom had taken Harrisson shopping for new sneakers.
“You want?” Chunhua asked when we entered her kitchen, pointing at a big bunch of grapes.
“Grapes? Sure.” I said. We sat at the kitchen table, munching grapes.
“You like watch TV?” Chunhua asked me.
I shrugged. “Sometimes.”
“You like Disney Channel?”
I shrugged again. I’d never watched any of the Disney Channel shows. “I like Disney movies,” I told her.
“I like Hannah Montana,” said Chunhua, which surprised me, since Hannah Montana is an American show that, of course, is in English. But I guess they must have dubbed-over versions in Chinese.
“I love Hannah Montana music,” Chunhua continued. “You like Hannah Montana music?”
“I don’t know any,” I told her.
Chunhua’s eyes got big. “Wait,” she told me. She ran out of the room and came back a couple minutes later with a small CD player. She plugged it in and pressed Play. “Hannah Montana,” she said, pointing.
We listened to her Hannah Montana CD—which was all in English—while we ate grapes and colored with the art set my siblings and I had given Chunhua for her birthday. It was a fun afternoon.
September 4
I feel like crying, because tomorrow is Chunhua’s last day here. Wasn’t it just a couple days ago that she got here? She’s been hanging out with us almost every day, so when she leaves, it’ll be almost like losing a little sister.
But. Instead of wasting this last day being sad about what’s to come, I’m going to enjoy it. Guess what—we get to go over to the Zhangs’ for dinner tonight, and then they get to come to our house for dinner tomorrow night! We’re planning a special good-bye party for Chunhua.
September 4, later
Dinner at the Zhangs’ was fun. My entire family came, including Pete. Chunhua met us at the door, bouncing excitedly. “Hi! Come in!”
Dinner included chicken, fried rice, and a vegetable dish. It didn’t taste anything like the Chinese food we get in restaurants, but boy was it good! “This is real Chinese food,” Mr. Zhang explained. “The Chinese food you get in restaurants is Americanized Chinese food. It’s not what people really eat in China.”
When we were done eating, Mom, Dad, Pete, and the Zhangs sat around talking, and Mirisen, Harrisson, Chunhua and I hung out in Chunhua’s room, listening to Hannah Montana and making things with beads. It was past 10:00 when we left, which means that now it’s nearly 11 and I need to get to bed! Tomorrow’s going to be a big day!
September 6
Chunhua is on a plane home to China now. Sigh. But yesterday was super fun.
Everyone showed up in our yard by noon. It was kind of like the party Robbie had suggested before Chunhua came. Chunhua had met all the kids in the neighborhood at some point during her time here, but my siblings and I were the ones she’d spent the most time with, so that’s why the party was at our house.
We played all the games we’d been playing over the past few weeks—Capture the Flag, Ghost Yard, Kick-the-Can, volleyball, and a massive, 3-yard game of hide-and-seek. We also made sure Chunhua had some time on the Reeveses’ trampoline and our rope swing.
At 5:30, the Zhangs arrived for dinner. Chunhua hugged Annabel, Sarabi, and Jarrett goodbye, since it was the last time she would see them. My siblings and I still had a couple hours with her.
We went inside and had make-your-own pizzas for dinner. “Have you ever had pizza before?” Harrisson asked Chunhua.
“You’d be surprised,” said Mr. Zhang. “They have a lot of popular American restaurants in China. The menu is a little different, but they do serve American food.”
After pizza, Mom and Dad took out ice cream and my siblings and I set up the toppings. We all went around with bowls and made heaping ice cream sundaes. “Chunhua, how do you say ‘yum’ in Chinese?” Mirisen asked.
“Hăo chi,” replied Chunhua.
“Hăo chi!” Harrisson exclaimed, pointing at his sundae.
When we finished our sundaes, Chunhua looked at me. “Play, up, you, cat, dog…” she held her fingers a few inches apart.
“Littlest Pet Shop?” guessed Mirisen.
We went up to my room and got out all the animals. Chunhua chose the white bunny again. “This one, I like,” she said. She picked up a gray kitten as well. “And this one I like. Cute.”
We played until the Zhangs came up at 11 and said it was time to leave. Chunhua’s flight was leaving at 5am, and they needed a couple hours to sleep and to make sure all her stuff was packed.
“Here,” I said to Chunhua, handing her the white bunny and gray kitten. “You keep these. Take them to your China house.”
Chunhua looked very happy. “Me? Thank you!”
Mom took a bunch of pictures of us with Chunhua, and then Chunhua gave us each a hug. “I miss you,” she told me.
“I’ll miss you too, Chunhua,” I said.
“You know, Chunhua’s family has an email address,” Mrs. Zhang told us. “I can give it to you so you can keep in touch.”
“That would be great,” I said. So Mrs. Zhang wrote down Chunhua’s family’s email, and I wrote mine and gave it to Chunhua.
We exchanged a couple final hugs, and then Chunhua left. It’s sad to think that she won’t be at our door tomorrow, asking us to play with her. It’s sad to think that we might not ever get to see her again. But there’s a possibility that we will, because the Zhangs still live across the street, and who knows? Maybe she’ll come visit them next summer too.
And for now, whether that happens or not, at least we have a way to contact her. And I know we’ll stay in touch!
Book 49: Don’t Bug Me, Buddy
September 9
First day of school! My friends and I had planned to meet in the lobby of the high school entrance. The first friend I saw was Kim. We both squealed and ran to hug each other. Then we found Stivre, then Shevea, then Ellie. I kept looking around for Jack, and finally Kim put her hand on my shoulder and said, “Hey, don’t start hyperventilating or anything, but he’s right over there.”
I looked and sure enough, he was walking in, just a few feet away. Something about seeing him in person for the first time in over two months gave me these crazy butterflies in my stomach. I ran my fingers through my bangs, smoothing them out, and then called, “JACK!”
He grinned when he saw me. “Hey! Allisen, what’s up?” He came over and hugged me. “New glasses, I see. They look great on you.” He tapped the purple rectangular frames and I tried not to grin too widely. “So, how was your cross-country trip?”
“Oh my word, it was amazing. I wish you could’ve been there, we did so many cool things…” I gave him a brief overview of what we’d seen and done on the trip, then asked, “How was your summer?”
“Well, it was nowhere near as cool as yours, of course, but it was good. We went to the beach, got together with my cousins, hung out, relaxed. You know.”
I was about to ask what kinds of things he’d done with his cousins, but Stivre interrupted before I had the chance. “Hey, Jack! Remember us?” He motioned to himself, Kim, Shevea, and Ellie.
“Oh! Hey guys, good to see you again.” Jack went around greeting each of them in turn, and then we all stood around talking. It was so great being with my friends again.
When the bell rang, we all went off to our respective classes, promising to meet up for lunch. Kim and I consulted our schedules and found that we had first-period biology together—yessss! As we walked together toward the science wing, Kim grinned at me. “So, this is gonna be the year, right?”
“What year?”
“The year that you and Jack finally get together?”
I hid my smile and hoped I wasn’t blushing. “Kim… why would you say that?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because the two of you have had a crush on each other for years, and now we’re sophomores, and it’s more obvious than ever that you guys are crazy about each other.”
Now I was most definitely blushing. “I haven’t had a crush on him for years.”
“Really?” Kim smiled like she didn’t believe me. “Well, say what you want, but you definitely have a crush on him. And he totally likes you.”
She’s right, of course. But I’m not sure I want anything to change. Will things get weird if Jack and I actually “get together”?
After biology, I had health with Kim and Ellie, Spanish 3 with Shevea, and American History with Jack. Vee is also in my health class, and I made sure to smile at her and say hi. She gave me the tiniest smile in return.