On How Thanksgiving Strangely Feels More Real Overseas

My memories of Thanksgiving growing up, though distant, remain fond, bountiful and luscious. Throughout the 90s, down in Chile, my missionary parents did what they could to find a Turkey and some salsa de arándano, long before the age of Walmart-Internacional: where most everything can be found most anywhere in the world most of the time. There were rules to our ceremonial binge:

1. At the Emmons table: Thou shall not commence digging in to the feast until Bob's leg and your cute face have coupled up for the classic Thanksgiving picture.
2. And more importantly: Thou must singeth at the top of thy lungs the anthemic grace song of: BE PRESENT AT OUR TABLE LORD. I must admit, that as the vocal abilities of my siblings grew, there were times it seemed the dinner blessing would never end. Oh the 86-bar finale of a 4-part harmony Aaaaaaa-meeeeeeeen! 

Later in my 20s, back in the USA, thick in my social activisms, over-intellectual-faux stimulations and cultural anthropolotizations of all things, I mostly gagged at the idea of Thanksgiving. My red bubbling blood stirred a bitter existential inquiry that was absolutely aloof to the regenerative possibilities I'd discover a decade later, "What is there to celebrate?", I sulked. "A needle of a dinner in the haystack of the slaughter that would follow?" Shame, shame on all of you ignorant gluttons! 

Around my 30s, in Costa Rica, regenerative feathers started tickling me into an awareness of what Turkey Day could be, if only I could learn to let the bitter bean of my 20s percolate into a nice morning brew of cafecito con conciencia cultural. Originateve co-founder, Ron Green and his beautiful family, among the many things they have continued to bring to me and my family over the years, allowed me the first glimpses of what it would look like to take pride in my North American roots in spite of our bloody imperialistic history. They are what I call: Thanksgiving pros. As I watched them own the back corridor of studio 1, multi-tasking recipes passed down from both the Green and Curnow branches, I recalled a French Onion soup my mother had once made in beautiful ceramic pottery in the northern Atacama desert in Chile. Transformation happens with small shifts in our intention. Accountability was manifest even in those early days. I knew it would be shameful to not bring something of my people to that table. Time to grow up. And so glad I did. To this day those present still request my mother-inspired soup.  

As the planning for the big Pavo day in Costa Rica drew near, I remember the list we started to make of those we would invite. The question was a straight shooting one: Who has made your life, far away from your home, feel like home? This powerful consideration rooted in the historicity of the holiday was a game changer. Ever since, I have looked forward to the season of Thanksgiving as a time to let those who have welcomed my family and I into their country, families and homes, how very grateful we are. 

This year was no different. Shishi, China has been incredible to us. The vibrant community growing out of the Master Tree Kindergarten project is most definitely one we feel very blessed to have struck paths with. Towards the end of the Summer of 2016, my family had to make the very difficult decision of leaving the northern province of Shandong due to high levels of pollution. Like the English settlers, just under 400 years ago, we were in love with the new land we had come to from so far away. However, the smoggy winters were taking a toll on our children and we needed an extra hand to make our dream of growing our family and dreams in China possible. That is where we set sail, South, to find a Plymouth rock of our own.

This past Thanksgiving night, my wife had her Tarot cards read by Originateve University mentee: Javier Rhenus Lastres. For the present, she was shown the 10 of cups: 

"The Ten of this suit traditionally signifies family and community, often showing a celebratory scene including many generations, crowned by a rainbow signifying the end of hard times.

See this vision -- love and support extending in all directions -- a huge emotional safety net for everyone." (tarot.com) 

This powerful reading reflects the profound gratitude I have this season towards our Master Tree community that has gracefully welcomed our family to play out Originateve's vision for a regenerative approach to education. 

This energy seemed to radiate throughout our team, as well, as we gathered for a potluck-style Thanksgiving dinner. Though, as it always goes, everyone was a bit estranged to what we were celebrating and why, as the night moved on, each toast shed light on the reason for the season: THANK YOU MASTER TREE for making Shishi, China feel like home!

Take a good luck and drool your faces off with the odd but delicious Thanksgiving dishes we feasted upon while a strange sense of what that first Thanksgiving must have felt like partaking of strange but delicious foods in a foreign land that would becomes a home away from home to those of us proud to be Amerikanos.   

HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM OVERSEAS!

      

Reconnecting Urban Chinese Children to the Natural World

Lego-mania in China

Just last week, one of our new kindergarten moms asked for some help with her child. He's always throwing things around the house, she said. In times like these I have found it is always best to pry further with a question--you never know what you can learn about the families we are blessed to work with. When was the last time you played catch outside?, I asked. Her reply was a strange mix of innocent charm and severe disconnect from what children truly need. She said, they rarely spent time outside together and never playing catch. This was no surprise. Originateve has been in China for over 4 years now, spearheading regenerative practice in preschool education. Outdoor playtime for urban Chinese families is about as rare as authentic Chinese food in the Appalachian backwoods of eastern Tennessee. Be not mistaken though, Chinese parents care tremendously for the well-being of their kids. But misinformation often leads to over and unbalanced stimulation. A short visit to any Chinese mall on any given Saturday morning, will reveal the epidemic. Every other store is an after school program of sorts shouldering for the position to be the next short-lived top-selling educational gimmick.

Ryan's ball pool

Before I could get a reply back to the mom I was chatting with, she sent me a picture of the ball pool they have for for their clearly kinesthetically blessed child at home. The trend in China real estate is to move out of the country village homes with ample space for the children to play and into small living spacers in tall apartment building complexes. This ball pool may have once been a fun infant nook to roll around in, but as I fondly suggested it was hight time to do away with the toys of infancy and find a local park where he could strengthen his pitching arm while fine-tuning his eye-hand coordination playing catch with mom or pops.

This is by no means a malady relinquished to the People's Republic alone. We live in a day and age, where more and more so, we are locked indoors, our feet seldom touch the earth, our skin is rarely warmed by the sun and our eyes seldom look up into a glowing starry night. Reconnecting children to the natural world is at the heart of Originateve's holistic and regenerative curriculum at Master Tree Kindergarten in Shishi, China.

MT Rooftop Garden

At the end of last summer, we kickstarted our rooftop garden during our celebration of the full moon of Litha. 5 beautiful garden beds are now growing more than 20 different species of vegetables. All of which are carefully tended by the joint efforts of children and staff. Last week alone we introduced 1000 worms into 2 of our composting beds to accelerate our process of soil regeneration. These small squiggly workers are happily eating up the greens from our kindergarten kitchen waste while producing the rich soil that is steadily replacing the nutrient depleted landfill currently in our rooftop garden beds.

Down on the first floor of the school, next to our first MT garden that continues to thrive, we have added 5 new hens to our brood. Children are now excitingly feeding them each morning. The luckiest among them have found our very first MT laid eggs! A gradually growing awareness of the livelihood, care and cycles of chicken-raising is taking place in our children. 

Rabbit hutch is ready

Not far from our children-built chicken coop is our rabbit hutch that continues to draw out the curiosity and fondness of our little ones. Last week, 2 new bunnies joined our colony. Within their little gated home, on a daily basis, our kids are able to learn by observing their cave digging habits. During their morning feeding time, children develop a gentleness to enchant them into accepting a stock of grass from their hands to nibble on. 

This fall semester, we also started our weekly visits to the Faery Garden located in the B-section of the apartment complex across the street from our school. These little class trips by foot allow our children to become aware of the safety precautions necessary when walking as a group without mom and dad around. this segment of our weekly activities seeks to bring children closer into relationship with a beautiful natural garden not too far from our school. Here, children are encouraged to explore and discover more about themselves and the world we live in. It is not uncommon to see children building small homes from sticks, bringing various leaves and flowers for us teachers to praise their discovery and of course, the bravest in the bunch even engage some fun tinkering with an insect or two.

Discovery

One of our core values at Master Tree Kindergarten is for all of our children to grow up not only with an awareness of the magic and beauty of our planet Earth but also of the dire responsibility we have to be her caretakers. We strongly believe that this is achieved by allowing our children to engage the natural world on a routine basis, rather than on rare occasions. Howard Gardner, father of the multiple intelligence theory, strongly agrees with our vision,“children [need] to understand the world, but not just because the world is fascinating and the human mind is curious...[rather] so that they will be positioned to make it a better place”. Master Tree kindergarten and Originateve China are committed to fostering the naturalist intelligence of all our children. The kids take to it all with ease. The greatest challenge will forever be the parents. Are they ready to remember the outside play of their childhoods growing up in the village?

“We have such a brief opportunity to pass on to our children our love for this Earth, and to tell our stories. These are the moments when the world is made whole. In my children's memories, the adventures we've had together in nature will always exist.”

― Richard Louv, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder

Building homes for Faeries

Stimulating Brains through Stories in Shishi...

Our first full fall semester is well on its way here in Shishi, China. One of the most exciting changes we are undergoing, during this spin of the wheel, is the empowerment of our Chinese team to guide our community in the cultural regenerative efforts by bringing back to life the dusty bones of the ancestral stories and songs seldom told, far less sung.

Three times a week our kindergarten gathers for Kric? Krac! (the name Originateve International has adopted from our Haitian Creole bards to honor the our gatherings around the globe for storytelling and song with children ages 0-12). On Mondays, we celebrate a wide breadth of folklore from a good number of English tunes gathered from every corner of the world where the Anglo-saxons long since carried their lore. Molly Malone, from the capital of Dublin, cries out among us trying to make a sale, just like "her father and mother before", on some fresh, a-live, seafood. The infamous jolly swagman from the land down under reaffirms the rebellious nature we each carry within by swearing to all that seeks to squelch our innocence that "you'll never catch me alive!" On Wednesdays, however, our songs, now, ring out in Chinese. Excitingly, our children are empowered in their bilingual curriculum of enriched literacy and lore to call upon both the eye-less and rumpless tigers of the east, as well as calling upon the memory of the great hunter Houyi and his beloved Chang'e who now longs for him from the moon where she ascending, long ago, into her immortality.

These two lovers are the legendary goddess and hero of the beloved chinese myth of the Jade Rabbit. This story in particular is remembered each year around the western celebrated time of Mabon. As teacher: Peng Xue Ting brought the story back to life for the children of our kindergarten, I looked out at a sea of children clearly entranced by the language and imagery of her story and the rhythm and beat of my drum. I was instantly reminded of the posit Sir Joseph Chilton Pearce made in his influential essay on "Imagination and Play",

"Let's look at storytelling. The child responds to storytelling very early, even before they can talk. The word comes in as a vibration: sensory input. And that challenges the whole brain, not just to create an image in keeping with each word, but to create moving imagery, fluid imagery that follows the flow of the words. It sets up an inner-world scenario, a whole inner-world scene in which the scene is constantly shifting according to the shifting of the words themselves.

This has been found to be a major challenge of the brain. The job is so enormous that the child goes into total entrainment. That is, all of the energy moves into this visual process of the inner world. The child goes catatonic: body movement ceases, the jaw drops, eyes get great big and wide. They are literally not in this world. Their eyes are wide open, but they are not looking at anything outwardly. They are looking at the marvelous world forming within them."

Pearce goes onto explain, in a much more technical language, that it is in these magical instances that the child's brain is being completely reconfigured.

"...the telling of the story challenges the brain into entirely new routing every time. Each new story necessitates the forming of new neural connections between all the fields involved in imagery; a reworking of the sensory maps of the brain involving the establishment of new fields and connections between them. The brain has to continually expand its neural connections. And it’s the neural connections that count, not simply the number of neurons...And since each new story demands a complete new, re-routing of the neural patterns themselves, the brain has to continually expand—operations, auditory, visual, sensory fields, and all the rest of it—with each one."

Awareness, alone, of what Pearce is articulating here on the affect of storytelling on the brain of our children is catatonic in and of itself. As I drummed along, I too, drifted into that place where we must all frequent often. There I was acutely aware of that faith that is required of all of us involved in the "medicine-work" of childrearing. We cannot always know what sort of neural connections are taking place in the brains of the little ones entrusted to us. Nonetheless, we can trust the reason that stems from our research and experience that something magical is at work.

What am I left with, when the story comes to its end? The satisfaction that, as up and coming bards in this southern nook of our planet we are doing what we can to bring story back to life, fully aware of the neuro-benefits for the children but also a keen sense of a fair bit more yet to be given language to.

Meet Dragon!!!

Every Kindergarten Instructor knows the broad spectrum of possibilities for how a toddler may respond to their first day of school. Though there are some who come with a puppy-like curiosity that seamlessly blends into a wag-tailing joyous acceptance of their new environment, others

, upon catching even the slightest whiff that they will be leaving their mother's company, burst into a mythological metamorphosis all within kicking distance better beware of. Allow me to outline a few of the signs to look for should you encounter such a terrifying spectacle. Please remember however that though menacing in appearance, these children, like all children are absolutely docile and entirely lovable beneath the spectacle of its beastly transformation:

1. What once used to be soft buttocks swiftly jet out into a fish-like tail whipping at all within reach 
2. Their milky soft skin hardens and becomes scaly like a coy 
3. Like snakes to be feared they wrap themselves around the bottom limbs of their parents resisting any possibility of being left behind 
4. Their bellies harden like a clam under predatory threat
5. Their heads begin to bob like camels confirming to all within view that they are most definitely NOT interested in a starting their 20-some year long life of schooling 
6. Their tender toddler fingers morph into prehistorical claws threatening all within reach to back up less then lose a bit of their own flesh in the social adjustments transcending
7. There are no high fives on a first day with children like this. The palms of their hands turn into the paws of tigers. They can withstand all dragging across the floor if teachers were to need to drag them to their first class. 
8. Their ears stretch out like those of cows becoming capable to hear their mommies voice even 45 minutes later having safely arrived home. 
9. Though 8 or some years away from puberty, they grow out the beard of a goat and their bleating sounds very much like a curse from hell from which 
10. their horns grow out like a stag
11. and their eyes darken into those of a demon. 

In my 10 years as an early childhood educator I have seen many of these traits present themselves but never, ever, had I witnessed them all at once...and so suddenly. Meet Dragon!! A fantastical representation of the Chinese heroic creature from which we aptly appropriated his new English name. Though we have been through these "tricky" first timers before, when one is in the thick of the madness it is often hard to believe in the peace after the storm. 

There was certainly some crying in the morning when Dragon came to school. But he was always quick to get on with the activities of the day and wipe his own tears away. His fierceness however would strangely erupt at pick up time. Just when all the other children were so happy to see their mommies, Dragon who had been a tame beast all day would transform, once again, into his fiercest manifestation. For me the whole thing was pretty funny. But I remember Dragon's mom being tremendously confused and overwhelmed. Soon enough, she was not in charge of pick up anymore. Apparently, only Dragon's daddy could calm him. 

Dragons are supposed to have a good appetite. And our little dragon most definitely did but he sure didn't like the idea of having to eat by himself. But, slowly but surely, within the first month at our school, our little dragon gave in and rather than starving he learned to eat on his own. 

Potty training was the big one for our dreadful monster! I remember him getting so mad at me upon peeing his pants! You see he used to stare at me with a fierce glare and I can only imagine that what he really wanted was for me to help him walk to the bathroom and pull down his pants and hold his penis so he wouldn't drip on his underwear. NO WAY! Not me! Not at MT:) Our primary goal for the first 3 weeks of school is for all children to be potty trained, eating independently and enjoying a healthy balance of playing by themselves and with others through out the day. With little dragon every aspect of his integration into the program happened with quite a bit of ease but when it came to pee-pee time we all had to cover our ears in the presence of his roar! 

Sleep time was never difficult for our little dragon. I can only imagine that when it was time for the children's nap, he fell to sleep with considerable ease due to the exhaustion of his potty training:)

Now, 4 months after he has joined our school, Dragon is an example for all other young toddlers to follow. Those who see him applaud his interaction with admiration. But only those of us who were near him through his process of assimilation know the terrible beast he once used to transform into!

Meet Season!

Who is this? Nî shì shuí?

你是谁？

Once upon a time there was a baby. Her name was Season…
以前有个宝贝，她的名字叫Season。

“Hello, how are you?”, I said on her very first day of school. She said, “Who is this?”, looking at her mom. I said, “I’m Glow. Do you want to play with me?” Instantly, we played, laughed and explored her “new home” happily interacting and talking with all teachers. Right up until naptime, all was ok.

她来到学校的第一天我问她：“ 喂，你好吗？”她看着她妈妈回答说，“你是谁？”我说：“我是Glow，你想跟我一起玩吗？”我们很快地一起愉快地玩耍，开心地笑，并在我的陪伴下一起探索她的“新家”，她可以和所有老师开心的交谈。直到睡午觉之前，一切正常。

Then Season’s mom said, “Season only falls asleep if she’s holding my hand. And she takes quite some time to fall asleep.” As she slipped away, Season’s contagious laughter turned into deafening crying and seemingly endless tears. Naturally, as a two year old, Season was unable to understand why her mom had left. In her mind, she was abandoned to strangers. This is by far one of the most transformational experiences for children during their first days of kindergarten. As with all children Season was now in a new environment with new friends, new routines and new caretakers. Trust needed time to grow.  
然后Season的妈妈告诉我们：“Season入睡的时间比较长，她只有握着我的手她才能入睡。”当Season妈妈离开后，Season富有传染性的笑声变成震耳欲聋的哭声和止不住的泪水。对于一个两岁的Season来说这是正常的，她没有办法理解为什么她妈妈会离开她。在她的心中，自己就像被妈妈遗弃给陌生人。这是迄今为止孩子们在幼儿园第一天最具变革性的经历之一。

For Season this came quite quickly! Two hours later she finally calmed down and allowed for a conversation with me. I was so happy! This is one of my favorite moments with all kids: winning over their trust!
对Season来说这个来的太快！两个小时之后她终于冷静下来同意和我交流。我非常的高兴。当我赢得孩子们的信任时，这是我最爱的时刻之一。

That first week she followed me everywhere saying, “Can you hold me please? Can you hug me?” As long as she was holding someone’s hand she didn’t cry. Although, she was content without her mom she was still relentless in her need to be near another adult. This a very natural 2^nd phase for many kids as they transition into a comfortable enjoyment of independence.

在第一周我走到哪她跟到哪对我说：“你牵我好吗？你可以抱抱我吗？”只要她牵着别人的手她就不哭了。尽管她可以没有妈妈的陪伴，但她仍然迫切需要接近另一个成年人。对于许多的孩子来说当他们需要过渡到非常舒适并能享受独立这是非常正常的第二阶段。

As the weening continued, a stormy season ensued for Season’s mom. Several mornings in a row during her second week, Season would come to the school with wet cheeks. Her mom said that on their drives to school, Season kept crying and saying, “I don’t want to go to the kindergarten”. Now, there was good reason for this. At school, we had started encouraging her to pull up her pants by herself after going to the potty. Many children do not like this. It feels like the “new” adults in their life don’t care. During lunch and snack all children must learn to sit and eat at the table without an adult next to them. Season didn’t like this. Naptime was also very difficult. Season didn’t have her mommies’ hand anymore.
在我们的意料之中，随后Season的坏情绪影响了她的妈妈。第二周的连续的几个上午，Season都是泪流满面地来到学校。她的妈妈说在他们来学校的路上，Season哭不停一直说:“我不要去幼儿园”。现在，这一切都找到了原因，因为在学校我们开始鼓励她上完厕所自己穿裤子。许多的孩子都不喜欢这个，感觉像一个“新”的成年人一点都不关心他们的生活。午餐期间，在没有大人陪着他们的情况下，所有的孩子都得自己坐着在餐桌旁、自己吃饭。Season一点都不喜欢吃饭，同样睡觉对她来说也是很困难，因为再也没有妈妈的手可以牵着。

But as it goes with all children that come through our doors, finally, the sun shone again for Season and her mom. One day, during her 3^rd week, Season went through a whole day without crying. That day we celebrated big time! Season went with one of our teacher’s on what we call, “A Special Big Girls’ Walk”. Her prize would be an ice cream but probably more importantly, in the long run, the praise and the feeling that she was now growing up! Waiting for her back at school, was her friends, teachers and mom chanting, the popular Chinese words of, “Jiayou!!”

但是，所有的来幼儿园的孩子都是一样的，最后Season和她的妈妈的脸上再一次充满笑容。在第三周的一天，Season一整天都没有哭，那天我们庆祝这个伟大的时刻，Season和我们的一个老师一起出去，我们趁它为“大女孩的特殊出行”。她的奖品是冰淇淋, 但更重要的是, 从长远来看对她的赞美和她的感受, 她现在长大了!她的朋友、老师和她妈妈都在学校里等她回来,并高呼 “加油”!

As new kids came to school, during the weeks thereafter, many of them went through their “crying seasons” too. The funniest part is that, Season, started acting like a big sister. And was often found helping other children put on their shoes or saying, “Don’t cry! It’s okay. You can do it.” Or my personal favorite, “You want an ice cream!”

作为新入园的孩子在此后的几周内，他们中的很多人都经历了像Season一样的哭泣。最有趣的是Season开始像一个大姐姐一样，帮助其他的孩子穿鞋告诉他们“不要哭哦！没事的，你可以做到的。”或者是我个人最喜欢的“你想要冰淇淋！"

by Glow Alvarado

Meet Momo & her Mommy!!

Zozo and Momo

Hard to forget 2-year-old Momo's first day visiting our Master Tree lead class. She quickly let go of her mother's hand and giggled her way right into the middle of the of our kids and their play time with blocks. 'Who are you?', I remember asking. 'I'm Momo!' 

Though Momo's quick initial adjustment to pre-school isn't unique, it is largely uncommon, especially here in China where there is so much coddling and protectionism by well-intended grandparents. There seems to be a debt that the elderly generation at large is attempting to make up for which dates back to their time as parents back when long work days impeded a healthier bond and balance of time as a family. Momo's family is lucky in this way for their current family arrangement has allowed Momo, up unto this point, to grow up under her mother's immediate care. But as the Chinese philosophy of the Yin Yang suggests, in all whiteness there is a speck of black. Quickly it became clear to that the one to suffer most through this transitional period into kindergarten would not be Momo but instead her Mommy: Tracy!! 

Momo, her Auntie and Mom: Tracy

Upon completing our 3-month lead class, right before running off to the hills for Spring Festival we had a chance to sit down for some tea with Tracy and asked her to reflect back on the changes she went through, as a Mom, during her daughter's first months staying away most of the day from home, 

"The greatest difficult I have had to overcome, of course, has been learning to be apart from Momo! While Momo is learning, so am I. While she cries in school, I cry in my heart! 2-year-old Momo, who's always been there for me...was all alone in a strange environment. I was so worried those first days." 

Tracy has been quite gracious all along in recognizing the ongoing support she has received upon joining the MT family, 

"...separation is one of life's first lessons! Each day, I whispered soft prayers hoping for her to adapt quickly. This process was difficult for both of us. I needed to fully trust MT. Seriously, if it wasn't for MT, and Carl and Glow's both firm and warm guidance, I certainly would not have allowed her to start kindergarten at such a young age."

Undoubtedly, Tracy's apprehension's about Momo being ready for kindergarten heightened as Momo underwent a relapse of sorts upon catching on to the fact that kindergarten equating an entire day without her mom. What 2-year-old gets excited about being away from mom?

After the relapse, "It took a lot of effort to get Momo to learn to be independent--to accept MT subconsciously. Glow taught me how to guide Momo and enlightened me to the wonders of a well-timed 'time out'".

About 4 weeks into the program we had a major breakthrough upon Tracy adhering to our advice to allow Momo to participate in our Yule Sleepover activity. Time and time again we have seen how moments like these are of an incredible bonding quality. Tricky no doubt for the kids but always far more so for the parents! But the results are always so evident. The next day for pick up there is a shared joy of, parents and kids, seeing each other again. Then in the weeks to come, parents and the school staff begin to see how much the children have changed as they take on a brand new manifestation of independence. After all, sleeping away from those you have slept with for every single night since being born is no small thing!

Year book signing.  

Step by step we continued working closely with Momo, Tracy and their family; making sure that this important adjustment was accompanied by ample tender loving care, creativity and counsel. 

Great job Momo!! But an even greater high-five to you Tracy! Thanks for your trust in Master Tree Kindergarten!

"You only lose what you hold onto."~Buddha 

From Yule to Imbolc: 6 weeks of story and song

As mentioned in our last blog, we kicked off this year with the firm resolve to carry on planting "a handful of seeds in the hearts and minds of the children we are blessed to play with for this leg of their journey."  What we weren't exactly sure of was who would these kids be? This was a riddle baited like a worm on a hook that we long since sunk are starving jaws into waiting to be reeled in.

The southeastern coastline of the People's Republic of China, where the water borders between China's South and East Sea blend in a safe-harbored ebb and flow protected by typhoon inflicted Taiwan is speckled by an infinity of quaint god fearing fishing villages. For more than a year, our family was courted by several of these offshoots from the major city of Shishi in the Fujian Province. In the fall of 2016, enamored by the local masonry of the simple yet enviable rock-solid homes carved out from the countless quarries the southern chip of Asia has sat upon for millennia, my wife and I swore to the endless gods, of each of the untold temples we passed on our nubile walks of dreams and longing, that one day our kids would ride their bikes down these narrow streets making friends with kids oh-so-fortunate to grow up where houses have doors meant only for keeping out an unwelcome cold front.   

This past Yuletide, the fishing village of Wài gāocūn (外高村) finally pulled us into her boat--a strange catch indeed. For we, though being the fish audaciously proclaimed our captors to be our prize catch and have been feasting on their rich flesh of mostly untainted rural culture ever since. Ecstatic, after having lived 3 years in metropolitan China where, just like in the west: fires and anything natural is done away with, we set out to haul in a Yule Log and kicked off our return to the home-we-never-knew to the tune of some good ole folk songs and story. Our djembe's, snug between our thighs, rang out like the hearts of a pack of wolves coming to a rest after a good hunt. Our ukes, nestled close to our chests chugged away to the same wild beat as our boisterous multi-lingual wassailing rang out with a strange glee only those who have long awaited a big dream to come true would know. Oh, and that riddle I mentioned, well she began to reveal herself as the neighborhood squirmish kids wriggled in and gathered around the fire.

And they have been coming back ever since! As I step out on my porch for a sun salutation I am met by curious eyes that burst into laughter and seek cover in the alleys they reappear from, in larger numbers, upon our return from a day of work in the city. They are thieves that steal our children for adventure and mischief. But they have also, oh so quickly, stolen our hearts. And so, every Sunday as the sun sets in the west where we bit into the hook, we do our best to pay back our debt to their beauty and their fishing ancestors and deities who reeled us into this quaint little village that has a strange sense of home. 

This last Sunday, we celebrated Imbolc together. This raucous stirring crew was in charge of gathering the wood and digging out the fire pit. As we prepared the space I realized they are shapeshifters. Once worms that lured us half a world a way to live in one of their neighboring stone homes, they were now ants content toiling in what for them is just another form of play. The oldest was assigned the lucky task of lighting the dry pine needles that quickly set the bonfire ablaze. To our surprise, many of the songs were not so new and foreign anymore. Though our jumping through the fire was clearly a first for all but our two boys. Fear sized up to risk and courage and fell short as they went around again and again for another leap. Tired we settled down for the telling of the story of Brighid. But you'll have to stumble down our alleyways around sunset on a Sunday if you want to hear the wisdom we found in the tale spun that night. And if you do, you better not pack lightly, cause you'll probably just want to stay and plant your fair share of seeds into the hearts and minds of these fishing village worms.

The Hawk trilled softly. 

“The Song is a gift to be given freely. 

But know this: once you know this Song and have sung it, 

you must be prepared to teach—

for once you make its words, its rhythm your own, 

it is not something you will be able to hide away from the world. 

The brightness of this Song will radiate from you, 

and many will seek you for inspiration and guidance. 

Do you still wish to learn?”

An Antiquity-inspired New Year's Resolution

Waigoncun, Fujian

It has been well over a year since last posting in our Originateve China Blog. Though a time may come where I may share of the heartbreak my family has had to bear in leaving the community we were joyfully growing into, my eyes are set on the east where everything new begins. This week my wife and are wrapping up our 3rd month back in China and their is a backlog of stories I am eager to share. First off: our new year's resolution. 

When not potty training or massaging away spoiling tendencies in the twelve 3-5 year-olds that make up the student body of the school we have come to officially open up in the fall of 2018, our team has been hard at work contemplating design work for the soon to open: Master Tree Kindergarten. 

As part of the culturally sensitive tapestry of the school decoration we plan to integrate the ancient wisdom of revered Chinese philosophy and forefather Confucius: 

"If your plan is for one year plant rice. If your plan is for ten years plant trees.
If your plan is for one hundred years educate children." 

The solar New Year has been welcomed in the west. Soon the fireworks and firecrackers will bring in the lunar year of the dog to those of us here in the east. Our new year's resolution here in Originateve China continues to be to plant rice, trees and a handful of seeds in the hearts and minds of the children we are blessed to play with for this leg of their journey. 

What's your resolution?