In Which the Boy Rocks Chinese Camp

He's been home for a week now. He slept for 2 days. Then we went to Cafe Rio and Walmart for a bit of "BYU detox" before he was his normal self.
The banquet this year was so much more entertaining, organized and high-tech. StarTrek the TV series vs. StarTrek the 2009 movie better. Ry was one of seven 4th year students who MC'd the event. They whipped on and off the stage with witty dialogue worthy of Spock and Kirk.There was a chinese yo-yo demonstration, tai-chi, poetry, some songs, the 4th years did tongue twisters and a Ry did a number rap that would boggle your mind if we had it to show you. We don't. Perhaps the Klingons captured it. All I know is that it's impossible to hear on the recording.
ANYWAY. Below is a small snippet of what we enjoyed that night. He is the second from the left, and the first and almost last speaker on the video. He learned so much this year. He can basically now understand most of a normal Chinese conversation. AND a couple of Chinese guests came up to him after the performance and told him that he had the best tones of any white honkey they'd ever heard. Or something to that effect....

I Saw My Boy Today!

We got to go to BYU tonight for a semi-authentic Chinese open air market. My boy has been gone for almost 2 weeks...it was so good to see him!
The baby is clearly very happy too ;)

We had to ask prices and haggle in Chinese. They gave us a DVD when we dropped him off 2 weeks ago that we were supposed to watch and study...we pulled it out yesterday and tried to learn the key phrases. Then I made a cheat sheet to use. Grace and I actually tried it and bought a hair clip, some ice cream and watermelon and played a game. My favorite part came when we walked up to the ice cream booth. Grace walked right up and asked for ice cream in Chinese, and then haggled the price down all by herself. In Chinese. Awesome. She IS learning something at this school that takes up so much of our time!

But the best part came when we bought some water balloons...it was Ryan's turn to be the target. Grace loved pelting him and getting him soaked.

He's having a ball. It was so funny to hear him casually conversing in Chinese. He's in the highest level they offer and they basically speak the language exclusively. He actually had a hard time talking to us at first.
One of his teachers came up to meet us and raved about how great Ry is. I'm so glad he's had this opportunity!

He's off to camp!

My boy left today for about a month. BYU Mandarin Chinese Camp! He started a blog so he can update it while he's there, so if you're so inclined the link is now listed in family blogs. Or click on this.
I'm going to miss him so much. Gracie has already cried once today because she misses him already. I'm SO excited for him though!

Edited to add: He called me last night. His first day was fantastic! Lots of old friends, the teachers remembered him and were thrilled to see him back this year, and the dorm is newer and cool.
Here's the amazing thing: they were given a test to decide which "year" they'd be participating in. Last year he was Level 2. He was sweating it a bit hoping that he wouldn't embarrass himself and wind up not even being placed in Level 3.....(he hasn't taken a Chinese class for over a year.) When the testing was complete, he was placed in LEVEL 4 (this is the highest level they're offering this year.) Skipped a whole year. My boy :)

Week 3

Only 9 days 'til the boy gets to come home. We visited again on Sunday...Grace spent nearly the whole time on his lap : ) He's having the best time! His days are packed, he's made some lifelong friends, he's learning tons. His calls and text messages are now few and far between! They've attended a Chinese ward for Sacrament meeting each Sunday, which is cool. He saw and wanted the Chinese hymnbook, so Andrew stopped at the Distribution Center and picked one up along with a Book of Mormon. It is the absolute weirdest, but coolest thing I've ever seen. Above is a sample of some Chinese Characters. This is how the whole Book of Mormon looks. Squiggle after squiggle. ???? How can the boy make sense of it? He can. And does. Wow.

Talked to Ryan last night

So the boy called late last night. He's doing ok. He said it was a really hard day...apparently in level 2 you are already supposed to know a lot of Chinese Characters (they're expected to be able to write sentences not using the alphabet, which he knows, but characters), and the teacher at Renaissance didn't really teach these. So he has big plans to go up to the school when he gets home to let her know that she should be adding this to her curriculum!
This camp is going to be a life changing experience for him. He told me that he is so grateful for the way his brain works...he's realizing that he is very blessed. He did have to study for about an hour last night, but in that time was able to commit everything he was behind on to memory and is now caught up. There are a couple of other kids in the same situation who are really struggling apparently. The counselor over his dorm checked their homework last night and told Ryan that he'd never seen such perfect work. He was laughing that after only 2 days at BYU in this environment, he's already thinking in Chinese...he went to the Creamery and was really struggling to converse with the clerk in English! Hee. He's afraid that he's going to be a freak by the time he gets home : )
So the answer is, yep, we have a scary prodigy on our hands. But thanks to this experience, a humble one who knows the value of hard work! What more could a parent ask?

He's off to Chinese Camp

This is a picture from Meg's wedding, because I didn't take the camera to BYU this morning when I dropped him off...he'd have died! He's gone for a 3 1/2 week Mandarin Chinese camp. I cried half of the way home....partly 'cause I'm going to miss his face and partly 'cause I've never been away from him for this long and partly 'cause I had a TINY taste of what the MTC experience will be like. How do you ladies do it? Oh man. My boy. This boy has a special place in my heart. I love and admire him so much. He was excited to be going to this camp, but was a little freaked out too, which made it all the harder to leave him there.
But he just called me. He's been gone for 8 hours now. He just finished studying the first lesson and has already memorized the stuff he needs to for class tomorrow. Remember this is the boy with the photographic memory. School has always been so easy for him...I told Andrew tonight that this experience is going to be the true test of his abilities; if he has to work at it, then good! he's a normal genius. If he slides through and aces it; OH MY HECK WHAT KIND OF PRODIGY DO WE HAVE ON OUR HANDS!!?? I'll let you know how it goes;) They have every minute packed with classes and lessons and crafts and cooking...AND they just announced that they've figured out how to get high school credit for this, so that ROCKS! He'll earn a whole year of language credit in 3 weeks.
I reminded him what President Hinckley always said about "get all the education you can" and "learn as much as you can" and "BE SMART!"...yeah yeah yeah he says. I'm so proud of him : ) But I'll be praying very hard tonight that he doesn't get too homesick, and that he'll continue to have fun. It wouldn't hurt if any of you wanted to mention him while you're on your knees as well!

Ryan on Channel 4 News

Some of the 8th graders at Renaissance went on the ABC early morning news to talk about the World Language Program...and to speak a little Chinese.
Ryan was also just accepted to a 3 week Chinese Summer Camp at BYU...and even got a small scholarship to attend! He had to write an essay, submit his grades and 2 teacher recommendations in order to qualify to even attend. He seriously rocks. He's blessed with a photographic memory...
He knows all of Jill and Ty's locker combos, regular and PE, from Jr. High. He knows our library card number. He remembers the birthdays of everyone he's ever met. I'm guessing that he has my debit and credit card #'s in his brain too, but I'd rather not know that for sure...He just knows stuff. It's in there.
Whenever he shops with me...WalMart, Costco...he usually has the total bill calculated before we check out. And he's generally correct within a few cents. Last Saturday, I grab the phone and say "Ry, what's the phone number at Papa Murphys?" (We haven't ordered from there in about a year...see the "low-carb" post) but he says without hesitating "766-9900".
My boy. However, my brain capacity has been shrinking 'cause I rely on him to do and remember everything for me. I'm going to be a vegetable those 3 weeks he's in Provo this summer... : )