Jesse Covner

Nov 052009
 

On Wednesday was Kenaz’s Sport’s Day. Thursday was Akiva’s Sports Day. Lets make this clear… Sports Day is an event made for Chinese parents. On Sports Day, the kids do easy, pointless jumping-through-hoops games, while everyone listens to bad, loud pre-recorded music song by kids on Ritalin (or grown-ups pretending to be kids).

Akiva liked it. But Akiva likes playing with his friends. I don’t think they really play though. They just sort of bump into each other, grap each other, run around, jump up and down in place, then make Ultra-Man poses. Akiva is part of a group of four boys who were always at the back of the line, and always running off the line. He showed no respect for his teacher’s authority.

The children didn’t perform any flat-out races or real competitive activities. However, I’m pretty sure Akiva is the fastest and most athletic boy in the class.

The teachers kept calling “Attention!”. The slightly older kids would then put their hands at their sides and stand up straight, like soldiers. Some in Akiva’s class did this. Akiva remained a jelly-fish. Which is fine. I don’t want Akiva to learn the military style yet.

Kenaz didn’t do anything. He was turned off by all the people and the noise. He didn’t cry like some kids. But he would not do any activity. The class Aiyi held his hand most of the time. Kenaz knows how to work the grown-ups.

In other news, Akiva’s front-bottom teeth fell out.

May 232009
 

When we returned from San Diego, we were a little too busy to put the last post up right-away. Then the Great Firewall of China started blocking access to Blogger. Now I’m using a free, not-very-good VPN service called Hotspot Shield. Its add supported and so very annoying, but atleast now I can post. Anyway…


The kids made new friends with Sammy and Lilly.

I had an operation on my sinuses. I’m not going to get into the details of how and why. But anyway I am now a little healthier.

We went to SeaWorld twice. Actually, Haga and the boys went four times… Haga LOVES Shamoo.

We had more family dinners. Great-Grandma was a little bit surprised by how wild my children are.

Dinner was always great. One night, Rachel made Guacamole. We had that as a topping for BBQ steak and salmon and salad, with that rice-shaped pasta dish on the side. (the following pictures were taken by Akiva…he is following in his father’s footsteps into being a professional food photographer).

Our flight home was relatively easy. The kids slept a while and when they woke up, generally speaking, the didn’t fight.

When we arrived, the “silver people” (yes…obscure Jefferson Airplane reference there) boarded the plane to take our temperature, make sure we don’t have Swine Flu. At the time, I was still coughing a lot. So everyone around me was nervous…not because they thought I had the flu, but because they didn’t want to get quarantined with me.

Jan 022009
 

First of all…Happy New Years and belated Happy Hanukkah!

[This post is late…was having Great Firewall of China related connection problems…sorry.]

My New Years Resolutions:
1. The usual stuff (be a better father, get in shape, be a better husband, etc)
2. Make at least 10K USD more money this year than last year…even if it means taking a night job teaching English to dumb kids.
3. Lose 1 pound a month over the next year in weight.
4. Start a new business stories blog to compliment this blog, so that I can sell myself as a business expert.
5. Take Akiva to at least one service at a Jewish temple this year.

In other news…

We didn’t buy the kids any toys (except some cheap $2 plastic lightsabers to fight with). We want to save money, but the real reason is that we have too many toys around the house and right now the kids are very happy to play with lego blocks and other block variants. Also, anytime we get a new toy, we need to get the same toy for both boys, even if it is not age-appropriate for Kenaz. Anyway, Akiva’s birthday is comming up on January 25th. We already got some new Ultraman spaceship-planes. And recently, Toys R’Us openned up.

We walked around today and bought Twister and 4 more cheap swords. But anyway, this means that things are going to be tougher for the Grandparents…not good to ship toys from the US, which are made in China, when we can now buy the same toys here in China. That being said…[this comment for Grandparents]… they did not have an American checkers set.

Apr 182008
 

Carne asada burrito. Ummm Ummm good. Found in cheap Mexican restaurants all around California.

Bowties and Cottage Cheese. A Covner favorite.

$1.50 Hot dog (with Sourkraut), and diet Coke…from Costco.

My friend Tony came and visited me from Northern California. He is trying to seduce single white men. (I’m married BTW)

We went to eat Sushi with my sister Rachel. I didn’t take pictures of the Sushi. Tony said it was not that good. I thought it was OK, but overpriced…just like everything else in San Diego.

We also went to the beach. I look cool. Not surfer cool. But very cool. Tony, on the other hand, bragged about his 6% body fat.

Apr 152008
 

I went to Jeremy’s wedding on Saturday in San Diego. The wedding was at the same temple where Haga and I got married years ago.

My father officiated the ceremony. He got a license making him the Deputy Commissioner of Marriage (for the day).

The bride Kelly was incredibly beautiful and the groom stylish

All the groom’s men wore Scottish kilts. They got big swords as party-favors. I told Jeremy before hand that I did not feel like bringing a sword back to China through customs, and I did not want Akiva to get ahold of said sword and start a life of medieval violence.

The Bride and Groom danced. So did a lot of guys in kilts danced to Irish / Scottish music. Those guys were not wearing underwear

After the wedding, we had a party, catered by Gail (my Aunt). Fresh Chumash, olives, chicken and fish kababs, Greek salad, pink champagne. Very good food. Also a keg of Guinness beer…which I drank a lot of.

I sat with my friend Brad Decker, who I have not seen for about 6 years. I also hung out with Dan Sutherd, who I have not seen in 20 years. Brad runs lighting for theater productions in Switzerland. He also sometimes does choreography. Dan runs a mail-order nursery in Eureka California and likes art photography. His site is: http://www.drsfoto.com/

My sister Rachel and my brother Micah. They say I’m drunk…nuh uh!

My mom looks great!

Later, I took a nap on this bench.

Jesse’s Welcome Back Pary Hosted by Haga

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Dec 312004
 

The lunch party on Sunday, January 9, 2005 is to welcome Jesse, and celebrate his retuning from Shanghai, China. We have a lot to catch up, please come join us.

DATE: 01/09/05

TIME: 12:00 NOON

PLACE: 3425 SAN PABLO AVE

SAN JOSE, CA 95127

RSVP contact, question, or direction

TEL: 408-272-9303