Fun! Flattering! Frustrating! Sorta Icky!

Hi, everyone! Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I guess I've been lazy, or maybe just too busy. Probably both. I now have a fairly thriving cake business considering I've done no advertising and nothing, really, to have all these people call me for cakes! I've had two or three orders each weekend, usually due at the same time. The thing about cake in China is that they really just don't get it. Cake here, even from the "French" bakery, is flat and very bland and just not much fun. It's usually got whipped icing and glazed fruit on top - there aren't too many "decorated" cakes around. So, I made a cake for a my friend's daughter (as a gift), who then hired me to do a cake for a baby shower. After the shower I got more calls from people I don't even know. It's been really fun and quite flattering, and also pretty frustrating. Frustrating because the ingredients, the ones I can find here at least, are at least double or triple what they cost in the U.S. Most I can't even find (like cake flour...). I didn't receive the pans I carefully packed so I've been making do with sheet cakes and the one racecar cake pan my mom sent. But, really, it's forced me to be more creative, which has been fun. I like a challenge as long as I can do it : )

So, I've been busy brainstorming and preparing and decorating. The best part? Somebody else cleans up afterward! Am I awful or what?

Tim is in the U.S. this week with MY mom. Eating at MY (OK, OUR) favorite restaurants and seeing our lovely former neighbors (Hiya, Heidy!). He's also working his hinder off trying to make it a short trip so he can get back home to China. What a guy. Skype is a wonderful thing, because he can see us and we can see him so it's not quite so lonely. We all can't wait until he comes back.

Today I went shopping at an outlet where they sell all the designer samples for stores. Most items only come in one size, but they have all sorts of fancy-pants labels for dirt cheap. The only problem is you can't try anything on. China is a strange place. No place to try stuff on, you can bargain if you don't like the price, and you're never really SURE if it's the brand the tag says or if it's really the size it says it is. Also, they go absolutely gaga over children here. My friend's baby had her picture taken about 20 times (I'm not exaggerating) and lots and lots of attention. I think it was partly her beautiful blue eyes.

We went to Disneyland this past weekend, which was pretty fun. We went on just a few rides, and tried to go on another ride but it was closed. Do you want to know why it was closed down? Then I'll have to give you another reason why China is a strange place. In many parts of China, little kids don't wear diapers. They wear these open-backed pants (think of Cher in the 90's) and they just do their business wherever and whenever the urge hits them. My mom witnessed it in a restaurant and on streets here - I've only seen it a few times on the sidewalk, the mom just holds the kid out and lets it fly. So, back to Disney, right? Yeah, you guessed it. Little kid, excretion of the smelly kind, and people who walked on it and really spread it around. Icky. Stinky. Not going on THAT ride for a long, long time. We went to the hotel after that and had a ball in the hotel pool, going down the slide and playing in the water. Watched a movie and had a nice time together. The next day Tim left in a cab for the airport, and I took all three kids on a bus, on three different subways, through customs twice and onto the ferry to China. It was a tad nerve-wracking thinking about it ahead of time but it all went quite smoothly and the boys were really excellent, well-behaved and helpful.

I promise to post more pictures and keep up with this thing better in the future. My English class will be over this Friday, freeing up my time to...do more cakes. Next week we're going to Japan so you'll hear all about Japan in the near future. All I know right now is it's supposed to be super-duper expensive. I'll let you know! In the meantime, be thankful for Huggies, be grateful for cake (eat a lot of it) and be making plans to come visit us!! (Yes, I'm talking to YOU, Alyssa, Aleah and Ariel's parents!)