Sunday

Today I had great intentions to get the kids up, get everybody ready and head to Hong Kong for church. Then I started to think about the huge ordeal it is with two adults and how much huger of an ordeal it would be with only one adult. So, I decided to scrap the Hong Kong plans and attend the local church here. I have not been especially impressed or pleased with the local church - that's why we go through the huge ordeal to get to a Hong Kong church. Today was okay - I've been told it's much better now but it's pretty much the same as last time we went. It was really nice to worship once again with others after going the past few weeks without. And the boys had a nice time at Sunday School. It was good - much better than not attending worship services at all.
After, we went out to lunch with some friends - a buddy of Alex's and his parents. They then took Alex home with them for the day and I took Andrew and Ella to the playground. It was a nice day. We had a very quiet supper without Daddy or Alex and then got snuggly on my bed, watching "Little People" videos. It was a nice Sunday - family, friends, fellowship, food. I feel full and at peace. Church sure makes a difference in my Sundays, regardless of how it get it!
I am ready for Tim to come back from the U.S. (tonight!) and for another busy week. God's peace to you!

Cake, Schmake.

Last week I had to cancel a cake order because Andrew had to go to the doctor in Hong Kong...he's fine now but there was no way I could physically get that cake done and still take care of him. So, Thursday night, the same woman (who I've never met) calls again for a similar cake for a bigger party for her daughter. She needs it on Saturday. I said "Sure!"...even though I had planned on NOT doing any cakes at all this week because Tim is in the U.S. and I'm busy enough with the kids. Of course, I had already agreed to do 2 dozen cupcakes on Friday and another cake for someone else for Saturday. Apparently, nobody got my mental memo that I would not be doing cakes this week. And, I apparently have trouble with the word "NO."
Sadly, I looked in my pantry this morning to start my cake baking and decorating and found it to be lacking severely in icing ingredients (that's "FROSTING" for you yankees). And the import stores have been out of the icing sugar for a few weeks now. My supply was used up with the cupcakes and the first cake.
So, I had to call this woman and tell her - AGAIN - that I couldn't get her cake done. I'm thinking I'm not supposed to make a cake for her. I'm also thinking I need to learn how to say NO because I didn't really want to do these cakes in the first place!
The cupcakes are completed and delivered and have been devoured by 4-year-olds. The other cake is done but I'm really not happy with how it looks. At all. I had no ambition or creative juices this week - they were all sucked up by other stuff. I think it turned out waaaaaay too girlie for Todd...what do you think??
I think I need a break from cake-makin'!

Slacker Blogger

Man, am I lazy or what! I mean, is it really that hard to post a little something every now and then to let you know what's going on here? Maybe tell a little joke, say something dazzling or at least thought-provoking? Apparently, yes, it is very hard for me. Because I've been so busy. Doing what? I don't really know...
I have been doing cakes, of course. Last week I finally finished my big catering job. It started out with me providing 7 courses of desserts for an art and jewelry exhibit. Oh, I was so nervous I wasn't sleeping! Then we went down to 5 because we were doing it at a restaurant and the owner of the restaurant needed to do a couple, too, just to keep her products visible. Then somebody goofed on the menu so I went down to 4, which was very manageable. It turned out really great; I was pretty proud of myself for getting everything done and delivered and tasted and enjoyed. So, that had been taking up a lot of my time and attention. So glad it's over!
Later that week I filled one order for 120 cupcakes and did another cake the following day. This week I only have two normal-size orders to fill, so far.
We have officially passed the year mark (Feb. 18)...I supposed I should have blogged then, too. Ah, well, we were too busy celebrating that year of living in China...not really. I must say, that in the past year I've become more used to living waaaaaay over here, not driving or listening to the radio, not seeing my especially loved ones, and not watching U.S. t.v. (which is actually quite refreshing). I have become more fluent in Chinese to the point where I think I could survive outside of my little expat bubble. I have become much more used to and appreciative of Chinese culture, and I sure have learned a lot about Asian culture and the rest of the world. I have met many good friends from all over the place, and some super-good-soulmate-type friends from the U.S. I have dived more deeply into my faith since I have to really claim it here and sift and winnow it a bit, and also I have had to rely on it much more than I have in the past. I have come to really appreciate so many things we take for granted. I have come to appreciate and rely on my family even more than before (didn't think that was even possible). And I've certainly grown, opened up, and learned a thing or two about priorities and needs in life.
I've been playing trains and babies with Ella, who is a joy and a riot and is learning so quickly; and the Wii with my boys, who are also a joy and a riot and sometimes really crabby and sassy and sometimes so loving it makes my heart hurt. We have been playing "Boogie" which is a dance Wii game. It has a bunch of good old songs (like Jackson Five "ABC" and the so-tired "YMCA") which my boys have discovered...again and again and again...and again.
I've been reading like a woman obsessed...or at least really in need of a good learning experience/escape. I've just finished "Eat.Love.Pray" which I enjoyed and which opened me up even more for further exploration. Now I want to start meditating. I'm sure that will happen since I am so reliable with other things in my life, like my blog. And I've read "The Last Chinese Chef" which is a good read and teaches you a bit (just a bit) about Chinese culture and food and guanxi.
I've been reading my friends Meredith's and Michelle's blogs daily, usually thinking "Boy, that woman is clever. I sure wish I had a blog. A clever one, at least" and laughing and crying with them virtually, and appreciating their honesty, openness and updates.
I hope things are well with you...thanks for keeping up with us! Peace.

GO VOLS!

We were going to go to Hong Kong for church today; I moved around a cake job just so we would be able to go. However, Andrew coughed all night and woke up sounding really bad. He certainly didn't need to be running around in Sunday School. The weather was blustery and rainy - not good ferry-ing weather. So, we decided to stay home.

Not being able to go to my Hong Kong church really hits me with the homesickies - I didn't realize just how much I enjoy and need to get there when I can. I was missing my Tennessee church community something fierce this morning and into the afternoon.

Tim was just about to head upstairs for a late shower when he turned on ESPN, just to see if by any luck at all the Vols/Memphis game would be on. Normally ESPN in China shows high-interest sports such as ping pong, badminton and the occasional soccer game. For some reason I can't begin to understand, the game was on, here in China, live! We were able to watch the exciting and highly satisfying second half, only it was noon here and midnight there. How cool is that! Apparently, the Vols are now number one in the country (that would be the U.S., not China!).

We are having a nice, quiet (except for the game) family day here and enjoying it immensely. It seems like we've been go-go-going lately. I'm between 3-5 cakes a week, and I was asked to cater a big dessert event this Tuesday, which I've been stressing about and preparing for. I think we needed some peace in our lives even if it meant not being able to worship this morning. I was able to meditate, pray and listen to some great praise music, dancing with the kids in the kitchen. Not quite the same, but a nice and needed break from our fast-paced daily life.

Tim is currently scouring the import store looking for ingredients for lasagne for tonight (lasagne is insanely expensive to make here in China and the ingredients are tough to find). I have homemade bread and pecan rolls rising in the kitchen, and Ella is napping. Peace to you.

Humble Pie

So, are you in favor of opening up the immigration process, or in favor of stricter border control? Have you ever considered emigrating to China?
What are your thoughts about living in China? Many people have told me I'm very brave to be doing this, and many have said they don't even want to visit China, much less move here. But, did you know that there are people in Asia who see China as a safe haven, the land of opportunity and the proverbial milk and honey? Sound familiar?
There are people who live in North Korea who get killed trying to get into China for a better life. There are people from the Phillippines whose big dream in life is to get to China to work, and it's not easy for them. Living conditions in the Phillippines are such that many - millions - of women leave their children and husbands to work overseas. Just so they can feed their own children, get them to school and possibly into a better life situation, they go to China or Singapore or some other country to take care of the children of those more fortunate. They leave, not knowing when they will see their families again, and faithfully send home money at every opportunity, hoping their children are healthy and going to school. The economic conditions are grim, and many families rely on farming - sharecropping, really. Farming, of course, is dependent upon the weather - this past fall, a flood swept through the Phillippines and washed out all the newly-planted crops. Most people lost everything, and the government there doesn't provide subsidies or welfare.
In North Korea, where people live in constant fear of being considered a traitor or revolutionary, living conditions aren't any better. Poverty, starvation and disease are rampant and there is no outside help from anywhere. People hope to get to China, where they can eat and possibly make a living, but they also live in continual fear that they will be found out and returned to North Korea.
In China, there are many northerners, mainly from more rural areas, who must migrate south to find work at factories, where working conditions can be quite grim. They, too, leave their children - usually with grandparents - and get on a bus to go live in a factory dorm until the following Chinese New Year. Chinese New Year is the only time during the year where people have time off to return home. The vast number of people traveling during this season are making their once-yearly (sometimes even less frequent) trip home to see their children and families they are supporting.
This Chinese New Year, a terrible storm paralyzed most of the country. Transportation systems were shut down and people were stranded in train stations, bus stations, and on the road in the middle of nowhere. Most of China could not go anywhere, much less way up north to their families. It was their only chance to go home. Most are still reeling from the storm - people living without heat or water. Homes were also destroyed in this storm. Our kids' school is taking up a collection to provide blankets, coats, warm clothes and money for the people just an hour north of here.
I've been complaining lately about the inadequate heating system we have. There are little wall units which provide cool air in summer and hot air in winter. There is no central heating or a/c in southern China. It's basically like having a little space heater in a drafty room - not very effective. I found out recently, however, that it is more common to not even have the wall units in most apartments here. People don't have any source of heat in winter (remember, nobody even has an oven here) and - even more shocking to me - no a/c in the very, very hot, humid summers.
In trying to picture China as a safe haven of opportunity for millions of others, I need to reconsider my previous opinions of it. Previously I saw it as a dirty, poverty-stricken place, and in many areas it is. But these same places are a dream come true for those even less fortunate, and there are many modern conveniences and potential for great success here.
I think it's time to re-think my priorities and concentrate on how stinkin' lucky I am. I get to live with my family and I have the luxury of warmer air in this cold winter than most, and cooler air in summer. I have great food available to me all around, and I have indoor plumbing. I can complain that the water smells like feet and sometimes comes out a little brown, or I can be thankful I have a shower every day and water to clean my dishes that I use to cook and eat the food we have in abundance. I can complain about my kids' school not teaching enough Chinese, or about my kids' behavior in certain circumstances, or I can be grateful I get to see them every day and send them to a fantastic, well-credited school. I can look the other way at the poverty and distress in the world around me, or I can look into ways to help people and make somebody else's situation a little better. I can complain about living in China, away from the things I am familiar with, or I can see it as a land of opportunity, a place where people come to fulfill their dreams.

Sorry, I can't resist

Here is one more, in front of the cathedral at Montmartre, the artists' village in Paris. We took the trip with the same people we went to Japan with last June - our very dear Hong Kong friends.

Poof! I did it again...

My favorite part about France? The Eiffel Tower? Notre Dame? The Arc de Triumph? Monmartre? The Louvre? Champs D' Elysses? Versailles? Yes, we saw them all in TWO DAYS! No, mon cherie, it was the FOOD, mais oui! Such good, good bread. Such good, good salads. Such good, good, good, good wine. Ahh, France, I shall miss you dearly now that we are in the land of mediocre bread, nonexistent salads and NOT French wine. *sigh*

But, France, what a beautiful place! What a beautiful language! What beautiful people! What a fat tourist I've become!

Did you know that Notre Dame took 167 years to build, starting in the 12th century, and some of the stained glass is original? When the Germans invaded in WWII they took apart each piece of each window, numbered them, and stored them underneath Notre Dame, then put it all back together afterward! Those French not only understand, create and cultivate beauty, they take great pains to maintain it!

Or that no matter where you stand in a room, the Mona Lisa looks like she's looking right at you! DaVinci achieved this by using many, many layers of paint and varnish to almost make it 3D. It is encased in bulletproof glass with guards on either side, and the room has its own a/c unit inside her little shrine, because she was painted on wood.

Did you know that the Eiffel Tower not only lights up at night, it also twinkles like a 4th of July sparkler for 10 minutes on the hour? It's simply mesmerizing to watch it.

And the Statue of Liberty? We all know it was a gift from the beautiful country of France. But did you know that there are more of them, one on a bridge that was a gift from the U.S., and one in a park. In college, I had a poster of John Lennon flashing the peace sign in front of the Statue of Liberty, but I knew it was not the REAL one because it wasn't that big. Well, we found the one John was in front of and Tim snapped a pic of ME giving the peace sign in front of it. Yes, after three kids and worldwide travel, I STILL want to be a rock star.

But the kids look cooler than I do...

Gay Paree

OK, Paris is the most exciting, most beautiful, spectacular place I have ever been in, hands down.

Europe!

The kids have off for Chinese New Year this week so we decided to check out a few places in Europe. We spent Saturday and Sunday in Amsterdam, visiting a long-lost, dear friend of Tim's. We had a lovely time. Amsterdam is such a beautiful city, architecturally - I had no idea how esthetically deprived we are living in the modern Chinese city we do! So nice to just look around and see all the beautiful buildings.

Did you know that the Dutch are TALL?? Wow, I seriously felt short walking around in Amsterdam - in Asia I feel relatively normal but not in Holland.

We went to Ann Frank's house - walked through the same bookshelf she and her family hid behind before being carted off by the Nazis. It was one of the more emotional, humbling, sad and inspiration places I've ever been. Go there and remember, because she was just one of millions.

We went to the Van Gogh museum, which was beautiful, of course. We took a canal tour on a boat, which was warm. And a bus tour of the city - we caught a small glimpse of the red light district without the kids noticing what we were looking at - I was able to avoid a few uncomfortable explanations there! We saw a lot of "coffee" shops.

Monday we took a train to Paris, and have been staying at the Disneyland Paris Hotel. Very nice, and incredibly close to the park - like a few steps from the entrance. Any other Disney park, it seems we have to walk quite a ways to get there. Here, we just head out the hotel and into the park. Cool!

It's cold and rainy and completely crowded on a Tuesday in February. Go figure!

More to come...

I'd like to thank my fellow expats...

Yesterday morning, the workers came...

For the past year (almost...February 18) I have been battling my oven. I turn it on, it gets hot, then hotter, then hotter. It doesn't stop getting hotter! I've burned cookies, had cakes half-burned and half-mushy, and had cheesecakes turn into sad little blobs of muck. It's been frustrating, to say the least.
My wonderful Chinese friends heard about my dilemma and wrote a letter, in Chinese, to the management of our neighborhood. These guys are electrical engineers and they wrote about how the sensor is broken and what to do about it - two pages of details! The worker guy came in - this was maybe last July or so - and looked at the paper and laughed. He turned the oven on. My oven got hot (duh). He turned it off - it got cool. You turn it on, it gets hot, you turn it off, it gets cold...mei wenti (NO PROBLEM) he says! You must understand that the Chinese don't use ovens - they use a rice steamer and a cooktop or single burner. That's it - probably due to lack of space, prohibitive costs, and electrical costs, too. That's fine. But I need my oven to be at 350 when I ask it to be! He didn't understand my needs, and, quite frankly, I don't think he understood what a sensor on an oven is!

A few weeks ago my neighbor was on a vacation with some other women from the neighborhood. One of them was talking about this ridiculous oven she used to have in her house. Yeah, you guessed it: you turn it on, it keeps getting hotter and hotter and hotter! Her oven ended up in my house! I asked her how she got a new one and she told me about a friend with a fine oven who had just moved out - the management just switched them around, no problem. She called me again last week, having remembered that a friend of ours had moved back to the States and her home was still vacant, and - ta -dah! - her oven was FINE.

So, I called my management company and said I wanted that particular oven. My liaison said she would check on it but I was coached by people who have lived here a while to be persisitent and a bit insistent. So I was.

Yesterday, the workers came. They gave me Christine's old oven and took mine away, to be put into the home of some other unsuspecting expat. I turned my new oven on - I had two cakes to bake! - to 350. I checked it with my oven thermometer a half hour later, and it said - YES! - 350. Then I turned it down to 325 to make another cake. A half hour later and it was STILL 325. The whole time! Constant! My beautiful, new oven! Look out, China, here come some even better cakes!

THANKS, NICOLE!

A Blue Mohawk, Twists and Crazy Red Hair

Yesterday was Crazy Hair Day at the kids' school...what do you think?

I think it should have been called "Way-Cool Hair Day" but luckily, I'm not in charge!

I got a call from a woman who wanted a tattoo cake for today...at first she said she wanted a cake with a man's arm on it with a tattoo on the arm. And the tatttoo the birthday guy has is a PHOENIX. OK, I'm sorry but I think that's a tad above my expertise level. She said really to just do any tattoo on it. So here is what I came up with:

The heart says "BAD TO THE BONE" on it. Cheesey? Or art? You decide...either way, it was delicious - I had a little extra batter left over & made a mini-cake with it in my Chinese toaster oven. And the cake ended up being for two guys so I had to make it very manly!

Rock On, Little Man

Tonight my son's school had a Night at the Wax Museum, where they researched a great historical figure or current hero, dressed up as said person, and did a little skit being that person. They each made a poster with more information about the person to put behind them. You walk up to the child, push a "button" on their shoulder, and the wax figure "comes to life."

My son chose Bono as his hero, with perhaps a limited amount of input from Mom.

We were hearing comments from people before we even got to the room he was in - "your son is doing an awesome job." "your son really rocks." "I can't get enough of Bono." It was cool but I wanted to hear it for myself. He had his hair slicked back, a rock star t-shirt (thank you, Meredith!!) and wraparound shades. He did look cool. Then he started out by singing "Vertigo," which is a pretty rockin' hit. He talked about being Bono and all the great things Bono does in addition to awesome music.

A news team happened to be doing a little story on our international school, and they were there for the Wax Museum, as well. They chose our son to interview! So, a friend was there and told me what she heard:

News: Why did you choose Bono?

DS: Well, because I love ROCK AND ROLL.

News: Where are you from?
DS: I'm from the USA, man!

News: How did you come up with a costume?

DS: I did it myself! Well, my dad helped a little. And my mom.

That kid is something else. He cracks us up. I can't wait to see it on TV - yes, CHINESE TV. Should be interesting!

A Fishy Story

Last night Tim went out for Japanese food with some colleagues. They went to a very fancy Japanese fusion place and had quite a variety of seafood, sushi and sashimi. Sushi has rice in it; sashimi is the raw fish that most people think is sushi.
He said he was served the freshest fish he's ever had, and this is how he proved it: the fish was served on a bed of ice, the (raw) filets presented in front of the actual fish it was taken from. The fish it was taken from had the full head and tail and its sides had been cut out for the sashimi filets. And, the fish was still moving. Now, that's fresh.
Tim passed on the fish sashimi and went for the food that wasn't still alive.

My Latest 2 Cakes

Put your backbone back!

Today I did something I've been putting off for a few years now. With all my cake orders and people wanting real cakes, not just kids' birthday cakes, I have been needing some roses & other flowers to put on top of some cakes. I hate making those! They're very detailed and I guess I'm just a little to clumsy to do a really nice job. But since there is no cake supply store here I have to make my own. So I took a few hours and a whole bag of the really sticky, thick icing that makes those stiff flowers and I made apple blossoms, roses and pansies. By the time I finished my arm was just about frozen in the bag-squeezing position! They don't look amazingly lifelike but I am pretty happy with how they turned out. Whew!
MY LATEST EPIPHANY:
I was reading something, somewhere - I think it was in an issue of The Lutheran magazine - about somebody telling a friend that she had put her wishbone where her backbone should be. It's made me sit up and take notice. I've always been more of a "wishbone" type person and here I am, almost 40 (at least that's what the math tells me) and I haven't done a whole lot other than dreaming and procrastinating. That little tidbit has made a huge difference in the little things in my life since I read it. Instead of thinking "I really oughtta..." I've been trying to "So DO it already." Hasn't made me change the world yet but it sure is making a nice difference in my life. It's definetly a keeper!
So, remember, put your backbone back!

Strange but True Facts!

We are back in China. It's January, and I'm looking out at sunshine and the honeysuckles in bloom all around my house, my banana tree, and all the green. In January! Yippee!

Yesterday on the plane, both during and after, we were complimented by several people on how well-behaved our kids are, and what good, patient travelers they are. Yippee!

Here's some wierd psychology: When we were in the U.S. we started flirting with the idea of buying a home, one with a 12-month lead time so we wouldn't be paying the mortgage for as long. During this little exploration, we were checking out beautiful new homes with beautiful new appliances and picturing our life back in the U.S. It was making me NOT want to come home and I was getting pretty super-bummed out. We eventually decided it would not be a good idea to do this until we know our timeline better and what our needs will be when we do return. As soon as we decided that and stopped thinking about coming BACK, I got pretty excited about going home to China and back to our life here. I am now very much at peace with being here and finishing up Tim's assignment here. Yippee!

It's good to be home.

Poof!

I am a pufferfish. I've been eating everything I've missed this last 10 months, with no regard to consequences. And now I'm blowing up like a big ol' poofed-up pufferfish. Time to go back to China, where the food's not so good or so huge, and where I walk all the time.

OK, so I'm getting used to the idea and I'm missing our family routine, back to school, back to our house across the pond. I am certainly NOT looking forward to the big-ass plane ride with the kids, although they were fantastic on the way here. But I'm okay with getting back to being near Hong Kong, back to our friends, back to our life there. I will dearly miss my church, my mom and her husband, my favorite restaurants, my friends here. Of course I'll also miss my other family, though I'm used to not seeing them on a regular basis anyhow. What a lovely holiday we all had together!

For unto us...

a savior is born!

A most blessed Christmas to you and your family! May you have a day of peace and love. Those of you who are especially lonely due to loss of a loved/cherished/irreplaceable one, may it be some small comfort to know you are in my prayers and thoughts, and I send you love and wish you God's peace.

Time Keeps On Slippin, Slippin, Slippin...

It seems like our time here in the U.S. is just flying by! Already over a week we've been here - although a few of those days were spent in a jetlag haze. Only two weeks from today we'll be heading back to China. Want to know a secret? Spending time in the U.S. is making me want to stay in the U.S.! I'm not really looking foward to going back to China. Just something as simple as using my mom's fancy-pants appliances (really, they're nice but very normal appliances...) that are so much nicer than the very old, very basic ones I have in my house over there. Yeah, I know, I'm lucky to have the appliances I have compared to most Chinese.

I do understand that regular, daily life here wouldn't be an endless stream of playdates, dinners out and parties. At least not all the time. It's the holiday season and we have many people to catch up with in a short amount of time. I think that makes life in the U.S. seem so much more fun right now. Thanks to Meredith & family, Heidy & family, Nicholas & family, Cooper & family, Jonathan & family, Dick & Jo, my brother & family, my dad & family, Dr. Angie & family, and of course, my mom and Wayne...such fun we're having here! Sure wish Barb & family were still here, too!

I hope that by January 4 I am more eager to get back home to my life in China! If only there was a Mellow Mushroom there...*sigh*...do I complain too much???

You like me! You really like me!

Well, I've been hearing from so many people that you are still reading my blog and keeping up with us - thank you from the bottom of my heart. That means so much to me!!

Today I went to my church and I felt as though I'd come home. The music is now fantastic, with a band that includes drums (rock on). The smiles and hugs that were shared were priceless. I also realized why it is I miss my church so very much in China, and why Sundays are so especially lonely. It's because in my church here in the U.S., I feel loved. People know me and care about me, and I about them. We've shared sad times and good times and monitor each other's pregnancies and watch each other's kids grow up. It's a family and it's why I get so homesick. It's so lovely to be back; I don't think I could have been happier this morning. Except, of course, for missing the Sextons and a few other families that weren't there.

I am getting used to driving again, which is fun. I was nervous the first time out! In China, nobody follows the rules; people just go where they want, when they want. It's chaos, which is really kind of a bad idea when you're moving around in a big metal box at 45 mph. Here, the roads are SO BIG and people let you take your turn. Pedestrians in parking lots wave and smile when you stop for them.

I ate at my favorite pizza restaurant in the whole world yesterday for lunch. Yes, they have pizza in China - Papa John's is very popular and delivers. Pizza Hut is also popular but the one by our house doesn't deliver! Almost everybody in China delivers, right down to Starbucks! But, I digress. We went to this fabulous little pizza kitchen. They have a Clash poster that shows a guitarist smashing his guitar at a concert, in black and white. It's one of my favorite posters of all time, and it's right back by the bathroom. I just love it. I had a pizza with artichokes, roasted red pepper, sausage, and kalamata olives - many things that you won't find on a pizza in China. Pizza in China usually has squid or shrimp on it and pineapple. They also have the "normal" pies - pepperoni is popular, but honestly, nothing ever tastes quite the same there. I don't know what kind of cheese they use, but it's just different. The meat tastes different, too, and I really don't want to know why. I do know one thing: it's good to be home.

Sweet Home Tennessee

Well, I am back in the US of A and it feels pretty good! The first thing that struck me when I walked in to the Newark airport is how DIVERSE this country is! In China, everybody basically has the same color hair and similar skin. There are many differences within that, of course, but here everybody looks so different. It's beautiful to see! And, everybody seems so nice here, right down to the cashier at Kroger's! It's wonderful to be wished a "Merry Christmas" and have people really mean it. In China, while Christmas is capitalized on as a way to make money and have fun, the true meaning gets missed or never even thought of in the first place. I don't say this about Hong Kong, where Christianity is just fine and they "do it up real nice." A few days ago, in China, it sure didn't feel like Christmas was coming. Here, I can feel it, smell it in the air and see it in smiles.

Walking through Target, I also was struck by how rich we are as a nation. All the space, all the beautiful packaging, all the parking spaces. Next time you get annoyed by having to go to Target, trying not being able to go for 10 months.

We are all jet-lagged and I am especially looking forward to sleeping tonight. I will post more as the weeks fly by.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today is Thanksgiving but in China it's just another Thursday. School, work, all of that. And it's also really hot so it certainly doesn't FEEL like Thanksgiving! We are going to celebrate with our very dear Hong Kong friends and our neighbors from the U.S. on Saturday. I think it will be our Hong Kong friends' first Thanksgiving - and in a way it carries on the tradition nicely - I don't know how we would have survived this move across the ocean to the New Old World without them!

We have a turkey on order, and we're going to have cranberries, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, pumpkin cheesecake, pecan pie, right down to the little sweet pickles and olives my Grandma used to serve on big feast days (well, not the SAME pickles and olives...new ones)! I am really looking forward to this!

I've been test messaging "Happy Thanksgiving!" all my friends here from the U.S. and it's been such a treat to see a U.S. person and be able to say "Happy Thanksgiving!" to someone it means something to. The things we learn to be thankful for...someone who can identify with our culture is a treat here!

I know that I am certainly thankful for things I never thought much about, and I remain thankful for some things I could not do without - the love and support of my family and my friends, near and far. Thank YOU for your love, support and encouragement. I hope you enjoy your turkey with your loved ones today.

"O God, when I have food,
help me to remember the hungry;
When I have work,
help me to remember the jobless;
When I have a home,
help me to remember those who have no home at all;
When I am without pain,
help me to remember those who suffer,
And remembering,
help me to destroy my complacency;
bestir my compassion,
and be concerned enough to help;
By word and deed,
those who cry out for what we take for granted.
Amen."
(Samuel F. Pugh)

Meme

OK, Beth, I am going to respond to this tag. I've never been tagged by anyone else before and last time I dropped the ball. HERE, at the request of Beth's fantastic website(s) is my meme (Me! Me! Me! Me!)

8 Things I am Passionate About
My family (duh)
My faith
Education and growth of mind and personality
Reading - mainly Jane Austen, JK Rowling, Janet Evanovich and Stuff that Makes me Think
MUSIC - boy, that one makes me happy! Especially if it's got a good beat and is easy to dance to...and makes me think.
Baking and cooking - because I love EATING
Decorating cakes - I am the Cake Lady of China
Open-mindedness - Way important for learning about other cultures and getting one's ego out of the way.

8 Things I Want to Do Before I Die
See my kids grow up into happy, successful, resourceful adults
See France, Italy, Greece, Australia, New Zealand, Alaska, and the rest of the U.S. Maybe part of Canada, too.
Open a cake shop in China : )
Make a scrapbook for each of our trips (starting with China)
Really, truly make a difference in somebody's life - ambiguous, I know...and I don't mean my own family, I guess I mean the Greater Good
Be a better person
Write a book or two
Learn to be a really great cook

8 Things I Say Often
Nihao!
Oh, my goodness!
Alexander! (or any other one of my kids' names)
Are we late again? How did it get to be so late?
I'm hungry!
Let's go to Hong Kong this weekend!
I love you more! (to my kids)
Ni hue shuo ying wen ma? (Do you speak English?)


8 Books I've Read Lately
Pride & Prejudice (3rd time)
The final Harry Potter (WOW)
Sense & Sensibility
Emma
The Glass Castle (current)
The Bible (well, not the whole thing...)
New Concept Mandarin's Chinese Survival Manual
Riding the Iron Rooster

8 Songs I Could Listen to Over and Over
Way difficult to narrow this down!!!
The duet sung by two Italian women, written by Mozart, in Shawshank Redemption (And I don't even know what it is!!!! Somebody Help Me!
Here I am to Worship
This is the Radio Clash
Man! I Feel Like a Woman
Smooth (Rob Thomas & Santana)
Spirit of the Radio (Rush)
The Harlem Boys' Choir singing O Holy Night
Mack the Knife sung by Ella Fitzgerald

8 Things That Attract Me To My Best Friend (Tim)
He can fix anything
He is funny and keeps me laughing
He's handsome!
He loves our kids as much as I do
He is a hard worker and driven to do well for everybody, not just himself
He is an excellent mediator/negotiator/diplomat/b.s.er
He makes a point to really get to know people at every level of any organization, not just the guys on top or the decision-makers
He is a great teacher, even though he's not officially a teacher
He likes to dance even though he's a white guy

8 Things I've Learned This Year
How to say "please don't touch my children" in Mandarin
That there are excellent people everywhere
That you need to make friends quickly and love them bravely in an expat neighborhood, because we all really need each other but we're all only here for a little while
That my true friends remain as such no matter where we all live
That I really do need to pray every day
That I maybe don't need nearly as much STUFF as I used to think I might
How really, really lucky I am to have been born where I was, when I was and who I was
That the U.S. has incredible health care and nothing should be taken for granted

8 people to tag
...uh, the only other bloggers I know are Michelle and Beth, and you've both been tagged! But anybody who wants to post their answers in a comment, way cool!
Barb, Heidy, Angie (still there?), Jane F., Cheryl...anybody else there?

Happy Birthday, Baby!

My little girl turned 3 years old yesterday. She's gone from this:

To this:

Beijing Photos

Can you find Tim in this picture??

At the Great Wall of China!

Warning: THIS IS REALLY LONG

We just flew back from Beijing tonight, and boy are my arms tired...actually, my legs hurt because the Great Wall of China is really big! We climbed and climbed and climbed - they made the stairs very steep because the Mongols were so much taller than the Chinese. It was so awesome and humbling to stand up there on that structure that was started some 700 years B.C. Truly a wonderful experience, and beautiful to see it snake across the landscape of China like a dragon.

Beijing is a great city and we had a fabulous time. Before the Great Wall, we visited the Ming Tomb from the Ming Dynasty, built a mere 600 years ago. The Chinese are leaving those tombs alone and guarding them for future generations since they are so young compared to other Chinese historical artifacts. Very cool. After we saw the tomb, we headed to a jade market where we learned a lot about how jade develops (over millions of years), is processed (carved with diamonds) and how to tell if it's genuine. It was all very interesting, and the market we went to is not open to tour buses, so it was very quiet and calm compared to many other markets in China. After that we headed to the Great Wall and then a Chinese lunch, which was delicious. More shopping at the Friendship Store, where all sorts of Chinese arts and crafts are sold. We watched the labor- and time-intensive process of creating cloisonne art - it is painted and fired about 7 times then glazed a bunch more. It was interesting - the kids loved watching people curl the metal around the pottery to create the designs.

The following day we walked to Tianammen Square, which again was humbling but for a different reason, and to the Forbidden City. That place is huge! And very beautiful, but unfortunately is currently under major renovations due to the upcoming 08 Olympics. Tianammen Square is a big concrete square filled with hawkers, tourists, people staring at us and snapping our picture, and many, many police officers and vehicles. It has a big statue in the middle that I'm sure has some great significance, though I couldn't read it in Chinese. There are also some beautiful statues at the rear, comprising many different Chinese people working together and rising to a great nation. They are very well-done and inspiring.

Across from Tianammen Square is the Forbidden City, built by the 3rd emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Again, it's "only" 600 years old. The grounds are beautiful and well-preserved, and we used the gps-sensitive taped guides to tell us what was what and what it was for. That was quite interesting because no matter where we were, we were hearing an appropriate explation and description. The boys thought that was all pretty cool.

The following day we went to Beijing's famous pearl market which is quite similar to Lowhu on the lower floors (only even more aggressive - ick!) and has a big pearl market on the upper floors. I tried on a winter jacket on the first floor that had a 1200 rmb asking price to start. I bargained her down to 700 rmb, then decided I wanted to look around more before buying it. By the time we left that shop, they were offering the jacket for 300 rmb (about US$40!) and begging us to buy it! Crazy...I didn't buy it but what a deal! We had fun on the pearl floor - there were some beautiful necklaces and other jewelry up there!

Adjacent to the pearl market is the Beijing Toy Market. The kids had fun there! We walked around the whole thing with people yelling at us to buy their stuff, then the kids each picked out a toy. Tim did some sweet bargaining there, and I picked up some cool "learn Chinese" posters for the kids' rooms. They had fun there, and we then took a cab to the Hard Rock Cafe. We all do love the Hard Rock Cafe, because no matter where we go, it's got great food, awesome music and a little down-home comfort for us. During the cab ride - during all our cab rides, actually - I was able to converse with the driver in Mandarin. Yippee!!

That night we went to an acrobat show, where most of the performers were kids or very young adults. It was amazing! And the kids really loved it - especially when the bike-riding girls put about 15 people onto one bike! One boy, about 12, rode a unicycle upside-down on a tightrope, which amazed us all.

Yesterday evening we went to a world-famous Peking Duck (or as it's now called, Beijing Duck) restaurant. It's 5 stories of one restaurant and they recommend drinking blueberry juice with the duck to complement it. It was really good!! They bring out the whole duck (and I do mean the WHOLE duck) cooked and crispy. They slice it up and serve it with little pancakes (sort of like tender tortillas), plum sauce, and green onions. You roll it all up together and eat it like a little burrito. It is really good! Especially with the blueberry juice. We had a great meal there, then had some gelato at a nearby mall.

The weather was fairly cold and today it was drizzly. No snow yet but we plan to return next year for our "snow fix." On the flight home we had terrible food, cranky flight attendants and a slightly clumsy pilot (on takeoff and landing) so we were really glad to get home and chow down on the pizza Tim ordered on the way home!

It's really nice to be home but I also look forward to our next visit to China's capital in the North!

Shout-outs, snot-outs and outings

Heidy, MichelleW and Beth, thank you for always commenting on my blogs and all your encouragement and inspiration. You will never know how much it always means to me (well, you probably do, Beth) to hear from you and receive acknowledgement that you haven't forgotten me! Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Today was my last day of 3 modules (almost 8 months) of Chinese class. I've met some wonderful people and learned some helpful language skills. I've also been going nuts trying to keep up with everything, plus two mornings a week of classes. I'm glad it's over. My Chinese friend Luo is going to speak to me only in Mandarin from now on, she said, and that will be my new lessons! Yikes...

My daughter has a bad, snotty cold. My oldest son and I are trying to fight it. I get Kosmo Fighter juice every day I can get there...is there a Kosmo near you? It's a U.S. chain that sells awesome juices, teas and sammiches (yippeeee!! really tough to find a gooooood sammich in China.) She is supposed to be sleeping right now but is singing "Where is Thumbkin" to herself. The other night she sang "Happy Birthday" about a million times to everyone in the family while she was going to sleep!

We are going to Beijing this Saturday for five days; it's very cold there so we will be taking warm clothes! I am really looking forward to seeing the Great Wall and the Forbidden City. And today I learned how to say "Please don't touch my children" in Mandarin...people have told us we won't be able to get anywhere because of people crowding us and touching their hair and skin...not too many foreigners in Northern China!

My oldest son received a Bible from our church last week. Tonight he started reading it. We had a big laugh over how long people lived way back in the day...he thought it was pretty crazy. We had a nice, cozy time reading it and my other son had me reading stories from his Toddler's Bible. It was a really great reading time tonight!

The Big Ordeal

I have been a little intimidated to try and mail anything from China, and I've successfully avoided the whole time we've lived here. So far. I know where the post office is, but I didn't know how much money it would cost or what kinds of hassles they would put me through, or whether anything I mailed would get to the U.S. on time for the intended occasion. So, I've sent e-cards and ordered stuff online to send for peoples' birthdays. I even had my mom send a sympathy card to some dear friends who suffered a really bad tragedy.

Ella's baptism sponsor, one of her godmothers, will be confirmed next week. This is a big deal in the Lutheran church, and a very big deal for this very, very special girl. I knew I had to brave the China Post Office for Katie.

I put it off for a while (had a snack, surfed the 'net...) and finally walked to the post office, card in hand. I walked up to the counter and handed it to the woman working. She said "Mei Gua," which means "America" and then she said "6 yuan." OK, if you are unfamiliar with exchange rates, that's less than a U.S. dollar. I said "SIX YUAN?" "Yes." I handed her my six yuan and left. No problem. No hassle. No language barrier. Yippee! Thanks, China Post!

Happy Halloween!

Here are some pictures from our first Halloween in China. My oldest son's drama club did "Thriller" for the school assembly - he is the skeleton dancing in front of the stage. They did a great job!

Then there was a Halloween Parade around the basketball courts outside.


My daughter was supposed to be Tinkerbell, but she didn't think that was quite the right look for her. She went with the Power Ranger Girl thing, and right on, sister, didn't she look tough!

Don't worry, not ALL these kids are ours, though they are really lovely kids!

Bedlam and the Boondocks

When we first moved here last year, I scoured the furniture stores looking for a toddler bed. I found plenty of beds that were low to the ground, but none had rails around them. We decided to have one made, but I was advised by my friend who was helping me to have it made into twin size, so she could grow into the bed. We had nice, removable rails made for it, too. Unfortunately, the rails were way too short once we made the bed longer - not nearly long enough to keep her in the bed if she flops around too much. Which she does. So, after a few late-night falls and fears, I have been surrounding my dd with pillows and putting polarfleece blankets on the floor to cushion her.

Last Tuesday, I was at the Ikea store in Guanzhou, which is about 1 1/2 - 2 hours away, depending on traffic. Lo and behold, there was a beautiful little white toddler bed with a nice removable rail - it was perfect! I didn't buy it because we already had the other bed. However, after getting up every night this week (and the week before, and so on...) to adjust my dd and make sure the pillows are still there to try to keep her in, we decided to just buy the Ikea bed.

We drove to Guanzhou, and it only took about 1 1/2 hours - we made great time! We found the bed and tried to purchase it, but were told that we wouldn't be able to pick it up until tomorrow (not gonna happen!). My husband convinced them to let us pick it up at the warehouse, which was on the way home anyway.

Then we found out that the highway back is closed and we had to take all detours to get home. Some were sort of marked, some weren't marked at all. We spent a good portion of our afternoon in typical Chinese city-area. China is full of tiny storefronts, one after the other, down every single street it seems. They have apartments over them, usually 5 or more stories tall. The little shops sell flowers, or tires, or clothing, or possibly they house a tailor or hairdresser. Nothing ever looks new here or clean (except the hairdressers!). There is almost always a table and plastic chairs set up, with people eating or playing mah jong or else just sitting around talking, and food wrappers all around the table. It's the same in every section of every Chinese city I've been in. Occasionally you will see a large, green area with low houses and people wearing those big triangle hats and pajamas to do their work, hauling water, riding an old bike, or working in the field. If you see a body of water, it's usually crowded with boats hauling stuff from one place to another or fishing. Every square inch of land and space seems to be utilized here.

Another thing very typical of China are the many, many huge factory campuses. Most of the employees are migrant workers, so you see so many large, rectangle dorms for the workers. You can tell they're not just normal apartments because all the clothes hanging out to dry on the balconies (nobody has a clothes dryer here) are exactly the same - uniforms. It's basically a little town and also a giant family. Meals are served in a big hall and they all work, live and relax together. They say China is the world's factory, and I believe it!! Right down to the giant smokestacks and chimneys spewing who-knows-what into the air, blocking the sun so it looks more like the moon, and shoveling money into the booming Chinese economy.

Another thing you see quite a bit, and I've mentioned this about the kids here, is that people will take a whiz anywhere! We frequently see cars stopped along the highway, and all the men from the car are standing with their back to the road relieving themselves. It's really a little disconcerting, but you get used to it after a while.

To get back to our afternoon, we did manage to get sort of lost for a few hours in all the mazes of shops, restaurants and factories. In all, it took us six - SIX!!!! - hours to get home. We didn't get home until 9 p.m., when it was too late to get the bed put together anyhow! We ordered a pizza, fed the kids, and put them to bed, very late! As it was, I was stressed enough with the awful, chaotic and incredibly frightful traffic. Glad to be home, and I'm glad my girl will finally have her toddler bed. Tomorrow.

True Confessions!

I admit it. We have never spent a day at a beach before. Never wanted to - sunburn, sand, worrying about kids and the undertow, too many people, lounging around in a swimsuit(!), Jaws, and no shade to speak of. Now, I am a changed woman.

Today we took a bus to a Hong Kong pier, then got on a junk boat (basically just a rented, bare-bones yacht) for a 1-hour trip to a beach in Hong Kong. The boat had a nice indoor area with tables and benches; an upper deck with chairs and gorgeous views; an outdoor seating area at the front of the boat ("I'm the king of the world!"); and a bathroom and changing area. It was a nice, relaxing boat ride. We went with 6 famililes from our area, most with little kids.

Then we took a dinghy to a dock at a beach and spent the day in the swimming area and under some shade trees. The beach was nice and small, and not crowded at all. It was a beautiful, sunny day, not too hot, just right. And the water was nice and cool, with big waves to ride in on but not too deep for kids to stand up in.

We brought picnic foods to share - somebody made some delicious baklava - sandwiches, cookies, and a lot of water. Everybody sort of watched out for everybody else's kids, and they all played together. They shared their sand toys and had fun burying each other's feet in the wet sand. It was really fun! I had no idea the beach could be such a great time, just hanging out in the water, playing in the wet sand, and cooling off in the surf.

As we headed back to the junk from the swimming area, we noticed signs around the swimming area for passing boats. The signs said "Warning! Shark nets!"...meaning they net off the swimming area to keep the sharks out. I'm really glad I saw that AFTER we spent the entire afternoon in the water, because I would have worried whether those nets were still intact and hole-free!

We got back on our junk, had more picnic food, including some lovely homemade baklava, and headed back to Hong Kong harbor. The ride back was a little rocky at times, but it was fun as long as we were sitting down.

We had almost decided not to go on this trip because of the whole beach avoidance we had before, but we really wanted to spend time with our friends - many of the people who went along are friends of ours but we never really get to see each other. Today was a beautiful, fantastic opportunity for fun in the sun!

At the Lamma Island Fishing Farm

Here are the boys and Nana feeding the fish. They had little plastic foodservice gloves to keep their hands clean - smart!

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale...

At about 5 a.m. today the wind was blowing so fiercely I thought we were having a typhoon (yeah, that's Eastern Hemisphere for "hurricane"). But by the time we were up and ready, it wasn't so bad and it was just gray and windy-ish. It is also a national holiday here, all week! It's Golden Week, or the anniversary of the communist rule in China. It's a really big deal, with flags and fireworks and all that national hoopla like the U.S.'s Independence Day.

Since it was my mom and her husband's second to last day here in China, we decided to take a day trip today to Hong Kong. We had some business to take care of at the U.S. Embassy, so Tim and I took an early ferry with the kids, and my mom and her dh followed.

Our ferry was totally packed since everybody and their brother has off most of the week. We took care of our Embassy stuff and were picked up by our dear Hong Kong friends. We had a nice dim sum lunch. Did you know that "dim sum" is Cantonese for "small bites" and it's usually a breakfast or lunch thing? It's mainly dumplings and steamed buns and stuff like that, but it also usually includes chicken feet! They eat them like we eat wings in the U.S. Never had them, never plan to, and our Hong Kong friend always keeps them far from our table!

We then took a very blustery, bumpy, rocky ferry ride to Lamma Island. The whole way there, Tim and I kept singing the theme song to Gilligan's Island...you know, "a 3-hour tour...a 3-hour tour...the weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed..." We were getting tossed! I almost tossed...my cookies.

Once there, we walked around a bit. It could have been any seaside town, smelling of fish and salt and with open-air seafood restaurants, one after the other. There are live fish, squid, mussels, lobster, crab, and shrimp in tanks all around. And, of course, a few shops full of junk and beaded jewelry, hats and umbrellas and stuff.

Then, as the wind picked up and the rain got heavier, we took a smaller boat (a really small fishing boat...) to a fishing farm. They have all these floating docks around the island where they basically have big cages in the water where they keep fish, feed them and breed them. It was very interesting, and looked like it probably did about a hundred years ago. We watched how they feed them and how the water boils up with fish when you throw a little fishie snack in. Did you know that squid change color when they eat? Their tentacles (which are much, much smaller than I had thought) come out and they suck in the fishie snack and turn from greyish-brown to white with brown spots! The kids were able to feed some fish and do some "hookless" fishing. They just tie a fish around a piece of thick line, tie it to a bamboo pole, and you stick it into a feeding frenzy. With the fish just tied on, it is quite rare to catch anything but the boys had a ton of fun with that. Actually, I think Tim had even more fun than the boys did!

When we were pretty sure a typhoon was happening (though it wasn't) we got back onto the teeny little boat, my fingers clenching the seat and my eyes screwed shut, and headed back to the island.

We sat down for a fantasic seafood dinner, complete with ice-cold beer, soy shrimp and bean curd dessert. Bean curd dessert is warm silky tofu, water and sugar - sounds really yummy, right? Actually, it's really, honestly awesome! I love it! I have a harder time with the shrimp, which always arrives at the table completely intact - meaning you have to rip off the head and peel the tail. Ick. Sometimes it arrives alive and they cook it (kill it) right in front of you. We had a great time, though at one point the restauranteer had to batten down the hatches because we were starting to get rained on inside the restaurant.

One more ferry ride (this time I just tried to sleep; I was tired of being tossed around by the waves and wondering if the next big wave would smash the boat up) and we were back on beautiful Hong Kong Island.

We stopped at a grocery store and picked up a bunch of things we can't get in China, and headed home. It was a lovely adventure!

The Time Warp, the Metric System and UPS

Before moving to China, I had no inkling of just how different things would be here. What would seem a simple request from a realtor has turned into Mission: Impossible. The e-mail stated that all I had to do to close on our house was print out an attachment on legal-sized paper, sign it and have it notarized, and UPS it back to Knoxville within 3 days. In order to do this, of course, I had to UPS it back by Tuesday...except that it was already Tuesday when I got the e-mail because we are 12 hours ahead.

There is no legal-sized paper in China; it is an American size. There is A4 paper, which is a bit larger than our letter size paper, A3 is twice the size, and A5 is half as large, from what I can understand. Because we don't use the metric system, we are pretty much the only ones in the world who use letter-size 8 1/2 x 11 paper. It definetly had to be legal-size paper, and I was definetly not going to be able to locate any. That was my first obstacle. My second obstacle was getting to a notary: either to Guanzhou, which is 1 1/2 - 3 hours away, depending on traffic, or to the Hong Kong U.S. Consulate, which requires an appointment booking. Either way, it is an all-day trip. Either way, it was not going to happen on Tuesday!

To UPS something to the US and expect it to arrive in a few days is, at best, naive. Nobody can guarantee overnight service to or from here; 3-day service is a gamble, as well.

Needless to say, the closing was postponed for a week; the documents were hand-delivered to Tim, who happened to be in Knoxville this week, and we will be making an appointment to get them notarized in Hong Kong. The return to the US will be taken care of by Tim's office here in China, by someone who understands how to communicate that time is of the essence.

A simple request certainly isn't so simple when it's made from someone in the U.S. to someone living in China!

Home is where the heart is

We accepted an offer on our house back in the U.S. this past week. So, I guess that means we REALLY have moved to China. I'm a bit sad to not be a part of that neighborhood anymore, especially with such great neighbors as Heidy and family and the Lins! But, this will save us a lot of hassle with trying to maintain a home and yard from the other side of the world. Perhaps we'll get back into that neighborhood when we return from the Orient, whenever that may be.

My mom and her husband Wayne are visiting us for the past few weeks. We are having such a great time!! They lived about 15 minutes away back home so it's been a big adjustment not to have them close anymore. But having them here is like another little piece of "home" for us.

We went to Macau this past weekend and stayed at a really, really, really nice hotel, which was such a relief after the sub-par Asian hotels we've thus far experienced (except Japan, of course!) We did a nice historical tour and some fun shopping there, and ate some great food. We also went with our dear friends from Hong Kong, who have become family to us here.

On Tuesday we plan to take a tour of Shenzhen with a native - there aren't many native Shenzheners, as 20 years ago it was just a little fishing village. The government made it a Special Economic Zone, and opened it up to foreign businesses. Most people who live here moved in after that happened. It is now a booming city of 12 million people, and very modern. We will be visiting some outlying villages that remain more traditional Chinese and far less modern. I am looking forward to getting a more in-depth look at the history and culture that surrounds me here.

It's been a while since I've made it to church and today I missed it again. It takes a lot of effort to get there. We have to get to the ferry station at least 30 minutes before the ferry leaves to purchase tickets, get through customs, and get everyone onto the ferry. Then the ferry ride is one hour and costs about $50 to get everybody there. Once we get to Hong Kong, we go through customs once again, sometimes with LONG lines, and then we walk to the church. Church is about a 15-20 minute walk, depending on dawdling toddlers and traffic. It's a big process to get there, about 2.5 hours total, and once there we really enjoy it. Hopefully we'll make it next weekend because even with my mom here I am missing church fiercely when we don't go. I miss my home church very much, though I've now found out a dear friend (a whole family of dear friends!) from my home church has moved out of state. Knoxville will sorely miss the Sextons!

This is rambling a bunch - so much has happened since my last post and it all seems a bit muddy in my head. I'm starting to re-adjust to living here and accept the things that have been driving me nuts. I don't hate it here anymore, and my longing to move to Hong Kong is starting to subside as I realize I'm going to have adjustments and issues and culture shock no matter where we go, even in the southern U.S.! I am missing my friends but as Christmas approaches I know I'll see them in just a few months. Well, the ones in Knoxville, at least! Don't know when I'll see my dear Wisconsin friends, and some of you I've never even met in person! Regardless, I am doing better as I get used to things a bit more here, and I'm learning more Chinese so I can communicate a bit better. A very little bit, but more than I could before. I am certainly appreciating what we have here and how blessed I am with my kids and my dear husband. How lucky I am, no matter where I go, to have them all by my side.

Blah...

I haven't written much lately because I've been a tad negative about my current living situation and the country I am in. I'm homesick and I'm lonely and I'm missing what our lives used to be, even if I was at times frustrated then. At least I understood the culture, to an extent (considering it was the south and I grew up in the north - trust me, there are some cultural differences). and was able to speak the same language (again, north vs. south - there are differences). I could rely on stores to stand behind their products or at least accept returns. I could rely on my own abilitly to navigate through life without having to rely on someone else to drive me around or speak for me.

On the other hand, Tim is certainly home more often, and with domestic help, when he does travel, things are MUCH easier. Which makes me lazier, too...good or bad? We're meeting people from all over the world, whom we would never have met back home. I don't have to watch the whole political circus and the spin doctors' version of the truth as the '08 election "draws near". But I do know the news I get may not contain much truth here, either.

While I am not proud of some major historical events which made my country what it is, I am horrifed as I learn more about this country's history and the things that happened here not too long ago. Horrified.

While I wish the boys still had their old friends from home, I'm watching them learn to navigate socially in a whole new way. And I'm appreciating that we're getting closer as a family.

While I wish I could easily get to a church that is spiritually renewing and open to anyone, I am certainly learning to appreciate the glorious freedom we have back home.

Last Friday, we went to Lowhu, which is in another part of Shenzhen. Near the train station there is a 5- story mall filled with, basically, junk: cheap jewelry, tchotchkies (did I spell that right??), knockoff designer clothing, knockoff handbags and counterfeit ones, and counterfeit watches. It is filled with hawkers who will grab onto you as you walk by or approach you asking if you want to see DVDs or designer handbags in a backroom somewhere. It's kinda creepy. It's also a great place to get a good bargain. I did some serious bargaining and got a painted bottle (it's a thick-glass little bottle with hand painting inside, which we watched the artist creating) for fairly cheap, though I didn't really like bargaining for "real" art. I got a pair of shoes for about US$30 and a nice white blouse for about the same price. No "designer" stuff, I don't like that whole scene. But I also bargained for Jo, my stepmom, and got her sweet deals on a pashmina, a silk shawl and a cool red handbag (not designer). We had a good time, but it was tiring, 5 floors of people desperately trying to get us into their stores. ICK. My dad was able to add to his collection of the little painted bottles for a decent price, too. He is in the process of collecting the entire Chinese zodiac in little painted bottles.

This weekend we went to Macau, which used to be a Portuguese colony but is now part of China. Like Hong Kong, it is under the "one country, two systems" rule so they enjoy a great amount of freedom compared to most Chinese. It is a beautiful city and what I imagine Europe to look like (never having been there...). The food is fantastic, with a heavy western flavor to it, the people there are so polite, and the city is much cleaner...all moreso than even Hong Kong. I think it's mainly because they rely so much on tourism for their booming economy, but also I was told it's because they enjoy more freedom to travel than Hong Kongese, as citizens are also Portuguese passport holders. Gambling was legalized there in 2003 so casinos abound, but there are many, many things for families with children to do, too: beaches, resorts with nice pools, shopping, and many historical sites to see. There are ancient Buddhist temples and modern Catholic churches. There is a huge fortress that was built in the 1500's; it's where the picture below was taken. There is a cathedral that has burned down three times, but the facade remains at the top of a huge flight of stone steps. It's very beautiful. There are all these cool little, skinny streets with nice shops in them and antiques and more Chinese souvenirs. They make these awesome butter cookies with big chunks of almonds in them and hand them out on the street - they're SO GOOD. You can get a great sandwich there, something that you can't get in China and is quite difficult to get in Hong Kong. I love Macau! It is just an hour's ferry ride from Shenzhen, and a lovely place to visit.

Today, (as though we haven't done ENOUGH stuff lately) we went to Bujie, which is the art district of Shenzhen. There you can purchase oil painting copies of just about any famous painting you've ever seen, and then some. You can purchase a painting and incorporate your childrens' faces into the picture. You can custom-order just about any painting, including your own portrait, and there is also some beautiful original art there. My dad went hoping to find some more of those little painted bottles he has started collecting, but we could not find any of those there. It was strictly painting - mostly oils but also other mediums. We purchased a beautiful original watercolor from an artist who has won various awards for his work. My dad and Jo were a bit disappointed not to find the bottles, and we were surprised about that, too. But, it was a nice afternoon and we saw more of Shenzhen, which is part of why we're here.

Here is the icky culture shock part: I saw about four kids total going potty in the streets and on the sidewalks in Bujie today. One girl looked to be about 8, just dropped her drawers and went in the sewer cover. The rest were babies, but their mums just held them out over the sidewalk and let it fly. It's very disconcerting and really, really icky to witness. And stinky.

Tonight, for some strange reason, I'm BEAT. Maybe it's all the touristy stuff I've been doing, plus keeping our regular "we live here" routine with the kids. I hope all is well in your world - I have been thinking about many of you, my friends, lately, and I miss you all quite a bit.

Here's the whole gang in Macau

Apparently, Ella is not quite as concerned we might fall over the side of the wall...

Pang Yu Zoo

Today we went to Pang Yu, which is in Guanzhou, a larger city north of Shenzhen (20 million people). Pang Yu is an animal park and safari. We originally wanted to go to the resort there but after our experience at the "very nice" resort in Singapore, I wasn't ready for the gamble involved. So, we went for a day trip.

Our driver (uh, yeah, did I mention we have a driver? "Home, James." Actually, it's "Qing, hue jia, Mr. Lei" but it's still fun to say....sorry, I digress) is from that area and so knew sort of where the animal park is. It's sort of hidden amongst a bunch of shops and apartments, much like anything else in China. The drive should have been about 1-1/2 hours, but traffic in China is worth another blog post entirely. I am not exaggerating when I say that nobody follows the rules, the biggest guy gets to go wherever he wants to, even if the exit is four lanes over, and the entire driving experience here is one great big game of "Chicken". Traffic is unreliable to say the least, and our trip to the park took 3 hours instead of 1 1/2. We were all incredibly hungry and nature was calling loudly when we finally got into the park so we took care of all that first.

Then we walked around this huge animal park. It's really pretty nice - not as nice as the Singapore Zoo, but really, really nice, and amazingly clean considering it's in China and all. There were signs all over the place saying "Let's keep our park clean...please throw rubbish in the trash" and people were actually doing that. Normally people throw their rubbish wherever it happens to fall. You should see a streetside on a Saturday night at about 2 a.m. (I haven't but I've heard...) after everone's done eating. It's all chicken bones and leftover food and wrappers and all just strewn about. Labor is very affordable here so someone will come and sweep it all away to start all over again the next day. Aw, man, here I am, digressing again. Sorry. Back to Pang Yu. Very nice and very big. At the giraffe part you could buy a branch and the giraffe would actually bend down and you can feed it. Andrew got such a kick out of this! At various animal stations you could buy food and feed it to whichever animals were specified. It's a neat idea because kids love it and it raises revenue for the zoo.

There were so many tigers and giraffes, and there are also animal shows throughout the day. We just missed getting into the elephant show and there is a tiger show, as well. Not sure how I would have felt about animals "performing" - I'm not much of a circus fan, either. So, I wasn't especially disappointed about missing that. We saw so many different kinds of animals and cool birds - it's all set up by continent. The coolest thing? WE SAW GIANT PANDAS! I've been waiting for an opportunity to see some - boy are they amazing-looking! One was sitting there, eating bamboo and ignoring us. Most were sleeping. They're so cute! And we saw koala bears and kangaroos (never seen one before!), wallabys and exotic birds, rhinos, orangutangs, baby tigers (awwww...), red pandas, monkeys and baby monkeys, seals and sea turtles. Actually, the seals and sea turtles were in what looked to be a big green-water-filled fishbowl, no land or anything, just a big tank. I felt sorry for them because their space wasn't very big and it wasn't at all exciting or stimulating for them. I also felt bad for the polar bears because they looked way too hot and just had vegetation to hang around in, no frozen area or ice or anything polar bears seem to enjoy.

After we walked through the zoo in incredibly hot, sunny weather and were ready to drop, we found out we could also drive our air-conditioned van through the "safari on wheels." We thought we had to ride the little trolleys which are open-air and probably very hot, listening to a narration in Chinese.

So we went back to the car and drove through that part - there were so many of each animal! We saw a bunch of exotic deer and elk, impalas, black bears, brown bears, a whole herd of giraffes, a bunch of zebras, these African deer-type things with huge, straight horns on top. We stopped for my dad to get a picture of these and he rolled down his window to photograph this one who was right next to the car. It made me a little nervous, because of his big horns and all, and I said "dad, roll up your window." Just then the open-air trolley rolled by so we figured it was safe to open a window. Then we saw that the big-horn deer thingies were in the process of breaking through their fence and getting out of their secured area and into the great, wide open by the vehicles and more docile animals. Yikes. I was worried the tigers would do the same thing and eat the zebras in front of some kids! Didn't happen, as far as I know, but it sure kept me on my toes!

The really, really cool thing about the driving safari was that there were so many of each kind of species, and they really had a lot of space to roam. An ostrich, which I am pretty sure escaped its area as well, walked right up to the car to glare at us. They are so cool looking! So are the emus, which we saw in the Australian section. But, as I was saying about how nice the driving safari is, many of the animals had babies with them, too! So cute, the baby zebras, baby hippo, baby giraffes and baby wildebeests! The baby monkeys were cute, too, in the walking part. One baby monkey's mama was trying to teach it to climb but it kept jumping onto her for a ride instead...another one was trying to learn to climb but a slightly older one kept pushing it off the tree, poor thing.

We drove home this evening - it only took 1 1/2 hours! - and were very happy to get home. On the way home, I got a text message all in Chinese, and Mr. Lei explained that it's a warning there is a typhoon on the way, but he said it's gone already. We thought "gee, thanks for that" but as we drove home, the lightning started and when we got into our neighborhood the wind started blowing fiercely. We had all just gotten into the house and Mr. Lei back into the car when it started to POUR. Very windy, very rain, very lightning-y, very thunder...very typhoon-y. Hmmm.....

Everyone is tucked in for the night, the storm seems to have subsided, and I'm ready for some rest! Thanks for checking out Pang Yu with me!

Ketchup (catch-up)

So, what's happened since July 22, my last post??

We went to Singapore, which I was really excited about because it's supposed to be incredibly clean and English-speaking, which are two things China is not. Sadly, however, our hotel (which was supposed to be really super-duper nice) was sorta run-down, dirty and ant-ridden. And our first-floor glass door to the pool area DIDN'T LOCK! Yikes...we had to booby trap that area every night in order for me to be able to sleep. That was disapointing, to say the least. But Singapore is a pretty cool place, from what I can tell. There are many rules but they do make sense. It's extremely diverse, religiously and culturally. If one particular ethnic group inhabits a certain area, anybody selling property in that area has to sell to someone who is NOT of the predominate group. That way you don't get little pockets of ethnicities and people are forced to get to know people outside of their own group. It seems to me to be a good way of preserving peace and understanding and goodwill between different peoples.

We went to the awesome zoo in Singapore, and returned for a Night Safari at the same zoo. I didn't know that like 90% of tropical animals are nocturnal, including elephants and tigers and bears (oh, my!). It was really cool - you ride around in a tram and it's quiet and dark and the animals are right there in front of you, moving around and doing animal-y type stuff. I could have reached out and touched several of them but of course we didn't do that. It was so cool! We also had a lot of fun at the resort pool and just hanging out together doing touristy stuff. It was nice.

I took a one-morning Italian cooking class with my friend Libby and sampled some of the best food I've ever eaten. Then I made one of the dishes and before serving it to the family Tim called it "Mario and Luigi Meatballs." Alex has a serious thing for the Marios Bros games and those are the two main guys in it. He now LOVES those meatballs thanks to my Genius Husband. Did I mention that Alex is my pickiest eater, perhaps the pickiest on the planet, or at least in China? Hee hee hee...

I went to Hong Kong a BUNCH of times with Ella for some doctor visits. I'm hoping she's on a good treatment program now and can stop having such a hard time with her tummy.

I applied for and almost got a preschool teaching job here but then decided I didn't want to work full-time, I'd rather stay a full-time mom, yippee!

I got my nails done, which you can do for about U.S.$10 here! Actually, I do that quite often at that price. Nothing new there.

I got a foot massage and thought my toenails were going to boil off of my feet when I stuck them into the scalding hot water they like to use. YIKES!

I read the seventh and final installment of the Harry Potter series and WHAT A GOOD BOOK! I don't know that I've ever been quite so satisfied with a book or series of books ending, and so on the edge of my seat while reading it. J.K. Rowling deserves every penny she gets from those books! Props to you, girl!

The boys had their last Chinese classes today until after school starts, which is this coming Thursday. I can't believe my little teeny preemie Andrew is a giant kindergartener already, and my peanut Alex is in 3rd grade. Ella will also start preschool and have big, full days. I hope she can handle it. I hope I can handle it!

My dad and his wife are here for a visit - our first company! They arrived a day late due to a flight cancellation. The kids are off their rockers excited about this visit and have been playing with them nonstop. They're sleeping off their jetlag as we speak, so they can be ready for more kid-level energy. They brought me Belgian chocolate from my very favorite chocolate place in the whole world (no, I've never been to Belgium...) in Appleton, Wisconsin...WILMAR'S. If you're ever within 200 miles of Appleton, GO TO WILMAR'S and get some chocolate. It's a little slice of heaven on earth. Dark chocolate caramels, two pounds, YES YES YES!

Sorry. I'm back. I'm really excited about the upcoming school year and seeing how the kids adjust to their new classes. I'm also looking forward to starting up my Chinese class again and learning more of the language.

I hope all is well and peaceful in your lives, lovely readers. School is about to start - I think many of you have little (or big) kids. I hope this is the best school year yet (keep faith, Barb!) and I also hope you decide to drop me a quick e-mail to let me know that there are still people reading this! Thanks for keeping up with us!

Tower of Refuge and Strength

Today we went to church in Hong Kong. It was the first time I'd been inside a real church - a sanctuary - since before we moved to China. It was as though I'd come home, and I spent much of the service peeking through tears of joy. I feel truly happy, in a way I haven't felt in a long time. The building, the service order, the songs - everything was so familiar. The church we went to has a summer-long vacation bible school on Sundays, and the boys had a great time. Alex asked if we could come back every Sunday from now on. The message wasn't too long (they usually last - I'm not kidding - about 45 mins here in the China church) but was challenging and powerful and funny. Ella behaved, and we sang one of my favorite songs at the end. We were well-received by some very friendly people, and I was yet again struck by the diversity of the faces in the congregation. It was lovely.

Then we went to Disneyland and had a nice lunch, went on a few rides, and got ice cream.

Took the train home, and had a quiet evening at home together before we start the week again.

I feel as though a something inside me has changed, been filled up with goodness and energy and love. Just the physical presence of being in a sanctuary and feeling the freedom to worship was truly missed the last six months.

It was a beautiful day.

Here's the whole gang at Disneyland Tokyo...Ella is sleeping and I'm not sure why the sky was so important for the picture-taker to get that in rather than the baby...

Well, what would YOU name this blog?

Well, I've honestly been intending to blog lately...

We went to Japan and I didn't have time to blog. Japan is really wonderful - very clean and modern and high-tech and very, very non-English-speaking! We had a great time and were kept very, very busy by our tour guide...at least we think so...everything was in Cantonese! Cantonese is even more difficult to learn than Mandarin. Yikes.

Then when we got back Ella had caught a croupe-y icky illness from another little girl on our trip and was up all night for almost a week.

Then this week I got the croupe-y icky illness and I've been exhausted all week.

Alex as of this week is enrolled in an intensive Mandrarin class and is loving it. Andrew started a Chinese preschool summer program this week and is hating it. Ella tried it for one day and hated it so much she didn't eat or anything all day, just cried, and nobody called me. I was really upset about that!!! So, she didn't go back. Andrew likes it, really, he has fun as long as we're not looking. I know, I have spies who have checked it out and said yes, he's definetly having fun.

I'm still slogging along in my Mandarin class but it's really difficult and I'm kinda lazy. As of this week, I'm also taking yoga and pilates. Never taken either of them, but I decided to try them both here in China. Love them, but boy are they hard!!! I had no idea the strength and flexibility it all took! I always thought yoga was a bit wimpy but I now officially apologize to all yogis everywhere. It totally rocks, and it's much easier on me than being taught tae kwon do by a 20-something-year-old who has no idea what it's like to be closer to an almost 40-something! I have a long way to go before pilates gets easier but I plan to work hard on it and get physical, physical, I wanna get physical... (does everybody have Olivia Newton-John's "Physical" in their head right now???? I do...)

The best thing is, after my yoga class yesterday I felt really really good and barely sick at all. Of course, by dinner time I felt rotten, but it really perked me up for a few hours. Today my perk-o-lator was a foot massage. I'm sure you remember my previous description of "foot" massages here in China. Whole-body-completely-pummel-you-till-you're-pudding-like massage is more like it! Yeah, baby. I felt pretty darn good for a few hours after that one, too. Tomorrow I think I'll just feel rotten all day and hopefully I'll start to actually get better by tomorrow night. That's tomorrow morning for all you Westerners (are you a Westerner now, Beth??).

I simply must touch on a subject that many might prefer not to. Yes, I'm talking about Japanese toilets. They are a modern marvel. Not only are there heated seats (to relax you, man!) and the built-in bidet/sprayer thing. No, no, they are so much more than that. They also have a little button if you want to release a pleasant-smelling scent to cover up any not-so-pleasant ones. And a little button if you want to make a "flushing sound" to cover up any not-so-pleasant sounds. They're clean. They're simply lovely, really. And the Japanese use charcoal filters in their walls all over the place that absorb bad smells. We stayed in "smoking" hotel rooms the whole time, and I swear they didn't smell at all like smoke. I have a very sensitive sniffer (some might even say over-sensitive to which I say pooh-pooh, I can't help it) and didn't smell anything remotely smoky or even musty in the hotels. Those Japanese have got it going ON. Good times. I had a great time in Japan just using the potty. Too bad nobody spoke English, or maybe it's a good thing, because I would have been praising everybody I met for their toilet wonders.

You know the best part about our trip? It was really nice to get back home, to China. Our home felt like home, warm and inviting and comfy. Yippee!