Team Nelson

teeth and other happenings.

2012-01-08T16:48:00.003-06:00

Linkers finally cut his first tooth. After what seems like weeks or months of working on it its here. And he's a mess. He's crawling like a maniac, standing up next to furniture and generally getting into trouble every chance he gets.

Timmy is another sort of mess. He spent New Year's Eve at Scott's parents house and bounced off a dog and landed his head on the corner of a fire place. The gash on the middle of his transparent skin covered forehead was atrocious. A week later, its almost healed.

Scott started his second semester of MBA-ness at DePaul. Accounting and Economics. He says its boring, but two nights a week will give me ample opportunity to work on these 2012 goals. Especially the one about losing 15 lbs. I think I can eat less if I'm not cooking and I can definitely find some time to spend with Tony Horton and P90X if Scotty's not around to distract.

As far as progress on my the other goals:

-3 stretcher frames are built and staple guns located for canvases to be stretched. Now I just need some staples. (Its harder than you think to find time to go to a hardware store with two kids)

-at least 2 potential buyers lined up for said paintings

-Worked out 4 days this week (basically back at pre-Christmas weight)

- Read Daniel 1 & 2 a couple of times

- Prayed for friends three times this week, one prayer specifically already answered! :)

- Timmy has not learned to swim - I think this goal will wait until the summer

-Brought my lunch to work three times

A decent first week I'd say!

Goals 2012

2012-01-03T12:35:00.002-06:00

One of my goals for this year is to write at least one blog post a month for 2012 - when we lived in China, posting regularly was easy because life was so ridiculous. Living a normal life here makes blogging seem silly until I look back at the few posts from the last couple years that seemed mundane at the time, but in hindsight are such a great chronicle of our life and kids. So here are my official goals or resolutions for 2012.

1. Start and finish at least 3 paintings

2. Sell at least one of those 3

3. Teach Timmy to swim

4. Read and study the books of Daniel & Isaiah

5. Lose 10 pounds

6. Pray consistently for Scott and my friends

7. Write a blog post at least once a month

8. Pay off our credit card

9. Bring my lunch to work more than once a week

10. Read 3 non-fiction books

Thankful

2011-11-27T15:35:00.003-06:00

Timmy is a super crafty kid. Here's his latest project...

During November we tried to write down something he was thankful for each night. We didn't remember every night, and some of his illustrations took up to much room, so the list isn't quite complete, but close enough for a four year old.

1. Playing (illustrated with his interpretation of a monster truck)

2. Mom & Dad

3. My Family

4. Evie Timmy

5. Tanks

7. Tanks (again)

8. Cow

9. Books

13. God

15. Friends

17. Bey Blades

20. School

22. My House

Firsts

2011-09-21T10:28:00.003-05:00

This has been a month of firsts...
Lincoln's first food...

Timmy's first day of Preschool...

I made my first homemade baby food - carrots. It was a success.

Scott and I ran in our first 5K - the Warrior Dash. Also a success - we survived!

Scott started his first two classes towards earning his MBA at DePaul.

Praise God for change. I love it!

Instagram Summer!

2011-08-12T12:59:00.003-05:00

One Month In...

2011-05-27T07:34:00.003-05:00

Lincoln is just about one month old now. We've survived two kids thus far, and I only had to wake up once last night to feed him...happy birthday to me! He's getting huge: 10lbs 13oz at four weeks! How does that even happen?

Anyway, the point of this post is to thank all of you for bringing food and gifts and entertaining Timmy while I recovered from the not so great labor and delivery experience that brought us such a blessing. Especially big thank yous to: Mom & Dad, Jim & Cindy Nelson, Sarah Erickson, Lauren Johnson, Jean Rezutko, Amy McGann, Samantha Johnson, Elaine Nelson & Cheryl Wedyck. We feel very loved!

Wanderlust

2011-01-17T14:46:00.004-06:00

I want to travel. Anywhere. I have approximately until the end of the month before I'm not supposed to fly anymore, no funds and no time off. hmmmmm. Weekend road trip with the husband, toddler? What could we possibly do in two days, with little cash that does not involve a pregnant lady in an ill-fitting bathing suit?

Ideas anyone?

Potty Talk

2010-11-28T07:28:00.002-06:00

Actual conversation from yesterday afternoon:

Me: "Timmy you need to turn the light off after you go potty." (as I walk to the bathroom to turn it off for him.)

Timmy: "Did you see the mess in there mom?"

Me: "No, did you pee on the floor?"

Timmy: (after a good dramatic pause) "No, I peed on the wall." heee, heee, heee.

What a stinker.

Craving & Baking

2010-11-08T11:22:00.006-06:00

In an attempt to make my incessant cravings for junk food into something that vaguely resembles a productive activity, Timmy and I have been baking a bit. A few weeks ago he helped me make Halloween cookies. He was really excited about making colored icing, especially blue.

Last week's baked good of choice was carrot cake. Timmy loves carrot cake & a friend from China gave me her recipe for what I think is the best carrot cake ever. Strangely enough I think his favorite part is eating handfuls of the finely shredded carrots.

New Team Member

2010-09-21T14:55:00.002-05:00

Team Nelson will be adding a new member sometime around May 1st! In Timmy's words, "There's a baby in mommy's tummy!" I don't think he completely understands what that means, but he's excited about the idea. He asks me the most random things like, "Does the baby like it when I play catch with her?" and "I will teach her how I go down the slide and play 'nect four (Connect Four)."

You may have noticed he said "her" in both cases above. Timmy is convinced that he will have a baby sister. He has named her Allie, after his grandma's dog. Apparently that is his favorite name. Have mercy on us if its a boy!

To answer all the questions, I'm feeling okay. No excruciating morning sickness, just tired, generally uncomfortable and hungry. All I want is junk food! Hopefully that part doesn't last the whole nine months!

Apples!

2010-09-06T07:15:00.005-05:00

We took Timmy to Jonamac Orchards this weekend to go apple picking! He fell asleep on the way so Scott and I took ourselves on a driving tour of NIU, oh memories! He woke up when we stopped at the bookstore and had a really hard time understanding that the whole campus was our school.

Being afraid of the wind!

Apple picking was a success. Timmy told me yesterday that apples grow on trees and you have to wash them because they come from outside. The whole experience was a struggle for a few minutes while Timmy was afraid of the wind (just like Scott when he was a kid!). He got over it and had a great time.

Grandma Loe

2010-08-18T14:41:00.003-05:00

My grandmother passed away a week ago. Her memorial service is the day after tomorrow. Here are some pictures of her beautiful life. Cheers to you Grandma Loe!

at my brother's wedding holding a cranky Timmy

Christmas 2009

my brother and Grandma Loe

on Timmy's first birthday

last fall while we were home with Tim's broken leg

Out of Town Appreciation

2010-07-16T11:00:00.004-05:00

Scott has been traveling a lot this year. I think this is his 5th trip to Shanghai in 7 months. This kind of schedule causes sleepless nights for him, cranky mornings for me when he comes back and a toddler who thinks daddy works on an airplane!

One of the blessings, however, is that our time apart this year has made me appreciate our time together more than I ever could have imagined. It has made me take advantage of ways I can serve Scott while he's away - mainly, I've become much more diligent about bathing our marriage and him in prayer. We've both become more intentional about communication both while he's home and in China.

Today I'm so thankful for an amazing husband, and God's protection on our relationship. I'm so thankful for our circle of friends and family that look out for me and Timmy while Scott's away.

But I'm seriously looking forward to picking him up at the airport next week!

Progressive Dinner

2010-06-26T07:49:00.003-05:00

So I forgot to take any pictures at our progressive dinner last night, but Scott's new iPhone 4 takes video. Here is a few second glimpse at the craziness that ensued after the second course of the meal...where there are boys there will be wrestling, or in this case, throwing of bodies.

The dinner was a family event with donations that will benefit Family Shelter Services of DuPage. Our house was the cheese fondue course (Queso Fiesta, 4 Cheese & Artichoke Fondue and Cheddar Beer Cheese Fondue) delicious. Erickson's had the main course and Brenda out did herself with a dessert spread like nothing I've seen before!

Tatoes For Breakfast

2010-06-23T07:58:00.003-05:00

Some days I wake up at 5am to a little bug saying, "Mama, I'm awake!" as if its a beautiful miracle that there is a new day ahead. What a great reminder of the blessing that each day is. And as long as this announcement takes place after 5:30am, I am happy to hear it.

Other days I hear a number of different first words ranging from, "The sun is awake!" to "I want my yeyyow car!" Today however, was one I have never heard before. Timmy crawled into our bed at 5:15, fell back asleep until the magical hour of 7am and when he finally awoke, his first words were, "I want tatoes." hmmmm. I responded with, "You want mashed potatoes for breakfast?" Yep. That was the request.

I never thought I'd be the kind of mom that makes her kids whatever they want for meals, but we all compromise. Tim doesn't eat much for breakfast ever, and that usually leads to meltdowns before 10am. So on this day we joyfully ate mashed potatoes for breakfast. Past morning menu items have included hot dogs and carrot cake. Whatever works, I guess.

Timmy, God and the Lion's Den

2010-02-05T07:01:00.002-06:00

Actual conversation from this week:

Katie: "Timmy, do you remember who was in the cave with the lions?"

Timmy: "God."

Katie: "Oh, yes you're right. Do you remember who else was in there?"

Timmy: "Ummmm."

Katie: "Do you remember it was Daniel?"

Timmy: "Oh yes!"

Katie: "Do you remember who saved Daniel from the hungry lions?"

Timmy: "God!"

Katie: "Good Job! Daniel believed that God would save him and he did. Do you believe God can help you?"

Timmy: "Yes. I go MaMa, you coming?"

Katie: "Where are you going?"

Timmy: "I go with God, you coming?"

Katie: "Yes, I will come."

Sooooooo precious!

Welcome Home, Make a Baby

2010-01-17T19:54:00.003-06:00

Helping me make muffins.

So the other day Timmy and I were at the mall in Lombard watching the kiddie train ride go around in circles (he was scared to ride it, but super excited to watch it go around and around and around...), when a really nice grandpa type guy started talking to us. He was of some Asian ethnicity and commented on Timmy's blond hair. Whoa, flashback to Shanghai, we had a rock star moment for just a second, then I remembered we were in the US. Anyway, he was a really nice guy, not creepy at all, and eventually he ended the conversation by telling me I should make some more kids just like Timmy. Weird.

It seems that since we've been home, people keep telling and/or asking us if, when and are we going to have another kid. Now even strangers are getting in on the nagging action. I guess we had Timmy at a good time in life because no one had really started bugging us about having kids yet. I have a lot of friends whose parents were dying to get grand kids that they never heard the end of the make a baby pleas. I guess I'm getting my chance now. And again I say, weird.

This is Timmy practising for a little sis.

Christmas, New Years, Moving, etc.

2010-01-11T08:33:00.007-06:00

So we've been back in town for almost a month now. Christmas and New Year's have come and gone, and we've moved back into our old house. After we had been living in our old place for a few days, I asked Timmy if he liked his house. He responded with, "Timmy's house BIG, I wike it!" This is hilarious because I think we own close to the world's smallest house! He seems a lot happier being here.

For Scott and I it seems like weird deja vu. Its our home, but strangers were living here for a year. They changed a few minor things just enough that you almost can't tell they were changed. But I can tell and it sort of freaked me out at first. Like the handle on our one and only toilet. Its different. Who remembers exactly what their toilet flusher looks like? Not me. But I know it didn't look like it does now. Weird.

Helping clear the deck after the lastest snow storm.

This is Timmy testing out his old Moses basket when we were babysitting our friends little girl.

home and stuff

2009-12-17T06:37:00.004-06:00

on the plane, he slept for almost 11 hours!

So currently I have been awake since 5 in the morning on the second full day back in the USA. My adorable little monster is still sleeping after another night of playing trains, eating pizza and watching horrible children's TV at 2 in the morning. Sounds un-fun, but I am so thankful to be home. I have found that I have infinitely more patience for just about everything (from tantrums to traffic) now that we are back home. I don't know what it is, I guess I had just had it with the frustrations of China. I didn't realize how irritable I had become most of the time. Anyway, we're home, safe and happy.

One of the last days in our neighborhood in Shanghai. The leaves just started changing in December.

Decorating the tree with Grandma on our first day back in town.

Top 5s

2009-12-09T16:42:00.003-06:00

5 things I will miss about living in Shanghai:

5. Beard Papa Cream Puffs

4. Trying crazy fruits and veggies that I have never seen before

3. Traveling in Asia

2. So many photo opportunities everywhere

1. Having ridiculous things happen almost every day

5 things I will NOT miss about living in Shanghai:

5. Hunting all over the city for western style food ingredients

4. The smells (sewer, stinky tofu, 1000 year eggs, etc)

3. The heaters & air conditioners

2. Being a rock star

1. Taking taxis

Temporary Christmas

2009-12-02T00:42:00.004-06:00

So in light of our impending move across the globe, traditional Christmas decorations are not happening while in China. Instead, we made a temporary, disposable Christmas tree. We managed to only color on the wall with crayons twice, not bad. I think Timmy had fun coloring, but mostly he just like taping stuff.

Beginning of the End

2009-11-28T03:25:00.004-06:00

We have started saying our goodbyes to friends here because many people are heading home for the holidays already. We have just over two weeks left in Shanghai. It felt like a short time at first, but now that we are organized it almost feels like an eternity. We are ready for Christmas! Timmy tells us everyday that he wants to go on an airplane to grandma's house or nai nai's house. He wants to see all his animal friends in Chicago. He even packs his suitcase with all his cars and trains and goes to the front door. How do you explain two weeks to a two year old?

Our friend Polly and her kids made this sign for us.

Heading Home

2009-11-20T00:27:00.004-06:00

So it seems our adventure is coming to an end 1 year early. Scott's company decided that it was healthier for our family to live in the USA than in China...we agreed. Due to stress and a combination of a lot of other things, we have mutually decided to come back to Chicagoland. The crazy part is that will happen in three weeks people. AHHHH. ok I'm done.

Anyway, we will be home for the holidays and staying in Lake Zurich. When our renters move out at the end of the year, we'll go back to our house in Lombard. Back to our awesome neighbors, the Ericksons, and our goofy neighbors, Old Man Ed, Big Shot Brad, and all their weirdo-ness, and back to "normal" life. Not looking forward to shoveling the driveway. I am looking strongly forward to grocery stores that don't sell jellyfish in a bag, or dried up in pieces, or at all for that matter. Its been fun and overwhelming, but I'm glad I can see the end. No regrets.

Timmy's excited too, he just doesn't know why!

Photo Post: Cow in Asia

2009-11-17T06:00:00.004-06:00

My Blog is a Comic Strip!

2009-11-12T17:12:00.003-06:00

So way back when we first came to China I posted a story about sterilizing a potato in the apartment we were staying in. At some point months ago I shared it with another website and they turned it into a comic strip in English and Chinese! My story is the one called "Chinese Stories Baked Potato in China."

Check out this link: mandmx.com

Here is a link to my original post: Sterile Potatoes

Shoplifter???

2009-11-03T21:54:00.003-06:00

So yesterday Timmy and I went out in the afternoon to pick up some odds and ends from the local convenience store. My list consisted of: apple juice, baby wipes, and coke. I went first to the store closest to our apartment because it usually carries all three of these items. As in every store in China, you can never be sure that a place that stocked something one day will continue to have it for sale the next. So they were out of AJ, but I bought a six-pack of coke and baby wipes and placed both items in the basket under Timmy's stroller. I did not pay for a bag (bags are not free like in the US) and they did not give me a receipt. I walked about .25 miles down the road to the other store that usually sells apple juice, bought three containers of it, and left.

When I got about two blocks away I felt like someone was following me, which would not be all that unusual considering Timmy's rock star status in this city. So I turned around to confront the possible stalker and see two girls from the store I was just at, arm in arm, looking at me, nervous and giggling. They said a whole bunch of stuff in Mandarin, but the only word I understood was cola and they pointed to my stroller. I laughed at them and vaguely pointed at the store down the road and then just walked away. I half expected them to continue to follow me, but they just giggled more and walked away. Without a receipt, or the ability to give a real explanation, I very well could have stolen it, but why? Its not like I could sneak it into my pocket! Oh well, just another day of ridiculousness.

Halloween

2009-11-01T01:38:00.005-05:00

Timmy and his friend John as skeletons.

So Halloween in China is a little odd. Some places celebrate, others don't. We went to two parties but no trick or treating. Timmy's costume was just a skeleton t-shirt. At one party, the restaurant that hosted it hired a "magician." I'm not sure I'd really call him that. He was more of a dirty, creepy guy that in the US would not be allowed within 10 miles of a children's party. One of his magic tricks involved lighting (and taking a few puffs of) a cigarette. I still don't even really know the point of the trick, it wasn't even cool. The faces of the foreign moms in the crowd were priceless. I guess standards for children's entertainment vary by continent! Oh well, it was a fun party anyway.

Tim and Shaun dancing.

Bakugan and the Zoo

2009-10-27T01:30:00.007-05:00

Sad, sad grizzly bear begging for junk. :(

We went to the zoo on Sunday. Trips to the Shanghai Zoo never fail to make us sad. The overweight animals look so pathetic begging for human food from all the dumb people that throw bread and junk food at them. But it was a nice day and we wanted to be outside. Timmy wanted to see "elphants & mean birds." We've been watching Horton Hears a Who over and over so he now like elephants and mean birds (vultures), but at the zoo he thought every bird was a mean bird.

This is Timmy imitating one of the mean birds.

On an unrelated topic, can anyone explain to me how Bakugan works? Scott's co-worker bought Timmy a set of little magnetic triggered exploding ball toys and I just don't get it. What is the story behind it, and the strategy? Any help would be appreciated. Timmy loves the toys. He even calls one that looks like a bird, Mean Bird Ball.

Clean-shaven Scott at the zoo.

Happy Birthday Scott

2009-10-23T17:56:00.004-05:00

So on Friday night we found a babysitter (hooray!) so that we could go out to dinner for Scott's birthday (he turns THIRTY on Sunday!). A few notes about this dinner: I have never paid so much for a can of coke in my life...40RMB = $5.84, ouch! But the food was delicious, we went to a German restaurant, and I think I'd go back despite the ridiculous price of a coke (and by can, I mean a can with no refills, oh how I miss free refills and fountain coke in the USA).

Anyway, after we ate we each used the bathroom, where for me 2 interesting things happened. Now I have been greeted by a bathroom attendant before, but never in my life have I had one actually clean the toilet seat before I used it. It was weird, in a nice way I guess, at least I know it was clean. Then as I am washing my hands I see a sign on the wall that I think would only be seen in China, "Please do not spit phlegm in here, for the safety and health of yourself and others." And they even spelled phlegm correctly. Ha, safety of others! If there hadn't been a bathroom attendant watching my every move, I definitely would have taken a picture of that one!

The old man himself, chillin' with T.T.

In The Local Laowei News

2009-10-16T17:54:00.006-05:00

Timmy and I got our picture published in a local magazine, Shanghai City Weekend: Parents & Kids Magazine. They did a feature in October about an organization called "Peas & Pods" that I help out with. Check out the feature below!

The text is probably too small to read in my scan but it says: "The International Mothers Support Group was created in 2000 when three moms met to discuss the challenges of having young children in Shanghai. Today this self-proclaimed "community of international parents and children" boasts 400 members who meet in various baby and toddler groups in Puxi and Pudong. Newly christened as Peas and Pods, this volunteer-run organization now focuses on building a multicultural, all-inclusive environment."

Cebu, Philippines...The Highlights

2009-10-14T00:47:00.007-05:00

We spent a week in Cebu, Philippines at the Plantation Bay Resort with Scott's parents and our friend Lauren. It was sweet.

The pools were mix of some fresh water and some salt water, and there was a tiny beach that provided hours of entertainment when the tide was out. We discovered what we think is either a sea cucumber or sea slug, a blue starfish, endless crabs, at least one eel, etc. Timmy loved the water slide and swimming in general. He loves our friend Lauren and now thinks that any white girl that is not me is "Owen" (he had a hard time saying Lauren).

Timmy loved vacation.

We attended two luaus, complete with a roasted pig and, Lauren's favorite (heehee) "sexy male dancers in skimpy loin cloths" as the advertisement said. The food at the resort in general was okay, but nothing much I'd rave about. Although the donuts every morning were pretty good.

We took a day cruise to a white sand beach island called Pandanon Island. They roasted miscellaneous meats for us for lunch that were delicious. Then we went to a different island's coast to go snorkeling. It was awesome. The best snorkeling I have ever done. We got to feed the fish, so they came right up to us and I even got to see Nemo (clown fish) in his natural habitat. Cindy stayed on the boat with Timmy and they got to feed and watch the fish from there.

We ate lunch in this little hut on the island.

After all the worrying we had done the week before about earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons, tropical storms and the like, we ended up with perfect weather. Timmy the whitest kid in China didn't even get sun burned!

Click here for the rest of our pictures:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40693&id=1145683473&l=140e7d447e

Vacation in Shanghai

2009-10-13T02:59:00.005-05:00

After our whirlwind tour of Beijing with Jim and Cindy, we embarked on three days of tourism in Shanghai. We spent Thursday at the flower market and Pearl Market doing some shopping.

We followed that up with picking up our friend Lauren from the airport and dragging her out to a fancy dinner at Kathleen's 5 restaurant on top of the Shanghai Art Museum. It was Jim and Cindy's wedding anniversary so we had to go out and celebrate. There was a great view of the city from the rooftop atrium. As we were eating building after building lit up with neon and LEDs. Some of us were not sure exactly what we were eating, namely Jim, but our best guess was some kind of internal organ like an intestine. It was an interesting evening.

The view from the atrium on stop of the Shanghai Art Museum.

Friday was the official first day of the holiday here in China and we made the dumb mistake of trying to go to Yu Gardens. I think every Chinese person in Shanghai was there. We left after 10 minutes of insanity. We went and did more shopping, got our hair washed and then had a huge Chinese dinner with our friend Lou Yun. We were in a private room with a huge lazy Susan full of too much food. Again Jim ate something odd, a chicken foot.

Lauren and Cindy experiencing the hair wash, complete with an ear cleaning for Cindy!

Saturday was a trip to the fake market on NanJing Lu to get some final gifts for people back home. We also took our guests to the grocery store to see the insanity that it is. After some spaghetti at home and relaxing we headed to the airport for our midnight flight and the beginning of the real vacation...Cebu, Philippines!

Lauren and I bought matching Uggs at the fake market.

Beijing Day Three: The Summer Palace

2009-10-10T01:05:00.004-05:00

Our last day in Beijing we had just enough time to make it through the Summer Palace before heading back to the airport to return to Shanghai. There were ornate statues, hundreds of paintings on the ceilings of the walkways, a big lake, a guy writing mystery messages in Mandarin on the ground with water, crazy topiaries and lots of people - typical China. :)

Scott's parents, Jim & Cindy

Scott and I with one of the beautiful statues

one cool peacock.

Beijing Day Two, part Two: Peking Duck and the Communist Reign

2009-10-04T17:11:00.003-05:00

On our second night in Beijing we had made reservations at the Grand Hyatt's restaurant called Made in China. We had read that this was a great place to experience eating Peking Duck, a famous dish from this city. So we show up at the Hyatt just before our reservation time and are greeted by the concierge who says we cannot enter the hotel. We explain to him that we have reservations and he says he will need to check with the restaurant. He comes out and explains that the government has taken over the hotel and only government officials and VIPs are allowed inside. He offers to make us a reservation somewhere else. After waiting for a taxi for almost 30 minutes to get to another restaurant, we make it and eat some delicious food at a super swanky place. Crazy government.

Beijing Day Two: Great Wall, Great Fog, & The Olympics

2009-10-03T03:56:00.007-05:00

Our second day in Beijing took us to the Great Wall. The weather that day was not optimal for viewing much farther than your hand in front of your face. We had a good morning on the Wall with Timmy doing some physical therapy on his healing, no longer casted leg by climbing for a while. We were planning on taking the toboggan down the wall, but it was closed due to the rain. We got to wear some sweet ponchos though.

Timmy climbing the wall.

Diaper change on the wall.

After the Great Wall we headed over to the Olympic park to check out the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube. The whole place was pretty amazing. We self-toured the inside of the Water Cube. Although really neat, time has already started to take it toll on the weird plastic-y material that its made of because the place looks a little bit dirty now. Again we wished the fog would break, but it was still a great experience.

Beijing Day One: Tiananmen Square and One Long Noodle

2009-10-02T08:48:00.006-05:00

We arrived in Beijing on Monday morning and began our site seeing in Tiananmen Square. Being that it was three days before the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China, the place was buzzing with preparations for their monster of a parade. Red flags everywhere and little silver marks on the ground where thousands of people would be standing for the festivities on Thursday. Timmy got in on the Communist pride action, see above.

We attempted to then go to the Forbidden City, which is located next to the square. The entrance that faces the square was blocked off for the parade route and we assumed that meant we could not go inside. We realized later that we needed to enter from the other end, oh well, I guess we missed out on that site.

We decided to go for an early dinner at the Noodle Loft. We had seen this restaurant on Discovery Travel and Living channel, on Anthony Bourdain's show, No Reservations. It is famous for its long noodles. Scott ordered the dish called One Long Noodle. Literally it is one noodle that is probably between two and three meters long, all wound up into one bowl. Pretty cool. The rest of the food was pretty good too.

Cast Off and Back to China

2009-09-25T19:28:00.006-05:00

Timmy and I are leaving to go back "home" to Shanghai tomorrow morning! Its exciting though because Scott's parents are coming with us to go on vacation. First we're headed to Beijing Monday morning for a whirlwind three day tour of the sites. Then its back to Shanghai and our friend Lauren comes to visit as well. We'll be giving everyone the tourist experience of our city for a few days. And the grand finalle next Saturday we escape to the Philippines during the week long National holiday estravaganza that will be taking place throughout China. Stay tuned for pictures and updates.

In the meantime Timmy got his cast off today!!! He's not really walking on it much yet, and it looks pretty atrophied, but the doctor said he's healing fine. Hopefully he'll get his confidence back quick and start walking more. We're just thankful for the surprise trip home, even if it was for a bummer of a reason.

We Miss DaDa!

2009-09-14T09:15:00.004-05:00

So the trade-off for coming back to the US to let Timmy's leg heal in the comfort of America was that we have to spend three weeks without Scott. I can tell that Timmy misses him because almost everyday he talks about how we took DaDa to the airport. The good thing is, he has plenty of other boys to step in and do boy things in Scott's absence. Thanks guys.

Uncle Gary

Uncle Steve

Yeh-Yeh (Grandpa Jim)

Baby Evie

2009-09-08T03:46:00.005-05:00

Since we were coming back to the US on an unplanned trip, we decided to surprise our close friends who just had their first baby on Timmy's birthday. We stopped by Steve and Sarah's house on Thursday after Scott worked to meet the new baby and surprise her parents. The surprise was a total success. The baby is beautiful and has more hair on her little head than I have ever seen before. Timmy loves baby Evie too and has been talking about her ever since we left.

Home Again

2009-09-06T00:47:00.002-05:00

Scott, Timmy and I are in Chicago! It was a last minute decision to spend the time Timmy has to wear a cast in a country that would be less stressful for all of us. So far the jet lag has been exhausting. Tonight for example, I went to sleep at 10 only to wake up at 11:30 because Timmy was not sleepy anymore. So we are watching Noggin and eating snacks. Hopefully this will be the last night of the middle of the night playtimes. And hopefully tomorrow Timmy will start eating actual meals, so far he's been eating just the smallest amount of miscellaneous snacks.

We only told our parents that we were coming in an effort to surprise our good friends Steve and Sarah who just had their first baby on Timmy's birthday. We stopped by their house on Thursday evening to surprise them and meet baby Evie. Adorable.

All in all its really good to be home again. Scott flies back to Shanghai on Tuesday to get back to work. Timmy and I will be staying through the 26th and then flying back to begin a two week vacation with Scott's parents and Lauren to Beijing and Cebu, Philippines.

Moon Cakes and Eggs

2009-09-01T08:28:00.004-05:00

Its that time of year again, Moon Day is approaching, excuse me, Mid-Autumn Festival. Moon Day just sounds more fun to me. The holiday isn't actually until the first week of October this year, but the grocery store is overflowing with Moon Cakes of all varieties, most of which seem to have some type of meat involved. Yuck. Although this year I have noticed ads from Starbucks, Hagen Daaz and DQ that show more delicious looking ones involving ice cream and chocolate. Unfortunately these also seem to be priced way out of my price range, as in 500RMB for 4 tiny individual cakes - that's about $72. Yikes.

In other grocery store hilarity, it never ceases to amaze me what lengths Chinese people will go to to save a buck. Apparently if you go to the grocery store in the early morning eggs are on sale. Now being from the US, I'm used to buying eggs in cartons that are stored in a refrigerated case. Not so in China. Eggs are stored on the shelf and the ones that go on sale are purchased out of a big bin and placed into an impossibly thin plastic bag. I have then seen people take said plastic bag, filled with at least two dozen loose eggs mind you, in their hands and get on an electric bike to go home. Disaster waiting to happen if you ask me. I always buy my eggs in the carton even though I'm sure its twice as expensive, just so I don't break them all before I even leave the store. Not to mention, I would never wait in line as long as some of these people seem to just to save a few kui. I guess I'm an egg snob.

Mooncakes by the truckload.

The egg line.

Timmy Turns Two

2009-08-29T07:05:00.004-05:00

Today was Tim's actual birthday, but it seems like we've been celebrating for a month! Between his party on Tuesday and presents sent from grandparents that have been arriving all month its been a long celebration. I can't believe two years have passed already! Here's some pics from his party and the balloons that won't die.

I finished making these cupcakes in the middle of the night after Timmy's accident. They look terrible because what I thought was gel icing to write with was really just liquid food coloring. It was imported from Germany so I couldn't read the packaging. Oh well, they tasted good!

Read his lips, "Choo, choo!"

These are the post-party balloons, or in Timmy-speak, "balooms, balooms!"

Coke Cans and Bananas

2009-08-27T07:43:00.005-05:00

The day Timmy broke his leg I had another classic China moment.

That morning before any leg breaking, I decided it was time to finally get our kitchen sink fixed. It has had a super slow leak (of super smelly ooze) for at least a few months that I have been ignoring because its just easier that way. I called Scott's HR comrade to make a call to our landlord who will in turn call our building management who will send a plumber to fix it.

The plumber, or at least that is what I thought he was supposed to be, showed up (at this point it is after Timmy jumped off the window seat), took the pipes apart, cleaned them out, used plumber's tape around the cracks and then asked the new Nanny (whose first day on the job it was) for something to prop up the pipe. She looked around the kitchen and picked up a spice jar, I think it was paprika, and I said no way! Her second choice was an empty coke can. At this point I was assuming this was a temporary fix and I was more concerned about the crying baby in my arms than the kitchen sink. Anyway, I guess the coke can worked and he left, but not before asking me for 5RMB (this is equal to about 70 or 80 cents) - weird.

Later that night, when we got back from the hospital I thought about what had taken place earlier and realized there was probably still an empty coke can holding up my kitchen drain pipes. Yep, a load-bearing can.

Poor Kid

2009-08-24T08:54:00.004-05:00

So Timmy has been a crazy man lately and jumping off of anything he can climb on. Well today he jumped off of that ledge by his window (about 2' high) and fractured his Tibia in 2 places (he broke his leg). The kid's a trooper - he took a nap with his broken leg before Katie took him to the hospital, but woke up still crying and wouldn't walk on it. Katie did a good job of getting him to the hospital in a taxi with his broken leg before I could get there for them to put the cast on and take pictures of the xrays on the wall and the doctor putting the cast on. We'll see how it goes with living out here. If anyone has any ideas of how to attach wheels to his leg let me know...I need to figure out how to make this restless kid mobile again soon before he gets too stir-crazy!

Shanghai Science and Technology Museum

2009-08-22T04:55:00.004-05:00

We took Timmy to the Science and Technology Museum today. I think we are spoiled for museums in other cities because we come from Chicago where all the museums are world-class. This one I think would have been a little better suited to maybe a 4 or 5 year old. The architecture of parts of it reminded me of the waterfront in Milwaukee near the art museum there.

Timmy did love watching a temporary exhibit they had where you could purchase your own little race car and watch it race around on a track. The second best attraction was not even an attraction at all, it was some kind of mystery yellow lifting machine thingy that Scott doesn't even know the proper name for. It was stashed in the corner under an escalator and Timmy thought it was the coolest.

Checking out the mystery machine and learning about pilot valves like a good little engineering student.

Watching the cars on the track.

There were fish in there under the floor.

Timmy, Timmy, Timmy

2009-08-20T03:39:00.006-05:00

Today Timmy licked a taxi. Yes, I said licked. As in with his tongue. He was playing the try to lick Daddy game and then changed to the let me see what else I can lick game. Anyway, it was the inside of a taxi, I don't know if that is better or worse than the outside.

When asked what his name was, Timmy used to say Andy, now he says Titty. Yes Titty. My son named Titty. Hmmmmm.

And finally, I asked Timmy how old he was going to be and he said 2! I wonder if it was a coincidence or if he really understood the question. Oh well, he's repeated it since so I go with he knows!

Licking DaDa in the taxi. Gross.

Having a drink with Shaun and the kid whose wiener is hanging out after a hard morning of jumping.

Playing on a blow up castle slide outside a mall near our apartment.

Ni Hao Kai-Lan & Uncle Andy Bike

2009-08-13T18:21:00.003-05:00

Grandma Barb sent Timmy some birthday presents including a few Ni Hao Kai-Lan videos. Kai-Lan is a cartoon on Nickelodeon similar to Dora the Explorer how she teaches Spanish words, but Kai-Lan teaches Mandarin. One episode (that Timmy l-o-v-e-s), is Kai-Lan Goes To China. Apparently she lives in California normally. Timmy keeps talking about the airplane that Kai-Lan flies in to get to China and Kai-Lan's grandpa, Yeh-yeh. He even imitates the baby panda that is afraid of a boat. He walks around whining and saying, "Baby." I ask him if the baby is afraid and he stops whining and says, "Yeah." He plays peek-a-boo with the panda on the TV as well. Hilarious.

We've been trying to teach Timmy to say his name when asked. The other morning I asked him what his name was, and his response was, "Andy." I said, "Your name is Andy?" He said, "Yeah, Andy Bike." Last night when we were praying with Timmy and thanking God for grandmas and grandpas and aunts and uncles. When we said each family member's name, Timmy would repeat it. When we got to Uncle Andy, he said, "Andy Bike." So I guess that's your new name Andy Bike.

Choo, Choo and stuff.

2009-08-11T19:07:00.005-05:00

So Mrs. Zhang, our nanny has quit. Well actually she just moved back to her home town, because her father has lung cancer. I'm more than a little upset. She was the one thing that I genuinely loved about life here. She was trustworthy and Timmy loves her. Now we start the search for a new helper.

In other events, it has rained almost every day for at least three weeks. If its not raining, its threatening to rain so you can't really enjoy being outside because you always think its about to rain, or it just rained and everything is wet and muddy. Despite all the rain, we didn't get hit with any extra from the typhoon-turned-tropical storm that annihilated Taiwan and the south eastern Chinese coast. It was supposed to come, but we just really got a lot of humidity, like we didn't have enough already.

Timmy is obsessed with trains these days. I am attempting to avoid letting him know about Thomas the train. For now, he just has a wooden train from IKEA and some stickers, hopefully he won't learn the difference and just be happy with any kind of train. He talks about choo, choos endlessly. We tuck the trains into bed with him every night and he gives them kisses.

Choo, Choo!

Our little monkey.

Actual Events and Conversations From Today:

2009-08-06T00:23:00.003-05:00

Thursday, August 6th.

Timmy: brings Katie a pair of underwear

Katie: tries to put it on Timmy's naked butt

Timmy: screams in agony as if he is dying and says no, no, no

Katie: asks Timmy if he wants to wear it

Timmy: says yeah

Katie: tries to put it on again

Timmy: screams in agony and throws himself on floor

Katie: asks Timmy if he wants to wear it

Timmy: says yeah

Katie: tries to put it on again

Timmy: screams in agony and says no, no, no

Katie: gives up, he wears no underwear.

Later the same day...

Katie: tells Timmy its time for a nap, places said child in his bed

Timmy: screams in agony

Katie: says goodnight

Timmy: stands up and says Pee, Pee

Katie: asks him if he needs to go Pee, Pee

Timmy: says yeah

Katie: takes Timmy to bathroom, removes pants and diaper

Timmy: sits on potty and says night, night

Katie: asks Timmy if he wants to go night, night

Timmy: yeah

Katie: re-dresses Timmy and takes him back to bed

Timmy: says MaMa, Pee, Pee

Katie: asks do you have to go Pee, Pee

Timmy: Yeah

Katie: asks, for real this time?

Timmy: Yeah

Katie: undresses Timmy and takes him to the potty

Timmy: sits on potty again and says night, night

Katie: do you want to go night, night?

Timmy: Yeah

Katie: re-dresses Timmy and takes him back to bed

Timmy: cries and says Pee, Pee.

Katie: no response

Timmy: falls asleep

Praise God for nap time.

Homesick :(

2009-08-05T18:51:00.003-05:00

I think the long summer is starting to get to all of us. Scott and I have been feeling homesick - mostly induced by watching the movie Cars too much. It is so utterly American that it makes us long for a summer road trip, or camping, or anything outdoors and not Chinese! I've been dying for some Lou Malnati's. Chinese Papa John's pizza just doesn't do it for me.

The worst I think was when Timmy went into a closet, grabbed a suitcase and starting saying, "Home, home, home." It was so cute and super sad all at once. Instead of going home, we settled for a Skype call with Grandma B that morning. He seemed to be satisfied with that. For now we will continue on the long road of potty training, and look longingly forward to the end of September and the visitors it will bring! Shout out to Jim, Cindy and Lauren, we can't wait for you guys to come!

Shower-Time Shenanigans

2009-07-31T08:19:00.003-05:00

Each day, whilst (don't you love my new-found British language influence?) I'm in the shower, Timmy finds himself free to do as he pleases for about 10-20 minutes. Some days he plays contentedly in his room, or watches the movie of the day (Cars or Nemo depending on his mood). Other days he is a scheming monkey that gets into everything. One day he brought all his toys into the bathroom, some even made it into the shower and sink. Another day he brought a stool in and lined up all the contents of a drawer on the counter. Yet another day he put stickers all over the toilet, I missed a good photo op there. And finally one day he used the same stool to unload a different drawer that happen to house our stockpile of US medicine and cough drops. Luckily all the bottles were sealed and childproofed. Needless to say, that drawer now has its own childproof strap to lock it shut. Timmy calls the strap a boo-boo, I guess he thinks its like a band-aid for the drawer. :)

Bedtime Prayers

2009-07-27T18:04:00.003-05:00

So most nights we try to pray with Timmy before he goes to bed. Last night as we turned out the lights and sat down next to his bed he said, "Pray, Pray!" It was so cute. When Scott was done praying, Tim said, "More, more." So we prayed more. I asked him to say, "Amen," and he did in his tiny little voice. It just makes you feel all warm inside as a parent, like maybe, just maybe, you're doing something right.

Would You Like Some Watermelon With Your Manicure?

2009-07-24T03:10:00.002-05:00

I'm not the paint your nails type of girl, but since manicures are so cheap here in China (less than $8 USD), I get one every once in a while. This also fits into the duties of my role as a lady of leisure, as Scott likes to call me. :) Today I tried a new place in Spring City, a commercial area down the street from our apartment. I spent 45 minutes watching a Chinese soap opera that actually seemed like it would be funny if I had the slightest clue what they were talking about. Then, about 5 minutes into the nail drying process, one of the girls places an eighth of a watermelon in front of me. This was a very large piece of watermelon. I have no idea if I paid for this, or if they just had extra so they wanted to share it with me. I was one of two customers in the shop at the time, the other being a middle-aged guy getting his feet filed down. He did not partake in the watermelon, but graciously told me in English where to wash my hands after I ate it. Just another day in Shanghai.

Solar Eclipse

2009-07-22T02:42:00.003-05:00

Timmy and I watched the solar eclipse this morning. It was around 9:30 in the morning and for about 6 minutes there was complete darkness. It was really cool. It would have been cooler if it hadn't also been thunder storming at the same time. There was a bunch of lightning and the sky was all clouds so you couldn't actually see the sun get covered. Bummer, but I forgot to get the special glasses to look at the sun anyway, so I guess we were lucky. This will not happen again in Shanghai for another 500 years, pretty cool. I turned off all the lights so we could really see how dark it was, but Tim didn't like that and climbed up on the bed to turn the lights back on. "Mama, light, Mama." :)

American Music Monday

2009-07-19T23:09:00.002-05:00

Timmy and I were out running errands all morning and I kept hearing American music everywhere. Here are some of the songs I can remember hearing in the last 4 hours:

We Will Rock You - Queen

Uno, Dos, Tres - Ricky Martin (okay so maybe he's not exactly American)

Some Eminem song with vulgar lyrics

Toxic - Britney Spears

various Backstreet Boys songs

Family Affair - Mary J. Blige

The best was hearing some old Chinese lady singing the Ricky Martin song after it was over in a really thick accent!

DQ Something Different.

2009-07-17T18:23:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I took myself to the doctor because I've had a sore throat for 12 days. Its not strep so she said its either a virus or mono. I opted not to get blood tests done to find out if its mono because either way there is no actual treatment so why waste the time and money. Anyway, I'll be fine and I'm not contagious (unless you kiss me!).

After the doctor I needed to go buy a new toilet seat since ours broke. There is an new B & Q (Chinese Home Depot) in a mall near our apartment so I went there. It took ten minutes of wandering to find the entrance to the store because the place is huge. During my wanderings I happened upon a brand new Dairy Queen in the mall. It was open and I decided that ice cream would feel great on my sore throat.

I ordered a small Oreo blizzard and paid for it. I watched them start to make it and that is when it got weird. The employee opened a package of Oreos and started breaking them in half with his hands (wearing gloves, thank goodness). He puts the huge chunks of Oreo in the cup with ice cream and then goes to the blender. The blender wasn't plugged it, so he reached for the cord and it has no plug - just wires with nothing on the end. Hmmmmm. He says something to the manager and she looks for herself. After fumbling with it for a minute and apparently looking for a hole to jam the wires into, decides its a lost cause. She then hands a spoon the to the other guy to mix my blizzard by hand. You can imagine how efficient this is with giant pieces of cookie in the mix. After about 30 seconds he hands me my treat, not really mixed at all. I must have been their first customer ever. Anyway the ice cream was good, but I wouldn't call it a blizzard.

Potty Training?!?!?!

2009-07-15T08:18:00.002-05:00

So I had no intention of trying to potty train Timmy until well into next year, but he apparently has other plans. Earlier this week he started talking about the potty, so Scott took him into the bathroom a few times and let him stand on the toilet seat and try to pee. Nothing happened. I figured now is as good a time as any to buy a little potty for him to get used to. I didn't think he would decide to use it within a few minutes of seeing it. He did. Twice in two hours. What the heck. Now what? I guess its time whether I like it or not. Pray for us! :)

Timmy's 1st Doctor's Visit (In Shanghai)

2009-07-09T00:28:00.003-05:00

Tim's been coughing all week and having a bit of a hard time breathing normally, so I decided to take him to the doctor and get it checked out. We've been here over 6 months and have not had to go to the doctor or hospital for anything yet, pretty good, huh? When we told people we were moving to China, many of you asked about the health care. I gave my best answers from research, but until today had not really known anything first hand.

The whole experience was pretty decent. Everyone spoke English, it was only 15 or so minutes from our place, the place was super clean (compared to the local hospital I volunteered at a few months ago) and they billed my insurance directly. The pediatrician we saw was an African American guy from New York named Tyrone. He is apparently the Chief Medical Officer in Pediatrics at Shanghai United Family Hospital. He was super cool and turns out that Timmy most likely has allergies that are flaring up from the intense humidity. No biggie, but I feel better after going and checking out the lay of the land.

Facebook Blocked!!!

2009-07-07T21:43:00.001-05:00

China blocked Facebook last night because of the riots. I hear Twitter is blocked too, but I am not a tweeter, so I wouldn't know. Even our personal VPN tunnel witopia secret passage through the great firewall thingy (yep, that is something like the technical name for it) is not working. How annoying. I can still post stuff through our blog, so I guess that is good. I hope this is only temporary. I love Facebook. :(

Taxi Miracles!

2009-07-07T02:19:00.002-05:00

Two days in a row now I've had unexpected taxi blessings.

Yesterday I was waiting for a taxi and I saw a middle aged business man flag one down a little up the road. I decided to walk to where he got his, and when I got there, he proceeded to give up his taxi for me and Tim. This is unheard of. I saw him as we were driving away trying to get himself an new one! I guess chivalry is not totally dead!

Then this morning, not only did I get a taxi right outside our apartment compound IN THE RAIN, but the driver spoke really great English. He was only the 2nd or 3rd driver I've had out of over 200 taxis that spoke any English. It was great!

Our Almost Fearless Son...

2009-07-02T07:08:00.003-05:00

So as most of you know by now, Timmy falls a lot. He always has a bruise or twenty somewhere on his face, head, knees, legs and most recently we found some bruises on his spine! How does that even happen? Anyway, these "injuries" are due to his recklessness in jumping, climbing, running, etc. He has no fear when it comes to physical challenges.

Recently, however, he has developed a fear of bugs. Hilarious. We will be walking outside, merrily jumping along, when all the sudden my tough little boy melts into a puddle of, "Mama, bug, bug, buuuuuuuug!" I can't help but laugh most of the time. He does really like butterflies though. He chased two today for almost 5 minutes, yelling something that sounded almost like the word butterfly.

Here's a picture of him playing in our tiny baby pool on the balcony, trying to beat the heat, when a gnat flew by his head. Priceless.

Xiamen Highlights

2009-06-30T00:45:00.009-05:00

Our long weekend in Xiamen was good. It was really nice to get away from the now familiar Shanghai sights. Here are some highlights from our trip...

Day 1: After insane amounts of transportation (taxi, bus, plane, van, ferry & tram) we arrived finally on Gulong Yu, an island right next to the island of Xiamen. Both are located west of Taiwan. Our hotel in Gulong Yu was the only 4 star hotel on the island, but was definitely not what Scott and I would

consider 4 stars. There were no elevators!!! We were on the third floor, so that got a little annoying with Timmy and stroller in tow all the time. The island itself was only worthy of a day trip, but we enjoyed the time anyway.

We were traveling with 7 of Scott's coworkers, all young/our age single people. They were

traveling cheap, so they stayed at a hostel. We joined them for a few meals and got to experience what traveling cheap means to a twenty-something Chinese person! Some of the places we ate at I would have never thought to set foot in, much less actually eat at. The first meal in Gulong Yu was delicious. Since these islands are in the ocean, lots of seafood. Some

good, and some gross.

Day 2: We took the ferry back over to Xiamen and found our new hotel, much nicer. We searched the internet on our phones for "American Restaurant Xiamen" because after two cheap Chinese meals, we were ready for a burger! We found some place called the Red Armadillo, but it didn't exactly have an address. We decided to go anyway and hunt it down. After an hour long taxi ride, and glorious tour of the southern coast of the island, the taxi driver dropped us off on the side of the road. We had no idea where this place was. We started wandering and after about ten or fifteen minutes, a really sunburnt white guy yells down the road at us, "Red Armadillo?" Sweet. We followed him to his home, which I should have taken a picture of because I can't even begin to describe it. Definitely not your normal restaurant. He was an American expat, who has been in Xiamen for 8 years. The food was delicious, and we talked to the owner (sun burnt guy) for a while. It was super relaxing, complete with Jimmy Buffet on the stereo and a view of the beach.

After lunch, we went to the beach. Due to a recent typhoon, the water wasn't what we

considered swim worthy. So we played in the sand, walked down the coast and watched 4 different engaged couples take wedding pictures on the beach. In China it is a thing to hire a photography company to take pictures of you

and your fiance in different wedding attires at different locations. Many are like costumes, some are more traditional wedding garb. Either way it was fun to see. While we were people watching the brides, everyone in Xiamen was watching us! Timmy seems to create a scene wherever he goes. Its really annoying. On our last day Scott and I both actually hit someone for touching Timmy because she wouldn't back off.

Day 3: We went to the 10,000 stone botanical gardens, but we didn't stay long or take very many pictures. It was ridiculously hot, so much that Scott and I were drenched in sweat and the whole place was full of stairs. Not exactly fun with the stroller. Not to mention the intrusive people that want to touch Timmy. This is where the hitting incident took place. So we made a short loop through the gardens and retreated back to our hotel for some AC. After some shopping with our Chinese friends, and lunch at the highest Pizza Hut in the world we came home.

For the rest of our pictures, click here.

Long Weekend!

2009-06-26T01:52:00.004-05:00

So Scott has a random day off on Monday for some type of power shut down at his company so we are going with 6 of his coworkers on a trip! We will be flying south the city of Xiamen (She-Ah-Men) which I am pretty sure is also the name of the island it is located on. Its a beachy place and is said to be in the top 5 most beautiful cities in China. Yea! I will of course be taking a lot of pictures so stay tuned. We'll be back on Monday.

It will be interesting to travel with 6 young single Chinese people and Me, Scott and Timmy. Already we are staying at a different hotel than them because they are going cheap and roughing it at a not so nice place. Yun Lou (our friend/translator/angel that I have mentioned before) didn't think we would like where they are staying. So this could be interesting. I hate being the snobby, rich foreigner because we are not rich, just not as poor as the average Chinese person. I am snobby I suppose, but I still don't like the label! :)

One Bad China Day

2009-06-25T06:27:00.000-05:00

So usually I try not to complain here and just share the fun, weird and interesting things in China. Today I need to vent because it was a bad China day. Then I will share some good things so as not be just be a downer....

1. Mrs. Zhang is leaving us for a month.
2. Timmy has entered terrible twos, every diaper change is a battle royal.
3. Its freaking hot and terribly humid.
4. I still can't get taxis easily, today 30 minutes to get one.
5. On the way home from a play group today Timmy got car sick, buckets of stomach acid and fruit leather pieces all over me, him, cow and the taxi. (I gave the taxi driver about $20 USD because I felt so bad for leaving a mess in his car).
6. The pool in our apartment development is still under construction, no end in sight.
7. The stitches in my gums are starting to come loose, but need to stay there for another week. Feels like junk stuck in my teeth, gross.
8. Two of the three regularly scheduled activities that Timmy and I attend are on break for the month of July.
9. Timmy took no nap today, but needed one desperately.

Okay, that's enough. Now for the good.
1. Praise God that Scott still has a job.
2. I am thankful that we are going to a city on an island called Xiamen this weekend to get away with some of Scott's coworkers and take advantage of a random day off of work that Scott has on Monday.
3. My moms and toddlers prayer and play group is NOT taking a break during July.
4. We have air conditioning.
5. Timmy is happy to be here with all his toys and friends.
6. Timmy is starting to learn Chinese, he can say Daddy, One, Two, Grandpa and Grandma in Mandarin.
7. Mrs. Zhang bought me a new plant this week. I love flowers.
8. I found a good restaurant in the neighborhood for Chinese take-out.
9. Timmy started sleeping through the night again, hallelujah! Those 6 weeks in the US were rough.

Watermelons Galore

2009-06-23T00:50:00.002-05:00

Just a quick picture of watermelons, lots and lots of watermelons. I thought it was pretty amazing to see so many in one place, and there was another van full of them that didn't fit in the picture. Crazy.

Today's Adventures

2009-06-22T01:54:00.002-05:00

So Mrs. Zhang is leaving Thursday night on vacation for a month. I have been prepping myself for a month of hauling Timmy all over the city to buy groceries and such. Then, last night, our friend/translator/angel, Yun Lou, called to say that Mrs. Zhang's neighbor would be willing to fill in for her while she is on vacation. Hmmmmm. This is a tough call, we already took a leap of faith once with Mrs. Zhang and it worked out great, but should we do it again with basically a stranger? Well, she came to work with Mrs. Z today, and seems okay, but what do I know, I can't really interview her or anything. I asked her what her name was in Mandarin and she answered, but darn if I know what the heck she said! Anyway, we have a few more days to decide on this one.

Today I took a chance with a restaurant in our neighborhood and ate there without help. I guess this might sound kind of stupid, but its a big deal for me to go out for Chinese food without someone that speaks Chinese! And guess what? It was delicious. I decided to try it because it was a newer place, they had a menu outside in Mandarin and English, and I was hungry. I have been hoping to find some place near our home that was like this, it just seemed like everywhere only had Chinese menus. Yea for small victories!

And one more thing...I got a haircut today. Nothing special, I went to the same place I have always gone, but you would think I was the only laowei (foreigner) they had ever seen! It was funny, just as funny as the first time I went there, only weirder because it was like the dozenth (is that a word?) time I've been there. I guess 6 weeks away makes everyone forget about you.

Hot, Hot, Hot

2009-06-21T00:45:00.004-05:00

IT IS HOT!!! Hotter than I have ever experienced. By 9:30AM its in the 90s, and the Weather Channel says it feels like 109 degrees F. I start sweating just thinking about it. Thank goodness for air conditioners.

Anyway, here are a couple of pictures from our first day back

in Shanghai. Timmy and I met up with the ladies and kiddos from our Moms & Toddlers prayer and play group at a cafe that had a great outdoor playground for the kids. Unfortunately it was a billion degrees, even in the morning. On this particular day there was a nice breeze in the shade, so we had a good time anyway. These pictures of Timmy and Maddie, my friend Meg's daughter.

Welcome Back to China...grrrrrrrrrr

2009-06-19T07:28:00.002-05:00

So I think that blogger.com is now blocked by the Great Firewall of China. This means I have to use Scott's computer (that does not store our pictures) or a proxy website (which I hate) in order to post here. How annoying! I guess it was bound to happen someday, hopefully it will get unblocked soon, sometimes this happens. This is China, so who knows. So for now, no pictures since I'm on Scott's Mac and I keep all our pictures on my laptop.

Our flight back to Shanghai, via Toronto on Air Canada was okay. Timmy did not sleep as much as on past flights, but he was tolerable nonetheless. The most eventful part of it was when we landed guys in white jumpsuits and masks came on board with laser thermometers and took everyone temperature. It was straight out of the movies. Even the flight attendants were taking pictures. I guess the swine flu is still serious around here.

The time change has been a bit of a beast this time around. Yesterday and today Timmy took a huge nap in the afternoon that he had to be woken up from, and he was not happy about it at all. We all ate popcorn and pop-tarts at midnight and watched cartoons on Wednesday night before going back to sleep. Similar activities last night, but it was granola bars at 2AM instead. I'm hoping to get through tonight a little better.

It was 90 degrees and super humid yesterday. Its going to be a long hot summer in Shanghai.

Shanghai Flashback...

2009-05-20T20:26:00.003-05:00

I got an email the other day from my friend Meg in Shanghai. She sent me some pictures she took at our Mom & Toddler prayer group on the last day that our other friend Tanya was attending before moving back to Seattle for good. On the left is Tanya with her two kids, Caleb & Chloe (I think Chloe lookes like Dora the Explorer). In the middle is Meg and her daughter Maddie, then Me and Tim, and finally Belinda and one of her kids, Abigail. Its such a great group of ladies and kids, we are really going to miss Tanya.

Sweet Home Chicago-land

2009-05-10T20:54:00.004-05:00

We've been in Chicago-land for just over a week now. Timmy is loving his 4 grandparents and 6 great-grandparents, 3 dogs, and 2 cats to death. He's talking a lot, and seems to be learning at least 1 new word each day. Most still sound like baby talk, but its fun to see him learning so much.

People keep asking me the question, "So, how's China?" I don't know how to answer this question, as it is so broad and complicated. My honest answer is, China stinks! Literally! Its smelly and everything is infinitely more difficult than it is in the United States. Does that mean I don't like it? Well, I'm not sure. The jury is still out on that one. I'm happy to be home in the USA, but we don't have a home here, so its hard. Not to mention that at this point I think we will be here for 6 weeks! That is like a lifetime. We started making a life in Shanghai for the last 4 months, only to leave it all on 4 days notice for an indefinite amount of time.

I am most happy to be able to read. In China I am illiterate and I hate it. I love being able to read and use coupons and read ingredients on everything I'm eating and feeding to Timmy. I think all three of us are loving the lack of attention we get everywhere we go - meaning that we no longer stick out like a sore thumb.

One Last Thing

2009-04-30T18:16:00.002-05:00

So in my last minute shopping extravaganza yesterday, I was walking down a street I have never walked before. All of the sudden, a Dunkin Donuts appeared! I had heard that they had opened a few stores here in town during the last few months, but I had not seen one yet. Anyway, I had to stop. Donuts in China are less than good, and if you are really lucky you will find a surprise hotdog inside a sugar coated donut. This happened to Scott last week. Hilarious. They also have donuts that look like they are topped with cinnamon or something, but then you bite it and its covered in pork flakes. They have a thing about meat flavoring here that I just don't understand.

Timmy's never had a good donut before this morning. He was pretty excited about it, I let him pick which one he wanted from the box. He picked a chocolate one, but then in the following minutes pulled the rest out and licked them. Don't tell Scott, he was still sleeping when this happened, and the ones that were licked were his! :) See you all soon!

Heading Home

2009-04-28T06:43:00.004-05:00

Today is Tuesday and we found out this morning that we are headed back to the USA this Friday! We'll be in town for about 4 weeks. I'm trying not to think too much about a 14 hour plane ride with a toddler who doesn't stop moving. He's definately a different kid than the last time we were on that long flight with him. Does anyone know if Play-Doh counts as a liquid/gel as far as airport security is concerned? Play-Doh is one of Timmy's favorite things to play with and I figure it will keep him busy on the plane for a while. Pray for us, the flight leaves Friday afternoon China time.

This picture is from the other day when Tim decided that he needed to wear one of my rain boots around the house. It was pretty funny. Oh yeah, and he got another bad Chinese hair cut last week. I took Mrs. Zhang with me to tell them not to cut it too short. Somehow when I typed and translated to her what I wanted her to tell the barber, it was lost in translation. Oh well, at least he is a boy and it grows fast!

See you American friends this weekend :) !

Day Tripping

2009-04-25T08:41:00.003-05:00

We spent today in Hangzhou, China today with Scott's co-worker, CF and his wife Sara. Her name is not actually Sara, and she doesn't answer to Sara, so we are not sure why CF introduced her as Sara. We probably can't pronounce her Chinese name. Anyway, it was the most beautiful day outside and the city itself was absolutely beautiful. The day started out a bit iffy though.

About 30 minutes into our 2.5 hour drive from Shanghai to Hangzhou, Timmy puked. This has never happened before. This was not like a baby spitting up, this was a fountain of milk, stomach acid, and a few pieces of banana. It just kept coming. We were in CF's car, and thank goodness for the weird fact that every car in China has removable seat covers with Snoopy on them, otherwise his Kia would permanently smell like vomit. Also, thank goodness I brought an extra shirt for myself, or I would have been either smelly or topless all day! Don't worry, Timmy's fine, we think it was a bad banana. Ten minutes after the incident, he was hungry and smiling.

First, we took a boat to the middle of West Lake, which is the big attraction of Hangzhou. Timmy spent the whole ride saying "boat, boat, boat." It was his first time on a boat and he just learned how to say "boat" a couple weeks ago. He ran all over the island and loved stopping to look at the water.

After lunch we hiked around the Lingyin Temple area. It was so beautiful. What a difference from Shanghai. The flowers and greenery went on and on and there were hills with gorgeous buildings tucked between them everywhere. Azaleas were in bloom everywhere. Despite the fact that the whole area was created to honor Buddha, it was amazing. It was almost too bad that there were Buddhist icons and alters everywhere, they took away from the natural beauty.

We took a lot of pictures, too many to post here, so check them out at this link: (you DO NOT have to have a facebook account to view them) http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=428564&l=3dc00ddcd0&id=1145683473

English As My Second Language

2009-04-23T03:00:00.004-05:00

So being in China is forcing me to re-learn English...well at least certain words. I have been finding that through the activities that Timmy and I participate in, we have quite a diverse and international group of friends and acquaintances. Most of these friends are non-American, but all speak English. It truly is amazing how you can be in a conversation with someone who is speaking the same language, but between their accent and different vocabulary, barely understand a word they are saying. Here is a vocabulary list.

crisp = potato chip
biscuit = cookie
fag = cigarette
pram = baby stroller
cot = baby crib
lue = bathroom
lift = elevator
jelly = gelatin dessert like jello
jam = jam or jelly
bangers & mash = sausage and mashed potatoes

The words are not new words, they just don't mean what I thought they meant. So picture me having a conversation with another mom about toddler sleeping habits. She keeps saying that her son still sleeps in "a cot." In my mind cots are used in the military or camping, so I am thinking that her kid sleeps on a military cot.
In another conversation about what to eat for breakfast, I said that Scott likes jelly on his toast. The looks I got from people were of utter confusion which makes sense if you thought I just said Scott likes Jello on his toast. Yep, that would be weird.
And finally I was speaking to a dad at a playgroup and he was telling a story and kept using the word "fag," like, "and the guard had a radio in one hand and a fag hanging out of his mouth..." I was a little taken aback by this, but eventually realized that is not a nasty word in some parts of the world.

I guess being in China is making me appreciate being an American. In some ways we seem to be set apart, for better or for worse. I have had more than one person ask me what people do in the US with the economy so bad. I had to explain that some people really do lose their jobs and end up on the street. It was like that was an impossibility in people's minds, as if that can't happen in America, the land of opportunity. We are really thankful to be here in Shanghai, and thankful that Scott still has a job.

Shanghai Botanic Gardens

2009-04-18T23:45:00.006-05:00

Scott, Timmy & I spent Saturday morning at the Shanghai Botanic Gardens. It was a perfect day outside, although you wouldn't know it by looking at the amount of clothing the locals were wearing. I swear, most of them were dressed for 40 degree Fahrenheit weather when it was in the mid 70's and sunny! The poor kids, their parents make them wear multiple pairs of pants and countless shirts and sweaters, even when its nice out. I just don't get it. AND the grandma's on the playground always comment (in Chinese so I don't know exactly what they are saying...) that Timmy is only wearing a pair of jeans. They are appalled that he doesn't have ten more layers on.

Anyway, back to the gardens. So the weather was perfect. The gardens were huge, I have a blister on my feet from walking so much. There was a bamboo garden, some cool Japanese maple trees, and endless annual flowers. The azaleas were in full bloom, but we missed the tulip displays by two weeks. Bummer, because I had heard they were awesome.

The best part of the day for me was this little boy who, when he saw me, Scott, and Timmy started jumping up and down, screaming and pointing at us. He was so excited to see foreigners, it was like we were famous or something. So I decided to jump up and down and point and smile back at him. It was hilarious, it only made him scream louder. Fantastic.

Easter Fun

2009-04-12T21:11:00.006-05:00

Easter is not widely celebrated in China, but we had a great day. Timmy played with his new "doh, doh, doh, doh" (play-doh, he loves the stuff), we all ate a lot of chocolate, took a walk to McDonalds for lunch, dyed some eggs and had a feast with friends for dinner.

Timmy seemed to have fun dying eggs, but did not have patience for waiting for them to turn colors. When adding the color pellets to the water, Tim decided that the green cup needed a red pellet too, so we had some sweet brownish, redish, greenish eggs. Actually all our eggs had some brown undertones - I couldn't find white eggs to use.

We ordered a smoked ham from Bubba's, Scott's favorite restaurant in Shanghai. My friend Jessica, her husband Xie Feng and their son Shaun, as well as Scott's coworker Yun Lou joined us for dinner.

Adoption Update & Heart To Heart Shanghai

2009-04-09T06:20:00.004-05:00

So as many of you know, Scott and I came to China with the hope of adopting a Chinese baby at some point during our time here. In conjunction with that hope, I was looking forward to getting involved with volunteering at an orphanage to better understand the system and where the babies come from. After more in depth research, all doors have been shut (for now) on the idea of us adopting a baby from here during the next 2-3 years. China has pretty strict rules that both parents be 30 years old before they can adopt a child, so that rules us out until 2011. I also did some brief research on orphanages in Shanghai and volunteering at them is not a casual thing. There seem to be some serious requirements and commitments of time involved in such an endeavor. So, seeing that I have most of my time committed to Timmy, that door has been shut as well. Maybe we will revisit all of this sometime in the future.

Instead of volunteering at an orphanage, I decided to try something different. Through a mom's group called IMSG (International Mother's Support Group), I learned of an organization called Heart To Heart Shanghai. This organization helps raise funds to pay for kids that are born with congenital heart defects to have heart surgery. The kids that it sponsors would otherwise not have the opportunity to receive the care they need because their families cannot afford it. One surgery costs 25,000RMB (only 3650USD!) at the Shanghai Children's Thoracic Hospital.

Today I started volunteering at the hospital. Its incredible to see how different a children's ward at a Chinese hospital is like compared to the USA. All the monitors that the little babies were hooked up to were just propped up on chairs next to their beds. Also, there was virtually no security to get into the hospital or the children's floor. I was told by my orientation guide that there was no artwork of any kind on the walls until Heart To Heart donated it, and all the furniture and toys for the playroom. Unfortunately, the kids only get to play with the toys from 2-3:30 each day when the volunteers are there. Without supervision, all the toys would just disappear because of the lack of security. The place was clean, and had decent equipment, but not all the amenities (like carts for the equipment, furniture, artwork, phones) that we would expect to see in the US. I briefly met the chief surgeon, she seems to really love her work and the kids. She even speaks English and came in to say hello to me and the other new volunteer. Anyway, if you are interested in reading more about Heart To Heart, check out their website .

Gubei Carrefour

2009-04-08T06:26:00.002-05:00

Carrefour is a French based retailer of groceries and such. They are the grocer of choice for foreigners in China. There are two such grocery stores near our apartment, but the one in the area called Gubei is supposed to be the best and have the best selection of imported goods. The problem is, its not easy to get to from where we live.

Today I ventured there to see what all the hype was about. Basically its just like the one near our home, but much bigger. AND all the signs are in English as well as Chinese. They must know that they have a huge foreign customer base. Its incredible to see such a huge store, 5 floors. The first floor is entirely a food court. The second and third are groceries and household goods (think Super Target or Walmart). The fourth and firth floors are part parking garage and part micelleneous businesses like Gymboree.

Qing Ming Festival

2009-04-05T07:02:00.001-05:00

This weekend was another Chinese holiday called Qing Ming Festival. Here is an explanation of what it means. For us it means a day off of work for Scott and that's about it.

Taken from a random email I got:

"Qing Ming Festival is directly translated as Clear and Bright Festival. It is one of the important traditional Festivals in China; it is a statutory public holiday in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan which falls on April 4th. As April 4th is Saturday this year, companies will take off the previous Friday or following Monday to make a 3-day weekend. Sometimes also called Tomb Sweeping Festival in English as it is for tending to the graves of departed ancestors. Family members will take food, tea, wine, paper accessories, fake money, and chopsticks to tombs as offerings to the souls of their ancestors. They will sweep the tomb, and pray. Some people also carry willow branches with them to help ward off the evil ghosts wandering around.Qingming Festival is also to mark the 1st day of the 5th solar term, and therefore a time to get out of the house and enjoy the new beginning of spring."

Lameness Update...

2009-04-04T08:56:00.003-05:00

So if you didn't read my post called "really?" then this post is not going to make sense. Scott and I took the metro out to dinner tonight (yea for date night :) and what did I see on the train? A girl with a bun keychain!!! She was playing with it so much that she broke the dang thing. And the verdict is: not a real bun, definately squishy plastic. Lame.

Eels, Mops & Basketball

2009-04-02T18:37:00.007-05:00

So yesterday I am sitting on the Metro (train) on my way home and three adults and a baby squish their way into the 2 seats open next to me. With them they have 2 suitcases and multiple other containers of stuff. I can only assume they are on their way somewhere for this weekend's Qing Ming holiday (pronounced something like "ching ming" and it means Tomb Sweeping Day). Other than being crammed up next to them I didn't think too much of it until I looked more closely at one of the plastic bags they had perched on top of their suitcase. It was moving. Not just moving, but slithering. Yuck. Inside were eels and they were alive! Eels on the train, what next. Oh China.

Earlier that day I was standing on a corner where I was to meet someone for lunch and I noticed a janitor-like person mopping. The funny thing is, he was mopping the sidewalk. Oh China.

And lastly, Timmy has a new obsession with basketball. He will sit in the window of our bedroom and watch the kids play forever. If he's lucky we will take him outside to watch and he stands by the fence and squeals at the guys playing. They all think its funny. He's trying really hard to say the word basketball, but it comes out as, "Ba Ball."

really?

2009-03-30T07:07:00.004-05:00

I saw something today that beats out every other stupid thing I have seen for sale in China: buns on a keychain with faces. What the heck? Am I missing out on some cool trend by thinking this is the lamest keychain I have ever seen in my life? They were for sale outside the metro station near Super Brand Mall (which is quite possibly the lamest name for a mall ever). Anyway, I took a picture because I don't think I could possibly due the lameness justice. I don't know if these are real buns or just plastic replicas, but I have a feeling they might just be real.

Spring = Flowers & Frogs

2009-03-27T07:32:00.006-05:00

Its starting to feel almost like springtime around here. Its not consistantly warm yet, but its getting there. All the flowering trees are blooming, and they are beautiful. All the frogs have mated, and they are plentiful. No seriously, in one day about a month ago I saw more than a dozen pairs of frogs mating. And the result of this are gazillions of tiny black tadpoles in the pond (click the pictures to enlarge and view them in all their glory). Timmy loves to sit and watch the little guys swim around. Its actually quite amazing that the three or four dozen large goldfish that live in the same pond have not eaten all the little guys yet. I am waiting to see if we will have gazillions of frogs this summer or if there are tadpole predators lurking out there somewhere to save us from this plague.

China's Answer to Costco

2009-03-23T06:43:00.006-05:00

Today I ventured out to a store called Metro. I had heard that this was a warehouse style store much like the Costcos and Sam's Clubs of the United States. I was excited to see what goodies and good deals I could find in such a place. I wouldn't say I was dissapointed, but the experience wasn't overwhelmingly great either.

What was super interesting though was the meat section. I haven't found a single store in Shanghai that sold meat that didn't smell at least a little funky. Metro was the exception, even with large quantities of raw meat hanging from the ceiling (see picture), it smelled super fresh and not funky at all. That was impressive.

The rest of the store was pretty much just like a warehouse store except the bulk items were Chinese things instead of American. There was a large electric bike section, lots of frozen dumplings, HUGE bags of rice, and even a decent imported foods section. I did manage to buy some diapers and bananas and other miscellaneous items.

Elmer

2009-03-19T06:34:00.002-05:00

So this is a picture of the headboard of our bed here in Shanghai. I think it looks like a face, so I named it Elmer. One day I introduced Timmy to Elmer and asked him to say hi. He said hi and waved. Now he calls the headboard guy "MoMer." :)

Our Stuff Is Here!!!

2009-03-14T18:40:00.004-05:00

Our shipment arrived yesterday (Saturday)! Timmy now has more toys that any kid could ever need, thank you to everyone for his Christmas presents that he finally gets to enjoy! The first thing he wanted to play with was his dog suitcase, thanks Andy for that, he loves it. Then he was riding one of his trucks while the mover guys were still unloading all around him. They all got a good laugh out of that.

Timmy slept in his new bed last night and seemed to really like it. We also had our friend Jessica and her son Shaun over for dinner. The boys had a blast in Timmy's tunnel and at the new toddler size table and chairs.

I am most excited to be able to bake stuff and hang some familiar things on the walls. Its funny how a few things make a place feel more like a home. Scott is most excited for his Xbox 360 to be with him again, but only for a few days - Scott is going back to the US for work on Wednesday for 2 weeks! Pray for me and Tim that we don't get too lonely. Although with all our "new" stuff, we should be entertained for a while.

Yu's Kids Island

2009-03-08T18:48:00.005-05:00

So I found yet another strange, yet fun, place to take Timmy while the weather stinks. Yu's Kids Island is an indoor play area that has all kinds of crazy things for kids under eight to jump around on and run through. He loved it.

Every inch of this place seems to be padded to prevent injury. Every inch that is, except the slide. Somehow, Timmy's big head managed to find the only area in the whole place that is not padded. He flipped himself backwards off the stairs to the slide. Don't worry, in true Timmy fashion, he's fine. After 30 seconds of hugs from MaMa and cow, he was running back to the slide. I have a hilarious video of him boxing with padded things that will be on facebook soon.

The sun finally came out yesterday after 3 straight weeks of rain. We saw blue sky! Well, bluish-gray sky, but sky nonetheless.

Out For A Walk

2009-03-05T05:30:00.005-06:00

Yesterday was one of the three days a week that Mrs. Zhang comes over to look after Timmy. I decided to find a deli that would make me a sandwich and let me sit around for a while and study my Chinese lesson from the night before. I found the deli, the sandwich was decent, but studying didn't last long because the door to the outside kept opening so I was freezing and couldn't concentrate (I don't think the heat was on in the deli).

On my way home I was walking down a street near our apartment on the way to the bank, iPod blaring in my ears when all the sudden I hear, loud & clear, "MA MAAAAAA!!!" It was Timmy about 2o feet away who had spotted me before I spotted him. He & Mrs. Zhang were out for a walk and he was really excited to run into me. I used charades to tell Mrs. Z that I was going to the bank and she used charades to tell me she would continue on her walk. Timmy had other plans. As soon as I started to walk away he let out the loudest screams I have ever heard him make. So they came to the bank with me and then accompanied me on the rest of my errands.

There is a pet store on the street we were on, so here are some pics of Mrs. Z showing Timmy the birds.

Honqiao Bird & Flower Market

2009-02-27T00:02:00.003-06:00

I took a trip to the Bird & Flower Market this week. It was amazing to see all the bonsai trees and other relatively exotic plants and flowers for sale. There were tons of orchids that were so beautifully perfect, I thought they might be fake (they weren't). There were some pretty unique other non-plant items for sale as well like stone dragons and soldiers and hand carved wood trinkets. A few landscape companies had shop set up in the market with outdoor examples of their designs. Definately beautiful.

As far as the bird part of the Bird & Flower market wasn't all that impressive. I only saw a few birds, but there were thousands of fish - different types of goldfish mostly. There were also baby bunnies and mice for sale. It was like a pet store market place for small animals (no dogs or cats).

If you think China is a 3rd world country...

2009-02-23T05:44:00.004-06:00

For those of you that thought we were going to live in a dirt hut when we said we were moving to China, this post is for you. I am going to tell you about the ridiculous and awesomely dorky technological thingys we have to make our lives cooler and more comfortable.

1. We live in Shanghai and have a 630 area code phone number. Yep, that's right, you can call us as if we still live in DuPage County, Illinois, USA. Just mind the time change. I get really cranky at at least one telemarketer each night that doesn't believe me when I tell them they just called China and its 3AM.

2. iPhones are awesome. Yes, I fought with Scott about this purchase before we left. I am eating my angry words now. Our iPhones can translate English to Chinese so that I can give our Ayi instructions about Timmy or ask the hairdresser to give me a trim. The phones also have an application called Shanghai Taxi Guide. This application houses the names, addresses, & phone numbers of hundreds of restaurants, hotels and attractions in the city, AND has little buttons that say "Show Taxi Card" so that it will tell the taxi driver in Mandarin where to go. So cool.

3. Witopia Open VPN breaks the stronghold that the "Great Firewall of China" has on the Internet here. This is a Virtual Private Network service that does some stuff (yes that is the technical term for it) to allow us to surf the Internet as if we were in San Francisco instead of Shanghai. Here in China they employ around 30,000 people to sit and watch the Internet to see what people are doing and block them from doing it. So even harmless things get blocked and no one knows why. Witopia creates an encrypted tunnel and we get to surf all the way from California with no communist jerks watching what we are doing. That being said, this means we can watch American TV shows through Hulu & Fancast that technically don't have licensing to be watched internationally (yeah for 24).

4. Jaadu VNC is some amazingly dorky thing that Scott discovered that allows him to combine the coolness of an iPhone with the coolness of watching US television. Basically, this technology allows him to view his MacBook on his phone. Then, when his MacBook is connected to our television, his phone acts as a remote control. So this means we can stream American TV shows to our big TV and sit on the couch and control it all through Scott's phone. I told you this one was dorky.

5. Slingbox. This isn't really something we are using on a regular basis, but the other night Scott was able to watch Mike McDermott's Dad's TV on his laptop. Basically, now that we have busted through the Great Firewall of China, if someone in the States owns a Slingbox (ie: Mike McDermott's Dad), we are able to watch their Cable TV on our laptops through the Internet. Crazy stuff.

6. Skype. I know Oprah's been using this one for a long time, but how cool is it that Timmy's great grandpa can talk to him and see him from 8,000 miles away? AND ITS FREE!!! Web cams are pretty neat.

Scott, chime in here if I have not done this stuff justice. I don't claim to understand all of it, I just love the results of your nerdy-ness.

Life Going On

2009-02-18T23:49:00.004-06:00

Life is starting to feel more and more "normal" in a sort of bizarro way. People are starting to get to know us. Most notably is the guard that seems to be assigned to our building. He is the only guard that is always smiling and always says, "Hullo!" to me and Timmy. He even opens the door and carries stuff for me when I have Tim in tow.

Speaking of guards, so far I have failed to catch a picture or video of the guards at our complex in training, but when I do, you will all see it. Its like they send these guys through boot camp, BDUs and all. They run in formation while yelling stuff throughout the complex. Its sort of eerie because you think that its China's communist army training in your neighborhood until you realize these are really just doormen in training. I guess they take their job seriously.

Speaking of taking a job seriously, I got my hair washed yesterday. It was a two hour experience. Two hours to wash my hair! What? Well, this included an almost 60 minute back rub, a 30 minute shampoo process & 30 minutes of the salon's owner drying and straightening my hair. My hair has never been so straight and fabulous.

I want to give a little shout-out to Mrs. Zhang. I despise washing dishes by hand. Especially in a sink that was designed for someone much shorter than the average American. Mrs. Zhang, Timmy's Ayi (Nanny), does my dishes now whenever she is here. Now this wouldn't be all that weird, except that I never asked her to do it. She's so great.

Valentine's Date

2009-02-14T07:29:00.004-06:00

Tonight was the first time since we've been here that Scott and I could explore Shanghai without Timmy in tow. So for Valentine's Day we went to the area of town called Xujiahui. There are at least three regular (but ginormous) malls in this area, as well as at least three technology mall type things (including a huge Best Buy). For those of you who are regular followers of our lives, you may remember that in September I ate a HUGE cream puff and thought it was the greatest thing ever. Well on this night, I found the cream puff store again! We bought a half dozen to take home. Best Valentine's Day treat ever. See pictures...

Hot Pot Dinner

2009-02-14T07:21:00.002-06:00

So on Monday our friend Jessica who lives down the street invited us over for dinner. Her in-laws are Chinese and live with her and her husband and son, so they prepared a Hot Pot dinner. Hot Pot is sort of like fondue. Monday night was the last official night of the Spring Festival holiday time (FINALLY!!!), so it was kind of fun to experience a home cooked Chinese meal. Jessica's mother in law even made homemade dumplings. On our way home there were fireworks everywhere you looked. Of course Timmy said, "Boom! Boom!" all the way home.

Moving Madness

2009-02-11T06:33:00.003-06:00

So we found out today that we are moving tomorrow, at some point in the afternoon, but we don't know when. Also we found out today that our 30 days to acquire Z visas has expired. So we are now tourists until some point in the future when we will become residents. Oh China. Anyway, so tomorrow in the morning Timmy and I have to trek across the city to go get the aforementioned tourist visas and then come home and move to our new apartment. Right now I am taking a break from packing. We have 7 suitcases and 7 cardboard boxes with which to pack our entire house. It won't happen, but oh well.

So Ayi Mrs. Zhang is a Godsend. So far Timmy's newly acquired tantrum throwing powers have not scared her away yet. I spied on her and Timmy from our balcony today while they were playing outside. (It was 70 degrees today!) He seems to really like her, but only if he thinks I am not around. As soon as he sees me he flips out and begins whining, "Ma Ma, Ma Ma..." He gives her hugs and kisses when she leaves though and today he danced for her when she arrived.

Here is a cute picture from the day...

Miscellaneous Observations

2009-02-06T16:54:00.003-06:00

I have noticed a few things in the almost a month that we've been here. First, no one uses paper towels or normal napkins for anything. If you want a disposable wiping apparatus, you use a tissue, a Kleenex. Its ridiculous. Imagine trying to clean a toddler's ketchup face with Kleenex! We use paper towels at home, but there is only one brand available in the grocery stores and its stuck in some back corner where you have to be a magician to find them.

Secondly, no one uses aluminium foil. Plastic wrap is the only way to go. They plastic wrap everything. I think this has something to do with the nobody uses an oven thing. I use foil to cook with all the time, but if I didn't have an oven I guess I wouldn't use foil either. Again, I have found some in the grocery store, but its in a aisle full of 100 brands of plastic wrap, and it takes five minutes to decipher the half English, half Chinese writing on everything to eventually find what you are looking for!

Thirdly, and I may need Scott to pipe in on this story, they use glue sticks for everything! My experience with glue sticks is that you don't use them unless you are planning to have whatever you are sticking together fall apart eventually. Here, they use them to glue things like passport pictures to forms! On the last day before Chinese New Year, some guy walks into Scott's office and hands him a strip of paper and a glue stick. He says this is for the door. For the door? What does that mean? I think Scott had to ask him five times before the guy realized that Scott really didn't know what that meant. Apparently before closing the office for the holiday week, its customary to glue stick the door shut with a piece of paper. I am guessing it has something to do with a superstition about evil spirits or something.

Ayi To The Rescue!

2009-02-04T04:49:00.002-06:00

So we've been looking for an Ayi to babysit Timmy a few times a week so that I don't go insane. An Ayi is the term used to describe a woman who works in your home as a nanny or housekeeper or cook or all three. Literally it means "Aunt." So with the help of one of Scott's coworkers, we have found a woman that we think will be a good fit for us, provided that she can put up with Timmy's shenanigans. She's going to spend the day with me and Tim on Friday, so we will keep you all posted. The only babysitters Timmy has ever had have all been friends and family, so this is a whole new world for him and for me.
In other news, we will supposedly be getting the keys to our new apartment tomorrow (Thursday). We have until the end of February to be out of our current place. It will be really nice to feel like we can finally settle in to a home. Our shipment of stuff from the US is scheduled to arrive at the port in Shanghai on February 20th. Then it has to sit there while the customs people decide how much to charge us in duties for all the stuff we shipped here.

Sandbox Birthday

2009-02-02T23:58:00.006-06:00

Timmy and I went to a birthday party today for two of the girls in his playgroup. Cate is the 1 year old in the redish sweater and Esther is two wearing the goofy hat. It was at a restaurant called Sydney that has a huge sandbox in the center of the room for the kids to play in while the adults eat. There is also a huge movie screen where they played Veggie Tales and Madagascar. It was hard to get any good pictures of Timmy playing because he never sits still!

New Words & Skills

2009-01-31T04:57:00.004-06:00

As of today Timmy has started actually addressing me as MaMa. This is fantastic. Thanks to Chinese New Year, he has also learned to say Boom. So everytime he hears firecrackers (which this week has been every two minutes), he says Boom! Other new words in his vocabulary are dog, blocks, meow, and yeah. So for those of you that keep asking us if he is talking yet, I think the answer is yes.

Also, he won't let me feed him at all anymore. This makes for some fun meal time messes (see pictures from previous blog post Getting Busy). Next on our list of things to teach this kid: How To Use Chopsticks. I guess I need to get better at it first.

Fruits

2009-01-28T22:22:00.003-06:00

So I thought I would share some fun fruit stuff. These oranges are tiny. The pieces inside are about the size of fruit snacks - and Timmy eats them like they are fruit snacks. Yesterday he ate three oranges in one sitting. I bought this entire bowl of oranges for 4.4RMB, which is the equivalent of about $.64 USD. Awesome.

The other picture is of some apples that a friend brought over. I don't know what they say, probably something to do with Happy Chinese New Year. I am also not sure how they got the image on the apple. We have all guessed that it was probably a sticker put on while they were ripening on the trees or something and then removed.

Year of the Ox

2009-01-26T05:03:00.002-06:00

So last night was a New Year's Eve like we've never experienced. At about 6pm as it was mostly dark out, the fire works began. Well, they actually had been going on and off since last week, but the for real fireworks started when it got dark on Sunday. Now, when I think of the average guy in the US setting off fireworks, I tend to think of my dad setting off Black Cats and some spinny things and sparklers in the back yard. China is the birthplace of fireworks and they are not illegal here so that means it was intense. These were the kind of fireworks that the city of Chicago sets off. The main difference is that these were being set off directly outside our window by ALL of our neighbors. It seems that pretty much every family in the entire city was setting off their own show. At 11:50pm or so, it got loud enough that we all woke up and sat in our bed with the drapes open watching. Timmy was more scared and more excited than I have ever seen him. He was pointing and yelling and smiling and shaking all at once. It was amazing. Video will be posted soon on Facebook, but it doesn't do it justice.