Shanghai

Our time in Shanghai was short but we tried to make the most of it, even through the bitter cold, and see as much as possible. 

We were lucky enough to stay in an apartment hotel (for only $50 a night which is a steal from the regular rate) that was walking distance to Nanjing Lu, People's Square and The Hersheys Store, which in my opinion, had better hot cocoa than the actual Hershey park in PA. 

The People's Park was fun. There were several amusement rides  that  the kids (and Andrew) enoyed it while Colten took a nap.  The prices to ride were moderate but you do need a tickets for each ride - no "bands" like we are use to in the States. 

We also made it to the top of the World Financial Centre which has the world's highest observation deck - with a glass floor - which really freaked Colten out for about the first 20 minutes of being there.  We waited until dusk so that we could see the day and night view for one admission fee. The night view was great, not only for the beautiful city lights but because of the new year celebrations, we saw fireworks shooting off as far as the eye could see - everywhere  one after another. Pretty amazing!

While in the area we took a few photo ops in front of the Oriental Pearl Tower, which Colten really wanted to go into - everytime he sees it now he say "me, go".

Let's see - - oh, and apparently fresh pressed sugar cane juice is big on the streets so we had some of that - not my thing but it was ok.

We also checked out a place we now refer to as "toy street" because it was packed with nothing but and where Drake picked up a long awaited Mickey Mouse transformer -  it was a pretty big deal for him - and only cost 20 yuan... roughly the equivalent of $3.30

At some point during our trip we found ourselves defrosting in a Toys r Us and Colten fell in love - with Pluto. He must have pushed this dog around for 2 hours so, of course, we had to buy it.

Last but not least, Shanghai is famous for their xiaolongbao so we had to go to the famous Nanxiang Dumplings at YuYuan Gardens - we tried everything on the menu - yum!

Xīn Nián Kuài Lè (Happy New Year)

Welcome to 2012, officially! 

According to the Chinese Lunar calendar we are now entering 

The year of the Water Dragon.

 
 
 

 

Above: View of some Fireworks from our apartment... this went on from morning til night but around 11:30pm until 1am it really did"POP OFF!" It was insane! I can only equate it like being inside a rainbow war zone. I don't think either Andrew or myself had ever seen such amazing fireworks so close - eye level and no more than 75 feet from our balconies - on any side of our apartment. Truly an amazing, fun, celebration that we are glad to have experienced thanks to the people of Nanjing!

It's Chinese New Year's Eve & Drake's 9th Birthday !

We started off our day with some yummy birthday cake for breakfast. Drake's cake was Hui Tai Lan - from the same show as Colten's cake was; Xi Yang Yang. The chocolate flavor of the whip was so yummy!

After cake, we prepared for a family lunch, which we were invited to by one of Andrew's student, Winnie's, family. We have spent time with this family on several occasions and they are so generous and nice to us. We felt very honored to be included in their New Year's traditions. For Chinese people, today is a day of family. Traditionally, last night everyone cleans their home from top to bottom in preparation for visits from other family members.

On New Years Eve, the whole family eats together and children are given new clothes, new toys, and money in red envelopes. After, each day of the week, for the next five days is spent at a different family mambers home. The food was delicious, by the way and all of the children had a great time playing together.

Since there was a light snow yesterday, we took some time for a photo op before it had completely melted away, though it was already afternoon.

Then - more cake! And because wrapping paper seems to be in short supply in Nanjing, we improvised and sent Drake on a wild goose chase through the apartment to find his gifts. He found them all easily and each one lead him closer to his ultimate gift - and electronic keyboard and microphone.

  

Tonight we look forward to all the fireworks shows that (as Andrew would say) will be "poppin' off" outside of our apartment.

Double Happiness

Last night we attended the wedding ceremony of our newest friend here in Chine, Luan (Chinese) and Bjorn (Swedish). They are already married, in Sweden but now needed to be married in China as well – more for “face” reasons or as Luan put it "my parents want to make sure everyone knows I am married"… as she is pregnant. It was a great party. The food, spirits and festivities were hun hao.

Bjorn serenaded Luan with a popular Swedish tune and then his rendition of its now or never, which I thought was an inappropriate but hilarious choice considering the occasion. After the ceremony and dinner there was karaoke by several drunken Chinese men, a tai chi dance by Luan’s mother (it’s her new hobby), all of the kids were able to take the mic and sing – yes of course Drake and Avery sang about three times, Colten danced. I told them to sing the ABC’s once – they did and all of the Chinese people loved it. They all received stuffed animals as prizes and at the end Luan gave all of the children in attendance 100RMB each (about $16), she says its tradition. 

There was also this weird period of time during dinner when the “dj” played careless whisper by Wham! On loop for at least an hour - - let me repeat, ONLY that song for an hour… also hilarious!

Living in China: Month One

So, after our first night, things in China got a whole lot better. Although the language barrier is difficult, people always try to help us no matter where we are. On day two we began looking for an apartment and within three days we had picked one and were waiting to move in. It is close to a metro station and to the school Andrew will work at. It is in a nice, new community that is lined with greenery, water falls, and koi ponds. Our landlord had all of the requested furniture (closets, tv stands and tvs) made/delivered/installed and within 3 more days we were moved in.  The apartment community is nice, the apartment layout if fabulous but, as with many other things in China, the details are lack luster. For example in out entryway/office, we have this nice exposed brick but when the workers painted the ceiling, they dripped paint onto it and didn't bother to clean it...wtf? My opinion of this so far it that there is a disconnect with the people who do this type of work, painting, plumbing, etc.. they really don't care and there is noone to hold them accountable for  discrepancies in their work. Of course the owner of the apartment should have been fired up over it but then again, he's not living here so what does he really care, and who is he to correct a professional, even if the work is shoddy? - its an odd way of thinking about things... I can't quite comprehend it yet. Below are a few other obseravtions from our time here in China...

"San ge, San ge, San ge" - pronounciation: Sang-ah ; translation: Damn! They have three kids! We hear it everywhere we go. Andrew gets alot of thumbs ups from old men and we all get smiles and whispers. Its such an interesting reaction and no matter where we go, or how many times we go there we hear it constantly, and in the exact same fashion: "San ge, San ge, San ge"

Chinese dogs are amazing - first you have to know that traffic here is ridiculous. There seems to be no pattern but some how everyone is following the same routes. Knowing that, it is amazing to see a pomeranian or poodle (I see alot of both) running next to a scooter and watching for on coming traffic. The dogs are so obedient. Typically they walk without a leash next to their owner and if for some reason they loose sight of them, they stop and look frantically for their owner. They cross the street better than some humans I've seen and seem to also know this invisible pattern of the streets.

A dog owner can make just one call to their dog and it comes running - I am truly fascinated by it and don't understand it but, I am going to get to the bottom of it - I really need my children to follow directions like this!

Chicken feet, Duck head anyone?  We have found going to a sit down restaraunt daunting at times and if the menu has no pictures, we now just get up and leave... we still do not know many words and it becomes somewhat of a spectacle when we get to a point of saying "Chicken?, Chicken?, Is this Chicken?"... The few time we have pointed to a menu and tool a chance it was a 50/50 split on getting something we would actually eat. Don't get me wrong, the food here is great but sometimes when you order beef or chicken, you get bones, feet, head.. and we just aren't use to that - at least Andrew and I aren't. To this point Drake has eaten a chicken foot and Avery has nibbled on a chicken head but, that still doesn't mean I want to order it for dinner! Shrimp and prawns also come out in their natural state, and as much as I like shrimp, with each head I have to pull off, my appetite decreases dramatically. Another thing the kids have taken a liking to is "duck neck" - yes, it is packaged as a treat and smells like vienna sausages and you can feel the vertebrae in the package...

China is NOT handicapped accessible: It really is the most mind boggling thing and maybe I noticed it sooner than most since we travel with Colten in his stroller everywhere we go. Nanjing has a great public transportation system, brand new metro and it is so clean and convenient but not stroller, wheel chair (or any other  physical impairment) friendly. Very few stations have an elevator into the station and those that do, rarely operate it. Also it is pretty common to carry a stroller 30-40 stairs up or down, only to find an escalator going your way at the next level. And if you do happen to catch an escalator down, you will find the opposite – 30 stairs to pass before you reach the train. It seems to be some weird joke by the Chinese transportation system, and I will admit – I have double over laughing several times at the insanity of me and my husband carrying Colten in the stroller with a full basket down two flights of stairs only to find ourselves at a conveniently placed escalator or lift, also known as an elevator in the U.S., its enough to drive one mad! Chinese humor – I don’t get it.

High Heels: The Chinese sneaker. We walk everywhere, and even if we get a taxi somewhere or take the train, you can believe it only lessens our steps by a few… maybe I should get a pair of six inch stiletto boots to help me get from point A to point B, that’s what the Chinese women seem to do. Fashion is so important here in China and even if you are not dressed to the T, you better have some hot shoes on! I have tried to where heels here, and I am luck I didn’t twist my ankle in the process – maybe I have weak American ankles from sitting all day and driving everywhere my whole life – who knows but, one thing is for sure – these Chinese women are rockin’ the heels… Maybe that is why foot massages are so important here.

Click to see our pictures

Another Day of Firsts - Downtown ATL and centennial Park

Well, we had intended on a trip to the GA Aquarium today however, by 11am the wait time in line to go in was about 2. 5hours so, we readjusted our plans while enjoying a Coke (in a glass bottle) and a few strawberry minute maid ice treats.

Colten had free run of the park between the aquarium and Coca Cola Museum.

 We decided to take advantage of the nearest playground where Colten climbed up steps for the first time and used a slide for the first time - weeee! 

We also took a family photo op:

and Drake just hung around...

Afterwards we walked to Centennial Park just in time to see the fountain musicals and the joined in the fun!

 

Southern Summer Fun!

Havin' a ball

       

The kids had a great time at Johnny G's in Warner Robins, GA (though I wasn't that impressed) - we spent about 4 hours there and it was a nice escape from the heat.
Drake built this huge "house" and then all of the kids jumped on it to demolish it.

Fun Fun Fun!