Jenni is Pet of the Month!!

I was just informed this morning that Jenni is pet of the month at my sister-in-law Steph's work place! I'm sure you can all see why from this picture, but we just wanted everyone to know how proud we are of our sweet, sweet Jenni!!! On a side note, apparently she was randomly drawn, but we'll pretend she did something fabulous to win!! She will be very happy though, regardless of how she won this honor because she will be the recipient of a basket of treats!!

Thanks Steph and Rob for taking such good care of Jenni!! Give her a kiss from us!!

Unexpected Road Trip

Friday morning I got an e-mail from my dear husband saying that a very good friend from grad school would be in Beijing for a short time over the weekend. Instead of really thinking too much through, we decided to book a hotel and go to Beijing for Saturday night. This would be a fairly easy process if we were still in the states, but while here, everything is a bit more difficult. First, I had to book the hotel, which in all honesty was just as easy as in the states. We chose to stay at the Ascott, the same place we are staying next weekend with Danny's parents so we could scope out the area. Next I had to call Danny's assistant multiple times so she could arrange drivers, figure out where the hotel was located and make sure all of our carseats would be in the car!! After getting a hotel room and driver secured, we had to pack lots of snacks because you never know when you will find something the kids will actually eat! Then we had to figure out what sights would actually be "kid friendly" in Beijing!! Finally, Friday night we were pretty much ready to go.

Our hotel was recommended by our neighbors and it was fantastic! We booked a 2 bedroom apartment for a little over $200, which I thought was very reasonable for a downtown hotel in a great location. I was a little jealous though because the kitchen had much nicer appliances than mine!

After we got ourselves settled, we were off to the Beijing Zoo. The zoo was a step up from Tianjin's zoo, but still not quite meeting the standards of a US zoo!! The zoo's here are huge. We probably would have had to stay there all day to see all of the animals! Our favorite exhibit was the panda exhibit, of course. They had quite a few and they were so cute! Danny was also thrilled because he found hot dogs in this exhibit!! After wandering across the zoo and seeing a lot of the animals on the way, we ended up at the aquarium.

The aquarium must be fairly new because it was very nice and clean. It was the perfect size to walk through and the kids loved all of the fish. We even happened to be in the right place at the right time because the dolphin and seal show started right as we were walking by the auditorium. It was a fun show, however we couldn't understand anything that was being said! Ellie was mesmerized by the dolphins!

After the aquarium, we went to Wang Fu Jian street, which is where they sell bugs on sticks...I'm pretty sure the pictures speak for themselves.

Next stop...back to our hotel! We took the kids swimming in a very warm swimming pool! We had the entire pool to ourselves and had a ball!! They can't wait to take Nai Nai and Pepe there next weekend!

On Sunday we knew our friend was going to the Great Wall early, so El said she wanted to go to the Forbidden City. I never dreamed my children would want to go there, so I was excited to go back. It is an amazing place to see, and of course it is so big that I could go 20 times and still not see everything. It was a bit different having children with us this time because there are so many steps. Over all the kids did great, except I forgot all of those snacks I packed, and Eens asked countless times for food!!

We went to our friend's hotel for lunch where we thought we would see him! Unfortunately, we got a call and he was still at the Great Wall and we had to head back to Tianjin...we never got to see him, but we had a great weekend exploring anyway!!

I Rarely Swear, But...

Yes, if you will be offended, please do not read any further! I will be typing a swear word later on in the posting because I can't stop giggling about this story.

My day started very innocently...I had arranged that Coop would go to Gymboree with Ayi and I would meet up with the other Deere expat wives for a trip around Tianjin. We started off by going to an outdoor "market" where most locals buy their clothes and shoes. I bought 2 very nice scarves for about $5, and I could have bought more if I had the patience to bargain at every booth!! Plus, as you can see from the picture, it is not the cleanest place to buy a bunch of clothing!

Next on the tour we drove through the concession area of Tianjin where there are many different buildings built in the architectural designs of the countries they represent here. The buildings are very well kept and most are now used for government officials according to our guide. During our drive, our guides noticed a horse and buggy, so they decided we needed to take a ride. This is the first horse we saw - have you ever seen a horse actually resting on a sidewalk? I'm not sure this horse is very healthy, but who knows, maybe horses are different here in China!! We decided to let this horse continue it's nap and waited for the next buggy to come along.

Don't you love the dragon spokes?!! The ride was interesting, a little windy, but interesting! We stopped at a restaurant to look around at the furniture which was quite old, a lot of it dated back to the Ming Dynasty! I thought the walls were really cool with broken pottery pieced in! I've decided that it will be a fun place to take Danny's parents when they arrive in a week!

After our horse and buggy ride, we were starving. We were taken to a very famous restaurant here in Tianjin which is called Gou Bu Li (our guides called it "go believe" for us)!! Anyway we get to our private room in the restaurant and we are looking through the menu. All of a sudden one or our guides looks up and asks in all seriousness, "Do you like ass?" I looked up at her and couldn't stop laughing. I looked at the other wives and they were all being polite and looking at the table, but I couldn't help myself, this woman just asked at the dinner table if we liked ass!!! It turns out that she had meant to say ox, but oops... So that's my swearing for today. I'm still giggling about this - I must be desperate for something to laugh at!!

After our yummy meal which contained no "ass", we proceeded to a DIY chocolate place. We never ended up making any chocolate because we were talking too much, but we did taste different kinds and got a box to bring home!

It was very nice to connect with other wives from Deere. I get all giddy when I know I get to speak English all day, especially when I have a local with us who can explain everything!! Also, the topping on the cake for today was that Ayi finally got Coop to take a nap! Most days when I am gone during nap time, Coop convinces Ayi to leave his door open and then he leaves his room and plays!

Hope you are all doing great! I'll have to post later about what we've been up to besides decorating and going on shopping adventures!!

Making a "Home"

I know that "stuff" does not define who we are and most of it is not worth very much, but when you are halfway around the world, away from your dear family and friends, "stuff" sure does help make a house feel like a "home". For the first 8 weeks of living here, yes MP, I felt like I was living in a hotel. We had our clothes here, but nothing else was ours. Now, I have put up all of the pictures (with the help of the "engineers"), unpacked and organized all of the toys and kitchenware, and even found a home for my fake tree that travelled across the ocean! We have definitely added our touch to this place and it is nice to come "home" after a long day of sitting in traffic and racking your brain on how to say plastic bag in Chinese!! I will attempt to show you the before and after pictures of most of the rooms in the house. I'll skip on the bathrooms because all 3 of them are a lovely black marble - need I say more!! There's not much I can do with that!!!! The office is housing a few boxes and very little furniture, so I'll save that one too! We are hoping to buy some antique Chinese furniture to put in that room - that means I must continue shopping!!



Here is our family room...you can see our handmade custom made wool rug and the red wall! This room is totally out of synch with my typical decorating patterns and colors, but it is growing on me day by day! Plus, I had to work with very modern furniture - not really my style!

The next room on the first floor is our dining room. Really all we did in here is to paint and fill the cabinet! What a difference a coat of paint makes!!

On the second floor is our bedroom and the office. In our bedroom we had the entire room painted a soft cream. Then we added "big red chair" and family pictures, now it is a cozy escape for us!

On the third floor I made a makeshift playroom for the kids!! A couple of those Target cubical units and voila - the toys all now have homes and the kids have a place to play! They call it their "basement"!! I'm pretty sure they think basement means place for toys!!

Eens and Coop share one of the bedrooms on the third floor. I had one wall painted blue and then I painted a yellow road (just for Eens) and added some sticky cars (thanks Jenny!!) to the other walls! They love all of the cars and trucks!

Ellie's room is also on the third floor! She gets the smaller of the two rooms, but I'm pretty sure she is happy she doesn't have to share!! She, of course, wanted a pink room, so we once again had one wall painted pink! Then I had shipped some Wallies so we put up flowers all over - El helped put all of the flowers up - it was quite a chore!

That's our house...it's not perfect, but everyday it feels more and more like home!!

The St. Martin Rockstars!

Not only are our children striving to be soccer stars, but they are also practicing their rockstar talents!! I bought Coop and Eens these guitars at Target last year after Christmas for about $2.00. They play them with Danny while he is playing Guitar Hero! Lately they have added Ellie into the mix on the bongo. Yes, we have a bongo. Deere so graciously shipped this bongo from a leadership meeting Danny attended in the States in September!! They brought in a band to help teach rhythm as a group - the point was to encourage teamwork!! Anyway, in the St. Martin Band, El plays the bongo and the boys rock on the guitars!!!

Here they are in action!!

A Walking Tour

A while back I blogged about the river that is right in front of the Sheraton where Coop and I can go for a nice long walk without having to cross the street except for 2 times! Crossing the street here is quite a challenge because pedestrians do not rule the roadways like they do in the US. I do my best not to cross, or if I have to, I cross with the locals because I figure they know what they are doing!! Anyway, the other day Coop and I went for a walk and I actually remembered my camera so I thought I would give you a picture tour of this river!!

Here is Coop, armed with his Goldfish, on the beginning of our walk. There is actually a decent sidewalk around the river which is very unusual here. Most sidewalks have many holes and jagged edges! Many of them are not very safe for a stroller!
Here are some of the weeping willows that line the river - I have grown very fond of these trees over the past 3 months!
Here are some colorful flowers that are still in full bloom!
This is one of many rock structures built along the river. There are also little "huts" built where many people gather to play cards or do tai chi.

Here is a picture I took from the bridge going back over the river. You can see some of the people fishing from here!

This is a picture of probably our favorite restaurant here in Tianjin!! The name of the restaurant is Din Tai Feng and the specialty here are Chinese dumplings. Our favorites are mini ones filled with a chicken broth type soup and pork mixture! They are delicious and I could probably eat them everyday! They even have a kids room with an ayi so if the kids are restless, off they go to play - how convenient! The other wonderful thing is, we can walk to this restaurant from our house!!

These are the "ghost houses" that we see on our walk. They are very large single family homes for China standards, but according to my neighbor, they have were built ten years ago and no one has lived in them, thus, they have been nicknamed, "the ghost houses"!

This is a large international complex going up right beside the Sheraton. Apparently it will be a hotel and apartments. I'm just hoping they add a Starbucks in there! Then I would have my favorite coffee drink and restaurant within walking distance!!

Here is an attempt of mine to take a picture of the Sheraton. It is hard to believe just from looking at it that it is a 5 star hotel, but the inside is quite nice and of course the food is delicious! It was actually the first 5 star hotel built in Tianjin, now there are quite a few! Thank goodness because that means more yummy foods for us to try. Please don't think I am a food snob, but here I typically only eat at hotels or well know restaurants because I'm not sure what sort of inspections go on.

Once we get to the Sheraton, we go inside and walk out the back door to our house! I am so glad I have a place to walk and enjoy the outdoors!!

Cooper's Interpretation of Art

I thought I would share with you all Coop's interpretation of the art he did this morning at Gymboree...

In case you couldn't tell, it's a spaceship - duh!!!! Have a great day!!!

Also, if you want to giggle, imagine a sweet Chinese girl with limited English singing Gymboree songs..."I got the Gymbowee pirit in my ands..." I'm sure I sound just as funny to them, but going to his classes always brings a smile to my face!!!

Bu Hao Shui (English translation - Bad Water!)

I have complained many times about the water situation here. It is a wonderful surprise when we actually have hot water in our master shower! The funny or odd thing is, every other faucet in the house produces extremely hot water, but not the shower. The other day I refused to take a luke warm shower so I resorted to the too small bath in our bathroom! I'm sure it was quite a sight! I am about 2 times the size of the tub and the hand sprayer went in all sorts of directions when I was trying to wash my hair. I myself am quite surprised that I took a bath in questionable water, but I was desperate and stinky!!! Here you can see what my life has become....

Now that you can see how close the tub and shower are, how is it possible that they do not use the same pipes??!!! Thus is China!!!

Now many of you who know me well, know that I am super anal about cleanliness, so what led me to the desperation of taking a bath...lamps!! I must feel clean to be on my best for the bargaining that always happens here when I go shopping!! On this day, I was going to Beijing with friends to a little gold mine with lamps galore!! These lamps are all hand made from old Chinese artifacts and they are exquisite!! I only bought two this trip because my girlfriend got the call (they're going back to the US this week!! So sad!) and bought 10 to take with her!!! I was worried about space in the van! This will be a place I will visit often! Below are the two lamps I purchased!!

We are getting back in the swing of things here, but continue to miss our friends and family a ton!!!