Shanghai Sights and off to Beijing!

 On Friday we went to the Oriental Pearl Tower!  I'm pretty sure it is a radio tower, um...probably should know that by now, but it really makes no difference to me!  I think it is cool no matter what!

 So of course we needed to go to the top to see the city!  Wish we would have gone the day before, or after for that matter because both days were clearer than the one we went, but oh well still fun!

 We are on the Pudong side of the Huangpu River and that is overlooking the Puxi side.  (East and West in Chinese)

 This was Cambry's first trip to the top as well and she clearly is not one bit afraid of heights!  Made her mama nervous to be leaning on the window but she couldn't get enough!

 The "pop bottle opener" building is the Financial Tower.  Tallest currently in China and was the tallest in the world until Dubai had to go and build a bigger tower.  Now China of course can't be out done so they are currently building a taller building.  It will be right next to this one. Not sure exactly when it is expected to be finished, but I'm sure in the next year or so.  They build things very quickly here!

 Looking down below.  The round ring is a pedestrian walkway.  Below it is a round-about!  Love those! There is a HUGE mall off to the upper right corner.  I think 9 floors!  Many name brand shops!

 Pudong buildings.

 Yeah, I don't know if it is having kids or what, usually not afraid of heights at all but I just CANNOT do this!  Freaks me out!

 Then we headed over to the Jing'an Temple.  It is a huge gold temple that has some large buddas I think in it.  We didn't go in but the buildings look beautiful and looks very Chinese.  I really need to learn more of the history in this city.  I learned a ton in Beijing but I feel that I know nothing about Shanghai!  Maybe I should do some sightseeing tours.  Sounds funny to do in a city you live in!  Imagine doing that in Zeeland or Holland.  Here you have the tulip fields...

Afterwards, we headed back to pick up Reese from school and then packed for Beijing.  We ordered pizza in that night and Eric dropped us off for our flight at 8:30pm.  We flew out at 9:55 and arrived in Beijing at 12:05am. We only took a small carry-on and a backpack.  We thought that would be plenty.  Boy were we mistaken!

"Aunt" Wendi is HERE!!!

I cannot tell you how excited we were to have my cousin Wendi here!  We were counting down the days for her to come and stay with us for 10 days!  You may think 10 days is a pretty long stay, but not for China!  There is just so much to do and see that if you blink, your time is pretty much over!
Here we are welcoming her to China!

 Sorry Wendi, this is the only shot I got of you coming towards us, but after I took it I ran to you to give you a giant hug!  (That was WAY more important than taking a picture right then :)

 Reese made Wendi a "Welcome to China" sign!  Only we forgot it at the apartment before we left because once again we were soooooo excited!!!

Grandma Kathie packed a big suitcase for us of clothes and books that I had ordered for the girls along with many other goodies and treats that she and Grandma Yonker sent!  We love you both!!  Thanks for all of the shopping you did for us!  It seriously did feel like Christmas!  We were getting excited over gel shaving cream! (We have some issues!)

Already the next day we hit it hard and I took Wendi around to different spots in Shanghai! First, I showed her around our complex and then took her to a few different grocery stores/wet markets where I shop for food!

 Shopping for some xi gua (watermelon), xiang jiao (bananas), and ping guo (apples).  I even used some of my Chinese like:  mei gongjin duo shao qian? (How much does this cost per pound?)  Impressed aren't you!  Don't be!  I better know that after a few months!

 Vegetable market (Shu cai dian)

 assorted seafood...don't ask for details on which kind because I can't stand there long enough to look!

 Cleaning tubs for...well...any parts that can't be used, which is not many!

 Beef!  I love the hooks that they are hanging on!  I'm sure it is very sanitary!

 Well yes, across the narrow hallway from the beef counter are the live chickens!  You can pick which one you think will have the juiciest meet and order it up!  Yum!

 Chicken feet to nibble on anyone...anyone???

 Never saw a black chicken like this before...interesting!

 We think this was stomach or lungs (in the back) and liver (in the front)! 

 We love how (I'm assuming here) the workers all wash their clothes at work and then air dry them here along this gate!  Perfect clothesline when you don't exactly have the room for it anywhere else in China!

Next stop was Yu Yuan Gardens!  It is a place that the buildings look really Chinese and also they have many little shops to buy suveniors as well as the beautiful gardens!  Once again, we didn't go in the gardens but just looked around and had lunch at a famous "bun" shop!

 Standing in front of the Tea House!

 The restaurant we ate at was on the right!

 Tons of coi swimming in the ponds!

 These are the three different dishes that I bought, however I had really no idea what I was buying because I couldn't read the sign where I had to order because it was in Chinese!  Let's just say it wasn't the worst, but by far not our favorite meal!  Then Wendi had to go and say that the outer covering of these buns reminded her of the stomach lining that we had seen earlier today!  So...that was the end of my appetite for that meal!

 

Using chopsticks for the first time, first day there and I am already making her use them!  I'm tough, I know!

                                      

 Not sure if she likes it!!

After lunch we decided to go walk along one of Shanghai's busiest streets called Nanjing Lu!  Lots of expensive shopping!  Beautiful place to see at night all lit up!  Afterwards, we took the subway home!

 
This is how Cambry rides if she is not in her stroller!  She knows just how to hang on! (This is serious business, no joking around here!)

On the way home I could tell that both Cambry and Wendi were beat!  I told them that I was going to put them both to bed when we got home!  And...that is exactly what happened!  Wendi got in a good 2-2 1/2 hour nap and Cambry slept about as long!  Poor Wendi, I did not give her much time to adjust to the 12 hour time difference, we were too busy!!  She was such a trooper!

 At night we took Wendi out to eat to one of our favorite Yunnan (Chinese) restaurants called, "Lost Heaven"!  The atmosphere is very cool and the waiters and waitresses all dress up in full chinese garb!  Very cool place and very, very good food!

 We ordered a few different dishes, one with pork, one chicken, one noodles, spring rolls, a soup, and another appetizer!  Very tasty!

 soup

Stay tuned...more to come!  This was only our first day!!

Girls Night Out!!!

Friends that I have made here and I have decided that we need a ladies night out once a month! So all of us moms, and a few that are expecting, and a few that are just married are doing a GNO once a month and we are really enjoying our time together!  We love getting to talk about anything and everything instead of broken conversations because we are chasing after one of our children! So each month we are picking a different type of ethnic food to try!  The first one we went to was an authentic Mexican restaurant called, Mi Tierra!  My FAVORITE!! The food was so delicious! We were there on a night when they had an all-you-can-eat taco bar night!  So good!  Of course we had to end the night with churros and hot chocolate!

 Bottom left side of table is Fabiana (Brazil), and Gari Lynn (US-New York)

 Amy K. (US- Michigan yeah!!), and Cristiane (Brazil)

Ana Luisa (Mexico), Paola (Columbia), and Susan (Netherlands)

Maria (Finland), Me, and Isabel (Mexico)

The next GNO we went to a restaurant called Haiku, that served all kinds of Sushi!  Not my first pick...well who am I kidding or a pick at all...but it was DELICIOUS!! Oh course if you are in China, you just have to be brave and try everything at least once!  You may pay for it the next day with a serious case of throwing up or running to the toilet every 5 minutes but this time it was delicious and I didn't get sick at all!  Afterwards we went to a little restaurant for drinks and talking, so much fun!

 L to R: Susan (Netherlands), Elana (England), Amy M. (US-Minnesota)

 Paola (Mexico), Maria (Finland), Amy K. (US-Michigan yeah!!)

 Jane (New Zeeland), Miho (Japan), Isabel (Mexico)

And me and the girls again! If we get the entire group of girls together, because some obviously can't make it every time or some are traveling here and there at the time, we have around 25 girls!  So much fun getting to know each other, their life stories, their cultures and their beliefs!  So fun!!

Next month...Korean BBQ!!! Can't wait!