"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!

This city is PRICELESS...the things we see!

 Ok, lately we have been just going on a few road trips to near by towns that Eric goes to for work.  This is a lot of fun because you get to see some of the country side and just get out of the city!  We have seriously been laughing our butts off because of some of the things we see!

Exhibit A:
So as we were driving down the road one night we saw something AMAZING!   Ok, so as we were driving at night, in the dark, way up ahead I could see something so I said, "Eric, I think there is a semi up ahead...we are coming up on it fast...be careful I think it is stopped on the road!"  Eric says, "oh my, that semi is VERY overloaded...what, WHAT???" And this is what we saw!!!!

Yup, two guys, TOTALLY loaded down with styrofoam!  It was loaded on one of those motorcycle carts!  I thought it was a semi, Eric thought it was an overload semi because of how tall it was!  We had to pull over to the side of the road not only because we were laughing so hard, but because we HAD to get a picture!  Oh the funny things you see here!
 
This is the actual picture of the same motorcycle cart, only it does not have a load on it!  These people are crazy smart in how they load their carts!  So the one above had it packed so high that it went OVER their heads!  CRAZY!  IT hung over in all directions!  Remember, we thought it was an overloaded semi from a distance because it was so high and long!

Exhibit B:
On our way to church on Sunday, we always take the same route and there is an infamous spot that we always see people peeing along the road.  Well today, an older gentleman, about upper 50's was relieving himself not only along the road...an incredibly busy road...behind a bus stop...but in a huge landscape of beautiful flowers!!  C'mon, on the FLOWERS!!!  So, as I tried to pull myself away from looking because it is still a foreign sight/concept to me...his pants proceeded to fall down to his knees!!  He NEVER FLINCHED!!!  He didn't bend down to quick grab them or anything!  He just kept going about his business!  UNREAL, RIGHT!!!  My jaw hit the floor with disbelief! I almost get mad at myself for being so shocked, but really...how can you be so free and not care about people seeing your underwear???  Still not ok with this, and I guess if I start, then I need to come back home!!!  So, Eric was laughing so hard and trying to watch that we needed to calm down, because he was trying to drive us to church, and stay in his lane! Wow!

Exhibit C:
We were visiting an "Old Town" in Qingpu this past weekend.  This is the city that Eric works in, but this is the really historic part of it, not the new commercialized part that he works in!  Anyways, I saw this little old cute couple and I had to take their picture!  As I got to thinking, this country ages you!  I know that this is what we will look like in about five years of being here!  They are cute, but I really don't want to age this quickly!

Eric with his hiked up undies and me with my gray crazy hair!  Yup, those are his undies hiked up a good 3-4 inches higher than his shorts! They are just adorable aren't they!  So happy!


Exhibit D:
So as I have said before, Chinese workers do not strap larger things on to the back of their trucks.  Here is an example of that.

This is the material that you make nuts and bolts out of.  This is not strapped down to the truck because it is very heavy material, thus it won't shift or move!  Funny how they have the back tailgate strapped shut though with small ropes!  Simply AMAZING!  Oh, and I didn't get a picture of it, but they were transporting a large excavator and it wasn't strapped down to the large flatbed that it was on either!  Once again, very heavy and it would never roll or move while in transport!

Exhibit D:
Ha, ha...ha, ha...I really can not stop laughing about this one!  I thought I had honestly seen it all, but...clearly not!  When I looked quickly I thought this car was driving down the road with it's front left tire missing!  I said, "seriously people, how do you do this!"  Once again, this is what it really was after studying it for a bit!

 A three-wheeled car!  C'mon, seriously now!  GENIOUS!!  Why not, right!!!  And just look how many people these little buggers can hold!!!  At least...six...or is that seven!  It was a lot!  It is funny, seems like the smaller the car, the more people they put inside!  Hee, hee, so funny!

 How does this thing NOT TIP OVER???  Eric said that he has seen these things a lot out in the country, but they are not aloud to drive them in Shanghai!  You think??

So, I'm sure that my brothers Cory and Mike, will soon be building one of these, because honestly...don't they look like fun!  When I saw it, I immediately thought of Michael and Stacy riding around Silver Lake in one of these jillopies (sp?)!!!   So funny!  Oh the fun that could be had in one of these, well at least a lot of laughs for sure!!

I will continue on my quest to find weird and unusual things that we see around!  Honestly, it is quite fun to go for a "Sunday" drive around the neighboring cities, you NEVER KNOW what you might see!!

OH, I almost forgot!  Eric almost wet himself today because as we were driving we saw a TRUCK!  No lie!  A real truck and it was a FORD!  Not only was it a truck (something you NEVER see here, honestly...not ONE) but it was a crew cab and it was called a Raptor or something he said!  He was drooling!  He couldn't believe his eyes!  We had to follow it for awhile and drive next to it and just stare! (Don't worry, we didn't look any different than the rest of the people here because they are always staring at us!)  Eric did wonder how many thousands and thousands of dollars this young guy had to pay to get one over here!  Later on in the day, Eric was still obviously thinking about it because he says, "Marcy, can you imagine driving in our crew cab here right now?  Honestly, I do more driving here in Shanghai everyday to get to work and to all my business meetings with suppliers and customers than I have in the US and I'm driving a teeny, tiny Honda City!  I could be driving in my crew cab!  What is wrong with this?"  I just reminded him of the gas prices he could be paying and that seemed to outweigh his cramped legs that he was complaining about!

1st Day of School...Shanghai Singapore International School K1 (PreK)

 So this year Reese gets to wear uniforms!  HONESTLY the BEST thing EVER invented!  We NEVER argue anymore about what she has to wear in the morning!  She has to wear the dress outfit on M, W, F and she has to wear the more gym type outfit on Tuesday and Thursday!!  LOVE IT!  Last year we would set out her clothes the night before, because I know that the mornings are not her strongest time of the day (like her daddy ;)  ) but then in the morning she would argue about not wanting to wear that and would complain and cry!  It was such a battle!  But...this year, so wonderful!  Gets up happy each morning, puts on her clothes, and just LOVES school!  She has not cried ONCE!!  And I haven't either!!! She rides to and from school which is perfect as well!  No more waking Cambry up from her naps to run out in the rain to catch a taxi!!  It is a BEAUTIFUL thing that bus!! I think that she also just grew up over the summer!  She doesn't take naps anymore (for example, when we moved here she was used to taking a three hour nap every day and would still go to bed around 8:30-9pm).  She does get an hour nap at school now, but she really does need it because they are incredibly busy!!

 Reese and Cambry getting ready in the morning!  Cambry loves brushing her tooth!  She thinks she is sooooo cool!

 Reese posing like all of the Chinese people here!  I'm not sure why they always give the peace sign but it is very popular!  So...Reese now does it too!

Coming home off the bus one day!  I'm telling you, she is a brand new girl!  Just loves school!  She has asked every weekend if she can go to school!  Wow, mom and dad do not rate very well anymore!
Her school schedule is crazy!  Here is a list of classes that she has at school: Free choice play, snack and circle time, Math, Discovery Science, Speech and Drama, Chinese, Performance Art, Comp Literacy, English, Abacus, Creative Arts, Library, and Computers.  And they do manage to go outside once a day!  It is funny, she gets lunch and then after they eat, she has to wash her face and brush her teeth before they go take an hour rest/nap!  I love this idea of them brushing their teeth!  So, three times a day should keep the cavities away, right?  It is different too at this school because the preschool teachers switch classes and teach their elective.  So, Reese has about 8 different teachers.  Amazing that they rotate that much, but it seems to work!

All in all, we are very happy with our move to this school as we felt it was a much stronger academically focused school, but Rainbow Bridge was perfect for her and when children are very little!  They have such a small community feel about them that is so great!  And who would complain about all of the real-life animals you get to observe and touch so often!

I'll try to get pictures of her school and some of her friends when my mom comes out in about two weeks!  She wants to see Reese's school and I will get some photos then!