Ladies Who Lunch

Today was a pretty fun day!

Started out great with some chatting online… Love. Love. Love that! Then it was off to the gym for some BodyPump action – was a good one today, I really pushed myself so that’s always good, right?

Then I had to speed home, let Ping Me in, then get showered up and out the door again to make it to the orphanage meeting a new friend invited me to check out. It’s something I might be interested in doing (it’s only a few hours a week, I think), so we’ll see?! The meeting was good – I could only stay for about 30 minutes of it but looks like a lot of nice ladies, and of course a nice cause for innocents, so should be interesting – I’ll keep you guys posted! I don’t think I’d want to start until after I get back in June, so we’ll see if that works for them, too.

Then I was off to an EAS lunch (Expat Association of Suzhou) at a local steakhouse with Jana (why I had to leave the orphanage meeting early – had made that commitment beforehand!) and met some more great people there! I also got us memberships which allows us access to the website, activities, and discounts at places around town, and TAXI CARDS which are a must have! Taxi cards are business card type things you hand to taxi drivers that have English and Chinese writing so you know where you’re going, or rather, so they do which is more important!

After the lunch, I went exploring a bit, then home, then piddled until Curt got home. He decided he wanted Teppenyaki for dinner, so we headed out to this place he’d heard good things from and we had an all you can eat Hibachi type Teppenyaki meal which was delicious! Different, (esp looking at what our neighbors were eating – gross), but good.

Then we came home and played some rockband, watched American Idol (had fun dancing to the disco medley), and that’s about it! I’m exhausted (still a little drained physically) and tomorrow is another “busy” day. Busy is in quotes because it’s my NEW definition of busy (because in my old world, this would be not even close, of course)! LOL

Love,

Feeling bleh (physically) today...

I didn’t feel the best today (don’t worry, not sick) so decided it would be another low key day. I slept in a little more than normal (read: didn’t wake up with Curt to see him off like I normally do) until about 7:30 a.m., then got up, and talked to Grandpa Dan on Skype, then Kendyl & Mom, and Ashley. Grandpa thinks Skype is way cool, and it was exciting to get to talk to him!

Then I got to the gym and did the lowest impact cardio I could think of, so did the elliptical for about 45 minutes, did some arms and abs, stretched (I’m starting to do this so I can get my flexibility back – I still have my splits and everything, but can’t hurt, right?) then came home, cooled off, cleaned up, then had some leftover fajitas from last night.

Then I went on my daily walk, even though I didn’t feel like walking, but figured it was Earth Day so I should, right? Haha Went down to an English bookstore that is going out of business to see what they had, and ended up buying some paints which I’m pretty excited about! They’re just kids watercolors and what not, but I’m excited and didn’t know what else I might be able to find, so went for it. Then I went and got a massage to assist in my achiness which was nice – today I opted for the Chinese massage, which again, is very different from Swedish, and even Japanese! It focused on a lot more pressure point/reflexology philosophies and was very nice!

Then I ran over to the bakery, and cabbed it home (I was too relaxed after the massage to be in the mood for a 40-minute walk back – horrible Earth Day celebrator, I know). By this time it was about 5ish, so I piddled around for a half hour, then took a catnap til Curt got home.

He has a big presentation this evening for the states, so we decided to go grab a quick bite at a restaurant here within Horizon, which was delicious! It’s Italian, so we had some very nice Caprese and I had the salmon which was so yummy! It was really nice out this evening, but very windy again!

It’s American Idol night here, so that should be fun!

Oh, and tomorrow should be a little busier… I’m going to an orphanage volunteer informational and then an Expat Association lunch at a really yummy restaurant, so will meet a lot of people I think!

Sorry nothing too interesting today – but keep Cody in your thoughts because he’s having surgery to get his adenoids taken out today! Poor little guy, but hopefully afterwards he’ll feel much better than he has in a long while.

P.S. Something REALLY exciting - Kendyl and I are going to go to Costa Rica in July! It's going to be a super quick trip, but I'm going to plan it, and she said "Let's Do It" so we're gonna! YES!!! Here's where I think we're gonna go (at Lori's recommendation, since there's a lot to do right there without having to leave the area, won't break the bank, and gorgeous!!). Between the weddings coming up, New York City, the family vacation to Alaska, Costa Rica, and toobing, the next few months are going to be *amazing* and I'm getting so excited! First up, Manhattan with the girls in t-minus one week! Whoop!

Love,

The World is Their Toilet

Ok, before I get to the title of this post, first I want to update on PaPa – they’re doing some tests but it is looking like he is showing signs of congestive heart failure, but the doctors seem positive that once everything is sorted things will be ok. Keep the prayers coming, please!

Other than that, things were pretty low key here today. I got over to BodyPump this morning which was a great workout, then I came home to meet Ping Me and let her in. While she was here I mostly chatted online to stay out of her way – talked to Carrie, Mom, Kendyl, and Ashley so that helped to fill my time!

Then I had some lunch (leftovers from last night – yum), did some Pilates and stretching, got cleaned up, used my STRAIGHTENER (whoop!), then read until Curt got home… so yep… a whole lot of nothing for today! I just didn’t feel like going out, and didn’t really have a reason to, so I just enjoyed the day inside.

The day got more exciting once Curt got home as I begged him if we could go to Zapata’s, which is a yummy Mexican restaurant within sight of our bedroom / living room by the fountains. He agreed so we went and had some amazing fajitas, and tonight I DID decide to do the free tequila shot that comes with the meal, since Curt also got fajitas and he had one, too. We asked the waitress for some salt and limes, clinked shot glasses, and had a shot. We both decided shots are good, but tequila shots wouldn’t be that great if it weren’t for the salt and lime, haha!

Then we headed to Cold Stone, and just as we were finishing paying, the fountains came on! We have seen the fountains numerous times from our balcony, but as they don’t always come on, and not always at the same time, we never know when to be down there, so we just happened to catch them this time! They are like the Bellagio fountains in Vegas – big, lots of lights, and choreographed to music that they play loud (it's good music), fireballs, lasers, etc. and they were gorgeous.

What made for some laughs was that the wind was blowing SO hard again tonight, directly into the people and crowd, so when the huge rocket fountain would jet sky-high, the wind would blow it *everywhere* and people were running in all directions to avoid getting soaked! It was hysterical. What was even funnier, was that there were 4 motorcycle cops in the area, and the cops here always have their lights on, not just when they’re pursuing someone, and they would literally all be talking together in a group, and then speed off to another area of the promenade, then chat again for a couple seconds, and speed off somewhere else. Curt was making funny Chinese voices saying “Huh – now we go over here, lights on, lights on!” which was making me die laughing because it looked like that to us. I didn’t have the camera with me, but did have my iPhone so here are a couple of blurry shots... the last one is of water misting out of this huge machine, and lights projecting from behind to create a projected screen image, in this case Kung Fu Panda, kinda cool to watch a movie on water! These pics are taken from about the middle of this promenade area so you get an idea for the space that I'm referring to...

Rewind an hour or so, but as we were walking to dinner, on this same promenade open area, I saw a Chinese man walking towards us with a small baby in his arms, and as we got closer I looked, then took a second look, and noticed the baby’s bottom was completely bare! It had these pants on with a circle cut out where the butt is, like on purpose (it actually reminded me of those dirty cards you see in the store with a cowboy wearing chaps, and no underwear)!!! I said to Curt (sure the guy didn’t understand English – one of these days this might get me in trouble) quickly, “Oh my gosh that baby’s butt is showing!” and he replied that yes, they make the pants that way so when they start using the restroom, they just hold the baby out over whatever is available for the baby to do their business as I guess it saves in diaper costs?! So that was some food for thought… I catalogued this with my experiences in China of bathroom etiquette, as just YESTERDAY I was less than 10 feet from a man when he decided to whip out his willy and go on a shed?!

So after dinner, we went over to the Renaissance for Curt to pull some more cash, then we walked home along a shopping area I haven’t ventured to yet… it wasn’t quite as nice as what’s closer to our house, but they had some restaurants, a couple pet shops, massage places, etc. So we’re walking and talking, and I see a little girl squatting, and at first I’m thinking she’s picking something up off the ground, but nope – I see her coochie, and then I notice the steady stream of pee! This girl was at least 3 years old! And HER pants AND panties were open crotch! Like no seam, no nothing – just squat and go, easy access, RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SIDEWALK where everyone walks!?!?!!! I was shocked and once again said loudly and quickly, “Oh my gosh that girl is peeing on the sidewalk and look at her pants and panties!!” and mind this isn’t a remote sidewalk, this is in like a mini mall where the storefronts are less than 5 feet away… it was too much… hence the title of this post, “the world is their toilet!” I’m trying not to judge, I’m really not because I kind of think it’s funny, but really they must know that’s not sanitary. I will however draw the line here and say hell no will you catch me wearing flip flops in public again after all of these private part sightings! I guess the only people catching sight of my pretty toes will be whoever comes into the house! Sigh…

So after some laughs, and petting an adorable little merle collie in front of the pet shop, we headed home. On a more somber note, today was/is Muster so we turned out all of the lights, and said a prayer with a moment of silence for all of the Aggies who passed on this year and said “Here” for them. Last I checked Suzhou only had 2 other Aggies, both Chinese (though I should check again?!) so Curt and I just honored Muster on our own this time…

So that was the day – probably going to chat some more online this evening, do some more reading, and reflect on how happy I am to be an Aggie and that someday people will say “Here” for me.

Love,

Sharing Smiles

Yesterday was a good day, though characteristic of a Monday – gray here, kind of slow, and full of cleaning up from the weekend, haha!

I did about 4 loads of laundry, which considering that each load takes 2.5 hours, requires hanging on the racks, taking off the racks, etc. was a little mundane, but had to be done as we’d bought towels and other things that needed to be washed! We still have about 2 more loads, but I left them for Ping Me to do today when she comes.

Talked to the fam and to Ashley for a bit, then got off to the gym to do an hour of cardio and some abs – what WAS exciting and unexpected at the gym is that while on the stairstepper, literally less than 20 feet in front of me, a window blew out and shattered! It was very windy here yesterday and I guess the window was weak somehow, and blew into a million pieces all over the treadmills (no one was there, thank goodness) into the room. This window was like 2 feet x 4 feet and each piece was pea-sized, so it was kind of crazy! On the plus side I now had some great air blowing through straight to me to finish my workout, and had something to watch to pass the time as the little Chinese lady was attempting to clean the glass with a mini broom and dustpan! What is so different about things here, though, is that they were just pushing out the window glass to the street below (3 stories below) without anyone sort of protecting anyone who might be walking down there (I know this because when I was done they were still doing this and bits of glass were raining from the sky)?! I can't explain why this is, but noteworthy!

When I got home I did some more online chatting, made an excellent grilled cheese (yum!), and then decided to get my errands over with. Went on my walk to the neighborhood center to check things out (there is a post office there!), then to the salon to pick up my hair straightener which came in (which is ceramic, communication success!!!), then to the lake and then home.

Then I worked on my blog posts from the weekend which took forever (because of the current camera/picture situation), Curt made it home, and we went to the grocery store together to brainstorm on what to make for dinner. We ended up deciding on chicken and rice, with cream of mushroom and bigger mushrooms, so got home, sautéed the mushrooms, cooked the rice in beef broth, cooked up the chicken, combined mushrooms, soup, chicken, and then had one of the yummiest meals! LOL It was so good!

Then I watched some Animal Planet, Curt went to the gym, and when he got back we got online and received a call that PaPa (Curt’s grandpa) is in the hospital… oh no! Things are ok this morning from the news we got, but keep him in your prayers!

On a general note about China, while on my walks I see workers along the pathways and streets doing miscellaneous things, and on one of these walks there was a lady amongst a group of 20 or so digging and tilling up the ground close to the sidewalk where I was walking. It was such a fun moment – she stopped to look up at me, and I sort of half-smiled at her, which I think surprised her (I don’t think Chinese people smile at each other, or even acknowledge each other as they pass as we mostly do), and after hesitating she half-smiled back. This made me smile even bigger, to which SHE responded with an even bigger smile, so that by the time we were upon each other we were both beaming! Her smile was toothless, for the most part, and she was probably a lot younger than what she looked (she looked to me like she was in her 60’s), but so contagious... and it was something that for whatever reason, I probably won’t ever forget. I was thinking as I passed her that memories like those will be my favorite of China… random snapshots of two different cultures colliding and sharing smiles…

On another general note – I listen to my iPod on these walks, and just put it on shuffle, and do you know what song ALWAYS comes on?! Counting Crows “American Girls,” which puts such a spring into my step because of where I am (not in America)! Haha

Anyway, hope everyone has a great day, don’t forget to keep PaPa in your prayers, and I’ll talk to you guys soon! Crazy – I’ll be home again in less than 10 days!

Love,

I Sing Songs About Texas

(Note the weekend is in order by day, so scroll down to start with Friday!)

So Sunday was kind of a down day… we all woke up early so we could get Dad to the airport early, and Han was there at 7 a.m. to take us (bless him). The ride to the airport was uneventful, but I learned my lesson from last time… I brought my whole book of CD’s so I wouldn’t have to put up with Chinese radio again – whoop! Haha

It took us about 2 hours (the airport is all the way to the ocean, through Shanghai) to get there, and as we started to get close I was getting choked up, oh here we go… lol. We got dropped off in plenty of time for his 11 a.m. flight, so we walked him in to see him get checked in and use the restrooms, hugged and said our “goodbye for now’s” since I will be seeing him pretty soon, but for whatever reason I was so emotional! I cried… not huge sobbing, or silently either, it was like how a 5-year old cries where I just hung my head and shoulders shaking to hold it together, tears falling, etc. as we were walking out. When we got in the car Curt was laughing (not in a mean way, just kind of at me because I’m silly sometimes with this stuff) and asked me if I was ok, and I told him I just needed 5 minutes to cry it out and I’d be ok.

Next on the list for the day was going to IKEA in Shanghai. We figured since we had Han and were going through Shanghai, we might as well get some things for the house that we’ve been sorely needing (trash cans, towels, dishes, etc.). I gave Han the address, he punched it in to the GPS, and we started driving. Curt went to sleep, I was listening to mellow music just thinking and watching the rain (mix CD and then Pat Green), and I’m noticing we’re getting farther and farther away from any sort of civilization. Curt wakes up after awhile to peek at where we are and I express my concern, he asks Han about it, Han assures us, and I’m skeptical but we figured we didn’t have a ton to do so it didn’t matter if we weren’t quite on track. About an hour later, we’re in the middle of a field and Han informs us that CaoXi Road isn’t where the GPS said it would be – LOL, ya think?! So I gave him the sheet of paper again and pointed to the phone number so he could call and clarify where we were going and then we start heading back into town. I told Curt at this point I was going to take a nap, so I put my hat down over my eyes, leaned on the door, and went to sleep. Sometime soon after, I’m jostled awake and I find we are on some random dirt road with fields of flowers on all sides, and a Lexus in front of us. It was the craziest thing – Curt and I looked at each other and just busted out laughing – sometimes this place is so bizarre. So another hour and half later, we finally found IKEA – hallelujah! What an adventure!! And another one just beginning because IKEA is a *popular* place on a Sunday afternoon!

So we shopped for about an hour (we were speeding through like demons because we both hate those kinds of shopping situations) and purchased dishes, glassware, pillows, sheet sets, towels, cooking utensils, pots, a lamp, a clock, blanket, storage organization stuff, bath mat, and a ton more stuff. Then, because it was 2 p.m. by this time and we were starved, we had IKEA hot dogs (they were actually pretty decent), met up with Han, and packed the car up to get home. Curt was out for the count, and I just kept listening to Pat Green, watched some more rain, and 2 hours later (b/c of the rain there was lots of traffic) we were home to unpack everything and put the house together.

Once we got that finished, we ordered in (Mexican) and Curt got X-Men, the Origin (the one about Wolverine – is it even out in the movie theatres yet?) and we had a relaxing night in. P.S. I LOVE X-Men movies! It was so good… what was an extra element of comedy is that this copy, I’m assuming because the movie is so new, not all of the special effects were complete and polished yet… for example, cables were still attached to the actors, and some of the 3-D animation was still cartoonish where they hadn’t replaced the “real” pictures yet. It was funny… and a great way to end the day since I was a little sad earlier with Dad leaving and missing home some.

Started Twilight again, too, so read in bed with my fancy new lamp, and then lights out, weekend over…

Day Full o’ Fun!

Saturday we all slept in a bit and I got up and took inventory of everything Dad had brought me from home (I had made a list and Mom went shopping for me and TOTALLY came through for me)!! Here’s all the awesome stuff I got – I really felt like it was Christmas, laid it out on the table just so I could soak it all in… I love presents and I swear it doesn’t take too much to make me a happy girl!

Magnets for the fridge
Bug spray wipes
Bug bracelets (I have never seen these but whatever works – the mosquitoes are legendary here)
Bug spray
Lysol Disinfectant spray
Benadryl stick
Tide to Go stick
Deodorant (3)
Loofahs (3)
Cotton face pads (2)
Folders
Notebook
Notepads (Mom knows I love lists)
Receipt system folder
Stationery
Envelopes
TONS of oatmeal (maple brown sugar which is the kind I like)
Goldfish!

After I finished looking at all of my great stuff, we got ready and headed to the Renaissance hotel for a lovely treat – American breakfast buffet! Enjoyed a delicious meal together, and then we got on our way to Tiger Hill, which is a historical Chinese temple and garden with its own leaning tower that predates the Leaning Tower of Pisa. We had a great time walking around, taking pictures, and enjoying the gardens, temples, and sites – including a ton of Chinese people, the largest Bonsai garden I’ve ever seen (was really cool) and a traditional Chinese show of some sort! The weather was gorgeous, so we were very fortunate.

After a couple of hours and hundreds of pictures later, we decided to show Dad the walking street (not sure what it’s real name is) which is where a lot of the locals shop, the temple that is there with lots of burning incense, and then we kept going to a more traditional area of Suzhou with small alleyways to a nice, quaint street along the waterway. There is a nice English bookstore along this street that I’ll be going back to again sometime, soon, I think!

Then we spent FOREVER trying to hail a taxi cab to get us to Bar Street which is where we were going to have lunch at a famous local place (famous as in Lonely Planet famous, not “very, very famous” in Chinese standards the way that *everything* is, haha). Finally we made it over there, and enjoyed an amazingly delicious lunch – steamed dumplings, a beef hot pot dish, and something called “tourist fish” which is a fish mutilated into an awesome blossom type deal, fried, and coated in a sweet and sour sauce. Doesn’t look appetizing, and probably doesn’t sound it, but it was pretty good! The meal was great, we had a nice breeze by the window on the second story overlooking the waterway, and with tummies full we couldn’t go wrong! Then we walked bar street for a bit longer, then caught a taxi home where we all rested for awhile. Dad and I catnapped, Curt played video games, then we decided to watch a movie before cleaning up and heading to dinner.

Since we had a late lunch, we headed out at around 8 p.m. to see if we could catch another laser light show at the fountains (they had gone off at 7 p.m. while I was in the shower, so Dad saw them from our balcony complete with the music that echoes off the buildings, but we have yet to see them actually from the shore, so maybe someday). After waiting around for a few minutes, we started the 45 minute walk along the lake to Mario’s, the oh-so-yummy Italian restaurant that we knew Dad would love! This time I got the pizza that Curt had last time, Curt got the same, and Dad got some spaghetti. We also shared some focaccia to start with which was SO good, and the meal was just great. We had limoncello to finish the meal (Curt had grappa), and shared tiramisu, then taxi home!

By then it was around 11 p.m. so we all went to bed after talking to Mom and Kendyl.

So that’s Saturday, and it was just so fun having Dad here… enjoy the pics!

Remember I didn’t ASK for this…

Friday was a GREAT day, just as Fridays were always intended to be, I think!

It started out with fun chatting and the normal routine, then off to the gym, then home to chat some more and get ready for the day! Talked to Ash a bit, and my family, Dad was officially in the air to come and see me – YEA – so the morning was awesome!

Then I got ready and headed over to an area down off the lake to meet Lisa for lunch at this place called “Dream Herb.” It was a nice day and pretty looking out over the water, and they have a really decently priced set lunch with a choice of an appetizer, vegetable, rice, meal, and then served with your choice of dessert drink (tea or coffee) and dessert to top it off. We ordered in sharing style (different things so we could just try more stuff) and the meal was *delicious* and I was excited because it was definitely a more Asian meal!

And had another interesting China/Music moment at the restaurant – we’re eating, talking, and all of a sudden my subconscious recognizes the song playing and yet somehow that it’s not quite right, so I hone in on it and realize a Chinese woman singer is singing in a very slow, soft voice a Cajun song I grew up with that is really upbeat and typically performed by a man “Down on the Bayou,” it was crazy and it made me laugh… what was even BETTER is the next song, again by the same lady, was “Almost Heaven (West Virginia),” again done much differently than the original… it cracked me up! Also warmed my heart a bit because I knew Pap was with me, even so far away from home!

Then we headed over to the spa where I got a manicure, and Lisa got a pedi/mani combo… the manicure was nice, and about the same as what you would get at home, and relaxing listening to Jack Johnson and drinking tea in between. I went ahead and went really bold with my nail choice color – they are bright yellow with subtle shiny sparkles. Lisa usually gets the really dark blues and blacks so was shocked at my color choice, but she said she likes it and may venture to get it on her toes next time! Haha… sometimes with manicures, because they don’t last that long, I go a little bolder with my color choice, just to shake things up a bit, you know? Go big or go home, right?

So that was great – I hung out there and waited for Lisa to finish up, enjoyed my tea, and then she had her driver drop me off at the hair washing place… and yes, that’s what I said, hair washing place! Lisa had told me about it a week or so ago (as a places you must see type of thing) and I decided since it was pamper day I might as well go treat myself. So I got in there and told them I wanted a wash and blow dry, so they sat me in the barber’s chair and started off with by getting some shampoo (I have no idea really what is was? It was sudsy and yet kind of like a mousse because it didn’t drip) and starting to rub it in the crown of my head, and then squirting warm water with a small squirter to get it more lathered up! All the while rubbing and massaging the scalp, and bringing in more hair, so that after about 15 minutes or so my head was a ball of soap! The lady in the chair next to me was Chinese and she closed her eyes, so I felt it was safe to do the same, haha!

Then my girl woke me up (practically) and it was time to go wash it out. So then we spent maybe another 15 minutes in the hair washing sink, where she washed out the suds, did some more massaging, rinsing, washing, and then put a couple of other things in and did the same thing (rinse, lather, repeat)! That was equally as nice, and again, eyes closed and Tasha in la-la land. THEN it was time to go back to the chair, and it was time for the official massage part, where it was time to massage my head, neck, shoulders, upper back, and each arm for about 15 minutes. Heaven, once again… and then it was time for the blow dry, and for this part the master stylist guy took over for the girl – I guess he does the hair styling part. So he also took his time lavishing all of his attention (truly undivided, it was such a different service experience!) and for about 20 minutes sectioned off and blew dry the smallest strands of all of my hair separately.

This is what was kind of fun about this experience, but this guy was kind of a younger guy, and you could tell he loved his job. I mean he was not into ME at all, but OMG he was obsessed with my hair – I could just tell by the way he was touching it and running his fingers through it, he was 100% focused (and I’m being totally honest, a girl knows when it’s about her and when it’s not, it wasn’t like that, I *swear*) and it was just kind of funny (and fun as well) to witness. No one there knew a ton of English, but at the end he said to me, “very long, very beautiful hair” which made me smile and of course I said thank you in Chinese… sigh… I’ll be going there once a week, at LEAST, since considering the best part is, is that it’s only about $5 USD!!!! What?! Oh yes, like I said, HEAVEN!

After all of that, my day was pretty much made, but still more fun to come! When I got home, I figured I should earn my keep somewhat and did the dishes, laundry, picked up for Dad to come, made his bed, etc. then Curt got home and we hit the road to the airport!

The trip to Shanghai can take anywhere from 45 minutes to 2.5 hours, depending on traffic, construction, and who knows what else… so this trip took 2.5 hours which was a bummer. Also a bummer, along the way we had it on the international radio station, and I promise in a one hour time block, they only played two English-speaking songs, and 1 Chinese song, and the rest was two Chinese guys talking… annoying. THEN I got even more annoyed because finally one of my current favorite songs that I discovered here (Veronicas, “Untouched”) came on, and not kidding, in the FIRST VERSE they faded it out and started talking again – I was livid. I know it seems small, but after traffic, waiting for good music, and everything else, it was just too much.

Needless to say by the time we got to the airport, I was a tad grumpy because we were late… Dad had landed, and I had Curt make a sign for him to meet him, but I didn’t get to use it – we were minutes from catching him out of the customs gate… sigh… and when we got to the parking garage, there were Chinese men saving spaces out of their cars, and causing a true *cluster* if you catch my drift. By this point I was tired, grumpy, so I told Curt that I would just go get Dad and would call him to find out where he and Han were. I got out quickly, slammed the door apparently (which Curt told me took Han by surprise – he looked back at Curt with big eyes, he said, haha and Curt joked that I was Italian – hot heads, I guess?). Then the men that were causing the cluster were standing there, and a van was backing into the space that they had been trying to maneuver in for the last 5 minutes, and there was nowhere for me to go but right behind it, and he just kept backing up, so I slapped the butt of the car really hard (and they could tell I was pissed) and all of them made “O’s” with their mouths and muttered in Chinese – if I hadn’t been so mad I would have laughed, but geez, they were being ridiculous!

Long story short, I ran up to the terminal, Curt caught up with me, we found Dad which made me instantly SO happy, and got on the long journey back home… on the way since we had Han we stopped at the plant so Curt could show Dad around and give him the tour, and at about 11:30 p.m. we rolled into home… gave him a quick tour of the house, then bed for a fun day Saturday!

All in all, despite the crazy airport part, it was a great day full of fun pampering, and ended awesome with me getting to see my Dad…

I do love Fridays!

Love,

How do I describe "ceramic?"

Tonight as I write this I’m looking at probably one of the clearest nights I am thinking I will see for awhile here – Curt says he has *never* seen it so clear, and it’s all because we got a wicked cold front last night! It’s probably 60 degrees or so during the day, maybe 50’s at night, so I had to bundle up a bit today for my normal routine!

For the most part today was uneventful, but it was a good day! The cold front brought a lot of clouds so it was overcast, but I went to BodyPump again this morning (sans catfighting, thank goodness) and also did some cardio, then it was time to come home and let Ping Me in and talk to Ash & the boys, Vicki (she finally got on Skype – thank goodness), and Mom before it was time for everyone back home to get some shuteye. When I was talking to Vicki, she saw Ping Me on the cam and freaked out for a second that there was someone in my house! I quickly told her it was just Ping Me and all was fine, so it was pretty funny… and then she and Ping Me said hi to each other and Ping Me waved at her – she speaks hardly any English but they both got a big kick out of it, I think! Haha…

Ping Me finished up and then I got some lunch, went on another long walk by the lake and along the way ordered my straightener – ceramic is a hard word to pantomime, by the way, guys. I am usually a charades/pantomime genius but this one has been challenging, though hopefully it will be the winner. This salon that I ordered it from had some people that spoke the best English yet, though, and "Jenny" said she knew what I was talking about, and JUST to be sure she had a very handy-dandy translator gadget so when I typed in ceramic (this is after pantomiming and pointing at the plates on the one she had), it said it back to her in Chinese... so, cross your fingers! I’ll get it in 1 or 2 days so will let you know if I am successful in my quest, haha!

Then I came home and did some reading (trying to finish my current book so Dad can take it home with him) for awhile, Curt got home, we put in a movie before dinner, and then I made another pretty good (and new) dish! Baked chicken with Progresso bread crumbs and garlic, and then some bowtie pasta with red sauce... It was good! Then some chocolate pudding – close my eyes and I am home.

Then we watched part II of American Idol while Curt was getting some work done, and now we’re just hanging out, really and kind of vegging. And while we’re on the subject, I have to admit that my new wardrobe is pretty fun… I basically live in yoga pants and a t-shirt, or running shorts if it’s warmer, and tennis shoes (I brought flip flops with me, and of course my toes are pretty and done, but not brave enough to wear them outside yet). There are days when I don’t wear an ounce of makeup, and so far I’m really liking this… I guess I have a lot of time to make up for too many 12-hour days in heels and wearing skirts and blouses, etc. to be missing dressing up at the moment! At least on a day to day basis… I am, however, on a mission to find an amazing gown in a magazine and go to the fabric market and have them make it for me just for the heck of it, because I will probably always *love* THAT kind of dressing up, so stay tuned (or ladies, be browsing for me and send any ideas my way)!!!

For now, I am excited for the upcoming wedding fever (fever in a very positive way) with all of the activities coming up for Katie’s, Sylvia’s, and Becky’s weddings! I can’t WAIT! I heart weddings… especially those of people I love so much!

Also beyond excited to see Dad tomorrow night – Han, Curt, and I are going to get him in Shanghai tomorrow evening, so it should be a GREAT weekend and I hope he likes it here…

Hope everyone has such a great day!

Love,

I Give You Best Price

Haha – that makes me laugh just typing it! I heard that plus a lot more today...

Today was so fun – got up and instead of just getting into gym clothes got ready to get on the road to Shanghai! Note, however, that I started off the day SO right with a cream puff, because Curt didn't get to it fast enough, haha! So Lisa came and got me (she drives, which isn’t that common for an expat here) at 8:30 a.m. after she dropped her daughter off at school, and we went back to her neighborhood to grab Jana. Jana and Lisa live in an actual house neighborhood – she jokes that it’s like Wisteria Lane, and it kind of is, from the looks of it!

So Charlie, Jana’s driver, took us into Shanghai, and really we were on a mission just to go to the copy market, so we didn’t go deep into the city or anything. We had fun chatting on the way there – it took us awhile to get there as traffic was a little hairy this morning (maybe 1.5 hours) but it flew by pretty quickly, and then we were outside of this 3-story looking mall! It was huge, and they had *everything* - purses, clothes (Ed Hardy, True Religion, Seven, Diesel, etc.), jewelry, rugs, sunglasses, and everything in between!

We spent all morning wandering around – Lisa is going home this weekend for a few weeks so she had a shopping list of things to get for people, so she was busy negotiating and I was watching her learning the Chinese vocabulary for haggling prices, haha! She’s good, too, and we got some great deals! The above picture is her trying on jeans in the store - forget dressing rooms, people, it's called drape the sheet and have some fun, LOL!

For the most part today I was observing and taking it all in – I don’t really NEED anything so I wasn’t going to go crazy… but I did find a cute Le Sport Sack bag to take with me to the gym, a pair of Ray Ban sunglasses – aviators, I love these, and a pearl necklace that is pretty unique, beautiful, and so cheap! I got all three of those things for $15 USD. Nice!!!! For each of the items they originally started out about 4x’s above what I ended up getting them for – I guess they count on foreigners being tourists, so they take what they can get where they can get it?

When we started to get hungry we ventured out to a place close by called the Blue Frog, which has a little bit of everything – soups, sandwiches, salad, ICED TEA! What?! Oh yes – real iced tea… but instead of sugar packets, they brought out this creamer dish with clear liquid, which I assumed was water. I asked the waitress what it was and she said it was sugar syrup, so I dipped my finger in and wow, it was so sweet and delicious! I poured in a little at a time to get the taste right, but oh my gosh I was in heaven with my iced tea. SO good… sigh! Lunch was great, I had a grilled chicken sandwich, and then we headed back into the copy market (there’s another name for it, but I don’t know what it is) to finish up our shopping. We finished by 2 p.m. and got on the road, and breezed home with no traffic in 45 minutes, so it was great! Here are my purchases - not the best light (the bag is way cuter in person) but you get it...

After the gals dropped me off from the fun outing, I ventured out and ended up going on an 1.5 half walk – it was a nice day today, and I’m trying to spend a lot of time outside since apparently the "nice days" are numbered as it does get very hot here, and the mosquitoes will get unbearable very soon… SO had a nice walk, took in the sights, got home, did the dishes, folded the laundry, and at about that time Curt got home and we went out for Italian at a new place he hadn’t tried yet. I had half of my lasagna, which was actually pretty good, and he had a pizza, which he also enjoyed, so another food winner there! Below are pictures I took while out - all within maybe 2 miles or where we live!

THEN we rushed home because American Idol came on tonight, so I watched that while he did some work, and now I’m writing this! Will probably go to bed soon and read – all in all a great day!

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon at BodyPump?

Today was a fun day – started out normally with breakfast and such, then also what is now part of my normal routine (yea!), talked to Ashley for a bit, and then got to the gym to meet Lisa for the morning workout! Today I did a new machine that I’ve never seen in the states before, called The Wave. It’s a cardio machine kind of like an elliptical, but instead of going in circles, your legs kind of go back and forth like you’re rollerblading in a side to side motion! I looked silly doing it at first until I got the hang of it, but it really works out your inner thighs, quads, and rear end pretty well! So I waved it up for about 40 minutes before it was time for BodyPump class! As I said (I think), this gym is an American franchise or something, so they have American classes, including all of the “Body X” classes like they have at the YMCA’s at home, and sure enough, it’s the same class! BodyPump is the class that does the weights, squats, lunges, etc. so it’s kind of Crossfit-ish which is good, and it was hard! Once again, the A/C wasn’t on so was drenched by the time had finished cardio AND the class!

What was interesting about the class was the people in it – or rather what happened today. So the class is a mix between Chinese and expat women, and today was taught by Amanda, a Chinese woman who doesn't know much English, but she knows the key motivational phrases, so that's all you need, right? :-) So we walk in, and set up our stuff as normal, Lisa and I are talking to a few of the other expat women, everyone is milling waiting for the class to start, and then everyone starts to notice what’s going on at the front of the class (we were kind of in the middle of the room). Apparently there were two Chinese women at the front of the class who were competing over what was apparently coveted real estate right next to the “stage” area where Amanda was teaching, and it started to escalate into a fight! I mean this one woman (maybe mid thirties) was really aggressively yelling at the other woman (say maybe mid to late twenties) and this poor girl (instead of doing anything) had her hands over her hears like she was five years old, getting pointed and screamed at but not budging an inch. Everyone was staring, and it was so bizarre because no one was doing anything about it?

The teacher Amanda was trying to get them to separate and settle down, with no effect, the manager came in and said something (man, I would have loved to have understand what they were saying!) but didn’t kick them out, which IF anything like that were to ever happen in the states, of *course* they would have been asked to leave, and they kept going at it for a solid 5 minutes despite everything! Finally Amanda just started the music over them and we got going… during the whole class they were jostling for position, crowding each other, and finally when we were switching to abs the fight broke out again, and THIS time the younger girl wasn’t having any of it, so SHE decided to start pointing, so now they were both in each other’s faces, wagging fingers inches away, yelling and screaming, and again all of the expat ladies were just jaw-dropped at what was taking place… it was really shocking because it was just ridiculous?!

There was plenty of room in the studio, so there really wasn’t a need to begin with, let alone to continue throughout the class? Amanda again tried to shut them up to no avail, so we just all started abs and ignored them until they also got into position to join us, and when the class concluded they picked it right back up again, THIS time trying to explain their sides to Amanda. It was the craziest, most bizarre thing I’ve seen here yet. Lisa told me that she once actually saw fists fly between two old ladies in the fruit market over some fruit… I initially thought that the Chinese were a timid people except for their crowd-behavior, but apparently not… stay tuned on my anthropological observations and findings on this! Haha

After all that drama, I then got back home and talked to Ashley again on Skype for a bit… which turned into 2 hours! Haha, poor girl, she had planned to go to bed early but I guess I kind of ruined that… but we had fun talking, and I got to say goodnight to Cody who is learning Chinese from Dora the Explorer’s friend, Kai-lan, including Thank You, Push, and Pull – he officially knows more Chinese than me – such a smart boy! I actually may do a session of Rosetta Stone tonight just so I can feel better about that, hmmm.

By that time it was lunchtime, and I was excited because I had a hard boiled egg that I almost ruined the night before! Last night, I had put a few eggs on the stove inspired by Easter, checked my watch to leave them for 10 minutes, got caught up doing something else, and all through the evening I kept wondering how in the world the washer/dryer was still running… whoops, it wasn’t, it was simmering boiling water that I left on the stove for over an hour! I flipped out when I finally walked into the kitchen again, there was maybe a centimeter of water left and the eggs were *quite hot,* but so exciting, the one I had for lunch was delicious so at least I didn’t ruin them!

Speaking of laundry, it is a pain here… I usually don’t mind laundry at all, in fact out of the list of chores that one is probably my favorite! But here it takes 2.5 hours to wash and “dry” the smallest load of clothes ever. It’s a two-in-one machine (much like they have in Europe), and even if you put the dryer setting on “intensive” it maybe dries whatever is in there 50%, so you still have to hang everything on the drying racks. We have an outdoor room (a patio I guess that the landlord decided to wall off), that has two racks in which to hang things on, so it’s a more involved process, and clothes are wrinkled, etc. But the great news is that the washer does get the clothes really clean, so at least I’m not washing by hand or anything, right?

The maid didn’t end up coming today, or rather we found out later that she did come while I was at the gym, but apparently she lost our key… not good. We asked the real estate lady if she could please inquire as to how we change the locks now as for all we know, keys to apartments in the Horizon go to the highest bidder so we can be robbed blind while we sleep… kind of uncomfortable about that, but Sally (the girl) said she understood and would look into it. Um, yeah she will, and for now the chain will stay on the door at all times while someone is home… ugh.

Good things about today were at least it wasn’t raining, so that was good, and I kept chuckling to myself when I thought of Mom and Dad and our Skype conversation last night… when they called me I could see Mom and less than half of Dad’s face, so I asked him if he could scoot closer to Mom so I could see him, and without missing a beat he said, “Mom’s hogging the camera,” which instantly brought to mind what Kendyl and I used to retort back if we were being scolded or something – it was just so innocent and for whatever reason it made me laugh so hard, even out loud still today! LOL Kendyl claims that I am a ham, and have been since birth (loving cameras, attention, etc. which *might* be true), and she also notes every time she says this, that I obviously get it from Mom, so no doubt Mom was hogging!!!

Later in the afternoon Lisa came and picked me up so she could show me around town for an hour or so before she had to pick up her daughter from school, which was great! She showed me where to get my nails done, a nice Japanese market where I can get sushi, GOLDFISH (Whoop!!), and these delicious cream puffs that I bought two of for dessert tonight for us. And oh my GOSH was it good… heaven in a little pastry! Curt hasn’t even eaten his yet, I have no idea what’s wrong with him but if it’s not gone by the morning that will be my breakfast! Lisa also showed me where the closest Starbucks to my house was, and then we stopped at the neighborhood center (which is like an indoor mini mall), and the fruit market, which had different stalls of many vendors with a fruit side, vegetable side, and meat side. There are so many amazing fruits (I’ll bring my camera next time I go) that I couldn’t identify (and Lisa didn’t know what many were either), and of course many I could, with the same going for the vegetables. The meats were more interesting, with me getting to see things that I would never consider eating (chicken feet, etc.) but I’ll spare you the details there… haha

Then she dropped me off, I read a little, then fell asleep for an hour until Curt got home. When he did, I made us BBQ chicken, mashed potatoes, and spinach which was very yummy, all while watching Jeff Corwin and listening to the echoes of Chinese opera bouncing off the condos as the fountains were on again.

Then we went out to meet Sally to get our pool passes for the indoor pool that’s next to the gym, so that’s fun! Then she told us the reason why the fountains and the music have been on is because it’s the 15th anniversary of SIP (Suzhou Industrial Park, which is the area in which we live). So that’s fun, hopefully when Dad comes they’ll still be doing that so we can walk down there and see the show! The fountains are basically like the Bellagio fountains, complete with laser lights, and even FIRE, all choreographed to music selections, so it’s really quite nice!

Then home again, and tired still from my nap…you know how when you sometimes you wake up from naps and you’re worse off then when you started? That was me today…

Hope everyone else has a great Tuesday!

Tomorrow should be a fun day – going to Shanghai with Lisa and Jana for a quick trip to the copy market, so who knows what we’ll get into… and then SO fun, tomorrow night is American Idol night! I haven’t been into it this season as I think it’s the highest maintenance show EVER, but it’s the ONLY current show that we get, it’s like a day behind of what’s in the states, so by default we have to watch it, right?

Night! :-)

Rainy Monday

Not an overly jam-packed or exciting day, which actually kind of fits the weather in Suzhou... which was mostly rainy and really dark and overcast, which is the first time I’ve seen rain while here. And when I say rain, I mean the drizzly misty kind, not a good solid raindrop to be found anywhere, which I prefer if it’s going to be rainy!

So back to the work week, or for people like me, back to the days where everyone else is working (still feel so weird about this sometimes, and then others, I don’t miss it at all)! Haha

Anyway, today was pretty low key – got Curt off to work, chatted with Ash, went and worked out (Lisa was there, my new friend, so we did stair stepper together and talked the whole time so time flew)! Note that our gym for whatever reason doesn’t turn on the air conditioning until later in the day, so after a few minutes of humid building + stair stepping, we were drenched. We don’t really have towels yet at the house except for a few big ones for the shower, etc., so I ended up taking off my shirt because I couldn’t wipe my sweat with my sleeves fast enough – gross! But at the same time, I guess it’s good for you and I WAS at the gym, so oh well. Had a great workout, and then came back to chat online some more with Ash, the family, and even did a 3-way call on Skype with Ashley and David on Ashley’s phone since he doesn’t have a computer or anything, it was interesting and reminded us of high school days…

Then I did some laundry, did the dishes (the maid does both of these things, and she comes on Tuesdays and Thursdays), but I almost try to do this kind of work for her so she can spend her time on the stuff I don’t like to do as much and so she’s not here all day (sounds weird but I feel like I can’t be as productive, you know?)!

And finally 3 p.m. rolled around, which I was so excited for as it was time for my first cheap, Chinese massage! YES! I shopped around a bit and asked a few of the ladies who was good and reasonably priced, and a couple times a name that was within walking distance came up, so I made an appointment, and for about $20 USD I got an hour massage (you can even find them for cheaper than that, but this was a nicer place that I felt comfortable with, at least to start). I scheduled an appointment for a Japanese style massage (they offer different kinds) vs. a Chinese massage as the Japanese massage tends to be a little harder and more with pressure points I guess, but I’ll try the Chinese massage as well some time to see what it’s all about as well… the massage was great. Very different from a typical Swedish massage that we would get in the states, but so nice… why is it that the time in a massage always goes by ridiculously fast?!

Then off to hunt for a hair straightener – this is turning out to be a challenge, people… I’m looking for a ceramic plated straightener, and am having no luck. I'm normally not so high maintenance when it comes to things like this, but it is humid here so would like for the hair to stay looking nice for at least a few hours at a time - haha! So I had heard that there was a salon not too far away (also within walking distance) that might have some, so trucked it down there and came up empty handed. I may be going to Shanghai on Wednesday with Lisa (new gym friend) and her friend Jana, so maybe if I do I’ll have better luck there. We’ll see… (they’re going to the “copy market” which is where you get copies of virtually everything, so even if I’m not in the market to buy anything, I think it would be interesting to see?

So after all of that, I finally walked home (this was like a 45 min- 1 hour adventure walking all over town, and still in the misting rain, mind you), did a few more things, Curt came home, and instead of wanting the meal I had planned that night we ordered pizza. Haha – totally fine with me, I guess, we’ll have it tomorrow and this time I’ll make it in advance so we don’t fall into the unhealthy, better sounding option trap. My pizza was delicious, though - thin crust cheese! And then of course more brownies from yesterday's Easter treats! Yum!

All in all a low key evening, and kind of tired so maybe to bed early tonight, we’ll see.

Hope everyone has a great Monday!

Love,

Easter Sunday & Bugs Bunny

Yesterday was a great Easter, though of course I’d be lying if I didn’t acknowledge that of course I missed home on this special holiday!

To pick up where I left off, we spent the night at Sarah & John’s place, woke up at 7 a.m., got showered up, put on the same clothes (yuck, I hated this) , and then jetted out the door to rush to the train station as we had 11 a.m. brunch plans with two other expat couples. Because we didn’t have a train reservation, it was too hard to tell how long we’d have to wait, so I was nervous that we’d be cutting it close. Our taxi got us to the metro station, then we metro’ed it to the train station, bought tickets for the 8:55 a.m. train, then found an 8:09 train and chanced it that we’d get on it (since we had standing room only tickets for the later train, figured we’d might as well risk getting caught and standing on the earlier train, right?). This meant we had to book it, so we were literally running through the train station, I crowd-controlled it through all the Chinese people (I can so hang with them on this, watch out!), and we made the train. Curt said we should just sit down and act like we had seats, and then move if someone else had the tickets, so we did, and we moved twice, but we ended up in seats at least, and we made it back to Suzhou with about an hour and half, so we showered again (this time with soap and stuff), got pretty for Easter, and then met our friends to go to the Kempenski Hotel for Easter brunch.

I of course wore a dress (Curt told me I didn’t have to dress up so much, but a girl can wear a dress on Easter if she wants), and I met Mike & Carol (maybe late forties, early fifties), and Hans & Mina (maybe mid-thirties). Mike and Hans both have the motorcycle/ sidecar that Curt will be purchasing soon, so they’ll have a boys bike club here before they know it! The hotel was gorgeous, kind of out on its own island, lake views, and lots of expats and families there celebrating the holiday. Bugs Bunny was also there, of course as the Easter Bunny which I got a big kick out of, and it was so nice because the hotel had dyed Easter eggs and used them to decorate all of the flower arrangements, so it was all very festive (they were blown eggs, don’t worry!) and wonderful.

The food was also delicious and it ended up being a 3 hour meal – just slow to enjoy the buffet, all there was to eat, desserts, etc. and lots of tea and coffee, and of course fun getting-to-know-you conversation! So it was very pleasant… if we had to be away from home, at least it was with good company in a place where the holiday was felt, or acknowledged, I think. Somewhere in the middle of the meal, they had 3 young Chinese kids come in and play the violin for us – they were so talented! Also such a sweet gesture, as we were leaving they gave every guest a bunny-shaped loaf of sweet bread! How fun is that?

When we got home we decided to run a couple of errands, so walked around a lot, bought some groceries, and headed home. Then we watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – good flick – cooked dinner (we went with one of Kendyl’s famous recipes – chicken, rice, cream of chicken soup, and Tony’s), the bunny bread, and Coke (first time I’ve been able to have it as I gave up all sodas for Lent!) so that was a treat. I had also made brownies (was nervous but they turned out great) so we had that as our special Easter dessert and said thanks for how blessed we both are. Then we watched Serendipity, Curt went to sleep, and I talked to my family and Ashley until it was time for me to go to bed! So more low key than Saturday, but it was just what was needed to recover!

Happy Easter everyone! Thanks to God for sending his son to die for our sins, and for showing us life through Him through his resurrection.

Love,

On a Slow Boat to... Shanghai!

So I have a lot to update on even though only 2 days have passed, but this weekend was GREAT!

So as previously stated we decided to venture out to Shanghai on Saturday, so woke up early (don’t worry, not 5:45 a.m. early) on Saturday morning, got out of the house and on our way to the Renaissance Hotel in Suzhou to change some money and have a nice, big American Breakfast (buffet style – so yum), and then we were on our way for my first train experience in China! We purchased first class tickets so I didn’t have to worry about any beggars putting their heads in my lap (that happened to Curt at some point and that weirds me out a bit), and the train ride over was very peaceful and relaxing. We caught the 10:00 a.m. train which put us into Shanghai at about 10:45 a.m., so on the 40ish minute trip I got to see some of in between cities China, which was interesting… lots of gardens, trash, hovels, nice corporate buildings, and just a hodge podge of everything in between or all of it together on one block or in a field… It was a gorgeous day again, so perfect for experiencing a new city.

Once we got to Shanghai Train Station we switched over to their Metro system which, like every other major metropolitan city in the world, is a great way to travel. Even not being able to read the language, it still was fairly easy to get around so we got me a card that I could top-up with instead of worrying about buying single fare tickets all the time, and then we got on our way to the Pearl Tower which is the stop closest to Sarah and John’s place.

We got there around 11:15 a.m. I would say, called them, and while they were on their way we walked around the Pearl Tower, the river, and just started to take in the sights of Shanghai, which is an *amazing* city. It actually reminded me a lot of European cities – a big river running right through the middle of it, lots of corporate high rises on both sides, plenty to see and take in, etc. Sarah and John arrived, and it was SO good to see Sarah and meet John! They didn’t have any plans for the day (thank goodness, because we kind of took it over – keep reading) and we had no agenda really, just a Top 25 Things to See in Shanghai book, so we figured we’d let them kind of show us around and we’d just play things by ear! Such a fun plan to have NO plan…

So we cabbed it over to Yu Yuan Garden first, which is in Old Town. This area is kind of what I pictured China to look like – lots of beautiful temples, fine wooden carvings, and the bridge of 9 turns (not sure if this is the official name or not) which is a beautiful bridge with 9 zig zags across a pond of sorts filled with huge koi… apparently evil spirits can’t make sharp turns, or that many turns, so people would walk across to either get away from them, or for good luck… I’ll find out the history for sure, but it’s something like that. Whatever the full story is, it was beautiful! There are also lots of shops around there, so we just had fun chatting (me with Sarah, Curt and John following behind) and catching up, all the while window shopping in these beautiful little alleyways!

After we’d seen everything there was to see in Yu Yuan Garden, we then ventured to a very trendy area called Tai Kang Lu where a lot of people eat and wander, and shop… this area was more hip with art galleries, and a lot of Westerners hang out here as well. So we wandered a bit and then stopped for lunch. Again, the weather was gorgeous so we sat outside, enjoyed good food, although uncharacteristically for China, the service was not so hot – it was like they didn’t know the order of how to serve customers – sit down, take drink order, give drinks, take food order, give food, let people eat, clear, and bill. Our experience went more like, sit down, take drink order, take food order, give food, let people eat, people ask for drinks for the 7th time, bill, clear plates, bring drinks. Just weird, but we still had laughs and a good time, and again, we had no plans so it was ok. We then continued to explore Tai Kang Lu and the surrounding alleys, shops, etc. – there’s just so much to look at! At Sarah’s suggestion, I was also on the lookout for a business card book… they’re into business cards with maps and English on them which Westerners use to give taxi drivers to get to a place or area, which is a GREAT idea, and I found a cute green one here! Yea!

Then we decided to head to Nanjing Lu and to the People’s Square area which kind of reminded me of like a Piccadilly Circus or Leicester Square, or a smaller scale Times Square – lots of people, shopping and major brands, lights (even though it wasn’t dark), lots of people selling fake stuff, and just general energy.

Then onto more sights, and we went to the Bund area which is on the other side of the river from the Pearl Tower, and by this time the sun was setting so we were enjoying the weather, river, sights, talking, and then after a bit we decided it was time to go get dinner!

We opted for Xian Tian Di which is a posh area in the French Concession which was gorgeous and I think a collective group favorite. Newer gray stone buildings, twinkle lights, amazing restaurants with outdoor patios, lots of people milling about, and just amazing atmosphere! We walked around there for a bit, and decided on a place called Luna for dinner. Our train back to Suzhou wasn’t until 9:30 p.m. so we all got drinks, ordered some tapas to start with, and had a slow and leisurely dinner with melt in your mouth ribs (it said this actually on the menu, and we all agreed that they did indeed melt in your mouth – they were so incredible that John and I switched our main course dinner to have more of these, which as Methodists is a no-no J. Haha – don’t worry, that’s a funny joke that was a theme throughout the day as Curt and Sarah are both Lutheran, and John and I Methodist – turns out John and I have a lot in common with being hard core Aggies, football fans, and the fact that we don’t think the other person in the relationship should order the same thing as the other person b/c you should sample and it’s kind of a waste, whereas Sarah and Curt think it’s totally fine to do that, so we concluded it must be a Lutheran/Methodist thing… LOL… not really of course, was just funny.



ANYWAY, the dinner was delicious, wonderful, all of the above, and at around 8:15 p.m. I checked my watch, and then decided to check the train tickets to confirm they were for 9:30 p.m. Looking closely at a mix between English and Chinese writing, and see 17:32… after a couple of glasses of wine am thinking that 12+9 is definitely much higher than 17, but trying to do the math slowly to be sure, and read every English number on there making sure there is nothing else on there that could be 9:30 p.m. and nope – so got out our morning ticket to make sure I was looking in the right place, and yep – sure enough – the lady at the ticket booth who we thought spoke pretty good English gave us 5:30 tickets instead of 9:30 tickets – ugh… so we missed our train by a lot. Curt said there was probably a 10 p.m. train, but I was like, it’s going to be one of those situations where if we part ways and go to the train station, we won’t be able to get on, so Sarah and John said we should just stay with them and we could have more fun that night, SO we did… haha. Then we could be really slow finishing up dinner, enjoyed our drinks, the weather, and the laughs (there were many and a moment where I almost cried I couldn’t breathe). Then we cabbed it back over to their area of town, went to their place to let their lab, Lucy, out, got situated and then went back out to… PARTYWORLD to check out KTV at it’s best on a Saturday night!

So the Chinese love Karaoke (realize this is a huge generalization, so sorry, but humor me) – I’m sure everyone has seen the Rush Hour scenes where Chris Tucker takes over and does his Michael Jackson, which is hilarious, but that is how it is – they love it. So they have these huge karaoke bars with private rooms, which is what PartyWorld is like – it looked like a hotel, and probably had 200 rooms, maybe all 12x12 outfitted with couches, liquor and drinks, nice big flat screen, mics, and a central buffet out in the middle. So we’re walking down this hallway peeking into the room windows watching everyone singing their hearts out, and it was hilarious! We decided we definitely need to get a group together and plan a PartyWorld evening!

Then we headed over to this expat bar near their complex and had fun getting a couple more drinks and watching a Chinese band do American covers – too fun.

Then we stopped in the DVD/CD store for Sarah to buy some DVD’s, then home, watched some of The Changeling, and by 1:40 a.m.ish we were all so exhausted that we called it a night.

And I’m going to do the same – will pick up tomorrow to start with waking up on Sunday (Easter!) morning… (p.s. none of these pics are mine - all Google as the camera battery decided to die - sigh... but these are great substitutes, and I'll have more opportunities to get great ones!!)

Night,