Sister Trip 2009 - Costa Rica!

Coming into this summer I was thinking it would be one of the best of my life, and with amazing trips like Alaska and Costa Rica, it would be hard for that to not be accomplished, right?

Several years ago Kendyl and I wanted to go on a sister trip to Costa Rica, and due to life getting in the way, it just never happened… we had been talking about another attempt, so I decided we should just do it, so we did! And it was awesome…

I got the recommendation of a place to stay and things to see from Lori Miller (now Parkes) as she and her new hubby Ian had been to Costa Rica recently, so our destination became Quepos, Costa Rica – a town of about 10,000 situated on the Pacific side and right next to a National Park, Manuel Antonio. We were pumped because it had everything we wanted – the beach, the rainforest, and a ton of activities for us to get ourselves into – yes!!!

So we left for our adventure on Friday night after Kendyl got off of work – we were flying into San Jose, and on the way we encountered some pretty substantial turbulence due to the storms near San Jose… I’m not even an inkling afraid of flying, or turbulence for the most part, but for about one minute solid we were in some pretty serious stuff! I grabbed Kendyl’s hand, was praying like crazy, kids were crying, and I’m sure my face was white – I thought for sure that was it and I was making my peace, haha! But we made it, Bienvenidos a San Jose!

It was about 9:30 p.m. when we got in, and we were to meet our shuttle driver (Orlando) who was going to take us to our hotel, Costa Verde outside of Quepos, which is like a 3 hour drive from San Jose… Orlando was there with our sign, he looked nice enough, had a nice large van, the weather was cool and wonderful, and we were on our way. Kendyl and I had made a strict pact that since we’d be driving into the middle of the night that only one of us could sleep at a time, but as she had been up pretty early I let her sleep the whole time while I “stood watch” and watched for signs to let us know we were still going in the right direction…

Even though it was dark I could tell Costa Rica was going to be GREAT… there were a ton of people out at small clubs along the way, the mountain air was gloriously cool and refreshing (windows down the whole way), and the roads were windy with hairpin turns the whole way – up and down, up and down…

We finally got there around 12:30 a.m., checked in and were shown to our room which was off a little bit from the main office in this cute little bungalow set-up… all made and furnished with Costa Rican wood, with windows everywhere… it was still a little stormy, no rain, but thunder and lightning, and while looking out the window to see if I could get an idea of our view, the lightning lit up the sky and I saw the ocean with a rock island and shrieked at Kendyl that I could tell our view was going to be beyond amazing… I couldn’t wait to go to sleep so we could see everything the next morning, so exhausted, that’s what we did!

We woke up early the next morning (from excitement, no alarm!) and decided we should get the day going and go to the front desk to check out what tours we could get on our agenda… we knew we wanted to do the park, zipline, and white water raft, and we wanted to make sure we could fit everything in! While getting ready and cooking up some oatmeal (we brought it from home to save a little money, and our room had a mini-kitchen), we started hearing some commotion on our roof… we looked out the windows to see what was going on, and there was a family group of monkeys that came to greet us good morning!

They were cara blanca monkeys (or white-faced capuchins, same as Marcel on Friends) and they were incredible… Kendyl and I were so excited that we hadn’t even stepped out the door and already were having this amazing experience… the monkeys make quite a racket, and we just hung out and watched them on our balcony swing from the trees, jump to our roof, and watch the babies playing and having a great time with each other… it was just awesome!

So fully pumped about being there, we set out to go plan our great adventure… we decided that we’d do the Rainforest Canopy Safari zipline experience later that day, the park on Sunday, and white water rafting all day on Monday… we had a little less than an hour to kill before our shuttle came to get us for ziplining, so we went back to the room and got our things together, then hiked back up the hill to wait…

And not too long after, our canopy guide Josef showed up! He was a young guy, really funny, and chatted with us on the 30 minute drive out to the site… on the way we drove through an African Palm plantation where they grow these huge palm trees to harvest African Palm Oil which is used for a lot of cosmetics all over the world, so it was pretty interesting!

Once we got to the site, they gave us the safety briefing, we had some fresh watermelon and pineapple, checked out the butterfly garden they had (so beautiful) with local Costa Rican species, some snakes, and then we got geared up and were on our way! This place was literally in the heart of the rainforest, and we had a 10 minute hike up the mountain to where we would begin, so by the time we all got up there everyone was sweating buckets!

It’s kind of a strange feeling because the temperature isn’t really hot at all (or what I would describe as hot), but it’s just how your body responds to being in that level of humidity I guess that everyone was soaked, haha! We had a few people our age from Florida, and a newlywed couple also our age from Pennsylvania, so it was a fun group, with Joseph as our guide! The zips were great… we also had two repels (long ones) and a Tarzan swing at one point from one huge tree to the next, which surprisingly, was the most nerve racking part of the day! I did go upside down and let go (look Mom, no hands!) at one point which was a pretty big adrenalin rush, too, though! LOL

The guys were all so much fun, and by the time were finished our cheeks hurt from smiling and laughing so much – there is just something about speed and the outdoors like that that is just so amazing! When we finished we had some local Costa Rican cuisine waiting for us – chicken, beans, rice, and potatoes with fried plantains – all of it was delicious! I love Costa Rican food!

Then it was time to get back so on our way we asked Josef what would be going on in town that night and he answered, “Camotes is the place to be,” which is a discoteque, so after inquiring as to the nature of the place, making sure we would be safe, we were in! In the meantime, we decided to head down to the beach to get some surfing in since we had plenty of daylight left! We rented a long board, and got busy hitting the waves (which were medium sized on the whole, with a BIG one thrown in around every 5 minutes or so)! We took turns watching each other, and both of us were spastic for the most part… I took more risks trying to get up in bigger waves, thus had way better wipeouts than Kendyl, LOL! I got up a few times, but those would only last for .5 seconds so just kept trying and had some fun doing that… On one really big wave, I wiped out and the wave ended up crashing me to the sea floor… thank goodness it’s just sand and a few shells down there, but because of the force I ended up getting a cute little scrape on my shoulder blade, and that whole side of my back was red when I came in… Kendyl was like, “You’re bleeding!” and strangely enough, I felt a little proud of my battle wound, haha! It stung like hell in the saltwater, though, that’s for sure! After Kendyl had a rough run (a big wave slammed her at just the right angle and she felt like her eardrum had burst) she gave up surfing and I took over and finished us up for the rest of the afternoon… surfing is so fun, I just wish I had an ocean closer to practice so I could be BETTER!

After surfing we walked back up the mountain to Costa Verde and got cleaned up for dinner, had a great time at La Cantina, then hung out until it was time to catch a taxi to Camotes – we were so excited! We got there, it was starting to get busy, so we got a couple drinks and observed the local Latin dancing – yessss! Those of you who know me know I *love* Dirty Dancing, Havana Nights (and the way that Javier dances) so I was enjoying observing the couples on the dance floor immensely… the DJ was spinning some great music, with a few songs that I recognized (I Know You Want Me - Calle Ocho is my current favorite song so when they played that my smile was bigger than Texas – YES!) – so we had an awesome time enjoying some Imperial (Costa Rica’s official beer), doing a little dancing, and mostly watching Quepos get down! It was great…

The next day we slept in a little, had our oatmeal on the balcony, and got dressed and walked down to Manuel Antonio for our day in the National Park! The National Park is protected rainforest, is known for its great wildlife, beautiful beaches, and nice hikes… we got our tickets, and not even 20 feet inside the entrance we saw a 3-toed sloth hanging out in the treetops! We were so pumped… we had gone in saying if we just saw 1 sloth we’d be happy, so 30 seconds into the day we had the mission accomplished! We stood below him and just watched him for awhile, but as they are extremely slow movers, and he was kind of sleeping, we decided we had lots more to see so we got on our way… a sloth is one of those animals, though, that you never really think that you will personally see… I mean, I’ve seen them on Discovery, Animal Planet, etc. but both Kendyl and I were amazed because we just never thought that would be something we would get to personally witness?!

We continued on our way, and were excited because we saw more sloths!!!, and by the time we got to the trail for La Punta Catedral, we had already seen a handful, and even some on the move, so it was awesome! We knew we wanted to hike La Punta because this is the point we could see from our hotel room, so we walked along the gorgeous beaches, saw a family of titi monkeys (they are loud, boisterous, and AWESOME), and then got on our way hiking… we were soaked with sweat in like 5 minutes, but not really because it was hot, just humid! We were surprisingly pretty cool, just crazy wet, haha! We had the trail to ourselves, so just chatted (and then other times were quiet when we were climbing, haha) and enjoyed the rainforest surrounding us! It’s easy to see how people think the rainforests hold a lot of cures and secrets, because there would be plants that we would see that were SO exotic and never see again? We finally made it up the mountain, and we were literally on top of the world – in super high spirits, laughing, smiling, and just happy… it was wonderful.

Then we started making our way down the other side which also had some more great views, so we took a ton of pictures and ended up at the beach on the other side… gorgeous! We grabbed some lunch at a local pizzeria (delish) and then headed back into the park – by the time we ended our time in Manuel Antonio, we had seen 7 sloths, a family group of Cara Blancas (white faced capuchins), a family group of Titi monkeys, an Ibis, and a host of different kinds of lizards, and an unidentified rodent maybe weighing 15-20 pounds?! It was a GREAT day…

We exited the park, and spent the rest of what little daylight we had left hanging out at the beach… we bought some Imperial beach towels, and I went for a swim in the ocean (our only mistake for the day was we didn’t bring our suits with us, but since I wear cute panties, I figured no one would know the difference so I got in anyway) while Kendyl watched our stuff on the beach… the water felt wonderful, and it was a little cloudy (rain coming in for late afternoon) so very peaceful and calming… I was watching a local little boy get some surf lessons, and it was really sweet…

Then we headed back up the mountain, got cleaned up for dinner at Anacondas (so yummy), and hung out until it was time for bed…

The next day we woke up super early to meet our shuttle to take us white water rafting! We were so excited – so far the trip had gone so well, and it had been a few years for the both of us since we’d gone rafting! At 7 a.m. we met Roman, one of our guides, and got on our way to making the hour-ish drive out to Rafiki Lodge. What was awesome about these tours, is that in the process of them taking us out to wherever we were going, Kendyl and I got to see some amazing scenery that was just kind of rolled up into the package – it was the best! On our way we went through two very small villages, each one with one small school, beautifully decorated homes if small, and nicely kept soccer fields! We kept going deeper into the forest, deeper into the middle of nowhere, and then all of a sudden, we were there…

Rafiki is amazing – it’s owned and run by a family from the states who study the local biology, it’s very green using hydro-electric power and running the whole lodge and camp off of 1 kilowatt of energy… it’s very “primitive luxury” with places to stay, a beautiful gathering area, and water slide… we had a snack of fruit and a little breakfast, spent an hour there hitting the water slide which was hilarious, and then got loaded into the safari truck and drove another 30 minutes deep into the forest to start our trip on the Sevagre (Savage) river which boasted many Class 3 rapids. By this time we had been joined by a nice family of 4 (parents and two daughters around 18-20), and Juan Carlos, another guide.

The family of 4 got loaded into their raft with Roman, and Kendyl and I got loaded into our smaller raft with Juan Carlos, and we got on our way around 11:00 a.m. or so… immediately Kendyl and I could see the day was going to be amazing… the river rapids were fast and sizeable, there were slower calm areas where we could get out and swim and laugh (getting back into the raft was always hysterical and evoked huge belly laughs from everyone – seriously, we couldn’t breathe… it’s HARD with a life jacket on, LOL), and we were the only ones for miles around – it was AWESOME!

There were tons of rapids, and Kendyl and I were pros… we were strong, paddling in sync when Juan Carlos would tell us to go, and the other family even commented that we looked like we could be in a commercial we were so good, haha! Right before lunch we went through a series of rapids called the Gringo Eater which had a huge hole at the end that we went through – what a rush! At the end of a particularly difficult rapid we’d give a huge paddle high-five, and I swear the whole time Kendyl, Juan Carlos and I were laughing – it was the best time…

We pulled over for lunch around 12:45 p.m. or so and walked up the side of a mountain to find the intern from Wyoming (yea!) had met us with a hot lunch and made some beautiful rainforest flower arrangements – it was gorgeous, and the meal was SO GOOD! You know how food tastes when you’ve been working hard out in the sun… they even had coconut cookies, which were mouth watering… I don’t even like coconut but they were gooey and tasted like oatmeal cookies so now, apparently, I do! Haha

While stopped for lunch we saw a huge trail of leaf cutter ants taking their leaves somewhere deep into the forest… what was also cool about the whole day, is Juan Carlos and Roman know a lot about the local flora and fauna, and would stop and show us different things… there was a plant that left a chalk imprint when slapped against your skin or shorts (looked like a fossil, was so cool!), a plant that closed its leaves when touched (we have them here in Texas, too, but haven’t seen them for years), and they picked other plants like cinnamon, lemon grass, vanilla, sarsaparilla, all spice, and other things like that for us to smell… we saw some really cool spiders, one of which spun golden thread that was as strong as human hair, if not stronger, and was truly gold (like from a fairytale!), so I was in heaven learning about all of this stuff!

We got back onto the river once everyone was done, and were excited because we knew there was a gorgeous waterfall waiting for us up there somewhere… did some more great rapids, got to know Juan Carlos and vice versa, and then we got to a series of Class 3 rapids called Boca Diablo (devil’s mouth)… we started through them, and went over this huge boulder with Kendyl slightly down river – we got stuck for a tenth of a second, and her momentum kept going, and as we got loose from it, she was bumped out! WHAT?! I was in shock – my sister was in the river in the middle of a Class 3 rapid that was raging… All I could think was she was going to hit a rock, and even with a helmet and life jacket, this is serious stuff… we had gone over what to do in this situation, and practiced, but you never think you’re going to go in, you know? I saw her struggling to come up for air, and after that happened 2-3 times I snapped out of shock and went into emergency mode and started yelling at her that we were coming for her, to put her feet downriver, and to hang on we’d be there in a second…

Juan Carlos yelled to Roman that we had her (as they were ahead of us and were getting ready to start paddling back with the rope) and Juan Carlos and I were paddling like maniacs – all I could thing was dig the crap out of the river so I could get to her… every cell in my body was focused on just getting to her...after what seemed like a century we reached her, and Juan Carlos (maybe weighing 160-170 lbs) yanked her in the boat like she was 20 lbs – adrenalin is a crazy and awesome thing… the whole thing maybe lasted 30 seconds (she fell in at the beginning of this rapid, and it wasn’t short) but seemed like an eternity… once she was in the boat I started inspecting her and mother-henning her… how was she, did she hurt anywhere, and then sat back and kind of waited for her reaction… she was like, whoa… relieved, but she didn’t cry, she just needed a second to breathe and process it… I was infinitely proud of her! When I get REALLY scared, I cry, and was so surprised when she didn’t… we took a few minutes, but she was fine, so we kept going as we had just a few minutes before and after a couple minutes we were all laughing at what had just happened – craziness!

She told me that she had had no idea what happened, or where we were, and the few seconds before I started yelling at her she had been so scared. She couldn’t remember what I was yelling at her, but she said the instant she heard my voice she knew she would be ok and that I would come and get her… I know it doesn’t sound like that big of a deal, but this was beyond touching to me and is evidence to our incredible bond and how much we rely on each other. Sisters til the end :-)

The other family saw the whole thing and were commenting on how calm she looked the whole time (she responded, “well I wasn’t, but ok,” haha) and although insanely scary for a few minutes there, all resumed and instead of putting a damper on the day, it became an even greater, crazier sister adventure… time would pass, and I’d just comment, “dude, I can’t believe you fell out of the boat!” because it was just one of those things that you never think will happen… haha

After going through some rapids (Kendyl, though fine, was more cautious) we got to the waterfall, so we parked the boat, hiked the short trail up to it, and spent about 30ish minutes playing in the waterfall… it was amazing – beautiful, powerful, and took our breaths away! We were giddy – splashing around, climbing up and down it (carefully), and playing in the water like we were all 5 years old. Juan Carlos and Roman were our photographers, and we got some great pics… then it was time to continue, so more rapids, more wildlife, rainforests, swimming and FUN!

After another 45 minutes or so, we got to this cliff that Juan Carlos steered us to, and he got up and started climbing up it… I was like, “where are you going?” He said he was going to jump, and I was like, “hello, what about us? I wanna go!” and so he smiled and told us to come on then… haha, so we paddled like crazy back over (paddling up river is hard), I got out, and he helped me climb the cliff/mountain face to get high enough for a good jump… we were maybe 25 feet above water, and he climbed on the ledge higher than me, and counted us off… I took a deep breath, and jumped.

I love jumps like this – they seem to last forever… you keep expecting the water and it doesn’t come, why haven’t you hit yet? Any second now… BOOM! LOL… it was awesome… Kendyl was screaming for us, cheering us on, and when I surfaced and we were swimming over, Kendyl informed me Juan Carlos had done a front flip – WHAT?! Insane… and brave! It took me a big enough pep talk to jump when he said go (it wasn’t this beautiful ledge that jutted out over the rocks, it was a cliff face that required a sizeable forward jump to avoid hitting anything on your way down), so I can’t imagine the pep talk required to attempt a flip! I was just sorry I didn’t get to see it for myself! Oh well… LOL!

At about 3:00 p.m. we reached the point where it was time to get out… so sad… the rain clouds were rolling in and it had started to rain some (which didn’t matter in the slightest, we were soaked the whole day anyway), and the intern was waiting with a cooler full of beer and sodas with the safari truck, so we hung out while the 3 boys got the rafts and equipment secured, then started our drive back down the mountain while enjoying some cold beverages and the sounds of rain falling in the rainforest… we were in heaven, what an unbelievably awesome day!

We met the van on the way, everyone transferred vehicles, and Juan Carlos and Roman took us back into town… on our way we stopped at an open air club, had some more cold beverages, some cold ceviche (YUM), enjoyed the rain, then kept on our journey… We got back to Costa Verde around 5:30 p.m. and Kendyl and I were sad to say goodbye to all of our new friends…

We headed to the pool to watch the sun go down and hang out and talk, then went back to our room to get ready for another delicious dinner at Anaconda…

The next day we walked down to the beach and enjoyed watching the early morning locals surfing in the waves while diving in to eggs, toast, and fruit – perfect!

Then we walked along the water, said our goodbyes, and got back up to the hotel to go catch our taxi to the Quepos airport to catch our flight on Sansa Air from Quepos to San Jose. I knew this would be like another “tour” because our plane would be tiny, and the views would be amazing, and when we got to the airport, I got really excited because I knew I was right, LOL! The airport was literally a small garage with a single desk to “check in,” a bathroom, and a few tables to wait… our plane was there waiting, as were our two pilots, and after a few minutes one of them motioned it was time to go, so we just followed him out there!

We crawled in (it was so small, we had to hunch over, and my hips wouldn’t even fit squarely in the aisle, it was hilarious!) and I grabbed the seats behind the pilot so we could see everything that was going on… the flight was all of 13 minutes (compared to our 3 hour journey in the mountains the previous Friday night) but was so amazing… the views were breathtaking, the colors out of this world, and by the time we touched down in San Jose we were already planning on when we could come back!

I love making memories that you know you will never, ever, forget… Sister Trip 2009!

BAD NEWS!!

China has officially blocked blogger and blogspot addresses, so not only am I deprived of updating my own blog every day, I’m also deprived of reading all of the blogs I enjoy catching up on – ugh… cross your fingers that they don’t do away with Facebook!

So you are reading this via my mother, who has graciously agreed to post this and any subsequent posts for me, so I write them in word, and she posts… note this means there will be a lack of any pictures, but it’s the best workaround I can think of at the moment…


My home visit was fantastic – it was good to see the friends and family that I did, and just nice – you appreciate home so much more when you’re away for awhile!

Now I’m back in China for a few weeks, so should be interesting… will try and keep y’all posted!

Love,

New York State of Mind...

So with New York and everything, I have a lot to catch up on, so here it goes…

My flight and journey back to the states was fairly non-eventful if you don’t count how the Chinese people kept delaying our flight because they wouldn’t sit down, kept moving everyone else’s stuff out of the overhead bins so THEIRS could fit there (oh the Americans were getting ticked, let me tell you), not turning their cell phones off when we were taxiing down the runway, and kept repeatedely putting their tray tables down – lol! It was quite comical but also a little annoying… ANYWAY, the flight was good. I did get some good sleep, not a ton, but something, watched movies, and was VERY fortunate to have the seat next to me empty, which even though I didn’t sleep a ton it is good information to know I’m still flexible enough to fit and pretzel my way comfortably into two seats worth of space!!! Made all the difference in the world…

We got in a little later than expected (again, see above reasons for delay), so I was hoping I wouldn’t be getting to Liz’s place too late (I was crashing Thursday night with one of Kendyl’s soccer buddies, Liz , who lives in the East Village). She had instructed me that from Newark, I was to get on the NJ Transit train, and then catch a cab to her place (cheapest option which I was all about since I knew the weekend would be not so cheap). I had two huge rolling suitcases, my duffel, and laptop bag which rolls and is also a backpack which when I have the two suitcases, I utilize. So off I went! The suitcases, though large, weren’t that heavy as I was bringing back one for Dad (as I borrowed it to move over), though they still posed all the problems that their size brings (just imagine tiny escalators, people not moving, escalators BROKEN so there was me doing multiple stair runs – thank goodness for Crossfit and the gym in China!), and I finally made it onto the train, made it to Penn Station, and got into a cab…

I got to Liz’s place at about 10 p.m. or so where I was faced with 5 more floors worth of tiny stairs as there’s no elevator in her building, so that was hysterical (poor Liz refused to let me refuse to let her help me). Then we went and grabbed some food as I hadn’t eaten… by this point I was expecting to feel crappy as I was going on a 28-ish hour journey, but actually felt good, so REALLY enjoyed my waffle at the Moonstruck diner which is just around the corner of her place, while she had some fruit. We chatted for a bit, and then she had to get back and to bed so she could be fresh for Friday’s workday! I showered up, got to bed, and did actually sleep very well that night… that morning when she was leaving for work I was *exhausted* so I kept sleeping, to bring her keys to her later, and slept, and slept, and slept until about noon… even then I didn’t want to get up but it was time to get ready to go and meet the girls.

BEFORE I could do that, I had to face the 5 flights of stairs down again, this time on my own… I was sweating by the time I got down to the bottom, thank goodness a cabbie was literally outside of the door eating lunch, so we went to where Liz works and I dropped off her keys to her… SO thankful that she had such a comfy futon for me to sleep on and that I didn’t have to do a random hotel!

Then off to the Waldorf where I dropped my bags, and by this time I wasn’t feeling so hot… figured it was probably due to lack of food, so ventured out to solve that problem… all I could stomach was some chicken noodle soup (could feel a cold coming on – started with a headache when we were taking off, ugh, so I was taking massive amounts of vitamins), a little bread, and tried to drink as many fluids as I could… then I met up with Sylvia, Amber, and Sonja in the hotel! YEA! We got our things settled and then went out to the Metropolitan Museum of Art! I was excited at this, as although I’ve been to NYC many times now, I’ve never been?! We saw some beautiful pieces and I was ecstatic to be able to see so many great pieces under one roof… I have to say I’m not really as into the modern works of art, though I can appreciate them, but much more enjoyed the historical sculptures, artifacts, and paintings!

When we finished up there we hurried back to the hotel to get ready for the night’s show – West Side Story! It was raining by the time we were ready to leave, and we were kind of pushing it with time, so instead of standing in the taxi queue for 45 minutes and being way late to the show, we decided to split a limo for $40 with another group of 4 girls going to a show in Times Square, so we didn’t get wet, yea, and got to the show in style, and had a great time chatting with them along the way – it was great!!

We made it just in time to the show to get our seats, get a fun picture, and settle in just in time to start singing along with the Jets and the Sharks! Haha… the show was awesome – great dancing, costumes, and of course, singing! We all loved it…

Then we decided to continue our fun night out on Times Square so we wandered a bit, got some recommendations for close by lounges and bars, and hopped into the W hotel’s lounge where we all had a nice posh drink and just sat and chatted for awhile. Then we decided to spice it up a bit and head downstairs to the Whiskey bar for some fun dancing! There weren’t a ton of people there at this point, which was fine with us, so we danced, had fun til around 2 a.m. ish and then went up for air and to get some yummy NYC vendor food – whoop! It was delicious!!!

Then off to bed – we were exhausted, and despite fears of jet lag, I slept pretty well until about 7 a.m. – was up for about an hour, then went back to bed until everyone else woke up at 10 a.m. We ventured out for some lunch (we didn’t make it out until noon), then wandered around the East Village, Soho, and Greenwich Village for the whole afternoon, it was so much fun just to walk, talk, window shop, and just take in the sites. It turned out to be a beautiful day in the city which was so fortunate as rain had been forecasted, and the highlight (for me) was stopping at the Magnolia Bakery which is apparently famous for their amazing cupcakes, and yes, they were oh so amazing! YUM!

Then we had to hurry back to the hotel and get ready for our fun dinner and dancing night out – we had 7:45 reservations at Avra, had a nice long dinner there, then onto the Meat Packing district for some fun at Hogs & Heifers and Cielo.

H&H is the original Coyote Ugly bar (or what the movie was fashioned after, and then I guess the Coyote Ugly bars popped up after, but this is the original), and we figured it would be cheaper to start out here, and more like home, haha, as it was a little honky tonkish in the middle of a big ol’ city, and we had a blast! Amber and I resolved that we would get up on the bar and dance on it before the night was over, don’t worry, not dirty, just dancing, haha, but they weren’t playing any good music for FOREVER! We made friends with the bouncer outside, Javier, who had let Amber in without an ID b/c she forgot it, so after awhile she and Sonja went back to the hotel to get it, which is when of COURSE they played really good songs worthy of shaking it on the bar to, but you can bet I wasn’t getting up there without her, so Sylvia and I just chatted and made friends with a Bachelor party from Kansas and talked to some very nice guys!

We were having a blast, Amber and Sonja came back, we stayed for a little longer and the music was getting worse, so we finally decided we’d try Cielo and come back to H&H after awhile. Cielo was literally around the corner, and the place is lined with clubs, so we just walked there, did some “house” dancing for a bit which was definitely more of the NYC scene, and after about 45 minutes we decided to head back to H&H to wrap up the night…

At H&H they finally played some good music, so Amber and I shrugged our shoulders and got up on the bar to dance, which was way fun, lol!

Then after we danced it was time for the H&H girls to dance, and they did the country jig type kick your boots up, and it was so good! We had just as much watching them as I’m sure the guys did, haha!

We weren’t quite ready to give up on the evening, so headed back to the Whiskey Bar where we’d had so much fun the night before, did a few more minutes of dancing, more street vendor food, and then at about 3:15 a.m finally hit the hay, exhausted… p.s. below is a pic of the hot shoes from earlier post (top left with the strap and gold anklet - whoop, haha)!

The next morning we woke up, hit breakfast close to the hotel, then it was time to part ways with the girls so we could get on our respective flights (I was out of Newark, they were out of LaGuardia). I had a hell of a time getting home and almost missed my flight, but I’d rather not relive the craziness that was that day until about 6:30 p.m. when I finally saw my mom and dad’s face at the baggage claim – thank the Lord. It was so great to see them and to be home…

We made it home, got Kendyl, went to Red Lobster for dinner (I was craving it), and I settled into home and did some unpacking, etc. I couldn’t get over how quiet it was to be back here – I didn’t even ever notice how noisy I guess China is, but in the absence of it, my recognition of it was immediate… it’s peaceful here! Haha

Since I’ve been home I’ve seen Young Life people at the crawfish boil which was SO much fun, and just hung out in general… it’s been so heavenly and nice. I’m getting excited for wedding stuff coming up, but for now am going to make my rounds and just enjoy my time here and get whatever stuff I need to get done, done!

Love,

Home...

p.s. I will be traveling home and then in NYC, so of course I won't be posting anything probably until Sunday at the VERY earliest but stay tuned b/c it's going to be a *rocking* weekend!!!

"Please be seated..."

Interesting day… and pretty funny, too!

Started out earlier than normal as I had to get showered up and clean at a decent hour so I could be ready for Han when he got finished dropping Curt off at work… While I was waiting in between I ate some breakfast and chatted online with folks, including Ashley who proceeded to tell me that she had caught a video of Cade “talking” to me on his little fake toy laptop earlier that day… I thought my heart would literally burst with joy, I just thought it was so precious!!! (I still want that video, by the way, Ash!), and then when I talked to her and the boys on Skype (we do a combo of IM and Skype mostly), I got to watch the boys play basketball in the kitchen – both are very good, and then they showed me how they “talk” to me on their laptop, and I also got to see Cade talk to Nana, too, which was sweet…

Then Han was here so I had to run, and was prepped for a horrendous morning as Curt said getting my health check at the International Center for Exit and Entry for Health (or whatever it’s called) took him like 3 hours… so I brought a book, and off we went! Curt had told me to bring Han in with me to help because he had to fax something over that he forgot, so me and Han went in, I had my passport, passport photos, a TON of cash because it costs lots of money, etc. I filled out the proper form, and Han was busy chatting about the fax, got my picture taken via webcam, and then sat to wait…

Han motioned me back over and they gave me a ton of stuff – papers, a box, etc (I wasn’t sure at the time what the box was for – was thinking it was some sort of receptacle to pee in or something, but turns out it was a gift I guess they give everyone – a handy dandy first aid kit)! Then Han motioned me through a door and hallway and said something I didn’t understand, so hands full, I started walking… the hallway was long with many doors, so I walked about halfway and came back out looking lost, so he came back with me and led me down a corridor (he didn’t know where he was going, he just had a better idea than me of what to look for) and then we went through a door that opened up to another waiting room… this waiting room had like 8 different doors off of it, each labeled above the door for its purpose… turns out I was to hop from room to room, where in each there was a Chinese person waiting for people to come in. So here’s what I had to do (all in separate rooms): Get my blood drawn (saw them get the disposable needle out of the plastic, this was my biggest fear so good there), get an X-ray (the guy gently contorted my body around this plate to get the shot, hilarious), get an ultrasound (the first in my life, cold jelly on the tummy, behind a very thin curtain where people could just walk in?!), an EKG (also interesting, had to lift up my shirt AND my bra so they could plug me up, and clamp things on my legs and arms – keep in mind I am just chanting, trust the process, trust the process, lots of people have to get this done, I’m sure they’re professional, etc.), a dentist check (easy), and eye check (easy and I was complimented on my excellent eye sight – yea!), height and weight on some weird contraption that I was unfamiliar with (and because I was looking at it funny I got reprimanded to hold still!), blood pressure, and a couple other things I feel that I’m forgetting… in each place Han had my form, handed it to the person, I tried hard to follow directions, they did their thing, stamped my form and handed it to Han, gave him directions on where to take me next, and I was literally like a poor little calf being herded from room to room… I was literally LAUGHING OUT LOUD at one point as to how completely comical this all was… but oh my gosh I was SO thankful for Han shuffling me in and out of these rooms… like an IDIOT I totally would have waited for each person to call on me and then would have gone back to the central area to wait some more… so instead of taking 3 hours, it took us maybe 35 minutes?! Whoop! Han even helped me to land a copy of my passport which I didn’t know I needed which he did so easily, that I knew if it had just been me would have taken forever, cost me money, etc. Yea for our great driver!

Since we were SO far ahead of schedule when we were leaving I asked Han to take me to a shoe place since Vicki decided the shoes I had to wear for Sylvia’s shindig in NYC were not “hot enough,” so I drew a high heel for Han, pointed to my own tennis shoe, and asked where I could buy like the ones in the picture? He understood, and asked about Times Square which is an upscale shopping place a few miles from our house, and I said sure, I didn’t know, so we went there! He took me right to the door of a department store that I hadn’t been to yet, I told him I would try to be quick, and spent about 30 minutes looking for a satisfactory pair of shoes within my price range… I did find a really cute pair (Guess?) but they were about $110 US dollars, so I decided to wait until later that evening when we were going to go to Bar Street for dinner (they have lots of cute shopping there, and I figured for cheaper?).

So then Han took me home, I talked to Ash a bit more, ate some lunch (an amazing PB&J) then started to do stuff around the house – dishes, laundry, then packing!

Then I went over to Ono and got my nails repainted (THIS time a pretty dark purple with very subtle sparkles that shimmer in the light), so that took awhile, and then home… Curt got home a few minutes later and Han took us to Bar Street and then we sent him home… after about 30 minutes we finally found me a pair of VERY cute shoes that were about $50 US dollars, so much more reasonable, even though not cheap, but I love them more than the other ones so it was a good buy…

Then we headed to Mario’s for dinner since it’s my last night, had a yummy meal, and now home where I’m writing this and Curt is having a meeting in the living room!

So a great day, and really excited for NYC even though I’m NOT excited about my full day of traveling tomorrow, PLUS my flight… ugh… be thinking of me!

Love,

A Girl's Girl day...

Today was a pretty fun day… the weather, unlike at home, was very nice and mild! I started the day with oatmeal and chatting with those at home, then it was off to Body Pump! I so look forward to this class, and super nerd that I am, I even downloaded one of the songs in the routine that I end up humming all day after I leave there… it’s the song we do while we’re doing shoulders – check it out, “All I Ever Wanted by Basshunters, totally techno, but you can bet it will be in my workout playlist for a long time, what a great beat! So Body Pump was great, saw my friends there and walked home with Amy and talked to her more about the orphanage volunteering that I’ll pursue when I get back in June.

Then I talked more online (today I got to talk to Ashley, Mom, Parker, Aunt Whitni (all three at once since Mom is in WV), Dad, Courtney & Adam, and Vicki! Was a great chatting day which lasted me through lunch time! Then I had some yummy CoCo Wheats for lunch, did some stuff around the house, watched a little TV, and just things in general while Ping Me was still here!

Later in the afternoon I had to venture out to get some passport photos taken for my health check tomorrow morning, so got those taken care of, and while I was waiting on them to be printed I did some shopping! I was looking for some heels to take with me to New York, but didn’t really find a good selection, so ended up clothes shopping instead… I ended up with two GREAT dresses that I ended up paying on average about $25 a piece for… so not too bad, not a great deal, but what I could get a dress at Target for, so that’s all anyone can ask, right? AND they are adorable, and I think very Chinese fashion, so I’ll take them with me home and get a few opinions… and then bring them back so I can actually have decent clothes here to wear as I brought a) not a lot and b) not my best clothes!

Then it was time to head home, and Curt was home from work when I got there, hungry for dinner, so I got started making some grilled cheeses! Note the bread here doesn’t have any preservatives, so if Curt doesn’t eat it all up with PB&J lunches, then we have to get creative for our dinners, because it is very good bread! So we had grilled cheeses, and I sautéed some mushrooms, so that was actually really yummy even if not so culinary!

Then YEA – Sense and Sensibility came on HBO! I can’t tell you how much I appreciate Jane Austen, and the billions of movies that have been made based on her and her books throughout the years… I love her and it never fails that regardless of what’s going on in life, when I watch one of her movies, or read one of her books, my outlook is always much improved. Yea for happy endings!

Then Curt was getting tired of his hair, so he decided to let me trim it up a bit!?! Quite unexpected since he’s been growing it out despite my grumbling, but I guess it got to be a little too much… I didn’t chop it all off, just thinned it out some, and I think I did a decently good job for never having done anything like it before? Hair cutting is hard, people, don’t let anyone tell you differently… as I got more confident, I started imitating JJ (our stylist back home) and that helped some… LOL. Curt was worried because scissors started flying and I quote, “I’m worried because you sound like JJ and I know you’re not a professional…” Fair enough, so I slowed down… haha

So that’s about it for today!

Fascination is Universal

I’m not much in the mood for blog writing, and haven’t been this whole weekend, but here’s some to hold me over until I get the bug again… haha

The weekend was really great, very low key, relaxing, and we just played every hour by ear! We watched a few movies, ate out at our favorite restaurants, did a lot of walking, went to see Curt’s motorcycle that’s almost finished, took some photos as the weekend was REALLY nice, and took naps both Saturday and Sunday… lol, all in all weekends of leisure.

We also got to see another fountain show, which was much longer than normal – it lasted all through our dinner, and then after some which we watched… there were a ton of people there, including Chinese tourists even? Everyone would ooh and aahh at the same times, which made us realize that fascination and the sounds we make when we are fascinated are universal, which is kind of funny…

Today was also pretty relaxed… I slept in a little later than normal today, talked to Mom and Ashley online, went and had a very long and great workout, came home and got cleaned up, and lo and behold at about 1:45 a.m. I got a Skype call from Kendyl? When I heard the ring I was thinking who in the world could still be up, and I promise the very last person I expected was Kendyl… if you know her you would agree, but this is my sister who goes to bed at 9 p.m. sharp, or earlier if she’s tired… LOL! She couldn’t sleep, and had to wake up early to take Mom to the airport so was considering pulling an all nighter… we talked for a few minutes and I talked her out of it, but had some laughs and she went back to bed, so that was a fun surprise for the day! I did 2 loads of 2.5 hour laundry, did the dishes, did some reading, walked outside, then it was time for Curt to be home!

We ordered dinner in, watched a little bit of the ASTROS game which was so fun, and then a movie that was on TV, and now I’m winding down some because I’m so tired – I guess from my long workout today…?

Tomorrow I have to actually run a couple errands and get some passport photos so that Wednesday I can go sit in a clinic for hours and get my health check before I come home!

Sorry for the boring post – I’m just not in the writing mood tonight…

Love you guys, though, and hope everyone is well! :-)

Another Rainy Day, but at least it's Friday!

Yesterday was another rainy day in Suzhou – very dreary, big raindrops, and pretty dark! But I had fun plans with Jana, so at least I had something to look forward to… spoke to Ashley and Vicki for a few minutes in the a.m. so that was nice, too.

I didn’t feel like getting soaking wet on my 7-minute walk to the gym, so decided to do an in-home workout, which after I couldn’t get the DVD player hook-up right, ended up being a 45-minute combination workout of anything I could think of to keep myself moving. I moved the coffee table, laid down my yoga mat, put on MTV Phillipines (thank goodness for this channel, for real), and did lots of push-ups, sit-ups, stretching, jump-roping with no jump-rope (haha), dancing, mountain climbers, etc. I definitely worked up a sweat, so that’s good, I guess?

Then I got ready, and Sally, our real estate agent who also serves as a landlord liason, came over to get some rent money and top up our gas for us… I guess if you pay rent over a certain amount here they kind of cater to you for everything, so Sally not only helped us find a place to live, but like with the gas, she monitors our gas usage when she comes over once a month and brings this credit card looking thing with money loaded on it, inserts it into this thing by the stove, and then we have more money loaded onto it so we can use it for heating the water and cooking, etc. It’s quite different, but interesting, too.

Then Jana came to pick me up and we started our “busy” day by going to a jewelry party at a lady’s house about 10 minutes away across the lake. It was just like one of the parties you’d see at home… there were tons of expat women there, jewelry set out along the tables, lunch food, and lots of mingling. I met several women who were really nice, including Pam, a fellow Texan! She and her husband, Mark, are originally from Baytown/Galveston, but they live in Austin now. They and their 4 kids have been here for 4 months and live in our complex, literally in the building behind us! Her husband is an Aggie, WHOOP!, and she invited us over later to play some 42?! It was awesome… so I had fun talking to her, and Jana, and a few of the other ladies… I didn’t buy any jewelry (I’m trying to live very minimalistically here), and after an hour and a half or so Jana and I headed out to go get our hair washed (LOL – don’t forget, I said last week this was going to be my once a week, Friday activity)!

Once again, hair washing was absolute heaven… it was just too bad that it was raining because for the rest of the afternoon I was trying to protect the perfectness that was my hair from the weather, haha!

Then Jana took me over to Metro, which is about 15 minutes away by car and a huge store very much like Sam’s Club or Costco – you need a membership card to get in, you can buy bulk, but apparently the #1 reason most expats shop there is the quality of meat I guess is similar to what you could get at home (or the best option here, at least). I had a lot of fun roaming the aisles with her and just absorbing everything they had there so I could remember for later – she bought a ton of stuff, and then we headed back into town. She invited us to dinner with her and her husband and kids, so she dropped me off, I read for a bit until Curt got home, and then we headed out again to meet them.

We ended up at one of the best Chinese restaurants in town, and it was Jana, her husband, and 2 of their 3 kids (who were so well behaved all through dinner at 4 and 11 months). Dinner was excellent, and Curt and her husband, Rob, had a great time chatting away, so it was very fun and pleasant! None of us had any idea what to order as everyone had been there for lunch only, and it was a completely different menu, but literally *everything* we ordered was delicious!

Then they dropped us off back home, and I called Pam to see if it was too late to still drop by – she said nope, so we walked over to their house where they were hanging out with Jen and Mike who also had their 3 kids over (I’ve met Jen a few times as she and Jana and Lisa are all friends, too), having wine and beer and just chatting. It was the perfect Friday night evening getting to know new friends… it was also SO fun to sit there and here Mark (Pam’s husband, the Aggie) casually bring up 290 (a highway in Houston)… omg you can’t even know how big I smiled just to have people that knew things from home, and not just the states, but Houston!!! We talked about Texas football, Aggie football (educated Jen and Mike some as they are from Michigan), work stuff, TV shows, living in China, literally a ton of topics… all the while 7 kids ranging from 1 to 10 were running around in the background, entertaining themselves! We had so much fun (girls talking girl stuff, boys at the other end of the table), and 1 a.m. rolled around and everyone was tired so time to call it a night… was a great day!

A side note observation (that does not include any of the above women I spent time with today), but what’s interesting about some of the women I’m meeting here, like from today at the party, etc. is that I’m literally the youngest (not a huge surprise) and only 1 of 2 women total that does NOT have any kids… it’s usually the 3rd or 4th question out of the women’s mouths – “so do you have kids?” Sometimes when I reply no to this question, the ladies get a very thoughtful look on their faces, pause for a moment as if they don’t know where to go next in the conversations, and then exclaim, well then you must meet Siri (sp?) – she lives in Horizon and has no kids either! So we’ll see when our paths cross, because apparently we will be new best friends according to 4 different people based on the sole fact that neither of us have any children… apparently…I don’t know.

I’m exaggerating a little, not EVERY conversation goes like that, but a few have which makes me wonder if when you become a mother if suddenly people without children become too alien to be able to be your friend? I realize there are different sets of things to talk about, but I got the feeling that I wasn’t good enough to be in the “clique” or something… it was weird. Thankfully so far, at least, there are a handful of women who are “my kind of people” that don’t discriminate…

I love that I’m meeting a lot of great people, but I’m also going to choose my friends wisely, here… I’ve heard allusions to cliques (they seem to so far correspond with where you live) and with an entire subculture that is relatively small, it’s not hard to already notice some of this type of stuff… I’m going to stick with the attitude that I’m not going to be friends with anyone here that wouldn’t be my friend at home, and so far it’s working well and I’ve been lucky enough to meet people that fall into that category.

We have no plans for this weekend, so it will be interesting to see what we get into – should be low key and relaxing, I think! Also getting excited for my first trip back home!

Love,

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!