the end of 2008.

happy new year to you!

in two and a half hours we will be ringing in the new year via our nice comfy beds. 

to start this post off i want to share something pretty funny with you. i love chinlish (chinese-english) these are the directions on how to use the internet in our rooms...enjoy and i hope it makes you smile.

Dear guest, welcome use network:

1. Need use network please direct pull up net line, conjunction good empress can normal usage.

2. Network can't normal use please auto obtain IP adress.

3. Detection network break down please with HSKP contact. 

Telephone "5"

Wish you delectation.

today was still rainy and even a little chilly, but of course that didn't stop us from roaming all the streets and hunting down the tilled soil and best bargain (which a lot of times came together at the same place) and put our skills into practice.

i love shopping, even more so in china. i love finding amazing deals and i love all the unique things. i met a girl tonight in one of the stores, she just came up and started showing off her limited english and we hit it off. she and i were looking at pearl rings and we ended up buying matching rings. she asked if i was russian, she said because i am so very white and beautiful i must be russian. we both had our matching rings on and she looked at my hand and then at hers and she rubbed the top of my hand and said it was white and beautiful and then touched the top of her hand and said it was yellow and not beautiful. i put my hand on hers and told her that her skin was very beautiful, and she smiled a big beautiful smile and told me she was happy. now whenever i see my pearl ring i will think of my friend here in china, i would love it if i could see her again, but only Dad knows how to arrange a meeting like that.

today for lunch we went to a place to get dim sun and oh boy was it amazing! we ordered so many different foods, we could not even finish it all. one thing we had to try is a cold sweet soy bean drink (similar to soy milk, but it had chunks in it and was waaaaay too sweet) with what is translated as "grease stick" in it. it was what i like to call "fatty goodness" i am sure that one drink had about 15,000 calories in it. :-)

before lunch today i went black to the place i went to yesterday and i gave the little girl who seemed sad a necklace i made her. when i told her i made it for her, her eyes lit up and she made eye contact with me for the first time. she was very sweet and i am planning on going to see her tomorrow. i have been thinking about her a lot lately, i am wishing right now i had remembered to pack some tootsie pops to give her.

for dinner we went out without a translator to a pretty nice place, we looked through the 45 page menu book and put our fingers on the pictures of the dishes we wanted to eat, it was pretty funny. our server was pretty proud of the crab that is their speciality and kept pointing to it and when we would say "no thank you" she would respond pretty loudly "YES!". she even brought a basket by with 3 live crabs in them and we were supposed to pick which one we wanted to eat, instead we asked if she could let them run around one our table, but she just nodded and said "YES!" and walked away. we knew she could not understand a word we said, so we had a little fun with it. finally we settled on chicken gizzards with chilies, garlic and ginger, long beans with garlic, some sort of dumpling (we had no way of telling what they were stuffed with, so we just pointed to the picture and the server picked for us), steamed buns with milk and green tea with "lam", but i think "lam" really means "lime".  we though about getting this soup that was a type of milk with a whole turtle (shell, head, arms, legs and all) floating in it, but we are saving that until next time (the boys were too chicken, so we brave girls are going back to try it).

well as this year draws to a close, i am pondering the whole new years resolution thing and i am going to revise my life statement and now include the words "as you go sow" in it. i am starting to see the bigger picture, not only in china, but in our own backyard as well. i challenge each of you to think of your life statement and see what you live and breath for, what is your passion, drive and your desire?

i love each of you very much and i thank you for the impact you have made on my life this year.

its bedtime, goodnight and happy new year. bring it on 2009.

splish splash.

good evening. 

today i realized how very curly my hair actually is, it has been raining a light drizzle all day. 

i find it funny that when i am in the states, if it is raining, i do NOT go outside, but here in china i wandered all the streets, got soaking wet, had to change clothes three times and loved every second of it.

today we learned about planting seeds, cultivating the already planted seeds and then the reward of the harvest. Joyce's words "as you go sow" rang through my mind. 

Tonight we did some shopping, sightseeing and practiced our sowing techniques, we will be checking our seeds tomorrow and the next day.

Today for lunch we found an amazing little place on the side of the road, it smelled amazing even amongst the stench coming from the streets because of all the rain. we went into the little room and sat on tiny red plastic stools and had the best dragon buns, veggie rice and noodles ever. this time we ate and ate and ended up spending about 60 cents for lunch. mmmm

the family that runs this yummy place live above it and we saw the ladder against the wall they use to climb up to their house. they have sparked an interest to me and i plan on visiting them again tomorrow. they have a daughter that could use some t.l.c.

tonight, for dinner we found another place, this one was a build your own soup (mom, you would LOVE it). on the street corner there was a long table/boxes/cart thing covered with all different types of meats and veggies on sticks. so we picked up which sticks looked the best to us and gave them to the beautiful chinese girls with huge pots. i picked a kind of fish that had little red spots in it, seaweed, tofu skin, dried tofu, big square tofu (good deal lot of tofu) and two types of green leafy veggies that looked like a cross between bokchoy and spinach. the broth was probably the most amazing broth i have ever tasted! mom, please come to china with me and learn how to make it!

i found an adorable shoe store, and the shoes are about 6 dollars a pair, i wanted all of the shoes, but of course they have shoes for cinderella's feet, not her step-sisters! :-) oh well, at least i have beautiful feet on the outside, who cares what the shoe that covers them looks like. 

well its late...haha 9:41pm but this let lag is taking its toll.

goodnight world. much love to you all.

arrival.

after 38 hours of traveling, we arrived in a beautiful city with drizzling rain.

one thing that screams "china" is the neon signs on all the buildings, i wish there was more neon in the usa. 

after taking a much needed shower we set out to find a yummy dinner...and boy did we!

we walked a few blocks in the rain and went into a nice looking place, as soon as we walked into the doors the power went off...but that didn't discourage the host or the hungry travelers. we found our table and began to read over the 45 page menu by candle light, no small task when the menu is in english, and almost impossible in chinese. 

finally the power came back on and we ordered "cattle chops with pepper" "rabbit with spices" "goat with sauce" "pumpkin rolled in yoke" and some banana thing that i cannot remember the proper name for it so we will call it "yummy sweet banana heaven". 

we also had a few other choices to pick from, like "puffed fish bladder with curry" "fish skin with onions" and my personal favorite "pickled duck tongue with spices".

as soon as our many different dishes arrived it was all out chop sick war, we ate and ate and ate...and the best part about it...we sure got full...(love you Papa!) oh and the 2nd best part about it was...we ate for less than 6 bucks a person. man, i love china.

on our walk home i stopped by a couple of kids sitting on the sidewalk in the rain selling mangos and i bought a HUGE one for about a dollar or as aunt joyce would say "a doll hair!"

im very much looking forward to flossing all this bunny rabbit out of my teeth, crawling in bed, and drifting off into a glorious slumber....

goodnight and love to yall on the other side of the globe.

Greetings.

hello from china.

thank you to my wonderful doctor who gave me the sleeping pills so i was able to enjoy 12 glorious hours of sleep and arrive fully refreshed and bouncing all the way down the tarmac. 

i made my traditional "bee line" to starbucks and got my latte to start the day off right.

So, now i sit amongst tons of beautiful asians sipping my latte and thinking how things just don't get much better than this.

i started my new journal in the airplane and was able to write many letters to Dad and do a lot of thinking. new journals are always a highlight for me.

last night for dinner on the plane i got to enjoy my first bit of chinese food! i was probably the only "westerner" on the plane who was excited. we were served a salad with squid, shrimp and octopus with a large tomato and no dressing. i ate it happily and i cannot wait for dinner tonight.

yes, i am only here for the food. haha! :-)

i must say also, i was lucky to have the very best seat on the plane, the very back row right next to the bathrooms. so, the 3 times i was awake enough to get up i didn't have to look face the whole plane looking like i just spent 12 hours sleeping sitting up.

well much to each of you.

tune in next time for more adventures.

em...make sure you give lil mar a snack. ;-)

its time.

packing packing packing.

my suitcase is full of protein powder, benefiber, sugar free nesquick and plenty of powdered milk.

mmmmm mmmm good.

now i have to figure out how to fit my clothes, tooth brush in the same big red suitcase.

its going to be an adventure.