Tim is home!!! We rode the mag lev train to the airport again. I really like getting to the airport in 7 minutes vs 45+ minutes. We took Mr. Zhang with us on the train so he could help tote all the suit cases that Tim was bringing. Mr. Zhang was so excited to ride the train that he parked the car and ran up the down escalator. The up escalator was crowded with people and he did not want to wait so he got on the down escalator and ran up. Talk about a work out....

It was like Christmas unpacking Tim's suitcases. We have never been so excited about rice crispies and marshmallows as we were today. Ah...the simply joys of life...

We are off to Hianan Island tomorrow afternoon. Vacation!! Yippee!!!!!!!

My day improved 10 fold after I left the house today. I was late getting to the quilt group because of the flood but I was determined to treat myself to some girl talk and stitching time. My mood improved as soon as I got to the "meeting" and I really enjoyed the company and conversation. This group is a mixture of many different countries and most of them have teens and/or college age kids. Some are expert Expats and have lived in many different countries so I learned a lot about the Expat culture. Some of the women were repeats from last week and some I met for the first time today. I was invited to join some of them for a three day fabric purchasing excursion to Korea in a couple of weeks. I am seriously thinking about going....one can never have too much fabric.

About two weeks ago we took a group of pictures to a frame shop in HongQiao. Yesterday I went to pick them up and I could write a very long storey about that experience. The long and short of it is....3 out of 6 eventually made it into frames and I brought the other three back home unframed. Last night I hung the framed pictures and our walls are looking much happier now. I took the other three pictures to a different framer today....slightly more expensive but very reliable. It will be fun to get them back and cover more of our white walls with a little color.

It has been a long day....and I am going to bed. I hope that we a flood free morning tomorrow.

AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!! Do you remember that $10 plumbing repair? Well...the saying "you get what you pay for" applies here. This morning we had another flood in Abi's bathroom. This time water was coming out of the overflow drain. Her shower had standing water in it (which was supposedly fixed the day before) and when she ran water in her sink.....water started coming out of the floor drain. She quickly covered the drain with the plunger and called me for help. I called the front desk several times....no answer.... Abi moved the plunger...water is still flooding out of the drain. I tried to call the front desk again...no answer...agian....no answer. Okay...one of us needs to go to the management office. So....I am still in my pajamas, Abi is dressed for school so I take over the plunger holding and she goes to the management office. I move the plunger...water is still flooding out. Abi gets down stairs....no one at the front desk...goes to the management office...several people in the office...no one speaks English...and they do not understand her urgency or her expressive Charade actions. She goes back to the front desk....no one home...goes to the door person...tries to tell them we have a problem....blank stare... Finally a young boy asks if she needs help....he speaks Chinese and English...he explains to the door people what has happened...they radio someone and Abi returns to our apartment. I am still in my pajamas holding the plunger over the drain. By now the water is getting close to the door. A repair person comes....I lift the plunger off the drain to show him the gushing water...no water comes out of the drain. Can you believe it? He does not grasp the urgency of the situation and starts to fix the drain like it is no big problem. All the while he is standing in an inch of water. He works in the bathroom for a few minutes....comes out and is ready to leave. Meanwhile the repairman that supposedly fixed this problem the day before arrives. As you can imagine I am not happy!!!!!!!!!!! Two floods in 2 1/2 days makes me very grumpy. Actually grumpy is too mild of a word so you can replace that with any word that comes to mind. That way I will not have to type it and I can keep this PG. Mr. "first on the scene" repairman assures me it is fixed. I do not believe him. I require a demonstration. So....he turns on the shower full blast...fills the sink with water and lets it run for about three minutes. Nothing floods....now I am satisfied. From the body language and communication between.....Mr."First on the scene" and Mr. "I fixed it yesterday"guy....I believe "yesterday guy" forgot some important step in fixing the problem. Now they are ready to leave....Water is everywhere....I do not have enough towels in our house to soak up all this water. I ask them about this....they shrug and leave. (please fill in this blank with a long list of expressive words)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What am I supposed to do with all this water? Evidently...clean up water is not their "specialty". Abi gets her stuff ready for school....is very frazzled...and has a test today. This was not a good way to start her day and she is late for school. She leaves and I get dressed. I call the front desk...no answer. I go downstairs...still no one.....I go to the management office...doors open...no one in the office. How is it when I bring home a few boards from the hardware store there are thousands of people around....when I have a flood.....the place is vacant? In the office there is a place card with a 24 hour hotline phone number. I call the number from the phone in the office. A person answers.....I ask if he can speak English...he hangs up. I knock on the back door to the office...no answer. Finally a worker comes into the office...I tell him what I need....blank stare. He goes in the back room and gets someone else....I show him the paper that I have translated on my computer translator thing.....He says....You need someone to clean up water? Oh My Gosh....someone understands me!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes....please send someone to clean up the water. I leave the office....I am wound up so tight I think I am going to explode. I really want to yell at someone but who would I yell at?....and it would be wasted energy because they wouldn't understand me anyway. I go get back to our apartment....wonder how long it will be before someone comes....can't take a shower until they get there because I don't want to miss them.....so.......I eat four cookies and a bowl of oatmeal. So much for the morning walk and fitting into my swim suit next week. Did I mention that next week is a national holiday? It is Chinese Labor Day (week). We are going to Hianan Island for the entire week and plan to do nothing except lay on the beach and play tennis. We are all looking forward to a break. It will just be us and a few other expats and probably a small group of 10 million or so Chinese vacationers. Back to the story......while I am thinking about the swimsuit and the four cookies I just eat the "clean up crew" arrives. It is one lady with a bucket and a wet rag. Now I really just want to cry. I show her to the bathroom....she says something that I think was a swear word.....assesses the situation....and wades into the bathroom with her bucket and rag. I am not sure how she did it but she cleaned up all the water. I said Xiexie...which is thank you....she smiled...and went away as happy as could be. My day can only get better from here...right? That is the only thought that gives me the energy to get in the shower.

Today is April 25th, our daughter Timborah's birthday. She would be 18 years old. Wow!! Do I feel old. Her birthday does not make me sad any more it just makes me reflective and a little melancholy. Abi and I celebrated by singing Happy Birthday at dinner tonight. I think it is hardest on Tim because he is away from the family this week. Loosing a child is something that you never "get over" no mater how much time passes. I wanted to tell someone that today was her birthday....not so they would feel sad for us....just to have a moment in the day when time stops and she is remembered. So....I guess this is that moment. Give your kids an extra hug tonight.

We sent a long "wish list" with Tim when he left on Friday. The wish list contains items that we are missing from home and/or can not find here. He usually travels for a week with a very small carry on bag and his brief case. I can never understand this because it usually take a small suit case just to hold my shoes and make up. Anyway.....This time he went with one of my sewing machines in his carry on bag, two extra large suitcases, and his brief case. The extra suit cases were pretty much empty so he will have room to bring home "the goods". He called to say that he has been shopping for us and said he felt like he was stocking up for the winter before going back into the wilderness. In some ways this is a true statement.

I bet you are wondering why he is taking one of my sewing machines to Texas. Well....we had a little power issue that resulted in a sizzling noise and a strange burning electrical smell. Of course being an American sewing machine it is 110v and the power here is 220. We knew this would be a problem and took every precaution to avoid frying the machine....we even had a special transformer overnighted to our house the day before we left America. The transformer has a 110 and a 220 outlet and somehow after all our preparation and attention to the power issue we still got the power plugged into the wrong outlet. Oops!!!!! We found a place in Houston that could fix the machine so it is now recovering in a Texas sewing center. It will be staying in Houston however because the required part is on backorder......we must not be the only ones having power issues.

It has been three months since any of us have driven a car and Tim is really enjoying the freedom and Independence of driving his own car. I think there is going to be a few extra miles on the rental car this week.

Abi was sick this morning so she stayed home from school until lunch time and then went to school so she could take a math test this afternoon. I only left the house for a few minutes today and that was to walk to the corner bakery to get bread. The rest of the day I spent caring for Abi, reading and writing email, looking for another Ayi, and .......making some new quilt squares from my stash of fabric that I brought from home. The good news is that I actually took a shower and got dressed today. I only say this because on Sunday I spent the whole day in my pajamas. Speaking of Ayi's...I am really missing Delia as I am doing laundry and cooking. Our washing machine is really tiny and only holds about one pair of jeans and a pair of socks. And....it takes our dryer forrrrrrever to dry the smallest item. On the flip side it has been nice to have the house to myself....I forgot what it was like to privacy all day. Now that I think about it.....I can live without privacy if I don't have to wash dishes.....ha ha.

On occasion our apartment has a maintenance issue. Today was one of those days. Abi took a shower this morning and flooded her bathroom. There is an extra drain in the floor for this very reason...but....the water ran everywhere except to the drain???? So....after doing a little mopping and investigating the water issue I concluded there were two different problems. One...the drain was clogged and the water was not draining in the shower and Two...the water was leaking out of the shower because the silicone was old. The process to have this fixed....call the front desk, they call the management office who sends a repair person. The great news is the repair person will be at your door within minutes...."Only in Shanghai". The bad news is the repair person does not speak English and with my fluent grasp of the Chinese language we pretty much did not understand a word the other said. So.....more Charades, several calls to the front desk person (who has limited English skills) three trips to "get parts" by the repair person, the appearance of a second repair person....eventually there are different repair people for drains and silicone....I guess everyone has their specialty. After the new part was installed the drain was still backing up....and silly me thought it should work better after the new part was installed. Some days I have such unreasonable expectations. More conversations with the front desk person...did I mention that the "special" phone that calls the front desk automatically hangs up after about one minute?.....it is true so if you want to have a conversation you have to call....and then call again....and then call again....until you have finished your conversation....and our conversations as not short because the phone has to be passed from me to the repair person and back again. I finally remembered that we have an online translation program on our office computer and I was successful in communicating. The repair person was also pleased about this. So....the shower is repaired and I paid the bill which was Y75. That is just under $10. That is also an "only in Shanghai" event.

Tim arrived safely in TX tonight. We are sharing the same weather.....both places are hot and muggy.
Abi has had a full day....she went to an audition for a Jackie Chan movie this afternoon with two other friends, then they took a taxi to the subway station, rode the subway to the stop closest to our house and Mr. Zhang picked her up and brought her home. She is getting to be a real pro with the mass transit systems. I continue to be a nervous mother!!! Abi was home long enough to eat dinner, take a shower and then was out the door to a Cosmic bowling event sponsored by the Community Center. The center has a new youth program that includes all the international schools in Shanghai. I think it is a really positive thing because it gives the teens an alchohol/smoke free activity. There are no drinking age laws in China so it is legal for teens and younger kids to go to the clubs/bars. YIKES!!!!

I am sad to say that we had to let Delia go yesterday. I hated yesterday. She was a wonderful worker but a few weeks ago we were surprised to find out that she did not have all the necessary legal work permits required for China and this was becoming a bigger and more complicated issue then we were willing to tackle. So...we are looking for a new Ayi.

Today I had another "only in Shanghai" day. I wanted to buy a large canvas board to cover with cotton batting to use as a design board for quilting. After exhausting many possibles with Janes help I resigned myself to the idea that we would have to have the frame built. Mr. Zhang said he could do this for me. So.....today we went to B&Q (the local Home Improvement store) to purchase lumber. We agreed upon the type of lumber I needed and measured with my "inch" tape measure and then converted these numbers to meters. We could cut all the pieces we needed out of three long boards. Side Note: Remember....I am trying hard to learn how to speak Chinese but I am no where close to being able to explain "how to build something out of wood" in Chinese. This is the same situation in reverse for Mr. Zhang. So.....Pictionary and Charades are our main form of communication in this situation. Anyway....we got the boards and Mr. Zhang asked the sales person if they could cut the boards to the length we wanted. Sure....no problem....he left for a minute and came back with a small hand saw. NO KIDDING!!! By this time we have attracted a lot of attention. I am not sure they see women foreigners and their drivers in the lumber section of their store very often. Anyway....the cutting commences in the middle of the floor. Let me tell you that hand sawing is not an expedient process. We finally get the four outside pieces of the frame cut. Of course I did not want a small frame.....it had to be a very large frame so it could hold many many many quilt squares. So....The frame is 2.75 meters x 1.5 meters (BTW...one meter is about 39 inches in case you ever need to know) and is now layed out on the floor. Seeing it for the first time in it's full glory I suddenly realize that it is going to be too tall for our apartment ceiling. Oops!!! Sorry guys.....would you mind cutting (with a hand saw) those two boards a little shorter? I am not sure they really understood why I needed them shorter but they cut them again. Okay...good....the frame is just the right size...now we need four pieces cut with 45 degree angles on both ends so we can use them as corner braces. Now the sales person decides that they can use the power saw....but....sorry.....the only person that knows how to run the saw is "somewhere" and we can wait for him to return. We wait.....Mr. Zhang has a discussion with two other sales people.....we wait.....the discussion gets a little louder....great....just what we need...more attention....Side Note: loud discussions are not really uncommon in China...remember those tones that I talked about in the Chinese language...well....it often sounds like people are really getting heated up during a conversation when in fact they are just making those tones more "expressive". Anyway....while Mr. Zhang is expressing his tones....I go to the tool section and find a miter box that includes a little saw. I convince Mr. Zhang that we can do this ourselves....he finally agrees...and we leave the store with our boards and miter box. This whole process has taken almost two hours. Nothing happens quickly in Shanghai. We return to our apartment building, get the boards out of the car, draw another crowd of door openers, taxi callers, and security guards, (nothing is private in China) put the boards in the elevator and finally into our apartment. Our work space is the marble floor in the entry way of our apartment. We spend about another hour and a half cutting (with a hand saw) the 45 degree angles. Actually Mr. Zhang did all the cutting....I gave really good directions and offered ice water. I think he was happy to be doing something instead of waiting in the car for the next "outing". This could only happen in Shanghai!!!!!!!!!!!! I used the POWER drill to put the frame together and it is now leaning against the wall waiting to be hung. Small project....Big Adventure!

I have a bit of catching up to do. My brain has not been in the "writing" mood this past week and at the end of the day I collapse into bed feeling exhausted. I think this may have something to do with Chinese lessons three days a week and trying to remember from one day to the next what I learned. Two steps forward...two steps back....I think that means that I am still in the same place. A women who has lived in Shanghai for four years said to hang in there....it will just sort of come together. My exciting language moment this week......drum roll.....I said thank you in Chinese and the lady in the store said bu keqi....which means no problem or no thanks needed. AND....I understood what she said!!! I almost hugged her! I know this seems simple but it is these little baby steps that keep me going back to class. Here is a little tidbit about the Chinese language. One word can have different meanings.....for example the word zuo with the fourth tone means "to sit" and "to make something". The word is the same but it has two different characters so if you write it people don't get confused. But...if you say it....there can be some confusion. So if you ask someone if they would like to make a turkey sandwich they may think you are asking if they want to sit on the turkey. The context of the sentence is supposed to clarify any confusion but so far I am lucky if I recognize one or two words in a sentence. This is also what keeps me going back to class.

Here is a little "catch up" on our adventures:
Last Sunday we scootered to Yu Garden. We rode the scooters to the ferry landing, rode the ferry across the river and then rode to the garden. BTW...the Yu Garden has a famous Tea House and Temple and is surrounded by a whole bunch of shopping "cubbies". Every time we go there we discover a new area. This time was no exception....we discovered a three story building with more shops. I tell you China is just one be adventure.....you never know what you will find around the next corner. Our scooters are great fun....but the traffic is very scary. We try to stay off the back rodes and find other scooter riders that can lead us through the maize of traffic. On our way home a man on a bike rode up next to us in the "bike/scooter lane. You should have seen the look on his face when he saw foreigners on scooters. First it was shock...then it was amusement...then he smiled and gave us a thumbs up. We waited until he went across the intersection and then followed close behind. This particular intersection is huge....it has three lanes of traffic running all directions (so it is six lanes wide) and it always seems very chaotic to me but somehow it makes sense to the locals. This is why I like to ride with a pack ....you just get in the middle of the pack and do what they do.

Tuesday morning I braved going to IKEA. We have learned never ever ever ever under any circumstance go to IKEA on the weekend so Tuesday morning seemed like a good choice. I went looking for an adjustable office type chair for my sewing area......this was the last item I needed to be able to start creating again. I found the perfect chair....very comfortable and every part of it adjusts. Success!!! After IKEA I went to a very fun store that makes custom lamps. You can bring any item to the store and they will make it into a lamp. While I was in the store I met two other moms that have 10th grade girls at Concordia.....what are the chances?? The third stop was a home decorating store. We past this store last Saturday when we were doing other errands. I directed Mr. Zhang to it without an address!!! I was so proud!! The store was sort of Pier One meets tacky Chinese Plastic stuff. It was an interesting place to say the least.

Yesterday I met a friend at the fabric market. This is a different fabric market then the one where Tucker and Tim had their suits made. I will call the newest fabric market....fabric market B. That is really clever don't you think? Anyway....market B is much less "touristy" and less crowded. So.....I am going to try a few vendors and check out the quality of their work. I ordered two new shirts...one short sleeve, and one long sleeve. This will match the weather we have been having....warm.....cool....warm...cold....warm. I also purchased several different pieces of silk so I can start a new quilted wall hanging.

Today I went to an SEA (Shanghai Expat Association) quilting group. My friend Teresa invited me to go with her and I felt like I finally found "my people"! The group is an international mix...Turkish, Australian, American, German, Dutch, and probably a couple of others nationalities that I missed. They meet every Thursday and I can't wait to go back next week. Hey....I got the chair.....got the fabric......got the quilting buddies......Yippee!!! It has been a great week.

Tomorrow Tim leaves for the US and he will be gone for a week. Bummer!!! This will be the first time Abi and I will been alone in China. I consider myself to be a pretty independent person but it feels a little scary to be here by ourselves. I think I know how Tucker felt when we moved to China.

We woke up this morning to the news of the shootings at Virginia Tech University. We know several young adults that attend VT from our days in Richmond. Tucker called shortly after we heard the news to tell us that all of our friends were safe. As a parent of a University student, I can not even imagine how terrifying it would be to wait for a phone call from your son or daughter letting you know they were safe....or waiting for the call that never comes. Tim and I have been haunted by this all day. Our hearts break for those families affected by this terrible event.

It is Sunday morning about ....oops....I guess it is Sunday afternoon about 20 minutes after 12. How time flys!! We just came back from a walk to the Oriental Pearl area. Our walk was for exercise but we happened to stop for breakfast while we were out so that might have cancelled out the exercise part. The outdoor temperature is nice today but the sky is very cloudy or smoggy...I am not sure which. Some days it is hard to tell the difference. We are all doing homework (well I should be doing homework) and then we are going to scooter over to the Yu Garden.

Yesterday we went on a shopping adventure. Best Buy opened in Shanghai in December so we thought we would check it out. Tim is looking for a new camera and wanted to see what was available here and do a little price comparing. These are pictures of the shopping area. It is a very busy area so they have walkways that cross above the road.

You can get to the walkways by a series of escalators. As you can see by the picture it was a slow shopping day.......Ha Ha!










The road is very wide. I think it has four lanes going each direction.












This is a picture of one of the walk ways above the road.












This is a sidewalk that leads to one of the escalators. Notice the sea of people?? We were talking about the craziness of the traffic and the crowd....I said "At least we didn't have to park the car!". Zhang dropped us at the curb. This lead us into a conversation about all the things we were not doing on Saturday.....not doing yard work, not doing laundry, not grocery shopping, not cooking. Somehow the crowd thing was not such a big deal anymore!!

I visited Tongji University today with Jane. She will graduate in June from this School. I learned a lot about the Chinese education system and the process the kids have to go through to get placed in a University. Her school is celebrating the 100th anniversary in May.

This school has a partnership with a University in Germany. I had to take a picture of the VW sign for Tucker.









There are water ways through out the campus and they reminded me of the city we visited last weekend.











The trees are blooming here which added to the beauty.

Bikes, bikes, and more bikes.

Part of the gardens on the campus.

Fun facts about the Jane's experience...

She lived in a small dorm room with 5 other girls and had one very small cubby to put her stuff. She took one plastic tub with her that fit under the beds. There were two bathrooms for the entire dorm and none of the bathrooms had hot water. They could take a cold shower or they could go to a special building on campus and pay for a hot shower. Her dorm cost only 500 yuan for one year. That is about $65. Girls and boys have separate dorms. The ratio of girls to boys at this University is 1 girl for every 7 boys. She sort of liked that ratio.

I started to write about our trip last weekend several times and either my brain was dead or I got interrupted by something. I loaded the pictures on Sunday and they have been sitting in my drafts since then. So...I hope to get them published soon.

I have six hours of Chinese instruction a week and so far putting the book under my pillow at night is not helping me. So....I have been studying...not that that is helping either but at least I am making an effort. Something that I learned this week I find amusing. When I introduce Tim to someone I can call him Old Mr. Xi. (Xi is pronounced She...this is our Chinese surname) Tim does not find this quite as amusing as I do. Old in this case does not mean age it means the patriarch of the family or the oldest Mr. in our house. When Tim's parents visit he will give up this title to his Dad. Tucker would be the youngest Mr in the house so he is called Xiao Xi . Xiao (pronounced Shaow) means little or small. Little Tucker is sort of a oxymoron especially in China. I thought I was doing pretty well with the Chinese thing. Today I had to greet my teacher, welcome her into our home, introduce myself and my family to her and ask her what her name was. Well...I practiced and practiced and did fairly well and was feeling pretty smug. Then, on our way home from Tim's office this evening we were practicing our Chinese. Our driver said....Tim Chinese good....Abi Chinese good....Debbie Chinese no good. Very funny!!! Tim and Abi enjoyed this way too much. I think Mr. Zhang might only get a half hour lunch tomorrow!!

This has been a tough week. Nothing really specific just some more culture shock experiences and feeling home sick. According to what I read about Culture shock, month 3, this is very typical. However typical does not really make it any easier. Month 3-6 are supposed to be the hardest...Oh goodie!! It is good to know there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Here are some random thoughts and tidbits from Shanghai

Tim's work group often go to a nice Chinese restaurant within walking distance of our apartment. Part of the menu has English translations....here are some of the items on the menu
Cow Stomach
Chicken palms and Chicken feet (Chicken feet are very common and you can buy these in the market)
Turtle
Dog (yes it really says this...I am hoping something got lost in translation)
Bull Penis (nothing goes to waste here)
By the way...Tim has not eaten any of the above named items

Spitting and picking your nose are acceptable behaviors and are not considered bad manners. Abi has a name for the nose picking thing.......pick and flick

Peeing on the sidewalk is very common and the other day during my walk I almost bumped into a pee-er. This totally grossed me out and I could not wait to get home and take a hot shower.

Toddlers often have bare bums showing because their pants are split in the bottom making it easy to .....you know what. This is actually sort of cute

Cars are very expensive, drivers are very inexpensive

Pedestrians do not have the right away even if the "walk" light is green

People eat whole cucumbers like a snack...sort of like we eat apples


Okay that is all I can think of for now......

Most of this was written yesterday
It is Tuesday evening in Shanghai. Tim is at a dinner meeting and Abi is working on homework and assuring me she can "multi task" which means she wants the TV on while she works on Chinese. I should be working on my Chinese but instead I feel an urgent need to post my blog.

We went to Suzhou (pronounced Sue-joe) and Tongli (pronounced Tong-Lee) last weekend. All the tour books said that Suzhou was one hour drive from Shanghai. So....after about 2 hours in the car I started wondering why it was taking so long. I looked at the map and found that had gone south, then west, then north and then south again into Suzhou. So.....a trip that was supposed to take one hour took us 2.5 hours.

Immediately upon arriving in Suzhou, Mr. Zhong pulled into a city bus stop lane, parked the car, and went to get directions to our hotel. While we were waiting for him to come back, two men started fighting right beside our van. They were yelling at each other.....then pushing.....more yelling...more pushing......and a crowd gathering and we were starting to get very nervous....finally Zhong came back and we left before the first punch was thrown. As we drove away I wondered how these men can "save face". One of the mysteries of the culture.

To make a long storey short, we found our hotel after two more stops to get directions. No wonder it took this many directions because the entrance to the hotel was in an alley. This did not look good. We went into the hotel and discovered it was a very old old hotel. It was sort of an interesting place in a sort of rustic antique way. But...not exactly what we were looking for on our "get away" weekend. So.....we found another hotel that was very Western style and it felt like home. We enjoyed the weekend that ended with a wonderful outdoor Easter Brunch. Beautiful weather, wonderful western food, and amazing Chinese gardens.

The Pearl Pagoda Garden. This picture was taken from the top of the Pagoda. We climbed seven stories up a very steep skinny stair way.

Abi and Deb in front of the Pagoda

Very tall Pagoda

In the garden

Abi and Tim inside the Pagoda

Dragons in the bushes

The trees were in bloom in the gardens....very beautiful

Walk way in the garden. Each of these little stones are placed by hand.

Antique furniture in one of the homes in Tongli.

More gardens

Tim and Abi feeding the fish.

This sign was hanging on the wall in Tongli. Apparently they have a reception for all tourist complainers.

More antique furniture. This is almost exactly what our first hotel looked like. We really did not mind the bed in a box but we could not imagine curling up in the straight back wooden chairs to read a book.

This is in Tongli. Many of the Chinese painting have these bridges in them. This town is called the "Venice of Asia".

This is our boat driver. Do boats have drivers? I guess you steer a boat but boat steerer just sounds strange.

Behind the waterfall

This guy was so cute. I think he was about a million years old and he was asleep on the handle of the oar. When we got closer he opened his eyes and smiled really big.

Tim and Abi in the boat.

We bought a painting from one of the artist in the market. It was really heavy so Tim go a cart for Abi and I to ride in and carry the picture. Tim ran along beside us as we rode...poor guy...I think it might have been easier to carry the heavy picture.

The Artist

The art studio

Happy Easter Brunchers. The weather was beautiful so we sat outside in the garden.

3/4ths of the family Easter Morning. The hotel had an Easter egg hunt for the little kids. The eggs were very cute because they were quail eggs.

The past two days have been very nice clear sunny days. The view from our house is a little deceiving however because it is still chilly outside. I went for a long walk along the water front yesterday. It was wonderful and I really missed my walking buddies from our marathon training days.

Jane helped us again yesterday with our new phone. We purchased two new wireless phones that have message capabilities. And....of course we could not read the instructions so Jane helped us figure out how hear our messages and how to put a greeting on the answering machine. Simple things......much effort!!

It is really hard for us to think that Easter is this Sunday. We are feeling very removed from our normal Lenten activities and spiritual connection to this celebration. We have not been drawn to the Churches here and are finding it a challenge to attend. I brought a few Easter eggs with us and they are in a bowl on our coffee table. This is our simple reminder that it is Easter. Speaking of spiritual connection.....we would love to hear how God is working in your life. We are all feeling a little spriturally empty. Abi is out of school on Good Friday so we are planning an overnight trip to a small town about 1 hour outside of Shanghai.

This is the view from our window yesterday. It was a three bridge day...if you look really hard you can see Nanpu (most obvious), the Lupu bridge (worlds longest arch bridge....white arch off to the right of Lupu and through the buildings), and the Shupu (look in the far distance between the poles of the Nanpu bridge. Also notice the number of ships on the river.....they are really fun to watch.

This is a picture looking to the right of or front windows. This is a good view of The Bund which is a famous place in Shanghai. The architecture is very English.....because......the English occupied this area of Shanghai a long time ago.

This is another funny sign that was hanging in the women's bathroom in JinQiao. I think it is supposed to say....Please Keep Clean. Instead....once you go into the bathroom you can never leave because you have to "keep Cleaning"????

Sunset on Tuesday

Today was a pretty quiet day. Tim went back to work, Abi went back to school and Tucker was back in Bellingham and I missed them all. My teacher did not show up for my language lesson today......I did not run her off I swear! I am really trying to be a good student. She actually got a new job at the University so she no longer has time to teach for Mandarin Today. Mandarin Today is the name of our language school. There are many other schools in Shanghai...like IMandarin, Easy Mandarin, which should not to be confused with Ease Mandarin, (both of these are very misleading!!) there is also Mandarin House, Just Mandarin and one that left out the word Mandarin and just advertises as i Speak (I guess lower case i is more important than telling potential students what they will be speaking) I think there is a lot of room for additional schools such as Mandarin Yesterday, Mandarin Tomorrow, and my favorite.....Don't fool yourself Mandarin is really hard but we will try not to laugh while you give it a try!" At least they would not be misleading any hopeful students. I really was supposed to have a new teacher today...but after waiting 25 minutes I decided that she/he was not going to show up. So...I went to Carrafour to get eggs and milk. You would think after living here for 2 months and one week (I was a little off on my previous 2 month calculation....it just seemed like 2 months at the time) that I would be able to run into the store...grab some milk and eggs and be out of there in a few minutes... Oh...contriar.....It took me 45 minutes to get milk and eggs. I finally found the unrefrigerated eggs on the back shelves of the bread isle. Of course...how silly of me not to look there first. ???? Note to self....make sure that anything with eggs in it is cooked beyond recognition. There will be no runny eggs at the Spoffords. Oh....FYI...the milk is located on an unrefrigerated shelf also. It can last up to 2 months in your pantry without spoiling. It must be refrigerated after you open it and then is is good for an additional 7 days. Who knew? We were buying fresh milk from the dairy case (looked like what we buy at home) and after talking to a few people here I learned that is really not a good idea....and I don't think I want to know the details. In fact Delia was sick last week and the doctor said she had food poisoning and they are pretty sure it was from "fresh" milk. Lucky for us it was not milk from our refrigerator. She is feeling much better this week but will not be drinking milk any time soon.

After my extended stay at the grocery store I came back to the apartment to do "more tax work". So.......I called a friend......down loaded some music to my computer from Itunes (this was a pressing matter because I got a Christmas gift certificate (without an expiration date)from the kids and I was pretty sure I needed to use it today)....made a list of things to do tomorrow.....cleaned off our desk....hung a world map on the wall in our office....researched some travel destinations....spent some time trying to hear my newly downloaded music on my desk computer........realized the computer does not have speakers.....No Wonder...I can't hear the music.....talked to Tim on the phone.....learned that I could plug head phones into the computer and hear said newly downloaded music....eat lunch......read some email.....wrote some email.....sang out loud really badly to the music blasting from the headphones.....(poor Delia had to listen....she should get hazard pay)......got ready to work on the taxes.......could not find a pencil....found a pencil in the bottom of my language lesson bag....Oh yeah...I have a new really cute bag to carry my school books ...Tucker bought it for me while he was here.....he is a really good bargainer....(can you tell I was having a little focusing issue today)......went back to the taxes....and about two hours later...I was done with my part of the taxes!!!!! Wow...What a job.....it took me all day!

Doing taxes and watching season 1 and 2 of Veronica Mars. Life is pretty boring today....

More pictures from the gardens by our apartment.