Abi was gone most of the weekend so Tim and I went out to dinner Saturday night and rode our scooters all around Puxi on Sunday. We still get may stares when we are on our scooters but we are getting much better at crossing the big intersections so we don't look like armatures. The secret....wait for a crowd of riders and do what they do. There is some safety in numbers and I always try to get in the middle of the pack. It is not unusual for the "pack" to have 20 or more riders at an intersection. Although the traffic seems very chaotic we are starting to see that there is a rhythm to the chaos. The bike and moped riders cross the street at the end of a red light. I am not sure exactly when they decide it is time to go but they all seem to know. We waited for the green light once thinking that we were doing the "right thing" and it was not a good thing. So.....now we do not look at the lights and "go with the flow". On Sunday we went through a covered cave like twisty road with a pack of riders....it was like something out of a James Bond movie....I felt very "spy like" and very "know the cool local roads to drive on". Before the "cool cave thing" we accidentally got on The Bund. O0ps!! No moped or bike traffic on The Bund. Luckily right as we saw the police we could turn left and exit. I am not sure what the punishment is for riding in a "bike free" zone but I am not too anxious to find out.

Guess what? My blog is now off the China sensor list. For the last two weeks we have been able to see the web site in Shanghai.

The weather is warming up and starting to get muggy during the day. So far the evenings cool down and they are very pleasant.

Xiao Zhang is working out very well. She learns very quickly and we are really pleased with her work. I taught her how to make crepes on Sunday and after I made 1 1/2 crepes she took over and finished the rest. I was very impressed!!! Anyone that can make crepes can make cookies....we will try that again this week. Her ironing skills are improving; I gave her some more instructions today and I think by the end of the week she will be a pro. She has also organized just about every closet and drawer in the house. Hmmmm...I wonder if she would like to come to the US for a while? The language issue is still a challenge but we are working through that. Making a shopping list is the biggest challenge. We have a book that has lists of food words in English and Chinese. It is helpful but does not always have all the words we need. So....then I draw pictures and hope it gets the meaning across. This does not always work.....last week I wanted pizza crusts and she bought two frozen pizzas. My drawing of a pizza "crust" had toppings on it so I can see why this was confusing. And instead of spaghetti sauce we got spaghetti O's. Too funny!!!

Tomorrow I am off on another adventure. I am going to explore a shopping area in the city where they sell sewing notions, ribbon, and fabric....can't wait!!