Last Day

It is 6:19 am and I (Dave) am up with Lilia. It is our last day. Katie has done such a good job selling our stuff and packing all 6 of our checked bags that we were able to go out yesterday.

Lilia has been wonderful with the move. She saw Katie putting her doll-sized stroller in a suitcase and Katie told Lilia that is was so she could play with it in America. Lilia then ran and got a few things that she wanted packed as well.

Today shouldn't be too crazy. I have to deliver some purchased goods to people who live her but are currently in the states. Katie will do some cleaning. Then we have dinner with friends tonight at our favorite dumpling restaurant.

As a side note, breakfast today and tomorrow will be delivered by McDonalds, since all our pots are sold.

How come America doesn't have this?

We have become so accustomed to restaurants having play areas, slides, toys, even a bouncy castle that it just hit us yesterday, America does not have these things. We stopped at two restaurants yesterday. One in the afternoon to get smoothies. They had rabbits and a jungle jim. And one in the evening for dinner. They had live turtles and a lifetime supply of stuffed animals.

What does America have to offer, Chucky Cheese and McDonalds?

Lilia keeps us laughing!

Tonight we went to a great tex-mex restaurant that we enjoy. They have a kids area for Lilia to play in and a small container outside with turtles. Lilia loves to say hello to her "crush" (from Nemo).
Anyway, we sat down at the table and opened menu's. We gave Lilia the wine menu just to have something to look at. She opened the menu, called the waitress over and proceeded to order. "Um, I'll have rice...and chicken." Dave and I just looked at each other and laughed out loud. The poor waitress didn't know whether to write down the order or not!
She's only 26 months, but she acts so much older. We enjoy her so much!

Teaching Etiquette

We rode home in a taxi tonight and saw a comercial that made us laugh. It was for etiquette while driving. The cartoon showed a women crossing the street loosing her shoe and when she went back for it a car came to a sudden stop to avoid hitting her. (I guess instead of hitting her?)
It's ads like these that are being shown all over the city. It's in light of a major event being hosted here in the summer of 2010. They've been showing ads like this one and also ones that show people putting their trash into trashcans.
We just have to laugh that this kind of etiquette must be taught.

3 More Days

Wow, we can't believe that we'll be on a plane and headed for home in just three days. We are so excited. We've been saying goodbye to friends and getting last minute details completed. We have 5 out of 6 check-in suitcases packed with the hope of packing most of the 6th today. Our "yard sale" is tomorrow morning. Most of our stuff has sold, but there are still a few things that need to go. We sold our bikes last night to some expat friends that Dave met at an expo when we first got here. We're also taking out last set of pictures for the scrapbook like our 737 bus to Carrefour. We want to help Lilia remember this year and all of our adventures. Thanks for sticking with us and reading about our life abroad.
Probably the next time you hear from us will be from the states! We'll let you know how we're adjusting and all the things that are new and exciting as we re-enter America. Also, stay posted to find out the sex of the baby. We have an appt. on June 8th!!!

You Failed?

I was talking to some coworkers from a smaller city and they asked us me if I had an East Asian drivers license. I told them that none of the full time people with our company had one since a license plate alone costs over $6,000 USD! They said that their smaller city does not have a substantial plate fee, but here is where it gets interesting. Their driving test is just a written test, but only in East Asian. So how do the less than fluent pass? Foreigners call a number where a translator joins you. Not only do they join you, they take the test for you! You just sit there reading a magazine.

The city allows this because they want to encourage foreign businesses to settle there and want to make life as attractive as they can. The only problem was the translator failed the test. They had to reschedule and this time they passed since the translator asked for help from the foreigner on the trickier questions.

7 DAYS!!!

That's right folks, we head out next Monday, June 1st! We are so excited. We are really looking forward to some time of rest. We are exhausted! We will certainly miss living here, more so Dave than me. I'm sure we'll come back here again at some point in our lives.
We're almost all packed up and getting ready for a "yard sale" on Saturday. Most of our stuff is sold to a couple moving here, but there are still a few things.
Our flight is Monday at 4pm, so keep us in your thoughts. It will be a lot of traveling and I will be 20 weeks pregnant at that point. Please pray that I don't get sick!!!
We'll see you soon. And don't worry, we'll keep blogging once we get back. We'll have a lot of culture shock to tell you about; like our first time to the grocery store where we can read all the product labels!

A tour around Century Park

We went for a surrey ride around century park last Thursday. It was such a blast! It wasn't difficult for the 4 of us to pedal around the park. At one point we had to pedal through some huge puddles. We were all laughing so hard.
The following pictures are around the park. It was so so beautiful!

Jazz musicians carved out of bushes

Lotus flowers in the pond

A field of flowers

Dress Up with Vera & Wendy

The Good 'Ole Fruit Stand

One thing I will really miss is buying my fruit at the fruit stand. Tonight I went out to get a few things, fruit being some of them.
Since we've been here for a while the people there know me. The younger worker, closer to my age handed me one of the fruits you see in the foreground to try. She said it was really good. I had no idea what to do with it. To quote Brian Regan, "How do I get this goodness in me?"
Another worker showed me that you peel away the spiny outside to reveal a white juicy fruit. Almost like a grape. There is a seed inside that you bite around. It was so sweet and delicious. As soon as I made the "mmm" sound the young worker grabbed a bag and started throwing a bunch in for me. I love it!
Also pictured are bananas, nectarines and a honey dew. This whole bunch of fruit, plus a watermelon and cherries cost me only $10 USD! I'll miss the cheap prices even more!

Smell Wars

We have some neighbor(s) who cook with some overpowering odors. At times the smell even causes Katie to throw up. (I know, two upchuck posts in a row, sorry). Tonight is payback, taco night. I am sure they are thinking right now, "What are those crazy foreigners cooking?". We have no plans to turn on our exhaust fan. We just hope our neighbor is home.

Traffic...the consistent stop and go

We ventured to a part of town that is pretty far away to buy some suveniers. It's a total tourist part of town. Probably the most white faces you'll see in one spot outside of Starbucks! We deceded to leave around 5:30, without eating dinner first. The traffic wasn't the worst we've been in, but it was slow. Poor Lilia was sitting on Dave's lap when she got that look on her face and I knew what was coming...
All over Dave's shirt, shorts, my dress and herself, Lilia threw up! The poor girl! It just kept coming. The driver handed us a couple of tissues. I initially said a sarcastic, "Thanks," but I realized that was a nice gesture. We stripped Lilia down to her diaper and Dave took off his shirt for the rest of the ride. It was quite a scene as we got out of the taxi and walked into our building. People normally stare at us so I didn't feel out of place.

Pay more with a white face

Last Friday we called for water. My helper answered the door and gave the man money for the water because I was busy getting ready. Since we got here, we've always paid the man 30. About 3 or so months ago it went up to 32. No big deal, that is still only about $4.50 for 2 of those big water jugs pictured.
When Ayi answered the door, they only charged her 28! I couldn't believe it! The injustice of it all!!! When Ayi and I talked about it we laughed and she said "Weiguoren" (pronounced why gwo ren." It means, foreigner. So they charge me more money because of my white face!

Lihai (pronouned "Lehigh")

Yesterday morning Dave, Lilia and I went to the park to walk around. Lilia ran to the moon bounce and asked, "money please?" We paid for to go in and play, but we encouraged her to go to the other one to the left of this. After about 5 minutes she ran over to the moon bounce pictured. She proceeded to climb up about half way when the worker called us over. (That's NOT her in the picture.) Dave took off his shoes and helped her get higher. There is a man stationed at the top to help pull the kids up and then they slide down the other side. Lilia made it up high enough so the man could pull her up. She slid down the slide and ran back to do it again. I had my hand over my mouth and was in shock, while laughing. My daughter is "hen lihai." This phrase means "very fierce." She is so adventurous and ready for a challenge!
World, are you ready for Lilia Brindley?

Lilia's First Real Hair cut

At 26 months I took Lilia to get her first hair cut out the back gate of our complex. I asked my friend Lisa and her son Will to come for moral support and for translation. Will loves to get his hair cut!
So we went and Lilia sat down in the big yellow chair. She sat still during the entire hair cut. Sadly, I asked for a trim, which here means...cut it short! Most of the children in the spring get their hair cut short or even buzzed.
The odd thing is that at home when I put a comb to her hair she freaks out ans says, "Ow ow ow!" She won't let me do it. I didn't think this would go over well but it did.
AND THE COST... $0.75

Before

During...She sat still for so long. I was so proud!

After...Lilia and friend Will enjoying popcicles

The outdoor & indoor pools of our hotel.

Lilia LOVES to swim. If you remember about a month ago on the blog there are pics of her in her bathing suit top. So as you can imagine, we swam everyday! She loved it! Since it was such a hot weekend, we were even able to swim in the outdoor pool and it felt glorious. Lilia had so much fun jumping in to mommy and daddy. We had to keep a close eye because she was fearless and thought she could swim. (Sound familiar mom!)

Atop the wall

This is the building that sat on top of the wall. I can't tell you exactly what it was used for though. It's very traditional architecture and they have worked hard to preserve it.

This is one of my favorite shots. It's taken from the wall, looking down to the surrounding river that was like a moat around the city wall and gate.
If you could peek out further from the wall and look right you would see a structure where they would raise and lower a gate to keep out unwanted visitors in the water.

Walking along the original wall of the city

Dave & Lilia climbing down the steps of the old wall

Boat rides in the narrow river

This again is traditional Asian culture and imagery that you just don't see in our city. Where we live is SO western and SO modern. It's kind of sad, but I'm not complaining when we go out to eat! There are a million great western restaurants to choose from.

1,000 year old Pagoda

Traditional Asian Building...Not found in our city!

Fish feeding frenzie!

Asian Garden

Dave & Lilia

Our hotel

We were so fortunate as to stay at the Sheraton. We had this credit card that got us a night and a half free here. Our stay was so luxurious!
The pagoda at the top is where you check in. The cars drive up this steep ramp and drop you off. The lobby is open and beautiful with a great view of the grounds.
What's amazing about this place is that it backs up to a garden, a 1,000 year old pagoda and the original wall of the city. You would never know that this hotel isn't part of the history.

Our First Crazy Adventure...

So our first adventure was the train. America was built around the car, where as Asia was built around the train. (If you disagree, this is what Dave told me.) So you pretty much take the train if you want to travel around the country.
Our train was to depart at 3:42pm on Friday. We arrived at the train station with about 45 minutes till our departure. We walk down the hall and turn right into a massive waiting room jam packed with people. We managed to find seats for the three of us. This rooms is about the size of a gymnasium and about 1/2 of the people in it are going on our train.
The time is getting closer and closer and still they haven't opened the few gates that all of us have to squeeze through. Keep in mind...there is NO ORDER in this country. Since most are only children and most have gone through hard times; it's every man for himself. There isn't much regard for others. There are no formal lines either. So finally at 3:35pm they open the gates. It is literally like a herd of cattle trying to go through 3 narrow gates. We were not close to the front of the line either.
So we make it down the escalator to the train platform and we are at car 17 of 30 something, trying to get to car 2. So I see people starting to jog a bit and I mention to Dave, "Do you think we should run?"
So we start running too! We make it to our car, squeeze on as more passengers are fighting against us to get off the train. No sooner do we sit down and the train takes off!!!!!!! We couldn't believe it. That's so typical of our experience here though. I said to Dave, "Good thing we ran!"

Happy Mother's Day!

What a Fun Weekend!

Dave, Lilia and I just spent the weekend at a nearby city as tourists. It was about a 1/2 hour train ride away and we stayed at a really beautiful hotel. We got to see a 1000 year old Pagoda and a traditional Asian garden.
Lilia's highlight of the trip was swimming. The hotel we stayed at had an indoor and outdoor pool. Both were really gorgeous. It was in the upper 80's - lower 90's this weekend so it felt good and the water wasn't too cold.
We just got home and we're exhausted! Stay tuned for pictures and some funny stories of what it's like to travel in Asia!!!

Sharing flowers

Our computer almost died

Last Friday afternoon, a glass of water was spilled on our laptop. It was a bit scary. Our computer is sort of our lifeline. We dried it off and shut it down and gave it time to dry out. By Saturday morning only half the keys were functioning properly. So we took at trip to Best Buy to see if a wireless keyboard would help any.
Outside Lilia found a flower bed that matched her outfit. In this picture I asked her to "smile!"
So you are probably wondering about the computer...well with time and my genius husband, it's working just fine. He found something in the control panel where a certain button was turned on so that when you hit "r" the run box would open. He figured out how to turn it off. So we'll have to return the keyboard, which is no big deal.

World Music Festival at Century Park

You can't totally tell, but Lilia is barefoot...in grass. Now living in America you can't understand the extent of how amazing and unique this is.
In our complex there is grass, however people walk their dogs and don't clean up after them. It's really gross.
So we set out a blanket with some friends, listened to African music while the kids ran around to their heart's content!
It was a great afternoon!

Didn't think I would see this T-shirt here

Which king do you serve?

In American, our great king specializes in burgers. The name for Burger King here is literal "汉堡王". East Asia's king has a different taste, he serves duck neck. Above is the chain "Duck Neck King". You can also get feet. I did not ask about the value meal.