Thailand!

Last Thursday we had a monster day of travel (okay, not quite as bad as traveling back to the US but it was a LONG day), but we made it to Hua Hin, Thailand. We are staying at this wonderful family resort (Dolphin Bay) and are having a blast. We were able to meet up with Amree (our sister-in-law, who would have been going alone in Japan since Andy's brother is traveling over this time). We have done a few excursions, but most our days have been like today: food, beach, pool, repeat as needed. Here a couple of pictures of the highlights. . . .

Unfortunately, this is how Andy spent most of the first day. On his cell phone finishing up business.

Josh conquering the waterslide . . .

with Daddy to catch him.

Our bungalow (it has two adjoining rooms). Josh informed us that he knew what a bungalow was -- a house that old people live in. :-D

Tori LOVES the sand.

Super Bowl Breakfast

Monday morning we got up and headed to a local bar to watch the game. They were showing live coverage of the game along with a buffet breakfast. For us, live coverage meant that kickoff was at 7:30 AM. So we had the new experience of watching the Super Bowl with eggs, bacon and coffee. Afterwards, Andy headed to work! Obviously, the game was a bit of a disappointment, but the atmosphere was fun. If we are in Suzhou at that time next year, I know where we will be!

Andy laughed at me, but I found it humorous that we were drinking coffee in the midst of all of the beer commercials.

Animal Poems

by Becca and Josh

This afternoon Becca and Josh disappeared for a while. Later they gave us a wrapped gift. Inside was a book of poems that they had written. Here they are:

Bat

Becca the Bat was

Adventurous

Terrifying bat.

Tiger

Tigger the Tiger

Is a

Growing animal

Eats no

Rats. But lots of meat.

Dogs

Diana the Dog

Often

Goes

Swimming in the pond.

Cat

Cookie the cat thinks

A bath is

Terrible.

Crab

Cristera the crab

Rides on waves

And feeds on plants.

But she is not the biggest.

Wolf

Willy the wolf

Often

Likes

Feeding on meat.

Frog

Fred the frog is

Really good at jumping.

Often feeds on plants, some are

Green.

Monkey

Michael the monkey feeds

On bananas.

Not nocturnal. Did you

Know that some monkeys are

Endangered?

You can help too!!

Aren't they great? I did not notice it at first (though I have made it easier for you to spot), but Becca informed me that they were acrostics.

Awkward Gifts

It is that time of year again. . . . Happy Chinese New Year! 春节快乐!

But with Chinese New Year brings the onslaught of gifts. Within China (and actually within many Asian countries) gift giving is an important ritual. Certain holidays require specific gifts. Gifts are also given to win business and make sure the relationship continues or as they say in China, "to keep the relationship warm". Today, I was surprised by a knock on our door. There was a driver that had previously worked at the company but had left to start his own business. He was here to deliver new year gifts. This is the part where it became awkward for me. First of all, I don't really understand why if he is trying to win business from Andy's company why he would be delivering gifts to our house. Secondly, one of the gifts (that I opened after he left) was just too extravagant and therefore needs to be returned. This is not the first time that these two awkward things have simultaneously occurred. Over Christmas, one of the company's current drivers arrived (at our house) with gifts. Yet again, one of them was extravagant. Thankfully, Andy (or someone else from the company) will return the gift in a manner that does not offend. Small gifts are acceptable. For example one of the drivers gave us a box of fresh strawberries (totally acceptable). But all this leaves me in a quandry. . . what do I do (other than just smile, make small talk and say "thank you")? And why do they keep bringing the gifts to me?

A bike, well sort of

The other day I realized that there is much about China that I take for granted and haven't really shared with you. So, every now and then I am going to "play tourist" and try to share various things. The "things on a bike" category has so much potential, but I often do not have my camera with me or even ready and then the opportunity is gone. Believe it or not, this is a bike. If you look closely, you can see the front bike tire. This 3-wheeled bike has been modified into a family vehicle. My favorite part is the fringe.

Feeling the stress

While on break, I am really enjoying time catching up on reading, running, and being with the kids. Andy on the other hand is seriously feeling the stress in life. Business is booming, which is great. But there have been several situations (machines breaking, problem getting certain materials) that have really brought production to a halt. Or are threatening to. The last several Fridays he has been working from home well into the night and is at work today (a Saturday). Hopefully, some of these problems are being turned around, but in the meantime be thinking of him. We leave for vacation in 2.5 weeks and I know for Andy it can't come soon enough!

Sometimes.....

I just miss the most random things. Yes, the people are the obvious one. But this last week as I have had more time on my hands, I have realized little crazy things that I miss. What are they you ask? Here they are (in no particular order)....

1. Having a light over my kitchen sink. Isn't that a strange one? But often as Andy or I (well, to be honest it is more often Andy) do dishes at night we have to get really close to ensure that are plates are actually getting clean. Surprisingly, I really don't miss the dishwasher. Maybe because I married one? :-) But really in the States he did the dinner dishes and I did everything else.

2. One stop shopping. When we were visiting the U.S. this summer, I was reminded of how easy it is to go to the store, get everything you need and leave (and do it all fairly quickly). The fact that I don't drive just adds to the complicatedness. I have 3 stores (plus the fruit and veggie market) that I go to on a regular basis. And really I need to go to all 3 or we end of just doing without certain things.

3. Reece's peanut butter cups. My great weakness. But I must confess that when people come to visit and bring them, it just makes them even more special.

4. Communicating with ease. Yes, each day gets easier. But it still happens all the time, where someone will ask me something and I have no clue what they just said. RIght now, I have enough language to be dangerous. I start talking with people and they realize that I understand what they are saying. Then because they think that I am more fluent than I really am, they start speaking quickly with more complicated vocabulary and I am immediately lost. Thankfully, at least now I can ask them to repeat it and talk slower. A funny side note is that I notice that often even when I speak English, I speak slower and use simpler words. Since many people that I know are not native English speakers, both Andy and I overall just speak slower.

5. Solitude. I don't think I can ever fully explain this one. Not only am I rarely alone, but people are always watching with curiosity. Like stop what they doing and watch. What is the foreigner doing? Why is she doing that? Even in my home, I am not alone. Granted I have the amazing benefit of household help but what I sacrifice is my privacy. I don't think I truly realized what a private person I am until recently.

Surprisingly to me, what I don't miss are my wide array of kitchen gadgetry. I kind of like how I have gotten used to just having less stuff. When we sold most of our things to move here, some people asked if we would miss it. Honestly, as you can see it is not the "stuff" that I miss. We gave a lot of stuff away and since we are so far away Christmas/b-day gifts become much more minimalist. Even at 1 1/2 years in, it is a freeing thing.

The other thing that has surprised me of late is our view of heating has changed. I am currently sitting in my house and it is around 55 F (13 C) inside and I don't have the heat turned on. Instead we layer up (yup, still working the long underwear) and snuggle under blankets in the evening. I have discovered though that my threshold is right around 50. Much colder than that in the house and I want the heat on.

I looked back at this old post to see what I was missing early on. Funny how things have changed! Now it is definitely less about the food. I have either been able to find those things or just do without. All in all, we continue to be so grateful for this adventure we find ourselves on. I picked up Tori from school yesterday and then we stopped at the park on our way home. Several of her classmates were there with their grandmas. It was so amazing to me as I watched our girl run around with her friends jabbering on in Chinese. She obviously felt so at ease. Mind you this is the same girl who used to scream every time a Chinese person spoke to her. How far we have all come!