The Doughracle

Bouncing

2012-01-21T04:53:00.000+08:00

We bought the exercise ball with the intent to help improve our core muscles, it's definitely helping us workout - but not quite in the way we imagined. We discovered that William loves to bounce along to a good song. He has plenty of stamina and can go for four or five (or more) songs in a row. Which is great for him, but gives us a good workout, whether it be holding the ball still and steady, or holding/bouncing/lifting William along to the music. I've tried doing it with him sitting on the ball (for a little more safety) it doesn't last long as he definitely prefers to be standing, and his sturdy little legs work with the bounce, making it slightly easier on us too. It often feels like he's adding his own energy to it, and you can tell he wants to keep going if you stop by the waving of his little arms. How can we say no to that cute face? :)

William and his drum

2012-01-20T23:50:00.000+08:00

We discovered pretty early on that William likes to pound things. Whether it's his hand on the bath tub edge, on his food tray, on boxes, my chest, or himself, when he gets excited or happy about something, those little arms start pumping and the hands start finding something to connect with. He's also at the age where anything that he can shake that will make a noise is a hit or attention grabber - even if only for a few minutes. This is great for distraction, and so many things can work to fit the bill, keys, breath-mint tins, rattles, crinkly paper, etc. We also have one of those Asian drums with a bead on each side that if you rotate in your hands starts beating itself (do you know what I'm talking about?).

Anyway one of our Chinese friends recently got him a little drum. And William loves to pound away. I'd say he has about an 85% hit success rate, which as his mother makes me think he's a genius! :) but regardless of what I think, he can go at that thing with abandon, most times he doesn't even look - but he still hits it in the right place. He's also started flipping the drumstick over in his hands - first one end then the other, we think it's pretty funny. He's also showing a real preference for his left hand, (he started out pretty right dominated), which is interesting as neither of us are lefties. I think I read somewhere that hand preference isn't set until age 2 (can anyone confirm?), so I guess we'll see what ends up sticking.

Anyway he here is on a more sedate day, playing his little drum.

While I was on a walk...

2012-01-20T22:33:00.001+08:00

William and I try to get out at least once every day to walk around the neighborhood. Sometimes the pollution doesn't make it easy, but I find we both do better if we've been able to look at something other than the apartment, plus the brisk air helps clear my mind :)
Anyway we've been living in our complex for 2.5 years now and I have yet to get a picture of the decorated arches they put up (almost) every holiday. Every holiday is slightly different. Christmas they had silver tinsel with blue lights, last year they had red tinsel and white lights, for China National Day, red tinsel and red lights (I think). Anyway with the Chinese New Year / Spring Festival right around the corner this time we have cherry blossoms and silver tinsel. I tell you these things have paid their dues.

So the other day when William and I went out, I remembered to take my camera and get a shot. Of course I had to include William too - Happy Chinese New Year!! :)

Then as we walked up the block, I spied some strange somethings hanging outside someone's window...home-made sausage/salami! I'm not sure it's the most hygenic environment given the fairly busy street of traffic below and the quality of air, but hey if we're breathing in all this pollution anyway - I guess ingesting it can't hurt much more right?

We also saw this guy hanging by a rope, cleaning off some advertisements from the building. This is the kind of thing you see fairly frequently in China - 20, 30, 50-story buildings with brave window washers hanging by a single rope, carefully swinging their way down a building's face, washing as they go.

It's part of what I enjoy about life in China - there's always something interesting to see when we're out and about :)

Keeping up

2011-12-29T20:27:00.000+08:00

Andrew's parents arrived here the day before Christmas Eve to spend the holidays with us. They're here until January 11th, so we have plenty of time with them all to ourselves. It's been a good week so far, though having a little one means we don't get out and around the city as much as we would previously have been able to do (everything is done in 2-3 hour slots) but we've had some fun times nevertheless. We hosted a Christmas Day dinner for a few friends from Church, we've done a little shopping, some cooking, some present-opening, some picture-framing, some eating, some movie-watching and some journey-planning.

On Sunday, straight after Church, we head to the airport and fly to Yunnan for a 5 day adventure to LiJiang. We'll be attempting to hike the Tiger Leaping Gorge, and maybe a trip up to Jade Dragon Snow Mountain too. We've never done this with a baby before (in fact I've never done it at all) so it will be a new experience in travel-parenting. We just hope no one gets altitude sickness!

Wish us luck, and I'll tell you all about it when we get back... :)

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-25T18:00:00.000+08:00

Despite my best intentions, we ordered our Christmas cards late, and though they arrived before Christmas, it wasn't in time to get them sent out to everyone.

Hopefully they'll be arriving to you lovely folks sometime around the Chinese New Year (Jan 23rd). I don't want to spoil the picture surprise so consider this our Christmas/New Year/Season's Greeting until then.

We hope it was merry and bright, and brought you joy and peace amidst all the craziness that often ensues during this wonderful season.

Much love to you and your sweet families.
Nicola, Andrew & William

p.s. these are two photo options we considered for our card before finding something much more suitable on which to send you our holiday greetings :)

First snow of the Season

2011-12-02T09:53:00.001+08:00

Dec 2nd 2011, and we just got our first snow! When I looked out the window this morning I just thought it was another really bad pollution day - (actually it still is...the Air Quality Index is currently reading at 359 on a scale of 0 to 500, with a description of "DANGEROUS - Health warnings of emergency conditions; the entire population is more likely to be affected." Yikes, I prefer the days when it's only bad enough to impact the demographic that doesn't include us:) - but it also appears we have snow in those soupy skies. Yay for first-of-the-year winter-time whites. This will be William's first contact with snow - though I'm sure he won't think much of it till next year. Still it's exciting for us, I guess Winter really is here, which means Christmas is just around the corner.

Goodness, this year has flown by, I still feel like we just got back from Summer! But now I have a delightful 7 month old who is intent on exploring everything he can get his hands on - which fortunately for now isn't too much, as he hasn't learned to crawl...yet :)

I'm thankful for all the milestones and development he's making, but I am mindful not to want to rush things or wish this time away. I love this stage of life, and I appreciate all the sweet baby hugs and snuggles he gives me. I hope I never take them for granted, for soon, I am sure, he will be off and independent and I won't have these tender moments when all he wants is to lay his head on my shoulder while I sing him a goodnight song.

After weeks of hand sucking/chomping, plus a week or two of major tongue sucking/air-testing - so much so that Andrew gave him the X-Men villain-sounding name "Lizardo" (which he insisted on pronouncing in his best Jeremy Irons accent) - finally his third tooth broke through the other day. I discovered it as he threw his head back while nursing to smile at my friend Carrie, exposing both me and his new tooth as he flirted away. He is a cheeky one, but how can you not love that cute face? The crusty nose, on the other hand, is perhaps something only a mother can love :)

William is such a wonderful blessing. He is a happy boy, and always has a smile for his Mama, which warms my heart no end. I love his little personality, his grunts and ga's, his cute tongue poking out all the time, the way he flaps his arms when he wants to be picked up, the way he loves (practically inhales) applesauce, pumpkins, sweet potato and he's getting the hang of chewing those little baby food puffs which is really adorable.

He loves to rumble and be tickled, be thrown in the air, touch your face (especially your eyes, nose and mouth), and smother your neck (or face) with slobbery open-mouthed kisses. He continues to love to bang on things, preferably if they make a noise, though his guitar skills still need some work. He's getting really good at hair pulling, reaching for anything you have in your hands (especially phones or remote controls), has started to reach for books he likes (he has three current favourites), and has figured out how to tell me the direction he wants to go or when he sees something he's after by contorting or throwing his body (all 20lbs of it) forward.

When meeting someone new, he likes to study them a bit first, figure them out and then see if they are worthy of a smile. Most people are. He is definitely more of a morning person, and miraculously I am becoming more so too, when you are faced with his cute face looking up at you in the morning, who wouldn't be? That's not to say we don't have our moments of challenge (aka: tiredness - mostly me in the mornings and him in the afternoons). But overall I would say things are going really great. I love having this little guy in my life.

Pimp my family

2011-11-01T16:40:00.001+08:00

William's 1st Halloween at our Branch party...

You'll never meet a cuter or less threatening (not to mention non-law-breaking) pimp in a velour jumpsuit.

No- No- No- Notorious W.A.D.

Pimp Papi and son

We kind of won best family costume :)

It was a joint prize with Carrie who dressed up as Princess Peach and her two boys at Mario and Luigi. So awesome!

6 months

2011-10-31T12:00:00.000+08:00

William just passed the 6 month mark last Monday, the same day a new nephew was born to Andrew's sister in Seattle. They were exactly the same weight and length too! We're excited to get to know this new boy and hope his parents enjoy having a boy (their first was a girl) as much as we enjoy having William.

In lieu of this milestone, this is an update on what our little man is up to these days.

William has been discovering and exercising his vocal range, it ranges from screeches to grunts and many things in between. Nothing resembling a word yet - but that will come soon enough. He has a special musical grunting type of noise for when he's eating.
Speaking of food, we recently tried bananas which he seems to love. He also likes pears, apples, sweet potato and broccoli.
He is a good eater, but still loves to nurse - especially to sleep, though we are working on changing that. These days while nursing he likes to reach for my hair and run it through his fingers (occasionally he grabs it too, and I have to remind him I don't have much and would he please not pull what I do have out?). He still strokes my clothes, he also bangs on them or pulls at them depending on the ferocity at which he's feeding!

His fine motor skills are getting pretty good. He's working on his finger and thumb coordination, picking up or grabbing at small objects with them. He likes tags. He also loves to shake and bang anything he can make a noise with. He particularly enjoys crinkly plastic wrappers for things. He often prefers them over the toys! Truly kids don't need much to keep them interested - just give them the containers for foods you buy and they're happy.

Hardware and shiny things tend to catch his eye, door hinges and handles, necklaces, electronics, keyboards, cameras, etc. He also enjoys putting them in his mouth and slobbering all over them - which reminds me I need to check and see if our iPod Mini still works after it's close encounter! He continues to be ever-interested in everything going on around him.

William can sit up by himself and remains devoted to standing (with help). He is still not a fan of tummy-time, and usually just lays his head on the floor and cries (after a few minutes) when we make him do it. I try and turn it into a game and tickle him, but he's not fooled for long. I've been working on showing him how to push with his feet, and the positions for crawling and bearing weight on his arms, but he's not interested. Maybe he will just be a walker first and skip the whole crawling thing?

We like to coordinate our stripes :)

With all the new food, he is developing a cute belly, which I think helps stabilise him when sitting up. Similarly his cheeks are increasing in size, and we love it. They are most delicious.

He still enjoys bathtime - but not so much for splashing anymore. These days he likes to stand up and bang on the outer edges of the tub, preferably with a plastic container. He is fascinated by the water stream that comes out of the tap, and can't wait till he can get his hands on the shower head that hangs just out of arms reach. He loves the containers of shampoo and body wash and likes to hold/bang/reach for them while I wash him.

Apologies in advance if this is TMI - but the change in diaper action has not been as bad as I thought it might be with the introduction of food. I know that can still change, but for now I'm grateful.

We continue to love and dote on this little guy and all the ways in which he is growing and developing. It is a miracle to watch and learn and relearn through his eyes.

Almost 5.5

2011-10-22T02:36:00.001+08:00

A break from normal programming (aka me doting on my son) to blog about a much belated but not forgotten anniversary. Next month, Andrew and I will have been married for five and a half years. We had only known each other for 5 months when we got married (half of which we spent on different continents), so making it this far is a good sign, right? :)
Andrew has been on a work trip in the US these last two weeks, and there's nothing like your spouse being gone that makes you realise all the things you love (and consequently) miss about them, and how much you appreciate them being your partner in life. And so, I want to take this opportunity to say Happy Belated Anniversary to my sweetheart and to give him a few of the reasons why I fell in love with him, and why I am still in love with him. Andrew here are your top five (in no particular order):

1. I love you because you are committed... to basketball :), to serving and helping others (in church and outside of church), to creating music, to your family, to helping me realise my potential, to realising your own, to your job and being in China, to serving the Lord, and to many many other things - even if sometimes I think there are too many! :)

2. I love you because you think I am funny. I love that I make you laugh, even when I'm not trying to. I love that your impersonations of me are getting better, and I love that you still get a kick out of the differences in our language useage. I love that you think I am awesome, even when I don't often think I am that awesome myself.

3. I love you because you make our home happier, more adventurous, more fun, more interesting, more studious, more musical, more service-oriented, more open, and pretty much all-round more good.

4. I love you because of your tenderness, your kindness and compassion, your generosity and your passions. I love being associated with you, and watching others see just how wonderful and talented you really are. I love that you are genuine and warm and honest. I love that this means you make friends easily. You have a big heart, and sometimes this means there is just not enough time for you to do all the things you want to do, like keeping up with all of them :)

5. I love you because you love our son. I love that you miss him when you are away, and carry around pictures of him, which you show to everyone. I love that you check the blog just to see if I've posted new pictures and to go over the older ones. Here are just a few of the two of you to date:

These and so many more reasons why I am looking forward to the next five years, and the five after that, and the five after that, and so on :)

Guitar Practice

2011-10-18T01:47:00.002+08:00

This is for my Dad and Andrew (who's currently travelling and didn't get to enjoy it first hand)

Guitar Practice from The Doughracle on Vimeo.

When he's not coveting the camera, William is reaching for the guitar. I've been showing him how to strum and pluck at the strings, usually he'll just grab at the strings but today he decided it was time to start playing...only 10,000+ more hours of practice to log before he's the next John Williams :)

Plus a little something extra for making it through the videos above - if you watch this to the end you'll be rewarded with the smile I get multiples times each day but can never capture on camera - then you'll get a sense for how much I am in love with this little guy.

Guitar Practice - Round 2 from The Doughracle on Vimeo.

(as a strange side note - this is my 333rd post - and it contains 3 videos - kind of peculiar!)

Just because...

2011-10-14T21:33:00.000+08:00

I love my blue-eyed boy.

I love all his quizzical and soulful expressions.

I especially love his enjoyment of food.

Not to mention his keen interest in the camera, which explains why it's very hard to get smiling shots, because as soon as the camera comes out, so too does the intense "let-me-get-my-hands-on-that-thing" expression.

Living in China: The Grocery Store

2011-10-14T20:36:00.000+08:00

I really should have started a bunch of these posts when we first moved here and I had more time, but now is as good as ever. I wanted to have these observations/experiences/descriptions as a record for myself and I guess for those of you who are interested in the day to day of living in a foreign country.

Food shopping or grocery shopping as I have now come to call it (my language is slowly becoming Americanised) in China can be interesting and often a challenge. You see, while we can get many Western goods here (btw I thank the Heavens for that luxury and that we didn't move here 10 years ago when it was very different), we can't always trust that the exact thing we're looking for will be at the store exactly when we need it, or if we'll be able to find it at all. For instance on Monday I was making a chunky lentil soup that calls for Worcestershire sauce, something I know I've seen at the store before but as yet had not bought. Alas, when I went to buy some, I could not find it anywhere. Similarly, there's a store I only go to every other month, and when I do I always stock up on Fairy washing up liquid, but when I went yesterday, not one bottle was to be found. Likewise, for the first 18 months after we moved here, I would regularly buy cookie mixes (good for quick last minute treats or desserts when we invite someone over last minute), but since January, nada, zip, nothing, nil, there are no instant packet cookies to be found in Beijing.

Of course, none of this is end of the world kind of stuff :) and most things we can substitute for others, albeit often at a higher price, but it can make your shopping experiences somewhat frustrating at times, especially when you've gone somewhere specifically to buy a certain item and it's not in stock.

For me, this has led to a behavior of stocking and hoarding. In the LDS tradition this is pretty normal, and I aim to maintain a few supplies to last us either a few days/weeks/months depending on the item (I don't have enough room for a whole years worth), so whether it be condiments, cans/bags/jars of goods, garbage bags, toilet roll, cleaning supplies, I try to have enough on hand to meet out regular needs as well as a bit of backup in case of emergency (or last minute guests). So when I saw Worcestershire sauce in the store yesterday (even though by then I had already made my soup) I bought a bottle and eyed the remaining 4 bottles on the shelf, contemplating whether I should stock up, for who knows when I might next see it again!

The only issue with stocking up, is a problem I ran into recently. The use by date on many items is often not very long into the future. Because so much of what we buy is imported, by the time it's passed through customs it's lifespan has probably halved, and I don't even want to think about the kind of storage conditions some of it has probably been kept in during that process (much less some of the conditions the stores keep them in once they get them in stock - half-melted then refrozen ice cream for example). Case in point, soon after we arrived I bought about 10 cans of vegetables for food storage. I haven't touched them or looked at them until recently when I decided to go through all our food to check the expiry date so I could ensure we were cycling through things (I admit I'm late to that game), only to discover the cans I bought had already expired...in 2010! Oops. Fortunately nothing looks like it's about to explode and I might be able to salvage some of it, but it was a point I needed to learn from. Now I check everything I buy to see how quickly I have to use it (and hopefully not be dismayed if I can't find it again!) :)

The second issue in is regards to price. China can't make everything :), so we expect to pay a premium for imported goods, especially foods. Grocery shopping can get expensive, especially when there are very few sales (if ever), and no coupon shopping (as far as I am aware, I've never discovered it). In fact most people I know (including ourselves) use a portion of their luggage to bring back things from their home countries they either can't get here or don't want to pay through the nose for. I have friends who even bring back laundry detergent. Regular sized boxes of cereal can cost up to $10 and small packets of fancy granola/muesli can cost up to $15. A 250g block of cheese costs about $5, a box of butter about $6. A pint of Ben & Jerry's or Haagen Dazs will cost over $10. A can of chopped tomatoes $1.5-2. Yesterday I bought an economy sized bottle (roughly 4.5 litres) of laundry detergent for $36 (and that was one of the better deals). Laundry detergent is not something I'm willing to cart back from the US, I already have too many other things filling up my suitcases! :) Andrew would say it all boils down to economics anyway, some things we'd rather just pay the extra for.

Local-style corn drying production line

The third issue is quality of goods. The label "Made in China" evokes a few different responses. Am I right? For all their progress, China still has some standards issues. According to some friends who were working here in research and legal policy, baby formula was/is not the only product manufacturers add questionable ingredients and fillers to in order to save money/increase their profit margins. Such fillers are used to temporarily enable products to pass "quality tests" but render the product so much less than they are advertised to be, if not dangerous in some cases. I find it's easier to be ignorant, otherwise we'd never want to buy anything.

The fourth issue is the plain random and crazy selection of goods. Why do they stock Jack Daniels flavoured BBQ sauce, but not Paul Newmans Salad Dressing anymore? Why do they stock Ritter, Lindt, Mars, Ferrero Rocher (and many more) but not Cadbury's? By the way Ritter chocolate is one of the cheapest chocolate bars you can find here (apart from Dove which it seems is made locally). This and so many other oddities. It sure makes our shopping selections interesting :)

I don't say any of this to complain or for pity's sake, This is life abroad. I consider myself very lucky we can get Western goods (or any kind) at all, and know there are many places in China's smaller cities (and even places in Beijing) where you'd be hard pressed to find even a jar of peanut butter, and a loaf of western style bread.
I like what my friend Sylvia recently said on her blog (regarding life abroad - she lives in Morocco - though she was addressing a different topic here the sentiments are the same), and I'm going to quote her directly here:

"Living this life is full of trade-offs... It's just different. That's sort of my mantra about everything with this life: it's still good; it's just different. Unless it truly is crap, and then it's crap and different. Ha ha!"

I love that, and it is so true. Life abroad is great, but definitely different. And different is good, even if challenging and frustrating at times.

Newsworthy

2011-09-27T23:24:00.000+08:00

1. Yesterday I fit into my pre-pregnancy jeans - yay! Granted they were a little snug, and I definitely have some stomach excess to work on toning up, but I can fit back into half of my wardrobe again (at least I think so, the jeans and a few skirts are the only things I've tried so far). It will be a while before I can get into my old tops and blouses, but I expect, once I've finished nursing however many children we can have, I'll be able to get back into them eventually - right?

2. Another milestone - We started William on rice cereal a few days ago, so far it's been a hit. There was a lot of to-and-fro from the spoon into the mouth and out again as he gets used to swallowing, but he's definitely interested and goes for it once we get the process going. I'm going to start on peas and avocado (not together) over the next week or so, then we'll try out sweet potato, banana, peaches, apricots and applesauce. I'm excited about the process of introducing new foods and seeing his reactions. I'm a little nervous and the changes it will bring to the diapering side of things, but I guess it's all part of the process.

William is wearing a bib from one of Andrew's high school friends we fortuitously got re-acquainted with when we were living in Hong Kong - "Uncle Shapee" as we affectionately call him, gifted William this memento of their high school alma mater, including Andrew's playing number. When I told Andrew we were starting William on his first meal, he went and fetched this bib specifically, I think that's a good sign he likes it. Thanks Dave! :)

I thought about including the video of his first meal, but it's 7.5 minutes long, only proud parents can sit through that kind of stuff :)

Firsts

2011-09-20T12:00:00.000+08:00

(note: I started this on Tuesday - it's taken me until now to finish it - William demands a lot of my attention these days which I guess is normal and may help explain why I have been delayed in updating the blog with the remainder of our summer - not to mention everything else!)

In 4 short days William will be 5 months old. He was only 5 days old when we brought him home from the hospital. He continues to grow and change (everyday), as do we, as we get used to a new life in parenthood. We love it, and we love William. Truly he makes us smile every day, he is a precious precious baby.In lieu of this 5 month mark, I thought I would make a list of some of William's firsts - though technically everything he does is a first for him :) These are a few firsts some of the rest of us didn't get round to until we were older/adults.

FIRST...
(note: I can't believe we don't have photos for most of these - we need to be better about documenting this kind of stuff! - except maybe the leg waxing stuff :) )

...dinner out - 2 weeks (at a small Italian restaurant with our Mums/Moms when they came to visit after he was born)
...leg wax - 1 month (ok it was for me not him, but he was asleep in the bjorn)
...hair salon visit - 1 month (also for me not him, he was in the bjorn under the cape they make you wear)
...passport - 1.5 months (he actually has 2 now)
...x-ray - 2 months (checking out his skull to make sure the hematoma he got during delivery was healing ok)
...Chinese visa - 2 months (needed to get out of China and get back in again)
...plane ride - at 2 months (Beijing to Chicago, in business class no less - thank you to Andrew's brother for the last minute upgrades!)
...July 4th and parade - 2 months
...photoshoot - 2 months (in Rochester for his birth announcement)

...dip in the play pool - 2.5 months

...5k - 2.5 months (I walked, he accompanied me in the bjorn - so bummed we didn't get a picture of this)
...boat ride - 2.5 months (on Andrew's parents motor boat on Lake Ontario)
...train ride - 2.5 months (Rochester to New York City, then NYC to DC)

...ferry ride - 3 month (NYC to New Jersey to visit the Changs)
...hotel stay - 3 months (Omni Berkshire NYC - not too shabby, soon followed by The Ritz Carlton Georgetown DC, and the Crowne Plaza London, all while we were in town for Andrew's work)

...visit to the dentist - 3 months (for me, he was asleep on my chest in the bjorn - as usual)
...theatre show - 3.5 months (Michael Jackson's Thriller Live - a memorial tribute, in London with my Mum and Catherine - really awesome - here's a short video trailer that explains it a bit better)

...visit to the seaside - 3.5 months (in York - enjoying the experience with my sister, Catherine)

In other news, William got his first tooth on Saturday - yay! He's only been drooling since he was 2 months old so it's about time :) I might have totally missed it if I hadn't been letting him practice his swallowing skills on my glass with a few drops of water left over, when I heard a strange clinking sound, I don't usually hear when I let him do that. Lo, and behold a tooth had popped up in the middle of his lower gums! Which would explain why he's been a little fussy lately - yes, one of those parental a-ha moments. There must be another one coming soon as he always has his hands in his mouth.

It's strange to be seeing major milestones in your baby's life. Each waves goodbye to something you've held precious, while yet welcoming in a new period of development that will be equally as wonderful. Here's to many wonderful milestones yet to come!

More on William

2011-09-02T22:47:00.001+08:00

After seven and a half weeks of travel visiting both families in the US and UK, William and I finally made it home last Tuesday, and have spent the last week and a half re-adjusting to "normal" life. I say "normal" because we're still figuring out what our new normal is.
My friend Louise mentioned that she felt she was constantly playing catch up with her three-year old daughter, and I feel the same. Just when I feel I have figured William out, he changes and I'm off to the races again to catch up. The fact that we are only four months in is not tremendously encouraging! :) Will motherhood always feel like this? Having said that, I am really enjoying it. It is challenging and tiring (oh so tiring) but so completely wonderful too.

Right now we're working on finding our schedule. Up to this point, and especially while we were traveling, William's naps were here there and all over the place. I knew that was not sustainable, and not healthy for him either, so we are working on finding our rhythm, noticing the signs before it's too late, getting him used to being in his room, getting used to sleeping in the crib, getting to bed earlier, and sleeping longer. Sleep training is what they call it. Well, we're both getting trained, and boy do we need it. He needs the rest, and I need the break to get some things done! Oh and have a bit of a rest too :)

I'm also trying to keep up with what each month's milestones are. I'm not too stuck on following them exactly as I do believe kids develop at their own unique pace, so as long as he seems to be progressing, I know he'll get to everything eventually. Right now he seems to be super advanced in some areas and maybe a little behind in others.

He continues to be a massive drooler. (check out his bottom lip in the photo) Droolicious is what we call him. But no teeth yet! I keep checking, but nada...
Sometime in the third(?) month he started standing. Not by himself - his balance isn't quite there yet - but he can definitely hold his own weight, and for several minutes if he wants to. Lately he's started stomping a little when you hold him standing in your lap. We jump him a little which he seems to really like, and will bend his legs accordingly, and push off on the occasional jump. I love his little legs and puffy feet.

He is not a big fan of tummy time, and hasn't yet figured out how to roll from his tummy to his back. Though he can roll from his back 3/4 of the way to his tummy. He also doesn't like pushing himself up on his hands and arms from the tummy position. He'll do it for a few minutes right at the beginning then start giving up and face planting while he weeps to be rescued. It's quite endearing actually, but I try to be encouraging and keep his energy up to do just a little more.

He is a happy boy, he loves chatting, singing and dancing. He likes to be taken on walks, either in the bjorn or stroller. He likes to see what's going on, and check out everything around him. He is discovering things with his hands and mouth (mostly just the safe stuff I allow him to grab at), not that it stops him reaching for anything that looks interesting - which is often something further from his reach - depth perception is a ways off, so it's pretty cute! He also loves expending his energy bashing his toys around, particularly now that he's learned that's how the rattles make their sounds.

I love that he will coo away to himself in the mornings if I'm not around when he wakes up. I love how his little hand holds on so tight to my fingers when I carry him around (and wow does he have a grip!). I love all of his awkward and random facial expressions (see below), but mostly I love that he saves his biggest and most sparkly-eyed smiles for me. This one is a keeper :)

Notes on William

2011-08-18T12:00:00.003+08:00

This is more for my own journal keeping of William so I don't forget!

Despite all the travel we've been doing over the last (almost) 2 months, William has and continues to be a dream. He delight us constantly with his smiles and ever emerging personality. He is interested in the world around him, he definitely prefers to be facing out when you carry him. He is a big boy and measured 14lbs 7 oz i weight and 25.75 inches tall at his 3 month check up.
He started laughing a few weeks back, and though initially it was hard to replicate, it's been occurring more and more frequently as we figure out where he's ticklish, and what he finds funny. Today it was peekaboo. He has the most delicious giggle, I can't help but adore it.

He is a lovely smiler, and can charm any person who comes his way. I've been surprised how many people will stop and stare and tell us how cute he is (I mean of course we agree but we're a little biased). He seems to particularly like women, waitresses, air stewardesses, aunties, grandmothers, and random women on the street. He likes them all. Sometimes I catch him smiling at them, even when they aren't looking or interacting with him at all. I should mention, he is still a sober child, and can be very serious when taking everything in :)
He loves to "talk" and tell us what he's thinking and so every day we have our conversations, which involve several cute, pitch and vowel-changing screeches which can last for several minutes as he "sings" away. I've been trying to teach him some consonants, but all he's managed so far is an almost raspberry blowing sound, which is wet but still cute.

He has started making eye contact with me while I nurse him. His big blue eyes stare away - just making sure I'm still there :) He also loves waving his free hand around (whichever one is in front) and stroking my shirt or the blanket or the air, sometimes he just goes round in circles, which is pretty cute when we're at home, but not so cute when we're out as his hand gets caught in the nursing cover and I have to fight to retain modesty! :) When he is falling asleep or trying to get to sleep, he likes to hold your fingers, or just touch them lightly, skimming over the tips. He prefers to nurse to sleep, which though lovely isn't always convenient! :) We often employ the fake hairdryer or shushing noises to help him tip into sleep when it's not possible to nurse or he's already emptied the tanks.

He is a good night-time sleeper, often going for 4-5 hour stretches during the first portion of the night. I'm still enjoying having him sleep with us, and though I know there are many and varied opinions about co-sleeping out there, I am enjoying it for now. I will make adjustments as and when I feel they are appropriate for us. He is getting better and better about day-napping, he used to only be able to do short naps, but they are getting longer (yay) which is good for both of us :)
He has the softest hands, and I love to hold and stroke them when he's fallen asleep in the bjorn as we're walking along. He has started grabbing at things, your face, something you're trying to eat (or drink) and things in front of him. I can tell we'll be working on his motor skills over the coming months. He seems to be right-hand dominant for now.

He is definitely becoming more food interested. He watches us when we eat and I can tell he's figuring out he wants some of what we have. But first he'll have to get some teeth! He started drooling around the 2 month mark and hasn't stopped yet, we're anticipating teeth soon as he's started chewing his fingers, blankets, the babybjorn, his pacifier and anything else he can get into his mouth, which fortunately isn't that much at the moment - not that it stops him trying!
He still loves bathtime. We didn't bring the baby bath with us, so we've been bathing with William. We knew he loved being in the water before, but this has brought in a whole new level. He likes the freedom of more space, as he kicks and splashes around while we hold him.
His baby hair is almost all fallen out, just a few wild hairs sticking up here and there, and he's growing in a new fuzzy underlayer which is adorable. He still has a slight mullet at the back where the old hair has yet to be rubbed off. He used to look a little like Robert Duvall with it.
We don't watch much TV, if any at all, but that doesn't stop this little monkey from trying to sneek a peek when we happen to pass one by, or visit a friend who has it on. The box has a power! Fortunately it doesn't hold his attention for long, he much prefers human interaction.

As a new mother I find I often have to make a decision to stop what I'm doing and be deliberate in my mothering efforts. Every now and then when I get caught up in my own stuff, I need to remind myself to turn the computer off, or stop talking with the people around me, or stop whatever else I'm doing and just focus on William. It is not enough for me to cover the basics with him. I need to be interacting with him every day, giving him quality time where we talk, discover and interact with each other and the world around us. When I make the decision to stop what I am doing and focus on him, I am always rewarded by the response I see in him and in his development. I know he knows me, not just through familiarity because I feed him, change him, rock him to sleep and everything else, but because I am his best friend, his playmate and teacher. I know he trusts me and feels safe and secure with me, which reminds me that motherhood is a sacred responsibility. One that changes us in ways we could never have imagined before. I love being a mother, for the somewhat disguised blessing of getting outside myself, and for the joy (and challenge) I find in teaching what I know, and rediscovering the world with this unique spirit who has joined our family.

We love you baby William!

First Laugh

2011-07-26T10:00:00.001+08:00

Last week we were in NYC for a few days while Andrew had work/meetings in the city. Monday morning as Andrew was getting ready and I was having my usual morning conversation/kissing session with baby William, he started giggling! I shouted for Andrew to get out of the bathroom and come see/hear and enjoy this new skill. He miraculously managed to get it on video and here it is...

Is there anything sweeter than you baby's first giggle? :) We are so in love with this little guy.

Holidays (part 1)

2011-07-24T12:00:00.001+08:00

Sorry for the blog silence, it's been a busy month, and blogging with a baby (while on holiday with family) is proving a lot harder than I anticipated! Anyway, we finished off June with leaving dinners for friends in Beijing and a 2 month checkup at the doctors for William.

Then we flew to Rochester on the last day of June. We figured if William is going to join this International Family of Mystery we might as well start him on the travelling part of that young. So far so good, even despite delays in both Beijing (2 hours) and Chicago (2 hrs) (effectively making it a 24 hour journey) he basically slept or ate for the entire flight to Chicago, and then the flight from Chicago to Rochester. We rested, played and walked around during the pit stop, and he maybe fussed for 5 minutes the entire time. Travelling with a two month old is the way to go, though, I think this has probably set my expectations pretty high for how he'll travel in the future! :)

We spent the first week just enjoying being at the Lake. We also drove down to Syracuse to meet up with Aly & Tom, check out their new church ward and soon-to-be-new house, followed by a picnic in the park.

Caught at rest (twice), bathtime towel fun, cool even when napping, figuring out the whole hat thing, and picnic-ing.

An added bonus was getting to celebrate July 4th in the States with Andrew's family. We haven't celebrated Independence Day in the U.S. since we were living in D.C. in 2006 shortly after we were married. We started the day with a local parade, which was fun. Marching bands, local politicians, the police and fire departments, high school kids, local bands, all sorts of people. It was cute, and noisy, but William managed to sleep through most of it regardless of the horns and sirens blaring! His cousin, Catalina, had fun meeting Uncle Sam and collecting candy that the parade folks throw out. William even managed to snag a tootsie roll, though I confess I helped him eat it.

We ended the day on the deck with a BBQ, corn on the cob, a delicious salad, and a vanilla cake for Aly's birthday. Followed by Everett watering the plants, while Andrew played 1-on-1 basketball with Catalina, and we watched the boats sail in.

Stay tuned for our adventures once the rest of the siblings got into town!

Discovering William

2011-06-26T12:00:00.000+08:00

Each day brings new opportunities to discover William, his personality, his likes and dislikes, what he responds to, and his ever expanding range of abilities. This is one side of parenthood we really love.
Some things we've discovered by accident, for example, the sound of the hairdryer will totally calm William down when he starts getting fussy (an impersonation of the hairdryer will also work, as Andrew has figured out).
Some things are predictable, like his love of feeding. Admittedly I enjoy this too. It's a precious time when I get to just be still and take this little miracle in, while he gets to relax and fill his little belly to the brim.
Most children love to be outside and William is no exception, as he rides happily along in the Bjorn taking it all in, until he falls asleep.
He is becoming more and more responsive when we talk to him, he practices talking and smiling, and recognises patterns of how we interact with him. For instance, when I go in for a neck nuzzle he turns his head to let me in.
When he's not tired and in a need of an over the shoulder burp, he loves to be carried looking out at the world. He will also happily sit on my lap while I read emails on the computer or catch up on my blog reading. Oftentimes I catch him looking at the pictures with me, sometimes he will respond with a cute coo when another baby's photo comes up on the screen. I'm sure this is a coincidence, otherwise my child is a genius or a very early ladies man :)
Lastly William loves music and dancing. He is happiest when we are dancing around and singing to him, just like his Dad, this kid likes to be on the move. He will fall asleep to it when tired, or bump along to it when awake. He seems to prefers up tempo songs, with a good rhythmic beat, no MoTab for this little one, though he'll take a good lullaby if the timing is right. We've recently discovered jazz and bossa nova also appear to be acceptable to this young man's discerning tastes...

We love our little mover and shaker! :)

A new balancing act

2011-06-20T12:00:00.002+08:00

I'm discovering motherhood is a fine balancing act, at the moment the scales are tipped somewhat disproportionately in favour of William and his needs, as you can tell if you saw the state of my house, and the various other to do's on my list that have yet to get done. I'm learning that's normal and to be ok with it, especially because we are only 2 months along, and I should really manage my expectations better.

Having said that, I love being a mother to William. I also love that the balance between giving and receiving is slowly tipping back towards us, we give him everything and he gives us smiles and many many things to chuckle over and ooh and ahh at. We adore this little guy.

I am also realising the balance between being a mother and the need to be me as a woman, wife, friend, daughter and sister. Andrew gave me some much needed alone time, which hadn't happened for a few weeks, and as much as I adore William, it was so nice to be alone and spend time on me. But it was ever so nice when he brought him home and I got to snuggle with my two favourite boys.

Speaking of my two favourite boys, here they are in what, I am sure, is only the start of many such daring duo's.

Friends

2011-06-19T12:00:00.003+08:00

Our friends Gloria and Carl, had their baby girl two months before William arrived. It's been fun having friends walking the path ahead but yet still so close to us, and we have been marveling at our babies growth and changes, and especially their measurements. We finally had a chance to put them side to side when they came over for dinner.

Ri (pronounced "rye", short for Maria) definitely has William beat on largess but he's quickly catching up on height. Ri is rolling around, able to hold her head up, smiles constantly, gurgles, has a cute giggle, as well as an amazing screech. William is still cooing, though he's getting more talkative, we've heard a few excited intakes of breath, and he can power up those lungs when he's hungry or tired or both! They have roughly the same size feet, but Ri has found hers (and can taste them) while William is still focusing on his hands.

Speaking of which, his other friend (my friend too) the pacifier, looks like it might be on its way out, as William is getting pretty good at getting his hands into his mouth when he needs something to suck on, and I am either not available or unwilling to be hanging out all day (if you catch my drift). Here he is caught red-handed (or should that be wet-handed?), William has also started dribbling, no, not the basketball kind, the wet drooly kind - does it start this early??? I thought we would be good until around 4 months or so when teeth start coming in? On the positive side, the drool patches will keep both him and us cool during the hot summer ahead right? :)

Our friends Amy and Eric are due in September, they are also having a boy, so in addition to gaining a new playmate, we can't wait to do comparisons and be to them what Gloria & Ri have been to us.

There's a new Sheriff in town

2011-06-06T12:00:00.004+08:00

My sister sent me this outfit for William, and made a cute patchwork turtle to be his trusty crime fighting companion over here in the Wild Wild East. I think they make a good pair :)

William continues to delight us, he is getting fatter and longer and his smiles have become more frequent and directed which has been a joy. We find ourselves doing all kinds of silly things to earn them. He is also quite the exerciser, he loves to kick and work his legs and arms - especially if he has company (either you're watching/talking to him or he'll exercise along with me), which makes me think this boy will be keeping me on my toes once he gets moving for real.

If I thought I got a lot of looks while I was pregnant - it is nothing in comparison to these days when I look like this (see above - although now the weather is so warm I usually go without the blanket). Some people walk right up to me just to get a better look. I used to think it was just because the Chinese love babies so much, but now I've realised it's because they don't have front pack carriers for babies - they just carry them in their arms or in a stroller. So when they see me with the Bjorn they either have no idea what it is or assume it's a backpack, but then get confused because two little legs are sticking out the bottom, and it's only once they get close they realise I'm actually carrying a baby. Then they get all excited and start exclaiming - "xiao haizi!!" (baby!). I should say it's also uncommon for the Chinese to be out and about with babies younger than 6 months unless it's right outside their homes. So to see a very small baby is unusual for them.

Anyway, last Saturday we took a walk through some of the hutongs (old neighborhoods) in the city, and were stopped mutliple times by grandmas and young mothers interested to see our baby, and to marvel at the front carrier which they described as extremely "fangbian" (convenient) as you can carry the baby but still have both hands free to do other things! It seems having a baby translates into instant friendships with the locals who want to know how old the baby is, is it a boy or girl, do you breastfeed, did you do the zuo yuezi (read this post), is the carrier ok for the baby's back? was he born in China? how much does he weigh? wow he has blue eyes! (Chinese babies are born with brown/black eyes) etc. etc. We stopped in to a antique carpet shop that a lady ran from her house on our walk, just as William started to get fussy and the lady offered to let us stay and feed him, and then change his diaper right there in her living room. So nice! So we sat and chatted for about half an hour while attending to William's needs. Our walk and the people we met reminded me of the many reasons why I really enjoy living here.

It's all about him

2011-05-31T00:46:00.000+08:00

Can you tell we're new parents? How can we post a blog without including some cute pictures of our new addition? This little boy provides endless entertainment as we happily sit and watch him and all his endless expressions, movements, sounds and peaceful sleeps.

We're this close to getting his first purposeful responsive smile (he smiles in his sleep or after a feed but not quite in reaction to something we've done - we've had a few close calls but nothing really for sure), which is thrilling, and we can't wait to hear what his laugh will sound like, though we know that is still a month or so away. Until then, we'll just keep enjoying whatever he sends our way, this boy is a keeper!

Because we'll be traveling over the summer visiting family, we needed to get William a passport so we can leave the country, so prompted a trip to the photo-shop to get a picture. I took him over in the Babybjorn, which always puts him to sleep once we get outside. Usually this is wonderful, as he'll sleep in it for a few hours as I go about doing stuff. However during the 10 minute walk to the store, he managed to get into some kind of sleep coma and it took a good 10-15 minutes to wake him up enough to get a good shot. The out-takes gave Andrew and I plenty of material to come up with all kinds of captions for the following shots.

This little guy certainly knows how to keep us on our toes, and we often spend our evenings entertaining, singing, dancing, rocking, feeding, and burping him to sleep. It's tiring (but happy) work for us but apparently it's exhausting work being a baby!

and then there were three...

2011-05-22T12:00:00.057+08:00

Our sweet baby finally arrived on Easter Sunday morning. Weighing in at a healthy 9lbs 1oz, and measuring 21 inches, Andrew and I think he is pretty much the best thing we've ever done together.

We spent a week at the hospital recovering after an unplanned c-section (after 23 hours of labour - 3 at home, 20 in the hospital - 18.5 of which were contractions every 2-3 minutes, and 1.5 were pushing). I really did try going the no drug route, unfortunately my body was not able to handle the contractions well and after 8 hours (dilating 1cm every 2 hrs) the nurses wisely advised me to get an epidural otherwise I would not have any energy left when the time came to finally start pushing the baby out. Despite my initial dismay, once that thing kicked in, I have to admit, it was pretty wonderful.

Anyway, those five days in the hospital gave us time to come to terms with the fact we were now responsible 24/7 for this cute new baby who happened to be rooming with us! It took a few days to decide on which of the names we liked fit him best, but we finally settled on William.

(just after surgery / day 1 of recovery and nursing / the day we left the hospital)

It's been an interesting transition to this new life. It's not quite what I thought it might be, but I don't say that in a negative way, just that it didn't immediately feel how I imagined it would. I guess I was expecting an overwhelming flood of emotion and love for this person I carried around for 9 months. Yet when he came I felt, quite surprisingly, a little detached.
Partly I think that had to do with my c-section, which knocked me out emotionally and physically. My belly took quite a beating from the surgery (William proved a little difficult for even the doctors to get out) so my movement and ability to take care of the baby (excluding nursing - fortunately you can do that lying down) was really limited for that first week. So most of the initial care was taken over by Andrew, who brought me the baby when he needed nursing, changed the baby, burped the baby, held the baby, even slept with the baby, etc., while all I could manage was gingerly get myself out of bed and shuffle to and from the bathroom when nature called. So, it was not quite the hospital stay or recovery I had anticipated, but it ended up being wonderful for Andrew, as he and William immediately got to bond and get to know each other during the only time Andrew would have off work to spend 24/7 with us. Andrew got to hold William right after delivery, he also held father-son camp-outs on the pull-out couch, helped the nurses with his first bath, successfully completed plenty of diaper changes (including a major blowout which kept on coming from all directions mid change), calmed him during his first shots/jabs, rocked him to sleep, and all that other good new baby stuff.

For myself, I was a little concerned regarding this lack of depth of feeling for our new baby, the whole thing was so surreal I could hardly believe this was my new life and this was our baby, but Andrew reminded me that parenthood (and the bond of love that I expected) happens when you learn to love someone unconditionally, and that can only come when you serve and sacrifice for them as we've been learning how to do. Fortunately each day I spend nursing, burping, singing, rocking, holding, swinging him brings me closer to those feelings I imagined.

Today (Sunday) marks his fourth week of life on earth. William gets more animated and interested in the world around him with each passing day, and we fall more and more in love with this little person who has taken over our home and our hearts. We find ourselves staring at him (asleep or awake) waiting to catch a glimpse of his incredibly cute smile, watching his bobbing head as he hungrily searches for his milk source, the smack of his lips and arch of his back, hands squashing his face once he finishes a feeding, his quivering lip when he cries, his adorable yawn, and each and every other random movement or facial expression he makes as he comes to terms with this new body of his. We can't help but wonder at this tiny person we somehow managed to miraculously create (thank you Heavenly Father).

(at home / week 4)

---

We were lucky enough to have both of our mothers come and stay with us. As things worked out my Mum arrived the day after we got home from the hospital. Which was such a blessing considering Andrew had to go back to work, and I needed more help while I recovered. She was able to stay for a week, at which point Andrew's Mom, who had arrived 7 days after my Mum, was able to take over for another 10 days. It was so nice to spend time with them, to have them help me with William, and have them love on him and get to know him. We even got to celebrate Mother's day together, and I have to admit, though I didn't think I would need it, it was so wonderful to have an extra set of hands so I could rest and recuperate. Plus, it was wonderful to be a mother with my own mother around, to talk about when I was a child, what I was like, and what she remembers from those early days. Living so far away, we don't often get to have those kinds of conversations, so it was especially precious to have that one-on-one (plus William) time with her. When she left, I realised just how much I miss her. Aren't mothers the best!? They have a place in our hearts no one else can take. I hope I can be the kind of mother William feels that way about.

(father and son time / Mother's day with Andrew's Mom, me, and my Mum)

Finally a shout out and BIG thank you to all the lovely ladies in my Branch who made us dinner!! What a blessing not to have to worry about menu planning, food shopping or trying to get dinner prepared. Tomorrow I'm going to have to start cooking for myself again! :( Wish me luck trying to work that out with my new companion :) I have a hard enough time just trying to feed myself when dinner is delivered or finishing off leftovers!

All in all, though it's a whole new set of challenges and joys, we are loving our new life. We are beholding our little one and feel so blessed he decided to join our family.

40 weeks

2011-04-20T23:37:00.000+08:00

Well it looks like we made it all the way to term, which is a good thing. But I will admit waking up each morning, as my conscious mind realises I'm still pregnant, there is a sense of - Hmmm, looks like we have another 24 hours to go...again :)

All of my friends advice was to have something planned for everyday to keep my mind off not being in the hospital or holding a newborn, which, unfortunately, was not heeded as I was so sure our little guy would come early! And now I am scrambling for fun/exciting things to fill my days and keep my mind and hands busy.
I did spend Monday clearing through my clothes, putting away winter (and pregnancy) clothes and pulling out summer (and non-pregnancy) wear. None of which I can actually use right now but the thought of it is appealing. I've kept out a few pregnancy tops and a pair of trousers but that's it, this thing can't go on for much longer - can it?

All the grocery stocking up I did over a week ago (in the hopes of an early arrival) is already being diminished, so I had another restock today. I have run all my last minute errands, I went to a friends baby shower for lunch today (she's due May 1st), and now I am reduced to doing all those things I really put off like filing papers. On the bright side - I got my 40-week picture, and Andrew is going to do some pre-baby video interviews tonight. Then we're going to finish up watching The Pacific (better get that finished before I have this little boy and get too emotional to watch such things), and I guess I can keep working my way through my book list, I'm currently trying to finish up What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell - very interesting stuff. Next up, Superfreakonomics or Guns, Germs & Steel.

I know this baby will come when he's ready, and I don't want to rush him if he's finishing up preparations for his time on earth. But, needless to say, I am seriously ready for less belly and more baby. Stay tuned - it could be any day now, though we'll be sure to let you know... :)

A few more thoughts

2011-04-16T12:00:00.002+08:00

I've said that pregnancy appears to be different for every woman, the only commonalities seem to be we get bigger and there's usually a baby at the end. But I wanted to record for posterity and my own memory some of the things that have been peculiar to my pregnancy in China.

First, apparently it must be unusual for the Chinese to see pregnant foreign women walking around due to the number of curious glances and stares I get every day. When I go shopping the shop assistants always ask how far along I am, and if it's a boy or girl. Then they usually tell me how big I am - awesome :) but that my health must be really good seeing as I'm still walking around doing stuff just days away from my due date - so that can't be too bad right?

The Chinese are pretty good at telling whether it's a boy or girl, so even though they ask, many of the older ladies already correctly guess it's a boy because of the shape of the belly and how I'm carrying. This is not so true of men. When we were at the Great Wall a few weeks ago, Andrew and I went to the store to buy some drinks and started chatting with one of the older local gents there, and he asked if we were having a boy or girl, so Andrew asked him to guess what he thought. He looked at my belly and said he was 80% sure it was going to be a girl.

The Chinese LOVE children and babies, and it seems my Chinese friends also LOVE pregnant bellies, and would constantly pat or speak to it all day if I allowed them to. They seem especially pleased if their petting/speaking induces a kick or movement. One friend Ximi, managed such a kick the other day when we were at Sherri & David's leaving dinner. Don't tell Andrew, he has yet to illicit such a response :)
I should note it's mostly the women who feel this way, plus it would be weird to have my male friends touching and talking to my belly. So far only James and Joe have been allowed into the belly touching circle. But when I had Joe touch my belly the other day to feel the little guys feet moving around - he just thought it was weird and was a little freaked out by the experience!
(that is not my belly - image stolen from the www)

Last week, Amy and I went for a long-overdue pedicure. Unfortunately these days at the mere hint of getting up in the morning my feet and ankles insist on puffing and swelling. I had forgotten about this until the lady who was working on my feet pulled one of them up into her lap to begin her work. At which point Amy (who next to Andrew's mother and sister has the skinniest feet I've ever seen) exclaimed, "OH MY GOODNESS, YOUR FEET!!"
I had told her about them but this was the first time she'd seen them in person. I think it took her the entire 30 minutes to get over the shock! To top that off, the girl who was working on Amy's feet kept talking about my feet, and asked at the end if she could touch them to see how puffy they were! It's a good thing I don't offend easily :) Now I'm hoping my better looking toenails might help alleviate some of the not so pretty puffiness!

At one of my obgyn appointments, the nurse was doing my usual weight check, and it appeared I had gained 4kgs in the one week since my last appointment. FOUR kgs! That's almost 9 pounds in one week. I blame it on my feet, they account for most of my weight gain these days. Fortunately (?) the following week I had gained only half a kg, so this doesn't seem to be trend. Regardless Andrew and I have decided my new nickname should be Puff Mummy :)

Pregnancy clothes. Let's just say, if you want to look cute, don't buy your maternity wear in China. The only things I have seen on offer are tent dresses with cartoon characters and huge bows, or corduroy dungarees. Hmmm options, options! Thank goodness I bought everything when I was in the US last year. Don't even get me started on trying to find a bra here.
Note: It seems obvious to say, but, when pregnant, if you want to feel cute, you have to buy cute clothes. A certain style of tshirt that you might have worn pre-pregnancy just won't cut it anymore once you have a honking belly sticking out in front of you. Anything that makes you feel more feminine and less like an elephant will work. And trust me, on the trouser side of things, you will eventually fit into those maternity pants, and your belly really will end up being that low.

My next challenge is finding appropriate tops for nursing. Almost everything I've seen so far, specifically designed for nursing, is either really ugly and plain or super duper expensive. I sense an untapped market...anyone want to go into business?

Birthing in Beijing the Chinese way

2011-04-14T18:32:00.000+08:00

Ever since we started telling our friends we were pregnant, especially our Asian friends, they would ask when one or both of our mothers would be coming over to help with the birth and postpartum recovery period. It seems to be fairly typical (if not expected) that if you're pregnant, your mother, or your husband's mother, comes prior to the birth, and then stays for a variable period of time to help while you recover and learn about your new baby. From what I gather, apparently this is because in most Asian cultures many young women have little to no experience with babies, and it is assumed you won't know what to do with one if you don't have a mother, or grandmother there to help you out, and teach you the tricks of the mothering trade.

Every time we told our friends that our mothers wouldn't be showing up for at least a week after the baby was born, they looked at us with a mixture of surprise/admiration or a politely veiled rather-you-than-me expression of pity. Being one of five kids, having grown up around many babies and children, and having done my fair share of babysitting, I am more confident than the average person around babies. A fact I didn't fully appreciate until I attended our birthing classes, a La Leche class, and a few other "baby/birthing" meetings here where I was actually surprised by how little other people knew about babies and children.
Confidence aside, one of the many reasons why we decided to have our baby here in China (and not fly back home) was that I wanted to be able to recover and get to know our baby in our own home, at our own pace and in our own way. I want to have a special time with just the three of us getting to know each other to savour those precious moments of newness and change. Then have our mothers come once we'd settled into our own routine, and have them help out with whatever we hadn't been able to figure out :)

I don't know how things go post-delivery in other countries (having never had the chance to go through it myself yet), but here in China (and many other Asian countries) there is a traditional custom of postpartum confinement known in English as "doing the month" or "sitting the month" (zuò yuèzi 坐月子). Confinement traditionally lasts 30 days. This tradition combines prescribed foods with a number of restrictions on activities considered to be harmful. It is widely believed in many East Asian societies that this custom helps heal injuries to the perineum, promote the contraction of the uterus, and promote lactation.
(thanks Wikipedia)

I have heard many different versions of what women can and cannot do, or eat, and so I did a little online research to find something a little more authoritative, but the most useful thing I found was this (posted on Chengdu Living: Giving Birth in Chengdu by Sascha Matuszak who's wife is Chinese):

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Postpartum recovery in China falls under one term: “sitting for a month” (坐月子), which keeps the mama well-fed, protected and healthy for a full month after birth. According to Chinese medical beliefs, all illnesses come about due to an imbalance in the yin and yang within a person. The imbalances can result from excess elements — such as heat or cold — in the food or in an imbalance in the environment (air conditioners, for example) or a variety of other things. For a mama, the imbalance result from a nine-month pregnancy in which the yang (hot, male, active) element was strong: a woman is a power-house during this time because she is feeding another life. After birth, the umbilical cord is cut and the balance shifts to one of the yin (cold, female, passive) element in dominance. A mama has lost a lot of blood, all her amniotic fluids, and is exhausted from pain. She needs to be re-yang-ified.

A strict diet is the major re-yang-ifying factor. A woman needs to eat “hot” foods such as meats and eggs. And she needs to eat a lot. The idea is to fatten up a woman and replace all that she lost in the previous 10 months to the baby and to the birth. She needs to drink as much soup as she can handle and the soups should be appropriately full of protein-rich foods and devoid of hot spices. For example, Pig’s Feet and Peanuts Soup, not only do the peanuts and pork provide the protein a woman needs to replenish her blood supply, but the combination is also great for promoting breastmilk — according to tradition. Another good soup is crucian carp soup, with or without tofu — high in protein and also good for breastmilk.

There are rules to help maintain the yang ingested through the traditional diet. A woman should not leave the house and never be without a hat. Leaving the house and not wearing a hat puts one at risk of meeting a strong, cool headwind and this is the greatest fear of all grandmothers. The old women hold the avoidance of any cold winds or cold water as one of the highest priorities.

Other practices include not washing one’s hair or taking a shower. The ancient Chinese believed that giving birth loosened one’s skin and that by taking a shower, cold air is allowed in through the stretched pores, which can lead to colds, aches and future health issues.

There have been several studies conducted in rural and urban areas in China on the benefits, drawbacks and practices of the “sit for a month” tradition. In Fujian, researchers organized the beliefs into three broad categories: Diet, Hygiene and Behavior. According to their findings, the dietary practices make sense and are beneficial. Some of the hygiene ideas, such as not brushing one’s teeth, might actually be related to water-borne illnesses. This problem might have been more serious in the past, yet the cautionary tales kept their strength even after brushing your teeth became less dangerous over time. Generally, the traditions have the best in mind for the mama and are meant to promote a healthy and speedy recovery and to avoid anything that might impede that. Studies like this one done in Hubei make a clear distinction between urban and rural areas and find that many of the inexplicable practices, like avoiding fruit, staying in bed for days and not brushing one’s teeth are more prevalent in the countryside, where modern education is generally lacking and traditional values hold sway.
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In response to some comments regarding this tradition as superstitious nonsense, the writer made this further statement:

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Some of it is voodoo, some of it is homeopathic healing. The problem is, the whole system of “sitting the month” is based upon rumors and tales and passed on knowledge, so every family has a different idea of what to eat and what not to eat. Mainstays like, don’t get cold, are pretty much common sense. There might have been and might still be traditional practitioners who deal with yin and yang and balance and such and know what they are doing.
But the studies linked above as well as this Taiwan article all advocate a modernization of a basically natural healing process. i.e. inject Western science into Chinese superstition and you might just have a winner.
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Like I said above, our friends have told us slightly different versions of this tradition, and much like a family story passed down through the generations, it changes family to family, area to area. In addition to certain foods, I have heard about only drinking a tea made from a type of red date, that conversely I shouldn't eat pork (as it is a "cold" meat), but should eat beef, and of course plenty of eggs. In fact Joe & Mary gifted us a box of 32 eggs the other day for my postpartum recovery! They're now keeping cool in the fridge (gasp!) until we figure out what to do with them all (I'm thinking crepes, pavlova and scrambled eggs - yum! - but I guess no bacon...or can I?)

Living in Asia for going on 5 years now, both Andrew and I are increasingly more and more accustomed to a mixed style of living, part Western, part Asian. For instance Andrew often asks for warm or hot water at restaurants or at home instead of cold or ice water. We're aware of the polite way to hand over money and business cards. I wear slippers or socks around the house, particularly in the kitchen and bathroom where we have tiled rather than wood floors (previously I was all about bare feet) and I also try not to sit directly on a cold floor without having something beneath me (apparently very bad for women's health) like a cushion. Alas, we have yet to incorporate the long pinky nail....

Regarding tradition postpartum practices, I will probably take a similar balanced approach. I definitely believe there is something to not over-extending yourself in those first weeks after having a baby, which I equate to doing something like running a marathon. You need to take care of yourself, so you can recover appropriately and quickly, and also so you can take care of your baby.
I'm not sure if I will be able to be as strict about the eating requirements as my friends at Church will be providing meals for the first couple of days once we get home and I'm happy to eat whatever they've cooked :) But I will certainly try to stay away from too many "cold" foods. Hopefully chocolate milk or a nice blast of cold fruit juice in the morning do not fall into that category :)
I probably won't be able to manage the not showering/bathing, or washing my hair, or never leaving the house, but perhaps I will shower/bathe every other day, and only try to leave the house for a walk around the garden to get some fresh air and exercise. Fortunately it's the Spring and the weather in Beijing is really warming up so hopefully no hats will be needed! Maybe just for the baby :)

The other reason I'm going to give this a decent try is because I'm giving birth at a later age than most women do (though that trend is changing). Usually, as with any other kind of athletic event, this would mean my body would take longer to heal than say an early-20's to mid-20's something girl who can just pop a baby out with the best of them. Of course I'm hoping to be surprised by the resilience of my body but I don't want to expect too much and then be disappointed that things are taking longer than I hoped.

I found another article on Natural Postpartum Recovery (written on the US website Everyday Health), which I found quite interesting from the Western point of view. I particularly think their conclusion worth noting for all you mothers/mothers-to-be out there:

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...there is certainly a growing recognition that mothers aren’t coping well with modern day pressures of life, don’t have the needed family support and thus aren’t recovering well during the postpartum period. This is resulting in increasing statistics of women experiencing extended Maternity Blues and Postpartum Depression, 80% and 20% respectively which is very high comparably.

However since our culture doesn’t have the family support like years ago, women must take their postpartum recovery into their own hands and manage it. Make sure you get a hold of natural products that specifically helps your body with its recovery from pregnancy and child birth before you give birth. Have them ready to use on Day 1, or the day you give birth. Do your research on the products and traditions of other countries and incorporate traditions that are appealing to you and your life. Make a plan, arrange for assistance with cleaning, meals, and the baby so you can rest. Don’t be under the illusion that your body doesn’t need help with its recovery. Just like putting antiseptic and a band aid on a cut allows it to heal faster, better and stronger so would your body heal with the correct postpartum recovery products and a temporary change in diet, hygiene and activities.
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So my friends, what do you think? What worked for you? Did you have help during the postpartum period? Did you incorporate local traditions into your pregnancy, recovery, or parenting? Any other thoughts on the topic?

Baby Shower

2011-04-12T12:00:00.001+08:00

On the last day of March, my friends here threw me a baby shower, which, with my pregnancy-induced memory problems I almost forgot to post about - plus I didn't have any photos as Andrew had taken the camera with him while he was traveling that week.

Anyway, the lovely Leslie hosted it at her house, and everyone brought something yummy to eat. We had salad, pasta salad, delicious chicken salad for tiny french toasts, trifle, a strawberry shortcake(?), carrot cake, fruit, vegetables, crackers and homemade dips, and so forth. I'm not used to not bringing something so I brought mini cupcakes too. I dyed the mix blue and iced the top white with a blue heart. I should have taken pictures (if I'd had the camera) but after a rush icing job they weren't awesomely pretty, fortunately looks don't matter when they taste good! :)

Because I'm a planner and already have most everything you need for a baby (hello - I live in China and you never know what you can or can't get here), so my friends gifted me a stack of diapers, wipes, plus an organising basket for them, some cute outfits, some toys, a diaper bag, and most wonderful of all BOOKS! Yay! :) I LOVE books.
In addition my sweet friend Rodica knitted a super soft blanket, Lily got some amazing-smelling foot lotion (for me) and baby bath stuff, Carrie made a super cute baby comforter, and Amy found an awesome hand embroidered ABC wall hanging from when she and Eric went to Nepal (let me hear you say Y is for Yak).

Ashley organised a game where everyone had to guess from which parent I wanted our baby to inherit traits like eyes, nose, skin tone, athleticism, musical talent, memory, sense of humor, sense of style, sleeping habits, etc etc. And Rodica organised the "guess the contents of the poopy diaper" game. For the un-initiated, 8 different bars of chocolate were melted into separate diapers and you had to guess which chocolate bar was in which diaper. Obviously from the look on my face, I am no professional when it comes to examining diaper contents because I only got 3 right! But Carrie and Katie won 8 out of 8, but then they were also the only ones to perform the sight, smell and taste tests!! :)

I have the best of friends over here. Thanks Ladies for a wonderful evening, and for all the love, care, friendship and support you consistently give me. You guys are the best!

Impatience

2011-04-06T12:00:00.001+08:00

Technically I still have two weeks before this baby is "due" but I am already impatient for his arrival. Every night I go to bed wondering if I'll be waking up to something other than Braxton Hicks, or if the morning will bring more than eating breakfast while reading my emails.
I know I shouldn't want these things rushed, and the baby will come when he's ready. But I am anxious and ready for his arrival. People keep telling me to enjoy this last period of being without baby, to sleep, read, whatever...but after having waited so long already to have children, to be honest, I think I've enjoyed plenty of time to myself, and now I am just ready to be a mother.

On another note, I've been blessed with a very robust pregnancy, with very little if any nausea, or other complaints. Which has been fabulous, and allowed me to continue doing all my usual everyday tasks and duties quite independently - just how I like it. But as I near the end, carrying this ever increasing load, my body is not quite as agile and able as it used to be. And I am realising, for example, I can't carry home all the food shopping by myself anymore - nor should I. Asking for help is not my strong suit, neither am I very adept at letting things go usually in my control, but I'm having to relinquish these stubbornly held traits and be ok with having others help. Emotionally it's conflicting, half of me dislikes not being able to do everything I used to be able to do, but the other half likes this new feeling of not having to do it all myself for a change. And sometimes on occasion, quite strangely, I feel I am not being helped or looked after enough!
This last month of pregnancy has really had me swinging between these extremes of still feeling like I can do everything I usually can without anyone's help, and wanting to be looked after, pampered, and taken care of. I have to be very careful to manage my expectations of those around me and not feel any animosity if they are unable to read my thoughts and anticipate what mood I'm in that day/moment! :)

My big belly view when sitting down - can you tell which side he's lying on?

Conflicting emotions aside, one thing I have learned is that there really is no "normal" when it comes to pregnancy. Every woman's experience is different and unique. Sure, we experience many commonalities but, it's a bespoke journey for us all. And as wonderful and mostly enjoyable as this journey of mine has been, I am ready for the next stage of it. So, baby boy, please feel free to arrive at your earliest convenience - tomorrow perhaps? :)

More at the Great Wall

2011-03-28T13:25:00.000+08:00

We took a quick trip up to the Wall on Friday, with Tara & OJ, Tyler & Jenny. The weather was beautiful and it was nice to be outside enjoying it. I wasn't sure how much hiking I was going to be able to manage, but I surprised myself with how far I got, though it certainly helps to hike with friends to chat with along the way.

We stayed overnight at a holiday cabin right by the Wall we recently found out about, which added a cool bonus to the trip. Then we headed back to Beijing the following day so the group could continue their exploration of the city and its sights.

Unfortunately I spent most of the weekend sick, sore throat, blocked ears, runny nose, etc. Not my finest weekend, but probably better to be sick now than when the baby comes! Hopefully I'll be back to normal by the end of the week, if not before.

Our friends left early this morning, and now the house seems quiet and empty. Andrew is also traveling this week, but he'll be back by Friday. Just me and the bump to keep each other company...maybe we should find some mischief to get up to while Dad is gone :)

Still cooking...

2011-03-24T18:18:00.001+08:00

My belly is feeling huge these days (even if it doesn't look that big in the photo), fortunately it's only been the last week or so I've been having interrupted sleep. I get swollen ankles and sore arches when I'm on my feet for too long, and I am definitely more tired as this pregnancy reaches it's final weeks. As wonderful as pregnancy has been and as excited as I am to finally see this little baby I only know from his kicks and movements, I'm also excited to be able to put my shoes on without getting out of breath, to wear normal(ish) clothes again (something other than stretch-jersey) and to start working off some of this pregnancy weight. Clothes-wise I'm alternating between a pair of trousers, a pair of jeans (which I can't button up), and skirts these days. That's all I can fit into. It was a sad sad day when I couldn't fit into my pj's anymore - I'm having to borrow Andrew's basketball shorts for now, fortunately he has plenty of them and they are super comfortable.

In other news, we had a check up today, I've reached the point where I go weekly, and we also had an ultrasound because, call us first time parents but, we wanted to make sure everything still looked good from the inside as well as out.
Good news, everything is looking great. Our little boy is measuring not so little. I know that ultrasound measurements can be way off sometimes, but from the current looks of things we have a boy measuring in at around 38 weeks instead of 36.5 weeks. I guess we'll see how accurate that is when he decides to come out and show us the real thing. One thing we know for sure - he is definitely a boy :)

We're both excited and nervous. Hard to believe that soon our lives will change forever. Can anyone really prepare themselves for that?

Our good friends Tara and OJ are coming into town this weekend, with OJ's brother and his wife too. We're heading out to the Great Wall tomorrow, though I'm not sure how much hiking of it I'll actually do, it will still be nice to breath in the clean(er) country air and hang with friends we love.

Till my next status report, I'll be taking your best guesses on delivery date and birth weight... :) Winner gets a special treat all the way from China.

Six weeks

2011-03-07T22:15:00.001+08:00

I went to see my friend Gloria yesterday. She had her baby about two weeks ago, and has been a great source of advice regarding what to expect when my time comes. She's now, of course, getting to know her baby on the outside, a fascinating and completely different journey altogether.

As I reach this last stage of gestation, I am a slightly mixed bag of emotions. Part of me is looking forward to the whole pregnancy thing being over, not just because I'm feeling heavy and huge, but because I really want to see what our baby looks like and start getting to know him. But I'm a little unsure about the whole labour and delivery deal, being that it tends to be different for every women and not something you can really prepare for - and you know me, I like to prepare!
Plus once he's out, that's it - welcome to parenthood, there's no going back and returning your baby to the hospital if you change your mind! Though I guess you're already in that boat once you get pregnant! Not that I want to - as I've said before, this is something we want and have been anxiously awaiting for some time, but it's still a life-changer in ways you can't always anticipate or prepare for.

So, I have six weeks to go (though it could be more or less - depending on when the little guy decides his time has come), which seems like a long and short time all at once. It's only a month and a half, but if we're thinking along academic lines, that's an entire summer vacation! Which is how I'm going to look at it. I don't want to wish the time away - anxious as I am to get to know the boy - instead I'm going to try and make the most of this summer, and do all the things I want to do before parenting school starts!
I have a bunch of stuff on my to-do lists, I also plan on lots of lunch dates with friends, a Great Wall visit, important one-on-one time with Andrew, and plenty of outdoors exercise, especially now the weather is warming up - we've been having some really beautiful days here recently.

The babe continues to be active and is definitely flexing his muscles in there. He prefers hanging out on my right side and kicking into my left. No Braxton-Hicks yet, and I have no idea when things stick out whether it's a foot or a hand, or even two feet, or maybe an elbow. Maybe that will become more clear as I get closer. My doctor says he is head down, but I still think he's a little all over the place, you can't pigeon-hole this guy! He gets hiccups at least once a day, and is most active in the early afternoon and evening. His is not as shy around his Dad anymore, and is happy to kick away regardless of whose hand is on my belly, unless it's a stranger. He does seems to stop moving when I sing, hopefully that will continue to be a calming/soothing pattern once he's out! I guess we'll find out in a few more weeks...

Baptism in Beijing

2011-03-05T12:00:00.002+08:00

Today Andrew baptised James.
This was the first baptism I have attended here in Beijing (actually maybe the first in a super long time!). As such I thought it might be interesting to some of you to get a glimpse of religious life in a country such as China.

We attend one of two English-speaking branches (congregations) here in Beijing, split by geography - in town and out of town, though we meet in the same building. Both branches are made up entirely of foreign-passport-holding members, the majority of whom are Americans. We do have a significant number of former Chinese nationals who have since become Canadian/American/other nationalities and as such fall under the foreign-passport holding umbrella. We also have a number of Korean members, some Venezuelans, a few Europeans, Asians, Australasians and Brits thrown in for good measure! We are a diverse group - and we love it that way! Our Church meetings are held in English, but we have translation into Chinese, Korean and Spanish where needed.
The Church here also operates a virtual branch/congregation for foreigners who live in flung out places where there are only a few members and therefore not enough critical mass to create their own area branch. These members use skype to call in every Sunday for a virtual meeting. It's a creative but necessary way of keeping members in touch and able to participate in Church.
Our Branch meets in an office building in downtown Beijing, where we rent one half of an office floor, which has been split into a chapel/sacrament hall, and several smaller classrooms. We have a half kitchen but no sink, and we share bathrooms with the other companies who share our floor.

But back to James - James is from Kenya, and we first got to know him last Spring, when he and his wife, Lily, moved to Beijing from Korea, where Lily is from. They were just recently married at the time, and we quickly came to know and love them. Lily was already a member of our church, and though James believed in God, he was not interested in Church per se.
Over the last year, we have seen his interest piqued. He would often come to Church with Lily, and occasionally he and Andrew would talk about religion. Last year, he and Lily started reading the Book of Mormon together, soon after, upon James' request, he, Andrew and our friend Carl started having more serious conversations about the gospel, then just a month or so ago, he told Andrew he wanted to get baptised! The date was set and today we saw it come to fruition. We are excited about what it will mean not only for James, but for his wife and their future family together.

On the logistical side of things, because we don't have a baptismal font in our building, James was baptised in the swimming pool owned by a gym situated one floor above us, which aptly enough used to be called Miracle Fitness!

James decision to get baptised has made me realise a few things. That living as an example of what you believe really can have an effect on someone else. I'm not claiming his decision has anything to do with me, rather more to do with Andrew. Andrew is a great friend and a great missionary. He is never afraid to talk about the gospel with anyone, and he truly does live as he believes. I feel a major part of James' conversion to the gospel came about because of the examples he saw around him, not just from Andrew but from many of the people who attend our Branch, who extended their friendship and love for James, and lived as they believed.
Of course we each must make decisions about accepting the gospel and all it entails, and James also went through this process of finding out for himself if the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is true. Gratefully, he developed his own testimony that it is, and went forward with faith, choosing to get baptised and become a member of the church.
It is the start of a new journey for James and his family. We are grateful and amazed to have been a part of it.

Macro economic research in China takes on musical form

2011-02-27T15:51:00.004+08:00

As most of you know, Andrew enjoys the occasional musical foray...he's now employing this form of presentation for his research on China. For those who aren't offended by rap or bored by macro economics, you may find this interesting...

Credit to Yimin for being Andrew's Rihanna, and thanks to Eminem for the quality track.

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As China enters its 12th five-year plan (2011-2015), the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) faces a litany of policy challenges. The plan has laid out the Party's intention to restructure the economy, but the policies required to encourage that restructuring won't be easy to implement. This video "We love our FAI" (Fixed Asset Investment) highlights some of the challenges, and the Party's likely responses...
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"We Love Our FAI" Lyrics

CHORUS
Domestic consumption must increase
We must rebalance if we wanna keep the peace
Net exports’ fallin’, they’ve been way too high
That’s alright, because we love our FAI
We love our FAI

VERSE 1—Communist Party’s outlook for the next five years
I can’t tell you how it’s gonna work, I can only tell ya it’ll happen
The next five years we will restructure, quit your finger-snappin’
Next five years, we got a plan, we won’t be caught nappin’
Next five years, we will take action, lower the wealth gap and
Minimum wage, it’s on the rise, and though we must apologize
Redistribution of the income, it ain’t no guise.
We gotta enforce the labor law, cause no one complies,
Xi, and on the rise Li, discontent is high.
Indigenous innovation is so great
And urbanization keeps rollin’ at a high rate
Liberalization of the hukou is our mandate
And if you still can’t access health insurance, please just wait
Understand, we got a lotta stuff on our plate
We must make, inefficient use of energy abate
Ain’t no debate, our one-party state will create
A harmonious society…

VERSE 2—The discontented masses respond
Since before 2003, we been hearin’ bout harmonious society
That the CCP has been pumpin’ up our GDP
That their policies’ benefitted all us equally
That the CCP has been workin’ hard for you and me
Apologies that I’m an s-k-e-p-t-i-c
But this bureaucracy is causing mass uncertainty
(Just) look at the money, why it flow to the SOEs?
Why are banks, telecoms and energy monopolies?
Why did LGFVs get 4 trillion RMB?
While household deposits are down as a share of GDP
I can’t figure out why land and capital are almost free
But on the other hand, why I can’t afford a property
Trust me, that rebate on my toaster ain’t enough for me
Trust me, FAI will keep growing, wait and see,
Cause that’s how big capital makes all its cheese
In this melodious society…

VERSE 3—The Party’s defense of itself
(Now I know we’ve) said things, promised things that we haven’t done,
But you gotta admit, we been slightly, under the gun.
2008 was a great year, til it filled us with fear.
Olympic champions one month, the next Lehman’s in tears.
And with those tears came chaos, the whole system went down
Smiles faded to frowns, til stimulus came to town.
Yeah the 4 trillion kuai gave us all a nice high,
When we don’t know what to do, we just boost FAI
You see we got a limited demographic window
By 2015 we’ll have a rising dependency ratio
So before the growth of our savings pool starts to slow
We gotta build up all our airports, bridges and railroads.
And between now and then we got a political transition
(In) 2012 power’s ambition finally comes to fruition
But policy intermission is the likely rendition
Cause all the policy cooks will take a break from the kitchen
Switchin’ back on when they’re ready to tackle the mission…

Nineteen to Now

2011-02-17T18:00:00.001+08:00

When I was 19, one of my co-workers was about to get married. She was 26 at the time, and I remember thinking - wow, 26! That is so old to be getting married! How can she have waited this long? (she and her partner had been together for a few years already)
At the time, it was almost inconceivable to me that by 26, I would be anything other than married with at least two kids and probably a third on the way. Ha! :) Little did I know it would take almost 10 years for fate/destiny/life/God to bring Andrew and I together. And when it did, it was like finally finding the harmony to my melody in life. Our union has been worth the long wait. It was and still is the most joyous thing, to be partnered with the best person possible for your song. Though I sometimes wonder if I am actually the harmony to Andrew's melody, but I don't really care, either way we sing a good song!
I also didn't expect it would take almost 5 years to build in an additional harmony part. And yet, here we are, waiting anxiously and excitedly to hear this new tune.

Why do I say all this? Well, today I turned 34. It's a pause for reflection on where I am now, and where I've come from. I'm sure the 19-year old me would about die of shock if she knew this was how things would turn out. But here I am and yet somehow things feel right.
I'm sure I could have been a good wife and mother at an earlier stage in life, but perhaps sometimes the unexpected allows us a little extra time to prepare more fully for what is yet to come. I don't want to claim that I am now an excellent wife and soon-to-be excellent mother because of my experiences, but I also don't want to discount the fact that my experiences and those 10+5 years have been crucial in my development and personal growth, and will, no doubt, help me fulfill those roles with all I've learned in the process.

Sometimes I feel regret that it has taken so long to get to this much anticipated stage in life, but I have to remember we all progress, develop and change at different speeds. And though my body is marked by the passage of time in earthly years, my eternal soul is in the right place and in the right time for me.
I'm certain my time on earth still holds many twists and turns, which is very hard for my highly anticipatory and planning nature, but if the last 15 years have taught me anything, it is that the unexpected gives us those opportunities of which we never dreamed to become more than we might otherwise have been.

I know I talk about this kind of stuff a lot, so I'll quit before this becomes a lecture. And so to end this on a less serious note - and for those interested parties - here I am at 31 weeks. The little guy is getting bigger and recently discovered my rib cage. He definitely likes to make his presence known at times and is pretty good at telling his mum when she needs to use the bathroom in order to make a little more room for him! :) We're so glad to have this little one in our lives.

Fireworks

2011-02-10T16:04:00.000+08:00

For the uninitiated there is no way to explain what Chinese New Years is like. So for all of you out there who have yet to experience it, here is a comparatively short 7.5 minute segment of what we got to enjoy on the eve of the Chinese New Year. Bear in mind this is 7.5 minutes of what went on for roughly 12 hours. Watch out for our countdown to midnight at the 4.50 minute mark and the culmination that happens in firepower after that. This is just one street in one section of Beijing, plus you can kind of see some of the displays going on a few streets away, but multiply that by about 1000 and you'll have a rough idea of the kind of fireworks party we're talking about. Pure awesomeness! :)

p.s what looks like sparkly fires on the street below are lengths of firecracker/poppers let off to scare away bad luck. As such there is a big focus on the loudness of the fireworks, i.e. the louder the better.

CNY and week 30

2011-02-09T16:40:00.000+08:00

Happy Year of the Rabbit!
The official Chinese New Year holidays have just about ended, though the traditions and celebrations continue until around the 18th Feb, and so today Andrew went back to work - though I should clarify when I say "work" I mean he went back to the office as he continued to "work" at home over the CNY. A macro researcher's work is never done.
But it's always nice to have him home for a few more hours in the day, even when we don't make any grand plans, we just enjoy hanging out together, napping, cooking, eating, playing, pretty much anything is better when he's around.

We spent Chinese New Year's Eve (Wednesday) with our friends YanPing & ShengYu, Ashley & Dan, Samantha & Sean, Gloria & Carl, Gloria's mum, and Oliver. We made jiaozi, set off some fireworks in the street, played a CNY trivia game, played ma jiang (mahjong), ate black sesame TangYuan, and watched Beijing's millions of residents set off their own fireworks throughout the evening, culminating in a grand spectacular finale around midnight, though they didn't even stop then. The fireworks are one of the reasons why we love staying in Beijing over the CNY, you will never ever see another fireworks show like this anywhere else in the world. They are everywhere, at all times during the day and night for a week or two. So pretty, and so relentless. I'm sorry but July 4th and Guy Fawkes just don't hold a candle to this kind of firepower.

Anyway, the next morning (Thursday) we organised a group get together at a local Miaohui (Temple Fair). It was the same one we went to last year, but I got a few more pictures this time of the games on offer - though I forgot to take some of the snack vendors (next year!). I did manage to stock up on some locally-made honeycomb (not from bees - the toffee kind you'll find in an English Crunchie bar or in an Australian Violet Crumble) which we love to use on ice cream or just to snack on :) and I bought the little guy a small fabric rabbit toy (this is his year after all).
We tried out some of the games, though we didn't win anything, shooting at mini balloons. Turns out despite my lack of military training, Andrew and I hit the same amount - 6 out of 10 each! Maybe I'm ready for the Annie Oakley club after all?? I highly doubt it, I will never be a gun-lover.
We also crushed some corn, threw some balls, and enjoyed some performance acts (think spinning plates, acrobatics, a guy balancing a huge plant pot on his head, a Chinese mask man, and so on).

After the Miaohui, we all headed over to our friends the Lindeman's, where Leslie and I (and helpers) made brunch. Leslie (who I will forever onward refer to as the True Domestic Goddess) got up early to make two loaves of delicious fresh bread, and then went on to make light and fluffy American pancakes from scratch. I took a slightly easier route on the pancake front and instead managed to turn out about 40-50 crepes, so I didn't do too badly for a pregnant lady! Though I don't recommend standing over a hot pan for that amount of time again - especially when carrying those extra baby pounds didn't do my feet or ankles any favours! But we fed the crowds (about 40 people in total) and that was the most important thing, nothing like a pancake brunch when you've been out in the cold.

On Friday, we had separate ladies and fellas evenings. Andrew hosted a PS2 game night for the Young Men and some of our guy friends, featuring a FIFA Football Championship. No surprise but Andrew's team won! But with a name like the "Exterminators" how can you not? Seems like all those evenings when we're home for the holidays, staying up when everyone else has gone to bed, playing with his brother and brothers-in-law have paid off!
Meanwhile Leslie hosted, Samantha, Hillary and I for a ladies night, with much enjoyable chatting and eating - though to be frank, I think I did most of the eating! But the boy was hungry, and who am I to deny a growing fetus?

Speaking of the babe, I had a check up on Monday, and everything seems to be normal and good. Here is one of our first pregnancy belly shots. Taken today, this is me at 30 weeks, or should I say this is the boy at 30 weeks? I'm actually about 1766 weeks.
The belly doesn't look as big as it feels, and certainly doesn't convey how much activity is going on in there. This little guy is a mover, he seems to favour an attack from both sides - feet out one side, head out the other. He still likes to kick and move around until Andrew puts his hand on my tummy, and then he quiets down for a minute or two, just enough time for Andrew to get bored and remove his hand, before he starts back up again! He is nobody's performing monkey, though it'll be interesting to find out who's performance genes he got once he's out! Needless to say we can't wait to meet and get to know him in person, not much longer to go now!

Touring China - September 2010

2011-01-27T19:06:00.001+08:00

I spent three and a half weeks in September touring my Mum and aunt around Hong Kong, Guilin, Yangshuo, Xian, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Shanghai and Beijing. It was my first time doing something like that - organiser, tour guide, and translator in one! It wasn't an easy role to fill, and they had to put up with my newly pregnant self (fortunately not morning sick, though a little tender at times all the same), but I think (?) they had a good time. They both seem to have enjoyed themselves, and both expressed desires to come back so that must be a good thing right? :)

To make the most of things, we traveled by taxi, bus, subway, train, electric bike, pedicab, and plane so they could get the full China travel experience. It's a fascinating place and I wasn't the only one who found it so. Our focus was different than my trip with Lauren and Mary in 2007 (no Buddhist grottoes, just sights, sounds and tastes of China) so it produced a different experience, and each city has undergone some change as a result of the 2008 Olympics and a new permanent focus on development and moving ahead in the world. Mum kept asking me question regarding social and cultural changes as we moved from city to city. Many of her questions I was unable to answer, not knowing for myself what the correct responses were. I told her Andrew was the China expert in the family and we could ask him when we got back to Beijing! :)

Unfortunately my camera stopped working (again) half way through the trip! So I was only able to take photos up to Xian, and then thankfully my Mum let me download some of her photos, so I have something from the remaining areas. They're not extensive but it is what it is, and will give you some idea of the things we saw. I seem to be missing more photos from the Great Wall (Mum do you have any - or just video?) and I'm sad I didn't get any photos of Suzhou, it was really quite pretty - oh well, next time!

Anyway, here's a photo collage of our tour around the Middle Kingdom...enjoy!

Hong Kong

Macau

Guilin & Yangshuo

Guilin - Rice Terraces

Xian

Shanghai

Beijing - Forbidden City

and one last one of Andrew on the Great Wall.

p.s. if anyone is interested in touring China, and you have questions about getting around or what to see, I'd be happy to help out, unfortunately my touring days are done for the moment (unless it's limited to Beijing) :)

Homesick

2011-01-26T14:34:00.001+08:00

There's something about this pregnancy that has made me frequently homesick for the West. It's a mixture of missing family, friends, locations, shops, foods and smells. Something about not being able to share something so miraculous with those nearest and dearest, and compare experiences on how it was for them. Something about wanting to nest in a more familiar (not to mention more convenient) environment, and recreate the kind of childhood environment you enjoyed as a child for your own soon-to-be little one. And something about the flavours of my two (UK & US, three if you count Australia) homes that I can't always find in our current locale.

Every so often, my mother gets an email in her inbox that looks something like this:
---
Hi Mum,
Hope you're doing well. When you have a moment, could you email me the recipe for "xxx".
Thanks, love you.
Nicola
---
Recently it's been cheese scones and rice pudding. Previously it was welsh cakes and popovers (though I have yet to make either). On my dinner plan for this week is my Mum's favourite Chicken Zorba, and one of my favourites "Toad-in-the-Hole".

I miss my nieces and nephews, and get sad thinking about my babies growing up far way from family. Though I love our friends who are our "family" here in China, sometimes it's just not quite the same. I often wish our families could come and spend time with Andrew and I in the only "home" we've been able to create since getting married. The count is at four so far (Lauren, Mum, Alyson & Everett).
I miss being able to walk into a store and actually look at the product you're thinking of purchasing, instead of trying to figure it out using online dimensions, and reviews, to see if it's what you're really looking for.
I especially miss the food quality and options from grocery stores in both the UK and the US, actually don't get me started on that, it might make me cry.

But I shouldn't complain, every day I have plenty to be thankful for. This squirmy, kicking little guy growing and stretching inside my belly. For the incredible man I married who brings me such joy. For his job that not only allows us to provide for ourselves, but also the privilege to be here in the East and have these fabulous experiences (and perhaps because of them appreciate the times we are home all the more).

So, moving on. Andrew left bright and early this morning for a research trip in XiangFang, he'll be there until Friday. He then flies to Yunnan for his man-cation with OJ, hiking in the mountains. He won't be back until 2am next Wednesday morning. So I have a whole week to myself. I have fun things like finishing off our taxes and going through receipts to fill my time! Ok, I have a few more things on my to-do list too, like reading, practicing relaxation techniques, ordering pizza when I can't be bothered to cook :), and so forth, but they aren't quite as newsworthy :)

Tonight, I'm attending a baby shower for my friend, Gloria, who is due in about 3 weeks. She's having a girl. We're delivering at the same hospital, so it's nice to have someone who'll have been there and done that so very recently when my turn comes. She's also trying the hypnobirthing route, so I'll get some first-hand feedback on that too. Which reminds me I need to finish off icing the cupcakes I'm taking!

January

2011-01-18T11:30:00.001+08:00

Things have been pretty quiet in our household lately. But I did get released from my calling at Church, and then one minute later called right back into it, which I was glad about, I wasn't ready to be finished with it yet, after just feeling like I was starting to get the hang of it.

We had the fun opportunity to host our good friend Andy (who we first met when we lived in DC, and who now lives in Chicago) for a few dinners and long chats and great wall hiking adventures (with Andrew - my pregnant body opted out of that one) while he's been in the city for work, just sad his wife Bethany and their two adorable girls couldn't be here with him - next time maybe?!

We also spent a super fun evening at friends on Sunday, thank you Leslie & Aaron for a lovely meal, and for fun conversation from everyone else. We love our friends here in Beijing.

I also started my first childbirth class last week, the first in a 5 night series. And I got to watch my first, second and third videotaped birth. Interesting. That's all I'm going to say about that.
I've decided to go the natural non-intervention route, so no epidural for me. I found a class that teaches hypnobirthing, which I admit sounds a little funky, but the idea that it's based upon really appeals to me. Basically, it teaches you the use of visualisation, breathing and relaxation techniques to make your body as relaxed as possible, eliminating the fear of pain from labour and birth, and allowing you to work with your body (and the baby) instead of your muscles tensing up against it, as you labour and eventually deliver.
I'd rather they call it something like relaxationbirthing, as hypnobirthing, I think, initially conveys the wrong image of what you're trying to do. Anyway, two of the births we watched used this method and indeed the mothers appeared very relaxed, and there was no screaming, hard pushing, or what you tend to see happening in the movies. Just some measured breathing, a few soft grunts maybe, and then the baby comes out. They describe it as pressure rather than pain. So anyway, I'm going to give it a go - I'll let you know come April how I get on! :) Has anyone else out there used this method? If so, how did you find it?
(p.s. I think choosing a birth method is such a personal choice, and I in no way judge others decisions, we're all different and I think everyone makes a choice of what works for them)

I'm getting to that stage in pregnancy when it's difficult to hide anymore, and friends and fellow strangers alike all want to touch the belly. A phenomenon I don't think I mind, but it is a little weird if you think about it too long. People say I'm small for (almost) 6 months along, but it's my first baby, and I have my genes to thank (long torsos run in our family) so our little guy has more room to hide. But small or not, I still feel huge at the end of the day (or after a large meal - whichever comes first!), and the belly makes putting on shoes, bending over, getting up off the sofa, or rolling over in bed a little more work than they ever used to be!
I have yet to take any intentional pregnancy photos - is that a bad thing? I guess it would be good for personal history sake, who knows maybe I'll get around to it this month while I still feel cute :) Rest assured I'll be fully clothed, unlike the link to awkward naked pregnancy shots my awesome sister sent over to give me some ideas (thanks Suz!!), she was joking I think :)

My checkups, to date, all appear fine, and our baby boy is moving and kicking away in his storage unit. I love feeling him moving around, exploring his space and working on his muscles and reflexes and so forth. I'm sure it will become more uncomfortable as he gets bigger, but I don't think I will enjoy it any less. It really is a little growing miracle I have the blessing of experiencing every day.

Andrew and his comrades

Andrew is doing really well, working hard and heading off for high adventure in Yunnan the last weekend in January with OJ, one half of another couple we love and miss from our days in HK. Andrew has been wanting to get back there for a long time, and so this long-weekend man-cation is just the opportunity he's been looking for to explore more of rugged, wild China. He can write up an entry on his adventures when he gets back, so stay tuned for that. We'll hopefully be seeing OJ and his wife, Tara, again in March, when they come to visit Beijing with their friends. Yay!

The Chinese New Year is fast approaching (3 Feb) and I'm excited we'll be staying in Beijing for it again this year. It's going to be noisy but a whole lot of fun to watch. Kind of makes up for missing out on Guy Fawkes, and New Year's Eve (we opted for a quiet night in) fireworks displays which somehow haven't made it yet to China. But then why just have one night, when you can have a whole week of them (and then some) instead!? :) And the Chinese sure know how to maximize a week of fireworks.

Other than that life will continue fairly quietly, as our travel plans are somewhat hijacked (with good reason) for a few more months. But on the upside, it's giving me tons of time to get those much procrastinated projects done, like filing, health care reimbursements (just got a bunch sent off yesterday - yay!), taxes, organising, photo journals, home nesting, and baby prep all ready so when the little guy makes his appearance we can focus completely on him without feeling guilty or worried about all the things I hadn't got around to, because we all know they hit the back-burner (sometimes never to be seen or remembered again) once a baby takes pre-eminence in a home :)

For all you parents out there, let me know if you have any advice or suggestions on what else we should be doing to maximize this time (and prepare ourselves) before baby D makes his appearance!

On Goals...

2011-01-04T15:51:00.000+08:00

I've learned through many a year of good intentions and non-goal accomplishment that I may not be the best at accomplishing the things I seem to want to reach/do/be in life. In fact I have noticed myself become less specific and more general in my goal setting in recent years. I'm still only achieving about 20% of them, but they are sounding less and less challenging and therefore less interesting (no wonder I'm not motivated to achieve them!) and considering we're adding an unmeasurable and unknowable amount of change with the birth of our baby in April, I decided to try and keep things easy this year (that basically means try and keep regular life demands, classes, assignments and demands going without too much disruption).

With that said, I came across this quote the other day while reading a blog (Mamas Who Know), that challenged my somewhat less than robust goal setting for 2011, and I thought it was worth sharing...

I was quite inspired (and a little humbled) and though I'm still going to give myself some flexibility for baby change and craziness (in the best possible way), I will also be taking a hard look at where I can continue to challenge myself to reach my full potential. Perhaps it will come in the form of responding better to situations that I might otherwise have been tempted to work on the easy way through, perhaps it will be in managing my time more effectively, and maybe it will be in actually achieving something like another University class, or going up a level in Chinese study. The options are endless, but I only need a few of them to really give me an opportunity to make a greater difference to my own and the happiness of others.

Geneva & Italy - June 2010

2010-12-31T19:46:00.001+08:00

We left London on Tuesday and headed for Geneva, for a few days of work meetings for Andrew and some wandering around the city for me. It is a beautiful city, and it's always so lovely to be in Europe. We enjoyed some delicious al fresco meals, pastries, went to the Red Cross Museum (didn't have enough time for the UN or CERN - next time!) and enjoyed walking around the old city seeing how it's all put together. My sister Emma and her husband, Colin, joined us on Thursday and we took a boat ride on Lake Geneva. I love the water - maybe one day I'll just live on a boat! And then we wandered some more around the old town, enjoyed some more good food and before we knew it, we were on our way to Italy - but first, the best of Geneva...

and the beautiful Lac Leman (that's the local lingo for Lake Geneva)

Man, I love that city, just going through the photos made me want to go back there quick-smart - how's about it babe, when can we schedule some more work time for you over there? :) Or how's about moving the BJO (Beijing Office) to Geneva? I know they already have an office there, but still...think of the lessened commuting times for the few times you actually go there :) I know it wouldn't be awesome for the on-the-ground research work you do here in China, and it is kind of crazy expensive and all, but everyone has to make sacrifices you know?

Anyway, moving on, it was a long drive to Italy. We left Geneva at 3.30pm and didn't get to our hotel in Florence until about 11.30pm. Fortunately we stocked up on snacks (about three grocery bags worth!) and I made a (self-proclaimed) excellent traveling playlist for the car journey (it;s so good I still listen to it). The boys did some excellent driving and navigating and once we reached our destination we settled in for the night - as did the mosquitoes in our room! No a/c, no screens on the windows, no fly spray - equaled a handful of bites for Andrew in the morning. I slept under the sheets! The next night we were more prepared but that didn't save my hand from being attacked - that's what happens when you wash your hands after you spray yourself down!

Anyway we had a lovely day and a half in Florence, wandering around the city seeing the Duomo, various churches, the Uffizi Gallery, a little window and real shopping, and some delicious meals followed up by even more delicious gelato. I will admit it was our aim to eat as much gelato as opportunity and appetite allowed for. I feel confident that we reached our goal with satisfaction :)
We even managed to find somewhere to watch the UK vs US soccer/football match, seeing as I belong to no country, I had no particular feelings either way, just happy for a neutral result, which fortunately allowed relations between Andrew (US) and Colin (UK) to remain intact for the remainder of the holiday :)

The Duomo

Next up we traveled to Siena, which was so lovely I kind of wish we'd spent the entire time there. We hiked up the tower in the Piazza, went to the museum, tried out some local pizza snacks, ate at a local trattoria (the chef was not skimpy on the Parmesan - I think we got at least 4 tablespoons each!) and just enjoyed the city.

Next we were off to Cinque Terre (the Five Villages on the NorthWest coast of Italy, just up from La Spezia). We stayed in the village of Portovenere and hiked the trail from Riomaggiore to Vernazza, which was sweaty and dusty but fun, not to mention all the gorgeous scenery we enjoyed as we walked along the mountains and villages that follow the coastline. Andrew was sure he had managed a nice ankle sock tan until he discovered it was just dirt when it washed away in the shower!

Breakfast at the Borgo Grandaie in Siena - let's go again!

Hiking the Cinque Terre Trail

Arriving in Vernazza for a little break by the sea and some gelato of course!

We stayed that night in the lovely town of Portovenere, and enjoyed some seafood dinner there.

The following day we headed to Pisa for the obligatory tower poses, though I admit we never actually made it up the tower, we were happy enough to have seen it, though it's much smaller in real life than you imagine. Next we were off to Viareggio on the recommendation of our hotel owner in Florence for a little shopping - until we realised the shops were all closed until 4pm. Seeing as we had a few hours drive to make it to our final destination that evening, we decided to not wait around (though we did manage some lunch and more gelato) and headed on our merry way.

Pisa - it looks pretty big - that is until you get up close...

That night was our last in Italy and we stayed in the mountains in a small town called Ivrea overlooking Lake Sirio. Quite lovely, as were the meals in their restaurant that night. But for our last meal in Italy - unfortunately no gelato! Crazy world. Anyway it was off to bed as we had an early start Wednesday morning to get back to Geneva by 9am for Emma and Colin to catch their flight home. While Andrew and I waited for our flight, we went back into town to pick up the rest of our luggage, did some final last minute shopping, got a little breakfast and were on our way.

After arriving back in Beijing, and suffering some mild jetlag we were back into the rhythm of life here. It's always nice to be sleeping in my own bed again, be back in our church branch and seeing all my friends here. It's also good to be speaking Chinese again, it's surprising how much you forget when you are away even if only for a few weeks, but so nice when certain things automatically just come out of your mouth like you were never gone. Language is kind of funny like that. When we were in Geneva and Italy I would start a (albeit short and easy) conversation in the local language/English, and then I kept finding myself ending it with a Chinese phrase. The speaking part of my brain gets a little confused sometimes! But it won't stop me from wanting to be fluent in at least three languages by the time I leave this earth. (though English is a given, I'd love to tack on Chinese and French as my other two).

Since getting back life got busy (is life ever not busy?) with language classes, church callings, getting our apt in order, cleaning, shopping, cooking etc, plus I have roughly four weeks to get a bunch of stuff done before we head back to the US for family time with the D's (and more green card stuff). Andrew is similarly busy and has been working in Shanghai for the past three days, but at least he got to watch the USA soccer match (which thankfully they won, too bad they didn't manage to keep themselves in the competition with their next match - though I could say the same for the UK!). Otherwise the summer seems to be shaping up well and we're only part of the way through, looks like we have more fun and craziness ahead, but at least we'll be doing most of it all together!

Scotland & England - May/June 2010

2010-12-31T16:22:00.001+08:00

I'm coming in at the last minute to get these (much procrastinated) posts up from our summer before the year ends, but better late than never - enjoy them before I move them to a more appropriate date! :)

---

We landed in London and spent the first weekend seeing my Mum, my Dad and his wife, my Grandma, and my older and middle sister and their partners. My Dad, Andrew and I all took a jaunt down to the seaside one day and we taught Dad how to play Time Crisis and air hockey - I think he had a good time and took a pretty relaxed approach to everything - as opposed to our intensiveness! :) We had a lovely pub meal one night, a family BBQ one afternoon at Catherine's house, we pottered around town for a little, went to church, went to the Temple to do some family work, and enjoyed some lovely breakfasts al fresco with my Mum in her garden. Made me wish for a garden of my own...or even a patio, or balcony, neither of which we have in Beijing, oh, envy!

At the seaside with Dad, working on our Time Crisis and air hockey skills!

Lovely summer BBQ at Catherine's house.

Then we headed north for Scotland and a few days touring around Edinburgh, St Andrew's, and the Trossachs National Park (Loch Lomond, Inverary etc). It is so beautiful there, and for the most part we had excellent weather.

St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh Castle on the hill, and a bagpipe player.

Beautiful Edinburgh, and a small picnic in the park.

We hired a car and took off exploring the Scottish countryside enjoying beautiful scenery along the way.

Then we stopped in St Andrew's to see the city, the old Cathedral, the golfing grounds, the University, the seaside (and setting of portions of the film Chariots of Fire), and so on, whilst we stayed overnight in old railway carriage accommodations!

St Andrew's Castle - and secret tunnel used to defend and capture the castle - oh intrigues!

In our sweet carriage suite!

Then we were off to see the Lochs, and try out some tasty food at the Loch Fyne Oyster Bar, oh, and more beautiful scenery.

We even attempted to hike Ben Lomond (Andrew made it, I did not) in the rain/sleet/snow/sunny weather - 4 seasons in one day! Considering we were both in jeans and I had no rain proof gear I think it was a good accomplishment. Though next time we'll go a little better prepared, and maybe venture a little further up into the highlands :)

This is where I cut out and headed back, Andrew pressed on and made it all the way to the top!

One last stop on the way back in Stirling to see the Castle and the famous Wallace Monument and his sword! William must have been a very tall man to wield that kind of implement...

On Friday we headed down to York for a weekend with my youngest sister and her family. My Mum and brother James also came up for the weekend so it was a nice lazy couple of days, we wandered around York in the rain, went to an art museum, played board games at home, went to church, enjoyed some fabulous family dinners, and then went to a local man-made lake for some water fun in a pedalo, and kayak - Andrew even went for a quick dip even though the water was freezing. It was so nice to hang out with my siblings and have fun with their kids.

In York with Mum, James, Suz, Chris and their kids

We got back to London Monday night so Andrew could work there for the week while I tried to catch up with some friends (and paperwork). Weather wise, aside from Tuesday where it poured with rain, the rest of the week was lovely, warm and sunny. I spent a fun day with my older sister and her son at the Science Museum, where I used the day to my full advantage as an aunt to tease Samuel that my dried banana snacks were really dried slugs - and that eventually he had to try one - which he did with reluctance after much much persuasion/torture - ha! yes my lies really are that good, he thought my snacks were disgusting :) but perfect all the same, I love being an aunt!
Then I had a lovely afternoon in the park with Jo, another lunch in Green Park with Liane and then dinner and games at Louise and Jonathan's. Wish we had more time - I miss my friends!!

Emma and Samuel at the Science Museum - it took all three of us to get this up!

I spent the following weekend with my family, while Andrew headed to Cambridge for a day for an alumni hoops game at the University, then we were back to London again on Monday.

Andrew and his Cambridge hoops buddies

And on Tuesday we were off to Geneva!

Christmas Conclusions

2010-12-31T12:17:00.002+08:00

While reading about everyone's Christmas and wrap up of 2010, I've come to the conclusion (and I'll admit I have this conclusion often - I just happen to conveniently forget until the next time) that events, celebrations, dinners and well, life in general rarely goes as expected.

For all the planning and hoping and anticipation, things won't always come out exactly as we wanted it to. Sometimes it's actually much, much better, and occasionally, to the reverse, it wasn't quite what we were imagining.

I don't say all this in a negative way, just in an acknowledgment that life often exerts it's independence (and perhaps defiance) to our wishes, and from it we have a choice in how we respond to those unexpected happenings. I could give you a list of instances here from my own life when things didn't go "according to plan" and yet, when I ponder over how each of those unexpected bends in the road have affected me, I am impressed that these road blocks (for that is what they could potentially be) have in most cases (dependent on my attitude and reactions to them) made me a better, fuller, and softer person. I find that I notice the silent needs and concerns of others more keenly, having been in similar situations, I am more generous and giving, because I have seen and experienced what it is like to receive, I am more open to those different from me, having been the one so different from others first, and I am more sensitive to others sufferings and loneliness, having walked those paths also.

Does this mean that every time I stumble across a new block that I am so improved I can tackle it head on with grace and humility - um, no :) I have not quite reached those upper echelons of perfected character yet, but I am slowly learning, albeit kicking and screaming and complaining most of the time! I am a planner after all, and unexpected changes go against my nature most of the time - just ask Andrew :)
BUT, these road blocks have given me glimpses, and sometimes full on glaring pictures of the not so great sides of my character, the sides I prefer to think I don't have, the sides that need improvement. And so many improvements can be hard, and difficult, and tough, and awkward to make.

2010 has taught me to be more patient, to trust more in the Lord, to continue to hope, and to continue to do good despite it all. It was a good year, it wasn't quite what we were expecting, but we had so many experiences that shaped us into better people, and hopefully too, better parents when our time comes.

We are both looking forward to the changes that will occur in 2011, with the acknowledgment that there will also be many changes that we didn't anticipate, but I guess that is part of the journey. We just do the best we can, and make the most of what we have. At this time of new beginnings, we wish you all a glorious new year, with many new and wonderful adventures in life ahead!

p.s. I'm having a deja vu feeling that I have written about this before, if so, there's proof that indeed I do have these conclusions often - and proof I also forget about them! So I guess that means you can look forward to another post about this next year! :)

p.p.s to give you an example of our Christmas day being not quite what I had imagined. After all the preparation for having friends over Christmas morning, I found myself at midnight on Christmas Eve realising I had been so caught up in preparations for breakfast that I had completely forgotten to buy and prepare something for our own "just the two of us for the last time" Christmas dinner, and for some reason, Papa Johns pizza was just not going to cut it.
As it turns out, the breakfast went fabulously, but Andrew and I were so exhausted (having only 4-5 hrs sleep) that after everyone left, and we skyped his family in the US, we crashed for a few hours, then woke up to chat with my family in the UK, and were left to make the most of what we had left in our cupboards, namely sausages and some potatoes. Thank goodness I'm English, because sausages and potatoes transforms itself into Bangers & Mash, a fine and respectable British pub food if ever there was one. Not quite the posh starter salad, followed by a nice fillet of beef and vegetables, with something sparkly to drink I had imagined, but tasty nonetheless!
I will admit though that the table and plates and aftermath of the party didn't actually get cleaned up until Monday, because Saturday night I had to prepare a last minute RS lesson when one of our teachers called in sick (cue another 5 hour night of sleep). We finally "celebrated" Christmas on Sunday afternoon once Church was done, by taking a nice long nap, eating our Bangers & Mash leftovers, watching a film about the birth of Christ and opening our presents :)
Here's to next year!!

Christmas 2010

2010-12-25T02:03:00.001+08:00

p.s. I would include our Christmas letter, but if you've been reading our blog, then you already know what we got up to this year, and what we're looking forward to in the next!

The lead up to Christmas...

2010-12-23T11:00:00.002+08:00

As you may have started to notice, any holiday occasion we celebrate (or for no reason at all) is usually accompanied by hosting a dinner or a party, it's something we started doing when we were living in Hong Kong and now I think it's been incorporated into the tradition of how we like celebrate - by bringing people together (and eating). We've been fortunate that no matter the size of our apartments, and no matter the number of people, we have always had a really great time and have met and made many wonderful and interesting friends this way.

Now we have a larger apartment (not to mention a better kitchen to prepare food in) our ability to host has only increased. And though it can be a little stressful in the day or two prior to the host (depending on the size of the feast and if I've been able to find all the ingredients I want/need) when we prepare with the right frame of mind, it always ends in success.

Once everyone has arrived and the eating has begun, we usually ask everyone to introduce themselves to the group and share something about themselves (last night for our first Christmas party it was a Christmas tradition), which inevitably leads to the discovery of some new fun fact about the person no one knew before (we've often found not even their spouse knew it!) for example, one of our friends is from Kenya, and he misses their Christmas tradition of slaughtering a bull and cooking it for everyone to share, while another friend from Malaysia has 24-hour open house where friends and family can come and go and they must continually cater/cook food for that entire period of hosting, another friend from Norway celebrates Christmas on Christmas Eve, and has a mini Christmas Eve on the 23rd, and our friends from Moldova and Russia celebrate two Christmases, one in December and one in January!
In addition to the introductions, we will on occasion set up a fun activity or competition. Last night we split our party into three groups and had each group compose a song, or poem about Christmas. We ended up with two songs (12 days of Christmas in Beijing and Joy to the World of Christmas Traditions) and one poem/haiku/song about Christmases around the World. They were all hilarious and the winners got a candy cane and a copy of Andrew's CD (the gift that keeps on giving!).

And now onto the food, for those of you who are interested, I did go with the finger food theme, figuring it would be less work than a sit down dinner, that is until I found so many recipes, I may or may not have gone a little overboard in trying to do them all. Our finger food feast consisted of:

Honey Mustard Chicken Drumettes
Pigs in a blanket (mini franks wrapped in bacon)
Mini pizza wheels
Pesto Palmiers
Parmesan Twists
Guacamole, Salsa and Bean dip (all home made)
Veggie sticks
Cheese and Pineapple sticks (oldie but goodie)
Mini cupcakes
Ginger snaps
Cinnamon Twists
Mini Mandarins - not home made :)
Lime & Pineapple Sprite spritzer

Our guests brought chips and drinks. We also made up a mulled spiced apple cider which was delicious, but we forgot to serve it up, so only our last guest to leave got to enjoy any! Almost all the food got eaten, which is a relief as I'd eaten/taste tested plenty of it in the run up to last night and am glad to have a fresh plate/kitchen/fridge to work on our next meal.

Our last(?) feast of the year is on Christmas Day itself, when we're hosting our Chinese friends for Christmas breakfast. I'll be making banana bread, crepes, bacon & sausages, scrambled eggs, mini pavlovas, fruit salad and maybe some yogurt to throw over the top. Should be fun, if hectic and perhaps a little stressful :) note to self, keep focused on what we're trying to achieve, rather than trying to make everything perfect...

Wherever you are in the midst of preparations or celebrations I hope you're enjoying yourselves and the spirit of the season. We wish we could have you all over to celebrate with us, but please know you are in our thoughts and prayers, and one day when our paths cross again, we will no doubt ask you to join us on our next get together! :)

Thank you

2010-12-20T17:08:00.000+08:00

Thank you all for your sweet words and well wishes regarding our upcoming arrival.
For those of you who wondered, you didn't miss an earlier announcement, I was, perhaps, a little too cautious in telling people too early on, and then didn't quite know how to break the news once we felt more confident everything looked good.

Despite our best efforts, it took us a little while to get to this point and though at times it tested our patience (mine especially) we feel very fortunate to have been blessed with, what we have come to know and appreciate as, a miracle.

We have felt the reassuring guidance of God, that blessings (in all guises) come to those who wait on Him, and His timing. We do not know all things, but we do know He loves and cares for, and watches over us.

At this time, we feel humbled to have one of His children join us here on earth, and feel the responsibility that comes with that to teach and love them to the very best of our ability, so that He will (hopefully) not regret putting His child in our stewardship. Having said that, we're looking forward to teaching our baby all the wonderful, fun, interesting, and amazing things we have learned so far in our mortal journey.

We found out a few weeks ago that we'll be having a boy, and though we really didn't care either way, I'm especially excited to have a mini-Andrew to look forward to. I may be somewhat biased, but I think the world could do with a few more of them around! :) If nothing else, it will certainly add more entertainment and joy to our home. I can't wait to see the two of them together, getting up to all kinds of mischief.

Again, thank you for your prayers, thoughts and wishes. Please stay tuned on our adventures as a family, I have a feeling things will only get more interesting... :)

Destination: Thailand

2010-12-17T18:35:00.001+08:00

Our friends, Kai and Jan, (who will shortly be moving to Beijing) got married last Saturday. We were privileged to be a part of their celebrations, and so tagged along with the rest of their 140 guests to Phuket, Thailand for some sun, sea, and sandy nuptial fun.

Kai had asked Andrew to officiate their ring ceremony on the beach, and provide some entertainment for their reception. Andrew sang an altered version of Empire State of Mind (Phuket State of Mind) written especially for the newlyweds, in which Yimin and I got to pretend we were Alicia Keys as his backups. I will admit I still have some way to go before I can claim any kind of superstar status on that front!!

In addition, Andrew also ended up on the gatecrashing team (a Chinese tradition where the groom and his friends have to complete tasks and challenges set by the bridesmaids in order for them to allow the groom access to his bride), and co-mc-ing the reception. As a result, we're thinking about moving into the wedding business :) just kidding!!

At the gatecrash: 1st task - rescue Kai from the floating seabridge,
2nd task - digging for clues

3rd task - perform to a song of the Sisters (bridesmaids) choosing
4th task - perform All the Single Ladies (Andrew led the group on this one with some inspiration from his sister Lauren!)
5th task - negotiations with the Sisters for access to Jan - this involved handing over cash!
Finally - Kai gets the girl!

Thanks to Annie Soh and Ashley Chan - who I stole these photos from, as unfortunately I was not going to get up at the crack of dawn to take them myself! :)

The ceremony was beautiful and the reception was a ton of fun as we danced the night away - something we haven't done in a long time.

Everyone's favourite: Scot - Struan, Thai - Ros, and German - Max.
This was my first introduction to Max, who is now one of our firm favourites for inviting to any kind of party gathering - plus he is an excellent and original dancer - thank you Max for helping aid the fun along and for wearing your lederhosen - they were exquisitely smooth and soft! :)

The rest of the time was either spent at the beach, eating, preparing or recovering! It was one of the most fun weddings we've attended, and what a great opportunity to get away with friends!

Congratulations and many thanks Kai and Jan for such a wonderful time and letting us be a part of it!

On our way home from Thailand, we stopped into Kuala Lumpur for an afternoon and evening with our good friends, the McKinleys. We haven't seen them since they moved to KL the same summer we moved to Beijing. It was so nice to catch up on all they've been up to in that time, and thanks to Karen for a brief tour of the city, and treating us to a Malaysian lunch, followed by fabulous conversation with the family and a fabulous Italian dinner. We miss you guys, and hope we can have another get together soon! :)

Changes all 'round

2010-12-16T17:35:00.001+08:00

After a wonderfully fun and (mostly) relaxing week away celebrating our friend's nuptials, Andrew and I returned yesterday to an empty apartment. While we were away in Thailand, Andrew's sister and her son returned to the US (we knew before we left they would be going - they didn't just skip out while we were gone!). She has been fortunate to get a (very hard to schedule i.e. super long waiting list) appointment with a specialist in her area of concern and though the treatments she was receiving over here were effective and helping a great deal, we all felt it was best for her to get the specialists opinion, and then return to China for future treatments if/when necessary. We are going to miss having her and the baby around. I am especially going to miss her baby's sweet smiles and making him giggle. It was the best kind of baby boot camp!

And so, it is back to just the two of us...well almost... Us and my ever growing baby bump :)
It's hard not to marvel about the changes happening in and to my body, about the life being created within and the miracle it truly is. Though I can tell, our baby is already mischievous, as every time I put Andrew's hand on my belly to feel his kicks, he stops and starts behaving!
In just 4 short months (sometime in April), baby D will be making his appearance and turning our lives upside down - a fact we couldn't be happier about or more looking forward to.

Tis the season

2010-12-01T11:44:00.002+08:00

Christmas, I've decided, is my favourite season, and after all the travel of this year, Andrew and I decided to stay in Beijing this year to celebrate it. This will be our 5th Christmas together, and just the 2nd one we've celebrated by ourselves (the 1st was in Singapore - see picture, which seems like such a long time ago now - a time when we both had more hair).
On Sunday and Monday, I got pretty excited about putting the Fall decorations away and getting out our small collection of Christmas items. We still have the tree and a few baubles we bought in Singapore from 2006, unfortunately our string of lights burned out when we put them in the socket here :( nevertheless, we have the resources (thank you "made in China") to find replacements. So I'm off to the flower market today to buy new lights and a few more baubles so I can finish decorating the tree, and the new wreath, and start thinking about what kind of Christmas party we're going to have, and what I'm going to cook for it - should we go "sit down satisfaction" or "finger food fantasy" - having just done two sit downs for Thanksgiving, I think I'm leaning towards the latter...
I have a few weeks to think it over, so feel free to send in your favourite Christmas finger food recipes (I'll even label them according to their source i.e. Melissa's Christmas cookies, etc.)

In the meantime, next week we are off to Thailand for a few days to attend a friend's wedding in Phuket. I've never attended a destination wedding before (other than my own) so it will be an interesting event, plus it's a nice break for Andrew and I in the sun & sand before we settle in for the long, cold, (currently very polluted) Beijing winter ahead. Anyone else planning on getting some last minute winter sun?

As for other travel, Andrew has left (again) on another work trip. He is passing through Jinan, Hangzhou, Hainan and someplace else in the next three days before returning to us on Saturday. It's hard not to have him around, but I'll try and remain positive by thinking about all the hotel shampoos and lotions he'll no doubt be bringing back with him. I love my husband for many reasons, one of which is he loves to provide :)

Back to Christmas for a second - I really want to get one of these advent calendars - but they are ridiculously expensive.
I think I might try making this myself...but maybe for next year, I somehow highly doubt I'll actually have time to get it done for use this year.

I also like this option, maybe I can get it made here? What kind of advents, if any, do you use?

Update: we are slowly working our way through the Thanksgiving leftovers - apologies we couldn't comp flights and get you all here to help us out, but on the plus side of things, it meant I haven't needed to cook for the last three days :) I'm hoping we'll be done in the next day or so.

Done...until next year?

2010-11-28T00:33:00.000+08:00

We did it! We survived cooking and hosting two Thanksgiving dinners, and not only did both events go well where everyone had a good time, but we also have a fridge of leftovers to see us through the next week until we can't stand any more turkey, sweet potato, mashed potato, or pumpkin pie any longer. Anyone want to come over for dinner? :)

The state of things

2010-11-24T19:26:00.001+08:00

A few weeks ago (right after I wrote my last post), I took a short trip back to the US to pick up my greencard (finally!) and stock up on stuff I'd forgotten over the Summer. Andrew and I had a nice (if busy) few days with his folks, celebrated his brother in laws birthday and then we flew back to Beijing (on the same flight! - a rarity) with his sister and her 6-month-old son who are living with us for a few months while Andrew's sister seeks out some traditional Chinese medicine treatments for her health. It's been a slight transition getting used to having an extra adult and small baby in the house, but we're actually quite enjoying it. Andrew's sister we hope is finding solutions for her health, and taking a much needed break, while Everett (the baby) is very good, cute, fun to play with, and we love having him around, especially while he practices baby talk, learns to roll over and sit up - although I will admit the night-time jetlag/time adjustments were a little rough for a few days, but that now seems to be settling down and we're all getting into a good routine. Having extras in the house has also spurred me into a much-procrastinated state of domesticity. I am planning and cooking meals almost every night - something that hasn't happened with regularity since before the summer! All of this is why you haven't heard much from me in the past few weeks - I've been busy :)

Now, with Thanksgiving coming up, it's been a nice way to prepare for the cooking extravaganza coming up. For instance I have been collecting all the required ingredients over the past week and today I started on the cooking. First up sweet potatoes (thank you Rochester Junior League for the recipe - it was a hit last year!), then chocolate pie, and the final recipe for the day - pumpkin pie :)
Tomorrow I'll be onto the (17 pound) turkey, home-made stuffing and mashed potatoes, in addition to setting up the house/dining table for our party of 12(ish). Actually this is all just a practice run for our party of 17 (plus 3 kids) on Saturday night. For which I'll be starting the cooking on Friday, and into Saturday. Yay!

Things I am thankful for as I look ahead to the remainder of the week.
- That I have a generous husband who loves to entertain and have folks over.
- That we have so many friends we need several evenings to host them all.
- That we have enough room in our apartment to host a dinner like this.
- That there are enough foreign goods stores to find the items I need here in Beijing (it wasn't like this a few years ago).
- That we have a kitchen with an oven (also a rarity here in Beijing)
- That I have many good sources for Thanksgiving recipes (thank you Cynthia)
- That after all the hard work, kitchen clean ups, stress, preparation and servings I will be able to sit and enjoy it too :)

What are you looking forward to this Thanksgiving?

Quiet

2010-10-26T17:52:00.001+08:00

That is what my life has been lately. I also like to call it relaxing, refocusing, time-out or just plain blobbing, because that is all I have felt like doing after the intense travel schedule of the past few months. I thought I would just need one week of it, but three appears to have been the magic number :) I am now ready to get back into action. So forgive the silence, I've just not had much to write about.
I didn't even get those overdue holiday/traveling posts up - though I have another excuse for that, our current computer doesn't have enough memory/RAM to allow me to process the pictures, and our new computer doesn't have the right software yet...so maybe next month??

In the meantime, I will tell you Beijing has gotten chilly. We had a few lovely weeks of warm, then cool-ish weather, and then overnight we hit chilly with the occasional freezing outburst. I enjoy the cold weather (as long as I'm appropriately attired), but I'm really going to be loving it once our (government-controlled) heating kicks in midway through next month.

In other news, I left my keys at home yesterday. That's the first time that's ever happened to me (in as long as I've been living away from home). Fortunately there was someone to "pick the lock" for me (goodbye 200 yuan / approx $30) which took all of 5 seconds. Now I not only feel cheated out of 200 yuan (for 5 seconds - seriously that is a good gig), but now I'm also really concerned that our apartment is super easy to break into (if you can get past the 24hr guard and security door in the lobby). Looks like I'll not only be making sure I have my keys with me every time I leave the house, but I'll be double locking the door as well, hopefully it will then take them about 20 seconds to get in as opposed to just 5. Is it normal that I also don't trust the "locksmith"? After all he knows where I live...

And to think, this is just SOME of the exciting stuff that goes on when Andrew is away traveling :)

Happy Fall folks! :)

Addendum

2010-10-07T22:30:00.002+08:00

I did actually get out of the house this week - our Chinese friends Mary & Joe had their wedding celebration yesterday, and being the only D representative in town, it was my duty (and privilege) to attend.
You may remember, Mary was the translator and helper on Lauren and my China adventure in 2007, and Joe has been friends with the D's since about 2001. I think most of the D's have spent some time in Mama and Baba's spare room at one point or another, or at least enjoyed a wonderful meal there.

Anyway I was one of only three foreigners at the celebration, the other two were Koreans, fortunately we were sat at the same table, so I had people to talk to and ask questions about what was going on, which made for an interesting conversational mix (mostly in Chinese, which is our common language, but we would occasionally revert to English when we didn't know the Chinese word for something - this is really good for my language skills). I got to meet Mary's parents for the first time, they're farmers from Shanxi province and were real sweethearts. While Joe's Mum took my hand both before and after the celebration and insisted on introducing me to his entire extended family of Aunts and Uncles, which was pretty cool. It was a fun celebration and an interesting, if at times confusing, mix of Traditional and Western cultures. One of the many reasons why China can be so complex and such a paradox at times.

I have to say, the coolest and most interesting experiences I have had since living in China have been grounded in getting to know and becoming friends with the Chinese themselves. Once you've been welcomed into a Chinese person's home, they will literally do anything for you. They are so kind, and so hospitable. When I was traveling around China this past month with my Mum and Aunt, there were several moments where my heart just swelled with pride at this great country, and the very special people it holds within it.

I know it's not all hunky dory and not everyone views China with the same warm and fuzzy experiences, and I'll admit there are also times when living here is tough, and I don't agree with everything that goes on. But on the whole, China has taught me that people are the same everywhere, we just approach things in different ways, depending on our backgrounds. I've learned that one culture/country does not have all things figured out the "right" way and therefore all other ways are uncivilised/wrong. There are many different ways to live "right" and many ways to approach trying to have a happy and successful life, the biggest mistake we can ever make is judging someone else, before we've truly come to know and appreciate the life they've lived, the experiences they've had and the truths they've been brought up with....Soap box moment over :)

Taking it easy

2010-10-07T18:17:00.003+08:00

Andrew left on Sunday evening and doesn't get back till early Saturday morning, so I have had the week to myself. I was planning on being super productive, but have found myself needing a little rest after all the activity of the last few months. So I have been watching TV (haven't done that in at least 3 months!), eating pizza and sweets (my favs are those strawberry-flavoured laces with sour sugar on the outside), napping, laundry, ironing, sorting and organising, and making lists of things to do (but not this week!).

I am also feeling a huge cooking/baking season coming on. Which is strange as usually I have an aversion to anything that takes longer than 20 minutes to prepare. This must mean I'm feeling a little more settled, and with the onset of fall, cooler weather and my mind whirring with anticipation of flavour as I consider cooking a Thanksgiving feast late November, I am ready for some domestic action! Yay - time to pull out all those recipes I've been storing up!
I am going to start the weekend by spoiling Andrew with some cinnamon rolls and Anzac biscuits. I might even bake some bread! Wish me luck :)

I'll get back to normal life soon enough, and probably those holiday blogs I've been procrastinating too :)

Touring

2010-09-25T21:11:00.000+08:00

Hi Folks, sorry for the radio silence, I've been touring my Mum and Aunt around China for the past few weeks, we have one week left in Beijing, then life should go back to relative normal until the end of the year :)

I met my Mum and Aunt in Hong Kong at the beginning of the month, where we spent a few days, then we moved on to Guilin & Yangshuo, onto Xian, then Hangzhou, Suzhou & Shanghai, finally we got back to Beijing last night.

It's nice to be home, feels like I haven't been here in ages. I'm glad I don't have any where else to fly or travel to until December now, life will almost be quiet, apart from Andrew's work travel plans, he'll be away for 2 weeks out of every month until December too. It's a busy end to the year that we weren't quite expecting, but when does life ever go as you expect? :)

Crispy

2010-08-30T10:33:00.002+08:00

Today, my penultimate day of summer holidaying by the Lake, Cynthia, Catalina and I decide to lay on the sun loungers to read and enjoy the afternoon sun after a lovely lunch. I am trying to finish up my Bill Bryson "Notes from a Small Island" book so I can post it back to my Mum and not have to pack it in my already-filled-to-overflowing-suitcases. But after a chapter or two I succumb to the warmth and close my eyes to enjoy the sound of the waves and the suns rays on my legs. Up until now I've been pretty religious about wearing sunscreen when I'm out in the sun as I can burn pretty easily (despite all those years in Australia) and have even managed a respectable smattering of healthy colour.

However today, an hour or so after I have been lying there cat-napping, fortunately there is a call for me, so I head upstairs to take it and I soon realise my knees are feeling a little warm. There followed a slightly frantic search for some aloe vera (without success) and so I have resorted to whatever we have available - lotion, ice and maximum strength Lanacane first aid spray.

Of course, this was bound to happen right before my 19hour two-part plane journey on Tuesday morning, and on the day I forget to put sunscreen on. Hmmm. Looking on the bright side of things, I did manage to top up the slightly fading tan on my arms and face as well so I guess it wasn't totally a bust, but it's definitely a burn I can do without, thank you very much. Peeling knees just aren't the look I'm going for these days. At least I can cover my knees if needed! :)

One more week

2010-08-23T21:00:00.000+08:00

I'm here in the US for just one more week. The last two weeks have gone by fairly quickly, but I have a feeling this last week will drag it's heels a little, it's always like that just before I go home. Still, I have plenty of things to keep me busy so it will go one way or the other. But I can't wait to see Andrew and be "home".

The next month will see me more on the move, as I'll be touring my Mum and my Aunt around China. First to Hong Kong, then Guilin & Yangshuo, onto Xian, then Hangzhou & Shanghai, and finally up to Beijing. Let's hope my Mandarin is up to the challenge! :)

Andrew is similarly on the move, he'll be traveling for roughly two weeks out of every month from now until December. It'll be just like the first few months after we were married! He'll be between the US, Hong Kong and China. It's shaping up to be a much busier fall than we had anticipated, oh well, I guess that's just how it goes sometimes!

Anyway, I'll be posting my UK and Europe pictures soon, after that I'll be up to date until I get back from my China adventure. Stay tuned!

USA: Seattle, Portland & Vancouver - December 2009

2010-08-22T18:00:00.000+08:00

Last December, we decided to take advantage of relatively cheap Hainan Air flights (non-stop from Beijing to Seattle) to visit Andrew's sister, Lauren, who lives there with her husband and daughter, for the Christmas holidays. We spent the majority of our time hanging out in Seattle, but managed a drive down to Portland and a drive over the border to see a bit of Vancouver.

First of all I wish I had taken some pictures of the mountain ranges that surround Seattle, so beautiful to see them every time we got onto the highway. Andrew and I have plans to make it back at some point to hike a bit of Mt. Rainier - although we'll try to do it in the warmer months! We loved all the pine trees everywhere, and wow - the clean fresh air, I think we cleaned out all the Beijing smog from our lungs! :)

However, I think Andrew and I have gone soft from living in hot countries for so long because we were freezing in Seattle, maybe it's because we were coming from a dry winter to a wet winter, so don't be surprised by all the layers we're wearing - we were trying to keep warm! Here's a small sampling of what we got up to.

SEATTLE

We stopped into Pike's market, had lunch by the water (fish and crabs of course!), as well as doughnuts and all kinds of delicious treats :) We had story time with Renee in her cute Santa PJ's, visited David's office, made Christmas wreath cookies, and enjoyed a beautiful tree to boot!

We spent a fair amount of time in the car, which lead to some backseat naps.
We also got to drop by and see Alice and David - Andrew and David both served their mission in Russia where they met, this was the first time for me to meet them both - they are both so sweet, I'm already looking forward to the next time :) We also got to see Navin and Jessica, who we'd just seen in Beijing a few weeks previously when they were there touring. Navin is one of Andrew's friends from high school. Apologies to Jake and Vicki, Ray and Cami - hopefully we can meet up next time we're in town!
We also went to see Belevue Gardens all lit up for the season. Andrew and David even made it for a day of skiing at Stevens Pass, I, as it turns out, wisely decided to stay at home with Lauren, not only because they were trying to drive through impassable roads like this (thank you yahoo maps) but also because as it turns out the snow was super wet, and it snowed yet more wet snow while they were skiing, and so they came home drenched, but very happy, even if sore and tired - that's what happens apparently after you turn 30! :)

PORTLAND

We headed first to the Tillamook Factory where we practiced posing (our favourite activity) - I think Andrew could totally pull off the farmer look. Then once we completed the factory walk-through, we got to the real reason we came here - the ice cream! Oh boy, caramel toffee crunch is my new favourite - can they ship it to Beijing? Renee was loving hers, so much so she couldn't stop, not even for photos...and there's her response when Andrew asked for a bite :)

We drove along the coastline and took in all it's vast beauty. It was really lovely, if a little windy and chilly!

We stopped at a little sandy beach for some posing, I mean more picture taking.

More coastal scenic beauty. Then we made sure to hit up Powell's, Hot Lip's Pizza, and the Voodoo Doughnut store - yummy!

Before finishing up at the Chinese Gardens, a nice little taste of home - kind of, just in case we were missing it :)

VANCOUVER

We got into Vancouver in the evening, so while Lauren stayed at the hotel putting Renee to bed, Andrew and I took the opportunity to walk around the city and get a feel for the place. Not too shabby, we particularly liked the harbourfront, which reminded us of how much we enjoyed being by the water in Hong Kong, just a little colder! The old parts of town are quite charming, and while wandering around we even managed to buy Andrew 2 pairs of sneakers on sale while we were at it - bonus!

Vancouver is a beautiful city, with some gorgeous scenery and parks. We drove through one which seemed to go on and on. So we stopped for some refreshments and a little picture taking before things opened up.

After we were done at the parks, we headed to the Apilano Suspension Bridge, and took in some ancient American style totem poles, lots walkways among the trees, and some moody, misty, winter weather.

We stopped by to see the Steam Clock, hug a tree, and had a wander around the aquarium to see the dolphins, seals, whales, fish galore, touching pools, and underwater delights. Though I'm not a fan of the jellyfish (at least not while swimming) I do so love to see them all lit up like this..

Then we were back to Seattle for more Christmas and New Years fun with Lauren, Dave and Renee before Andrew had to bid us goodbye and head back to Beijing. I on the other hand had more adventures ahead in Rochester. But I already told you about those right?

France: Normandy, Brittany & Loire Valley - April 17-20th 2009

2010-08-10T18:00:00.001+08:00

Final part of our Russia/France adventure from April last year - finally!

---

Andrew and I decided we wanted to see as much of the countryside in four days as we could fit in, so we picked the Northwest region, and set off to see what we could see.

We started off in Normany, in Honfleur, a very cute village on the coast near Le Havre.

Road-mapping our trip, while enjoying the scenery and skies along the way

We drove and saw Mont St Michel getting closer and closer...

Fingertip Facts:
Mont Saint-Michel is a rocky tidal island and a commune in Normandy, France. The population of the island is 41.
Mont-Saint-Michel was used in the sixth and seventh centuries as an Armorican stronghold of Romano-Breton culture and power, until it was ransacked by the Franks, thus ending the trans-channel culture that had stood since the departure of the Romans in AD 460.
Before the construction of the first monastic establishment in the 8th century, the island was called "monte tombe". According to legend, St. Michael the Archangel appeared to St. Aubert, bishop of Avranches, in 708 and instructed him to build a church on the rocky islet. Aubert repeatedly ignored the angel's instruction, until St. Michael burned a hole in the bishop's skull with his finger.
The mount gained strategic significance in 933 when William "Long Sword" annexed the Cotentin Peninsula, definitively placing the mount in Normandy. It is depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry which commemorates the 1066 Norman conquest of England. Harold, Earl of Wessex is pictured on the tapestry rescuing two Norman knights from the quicksand in the tidal flats during a battle with Conan II, Duke of Brittany. Norman Ducal patronage financed the spectacular Norman architecture of the abbey in subsequent centuries.
In 1067, the monastery of Mont-Saint-Michel gave its support to duke William of Normandy in his claim to the throne of England. It was rewarded with properties and grounds on the English side of the Channel, including a small island located to the west of Cornwall, which was modeled after the Mount, and became a Norman priory named St Michael's Mount of Penzance.
During the Hundred Years' War, the English made repeated assaults on the island, but were unable to seize it due to the abbey's improved fortifications.
When Louis XI of France founded the Order of Saint Michael in 1496, he intended that the abbey church of Mont Saint-Michel be the chapel for the Order, but because of its great distance from Paris, his intention could never be realized.
The wealth and influence of the abbey extended to many daughter foundations, however, its popularity and prestige as a centre of pilgrimage waned with the Reformation, and by the time of the French Revolution there were scarcely any monks in residence. The abbey was closed and converted into a prison, initially to hold clerical opponents of the republican régime. High-profile political prisoners followed, but by 1836, influential figures – including Victor Hugo – had launched a campaign to restore what was seen as a national architectural treasure. The prison was finally closed in 1863, and the mount was declared a historic monument in 1874.

Once we got there we went exploring all her nooks and crannies.

Later we found a little something for my sister.

We wanted to do this but the wind wasn't strong enough,

so we ended up doing this instead.

We played around on the beach,

enjoyed a nice sunset outside St Malo,

and wondered who lived in the house on this isolated little rocky outcropping on the coast.

Next up, we headed to Brittany's Cap Frehal, which was quite breathtakingly beautiful,

We stopped by a lovely sandy beach and went rock scrambling.

Then stopped by a pebbly/rocky beach for a little bit more.

That afternoon we headed to Huelgoat, but by the time we arrived, all the village's hotels were closed (an unfortunate situation we kept finding ourselves in, almost everywhere we went), so we drove around trying to find an open hotel, no luck anywhere. We (Andrew) considered just sleeping in the car, or heading north towards a larger town to find a place to rest. Two hours later we found our way to a Best Western in this little fishing village, a late night porter was fortunately at the desk, and he not only let us in, but also had a room to rent - yay!

Back to Huelgoat, famous for it's impressive natural setting among the vestiges of the ancient forest that once covered inland Brittany. It contains a number of geological and prehistoric curiosities which can be found by following trails in and around the village and forest. Among these are:

Le Chaos de Rochers, the Chaos of Rocks, is a jumble of hundreds of large boulders below the dammed lake, into which the river vanishes. A 10 m descent down ladders is required to see it again, running rapidly below a dark cave called the Devil's Grotto.
La Roche Tremblante or Trembling Rock, is a 137-tonne boulder nearby, pivoted so it can be made to rock by a person pushing against one point.
Le Champignon, or The Mushroom, is a large rock balanced on a smaller one to give the eponymous appearance.

We thought it was not only beautiful but pretty cool. Who else can claim their village's forest has hundreds of very large round boulders?

It could be a great setting for a film like The Princess Bride...

We thought it was perfect for a spot of modeling.

After we finished up in Brittany, the remainder of our time was to be spent in the Loire Valley, home to hundreds of Andrew's favourite type of houses - chateaus.

First up was the Chateau D'Usse.

Fingertip Facts:
In the fifteenth century, the ruined castle of Ussé was purchased by Jean V de Bueil, a captain-general of Charles VII who became seigneur of Ussé in 1456 and began rebuilding it in the 1460s; and eventually passed it to his son Antoine de Bueil
Antoine was heavily in debt and in 1485, sold the château to Jacques d’Espinay, son of a chamberlain to the Duke of Brittany and himself chamberlain to the king; Espinay built the chapel, completed by his son Charles in 1538, in which the Flamboyant Gothic style is mixed with new Renaissance motifs, and began the process of rebuilding the fifteenth-century château that resulted in the sixteenth-seventeenth century aspect of the structure to be seen today.
In the seventeenth century Louis I de Valentinay, comptroller of the royal household, demolished the north range of buildings in order to open the interior court to the spectacular view over the parterre terrace, to a design ascribed to André Le Nôtre.
The tradition maintained at Ussé is that this was the castle Charles Perrault had in mind when writing "Sleeping Beauty". In 1807 Ussé was purchased by the duc de Duras; as early as March 1813, low-key meetings were held at Ussé among a group of Bourbon loyalists, who met to sound out the possibilities of a Bourbon Restoration: such men as Trémouille, duc de Fitzjames, the prince de Polignac, Ferrand, Montmorency and the duc de Rochefoucault attended. Here later François-René de Chateaubriand worked on his Mémoires d'Outre-Tombe as the guest of duchesse Claire de Duras.
In 1885 the comtesse de la Rochejaquelein bequeathed Ussé to her great-nephew, the comte de Blacas. Today the château belongs to his descendent.
Famed for its picturesque aspect, Ussé was the subject of a French railroad poster issued by the Chemin de Fer de Paris à Orléans in the 1920s and was one of several that inspired Walt Disney in the creation of many of the Disney Castles.

We fell in love with Sleeping Beauty's castle, though we were also quite in love with the local bread and pastries, I'm not sure which one won out - maybe the pastries? :)

As we drove around the countryside, there were plenty of trees and forests and the straightest planting I've ever seen to enjoy along the way.

Famous for it's gardens, our next stop was the Chateau de Villandry, though the castle isn't too shabby.

Fingertip Facts:
The lands where an ancient fortress once stood were known as Colombier until the 17th century. Acquired in the early 16th century by Jean Le Breton, France's Controller-General for War under King Francis I, a new château was constructed around the original 14th-century keep where King Philip II of France once met Richard I of England to discuss peace. The château remained in the Le Breton family for more than two centuries until it was acquired by the Marquis de Castellane. During the French Revolution the property was confiscated and in the early 19th century Emperor Napoleon acquired it for his brother Joseph Bonaparte.
In 1906, Joachim Carvallo purchased the property and poured an enormous amount of time, money and devotion into repairing it and creating what many consider to be the most beautiful gardens anywhere. Its famous Renaissance gardens include a water garden, ornamental flower gardens, and vegetable gardens. The gardens are laid out in formal patterns created with low box hedges. In 1934, Château de Villandry was designated a Monument historique. Like all the other châteaux of the Loire Valley, it is a World Heritage Site. Still owned by the Carvallo family, the Château de Villandry is open to the public and is one of the most visited châteaux in France.

The gardens truly were impressive, and I hear they change them for every season too.

I thought the bedrooms were also quite lovely, perfect for a sleeping princess!

After that, we decided to try out the Chateau de Chambord.

Fingertip Facts:
The royal Château de Chambord at Chambord, Loir-et-Cher, France is one of the most recognizable châteaux in the world because of its very distinct French Renaissance architecture that blends traditional French medieval forms with classical Italian structures.
The building, which was never completed, was constructed by King François I in part to be near to his mistress the Comtesse de Thoury, Claude Rohan, wife of Julien de Clermont, a member of a very important family of France, whose domaine, the château de Muides, was adjacent. Her arms figure in the carved decor of the chateau.
Chambord is the largest castle in the Loire Valley, but was built to serve merely as a hunting lodge for François I, who maintained his royal residences at Château de Blois and at Château d'Amboise. Chambord was altered considerably during the twenty years of its construction, (1519 ‑ 1547), during which it was overseen on-site by Pierre Nepveu.
In 1913 Marcel Reymond suggested that Leonardo da Vinci a guest of François at Clos Lucé near Amboise, was responsible for the original design, which reflects Leonardo's plans for a château at Romorantin for the King's mother, and his interests in central planning and double helical staircases; the discussion has not yet concluded. With the château nearing completion, François showed off his enormous symbol of wealth and power by hosting his old archnemesis, Emperor Charles V at Chambord.

The double helical staircase was really quite something, if a little confusing to the eye if looked at for too long. Andrew and I had a race down to see who could get to the bottom first, but I can't remember who won, probably him :)

I'm pretty sure we also got to the Chateau de Chenonceau, but we didn't take many pictures, or I mixed them up with the Chateau de Chambord - oh well, they were all lovely. But I guess once you've seen one chateau, you've pretty much got the idea. :)

To end the day, we raced back towards Chartres to see the famous cathedral before it closed. We made it with about 20 minutes to spare.

Fingertip Facts:
The Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres, a Latin Rite Catholic cathedral located in Chartres, about 80 kilometres (50 mi) southwest of Paris, is considered one of the finest examples in all France of the Gothic style of architecture. The current cathedral is one of at least four that have occupied the site.
From a distance it seems to hover in mid-air above waving fields of wheat, and it is only when the visitor draws closer that the city comes into view, clustering around the hill on which the cathedral stands. Its two contrasting spires — one, a 105 metre (349 ft) plain pyramid dating from the 1140s, and the other a 113 metre (377 ft) tall early 16th century Flamboyant spire on top of an older tower — soar upwards over the pale green roof, while all around the outside are complex flying buttresses.
The cathedral was the most important building in the town of Chartres. It was the centre of the economy, the most famous landmark and the focal point of almost every activity that is provided by civic buildings in towns today. In the Middle Ages, the cathedral functioned sometimes as a marketplace, with the different portals of the basilica selling different items: textiles at the northern end; fuel, vegetables and meat at the southern one. Sometimes the clergy would try to stop the life of the markets from entering into the cathedral. Wine sellers were forbidden to sell wine in the crypt, but were allowed to do business in the nave of the church and avoid the taxes which they would have to pay if they sold it outside. Workers of various professions, such as carpenters and masons, gathered in the cathedral seeking jobs.

It's pretty impressive, and nicely quiet at the end of the day. We wished we had a little more time to wander around the city it inhabits, next time!

We headed back to Paris to find a hotel close to the airport to crash for the night before our flight home the following morning. Alas, had we not learned our lesson about arriving late at hotels? The good ones were already full, and the less nasty of the cheap ones were closed. We were left with a truckers version of Motel 6, the rooms had bunk beds and no bathrooms, no no, they were communal and down the hallway. Not quite the last night in France I had imagined. Oh well, at least we were together, and could laugh about it in the morning, on our way out. And that was France, and the end of our traveling vacation...until the next time! :)

A nice long break

2010-08-10T11:15:00.001+08:00

I had conflicted feelings when I left Beijing to come to the US three weeks ago. I had just been given a new calling at church, had a few things going on, and was enjoying the beginnings of summer with friends. Six weeks away seemed like an incredibly long period of time to be gone.

But I've really been enjoying my time away. I knew I would, but it's been surprising to me, how much I actually needed to have some serious time off. Maybe that's surprising to you too, seeing as I don't have official employment, but life in Beijing is busy and contains stress just like everywhere else, regardless of whether you're working or not. And somehow my life is always full of things to be done. So, its been nice to enjoy a simpler kind of life, and have the time to get some things done I haven't been able to manage to do while I was in Beijing.

The past three weeks (though Andrew was only here for two weeks of it) has seen us attend to green card stuff (though still working on that), doctors appointments, other paperwork, a week long family get together, boat time and tubing, sun time, plenty of kid time and baby holding, good food, a little shopping, lots of hanging out, plenty of good weather, a family photo shoot (my first since our wedding), a trip to the Temple (just before our recommends expired!), a gathering round the fire pit with Chinese paper lamp send-offs and s'mores, the 7-hour drive to Ohio, tie-dye art camp, the Ohio State Fair, a family reunion, the 7-hour drive back to NY state, meals out, meals in, BBQ's, read two books each (Soccernomics & The Big Short for Andrew / The Last Chinese Chef & Leaving Mother Lake for me), and much more. Andrew also made it to NYC for a few days for work and to meet up with friends there. Here's a few photo montages from the summer so far...

The beach and the boat

The boat and tubing

Even Andrew's Dad gave it a go, not sure if he enjoyed it...

Baby Everett, Grandma, the Temple, s'mores, and Chinese lamps

Plenty of green to rest the eyes when you've been looking at the Lake for too long.

Art camp and the Ohio State Fair

I'm sure the next three weeks won't be quite so exciting or productive, but I do have another 4-5 books to keep me occupied, several blogs to catch up on, a blog book to finish up, a green card to finalise (hopefully), more time on the boat and in the sun, and probably more shopping on the horizon :) I'm actually looking forward to it. The only down side is that Andrew left this morning :( I am really going to miss him. Thank goodness for skype! I'll keep these cute pics (from our photo shoot) in mind while I'm whiling away the time over here...

(Lisa Hughes was our talented photographer)

I hope your summer has been equally as enjoyable!

France: Paris - April 13-16th 2009

2010-07-24T12:00:00.001+08:00

Apologies ahead of time if this ends up as a bit of a photo-fest on how much I love Paris, and how much I love my husband - though I can't be too apologetic about the latter :)
First up though, what is a travel posting without some historic context?

Fingertip Facts:
Paris is the capital and largest city of France. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region. The city of Paris, within its administrative limits largely unchanged since 1860, has an estimated population of 2,193,031 (January 2007) but the Paris aire urbaine (or metropolitan area) has a population of 11,836,970 (January 2007), and is one of the most populated metropolitan areas in Europe.
An important settlement for more than two millennia, Paris is today one of the world's leading business and cultural centres, and its influences in politics, education, entertainment, media, fashion, science, and the arts all contribute to its status as one of the world's major global cities.
Paris is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. The Paris region receives 45 million tourists annually, 60% of whom are foreign visitors.

We landed in Paris on a Monday and quickly made our way to the 16th arrondissement to the house of a senior colleague of Andrew's who was very kindly letting us stay in their lovely studio apartment there. Thanks Lionel!

Here's a taste of where we stayed and what we got to walk past every day on our way into town...so beautiful!

It was Andrew's first time to Paris, so it was an exciting four days spent diving into the culture, the sights, sounds, and tastes of this beautiful country. We challenged ourselves to try 4 pastries a day (together, not each) which I'm pretty confident we were successful in accomplishing. And we made sure to try out new restaurants and all things French while we were there. We were in heaven. Though our French (and even our French accents) need a little bit of work before we can pass as locals! :)

So began our Paris adventure...with a little lunch

followed by a visit to the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower,

and the Trocadero (where hundreds of Sri Lankan Tamil demonstrators sat for 16 days to end the Sri Lankan government's offensive against Tamil Tiger separatists).

We took a boat cruise along the Seine at dusk,

and captured more Eiffel Tower goodness.

The next day we took note of Parisian car love and cute Fiats,

admired the grandeur of Notre Dame,

as well as the beautiful Saint Chapelle.

We ventured out to the Jardin du Luxembourg, and enjoyed it's very green and leafy paths

then we walked and walked and walked all the way to a club in the Latin Quarter, where we listened to a Frank Sinatra impersonator, however, it was his bassist who really stole the show with his incredible facial expression - I love it when people really get into the music.

The next day we headed to Montmartre, one of my favourite parts of the city, for it's beautiful surrounding neighborhoods, it was raining so we had moody skies, which I think suits some of the architecture there, though I love the sunshine.

We climbed all the way to the top of the Basilique du Sacre Coeur to get this view of the city:

Last up was a trip to the Musee du Louvre,

and the Musee D'Orsay, where we found more inspiration for Andrew's facial hair...

It was a sensory overload, which we thoroughly enjoyed, and added to it with some romantic overtures of our own - Paris is for lovers after all! :)

Russia: Moscow - April 10-12th 2009

2010-07-21T12:00:00.249+08:00

Moscow was our last and final stop in our tour of Russia. Here are a few facts and a little history to get us started.

Fingertip Facts:
Moscow ( Москва́, Moskva) is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. Moscow is a major political, economic, cultural, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the world, a global city. It is also the seventh largest city proper in the world, a megacity. The population of Moscow (as of 1 January 2010) is 10,562,099.
It is located by the Moskva River in the Central Federal District, in the European part of Russia. Historically, it was the capital of the former Soviet Union, Russian Empire (for three years in 1728–30), the Tsardom of Russia, and the Grand Duchy of Moscow. It is the site of the Moscow Kremlin, one of the World Heritage Sites in the city, which serves as the residence of the President of Russia. The Russian parliament (the State Duma and the Federation Council) and the Government of Russia also sit in Moscow.
Moscow is a major economic center. It is home to many scientific and educational institutions, as well as numerous sport facilities. It possesses a complex transport system that includes four international airports, nine railroad terminals, and the world's second busiest (after Tokyo) metro system which is famous for its architecture and artwork. Its metro is the busiest single-operator subway in the world.

And now for a little history:
The city is named after the river (гра́д Моско́в, literally "the city by the Moskva River"). The origin of the name is unknown, although several theories exist. One theory suggests that the source of the name is derived from the Latin word 'Mosque.' In his novel 'Born from the River,' Karl Gill of Harvard University argues that the name refers to the plenitude of holy places that were built by the Arab-Slavic tribes that established the city in the early 10th century. The first Russian reference to Moscow dates from 1147 when Yuri Dolgorukiy called upon the prince of the Novgorod-Severski to "come to me, brother, to Moscow."
Nine years later, in 1156, Prince Yuri Dolgorukiy of Rostov ordered the construction of a wooden wall, which had to be rebuilt multiple times, to surround the emerging city.
Between 1237 and 1480 Moscow was sacked, burned, rebuilt, expanded, became a political center, as well as a tax collector, went to war against the Tatars, was sacked again, and eventually built to become the capital of an empire that would encompass all of present-day Russia and other lands.
However there was more bad news, Moscow was sacked again in 1571 by the Crimean Tatars, who burned everything but the Kremlin. It was invaded again in 1611 by the Polish-Lithuanian army. It was plagued by epidemics (aren’t all great cities?) between 1570-71, 1592 and 1654-56. Then the humiliation of all capital city humiliations, it stopped being the capital after the founding of St Petersburg in 1703. Moscow was burned by it’s own inhabitants as Napoleon’s forces approached in 1812 (which did something to help annihilate 400,000 of Napoleon’s troops during the Russian winter there).
Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, on 12 March 1918 Moscow became the capital of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and of the Soviet Union less than five years later.
In 1980, it hosted the Summer Olympic Games, which was boycotted by the United States and several other Western countries due to the Soviet Union's involvement in Afghanistan in late 1979. In 1991, Moscow was the scene of the failed coup attempt by the government members opposed to the reforms of Mikhail Gorbachev. When the USSR was dissolved in the same year, Moscow continued to be the capital of Russia.
Since then, the emergence of a market economy in Moscow has produced an explosion of Western-style retailing, services, architecture, and lifestyles.

Moscow is certainly a city that has seen its fair share of misfortune and fortune alike. Like many other historic cities, you wish it's walls could talk and tell you all they've seen, or maybe you don't - human history does tend towards the very bloody - I'm not sure I could stomach to find out everything we've done to each other. Maybe for this reason Moscow, as a city, has retained much of the edginess of its history and dealings with others. The buildings tend towards the awe-inspiring or fear-inspiring I couldn't be totally sure :) Regardless of how I felt, Andrew was loving being back. He surely has a soft-spot in his heart for this complex country and the people who claim it as their home. I find it fascinating but kind of scary. Much like China, it intrigues me and drives me crazy all at the same time. :) And so we pressed forward to discover more about this intense city in the few days we had left.

Moscow has many varied architectural styles, some better than others, but all very interesting. And like it's name suggests (if you read the history) there are churches and spires everywhere. Oh, and a major appearance of the colour red.

I was a little bit startled when we discovered this strange building was the first embassy of England in Russia!

We walked along the banks of the river and enjoyed the views of the Kremlin and St Isaac's from outside of Red Square. Here's a little info:
The Kremlin, is a historic fortified complex at the heart of Moscow, overlooking the Moskva River (to the south), Saint Basil's Cathedral and Red Square (to the east) and the Alexander Garden (to the west). It is the best known of kremlins (Russian citadels) and includes four palaces, four cathedrals and the enclosing Kremlin Wall with Kremlin towers. The complex serves as the official residence of the President of Russia.
The name The Kremlin is often used as a metonym to refer to the government of the Soviet Union (1922–1991) and its highest members (such as general secretaries, premiers, presidents, ministers, and commissars), in the same way the name Whitehall refers to the British civil service or White House refers to the executive branch of the government of the United States.

The skies were appropriately dark and brooding, much like the government contained within no doubt.

While the interior buildings were respectably grand and resplendent in their golden-capped domes.

Nothing like a bit of gold, grandeur, and stardust to bring out the romantic in you...

We went on a self-guided tour of the Kremlin, and got to tour the Armoury, which rather misleadingly does not contain much armor, but does contain many other valuable items. But, of course, no pictures allowed!
The Kremlin Armoury originated as the royal arsenal in 1508. Until the transfer of the court to St Petersburg, the Armoury was in charge of producing, purchasing and storing weapons, jewellery and various household articles of the tsars.
Nowadays, the Kremlin Armoury is home to the Russian Diamond Fund. It boasts unique collections of the Russian, Western European and Eastern applied arts spanning the period from the 5th to the 20th centuries. Some of the highlights include the Imperial Crown of Russia, Monomakh's Cap, the ivory throne of Ivan the Terrible, and other regal thrones and regalia; the Orloff Diamond; the helmet of Yaroslav II; the sabres of Kuzma Minin and Dmitri Pozharski; the 12-century necklaces from Ryazan; golden and silver tableware; articles, decorated with enamel, niello and engravings; embroidery with gold and pearls; imperial carriages, weapons, armour, and the Memory of Azov, Bouquet of Lilies Clock, Trans-Siberian Railway, Clover Leaf, Moscow Kremlin, Alexander Palace, Standart Yacht, Alexander III Equestrian, Romanov Tercentenary, Steel Military Fabergé eggs. The 10 Fabergé eggs in the Armoury collection (all Imperial eggs) are the most Imperial eggs, and the second-most overall Fabergé eggs, owned by a single owner.

Next we headed to the Church of Christ the Savior. This Church/Cathedral has a long and interesting past. Here it is in brief:
When Napoleon retreated from Moscow, Emperor Alexander I signed a manifest, 25 December 1812, declaring his intention to build a Cathedral in honor of Christ the Saviour "to signify Our gratitude to Divine Providence for saving Russia from the doom that overshadowed Her" and as a memorial to the sacrifices of the Russian people.
It took some time for actual work on the projected cathedral to get started. The first finished architectural project, was endorsed in 1817. It was a flamboyant Neoclassical design full of Freemasonic symbolism. Construction work was begun on the Sparrow Hills, the highest point in Moscow, but the site proved insecure. In the meantime Alexander I was succeeded by his brother Nicholas I. Profoundly Orthodox and patriotic, the new Tsar disliked the Neoclassicism and Freemasonry of the project selected by his brother. He commissioned his favourite architect to create a new design, taking as his model Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey. Thon's Neo-Byzantine design was approved in 1832, and a new site, closer to the Kremlin, was chosen by the Tsar in 1837. A convent and church on the site had to be relocated, so that the cornerstone was not laid until 1839.
The Cathedral took many years to build and did not emerge from its scaffolding until 1860. Some of the best Russian painters continued to embellish the interior for another twenty years. The Cathedral was consecrated on the very day Alexander III was crowned, 26 May 1883.
After the Revolution and, more specifically, the death of Lenin, the prominent site of the cathedral was chosen by the Soviets as the site for a monument to socialism known as the Palace of the Soviets. This monument was to rise in modernistic, buttressed tiers to support a gigantic statue of Lenin perched on top of a dome with his arm raised in the air.
On 5 December 1931, by order of Stalin's minister Kaganovich, the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour was dynamited and reduced to rubble. It took more than a year to clear the debris from the site.
The construction of the Palace of Soviets was interrupted owing to a lack of funds, problems with flooding from the nearby Moskva River, and the outbreak of war. The flooded foundation hole remained on the site until, under Nikita Khrushchev, it was transformed into the world's largest open air swimming pool, it was called the Moskva Pool.
In February 1990, the Russian Orthodox Church received permission from the Soviet Government to rebuild the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. A temporary cornerstone was laid by the end of the year. The restorer Aleksey Denisov was called upon to design a replica of extraordinary accuracy.
A construction fund was initiated in 1992 and funds began to pour in from ordinary citizens in the autumn of 1994. That year the pool was demolished and the cathedral reconstruction commenced. About one million Muscovites donated money for the project.
The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour or Khram Khrista Spasitelya is the tallest Orthodox church in the world.

After we pondered that properly, we were on to discover what else Moscow held for us. We stopped by several places Andrew used to frequent, and managed to fit in some famous ones too, like the Lenin Library, or this really tall, imposing, and slightly scary government building (known as one of the Seven Sisters - all designed in the same style and built by Stalin when he was in power), oh and I think the last one is a train station...

And onto Arbat Shopping Street, were we didn't end up buying anything, but we did get a cute picture if nothing else.

Next up was Tolstoy's House Museum, and for some reason we only got a few pictures of the rooms - maybe because they said we couldn't take photos (and Andrew was sneaking some in?) or we completely forgot, because I remember there being some interesting rooms. One where he would do weights, and polish his boots, rooms where his daughters would paint, or where the maid/nanny slept. He was a very interesting man. Have you read any of his spiritual thoughts/works?

In the middle of the Moscow River, a rather large and imposing statue has been built to Peter the Great. Apparently, it is one of the tallest outdoor sculptures in the world.
The idea for the monument was conceived by Mayor Luzhkov and created with the help of city-sponsored artist Tsereteli. The monument has courted extensive controversy. For a start, Peter the Great's enthusiasm for his northern capital St. Petersburg was motivated at least in part by his hatred for Moscow. Putting aside historical politics though, others complain that the monument is just plain ugly. The monument itself is 165 feet high, featuring a strident Peter the Great standing atop a frigate in full sail and brandishing a golden scroll.

Not satisfied with just one statue, we headed to the Garden of Fallen Monuments, where many infamous statues in Moscow were placed after the Soviet collapse. Eerily beautiful, if a little strange with hundreds of Soviet-style figures all over the place. Andrew did some styling of his own to blend in...

On Sunday, after Church (which was a session of General Conference) we tried to keep the spirit of the day by going to the Tretyakov Gallery. One of Moscow's best galleries of purely Russian artwork.
Before heading to our next destination (Paris, France), we finished up our trip, with tickets to the circus and one more meal with our favourite Russian hosts the Ilyichyova family. Thank you for being so accommodating and kind and feeding us so thoroughly and appropriately for the Russian Winter/Spring.

Thank you Russia. It was cold, it was sometimes dangerous, but it was fun, and it was certainly beautiful. Oh and I love your fruit teas and very warm apartments (3 feet walls!) :)

Most information sourced from Wikipedia.

Pictures

2010-07-20T17:00:00.000+08:00

Just a small note on pictures I'm posting, I can't figure out how to maneuver and manage photos in the new blogger the way I used to be able to, so I'm now pasting them together in photoshop before uploading and posting them on the blog. This way they look a little smaller but if you click on them then click again they'll enlarge to a decent size so you can see the details if you're interested.

Russia: St Petersburg - April 7-9th 2009

2010-07-20T12:00:00.006+08:00

After less than 24 hours back in Moscow and we were off on another overnight train, this time to Saint Petersburg in the north. Fortunately we made sure we had the right train station before heading off, and we arrived there without hitch. Now for the low down on this Russian Northern Capital...

Fingertip Facts on Saint Petersburg:
(Russian: Санкт-Петербу рг, tr.: Sankt-Peterburg) is a city and a federal subject (a federal city) of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city's other names were Petrograd (Петрогра д, 1914–1924) and Leningrad (Ленингра д, 1924–1991). It is often called just Petersburg (Петербу рг) and is informally known as Piter (Пи тер). Founded by Tsar Peter I of Russia on 27 May, 1703, it was the capital of the Russian Empire for more than two hundred years (1713–1728, 1732–1918). Saint Petersburg ceased being the capital in 1918 after the Russian Revolution of 1917.
It is Russia's second largest city after Moscow with 4.6 million inhabitants, and over 6 million people live in its vicinity. Saint Petersburg is a major European cultural centre, and an important Russian port on the Baltic Sea.
In 1703 Peter the Great captured the Swedish fortress of Nyenskans on the Neva river in Ingria. A few weeks later, on Zayachy (Hare) Island, he laid down the Peter and Paul Fortress, which became the first brick and stone building of the new city. He named the city after his patron saint, Saint Peter, the apostle.
Peter moved the capital from Moscow to Saint Petersburg in 1712, before the Treaty of Nystad of 1721 ended the war. However, in 1725 Peter died. His near-lifelong autocratic push for modernisation of Russia had met with considerable opposition from the old-fashioned Russian nobility — resulting in several attempts on his life and a treason case involving his own son. Thus, in 1728, Peter II of Russia moved his seat back to Moscow. But four years later, in 1732, under Empress Anna of Russia, Saint Petersburg again became the capital of the Russian Empire and remained the seat of the government for 186 years.
The Revolution of 1905 began in Saint Petersburg and spread rapidly into the provinces. With the start of World War I, the name Saint Petersburg was perceived to be too German, so in 1914 the city was renamed Petrograd.
In 1917 the February Revolution, which put an end to the Russian monarchy, and the October Revolution, which ultimately brought Vladimir Lenin to power, broke out in Petrograd. The city's proximity to the border and anti-Soviet armies forced the Bolsheviks under Lenin to transfer the capital to Moscow on March 12, 1918.
On January 24, 1924, three days after Lenin's death, Petrograd was renamed Leningrad. For decades Leningrad was glorified by the Soviet propaganda as "the cradle of the revolution" and "the city of three revolutions", many spots related to Lenin and the revolutions, were carefully preserved. Many streets and other toponyms were renamed accordingly.
On June 12, 1991, in a referendum held on the same day as the first Russian presidential election, 54% of voters chose to restore the name "Saint Petersburg" (the change officially took effect on September 6, 1991). Many other Soviet-era toponyms in the city were also renamed soon afterwards.

After arriving in Saint Petersburg, negotiating a reasonable taxi fare to our hotel, and freshening up, we hit the town (a 15 minute walk from our hotel) and promptly headed straight to the Mariinsky Theater to see if we could get tickets to the ballet that evening. We got some great seats, but more on that later.

Next up we wandered over to Saint Isaac's Cathedral, where you can climb up to the roof terrace and enjoy a great (if somewhat windy and chilly) 360 degree view of the city. The inside of the cathedral is quite ornate and contains some beautiful paintings and mosaics.

After we finished there we strolled through the Alexandrovsky Gardens which contains statues of famous Russian authors on our way to acquaint ourselves with the location of the Winter Palace and the Hermitage.

We had a quick dinner before heading back to the Theater for the ballet that evening. We were able to purchase some decent seats in the Royal Box, not quite front row, but still a great view. We felt a little like royalty, and if I'd actually packed something worth being seen in, I might have even looked the part! Alas, it was not to be, and the view was all we had...well that and an amazing ballet :) I had actually never been to the ballet before, so I was excited for my first performance. We had tickets to see La Bayadere. Here's a quick synopsis:
La Bayadère (meaning The Temple Dancer or The Temple Maiden) tells the story of the Bayadère Nikiya and the warrior Solor, who have sworn eternal fidelity to one another. But their love story is interrupted by the high priest who is also in love with Nikiya and Gamzatti, the daughter of the Rajah, who is betrothed to Solor. The high priest and Gamzatti plot to kill Nikiya, which they eventually do by having her bitten by a poisonous snake hidden in a basket of flowers Nikiya thinks is from Solor. The high priest offers her an antidote for the poison, but she chooses death, rather than live without her beloved Solor. The lovers unite in Solors opium-enhanced dreams, but he is eventually forced to marry Gamzatti. In the temple where the wedding is to take place the spirit of Nikiya haunts Solor during his dances with Gamzatti. When the high priest joins the couple's hands in marriage, the Gods take revenge for Nikiya's murder by destroying the temple and all of its occupants. In an apotheosis the spirits of both Nikiya and Solor are reunited and spirited off toward the Himalayas.

It's a rich and colourful ballet and the strength and ability of the dancers are truly phenomenal. We thought it was amazing. A wonderful end to our first day in Petersburg.

On day 2, we started the morning by stumbling across a cute cafe, where we loaded up on sweet fruit teas, and some heavy morning pastries to warm us up. We then headed to the Hermitage, for some museum wandering. I have heard about and wondered about the Hermitage for years, so it was great to finally be there myself and get a sense for it's scale and grandeur. The Russians certainly knew how to live decadently! There were so many enormous rooms, and long long hallways, and columns, and grand windows, and beautifully painted ceilings and walls, and furnishings. It's a beautiful palace-turned-museum. I wonder what it was like to wander it's halls as a resident? We ended up spending most of the day here.

Once we finished, we stopped by the Kazan Cathedral for their late afternoon song service, which was beautiful and somewhat haunting in the great echoing halls of the building.

For the evening, Andrew wanted to take me to the Grand Hotel Europe for dinner. He had dined at their L'Europe Restaurant with his family, when they were visiting one particularly bitter winter many years earlier. It was a memorable experience for them, and we made a new memorable experience for ourselves. It is probably hands down, one of the best meals I've ever eaten in my entire life. Apparently it is St Petersburg's leading gourmet restaurant. Whatever it is, take me back! But maybe let someone else get the bill this time! :)

The following day, after stopping in our breakfast cafe for more fruit tea and pastries, we tracked down Pushkin's House where we learned all about the famous poet and writer, and then marveled at Andrew's resembling ability to grow facial hair - though he'll have to work on his for a few more weeks to get the same amount of pouf.

Next up was the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ (also known as The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood. The name refers to the blood of Tsar Alexander II of Russia, who was assassinated on that site in 1881). Which though pretty and medieval Russian in looks, is not as grand and impressive on the outside as some of the other churches, completely bows you away on the internal side of things. The walls and ceilings are completely covered in intricately detailed mosaics (over 7500 square meters of them!!). The pictures are of biblical scenes or figures, with very fine patterned borders setting off each picture. It was quite something to take in.

After we were done at the Cathedral, we stopped by a local crafts fare and bought a matryoshka doll to add to our collection. Then we wandered over the Peter & Paul Fortress for a small historic tour, and a glance at the graves of Russian royalty long gone. We also got a few sightings of those tough Russians who go swimming in the mostly frozen rivers for their health. Good for them! :) But - yikes! does that looks cold!

And that was Saint Petersburg. If we ever had to go and live in Russia, this city would be my first choice. It has retained so much more of it's elegance and classical style from former times, and despite not being the nation's capital anymore, it won my heart, and I would be happy to go back again and again.

And then we were off, on another overnight train back to Moscow and hopefully no scantily clad grandmothers opening our bedroom door in the wee hours of the morning! :)

US of A

2010-07-18T20:43:00.000+08:00

That's where I am folks, while Andrew is working hard in Beijing. He joins us this coming Friday - yay! I miss him. But in the mean time I have enough to keep me busy and occupied, like 2 nieces and 2 nephews, green card stuff, blogs, and more family/holiday fun.

Yesterday was homecoming in the hamlet where Andrew's parents live. It's kind of like an old-fashioned parade day but on a really small scale (it's only a small village anyway). There's the local firetrucks and farming tractors, a touring train, old cars, the local apple blossom beauty queens and princesses, and things like that. Maybe 30 vehicles in total (I told you it was small - I tried to take some photos but both of my batteries spontaneously died), so the entire village was out for the fun, in addition there were a bunch of garage sales going on all over, a jazz band playing all day, auctions, wine tasting (if you're into that kind of thing), and the local churches were hosting BBQ's and sandwich/pie shops. My sister in law decided it was the time for her daughter and my other niece to try their entrepreneurial spirit and open a lemonade stand. She made them these adorable aprons, and were using yellow paper cups with green and white striped straws for the lemonade. I'm not sure how much lemonade they actually sold but it was cute all the same. To end the day we bought several cobs of locally grown corn from one of the neighbours up the street, ordered in some ribs and pulled pork and made a fruit salad from locally grown blueberries, plums and apricots. Delicious! I love this place - but even more so during the fruit and vegetable producing season!
This farmland around this village produces in large quantity the following: apples, cherries, plums, peaches, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, corn, squash, tomatoes, beans, and so on and so on. Most, if not all, of which you your neighbour's will sell right outside their house for cheap. Can you say heaven? :)

I'm not suffering too badly from jetlag, unfortunately I did manage to catch a cold of some sort from the man sitting behind me on the plane on the way over - awesome, just what I was looking for. My nose is starting to hurt from blowing it so much, but at least I haven't given it to anyone else, at least not yet, I'm doing what I can to keep it to myself.
Anyway, while I'm sneezing and blowing my way through this week, you can stay tuned for my extremely belated holiday blogs from April last year :) Russia and France coming up soon!

Hot!

2010-07-10T14:50:00.001+08:00

That is what the weather has been here lately. Though fortunately not as oppressive as Hong Kong summers, we're been having our fair share of high 30's and low 40's C (100+ F). Which is lovely as long as you have a/c, which fortunately we do.

However I've been apartment hunting this week for two friends of ours, both only here for a few months. So I've been wandering around in the heat of midday trying to find something suitable while I sweat my head off :) But thankfully we found two places, one friend has already moved in, the other moves tomorrow. Other than that we're just in our regular routine of having people over for dinner, going out with friends for dinner, trying to keep up with schoolwork, trying to keep the house clean (an ongoing project!) and finally get a start on the paperwork that has been piling up since the beginning of the year! Oh, and one day get to my holiday blogs - promise :)

Today is actually the first day I've had since we got back from Italy where I have nothing planned all day except for having some friends over for dinner tonight (just 8 of us) but Andrew is going to cook and I just need to make a pavlova. So I am finally going to try and get a start on our paperwork, and whatever else I haven't had time for - the list goes on - doesn't it always?

This weekend has also brought some temperature relief, it started raining last night and the skies have yet to clear and the rain has yet to fully stop. But I guess I only need to put up with it for one more week, then for the next six weeks I'll be hanging out by the lake in upstate New York. I'm pretty sure it's a tad cooler over there :)

If I don't get to it this week, I'll definitely have time once I'm in the US to finish up all my holidays blogs (Russia, France, Seattle, Portland, Vancouver, England, Scotland, Geneva and Italy), I've got some good pictures coming up, so stay tuned!

Beijing Basketball

2010-07-01T15:16:00.001+08:00

Every Saturday morning around 7am, when most other regular people are enjoying a leisurely lie-in, Andrew and his friends are out on the courts playing pickup. I'm not sure who first initiated the Saturday game, but Andrew's keen-ness to play (7am Saturday morning - hello!) has not gone un-noticed by his fellow hoopers who have nicknamed him Andrew "neither sleet nor snow" D.

Andrew and some of his hooping friends last Saturday am.

(Sid, Aaron, Andrew, Jesse, Chip and Jacob)

Having been in love with basketball since living in Chicago, following Michael Jordan and the Bulls, not to mention spending much of his teenage years working on improving his game, he truly loves to play any chance he can get, especially if he can find a good bunch of guys to play with. He's been lucky that so far our branch has brought in some decent players, alas, some of the guys are leaving soon, and he'll need to find some replacements. But "if you build it, they will come"as the saying goes. Andrew's love for the game and willingness to make it happen, will surely keep his Saturday morning game continuing on for a while, we hope at least until the fall! Keep on hooping!

Dinners and Guests

2010-06-28T12:00:00.001+08:00

Andrew and I love to have people over for dinner. We've kind of gotten into the practice of doing this with large groups of people (seeing as we currently have two dining tables and can seat up to 16 people fairly comfortably), which we find makes for some interesting and fun dinner conversations. Plus you get to find out all kinds of things about people when you make them introduce themselves to the group, which we do (we're those kinds of hosts). Often we'll also ask them to tell about a talent, or a special skill, why they're in Beijing, or something else. Many happy afternoons and evenings have come from such dinners, and we have come to know and love so many people this way. Some of our favourite families are leaving Beijing this summer, and we are so sad to say goodbye. We hope we'll get a chance to meet up again somewhere in the world. (Thanksgiving 2009)

One other side blessing to come out of this is that I've come to know how to cook for large groups of people (thanks also to several inspiring women along the way who helped me with figuring out quantities), not that I haven't made mistakes or run out of food before, but on the whole our large dinners have been good learning experiences in so many aspects.
However, I'm always on the look out for more recipes though, so if you have any suggestions or tried and true formulas for success, I'd love to hear about them. I could always use a few more ideas in the kitchen! And next time you're in town, we'll be sure to invite you to dinner! :)

Eat, Pray, Love

2010-06-27T22:01:00.003+08:00

Last year I read this book (Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert), and enjoyed thinking about what I would do if I launched out for a year to rediscover myself and my passions. Recently a woman moved to our Church branch for a few months, who was going through something of a life change, and had come to China to learn Mandarin for 4 months before moving on to her next destination. She is a cool lady and I have really enjoyed getting to know her, I've appreciated the way she sees the world, her spirituality and this opportunity to do whatever she wants and to be rediscovering what life holds for her.

While I am very happy with my life, and don't necessarily want to get out and upset the delicate balance of what we have right now, I will admit I dream of a year (or two or three or more) where Andrew and I could go out into the world together and have a ball doing all the things we love that unfortunately sometimes Andrew's job (awesome though it is) prevents us from doing.
I wonder if this sounds at all strange, being that I live in China, and have already had so many adventures seeing and enjoying a foreign and exotic world over the last few years. I guess we are never satisfied! The grass is always greener - though I really do love it over here too :)

Anyway, one of the blogs I read (Jordan Ferney of Oh Happy Day) had mentioned that she and her husband and two small children might be moving to France for a year, as she'd always wanted to live there and now is the time when they have the most flexibility to do something like that. How wonderful! Though I tried really hard not to be jealous! :)

If it were you, and you had the opportunity right now to spend a year doing whatever you wanted. What would you do?
Or if you were going to replicate a 3 x 4 month stints somewhere, which three places would you pick? What three things would you choose to focus on? What would you want to accomplish in that time? I'm interested to hear your responses :)

If I could, I would spend six months, one year, or the rest of my life...whichever, I'm not fussy:

EATING all over Italy - learning/speaking Italian, eating and learning how to make the most delicious food in the world (pizza, pasta, gelato to name just a few), living simply, swimming, and boating in a beach town/fishing village, bathing naked babies in the sea, whilst developing a not-since-I-lived-in-Australia type of tan and a passionate Italian accent
LOVING (Andrew) in Paris, France - learning/speaking French whilst enjoying the daily morning jaunt to my local patisserie to buy baguettes and other delicious pastries, fearlessly taking a Cordon Bleu class a la Julia Child, and cycling stylishly around the rest of the beautiful city (tous en francais)

Because we take our religion with us everywhere we go, I don't feel the need to have a separate PRAYING location, I figure we can do that wherever, though I'm game to try some meditation on a beach somewhere in Thailand for a few weeks :)

Andrew came up with some very realistic plans, he would love to spend:

4 months learning how to farm from his Mum's uncle in Ohio
4 months hiking the mountains and valleys in Wyoming (at least I think he said Wyoming)
and 4 months sailing on Lake Ontario.

He's pretty easy to please, though if we're going to talk non-realistically I think his list might look a little different!

What say ye? What would you do? Where would your dreams take you?

p.s. I'm working on Europe Part 2 - will get that up once I get the photos off Andrew's computer...

Four years and counting

2010-06-21T12:35:00.000+08:00

Andrew and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary in May. Four years seems strangely like a long time and yet not like a long time at all. But, I love being married to him, Andrew makes everything in life, more fun, more full, more good. He is my best friend, my strength and support, my lover, my spiritual soul-mate, my witness in life. He even laughs at my jokes, but mostly just at me :)

We have so much fun together and I love being able to share all my adventures, challenges and Italian gelato :) with this wonderful man. Happy Anniversary sweetheart!

(Florence, Italy - June 2010)

Europe Travels - Part 1

2010-06-04T17:24:00.000+08:00

We landed in London just over two weeks ago, and spent the first weekend seeing my Mum, my Dad and his wife, my Grandma, and my older and middle sisters and their partners. My Dad, Andrew and I all took a jaunt down to the seaside one day and we taught Dad how to play Time Crisis and air hockey - I think he had a good time and took a pretty relaxed approach to everything - as opposed to our intensiveness! :) We had a lovely pub meal one night, a family BBQ one afternoon at Catherine's house, we pottered around town for a little, went to church, went to the Temple to do some family work, and enjoyed some lovely breakfasts al fresco with my Mum in her garden.

Then we headed north for Scotland and a few days touring around Edinburgh, St Andrew's, and the Trossachs National Park (Loch Lomond, Inverary etc). It is so beautiful there, and for the most part we had excellent weather. We even attempted to hike Ben Lomond (Andrew made it, I did not) in the rain/sleet/snow/sunny weather - 4 seasons in one day! Considering we were both in jeans and I had no rain proof gear I think it was a good accomplishment. Though next time we'll go a little better prepared. We stayed in some lovely B&B's and enjoyed some fabulous views as we drove around. Next time we're there, we'll be up exploring the highlands :)

Then Friday we headed down to York for a weekend with my youngest sister and her family. My Mum and brother James also came up for the weekend so it was a nice lazy couple of days, we wandered around York in the rain, went to an art museum, played board games at home, went to church, enjoyed some fabulous family dinners, and then went to a local man-made lake for some water fun in a pedalo, and kayak - Andrew even went for a quick dip even though the water was freezing. It was so nice to hang out with my siblings and have fun with their kids.

We got back to London Monday night so Andrew can work here for the week while I try and catch up with some friends (and paperwork). Weather wise, aside from Tuesday where it poured with rain, the rest of the week has been lovely, warm and sunny. I spent a day with my sister and her son at the Science Museum and having fun. Then an lovely afternoon in the park with Jo, and today I'm meeting up with Liane for lunch and Louise for dinner. Tomorrow I'm spending the weekend with my family then back to London again on Monday.

Photos to follow...

Seasons change

2010-05-20T10:52:00.001+08:00

Beijing like so many other places had a very strange winter, and it seemed to last forever. The Chinese believe if you have a strange winter, the rest of the year's weather will also be strange. Case in point, our Spring was chilly, blossoming trees came late and now it seems to be over. Tuesday was 22 C (low 70's F), and Wednesday was suddenly 32 C (high 80's F). Has summer arrived already?
Not that I mind, it was so lovely to ride my bike with short sleeves and feel the warm wind on my skin, I feel like I've spent the past 6 months bundled up in at least 3 layers. One layer feels just perfect.

And is there anything better than riding your bike on a lovely warm and sunny day? Down shady tree-lined streets, past the old and the young, weaving in between traffic and double sided parked streets, inhaling car, city and factory pollution? Oh Beijing! :) Truly though, I'm loving this weather - shame we have to leave it and head to comparatively chilly England/Scotland coming in around the low 20 C (high 60's F). Oh well at least we'll actually get the Spring we missed here! How's the weather in your part of the world?

Forgot (how could I forget?) to mention, but Andrew's sister had a baby while we were in the US - how's that for timing? She started having contractions (a week or so early) and mid way through our trip, we welcomed a new nephew into the family. Yay! All 9 pounds 22 inches of him. No name yet, though we tried to come up with some ideas - not sure any of them will be implemented! Ha :) So cool to see family, and all the little ones getting older and more independent, and their fun little personalities coming through.

Jetlag & Goodbyes

2010-05-18T06:22:00.000+08:00

I actually kind of like jetlag. It's the best excuse for taking a nap in the middle of the day (or any other time) and I usually wake up early (which let's face it is a rarity!) so I actually feel like a morning person for a change, which I also like. I guess this is what it's like for people who actually get to bed at a decent hour! :) I would really like to be the kind of person who wakes up and jumps right out of bed and is off for the day...is it possible to change? Is it just a choice you make or do you think we are all one way or the other inclined by nature? Thoughts?
(image from http://kayedacus.com/2010/04/05/morning-people-night-people-and-dreams/)

Anyway, we're home from a very productive week in the US. Everything, we hope, went well, so we're now just waiting for results and other good things. Now I just have three more days to finish laundry, do some ironing, clean the house, pay our rent, catch up with friends, finish planning our UK & Europe trip, and get those last minute errands done before we're gone for the next little while.

This summer brings about a lot of change for our church branch here in Beijing. Many of the families, couples and YSA we've come to know and love are heading back to the US. It's kind of like being in a University town where you have seasonal turnover in your membership. But it makes it no easier when good friends leave and you're not sure when/if you'll see them again. We wish you all well in your travels and in the next stage of your lives. We'll miss you!
The good thing is that we're also welcoming in a new round of families who've just moved here, and so goes the life of a branch in a foreign land. It's one of the things I love about being abroad - the many varied and interesting and wonderful people you get to meet. I guess only having them for short periods makes you really appreciate the interactions you have with them and the impact and example they've left for you.

Life is truly full of blessings that come in all kinds of shapes and sizes and timescales.

Summer Plans

2010-05-06T21:22:00.000+08:00

Andrew and I have a busy summer planned, we're off this Friday for a week in the US for my green card interview. Then we're back in Beijing for five days before heading off to the UK to see my family for a couple of weeks (with a few days in London, Scotland, Geneva and Italy squeezed in for fun/work). Finally we're planning a trip to the US at the end of July to see Andrew's family. We'll also be heading down to NYC and DC for a few days of work so friends let us know if you'd like to meet up, we'd love to see anyone who's available.

It's a busy time, and I've been trying to finish old projects that have been hanging over my head (hello blog books), in addition to school, paperwork, holiday planning, church activities, saying goodbye to good friends who are leaving this summer all before we go, in some ways it will be nice to be on the other end of it all. But I guess that end just brings new projects, and new activities and new things to be busy with. :)
That said we are so looking forward to getting away and having some summer fun together. Andrew has been similarly busy at work. He's always planning work trips, or going on them, or writing them up once he gets back, as well as all his regular research, which usually means I have one tired bunny on my hands most evenings. But that doesn't usually stop us from staying up late watching movies, or talking till the wee hours :)

Anyway like I said we both need a little break and are really looking forward to seeing our families and friends. What are you up to this summer? :)

Exploring Beijing: Beihai

2010-05-01T16:32:00.003+08:00

I don't feel like I've been very good at really exploring the places I've lived, so I really wanted to make an effort with Beijing and get to know the city's various districts and sites. So this week I started an Exploring Beijing group, and invited some friends to come along with me to explore this great city together. Our first port of call was Beihai Park.

Fingertip facts:
Beihai Park (simplified Chinese: 北海公园; traditional Chinese: 北海公園; pinyin: Běihǎi Gōngyuán) is an imperial garden to the northwest of the Forbidden City in Beijing. Initially built in the 10th century, it is amongst the largest of Chinese gardens, and contains numerous historically important structures, palaces and temples. Prior to the end of the Qing Dynasty in 1911 this area was connected to the Forbidden City, but since 1925 it has been open to the public.
The Park has an area of more than 69 hectares, with a lake that covers more than half of the entire Park. At the center of the Park is an island called Qiónghuá (琼华) Island with a highest point of 32 m upon which is built the White Dagoba.
The Bai Ta (White Dagoba) is a 40 m high stupa placed on the highest point on Qiónghuá Island. Its body is made of white stone. Sun, moon and flame engravings decorate the surface of the tower. Destroyed in 1679 by an earthquake, it was rebuilt the following year, and restored again in in 1976, because of an earthquake which occurred at Tangshan City, near Beijing City. A reliquary, secreted inside the structure are Buddhist Scriptures, monk's mantles and alms bowl, and the bones of monks (their remains after cremation).
There are several renowned Buddhist temples located within Beihai Park, such as the Yong'an Temple (Temple of Everlasting Peace) and the Chanfu Temple.
On the north bank lies the Five-Dragon Pavilions, five connected pavilions with spires and pointed upswept eaves, which was built in the Ming Dynasty.
The Nine-Dragon Wall lies north of the Five-Dragon Pavilion. It was built in 1756 and is one of three walls of its kind in China. It is made of glaze bricks of seven-colors. Nine complete dragons playing in the clouds decorate both sides of the wall.

It's a lovely park, and we happened to come on a beautifully clear day. Because Beijing's Spring has been slow in coming the cold has kept most of the trees from blooming until recently, so many of the trees were covered in blossoms, making everything look that much prettier.

We started at the south end of the park, walking across to Qionghua Island, and climbing up the White Dagoba to get a better view from the top, where you can just make out through the trees the roofs of the Forbidden City, the National Center for Performing Arts and Jingshan Park to the southwest.

From the Dagoba, we followed the path heading Northwest to find the Nine Dragon Screen.

From there we continued east and south walking through some old hutongs to get a better sense of traditional Beijing life and tried out some local Chinese pastries and some BBQ meat on a stick on our way.

A lovely afternoon strolling around one of Beijing's loveliest parks.

We Love Talent Shows

2010-04-26T17:00:00.000+08:00

Saturday was our Branch's Talent Show, and because Andrew and I are the Activities Committee organisers, we got to be involved in planning, setting up and conducting the event.
Andrew was initially inspired to do a talent show because of the talents that have emerged from the families and couples we've had over for dinner. It is so fun to find a new side of the people you see every Sunday at Church. We love the diversity of personalities, language abilities and talents in our branch.

Back to the show. People signed up with a range of talents, so the show included magic tricks, lots of different and fun songs sung by people of all ages (and languages), a comedy/joke routine from two boys, young primary children performing their various musical talents at the piano, guitar, and guzheng (a Chinese instrument), a classical guitar number, a modern pop dance from an 8 year old boy, a dance number by some of our young married ladies, poetry recitation, a quiz, a comedic and juggling performance, a comedy skit about life in Beijing, and of course a fun rap from Andrew.

The evening was such a success we had people coming up to us the next day in Church telling us how much they had enjoyed themselves. We feel really blessed to be able to serve in this capacity by bringing people together. And besides, what better way is there for everyone to get to know each other better!

Treats

2010-04-21T00:18:00.004+08:00

There's no time like Easter to bring back treats from your childhood, but none have continued to make such regular appearances in our household as these rice crispy treats. They are my new go-to treat, and Andrew has been known to take down eight in one sitting! I figure they can't be any worse than granola/muesli bars in terms of sugar content, but you're still getting some healthy cereal in there so not all bad either!

If it's been a while since you last rice crispied it, here's the recipe I've been using, from the Rice Crispy website:
3 tbsp butter
10 oz marshmallows
6 cups rice crispies

1. Melt the butter on a low heat in a large saucepan, then add the marshmallows - you may need to keep stirring till everything is melted. Turn off the heat when they are almost all melted together. Keep stirring till everything is melted and gooey.
2. Add the 6 cups of rice crispies, and stir until everything is well blended. This will take some careful blending and arm strength! :)
3. Spread out the mixture on a large baking tray (with sides) using a buttered spatula (to stop the marshmallow from sticking), wait for it to cool and harden slightly before cutting into squares.

If you want to shape them into balls like I did, set out your cupcake liners, rub butter into your fingers (to stop it sticking to your fingers), then pull out a portion of the mixture and shape/roll in your hands to make a ball, then place ball in cupcake liner to cool.
Be careful as the marshmallow/rice mixture will be hot. You will also need to keep reapplying the butter every 1-2 balls you make.

Enjoy!

Easter Weekend

2010-04-06T14:34:00.003+08:00

Andrew and I had a bit of a busy Easter weekend. We traveled across town Friday night to have dinner with some friends in Haidian district at one of our favourite Dai (Chinese ethnic minority) restaurant. On Saturday, we traveled out to Wudaokou (near Beijing University) to make jiaozi with Joe's mother and his fiance Mary. Sunday we were invited to our friends the Simmons house after Church, and traveled out to XiangShan (Fragrant Hills) and the Beijing Botanical Gardens, where they live, for lunch with them and the Andersons. We took a few pictures in the slowly blooming back to life gardens, and then headed back indoors for a delicious meal of hearty vegetable soup, homemade dinner rolls, pork roast, homemade pesto and linguine, in addition to homemade pumpkin or apple & blueberry pie. Then yesterday we headed out to Shunyi for lunch and games with Andrew's colleague Susan and her family for Qing Ming. Lots of good food, and great friends. Pictures of the blossoms in the botanical gardens below:

Because we live in China, we won't get General Conference until next weekend, though I know of some sneaky people who will probably try and listen to some of it during the coming week! :) Thank goodness we live in this technologically modern age where we can listen and see people half a world away, what a blessing that we can still be one with the ideas, dreams and beliefs of the lands and people we hail from.
One of the good things about not having General Conference this weekend was the ability to celebrate Easter in our regular Sunday meeting at Church. This was a message we shared with some friends here in Beijing, and we also share it with you:

HE IS RISEN!
What a joyous refrain! As Christ broke free from the chains of physical death and became a perfected being, so too can we, despite our mortal constitutions and natural inclinations, rise above our imperfect status, and become like Him. May such a renewal of life and its goodness bless your family with hope this Easter season.
With love,
Nicola & Andrew

Almost but not quite

2010-03-31T18:42:00.000+08:00

So I applied for a job teaching English, which I got - Yay! Working two afternoons a week at a well-known hotel in Beijing helping their customer-facing staff improve their English.
However, as we were drafting up the contract we ran into a few problems, first - I don't have a work visa, and they won't organise work visa's for part time employees, and second - I have too many weeks of vacation planned this year (with all our visits to see family in the UK and US, and family coming to see us here in China).
As it turns out they decided not to hire me after all. Admittedly, I'm not bummed about losing the job, I think it would have been a great experience, BUT, I'm also secretly kind of glad I didn't get it. Selfishly it gives me more time to take classes (whether language, online, or vocational), more time to read, and more time to explore my life here. That's not a bad thing right?

When I was younger I couldn't figure out what I wanted to study and dropped out of high school till I could figure it out. Subsequently I got a job, which turned into another job, which turned into a 11 year career. In the fall of 2005 I decided my career was at a standstill, and the only way I could change things was to finally get back into school and retrain for something else. By the end of the year, I had quit my job and was leaving the UK for a new start and college life in the US (in Texas of all places). That lasted all of six weeks before I returned to the UK, got engaged and then married my sweet husband some few months later.
Life often takes us in the most unexpected directions!
And it has continued to do so as we moved to DC, then Singapore, the US, Hong Kong, the US again, back to Singapore, Hong Kong again, and now finally Beijing.
Getting back into school has proven more difficult than I ever imagined. But I have really appreciated and enjoyed the opportunity to learn and grow from our life in all these foreign (to me) places.

Honestly, I don't miss working (I miss the salary), but I don't miss sitting in an office for 7-8 hours a day, I don't miss doing grunt work, and I definitely don't miss the morning or evening commute! :) However I do miss my office friends and comrades in the struggle against the higher (bonus giving) powers! and I also miss having an excuse to buy pretty clothes and shoes for work! But oh well :)
So perhaps for now, getting a job is not the right thing for me, and if that's so, I will keep myself content with the knowledge that NOW is a good time for learning, and that will always be the case no matter what educational form it comes in and no matter where in the world I can find it. So here's to loving to learn wherever you are in life! :)

Yellow Skies

2010-03-22T13:16:00.002+08:00

A little taster of what we call yellow sky (aka sand wind). Fortunately it's nothing compared to what hit Sydney last year, but it's definitely more than your regular Beijing pollution. Still at least it's not a full-blown sandstorm, at least not yet, guess we'll find out what Spring decides to bring with her!

Somewhat reassuring is that it is mostly sand - can't be any worse than whatever blackness ends up lining your nose when you ride the subway in London! :)

Women's Conference

2010-03-18T14:33:00.000+08:00

The conference last weekend was inspiring, uplifting and enriching as usual. There are two main reasons the conference is such a success in my opinion. First women need to be with other women. There is an unspoken strength when we come together and more so when we realise we are not the only one in our particular situation, and not the only one struggling with certain challenges. Women like to know there is a sisterhood to which they belong, and in which they can share their experiences. When we know we are not alone, our ability to go forth and keep doing what we do is fortified.
Second, women need to be inspired by other fantastic women. Certainly none of us are perfect, but to hear the experiences of one who's been there before, who's dealt with a certain challenge, who's found success where there was once weakness, can provide a light for others to follow. One fire can light many lamps, who in turn lead others in need of a light in the darkness. I don't mean this to sound so dramatic, but truly some of the most uplifting and inspiring experiences I've had here in Asia have come from these conferences.

Anyway, the theme of this year's conference was "On the Lord's Errand". So there were many speakers and classes on perspectives surrounding that. I attended classes on change & choice, communication, attaining a happily ever after marriage, new approaches to studying the scriptures, exercising faith and increasing personal revelation. There were many others but unfortunately you can't do them all!

I come away with a greater sense that being a woman at this time upon the earth is a supreme blessing, and that it comes with it's own set of unique challenges. My life's task is to take joy in my own journey toward realising my full potential in this divine role.

(image care of the 2009 Conference)