Friday, March 30, 2007

Beijing

Bumpa & Gigi Visit - Beijing

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On the Friday after they arrived, we made them get right back on a plane to Beijing. We spent the weekend touring China's capital. It really is an amazing city that is under a lot of change and construction getting ready for the 2008 Summer Olympics.

We took the Maglev to the airport and then arrived in Beijing on Friday night. We stayed at the Sheraton and in front of the hotel was the Beijing Hard Rock Cafe. We ate dinner there that night. It was very loud, but Elizabeth was so tired, she still was able to pass out at dinner.

We hired a private tour guide and driver. The tour guide's name was Rita and she lives in Beijing. She grew up in Harbin which is a northern China province. She did an excellent job showing us the city.

The first place we saw on Saturday morning was Tiannamen Square. It is the largest city center in the world. Here was saw the countdown clock to the Olympics, the place where Mao's tomb is (closed for refurbishment) and the picture of Mao on the entrance to the Forbidden City. You can see from the pictures that is was chilly and windy.

We couldn't believe how big the Forbidden City was. This was the place that the Chinese Emperors lived. It's easy to understand why the Boxer Rebellion happened since these people lived so large while there were so many peasants with nothing on the outside.

After the Forbidden City, we went to lunch at a traditional Chinese restaurant in the area where the Heaven's Temple is. After lunch we went up to the Heaven's Temple. Twice per year, the emperors would come here to pray to the gods for a good harvest.

On the way out of the Heaven's Temple we witnessed daily Chinese life. Singing, playing cards, dancing, kites....It wiped Alex out.

Before we returned to the hotel, we stopped at a silk factory and store. We saw the silkworm lifecycle and how they extract silk thread from their cocoons.

Our day ended with a swim in the pool and dinner at the hotel. Again, Elizabeth passed out at dinner!

The next day we went on a Hutong tour. Our guide's name was Seven. The Hutong houses were traditional Chinese houses with many rooms surrounding a central courtyard and many family members would live together. We rode in traditional bicycle drawn rickshaws throught the neighborhood. The alleys were no bigger than 2 bicycle widths since that is how most people traveled. At one time there were 6000 Hutong neighborhoods in Beijing. Now with modernization and construction there are only 2000. The one we went to is now protected by the government.

We had lunch in a family's home. Elizabeth ate with Rita, Seven, and the home's cook in the kitchen while we ate in the family room. The food was very good and there was a lot! Gigi even mastered using chopsticks to pick up peanuts.

On our way in the car to the Great Wall, we drove by the Olympic Stadium and the Swimming pool under construction.

It took us about an hour to get to the location where we were going to go up to the Great Wall. Once we arrived, we had to take a cable car up to the top of the wall. What an amazing place. It truly is a wonder how this could have been built and how massive it is. It was pretty windy on top of the wall and pretty steep in some cases. The view was outstanding. While we were on top, a snow squall came through! For some reason, Elizabeth had it in her head that we were going to walk the whole great wall and she was upset when we told her it was time to go. We had to explain how many days it would take to walk 6000 kilometers!

We weren't that impressed by the city life in Beijing, definitely not as cool as Shanghai, but the historical sites and landmarks were truly amazing! Definitely a great trip.

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Bumpa & GiGi Arrive in Shanghai

Bumpa & Gigi Arrive in China - Century Park

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We had our next batch of visits arrive on March 28th. Bumpa and Gigi made the trek from Fountain MI. They made it through the flight, that is the toughest part. I picked them up from the airport and then the next day we spent time exploring our neighborhood. Elizabeth didn't have school so we all went to Century Park. We rented one of the bikes and had a ball peddling around the park. Going up hills was tough and we got to laughing pretty hard when we barely made it up one of them!

There are also pictures of the kids going for bike rides and going to the little park.

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Concordia Black Tie Dinner

Concordia Black Tie Dinner

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We had a busy weekend on this weekend. On Saturday morning, Elizabeth and I went and met up with one of my friends from Delphi in the US, Dan Renick. They brought him back to the apartment to check out the view and to meet Alex. Dan was kind enough to bring some goodies for Elizabeth and Alex. A lot of chocolate and peanut butter candy! You can't buy Reese's in China and if you could, it still probably wouldn't taste the same.

In the afternoon, the kids were playing in the hall outside of our apartment. Elizabeth was playing with Disney princess book that Aunt Cole sent over. Thanks Aunt Cole!

Then on Saturday night, we had the Concordia Charity Auction. It was held at the Shangri-La. We sat at a table with Rob and Stacy Eckstein. It was a lot of fun and there were so many people we met. After the auction was done, we went upstairs to the Jade on 36 bar and danced. Since the auction was open bar (meaning bottomless wine glasses), I had a little too much fun! The lady in the blue dress dancing with me is Stacy.

The other picture with me is with two girls that were traveling with Dan. Julie and Connie ended up coming to meet up with us since Connie also had a friend that was at the auction.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Happy Birthday Daddy!



We celebrated Kirk's birthday with an ice cream birthday cake from Haagen Daaz that Elizabeth picked out. He turned the big 37! One of Kirk's colleagues from Dura in the States was in town, so Dave, Kirk and I went out to dinner at the Jin Mao tower. Good celebration.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Guest blog by Grammy

Elizabeth and Alex wanted to go home with Grammy's in her suitcase

This is my last day of a 19-day visit with Kirk, Kath, Lizzy and Alex. I am sad to leave China, but I have so many wonderful memories of my visit here. We were on the go everyday! I got to see Puxi, the Bund, Shanghai Museum, Shanghai Art Museum, Yuyuan Gardens, the French Concession, Xintiandi, Century Park, and Pearl and Jin Mao Towers. We took a day trip to Suzhou, where we saw ancient Chinese gardens, towers, and pagodas. Very beautiful! Kirk, Elizabeth and I spent an evening at the ERA, Chinese acrobatic performance at the Shanghai Centre Theatre, which I highly recommend. It was amazing!
I was here to help Elizabeth celebrate her 4th birthday. We had three celebrations: one at school with her classmates, where Kath and I spent the morning, did a shell-painting craft, and provided birthday treats for the children; next we had a small celebration at home that evening, sharing cupcakes with DeDe (Alex) who liked them very much; and lastly on Saturday, with a full-fledged Princess Tea Party for 12 dancing princesses, their moms and ayis (nannies). It was very special.
I also got to go to ballet class and spend a day helping in Elizabeth's class. This was very special! She is so happy here, and has many friends. I also took Alex to his Chinese preschool one afternoon, and enjoyed that a lot, although I didn't understand a word of it! You don't need to know the words to communicate with babies and teachers!
Kirk and Kath's apartment is very nice and spacious. The most impressive thing is the view. I don't think you could find a better one in Shanghai. I love the Pudong side of town. It is mostly modern and fairly easy to get around in. The Puxi side is the opposite. It is noisy, crazy busy, and a constant traffic jam. The Bund is a very interesting contrast to all of the modern skyscrapers that are going up, one after another. Construction is everywhere. I do not know where they will be able to put all of the cars we Americans would like to help them acquire from us. Right now busses, taxis, private autos, motor scooters and bicycles all fight for the same road space. Traffic signals seem optional. Underground in the Metro are many little shops selling the fake designer bags, watches, etc. It was fun learning to barter with Kirk!
We ate at some amazing restaurants. Most of the places in Green City, near their apartment, cater to Americans and other ex-pats, so the food was much like home. Others like the hotel buffets have a wonderful assortment of Chinese specialties.
Lastly, I cannot express enought thanks to Soujou and Mr. Liu for taking such good care of me while I was here. XieXie!
You all should consider a trip here. It is an amazing place, and the hospitality was incredible. Thanks Kirk and Kath!

Sunday Brunch & French Consession

After church this past Sunday, we went to brunch at the Novotel. The food was horrible but they had a play area for the kids!

Afterward, we took a walking tour around the French Concession. Again, in a couple weeks, flowers will be blooming and it will be pretty. We'll have to go back.

Kath searched and searched for shoes to wear to a black tie thing they have. Every salesperson laughed when she told them her size - 9.5 - 10US or 40-42 UK. Guess they don't sell those in China!! Good reason to shop this summer!

2007-03-18 Sunday Brunch & French Consession

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Saturday, March 17, 2007

Trip to Hooters and Toy's R Us

They really do have good chicken at Hooters in Shanghai. The only place we can find good blue cheese dressing!

Elizabeth and Alex both love to dance, so of course they love this place.

Afterwards, we ventured to ToysRUs and Fireman Fred was in rare form with his hat and his stroller going to save the day!

Elizabeth isn't quite coordinated enough for roller blades. We'll stick with her bike.

Dinner at Hooters & Visit to Toys R Us

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Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Trip to Nanjing Lu, Era Circus and Misc.

http://www.era-shanghai.com/en/
2007-03-18 Grammy Visit
One night, Kirk and I took Grammy on our own while the kids stayed at home with Shou Ju. We went to Nanjing Lu and she was able to see the pedestrian street and do a little shopping. We also took the Metro. She really liked getting around the city on that.

Unfortunately it was raining, so we didn't have good views when we went to the top of the Royal Meridien for a drink.

Kirk and Elizabeth took Grammy to see the Chinese Acrobat show. They came back just in awe. They loved it and had so much fun.

Monday, March 12, 2007

Trip to Suzhou with Grammy

Grammy Visit - Trip to Suzhou

Kath doesn't work on Mondays and Kirk's Mondays are slow so we decided to take Elizabeth out of school and drive to Suzhou for the day. It's called the Venice of the East. It has a lot of canals throughout the city as well as gardens and temples. We went to the, can't remember the name now and too lazy to go find the book, gardens and in a couple weeks it will be full of flowers. We bought a Chinese calligraphy picture here with the words Home Sweet Home in Chinese characters.

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Sunday, March 11, 2007

Grammy's Visit to Century Park

Grammy Visit - Century Park
On one of the two sunny days we had during Grammy's visit, we went over to Century Park. Elizabeth rode her bike the whole way. She did an awesome job. We got to show Grammy all of our favorite spots including the children's playground. We wish the weather would have been nicer so that we could've had a picnic, but we still had fun.


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Saturday, March 10, 2007

Elizabeth's 4th Birthday Party (Princess Tea Party)

So this was the big birthday party. We all agreed it wasn't quite the same without Ally, Anna, Sarah, Katherine Wasik, Allison Bruett, and Rachel Harris here.

Elizabeth was sooooo excited to have her girlfriends come over to her house. She had Orla, Ciara, Oia, and Chloe from our neighborhood. From school, she had Sophie, Crystal, Samantha, Claire Y, Claire W, Leslie, and Lauren. She had a Princess Tea Party and all of her friends came dressed as their favorite princesses.

She had an Ariel doll cake. We didn't make this one because our "easy bake" oven isn't quite big enough!

Thank goodness we had Grammy here to help. She made tea sandwiches - PB&J, egg salad, ham and cheese, chicken salad, and cucumber and cream cheese. They ate them all!!! We also had Shou Ju make dumplings. Of course those went as well.

It was a fun party and Elizabeth got lots of nice gifts!

Elizabeth's Princess Birthday Tea Party

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Thursday, March 08, 2007

Elizabeth's 4th Birthday

Elizabeth's Birthday

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One of the reasons Kirk's mom came when she did was to celebrate Elizabeth's birthday with us. Elizabeth had about 4 birthday parties when all was said and done.

On the day of her birthday, she opened gifts in the morning. Then Grammy and Mama took a craft and cupcakes to her school for a whole class celebration. She really wanted to have her whole class come to her house party, but there was just not enough room! So this was our compromise and it worked well. We took the shells we had collected from Langkawi and the kids painted them. Of course, she had cupcakes with pink sprinkles. All the kids had fun. You can see the pictures of her friends at school.

At night, she had her favorite - bow-tie pasta with parmesan. And Daddy brought home an ice cream cake from Haagen Daaz. It was heart shaped.





Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Grammy Here - Visit to YuYuan Garden

Grammy Visit - Yu Yuan Garden

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Grammy made the trip from Sunny Florida to Dismal Shanghai on March 1. The weather this last couple weeks has been cold and rainy. I think she had maybe 2 sunny days while she was here. She decided next time to come later in the spring season!

These pictures of her visit show us visiting the YuYuan Gardens and Bazaar during the Lantern Festival. They hang hundreds of red lanterns throughout the area and they are all lit up at night. It was very pretty.