Alex Singing

Mid Autumn Festival

Most Chinese festivals are wrapped in a combination of history and legend, and the Mid-Autumn Festival is no exception.



Chang O
The Mid-Autumn Festival is linked to the ancient fable of the beautiful Chang O, wife of the Divine Archer. The tale is told of how she took a magical pill from her husband and suddenly began floating into the air all the way to the moon! She remains there to this day, and on the full moon of the eighth lunar month, her beauty casts a silvery glow upon the earth!


Moon Cake
During the Mid-Autumn Festival people eat sweet tasting cakes called moon cakes made of ground lotus and sesame seed paste, egg yolk and other ingredients. Moon cakes symbolise the gathering of friends and family and are an indispensable part of the Mid-Autumn festivities. Moon cakes are also associated with the overthrow of the Mongol invaders in the 14th century. The story goes that Chinese revolutionaries planned to revolt against the government on the fifteenth day of the eighth month. This message was passed around hidden in moon cakes amongst the people who subsequently rose up and overthrew the oppressive tyrant.

We ate many mooncakes that day. We even had Ice cream mooncakes from Haagen Daaz. They were delicious!

Shanghai Insect Museum

We had a free Sunday afternoon, so we decided to visit a new tourist spot with the kids. We decided on the Shanghai Insect Museum. Not Mom's favorite place! It was a little creepy and not as nice as other museums we've been to. The kids were very entertained by snakes, bugs, and other vermin. I don't think we'll have a return visit anytime soon.

First Chinese Wedding (Angela's)

Kirk and I went to our first Chinese Wedding reception. It was for his old administrative assistant, Angela Feng. Angela helped us transistion from the US to China and always went out of her way to help us. She is a great lady.

She looked beautiful and her husband, Zhou (Joe) is very nice. She also had a crazy drunk uncle there. Isn't there always a crazy drunk uncle at weddings!

Typhoon Wipha

Okay, this is a late post! Work and schools shut down in anticipation of Typhoon Wipha on 9/19. However, this typhoon turned out to be just as hyped up as a Michigan blizzard. The wind blew a little and it rained, but nothing severe and nothing more than a normal spring or fall day.


Then on Sunday, Oct 8, Typhoon Krosa hit. This brought some serious wind and rain. Sheets of rain fell starting at night and continued until the next day. We all went to work and school. After school, the kids and I went to a friend's house to play. We had to hold hands to avoid being blown away! We laughed all the way there and back.

Word Financial Tower Structure Complete

Here is an article from the local English newspaper about the new Financial Tower that we can see from our apartment...

Mainland's tallest is topped off by -- HUNDREDS of people gathered on the ground yesterday morning in Pudong as a steel girder embedded with golden bolts hung 492 meters above them.

When the girder was swung into place it marked a major milestone in...

Here is the view of the building before the last piece was put in...

Here is how it compares to the other tallest buildings in the world...

Click above for a larger view

Day #6 on our own

We are in the home stretch. Kath comes home tomorrow. The last couple of days have been a little more difficult as I had to be at GM all day and into the evening Wed - Fri. Xiao Ju has been a big help over the week.

We kept Alex home from school on Friday as he had a temperature when he woke up. He was fine after we gave him some Tylenol. Both kids have had runny noses all week. Xiao Ju won't let them have cold drinks or ice cream or even have the air conditioning on as this will not let them get better.

Elizabeth had a day off from school. They both had fun with Xiao Ju. Xiao Ju taught Elizabeth how to write some Chinese Characters and they did art projects.

We are just hanging out today, it looks like it is going to rain so hopefully we can get outside.

1st day in India

Okay, I feel better knowing that Kirk is handling everything on his own. Elizabeth and I were pretty weepy when I left.

So now I'm staying in Delhi, India. The Delphi office is in a town called Gurgaon. It is a growing industrial area.

You cannot believe this place. It reminds me a lot of China, specifically Wuhan, 8 years ago. A lot of bikes and no separation between the bike lanes and car lanes. Traffic is crazy. Except in China there are no cows walking in the street. People told me this, but you cannot believe it until you see it.

We were busy today visiting with suppliers and meeting the India team. They are all very hospitable and proud of their organizations.

I'm excited to be here. The food is great. I had my favorite, chana masala, today and learned a lot about it's origin in Northern India.

Long days this week, but I'll try to write again.

Day #2 on our own

Here is a picture Elizabeth drew yesterday if we were a Mermaid family. You can tell Alex and have very nice Mer-man outfits. Surprisingly we are surviving without Kath. This morning was a challenge getting the kids ready for school. Once we got going it was no big deal.

I picked up Elizabeth from ballet this afternoon and she wasn't being the best ballerina. She was goofing off with Crystal and Ms. Li had to separate them. Once we returned home we all went to Century Park again and played soccer. Elizabeth scored a lot of goals on me and I could not score on her. Alex didn't get the concept of scoring goals. Maybe next time. We then walked through the wildflowers and came home and ate dinner. Xiao Ju helped get the kids baths and we were able to get them to bed on time. I have to be to work early tomorrow so we have to get an earlier start tomorrow.

Kirk & Kids Home Alone

Kath had to make a trip to India to meet with her team members there. This left Kirk alone with the kids for the week. We had an eventful first day. We went to Century Park for a picnic and to play. We had our picnic in the shade near one of the ponds. We then went to an open area to play soccer then we spent some time in the sand at the small beach they have. Alex didn't want to leave. He had sand all over him if you can believe it. We then played some more soccer and Alex and Elizabeth rolled down a hill. I cooled them off by pouring water on them. Lastly we went on the Bee Ride at the park and Elizabeth went on the Bounce House while Alex went down the slides.

We came back to the apartment and took naps. Then later we made dinner. Elizabeth helped make Chicken Noodle Soup. She had a craving for it. After dinner we had dessert then it was tubby time as the kids were dirty.

Elizabeth and Alex hope their Mom has safe travels and they want her to come home soon!

Big Explosion

The construction company blew up something in the basement of the building they are constructing behind our building. It was really loud! A bunch of smoke and dust was in the air for a while.

Alex's School Uniform

Alex must wear a school uniform to school every day. The golf shirt is the nice one. He also has a long shirt with a round collar. It doesn't look too manly. We will get a picture of that one when he has worn out this uniform.