All Around the World

As you will see from the pictures, Sophia had the chance to travel all around the world yesterday, to Europe, Asia, the Americas... Actually, we just went and visited a little theme park they have here called Windows of the World. It's basically a park full of replicas of all the famous landmarks across the world like the Taj Mahal, The Eiffel Tower, The White House. You get the point. It was really busy since it is Chinese New Year, and we were one of a few foreign visitors that we saw.

We took lots of pictures, but I'm pretty sure Sophia had even more pictures taken of her by total strangers. If we stopped to do something, pretty soon we would have a little crowd around us. It's weird how much they like her. They stop and stare. They talk to her and touch her hair. They grab her to take her picture with them. It's really frustrating at times, but we just try to go with the flow because it seems to be the way things are done around here. I just worry that Sophia will get the wrong idea about strangers. They aren't all so friendly in every country in the world. She's usually pretty timid and doesn't really answer back, though.

The park was okay. We realized that we had seen several of the buildings in real life, so seeing a miniature wasn't that big of a deal. I'm sure for the Chinese who will never leave this country, it's a really interesting outing. It was nice to get out of the house, though. We have been just lounging around, feeling a little cooped up otherwise. Sophia's favorite part was the dinosaur park. She was asking if we could go back again today.

The usual, photo op with complete strangers.

Daddy's Birthday and Chinese New Year Concert

Sophia had her Chinese New Year concert at school. The kids were all very cute. They really held it together better than last time at the Christmas concert. Sophia was a little shy at first, but then she warmed up. We were impressed since they sang four songs in Chinese. We, of course, have no idea what Sophia is saying when she sings these songs. We even picked up a little traditional Chinese outfit for her to wear. It's red, the lucky color for the new year. The Chinese paraprofessionals sang songs and did a dance to help celebrate. Hopefully, I'll be able to get the videos to upload, but no luck so far.

Sophia and I worked very hard making cupcakes for Daddy's birthday. Sophia said we had to decorate them with purple frosting. Let's just say, it got a little messy.

Christmas in Iowa

A little past due, but here are a few pictures from Christmas.

Sophia really got it this year. She now officially understands that Santa is pretty cool because he brings lots of gifts.
The best part of Christmas - playing with cousins.

And playing with new toys at all the different houses.

Bundled up and snowed in.

More fun with cousins.

Chinese New Year and street food

We have four days left until we reach our next break, Chinese New Year. This holiday is only for a few days, but everybody gets an entire week off from work. We're not complaining. It does feel strange, though, as we have just recently gotten back from Christmas break. We thought about trying to go somewhere for the break, but travel within China is not advised during this holiday since there are so many people traveling home to their villages. Plus, it gets a bit expensive to always travel outside the country. There are some things in the city that we've been meaning to do for some time, so maybe this will be a good time to do some of those things.

We decided that we need to start including interesting pictures of stuff we see around China. Otherwise we may lose some of our "fan" base. The hard thing is deciding what to take pictures of. The options of what could be classified as interesting are limitless here. We thought we'd go around and take pictures of all the different street foods. We've tried most by now, but there are still some that we just can't bring ourselves to try. I cannot and will not eat chicken feet. I will not eat them in a moat. I will not eat them with a goat. Well, you get the idea. The strange thing is that I feel myself slowly morphing into a full-blown vegetarian. It's really not that Emily's ways are finally rubbing off on me, but moreso that foods other than meat seem to be the safest and most predictable. For example, if we go to a Chinese restaurant here and I order a meat dish, there is about a 50% chance that it will be unpalatable. Plus, even if it does turn out okay to eat, it usually isn't really that good. As most of you probably could have guessed, Chinese food is quite different in China.



WARNING!!! If you have a weak stomach when it comes to dogs and/or goats, you may not want to see all of these pictures.

Sophia learned that it's fun to stick out your tongue when someone is taking a picture.

At the local park

The two-year olds have been studying professions at school. Do doctors still wear those things on their heads?

We haven't figured out whether orange trees are connected to the New Year somehow or if they are just in season.

Some kind of omlettesque wrap.

Spicy spuid on a stick
Roasted sweet potatos
What we have termed "pancakes" for a lack of a better word.

The finished product. This is one of our favorites.

The following can be found at many local restaurants. I think they are "you pick it, we cook it" kind of places.

Fish tanks loaded with lots of goodies.

Big snakes
Little snakes
Shrimp and ???

Some kind of eel

Toads

This is the meat market that the foreigners don't go to and you are about to see a couple of reasons why.




That IS a dog.

And all the goat heads a person could want.

Back to School, Back to Warmth

We are back from our trip to the U.S. for Christmas. It was a lot of fun and A LOT of travelling. Sophia had so much fun playing with her cousins and her grandparents. I think she thought it was neat the way every place we stayed had a new batch of toys. She also really "got" Christmas and presents this year, so there was lots of talk about Santa.

It seems weird, but we left Iowa on a Monday, and got back on a Thursday. Sophia was pretty good on the flights, but it was not an easy time adjustment. When we got in to the hotel on Wednesday night in Hong Kong, Sophia was wide-awake after having slept on the plane, in the airport, and on the second plane. We did not get a bit of sleep in that hotel. After a few days of staying up all night, we got back on track though.

The morning we were supposed to start school, Sophia woke up at 4:30 am, ready to go. Going back to school was a bit of a disaster. She did not want to go, and I had to peel myself away from her as she screamed at the top of her lungs on the bus. I felt so rotten. I had to rush home right after school to see her. Talk about separation anxiety. That is the first time she has ever expressed a need to be together. All this week, she has been saying, "I don't want to go to school!" She said this morning that she wants to stay home with Mommy and Daddy.

Well, at least she'll get her wish in two and a half weeks. We have another week off for Chinese New Year. We're looking forward to doing nothing except lounging around in our p.j.s. We may try to get a huge load of planning done, but we'll see. I also feel like I brought a lot of projects back from America - a Chinese language computer program, a baby blanket to crochet, our violin (which we have yet to learn to play), a new Guitar Hero. There's lots to do around here.

School has been difficult to adjust to, and the students are dragging their feet. I was teasing my class that I wanted to take a video of them today. They just looked so depressed.

One of our Christmas gifts to ourselves was a new camera phone, so we are hoping that since we'll always have it on us, we will get to take lots of interesting pictures. There have been so many times when we've said we wished we had our camera with us. Now that Joe carries his camera phone, we should have more opportunities.

I am looking forward to experiencing my first Chinese New Year. Apparently, there are lots of fireworks. It's the year of the ox this year. I should probably look into what that really means. We aren't planning to go anywhere since all of the Chinese people travel at that time. They all go back to their home villages to spend time with family. Should be interesting. At any rate, only two-and-a-half weeks until our next vacation. Can't beat that.