The Long and Short of It

Finally!!!

2011-07-19T18:44:00.000-07:00

I finally have a place of my own!! I am so excited :) There were times I thought it would never happen. I moved out of my last place almost 2 years ago and put everything in storage. It was such a good feeling to see my storage unit empty a few days ago. I think I almost cried. These past few years have been a struggle finding out where I needed to be and if I would ever have my own place again. I have tried to learn to be patient about things but it was hard! I prayed a lot and shed many tears. I am so happy to finally have my prayers answered :)

I will post better pics once I get all unpacked and decorated :)

Man I miss these kids!!!!

2010-11-22T22:10:00.000-08:00

I had to steal this from my sisters blog because its so cute :)

Sad :(

2010-11-10T23:53:00.000-08:00

Lately I have been thinking about my family and the holidays coming up. I realized this will be the first year I haven't spent almost a week with my family during Christmas. I will only be home for 2 days and its breaking my heart that I cant spend more time with my family :( I am grateful I have a job but pretty sad I cant get home to see the family more.

2010-11-10T21:23:00.000-08:00

Sometimes there are some interesting things that happen at my place of employment that make me laugh and wonder if people have a brain. Of course I cant laugh at them since I have to act professional. Today a customer was trying to pay for some things and she handed over her id and credit card. Her name did not match the males name on the credit card and he was no where in site. So I called her on it and she said it was her husbands card so I asked if she had any id with a matching last name on it. She said no. I asked if there was a way she could verify that was her husbands card so guess what she flashes in my face.....her wedding ring! Seriously!!!!!! How can I verify the guy that bought her that???

Hello??????

2010-11-10T21:18:00.000-08:00

Does anyone still read my blog ??? I might try and do a better job of posting things for the 3 of you out there that may still occasionally stop by ;) No promises though!

Maybe one day.....

2010-07-27T21:35:00.000-07:00

I can return to this place

I decided I need to go back to visit China again. Well actually I have been thinking about it for a few months now. I have no idea when it will work out but I want to return soon. Some of you know that occasionally I make jewelry, well a friend asked me to fix a few things. Today I pulled out all my beads and it made me think of shopping for them in Shanghai. Oh how I love the shopping in China!!! Yes you might get shoved around and asked a million times to buy shoes, watches and handbags but I still love the experience :) Maybe one day in the near future I can return.

Happy Times!!!!

2009-11-30T09:55:00.000-08:00

Today I am a proud Aunt!!! Its hard to really put into words how I feel right now. I am sooooo happy!! My nephew is finally with his family!!!! I cant wait to meet him....just 3 weeks to go :) It is such a blessing to become an Aunt again. Brooklyn has brought such joy to my life over the past few years and I cant wait to have the same experience with Robert Matthew. These kids hold a special place in my heart!! I am praising God today, He is so good!!!

Brooklyn loving on her new brother!

What a great looking family!!!

HE IS COMING HOME!!!!!

2009-11-11T15:26:00.000-08:00

I know I haven't blogged in a while but I got the most awesome news today from my sister. My nephew will be coming home soon!!!!!!!

My sisters family will be heading to China probably on Thanksgiving day and then getting Robert Matthew on Nov 30th. That is less than 3 weeks away!!! I am soooooo excited to meet him and love on him.....and spoil him :) I am also excited that he will be here for Christmas. I don't think I could ask for a better present!

If you would like to follow more of the story you can check out my sisters blog

A Night with Steven

2009-09-25T11:15:00.000-07:00

So there are a few perks when your a nanny and the kids go to a school with lots of crazy connections ;) About a week ago I noticed a invitation hanging up at work for a private mini concert with Steven Curtis Chapman at a family's house. I decided to ask the mom about it and she invited me to come along with them. No one really knew what to expect, like how big it would be or even if we would get a chance to meet him. We get to the house and there is a big tent set up with tables for us to sit at and eat BBQ. While we were starting to eat Steven Curtis Chapman is introduced as well as his two sons. It was pretty cool!!! They sang maybe 4 0r 5 songs while we ate. Then Steven talked to us for a while about how adoption has touched his family's life. I think its safe to say that there were not many dry eyes after hearing all the stories of their sweet daughters they have adopted. He also spoke of Maria and the struggles their family has encountered after losing her last May. One of the main reasons for the concert was to get people aware of Show Hope. Its the organization they started to assist families financially who are adopting. After he spoke he sang a few more songs which were very sweet!!! A few of them were about Maria and also the many orphans out in the world. I got a little teary eyed again ;) I think a lot of the evening hit home since my sister will be bringing a sweet little boy home in a few short months...so exciting!!!!!!!! After the show I wasn't sure if we were going to get a chance to meet Steven. Well I decided I would head up to the back of the stage just in case. Turns out it was a good thing I did. Not only was I able to meet him but I had a picture of my nephew for him to see and had him autograph it. I will be sending that to my sister which I think she is a little excited about :) I also spoke with a person that does a lot with Show Hope and I might try to one day go on a mission trip with them to China. He said they always need people to hold babies in the orphanage. That would be soooooo awesome, though I think I would want to bring them all home ;) It turned out to be an AWESOME evening!!!!!

I might have a shoe problem :)

2009-06-23T19:00:00.001-07:00

This is what happens when you have to much weight on a shoe rack....oops!!!

This is what it looks like when you get rid of a few pairs and find a new shoe rack that holds enough....that part took a while :) Many have joked about my shoe problem but what can I say, its just fun to have cute shoes!

Yu Gardens

2009-03-20T07:12:00.000-07:00

I went to this place last summer but never actually went into the garden area. I didn't even know it existed until I saw someone elses pictures that had visited China. We had went to lots of shops and stuff so my parents didn't think I wanted to go in. I decided I would go on this visit.

I like the above picture because walking around in the garden you actually forget you are in the middle of city with 20 million people. Its pretty peaceful in there. If you look close enough you can see the tall building in the background...its the one I went up to the top in.

Other Suzhou pictures

2009-03-20T06:50:00.000-07:00

This is proof that I had real Chinese food. Many have laughed at me because I don't eat it when I come here. It was okay but I will stick to American chinese food :) I was not fond of the pork dumplings which if you look hard enough on the right you can the see one that I only took one bite of...its in the silver bowl.

I thought this little boy was cute. He was looking into a little pond at the garden we went to after lunch

Under a pretty magnolia tree in bloom

Boat tour

2009-03-20T06:34:00.000-07:00

While in Suzhou we were able to take a short boat tour of the city. It was pretty interesting, we even got off the boat for a bit and toured the local market area. I don't have many pictures of that part since I was trying to not get sick to my stomach. They had lots of raw meat of various kinds and different parts of the animal like hearts, liver and tongue. I am not one to like raw meat, if you have ever seen me cook....I use lots of utensils so I don't have to touch anything raw. So at times walking through here I almost wanted to become a vegetarian ;)

This little boy cracked us up. He had his dads cell up to his ear with an Eminem song playing and then a fake bird cage in the other hand.

Humble Administrators Garden

2009-03-20T06:04:00.000-07:00

On Monday my mom and I headed out to Suzhou for a day trip. Its about 2 hours from my parents place. My dad had to work so it was just the two of us. Our first stop was the Humble Administrators Garden. If you have ever visited China they are have gardens galore. This is supposed to be one of the prettiest. The flowers haven't come out too much yet so there isnt too much color yet but it was still pretty.

I think our guide said there was something special about this pagoda but I cant remember what???

Most bridges in the gardens are not straight, its to keep evil spirits out...apparently the spirits can only go straight

Barbie, Barbie and more Barbie

2009-03-15T06:59:00.000-07:00

I bet you didn't know the worlds largest Barbie store is in China ;) It just opened a week ago so my mom and I thought it would be a fun place to go. Well it turns out its huge, 6 floors to be exact! They actually don't have as many barbies for sale as I thought they would, I think Target might have more choices, but they have enough. They have clothes for kids and even grown ups, but many are overpriced. I thought I had found a cute pink skirt for my niece but it turned out to be $100 and it wasn't anything special. They even have a spa and cafe, we didn't check out the services on those ones, I just laughed at the idea.

A massive wall of Barbies!!

My mom and I got pedicures tonight so that was fun....and no it was not at the Barbie spa! I wanted to put this picture up because I was cracking up. Maybe they do this in the states but I usually dont get pedicures unless its warm enough for flip flops so not sure. Well its not warm here and I had no flip flops so I had to wear socks/shoes. I was positive that my toes would get ruined but no they didnt!!! They wrap up your toes in sran wrap then put your socks on. It was the craziest thing but man it worked ;)

Don't look down!

2009-03-15T06:40:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning we ventured out to the new tall building in Shanghai. It wasn't open when I came last summer so this time I was able to up to the top. I think its like the 2nd tallest building in the world. It was pretty cool to see the the view from the top, it really shows you just what a city of 20 million looks like. It was sort of a hazy day so I couldn't get great pictures of everything. One of the observation levels even has a glass floor so you can look down to see how far up you are....creepy!!! After that we did some shopping and then came home and relaxed. It was actually nice not being on my feet all day.

Friday

2009-03-15T06:17:00.000-07:00

Today was a shopping day. My mom and I went to the fabric market and I was able to find a few things to have made for me. I will find out next Friday if anything fits. Apparently its normal for things not to turn out all the time ;) I will say you have to learn that many people will get in your personal space, especially when its time to be measured. I am getting a Chinese style coat made so I am hoping it turns out. Sadly its so warm back home that I will probably have to wait until next winter to wear it. After all that we went to some other shops to try and find some beads and other bargains. I didn't end up finding too much but there will be more days for that!!! For dinner we went to a Mexican resturant that is pretty new here. Yes I know I should be eating Chinese food but its just not the same as Firebowl or Pei Wei :) Here are a few pics of us at the resturant. The waitress remembered my parents from previous visits so she wanted in a picture. Oh and not sure whats up with the peace sign. They like to pose and do strange things in pictures.

China

2009-03-15T06:07:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't updated yet since I have been in China. I haven't had much of a desire to sit in front of a computer and have to think :) I think I have finally adjusted to the time change and aren't as tired as I have been in the evenings. I arrived here around 2 something on Thursday afternoon. I dont remember much from that day since I was so exhausted. I fell asleep around 5 pm on the couch and my mom tired to wake me to go to dinner but I wouldnt get up. I did finally get up around 8 to eat a sandwich then when straight to bed after that. I slept til about 7:30 the next morning and was feeling much better. I am gonna try and post some pictures so lets cross our fingers and hope the connection is fast enough :)

Arts and Crafts

2009-03-08T14:34:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I went with some girls to celebrate a friends birthday. Instead of the normal going out to eat routine she decided to have us all go to one of those places where you paint pottery. I have never done this so wasn't sure what to expect. The above picture is the vase I painted. I think it turned out pretty good for my first time :) I will say this, the place can be a little overwhelming at first for people like me who can be known for being indecisive!! Oh and I wouldn't recommend using stencils if its your first time. As you can see I have simple stripes, but that's not what I started with ;) It was fun though and I would do it again.

Jewelry

2009-01-28T21:26:00.000-08:00

So I have been trying to figure out what the best way is to post pictures of the jewelry I have made. I would like to get ideas out there for people if they were ever interested in having something made for them. I have quite a few pictures so was wondering if anyone knows if you can make rows/columns of photos on a blog post. I cant seem to figure out a easy way to do that so maybe its not possible??? If anyone has any great ideas I would love to hear them:)

I'm gonna kill her!!!

2009-01-20T22:08:00.000-08:00

So dont worry no one has died, except for maybe the Ariel pinata :) I just wanted to get this video up since it cracks me up. This was taken the day after Brooklyns party. We had left part of it up after the party since Brooklyn still wanted to take some swings at it. She at one time did have a whole body but lost it from the party. Make sure to turn up your volume so you can hear Brooklyn yelling that she will "kill" Ariel. It took my sister and I by surprise.

Christmas

2009-01-01T18:59:00.000-08:00

I had the whole week of Christmas off this year so headed out to my sisters place. I guess you could say thats "home" since my parents live out of the country ;) My whole family was there and we were able to spend quite a bit of time together. We did lots of last minute shopping for everyone. We were even able to come up with ideas of gifts for my brother thanks to his girlfriend:) I also had lots of entertainment from Brooklyn. I wish I would of caught her on video a few times. She got this new karaoke machine and loves to sing in the microphone, especially if she thinks no one is listening. Lets just say she throws in the dramatics like eyes closed, head swaying and even a random leg kick......that one made me laugh. Here is a few pictures from the week

Underwear!!!

2009-01-01T18:12:00.000-08:00

Brooklyn was quite amused when she looked at what Santa put in her stocking.

My new stylist

2008-11-30T15:14:00.000-08:00

Actually it would be my sweet niece Brooklyn!! She always likes to help me get ready in the morning like with make up and stuff. One day she decided I needed a new hairstyle. I didnt leave all the clips in for long because they started hurting my head. She was quite proud of the results and wanted to take pictures :)

Friday Night Lights!!

2008-11-30T14:47:00.000-08:00

I love this show!! Its currently not on(unless you have Direct TV) but I am eagerly waiting for the spring season. So when a friend emailed me about them needing extras we decided to go help out. They were filming at the Texas Longhorns stadium and needed people to be the crowd for a game. It was my first visit to the stadium since I am not a Longhorn fan ;) They gave us team shirts and then we were all sitting on one side cheering for the team. It was fun to see how they film a football game for TV. Its nothing like a normal game you would go to. There were people with megaphones telling us when to cheer or sit quietly while the crew talked about the next scene. I was alittle bummed that I couldnt find all the stars of the show...like Tim Riggins ;) I dont think he was even there???. I was able to pick out a few though! It was hard to get pictures of them too. Who knows maybe I will even end up on TV in the crowd.

The coach!!

Thats "Landry" running off the field. He is really the only player I could find. It was hard since they all had helmets on.

Its a Pumpkin...oh wait I mean cheeseball!!

2008-11-30T14:38:00.000-08:00

So I know some of you know about the cheeseball I can make. If not you are missing out on some cheesy yumminess!! I decided to put a new twist on it for a Halloween party I was going to. I thought it turned out pretty well.

An Angel in Heaven

2008-11-19T21:26:00.000-08:00

Those were the words spoken to me by my sweet niece that I will probably never forget. I thought I would share some thoughts about that day. Most of you probably know that our family suffered a loss a few months ago. For those that don't know my sister was about 21 weeks pregnant and she and the baby developed some major complications. She ended up having to deliver early and gave birth to a girl on Aug 10. Reagan Ryann lived just over an hour and then went to Heaven. It was a rough day for our family and also a scary one knowing that my sisters health was at stake. At one point my mom came out to the waiting room explaining all the things that were going wrong with my sis. I remember I started to panic and ran out of the room because I could barely breathe. I ended up in some hallway and just started asking God to heal her. He did answer our prayers and my sister started improving in the following days. I am so thankful for that. I am also thankful for all of you keeping her and our family in your prayers.

Now onto Reagan. I remember when my sis told me she was pregnant. I was in a store so didnt want to scream with excitement and scare others. I just have to say I love being an aunt, it is so awesome!!!. Brooklyn has brought so much joy to my life and I have loved spoiling her, so I was so looking forward to another niece. I did not meet Reagan before she passed away but I will always hold a special place for her in my heart. We don't always understand why God allows people to be taken from us but I know that He still loves us and has great things planned for us. One thing that has brought me incredible strength from all of this was Brooklyn. I am pretty sure she has been a strength for all the family! I never realized what strength a 3 yr old could provide you. She is the most precious girl and I am so thankful for her. She was told about all that was going on but of course in terms of a child. Before my sis went into the hospital my niece came up to me in the living room. She asked me if I knew who was dying. I just kind of looked at her with a puzzled face. She then said "Itty Bitty and she is going to heaven to be an angel." (she had nicknamed the baby Itty Bitty on her own) I just had to hug her and be amazed at the heart of a child. She has amazing faith and but yet so young. She reminded me at other times during the weekend about Itty Bitty being in heaven and how one day she would get to hold her. I think that weekend really reminded me why Jesus loved children and wanted us to be like them. Brooklyn is a precious gift to our family and I am so thankful to be her aunt!!

Sorry if all that was too depressing. I do have some happy news though. My sister is now going though the process of adopting from China. VERY EXCITING!!!!! I could maybe have another niece/nephew by this time next year :)

Family Time

2008-08-18T20:39:00.001-07:00

I went home a few weeks ago to spend some time with my family. I was able to see my parents while they were visiting from China. It was a pretty busy weekend. I was mostly in charge of watching Brooklyn while my sister was in the hospital. We had some fun times together playing and acting silly. I even put on one of Brooklyns tutu's and did some twirling with her. Luckily those pictures are on my moms camera so I can save myself some embarrassment. I have to say that girl brings so much joy to all of our lives....she is a sweetie!!!!

Walking with Pops and Uncle Rob to see my sis in the hospital.

I love this girl!!!

Cinderella!!!!

This picture cracks me up. We had just went to Target and bought this swimsuit. She had been waiting patiently to get home so she could wear it. One thing she forgot to do was use the bathroom before putting it on. As I was taking this I noticed her stance and asked her if she needed to go to the bathroom. Lets just say after she smiled for the camera she took off running to the bathroom.

I love my niece!!!

2008-08-03T21:32:00.000-07:00

For those of you who have never met my niece she can be quite entertaining. Here is a video showing her new song interest. It is pretty funny. If you don't recognize the song its Even Flow by Pearl Jam. I knew she had good taste in music :) If your ever interested in more funny stories you visit my sisters page.

Catching up

2008-07-24T21:03:00.000-07:00

I am finally posting more about my trip. I didn't mean for it to take this long to get more things up but just haven't really been in a blogging mood :) I am finally adjusted back to right time zone. I think it took me almost a week to get back on track. The first few nights back I pretty much did not sleep. Lets just say I looked I was glad not to be seen many since I looked scary.

I might have some more things to write about. There were some funny things that happened when I could not take pictures so I will post more later. My eyes are getting tired so I am going to be done for the evening. Enjoy the ones below!!

If only we could get to the airport in 8 minutes

2008-07-24T20:39:00.000-07:00

This first picture I found online because mine did not look as good. This is the Maglev train that is in Shanghai. It only makes one stop and that is the airport. The station is fairly close to my parents place so one day we decided to take a trip on it....yes, just to the airport and back. It is pretty cool though because of how fast it goes. Once you get on it goes up to 268 mph and you cant even tell your going that fast. It gets you to the airport in under 8 mins. I think it took us an hour to drive to the airport with traffic.

They have these displays so you can see how fast the train is going. We were just about to leave.

This shows our top speed. It was hard to get a super clear picture since we were going to fast.

Avoiding Chinese Food :)

2008-07-24T20:25:00.000-07:00

Not a grand pic of me but wanted to get the outside of it. My hair did not love the humidity ;)

So the Chinese food that I get here in Texas is much different than what they serve in China. After my two experiences with food in Beijing and Xian I was done trying the food there. Lets just say that for one of those meals I ended up eating white rice and three rolls. I at least tried the meat but when it was hard to chew and started tasting like fish I was done! Many of you know I hate seafood so I don't want my beef tasting like it. Well once back in Shanghai my parents took me to all their western (which means American) restaurants. There is one in particular that my dad seems to love. We ended up going there 3 times and I think all the people that work their know him. They all smile really big when he comes in the door. It might also mean that they get a nice tip since not many do that in China. Its called Johnny Moos and is like an old 50's diner. It was pretty good, tasted like a regular hamburger which was nice :)

Boat Tour of Shanghai

2008-07-24T19:53:00.000-07:00

On one of the last nights that I was in Shanghai we went and took a boat tour of the downtown area. I forgot to take a picture of the boat but my mom thought it looked shady and might sink. I didn't think it was that bad. It actually turned out to be a very pretty evening, my mom said it was strange to see a blue sky with white clouds. Apparently Shanghai has the second tallest building in the world which I did not know. There are rumors they are going to build one ever taller.

The second tallest building in the world....1614 feet tall.

I took this from the car so its a little blurry. I wanted to show how there are buildings everywhere. This is the main downtown but then across the river is the old downtown. I have never seen so many high rises....its crazy. I guess thats how they cram 20 million people into one city.

Aren't Umbrellas for Rain???

2008-07-24T19:39:00.000-07:00

So this isn't a greatly exciting picture but wanted to point out something. See all the umbrellas, well thats what many of the ladies use to keep the sun off of them since it can be pretty hot. My mom also said that many of them use it to keep their skin from getting darker. I guess darker skin is a sign that you are from a migrant workers family which means lower economic status. Its kind of funny how in our culture many prefer to have a tan than bright white skin. It can be somewhat annoying since there are millions of people in Shanghai and umbrellas can take up lots of space on the sidewalk.

Pearl Tower

2008-07-24T19:18:00.000-07:00

So there is this huge tower in downtown Shanghai that you can go up in and see the city. We were hoping to go on a day that the pollution was not that bad but we didn't want to wait to long where I would miss it. So my pictures are a little hazy. Of course though the day after we went is was a beautiful sunny day....oh well. There are 3 different levels that we were able to look out. It was pretty cool, though as I was standing 1148 feet above the ground I swear the building started to sway. My mom felt it too. My dad thought we were crazy so I blamed it on my inner ear disorder :)

I can finally eat!!!

2008-07-09T07:12:00.000-07:00

I dont really love to eat here but when your given strange food to eat it sometimes sounds really good. It was on a day when we had to eat chinese food for lunch on our tour in Xian. It was more western style so I should of liked it. One of the problems was the food gave off a bad odor so it made me loose my appetite. The meat was also very chewy and had a weird after taste. Once back in Shanghai I have not had to eat McDonald's. They have better places to go here.

The Great Wall

2008-07-09T06:14:00.000-07:00

We went to see the Great Wall the second day we were in Beijing. I have to say I was pretty amazed when I saw it. It is huge and we only saw a small portion of it. I ended up taking over 100 pictures of it so I will spare you all and only post some of them :) We took a cable car up the mountain which I am not greatly fond of. Then we we walked quite a long distance on the wall. It was pretty tiring but it was worth it.

Beijing-Day 1

2008-07-07T06:21:00.000-07:00

Our first day in Beijing was very busy. We headed over to Tiananmen Square first. If you look at the pictures you might think that the weather was bad. It actually was very hot and sunny. Problem is you cant see the sun because there is so much pollution. That's not fog in the picture :) They are determined to have the air clean by the Olympics but I am not too sure about that.

We then headed over to the Forbidden City which for those of you who don't know its right next to Tiananmen. I don't think I ever realized how big that place is. It keeps going and going into new sections.

Next we climbed aboard richshaws and took a tour of the Hutongs. Its an older part of the city. My dad made some new friends, even though they could not communicate with each other in the same language. If any of you know my dad he can be pretty friendly to strangers. They even offered him a nice drink, not really sure what it was though. Oh afterwards we did go by where the Olympics are going to be held. The pollution seemed to get worse so I don't have any great pictures of it.

It ended up being a good day, just very exhausting. I don't think I had walked that much in a long time. I was so tired when we got back to the hotel that I fell asleep at 8:30....and if any of you know me that well that is pretty early for me.

More to come....

2008-07-06T09:14:00.000-07:00

I have lots of great pictures to post from my trip to Beijing but I am having internet problems so it will be a bit longer. The connections here can be really slow and that can be a problem when your trying to download pictures.

Xi'an Trip

2008-07-06T07:04:00.000-07:00

Thursday morning we got on a plane to Xi'an to see the museum of terracotta soldiers. I didn't know much about them but our tour guide gave us some good info. Probably more than I needed to know because I found myself tuning him out. I have a short attention span when it comes to history :) They are very interesting to see in person though. Its crazy how many of them are still intact given how old they are.

Oh this is some mystery food that was given to us for breakfast on the airplane. I have no idea what it all was except for the egg. I really didn't want to eat it to find out. My dad was brave and ate the egg and bean things. What ever happened to peanuts or pretzels?? I guess that's just in the US.

We are stuck!!!!

2008-07-03T04:24:00.001-07:00

So I am writing from the first class lounge at the airport in Xian. Apparently our plane is broken so we have to wait a few hours to catch a new flight to Beijing. I do have one complaint about the airport. The bathrooms here are pretty nasty. They arent the normal kind we are used to in the US. I am sure if you have traveled to other countries you might know what I am talking about. They dont even have toilet paper!! Luckily my mom warned me about all of this but I was hoping I didnt have to experience it ;)

We did have a good day today. We came to Xian to see the Museum of Terracotta soldiers. It was pretty cool so once I get someplace where I can post pictures I will. Now we just have to hope we make it out of this city!!

Jade Buddha Temple

2008-07-02T07:06:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of part of the outside of the temple. Its pretty big and I was going to get another picture but my dad took off to cross the street. So I wasn't wanting to get left, since the streets are actually very scary to cross here :)

I dont remember what this was called. You are supposed to throw a coin up and try and get it in one of the openings for good luck. My dad and I both tried and missed the first time but got it on the second. So not sure the good luck will come if it takes more than one try ;)

Our visit was cut a little short because it started to rain. You can sort of tell its raining in the last picture. We were also supposed to go see a few more sites after that but the rain didn't stop. Oh well, we will try again another day. I probably wont do any updating for the next couple of days because we are going to Beijing and I am not sure if we are bringing a computer. I should have some good stuff though since we will be seeing things like the Great Wall.

The secret room

2008-07-02T06:42:00.000-07:00

I had some interesting experiences today when we were out shopping. We went to this one shopping center filled with many vendors inside. All of them hassle you to buy their stuff which can be annoying after a while. They do not seem to understand what "no" means. They also tell you they will give you a special deal. It usually doesn't turn out to be such a great deal though. It helps having your parents who live here come so they know what a good deal is. One of the things that cracked me up was when you didn't see something you would like they would open some secret back room filled with more stuff. One of the guys just started pushing on the wall and part of it opened....pretty sneaky. I guess they were trying to keep certain name brand things out of sight....even though they are not the real thing.

Don't you want to eat here??

2008-07-01T05:52:00.000-07:00

We walked by this restaurant when we were out shopping today. This is one reason why I am cautious of the food I will eat while I am here. You never know what you might be eating. You might have to click on the picture to see what it says.

Pampering

2008-07-01T05:05:00.000-07:00

So my first planned event was getting a pedicure :) I know that is probably not the first thing you think of when visiting a country but it was very nice and relaxing. I am thinking I might need another one before I leave with all the walking we will be doing.

I made it !!!

2008-06-30T21:13:00.000-07:00

I finally arrived in Shanghai....yeah. I have to say that 14 hrs is a long time to be on an airplane. Even with many book, magazines and an Ipod the time seem to drag by. My flight was pretty uneventful except for some minor bumps. Probably the best thing was is I had a whole row to myself. So I was able to lay down and sleep.

We did not do too much sightseeing after the airport since it was raining. We basically came to my parents apartment and then went to dinner. I even ended up going to bed at about 7 and slept 12hrs.....wow, I was tired.