The little guy is three days late now and showing no signs of wanting to come out and play. We go back to the doctor this afternoon. Hopefully there will be more to report about later.
This past weekend we had Elder Dallin H. Oaks and Elder Anothony Perkins come to Shanghai to visit our district conference. It was awesome. We had a Saturday and Sunday session with them. Our district here has over 500 members. All of the members are foreigners. The locals are not allowed to meet with us. The meatings were great.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
No baby yet...
We went to see the doctor the other day and they said "come back next week". I guess this baby isn't ready to come out yet. The due date is this Friday, September 11 but we won't go back to the dr until the 14th for a checkup. They said that if she goes 5 days over the due date then they would consider inducing her.
The good thing is that Jen still feels well, is still swimming, and the baby won't be born on 9/11.
The weather is finally getting better here. It has been so hot and humid for a long time but this week it's been in the low 80s and it feels great! Hopefully we'll get some pictures loaded up on here soon.
The good thing is that Jen still feels well, is still swimming, and the baby won't be born on 9/11.
The weather is finally getting better here. It has been so hot and humid for a long time but this week it's been in the low 80s and it feels great! Hopefully we'll get some pictures loaded up on here soon.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Must be in the Blood
I just checked out blog for the first time in over a month. We are still unable to check the blog at home. But the past month has been busy as ever. Last week we moved to a new apartment. The locals here don't hardly ever move. Some of the people in my office have an hour and a half commute each way to work and I've asked them why they don't just move. They always look at me like I'm crazy. When we signed the 1 year lease I knew that we would move at the end of the year. I only intended to be there one year. Anyone who knows my family knows that we have no problem moving.
At first I thought it was just the locals that thought it was weird that we moved after one year. But then we told our friends at church and many of them gave us the same strange look and asked why on earth we would move. My response was simple. Why not? Plus, there was a light bulb burnt out in the old place and it seemed like a good reason to move. We love the new place! We are on the 22nd floor of a 31 story building. In our complex there are about 6 of these 31 story apartment buldings. The new place is only a few minutes away from our old place.
A few weeks ago I had a long business trip. I didn't like to be gone so long but I had to get it out of the way before the baby came. All of the countries were close together so it made sense to do it all at once. The countries included Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia. This was my first time to 3 of the 4 countries. It was so interesting to see the differences in each place. Interestingly enough, my meetings in each country were in Chinese. Who would have guessed?!?
Jen has turned into a fish lately. She is really enjoying swimming. She has been swimming about 1,000 meters per day. The baby is due any day now but she did another 1k this morning. Most of the men at the pool know her by now and tell her that she is awesome but most of the women still give her strange looks. Her belly sticks out pretty far. From behind you can't tell she's pregnant but then she turns sideways and HELLO there it is. Looks like a skinny girl stuck a basketball underneith her shirt. We'll post pictures later. She has been having a few contractions but not a lot. We are hoping this baby comes sooner than later since the doctor estimated last week that the baby was already 7.92lbs. Big Boy.
That about sums up our last month or so. Once the baby comes we will post pictures.
At first I thought it was just the locals that thought it was weird that we moved after one year. But then we told our friends at church and many of them gave us the same strange look and asked why on earth we would move. My response was simple. Why not? Plus, there was a light bulb burnt out in the old place and it seemed like a good reason to move. We love the new place! We are on the 22nd floor of a 31 story building. In our complex there are about 6 of these 31 story apartment buldings. The new place is only a few minutes away from our old place.
A few weeks ago I had a long business trip. I didn't like to be gone so long but I had to get it out of the way before the baby came. All of the countries were close together so it made sense to do it all at once. The countries included Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia. This was my first time to 3 of the 4 countries. It was so interesting to see the differences in each place. Interestingly enough, my meetings in each country were in Chinese. Who would have guessed?!?
Jen has turned into a fish lately. She is really enjoying swimming. She has been swimming about 1,000 meters per day. The baby is due any day now but she did another 1k this morning. Most of the men at the pool know her by now and tell her that she is awesome but most of the women still give her strange looks. Her belly sticks out pretty far. From behind you can't tell she's pregnant but then she turns sideways and HELLO there it is. Looks like a skinny girl stuck a basketball underneith her shirt. We'll post pictures later. She has been having a few contractions but not a lot. We are hoping this baby comes sooner than later since the doctor estimated last week that the baby was already 7.92lbs. Big Boy.
That about sums up our last month or so. Once the baby comes we will post pictures.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Our Daily Life
Every day in the streets of our neighborhood you’ll see people throw out their garbage into the streets: full garbage bags, uneaten leftovers, rotten fruit and vegetables, cut hair from the endless barber shops lining the street, and any other type of garbage imaginable, including human waste. Very gross. TP will occasionally get mad at those people if he sees them do it and confront them, like he did today: “Why do you ruin your city like that? Do you not like your country?” The people are always thrown off and are very confused. TP always wants to throw the garbage back into their homes or businesses but I have to remind him that these people have never been taught any other way. They’ve simply known all their lives to throw out the garbage in the street, and the street sweepers (with their blue overalls, their garbage wagon on wheels, and their bamboo brooms) will come out every few hours and sweep it all away.
In the local restaurant today we paid $2 for our dinner. The lady brought out TP’s food first (not like in America where everyone gets their meals at the same time) and then brought out my soup and placed it next to TP, on the opposite side of where I was sitting, as if serving to an imaginable person, even though I had ordered it and she knew it was mine. We laughed and TP said, “Who are you serving it to? There’s no one sitting there?” She seemed very confused as she put it in front of me. We still haven’t been able to figure that one out.
Our apartment has a gym with a pool where I like to swim…or float. Call it what you want. The first time I tried to get in the lifeguards wouldn’t allow me to since I was pregnant and it’s apparently unhealthy for a prego woman to swim??? I assured them I’d be fine and that I would only pool run to ease their nerves. The agreement was that I would stay in the shallow end only and not dunk my head under. One of the lifeguards stayed by my side the entire time and yelled at anyone who got too close telling them to be more careful when near me because I was 7 months pregnant.
The other day I went for a swim, and a rather large old lady blocked the stairs and told me not to get in since I had a big belly. I ignored her and got right in beside her and smiled. She also yelled at me for swimming with my head under water. That same day a bunch of young boys were playing tag in and around the pool, running at full speed around the perimeter chasing each other. Even though the floor was slippery wet and they could have fallen and been hurt quite badly, not one lifeguard gave a second glance…Some things I will never understand.
Jen at 11 weeks
At 31 weeks
At 33 weeks
In the local restaurant today we paid $2 for our dinner. The lady brought out TP’s food first (not like in America where everyone gets their meals at the same time) and then brought out my soup and placed it next to TP, on the opposite side of where I was sitting, as if serving to an imaginable person, even though I had ordered it and she knew it was mine. We laughed and TP said, “Who are you serving it to? There’s no one sitting there?” She seemed very confused as she put it in front of me. We still haven’t been able to figure that one out.
Our apartment has a gym with a pool where I like to swim…or float. Call it what you want. The first time I tried to get in the lifeguards wouldn’t allow me to since I was pregnant and it’s apparently unhealthy for a prego woman to swim??? I assured them I’d be fine and that I would only pool run to ease their nerves. The agreement was that I would stay in the shallow end only and not dunk my head under. One of the lifeguards stayed by my side the entire time and yelled at anyone who got too close telling them to be more careful when near me because I was 7 months pregnant.
The other day I went for a swim, and a rather large old lady blocked the stairs and told me not to get in since I had a big belly. I ignored her and got right in beside her and smiled. She also yelled at me for swimming with my head under water. That same day a bunch of young boys were playing tag in and around the pool, running at full speed around the perimeter chasing each other. Even though the floor was slippery wet and they could have fallen and been hurt quite badly, not one lifeguard gave a second glance…Some things I will never understand.
Jen at 11 weeks
At 31 weeks
At 33 weeks
Thursday, July 16, 2009
I think we are back in the blogging business
The government has put restrictions on various websites, including blogger.com, and more recently Facebook, which is why we haven’t been able to post. Unfortunately, we have been denied access along with the rest of the country. We are sad we won’t be able to view all your blogs, however, we will now send our posts to TP’s sister and she’ll post them for us allowing us to keep up with our family journal. Thanks H!
In America:
We took a ‘heavenly summer holiday’ back in the good old USA. I quote ‘heavenly summer holiday’ since I’ve been asked to write about this exact topic for a ward newsletter, and since upon arriving in the U.S. I did use that exact word: ‘heavenly’. Here is what I wrote:
Highlights of our heavenly summer holiday included spending a week with my sister and my beautiful nieces; getting together with college running friends at Ruth’s Diner up Emigration Canyon for breakfast and laughing like we had never spent a day apart; a Price Family Reunion up in the top most hills of Ogden Canyon and being in endless amounts of open land on top of the world; playing a made up game with my brother that lasted all day long; cheering TP on in the Wasatch Back Relay, a 12 man relay race that spans 188 miles beginning in Logan and ending in Park City; having a 4th of July bratwurst bbq and then taking an evening walk with TP in the quiet, calm before the fireworks--and then watching the sky turn all sorts of wondrous colors before the setting sun; sitting on a grassy hill with TP on a Sunday afternoon after a Sunday walk and watching another family playing fetch with their dog: up and down, up and down that hill, repeatedly he went; shopping with my mom, of course; and above all, sitting quietly in Logan Temple’s celestial room with my husband beside me, holding my hand. I enjoyed the open green land and wonderful Utah morning air so much I knew I couldn’t pass up the opportunity (despite being 7 months pregnant and increasingly uncomfortable) to go on a quiet morning run, which I did, and didn’t make it more than 20 meters without realizing I had to walk the rest of the way. But that’s okay, I enjoyed it almost as much as a run. It was almost the same. 
TP and his sister at the end of the Wasatch Back Relay
Taking a visit back to the U.S. to be with family and friends is always heavenly, but upon being back home in SH., I’ve discovered a new noise: It’s something quite different than the normal loud honking, people talking, jack hammers pounding away throughout all hours of the night. No it’s not that. It sounds like a loud washing machine gone crazy. A vacuum multiplied by a thousand. Its loud humming buzz seeps into my apartment on the 11th floor along with the heavy humidity, and upon further investigation, I realize it’s the cicadas alive and well in the trees. It’s an amazing sound that reminds me of movies I’ve seen of jungles in Vietnam, or of a lush tropical island, or of hiking in the jungles of Brazil (something I can only imagine), and I think that this is heaven too. On this side of heaven I get to spend the entire weekend with my husband, and I get him all to myself; and all because of our great house help, dinner is on the table at 6, dishes are washed promptly when we are through, our home is clean and orderly (though not always the case), our laundry is always clean and folded; we have awesome friends in our branch; and cicadas buzz in the trees during the hot humid summer months. Besides that, SH’s week long New Year’s firework celebration can’t even compare to any 4th of July firework celebration ever given in the U.S. I mean really, the U.S.’s show starts at dark and ends with the finale at 10:30 PM. In SH, the celebration doesn’t even begin till midnight!
So to play catch up:
In China:
In China:
We had our friends from Guam spend two weeks visiting us in China. We had a great time taking them around 4 different cities. In Pudong we rented bikes and boats in Century Park. In Hangzhou, one of our favorite retreats, we rented bikes and biked around West Lake, and explored many different areas. We took them to a water town and took another little fishing boat along the canals. In Nanjing we hiked up to Sun Yet Sen’s Mausoleum. And we spent the majority of the time exploring Beijing on bikes and foot. I think we all agreed that Beijing is quite the historical place to be and were astounded at the immensity of the Great Wall. It is simply the most amazing man made structure I have ever seen. I don’t think I can write words that fully express how amazing it is. Did you know it was built in 221 B.C.? Neither did I. It’s crazy to think the Great Wall was built before Christ walked the Earth! We also enjoyed running in the Birds Nest where the greatest runners in the world competed in during this past Summer Olympics. We all ran a short 100M sprint together in honor of becoming such awesome friends through running. The last time we had all been together for a run was in 2003…
The Bird's Nest
The Great Wall
In America:
We took a ‘heavenly summer holiday’ back in the good old USA. I quote ‘heavenly summer holiday’ since I’ve been asked to write about this exact topic for a ward newsletter, and since upon arriving in the U.S. I did use that exact word: ‘heavenly’. Here is what I wrote:
Highlights of our heavenly summer holiday included spending a week with my sister and my beautiful nieces; getting together with college running friends at Ruth’s Diner up Emigration Canyon for breakfast and laughing like we had never spent a day apart; a Price Family Reunion up in the top most hills of Ogden Canyon and being in endless amounts of open land on top of the world; playing a made up game with my brother that lasted all day long; cheering TP on in the Wasatch Back Relay, a 12 man relay race that spans 188 miles beginning in Logan and ending in Park City; having a 4th of July bratwurst bbq and then taking an evening walk with TP in the quiet, calm before the fireworks--and then watching the sky turn all sorts of wondrous colors before the setting sun; sitting on a grassy hill with TP on a Sunday afternoon after a Sunday walk and watching another family playing fetch with their dog: up and down, up and down that hill, repeatedly he went; shopping with my mom, of course; and above all, sitting quietly in Logan Temple’s celestial room with my husband beside me, holding my hand. I enjoyed the open green land and wonderful Utah morning air so much I knew I couldn’t pass up the opportunity (despite being 7 months pregnant and increasingly uncomfortable) to go on a quiet morning run, which I did, and didn’t make it more than 20 meters without realizing I had to walk the rest of the way. But that’s okay, I enjoyed it almost as much as a run. It was almost the same.
TP and his sister at the end of the Wasatch Back RelayOgden Valley
Back in China:
Taking a visit back to the U.S. to be with family and friends is always heavenly, but upon being back home in SH., I’ve discovered a new noise: It’s something quite different than the normal loud honking, people talking, jack hammers pounding away throughout all hours of the night. No it’s not that. It sounds like a loud washing machine gone crazy. A vacuum multiplied by a thousand. Its loud humming buzz seeps into my apartment on the 11th floor along with the heavy humidity, and upon further investigation, I realize it’s the cicadas alive and well in the trees. It’s an amazing sound that reminds me of movies I’ve seen of jungles in Vietnam, or of a lush tropical island, or of hiking in the jungles of Brazil (something I can only imagine), and I think that this is heaven too. On this side of heaven I get to spend the entire weekend with my husband, and I get him all to myself; and all because of our great house help, dinner is on the table at 6, dishes are washed promptly when we are through, our home is clean and orderly (though not always the case), our laundry is always clean and folded; we have awesome friends in our branch; and cicadas buzz in the trees during the hot humid summer months. Besides that, SH’s week long New Year’s firework celebration can’t even compare to any 4th of July firework celebration ever given in the U.S. I mean really, the U.S.’s show starts at dark and ends with the finale at 10:30 PM. In SH, the celebration doesn’t even begin till midnight!
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
baby love
...at least I think.
But I'm not complaining or anything...
Whoever said the second trimester was the easiest?...
It's all worth it though when I can lay down and I feel my baby boy move and kick.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Happy Birthday Jenny!
This Happy Birthday! shout goes to my great friend Jenny!
Running friends are the friends that seriously last the longest!
Here's to all those marathon training days,
and those good ol' college running days.
When you run with someone for HOURS and HOURS, and HOURS in the freezing cold, the wind and the rain, the mud, the gruesome summer heat on all sorts of terrain, and sweat, and train, and work the hardest you've ever physically worked before, and hope, and dream and cry, and laugh, and smile together, somehow through it all you start as running pals and end up as sisters!
I hope your birthday was the best!!!
Running friends are the friends that seriously last the longest!
Here's to all those marathon training days,
and those good ol' college running days.
When you run with someone for HOURS and HOURS, and HOURS in the freezing cold, the wind and the rain, the mud, the gruesome summer heat on all sorts of terrain, and sweat, and train, and work the hardest you've ever physically worked before, and hope, and dream and cry, and laugh, and smile together, somehow through it all you start as running pals and end up as sisters!
I hope your birthday was the best!!!
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