Seoul Food

I just got back from Seoul, Korea last night.  Seoul Food is just awesome.  Time didn't permit this trip to go to a local Korean bbq house which was too bad.  They are great.  You sit on the floor, which is heated, and you bbq up tons of yummy meats and then eat them with rice and an onslaught of little side dishes like kimchi.  I was able to eat a meal of the short ribs with rice which is one of my favorites.  It's funny now because most of my favorite dishes or meals are from Japan, Korea, Thailand, Taiwan or China.  Interesting how food choices change.  Living overseas I think has really expanded our food horizons.  I didn't realize this until my sisters last trip here when we asked her what she wanted to eat (Thai, Greek, Indian, Japanese, Korean etc) and she replied that she hadn't eaten any of them.  We then made it our mission to expose her to all of our favorite foods and to our joy she liked most of them.

I didn't intend to talk all about food in the blog post but food is usually on my mind.  I love to eat!

This morning we had our branch Christmas party.  It was a big breakfast that had a Polar Express theme to it.  The kids loved it and there were a couple hundred people there.  (Our branch now has about 220+ every week!).  After the breakfast I went with the youth to do a service project.  They saved up their money to buy gifts that we were going to deliver to a local children's hospital.  It was previously arranged and when we got there we quickly realized that they weren't taking us to the area that we wanted to go to.  They had taken us to the VIP ward where there was only 4 kids that weren't even all locals.  This was not what we had intended.  So we left that ward and walked into the cardiac ward.  As I entered it was obvious that it was not the VIP section.  The staff didn't speak English, their uniforms weren't as nice, there were no private rooms but instead 3-4 kids per room and it just wasn't nearly as nice as the other area.  I went to the nurses desk and told them we had about 15 foreign youth that had prepared gifts for the kids and asked if we could come and distribute them.  She happily agreed so we brought the youth in and started delivering the gifts.  Christmas obviously doesn't mean anything to the people we visited but the spirit of Christmas was ever present as the families of these little kids just lit up with joy and appreciation.  The youngest kid I saw was 2 months old and the oldest was about ten.  All of the families I spoke with were from the country side all over China that had come to Shanghai for the better medical care.  These were kids with heart problems.  There was one boy that didn't have a family there with him.  He was so excited as we gave him a teddy bear that was bigger than he was.  It was hard knowing that he was alone.  The nurses said his parents had dropped him off and came in sometimes to see him.  They are probably working hard to pay the medical bills.

I was worried we wouldn't have enough gifts for the whole floor of 40 kids.  Turns out we did have enough and like the fish and the loaves there were still a lot of gifts left so we went to the next floor up and had just enough for the 40 kids on that floor.  We were one gift short so one of the leaders went down to the car to get an extra gift and brought it back up to the last little kid.

Shanghai is a city that is all about making money and getting ahead.  The people can be cold, short tempered, and selfish.  When people do something nice for someone else here they are often looked at as crazy.  Everyone is always in such a hurry.  Today for a few short minutes we were able to spend time with these humble families from the country side that were so thankful to have visitors and gifts.  They were parents that just wanted their kids to get better.  It was very refreshing to be around them.  It is true that when we give service we gain much more than we give.  We weren't able to tell the hospital that we were a church organization or discuss the true meaning of Christmas with any of them but I think that the spirit of Christ that surrounds the Christmas season was there and overcame any language or political/religious barriers.

Post from Shanghai

I'm back in Shanghai for a few days.  We are enjoying some of the last great weather of the season.  The weather was great this weekend but we know it won't last too long.  I was in Beijing last week and it was below freezing and the damp cold winter of Shanghai is just around the corner. 

 Recently two-time Ironman World Champion Chris "Macca" McCormack came to Shanghai.  It was arranged that I got to go do a training ride and run with him.  After the workout he and I went to Starbucks and chatted for about an hour and we arranged to send a treadmill to his house in Sydney, Australia to help him train for the London Olympics.  The treadmill was delivered a couple days later.  He loves the product and we've kept in contact and in a couple of weeks he'll be coming to Utah to have meetings with us on how to work together.  I'll have to find the link to the youtube video that shows us riding our bikes in Shanghai, he had a film crew following him.

This is a recent picture from the Bund in Shanghai.  We live about ten minutes from here.  Does this make you want to come visit us?  We welcome visitors!

Lately everyone says that June looks like me and Will looks like Jen.  You decide.  

June just started rolling over and Will is loving doing puzzles and throwing things from our 6th floor balcony, Jen's cell phone was the latest victim to go off.  We had a special lock installed yesterday so he can't get on the balcony any more.  He continues to get funny looks from people when he starts speaking Chinese to people.  It's pretty funny.  For now he still prefers Chinese to English.

Here Will and June pose for a pic in their jammies.  Will is getting so tall and June is growing very big cheeks.

My vpn just stopped working for a few minutes so I'm having to redo this blog post as it was deleted.  Very annoying.  Anyway, these pictures are from a bike race I went and did last weekend.  It was in a small town about 4 hours drive outside of Shanghai.  My friend Jeff and I went and did it.  We thought it was going to just be a small little event but we were wrong.  At the starting line there was an hour long opening ceremony complete with a big stage, dancers, kung fu performances and speeches from government officials and of course big fireworks.  In front of the stage they had a sign with each team name that the team was supposed to line up behind.  Our team, Slice, was originally on the far side but when we lined up they quickly moved us to front and center.  Then at the starting line they also made us be at the front and center for the cameras so it appeared to be an "international" event.  At the finish line they also had a big stage, dancers, fireworks etc.   Just after I finished a local TV crew came to interview me.  After a few questions they turned off the camera and told me what they wanted me to say.  Then turned it back on so they could get footage of me saying that it was such a great event and a nice area and that I would want to tell my friends about this place.  The scenery was in fact very beautiful.  The picture of the lake was outside my hotel room window.  Hotel probably isn't' the right word, hostel would be more accurate.  A steal plank would have been softer than the bed they had there.  

Jen wanted to put on a Turkey Trot 1 mile race this year.  We got started too late so the event so couldn't come together in time.  Next year we will prepare.  Jen still wanted to run though to see how fast she could run a mile.  She ran a 6:09 without a problem.  Congrats Jen!  great job.  Post pregnancy 5 months and her fitness is gradually coming back.  

Thanksgiving was this week.  This is always one of the few times that I feel a bit homesick.  Nothing beats Thanksgiving at my Aunt Kathy's.  It was a regular work day here but I did take off a couple hours early.  Jen made vegetarian chile....she redeemed herself with two pies - pumpkin and banana cream that were good.  She didn't appreciate when I pulled out my camera and started taking pictures once the table was set.  the other dish you see is mashed sweet potato.  On Saturday we got together with several other friends and had a big proper thanksgiving spread, but again - not Kathy's spread.  Maybe next year we will come back for this holiday.  It's one of our favorites.  

This is a picture from the starting line of Ironman Taiwan.  Jen and I went to this beach a few years ago and we love it there.  I thought this was a great picture.

  

Taiwan

I'm in the Taiwan airport right now waiting to go back to Shanghai.  I love coming to Taiwan.  It feels like a second home to me.  Even though my time in the mainland has now far surpassed the time that I spent in Taiwan this place will always remain special to me.  This trip was to meet with a new distributor that we've been working with for about 5 months now.  We decided to be one of the sponsors of the Taiwan 70.3 Ironman race in Southern Taiwan.  It was fun to go work at a race, a race that I was supposed to do but with leg problems haven't been able to prepare for.  Three of my friends from Shanghai came to the race.  They were from Utah, Australia, and Sweden.  They all did very well.  The two-time Ironman world champion was also there for the race.  He won of course but my Sweedish came him a good race finishing in 3rd place in the professional race.

I've also made sure to eat some of my favorite foods while here.  My customer is always getting a kick out of the fact that I never want to go to the nice restaurants but always want to go to the cheap hole in the wall joints.  This is what I ate when I was here on my mission and it became my favorite food.  So we will go out with a group of 4 of us and the total bill is like $15 and the food is awesome.  I had my favorite breakfast this morning at a little shop and my friends and customer alike were loving it.  $10 for all four of us to eat ourselves silly!  I also stopped at a grocery store to pick up my favorite peanut butter that you can only get in Taiwan.  I bought 4 big cans of it as well as 6 bricks of this drink called Dong Gua Cha.  You can buy the brick and boil it down, add water and you've got yourself an awesome drink.  My 6 bricks should make about 30 gallons worth.  My suitcase is now quite heavy.

I feel quite lucky to be able to come back to Taiwan every now and then.  Not everyone gets to go back to where they served their mission.  It is fun to come back and enjoy the people, culture, food, language etc - yes, the language here is quite different from Shanghai.  The easiest way to describe the difference in language would be like comparing English from LA to London, same language but quite different.  With my new customer here I'll be here more often too.

Busy Busy

The past two weeks have been quite busy.  My boss from Paris and his boss from Utah were here for the past two weeks.  This called for long days and a lot of meetings during the first week in Shanghai.  Then for the 2nd week my boss went to Beijing for some meetings and the COO and I headed to Japan.  We first went to Nagoya which is where is son is serving a mission.  Elder Stevenson was kind enough to help arrange for us to go to breakfast with his son.  Elder Stevenson came and met us in Nagoya the night before and came to the breakfast with us.  Then we all jumped on the bullet train to go to Tokyo where we split ways and we went to work while he carried on with his church duties.  He's busy getting ready for a new temple groundbreaking.  While on the bullet train we went past Mt. Fuji.  There are only a couple months out of the year when it isn't covered with snow.  Apparently the locals have a saying that you are crazy not to climb it once and you are crazy to do it twice. 

This picture turned out blurry but it is in front of the Tokyo temple.

We had great meetings in Tokyo and then jumped on a plane to go to Hong Kong.  Once in HK we met up with my boss again for a meeting the following morning.  After that meeting my boss flew back to France and the COO and I flew to Xiamen to meet with our factory.  The following night I left for Shanghai and he went back to Utah.  Both of us were exhausted but it had been a very good and very productive couple of weeks.

Last Sunday Jen spoke in church and she did an awesome job.  She was very well prepared and gave a great talk.  Her mom tried to come out to Shanghai this week but all of the flights were full and she wasn't able to come.  Hopefully she can come out in November.

While the bosses were in town we had a chance to go see the pro tennis tournament.  We went to the semifinals and it was very interesting.  I'd never been to a tennis match before or really watched much of it. Nadal and Roddick were in the tournament but didn't make it to the finals.

I got back in town just before the weekend and we had fun with the kids.  Will and I enjoyed some meet on a stick, one of his favorites.

 Will is speaking more and more in both Chinese and English.  He's picking up new words every day.  He's got several classes that he goes to each week.  He has a science class, dance/music class, and a class that seems to have the theme of "let's do what you can't do at home" class.  Will really like the later class because they get to do things like color on walls, paint the floor, throw things etc.  The class is taught by a Chinese lady and the three other students are all Chinese so it's good for Will to go and interact with them.  They were surprised at first that Will could speak/understand what they said but they are used to it now and just treat him like the other kids which is what we were hoping for.  

Will also loves to play at the indoor play areas.  He is now big enough to play on the zip line which he thinks is so cool.  Here he is hanging and going for a ride!  June is still growing big checks.  

Food on a stick

When my sister visited us she noticed that there were so many food items here that came on a stick.  On Saturday we went out to lunch and had pot stickers, but not the frozen ones from Costco - no, these ones are actually good and don't stink up the house, and meat on a stick.  Here is Will going to town on the meat on a stick.

"Checks" going out for a stroll.

This is Will cruising on his bike.  You will notice that there are no pedals on this bike.  Instead you balance on the bike and use your legs to push yourself along.  Never saw these in the States before but I think they are pretty cool.  Now that Will is finally tall enough to reach the ground he thinks it is pretty cool too.

Never being one to skip a meal here is Will grabbing a bite to eat while playing at the playground.  I wish I had a picture of what he did today.  We had some friends over and all of a sudden their four yr old boy says disgustedly "mom! Will is drinking oil!"  Sure enough, there was our star with a big bottle of cooking oil in his hands and a shiny coating on his mouth.  The 4 yr old followed this with "he thought it was apple juice".  This isn't all that surprising coming from Will.  This is after all the same kid that will grab a brick of cheese and run away and hide so that he can eat it and the same kid that craves butter in the middle of the night and likes to eat cream cheese straight out of the tub.  The boy likes his dairy.  

Wow, a new post!

It's been a couple of months since our last post but we've figured out a way, we think, to post again from home.  Hopefully this post will work and we can start posting again.

This week is a holiday week here so the office is closed all week.  This is the time of year with the best weather and today was really nice.  The past few days we took a little vacation that started in a place called Moganshan.  It is in the mountains about three hours drive from Shanghai.  We stayed at this fun bed and breakfast for two nights.  Our friends, the Breinholts, came with us and we had a great time.  I took my bike with me and met up with some other people from SH and we went for a long bike ride through the hills while Jen went for a run in the mountains.  It was awesome to be in the mountains again.  Then we drove to Hangzhou.  This was a mistake to go during the holiday as it seemed that everyone else here had the same idea!  It was a complete zoo.  Millions, literally, of people everywhere you go.  After two nights there we took the new high speed train back to Shanghai.  The train was cool - 45 minutes to cover what would take 2+ hours in a car.  fast!

Will and June are growing so fast and are super cute.  Will's English has been improving lately and he is speaking more and more every day.  Here are some recent pictures.

Here is Will in his new hat that he got for his 2nd birthday and his second hand sport coat and tie studying up.  He sits here next to the bookshelf so often that Jen got him a little chair that sits on the floor so he can relax and read.

June is sporting her bow from aunt Hilary.  We put these bows on her nearly ever time we go out so that people won't ask if she's a boy or girl.  You would think that the pink dress would be a give-a-way but nothing surprises us here anymore.

This is up at Moganshan on the mountain top where the bed and breakfast house was.  It is a quaint little place that we really like.

This is from the B&B that we stayed at.  It was an old house that has been turned into a hotel.  It really was like you were staying at a friends house as the family room, kitchen, TV room etc were all commons areas and then there were 9 bedrooms with a number on each door.  We met some really nice families that were also there on vacation from Shanghai.  It's a great way to get away from the city.

Here is June in her pink fluffy suit.  Super cute.

Here is Will proceeding to say that something is "Hao Bang!"  which means Awesome.

Will learning to make friends...

June is focusing on growing bigger cheeks, this is her new favorite thing to do. 

Me and Jen going out for street food for breakfast this morning.  Steamed pork buns and hot soy milk.  yummy.  

This is Gus and me before last week's race.  I had my first top ten finish of the season and was our team's highest overall finisher for the 3rd straight race. Gus and I rode together this week at Moganshan, he is a super-fit triathlete from Australia that is training to win the Ironman in Taiwan next month.  

Long Haul

I thought I'd do a quick update since we haven't posted in such a long time.  We plan to get a vpn set up at home soon so we can blog over/under the great firewall of China.  I'm currently in the airport lounge in Bangkok, Thailand.  This has been a busy week.  On Sunday after church I flew to Johanessburg, South Africa.  Spent a day and a half there then flew to Durbin, SA.  After 20 hrs there I flew to Cape Town, SA for a day and a half.  Actually spent a day doing some sightseeing in Cape Town.  It is a beaufitful place and you really are at the bottom of the world.  The plan was to go swimming with the Great White Sharks but the boat was already full that day.  Next time.  (you go down in a metal cage and they through food into the water to attrack the great white.  SA has the largest population of the great whites in the world! 

After the African run around I took a red eye to Bangkok. Landed here at 6 am and had a meeting here and now I'm catching the 12:30am flight back to Shanghai. Two red eyes two nights in a row is not my idea of fun. But I'd rather get home earlier than later.

this is where the two oceans meet (Indian and Atlantic)

these signs are everywhere around the cape.

these are wild baboons!

These are the reason for the red eyes two nights in a row.  I miss my little wild baboons!