The Wonder Center

Was just looking at our blog and it shows the number of posts per year since we started in 2008.  We used to post 40+ times per year the first two years.  Then...not so much.  2012 only has 6 posts while 2013 has had 7 posts year to date.  Probably need to do a bit better job if this is what we count for our family journal.

Not too much special happened this past week.  Will rides his bike to school each day.  He started riding without training wheels when he turned 4 yrs old.  When we asked him why he could suddenly just pick up a bike and start to ride it on his first try (true story, just just grabbed the neighbors bike and started riding around the parking lot) he said that he could do it now because he was 4 and when you are 4 you can ride a bike.  Fair enough.  So he rides with Jen to and from school each day.  It's about 1 mile each way - not uphill or in any snow.

Will loves school.  We love his school.  The school is probably best described as a hippie village, complete with drum circles - I'm serious. There are no desks in the school, they cook all of their own food and it's all vegetarian.  They recycle and make their own paper.  The school starts anywhere from 8-9am depending on when you want to show up.  They have a family day once a month where the parents all come for lunch and participate in activities.  They have a school blog that gets updated every Sunday night that talks about what they will be doing during the coming week and has a video montage with photos from the previous week.  There are 6 kids in his class and two teachers (just like Utah schools....one thing similar to Utah though is that there are 3 mormons in his school of 30 kids - not exactly Provo numbers but more than you'd expect in China).  One teacher is from Australia and the other is Chinese.  Every other day his lessons are in English or Chinese so they get both languages.  They were blown away by his Chinese at the beginning of the year.  He is learning to write his letters and numbers and the sounds they make.  We don't yet know if he is right or left handed since he uses both to write and doesn't seem to have a preference for either one.  We don't push either one but just watch.  If he were in a Chinese school they would just force him to use his right hand.  He has classmates from a variety of different countries and cultures.  Will learned a few things pretty quick at school.  One of those things was that he needed to participate in all of the cooking and cleaning.  Early on in the year they were baking some cookies one day and Will said he didn't want to help.  They said 'ok' and he played while the other kids helped make the cookies.  At the end of the day all of the kids got to take the cookies home to eat.  Will wasn't given any.  He was very upset about it.  From then on out he is always one of the first to help out to cook!

June always loves to go pick up Will at school or go and play on the monthly Family Fun Days or join on the field trips.  The teachers all know and love her and she has a great time.  In the front yard of the school (they transformed a huge villa/house into the school) they have a big cage with a few rabbits in it.  When June shows up the rabbit always come over to the gates because they know that June will never let them down and give them a snack.  She loves to feed the bunnies.

Both kids have swim lessons every Friday, which they love.  Then on Saturday's they have gymnastics which they quite enjoy as well.  Gymnastics finishes at lunch time and there is a Subway in the same building (some of you that have visited us will know the building as the tallest one with the hole on top like a bottle opener.  The Shanghai World Financial Center, 3rd tallest building in the world and tallest in China - at least for another two years anyway) so we always get a sub sandwich after class.  Will calls these his 'gymnastics sandwiches'.

This coming week is Thanksgiving.  This is one of the only times I get homesick.  We haven't decided exactly what we will do but nothing every compares to my Aunt's spread that she puts on.  It's the best. A week from today my sister Heather will be here!  We are all looking forward to her coming over.  Will has been saying all week that "Quinn's mom will be here soon!".  While she is here Jen will go to Thailand for hip surgery.  Hoping that is uneventful and smooth.

The is a pic of the kids doing dishes at home recently.

This is the waitress in Queenstown, NZ that Will fell in love with.  She is from Shanghai and her and will had an instant bond.  She was a good sport and almost fell over when this blond haired blue eyed kid asked her for a glass of orange juice is Chinese.

New Zealand

We are really struggling to get a blog post put together.  Here we've just added a few photos from our recent trip to New Zealand.  In summary it was awesome.  Clean air, big majestic mountains, beautiful clear lakes, oceans, open space, friendly people, good food, not crowded - basically it was everything that Shanghai isn't. 

Overlooking downtown Auckland on the North Island.

Auckland

Will playing with his buddy Oli.  Oli used to live in our apartment complex in Shanghai before his dad got a job in NZ.  It was fun to get together with our friends.

Sheep, yeah there are lots of these there.

Typical NZ roads.

Kids chasing the birds on the shores of lake Waki-whatever (never did learn how to say the name of this lake that we stayed next to for 5 days...)

Chinese guy that was playing for money in the street that freaked out when Will spoke to him in Chinese.  He started playing Chinese songs for Will.

Jen's friend Marnie, Oli's mom, used to be our neighbor and in our branch in Shanghai.  We went to the Auckland Zoo with them.

Will out running in Arrowtown - an old gold mining town on the South Island.

At the zoo

On the shores of lake Waki-something-or-other

Will cherishing his moment to be on grass.  yeah, not a lot of this in Shanghai to roll around in.

Stunning views of the lake.

Views of a paraglider over the lake.  We took the gondola up a mountain and had lunch up there and did the luge.  Will loved it.

Auckland

Jen's yummy burger (vegi and beets) from Burger Fuel - an awesome local chain.  Mine had real meat and beets and was very good.

More to follow, hopefully. 

our week

UT. is a dream. I love this land. Here are some pics of this past week. We did a lot--swimming, splash pad, playgrounds, hiking, games, fireworks, rehearsals, recitals, yummy food, running and playing at the high school track (kids loved the long jump pit), library visit, picnics, kids camping out in the basement, horses...

After Amb's piano recital. Little kids eating refreshments.

These two are like peas in a pod. They are having fun running around together.

Will likes eating some of his meals outside on the back patio for some reason. Maybe because he likes the dog, or maybe he's enjoying the wonderful weather...

double trouble 

This is where I get to ride my bike-through beautiful fields, orchards, and amazingly clean air-and emptiness. I wanted to take it all in so I stopped my ride to get a pic.

While A. has play rehearsal we take the kids to the track. They play in the long jump pit, while my sis and I take turns running laps-reminds me of my mom taking us kids to the track. We played while she ran. Sometimes we ran with her. Sometimes we raced. This time it was Will who wanted to race. He got on the track and said, "Wo yao qu bizai" (I want to race). After a "On your mark, get set, go!" He took off and ran an entire lap. Then his cousin B. raced the second lap with him. I was like, "Oh my word he just ran 800 meters like it was nothin!" He was speedy.

If you can zoom in on this pic you should-J.'s face is classic.

Will got into Amb's lipstick before the fireworks started.

J. then wanted to take a turn

I am having so much fun with this family. Lots of laughs.

playing around before the fireworks show. Aren't the mountains and green grass beautiful!

Don't be fooled. This is actually a cherry pie without the crust top. Who needs two crusts on a pie??? But it doesn't look all that appealing in this photo, but man alive! It is tasty. We made it from scratch, and even picked our own cherries from the orchard.

The cherry trucks had just shaken the trees the day before and were done with them, so we had permission to collect what we wanted--the kids loved this.

darling little miss

these are the best cinnamon rolls ever! My sis did a fantastic job.

kids enjoying cinnamon rolls. Very happy kids.

Mango quinoa black bean salad=health and happiness.

hiking bridal veil falls

enjoying the sun and cool water.

J. also enjoying the cool water. She wanted to swim in this ice water.

splash pad was a hit. Cheesy grin.

Can you believe these were only 5 bucks? I'm used to paying that much for 1/4 this amount.

On a walk outside our home, and W. pulled this.

Enjoying the wild outdoors.

Jet Lag

The past ten days have been interesting.  It all started last Tuesday when Jen and the kids were supposed to fly out to Utah.  We had coordinated our trips so that I would be able to take them to the airport before I flew out to Vietnam and Thailand.  We got a notice that morning that her flight had simply been cancelled.  Major bummer.  So I had to set off to visit customers and she was rescheduled to fly out the next day.  She got the kids to the airport and got checked in, she even took her bike, and then boarded the plane.  Problem was the plane never moved.  They sat on the plane at the gate for four hours!!!  They then had to get off the plane and go back through customs, pick up their luggage, and then try it all again the next day.  When she checked in again on day 3 she noticed that they changed her connecting flight in SFO which changed her layover from 1.5 hrs to 6.5 hrs.  She told them to change it back to the original reservation and they told her it was sold out and not possible.  Out comes the new Jen, the Jen that has had to fight her way around a city of 30 million people, the Jen that has to negotiate prices at the markets and argue with people that are trying to rip her off.  The Jen that moved to China five years ago is not the same Jen we have now and is certainly no pushover.  When they told her the flight was booked Jen let them have it.  She had booked her tickets to be on that flights and was not going to be pushed aside.  She wasn't going to fly by herself with the kids for 12 hrs and then sit in the airport for 6 more.  She told the ticket agent to find three people and kick them off the flight on to the next one.  Overbooking the plane was not her problem, it was the airline's.  After some back and forth they actually did it.  They pushed back three other people and Jen and the kids got their originally booked seats.  Great job Jen, makes me proud.

Meanwhile I was in Vietnam.  It's an interesting place.  When the customer took me to dinner I wanted to take a bunch of pictures of the menu but didn't think it appropriate as it was my first meeting with them.  This menu was unreal.  Pig brains, turtles, snakes, every organ imaginable and a whole host of items that even after nearly 8 years in Asia I had never seen before.  Thankfully they asked me to order some items so I was able to make sure that we had a few things edible.  In the end the entire meal was great and we didn't order pig brains.

I came home from Vietnam for one day and then set off on a crazy whirlwind trip to South Africa.  I flew all night from Shanghai to Doha, Qatar and then connected on a flight to Johannesburg and then connected all the way down to Cape Town.  23 hrs of travel.  I then stayed in Cape Town for 22 hours.  Had my meetings and then caught a flight to Durban.  Did training in Durban and was there just under 24 hours before flying to Joburg.  The trip to Joburg was just over 24 hours but not by much.  After the trainings in Joburg JP and I (JP is a colleague from our Paris office) wanted to go see some lions.  In Africa you don't have to go far.  Within 30 minutes we were at a lion park. 

Here kitty kitty...yeah, this is a lion!  Glad he already ate lunch!

Isn't there a TV show about these guys?

Who knew that giraffes also love Doritos??  Super long tongue, kinda gross.

Yeah, this is a full size lion walking in front of our car... never had this happen before.  They had White Lions too which I had never seen before.

When playing with lions keep your windows rolled up!  They also wouldn't allow soft top cars.

My good mate (he's Australian thus a Mate) Gus is going to be moving from Shanghai soon.  We've had some great times on our bikes around the world that I'm sure will continue after he moves.

Jen has quickly become one of the regulars on the Shanghai biking scene.  She now travels with her bike, love it.

Will in Utah picking cherries.  Haven't been with him for 10 days and he already seems bigger.

June getting caught in the popcorn bowl.

This looks like a Buddhist temple but is actually a Christian church.  I couldn't get a very good picture as we drove by but I was stunned when I saw a cross on top of what I thought to be another temple in Saigon.

We had lunch at my Vietnamese customer's home.  It was very good.  Everything was fresh and yummy.  Chicken, fish, veggies and a few unknowns.  

I'm finally on my way back to Shanghai.  Back in Doha, Qatar today.  I spent the day here.  I was going to spend the weekend here but when I realized it was Ramadan, 110 degrees, and that all restaurants would be closed for the month I decided to just stay for the day.  Changed my flight and getting out of here.  The middle east might not be my cup of tea or I'm just sick of being in hotel or airplane for the past ten days.  Almost done, one more trip next week to Philippines then off to Utah for a couple of weeks!  Looking forward to it.