Snow In Shanghai!

The other day, I asked Matthew what he really misses about Connecticut and his answer was snow. It gets cold in Shanghai and we do get some flurries but no real accumulation. Well, yesterday it started snowing. Matthew came home from his dental appointment and immediately found his snowball maker. The movers shipped the wrong box and we found it when it arrived. We never opened it again...until yesterday. It continued to snow all day long.


The ground is relatively warm so not much was sticking but we did get enough to make snow men and have a snow ball fight. All the kids came out and made snow men. It looked like a community of snow people all over the compound. Boy, was Matthew happy. It was like his wish came true. I was happy because I didn't have to shovel it. The local Chinese were in awe. I guess they've never seen snowmen before. We had fun running around and getting totally wet and sweaty. It continued to snow today but its is already melting. Matt was right, snow is fun, I guess I missed it too.

Rainer's Birthday

It was Rainer's birthday yesterday. Ina planned a birthday dinner for him and Matthew and I went out to celebrate with them. Tony's been away for business in Malaysia this past week and missed all the festivities. Mr. Miao was invited to the festivities as well along with some of Ina's friends from Malaysia. Eugene and Li Ping used to work in Shanghai with Tony and Ina and they were here visiting. It was nice to be able to put a face with a name. Too bad Tony wasn't able to see them as well.

Li Ping and her sister Steffanie ordered the food for us. We were a table of seven adults and two children. That means....bring on the food. Sake and beer was flowing endlessly as well as soda for the kids. We had the usual- sashimi, tempura, gyoza, beef negamaki and other tasty tidbits and then we all noticed some new items on the table. Let's just say those who saw the show "Mr Ed" would know what I'm referring to. It was horse meat and a Korean dish that consisted of raw meat with a raw egg on top - something similar to steak tartare. I figured between the sake and beer... if there was something questionable about the meat, nothing would be able to survive. So, yes- we all tried the horse meat. I was told that many many years ago, mortadella- that lunch meat that you see with the pistachios today used to be made out of horse meat. I can't tell you if it's true or not but I had a very bad image of Mr. Ed the horse getting led to the slaughterhouse and getting sliced into razor thin pieces. I can honestly say that I've tried it...can't say that I would do it again. Then again, I've had some pretty weird things in China that I know I will never see in the States.

I made a chocolate peanut butter pie (see attacked pie picture) for Rainer and it went very quickly. Ina is a bit of a party girl and is not one to go home and sleep early. She insisted that we all go out for karaoke. Matthew and I have never been to a karaoke bar so it was a first experience for us. The Chinese take karaoke very very seriously. They don't care how they sound, it's the sport of doing it. A typical karaoke night will mean you are chaperoned into a private room with your party. This beats having to do it in public on a stage with many strangers staring and snickering at you. Hey, at least if you're going to sound awful, you can do it in the privacy of a room with your friends. I'm happy to report, our party didn't sound awful because Matthew and I declined to sing but sat back and watched everyone else do it.

After about three hours, we rolled up the party and drove home. Matthew was giddy about staying up until 12:45. He wants to do it again. I told him he'll have to wait until Rainer's next party.

Mrs. Kuehn & Mrs. Wink

Hi! It's me Matthew and I'm going to write about my first and second grade teachers. My mom has been keeping in touch with them and they received our holiday card. They wanted me to write about them ... so here it goes. Meet Mrs. Kuehn. She taught me first grade and I was called her little "love bug". Come to think of it...I think she called the whole class her love bugs. She was a very funny teacher and my mom used to visit the class and do things with my classroom. I remember Mrs. Kuehn's favorite candies to be Butterfingers and Reeses Peanut Buttercups. She had a giant Coca-Cola bottle in the classroom and during activities if your table won, you were allowed to pick a piece of candy out of the bottle. That was really special!


Meet my second grade teacher Mrs. Wink. She was someone who really took care of me. I liked it when she would read to the class the Judy Moody books. My mom would stop by the class from time to time to talk to Mrs. Wink but I think she was really checking up on me instead. I remember Mrs. Wink's favorite candies to be Kit Kats and Hershey's Kisses. I really loved it when we were allowed to play games if we had extra time at the end of the day. It made school fun for me because we were allowed to play games.

I remember both of them all the time and I talk about them with my friends and my mom and dad.

So, you have now met my two favorite teachers in Stamford. I hope to see them again when we return to the States.

Lost in Translation

During our adventure here in China, we've come across some interesting translations of Chinese signs into English. On our recent trip to Hangzhou we found the mother load of funny signs. Everything from spelling errors to down right mistakes. The odd thing is that these signs were all found in public places and have been there for years. You would figure that someone would have fixed them but obviously not. Please don't get me wrong, I really, really, really appreciate that there are English signs in China. I would be in serious trouble without them but I just can't help laughing when I come across some of these gems. Therefore, without further delay I give you silly signs, enjoy.

[SICK ATHEROSCLEROSIS] In Chinese the sign reads,"Mixed grain porridge or congee". The English translation was "sick atherosclerosis". This beauty was found at a breakfast buffet. The definition of atherosclerosis is "hardening of the veins". Are they trying to tell us that our veins will harden if we eat it? How did they screw this one up? ... I think we'll pass.

[NO WALKING ON WATER] The Chinese characters read "Please deal with this water. For safety, please do not enter the water." The sign shows a guy walking on water. Now, this sign can only apply to one person that I know of. I have not been able to walk on water for at least .... forever!





[BE CAREFUL ABOUT A MEETING] The Chinese characters read "Careful, bump head."Matthew spotted this gem in a cavern in Tonglu. Being careful for a meeting is always good advice but I don't see how it applies here. Maybe a sign with someone bumping his head would have been more effective.

[DO NOT CLAMBER PLEASE CRAWLING] Chinese characters are "Please don't climb, crawl". Huh? Boy, that one sucks in both languages.





[PAY ATTENTION TO YOU] Chinese characters are '"Warning, watch your footing below." Ok- not quite pay attention to you. No wonder people would stop in front of the sign and hug themselves.

[THE PRECIPICE STOPS BY] The Chinese characters are "Pending Cliff, stop walking". Maybe we can have coffee and donuts the next time the precipice stops by.


[LONELY LANE, DON'T BE CROWD PLEASE] Chinese characters are "Single Person Narrow Lane, Don't Crowd". Matthew thought we should keep the lane company since it was so lonely. Everybody's a comedian.

[DRAW NEAR DANGER]Chinese characters are " Deadly danger nearby". Are they asking us to get closer to the danger?



[HOILET] The Chinese translation is "Toilet", and I use the term lightly here. What the hell is a "hoilet"? Many toilets in China are literally holes in the ground so technically this one may make sense, "hole toilet" or Hoilet.

This is just a sample of some of the hilarious signs that we've found in China. Believe me, there are many, many, many, many more. We're starting to compile a photo montage of bizzare sightings around China. Stay tuned for that posting.