Date Night Fare

David and I went on a date!!! We went on one last week only because the three olders were all at a birthday party and our new helper only had Gabrielle to take care of. (We couldn't put her in charge of all four too early in her career in our house, don't want to scare her away). 

 

This was date number 2 in 2 weeks, WOW. On our first date we ran into another ex-pat couple whose kids were at the same party. We were at a more 'western' restaurant. We talked a bit with them, and then sat on the other side of the restaurant. Meanwhile, the owner talked our ear off for about 10 minutes, then gave us two free beers. David texted our friends across the restaurant who came and got them. In the end, they took them to someone else. Apparently not great tasting beer. 

 

We ordered steak and tried to chat, we were so tired, what we really wanted was a nap, but we were not going to miss the opportunity for  a meal with no kids...and that was our date.

 

The steak was decent.  But on date number two we decided on local fare, and food that our kids would not enjoy. And this time we DID put our helper in charge of all four, which went okay, not great. 

Our date, however, did go well.  We chose to go to the big wet market and eat at the food stalls out front--almost all of them. Yes, we ordered various dishes from almost every stall and enjoyed the bustle of activity around us.

David ordered this dish first:

This is a type of congealed Tofu with lots of stuff on top.

I ordered these cold noodles with the same toppings as David's, I had just mixed them in!

I had never had this before and it was okay. I ate a bit of it and moved on. As our nephew, Ryan says: 'not my favorite'.

All the food stalls:

David ordered this 'ma la cai', which is spicy vegetables, they are pretty good, and pretty spicy.

Lemon drinks of course.

meatballs in a mint soup

And first desserts were Pao Lu Da, sweet bread in coconut milk, with fresh coconut and gelatin. Yum.

And to end with a local flavor, we walked up to KFC and got an Oreo blizzard thing that did not taste that good, we think they must have changed their ice cream recipe.
We walked and talked and held hands (husbands read this link). We went to Minority park and watched people and talked some more.

When we got home, chaos ensued.
All pics courtesy of my new iphone (HUGE Thanks to Mike M! Bless-ing!)

A village day

Over the National Holiday we visited two family's homes in two different villages. Though it is a lot of work, and hard with a crawler, we always have a great time.

The highlight at our first visit was the 'arrow helicopters' and playing house in the sand pit.

 Our friend's built a nice house in their village, which is becoming more common here in the valley. We always joke with them about our family moving in.

The kids got these helicopters going very high, as high as this bamboo:

Gabrielle did well, drank her bottle and remained mostly content, even though she missed her morning nap.

All three kids said they liked playing with the helicopters (rubber-band propelled), going 'up stairs' to the roof, and making food in the sand.

David visited and caught up with his old language teacher. 

I helped very little in the kitchen, everything was mostly prepared, but I can use a mortar and pestle, so I 'chopped' the peanuts for our hosts.  These went atop one of my favorite dishes that I can't really describe because I don't know the English name for the vegetable. It is topped with cilantro and hot pepper flakes and in this case peanuts (though not always).

Their new house and new kitchen hardly look like we are in a village.

AiMuan stuffed the fish. It was yum.

The rooftop view. I quoted Ps 121 to each of the kids every time I went up there to retrieve an 'arrow helicopter'. 

Workers were in the fields, but we saw many coming in for lunch, bringing their water buffaloes with them.

And another new house going up. 

We had a great time. At the other village we visited we were welcoming a newborn baby, so cute. The kids had fun there chasing ducklings, catching them, watching the hosts prepare the food, and playing house near the tractor. That family is a bit poorer than the other ones, but they have a refrigerator and served us ice, a first ever for a village visit! Little blessings, that and the cute, cute baby, of course.

Gardens compared

Remember our efforts at gardening? Keep in mind we planted, waited, watered, had some good things pop up, and then had a baby. I forgot to take pictures of all the weeds that COVERED these beds and our entire yard. We gutted the garden before leaving for the States (they came back with vigor while we were gone). We ate a few beans out of it and that was it. It was deemed a fail. It just completely lacked the TLC needed, and no wonder, we were a little busy. We aren't quitting, we just aren't starting again yet. 

Our poor neighbor, Grandpa. He lives and breathes his garden, his yard (and his cigarettes). I see the dismay in his shrug as he glances over the fence at our mess. He tends his garden with scissors and love and lots and lots of time, something I just don't have. But oh, I do admire him...

Our empty garden of weeds, and a wayward truck.

Grandpa's papaya tree, just one example of how everything he touches turns to gold in the garden. 

A Housewarming Party

It is common here in China for people to have housewarming parties that involve a big meal, lots of tables, over a day or two or even three, and the giving of money to the new house owners. This one happened to be almost right in our back yard. There is a small street right behind our apartment building and then a row of very big houses. The one directly behind us is struggling. I think the owners ran out of money in their effort to 'keep up with the Jones'. 

Here is what I mean:

This was the housewarming house. New and done and quite nice. Everyone adds their own touches as they ''finish" the house. These folks enclosed a huge back porch area.

 These guys, further down, kept theirs open air.

And these folks, months before we left for the States decided to add on some major square footage. And work has since stopped.

Back to the party. This pic is looking at our apartment building, beyond and under that black netting is our back yard.

 They lined the street with tables.

The netting was to block the sun, the rains have stopped and it is bright and hot. 

Our neighbor and I joked about neither of us being invited and tried to guess at how much money this family would take in as we tallied the chairs. 

 The guests started arriving and I had to watch Sophia on her skates, the middle two on their 'cars' and give Gabrielle her bottle. I sat in our yard, gave the bottle and watched the scene unfold. People did pass by and gawk at us and ask the same 'ole questions: 'where are you from? so many kids? you don't get fined? Have another!' 

Finally I called the kids in and we ate our lunch. The party went on and a dinner meal was served as well.

Too bad they took the netting down, we kind of liked the shady street.

Tobin's Tot School

I have been talking up 'Tot School' for a few weeks and Tobin was excited to start. He had a daily dose of the 'Letter Factory' video when we first returned and then I said, 'time for Tot School, Tobin!' 

He is ready. We are on week 2, he loves it so far, it takes all of 15-25 minutes for the activities we do together and then I try to do story time as well with him at some point, usually before the activities. 

I follow the same ABC curriculum I did with the girls, which also involves numbers, cutting, colors, shapes, etc. He does know some of this already, but not too much, so it is good! He talks about his 'tot school' a lot. Hopefully his attitude stays cheerful! Congrats, buddy, keep it up.

Rollerblades...skating!

Sophia had been begging us for skates 'like all her friends have' for awhile now. While in the States,  I bought some 2nd hand and she journeyed around the garage. We left them there. The most common skates around here are really rollerblades. She is right, all her friends have them and have been skating since they were four or five. So, for her prize/gift/blessing for starting Chinese school so well, we finally bought her some. 

Over the Chinese National day holiday we went with friends to the big square and she started learning...then she came home and wore them all around the house, which was excellent practice. She got good fast.

AND during the National day holiday, though there was a seven day break from school, I still made them do homeschool and reminded them of the wonderful ocean that we visited for three months while we did NO school. They really didn't complain. 

But she stayed in her gear a lot. And it took her about a day and a half before she was really able to go it completely alone and for us to feel comfortable letting her loose. 

 She is quite skilled now and has only had a few falls. Way to go, Soph!

Ten Years in Asia!

 A throwback picture for everyone! 

Ten years ago this month we arrived in our small town here in China.

So much to say and write about it all. 

But...we are still living it, and loving it, which in and of itself (both that we are alive and loving our life here) is grace upon grace, pure gifts.

I recently wrote and shared with some folks in the States: "Ten Things in Ten Years". These are ten things that I have learned in ten years in Asia. Of course, I have learned a gazillion things, but I narrowed it bit. I may edit and share some of that here, I may show various pics of our ten years, I may just move on and keep highlighting what we are doing right now. I haven't decided. 

For now, here is a pic of our first apartment:

 This was not our first moto, it was our neighbor's who let us take it for a ride.

 Our first Christmas....in our second apartment (our first one only lasted a few months).