Sorry that I haven't written anything here in awhile.  I'm not exactly sure why that is....maybe I did too much writing this year, and got a little burnt out.  Writer's block, perhaps?  Or it could be that my honeymoon period over here is done.  When I first moved here, everything was so new and different.  I just had to share my experiences with all of my family and friends.  The experiences were so funny and wacky...like people staring in my shopping cart, fussing over my 3 sons, etc.  So after several month's hiatus, here's my latest blog entry (sorry for the delay):

 

The boys all finished school last Friday, on June 6th.  They came home with excellent report cards.  Doug and I couldn't be prouder.  Words like "polite," "great role model for the other students," "winning attitude, "prophetic statements and insights," "outstanding work," "friendly," "sensible young man," and so many more kind words from their teachers that I can't list them all here, made me wonder if maybe they brought home someone else's report cards.  Just joking!  They all worked really hard this year and deserved every compliment they got. 

 

Doug and I decided that the kids needed to be rewarded somehow.  There are times that Tianjin can seem like a big stinkhole with a great big grey cloud over it (there's actually a group on facebook called that which people can join, except stinkhole is a swear word instead.....I'm censoring to make my site family-friendly).  With that said, sometimes you just need to get out of Tianjin for a couple of days.  So we planned a trip to Beijing.  Doug booked us a couple of adjoining rooms at Shangri-La's Kerry Centre (gorgeous swimming pool and a shopping mall underground, complete with a grocery store, a Subway, and a Papa John's pizzeria).  But we couldn't figure out how to make this a fun trip for our driver, too, after a long school year.  Doug came up with a plan, and enlisted a Chinese co-worker to talk to driver Mike.  We only wanted to stay one night, but we didn't want poor Mike to have to drive back and forth between Tianjin and Beijing a few times (which can take 2-3 hours one way).  We gave Mike some money to get a hotel room for himself in Beijing, and told him that he could bring his son, Oliver, as company for him.  Mike thought that would be a great idea.  We had briefly met Oliver in February, and were amazed at his good English.  He is in his early 20's.  This plan worked out well for everyone.  Oliver had not been to Beijing since he was little, so he enjoyed the trip a lot, too.  We left early Sunday, at 9 a.m.  We made great time getting to Beijing, where we shopped at the Silk Market and then went to a t-shirt shop called "Gobi Gear," where we got some of the whackiest t-shirts we've ever seen.  We had Mike and Oliver drop us off at the hotel at 4 p.m. and told them that they could enjoy the evening and next morning to themselves.  We didn't need to check out until noon, and we had everything we needed at the Kerry Centre.  After some swimming, we all enjoyed some real showers (our water pressure was pitiful at home), and then took a taxi to the Hard Rock Cafe for some real burgers and milkshakes.  Yummy! 

 

Monday morning we enjoyed an early breakfast, then went swimming some more (how many times can kids ask "are we going swimming again?" when you stay at a hotel?), then ate at Subway before Mike and Oliver picked us up.  We heard that there was a shop near the hotel that takes shards of old pottery and turns them into jewellery, ornamental boxes, etc.  We found that shop in Little Moscow, where rickshaw drivers will offer you rides and many signs are in Russian (we think).  We then decided to do some sightseeing.  We went to the Bird's Nest building, where many Olympic events will be held, and then we went to the National Grand Theatre, which is commonly called "The Egg." 

 

I think the best part of our trip was finally getting to know Mike a bit better through his son.  We learned many things about this nice family.  Oliver is studying electrical engineering at university in Tianjin.  He was telling us that for his final exam, he will have to either build a robot or an MP3 player.  We learned that Mike's wife works at a furniture store.  I told Oliver that we were happy to get to know them better, and added that we have wished the communication wasn't so difficult....it's obvious that Mike is social, and so are we.  We laughed a lot the last 2 days, and that's what it is all about.