Monday, March 30, 2009

really?


I saw something today that beats out every other stupid thing I have seen for sale in China: buns on a keychain with faces. What the heck? Am I missing out on some cool trend by thinking this is the lamest keychain I have ever seen in my life? They were for sale outside the metro station near Super Brand Mall (which is quite possibly the lamest name for a mall ever). Anyway, I took a picture because I don't think I could possibly due the lameness justice. I don't know if these are real buns or just plastic replicas, but I have a feeling they might just be real.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Spring = Flowers & Frogs











Its starting to feel almost like springtime around here. Its not consistantly warm yet, but its getting there. All the flowering trees are blooming, and they are beautiful. All the frogs have mated, and they are plentiful. No seriously, in one day about a month ago I saw more than a dozen pairs of frogs mating. And the result of this are gazillions of tiny black tadpoles in the pond (click the pictures to enlarge and view them in all their glory). Timmy loves to sit and watch the little guys swim around. Its actually quite amazing that the three or four dozen large goldfish that live in the same pond have not eaten all the little guys yet. I am waiting to see if we will have gazillions of frogs this summer or if there are tadpole predators lurking out there somewhere to save us from this plague.

Monday, March 23, 2009

China's Answer to Costco







Today I ventured out to a store called Metro. I had heard that this was a warehouse style store much like the Costcos and Sam's Clubs of the United States. I was excited to see what goodies and good deals I could find in such a place. I wouldn't say I was dissapointed, but the experience wasn't overwhelmingly great either.




What was super interesting though was the meat section. I haven't found a single store in Shanghai that sold meat that didn't smell at least a little funky. Metro was the exception, even with large quantities of raw meat hanging from the ceiling (see picture), it smelled super fresh and not funky at all. That was impressive.





The rest of the store was pretty much just like a warehouse store except the bulk items were Chinese things instead of American. There was a large electric bike section, lots of frozen dumplings, HUGE bags of rice, and even a decent imported foods section. I did manage to buy some diapers and bananas and other miscellaneous items.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Elmer

So this is a picture of the headboard of our bed here in Shanghai. I think it looks like a face, so I named it Elmer. One day I introduced Timmy to Elmer and asked him to say hi. He said hi and waved. Now he calls the headboard guy "MoMer." :)

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Our Stuff Is Here!!!




Our shipment arrived yesterday (Saturday)! Timmy now has more toys that any kid could ever need, thank you to everyone for his Christmas presents that he finally gets to enjoy! The first thing he wanted to play with was his dog suitcase, thanks Andy for that, he loves it. Then he was riding one of his trucks while the mover guys were still unloading all around him. They all got a good laugh out of that.
Timmy slept in his new bed last night and seemed to really like it. We also had our friend Jessica and her son Shaun over for dinner. The boys had a blast in Timmy's tunnel and at the new toddler size table and chairs.

I am most excited to be able to bake stuff and hang some familiar things on the walls. Its funny how a few things make a place feel more like a home. Scott is most excited for his Xbox 360 to be with him again, but only for a few days - Scott is going back to the US for work on Wednesday for 2 weeks! Pray for me and Tim that we don't get too lonely. Although with all our "new" stuff, we should be entertained for a while.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Yu's Kids Island









So I found yet another strange, yet fun, place to take Timmy while the weather stinks. Yu's Kids Island is an indoor play area that has all kinds of crazy things for kids under eight to jump around on and run through. He loved it.


Every inch of this place seems to be padded to prevent injury. Every inch that is, except the slide. Somehow, Timmy's big head managed to find the only area in the whole place that is not padded. He flipped himself backwards off the stairs to the slide. Don't worry, in true Timmy fashion, he's fine. After 30 seconds of hugs from MaMa and cow, he was running back to the slide. I have a hilarious video of him boxing with padded things that will be on facebook soon.


The sun finally came out yesterday after 3 straight weeks of rain. We saw blue sky! Well, bluish-gray sky, but sky nonetheless.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Out For A Walk




Yesterday was one of the three days a week that Mrs. Zhang comes over to look after Timmy. I decided to find a deli that would make me a sandwich and let me sit around for a while and study my Chinese lesson from the night before. I found the deli, the sandwich was decent, but studying didn't last long because the door to the outside kept opening so I was freezing and couldn't concentrate (I don't think the heat was on in the deli).


On my way home I was walking down a street near our apartment on the way to the bank, iPod blaring in my ears when all the sudden I hear, loud & clear, "MA MAAAAAA!!!" It was Timmy about 2o feet away who had spotted me before I spotted him. He & Mrs. Zhang were out for a walk and he was really excited to run into me. I used charades to tell Mrs. Z that I was going to the bank and she used charades to tell me she would continue on her walk. Timmy had other plans. As soon as I started to walk away he let out the loudest screams I have ever heard him make. So they came to the bank with me and then accompanied me on the rest of my errands.


There is a pet store on the street we were on, so here are some pics of Mrs. Z showing Timmy the birds.