I know, I know!

I haven't posted in a while. Well, since we got back to work after new year break things have been busy. We spend our mornings doing school work and catching up on American tv then we go to work from 3 or 5-8ish and by the time we get home it's almost time for bed. So we've just been living life in china. Today marks the warmest day since we've been here. It's 77 with some humidity but from what I hear the humidity will get much worse. To day I (yes alone!) went to Carrefour (basically our target greatland) and got a few things including a hanging rack for clothes cuz we needed it! We've been doin a lot of cooking at home. Annaliisa's having fun coming up with new recipes and I tried my hand at fried rice which turned out pretty tasty. It's been fun just living in our very own place in a far away country. So grown up!

Annaliisa's birthday was last week and we celebrated with the staff at work. They got her a cake and everyone gave a little mini speech and wished her a happy birthday (I think that's a tradition I'm bringing home with me to the states :).

Included are pics of Annaliisa's birthday dinner (we went to a western restaurant), her bday cupcake (lol), our laundry, bday celebration, and our sweating walls!

Are you supposed to see your breath in your own apartment?

It's been so cold here and yes we can see our breath in our apartment...not cool. But we're dealing. We've been on vacation for over a week so we've just been hanging out and watching tv. We started by trying to go to ABC.com so we could watch Once Upon A Time but it only works in USA! Grr! Then I thought maybe we could use Hulu. Nope, that doesn't work in China either. Bummer. Now, if you know us then you know how much tv we watch and how big of a bummer this is. So we had to go through and hand pick six shows that we could not live without. Those of you who watch a lot of tv, which shows would you pick? It's hard to do! The rest is on a wait list that we'll get to when we can. Oh and we got a new tv to watch these shows on!

Yesterday we decided to get out of the apartment. We went to the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial and Yuexiu Park. The memorial was amazing and the park was humongous. Mom, remind me to never take you to this park. There are so many stairs I thought I might die! But it was beautiful. We saw the five goats statue, and yes it's exactly as it sounds. We also saw a wall from the Ming dynasty. It was a cool park.

Chinese New Year!

Chinese New Year started today! Last night at midnight there were fireworks all over the city but we were in bed cuz we had spent the whole day walking around in the rain. We went to the flower market on Beijing road. It was amazing!! There were flowers and people everywhere!! We ate KFC, it wasn't the same :(. I wish we could've stayed longer but the rain was making it kind of miserable. We ventured into a bookstore where I learned that even in another country, I am obsessed with books! The books ranged from ¥60-85 ($10-15). Which is comparable but I wanted to buy them, lots of them! They had beautiful Harry Potter sets (with the original Philosopher's Stone) and they had a stunning set of the twilight series and even though I already own both there was a yearning in my heart for them. Maybe one day.

The flower market was crazy! We only walked two streets and we were there nearly three hours! There were orchids, roses, mums, lilies, and many more. They were set up down the middle of the street and people walked on either sided depending on the direction they were going. It was like the most organized street fair ever. Then we went down stairs to the metro and there is a complete underground mall! It's amazing! The shops are funny here. They're about the size of walk-in closets. Not many stores are huge like in America. We had a donut, which was delicious, then we headed home.

On the way home we stopped by our favorite vegetable and fruit people (they're on a street on the way home from the metro). We got some apples and peas ad some noodles from the guy across the way and had a delicious dinner. Oh, BTW, we've decided that when you come visit us we'll take you to the noodle guy you can pick your own noodles and whatever you want in it and that'll be dinner! Fun!

Anyways, tomorrow we're doing something with the bro and sis-in-law. Not sure what's in store for us but stay tuned!

Dinner with the fam!

So we're at Crystal's uncles house getting ready to eat dinner. Everyone is here. I can still only post using my app on my iPhone so I can't add a tab for Annaliisa's food :(. I'll just try to add it with my post as often as I remember. Tonight we're having pizza and pasta. Yum! I wish I could be in contact with everyone better. Hopefully I'll find a way! Love you all. Now that we finally have Internet I'll be able to make better posts with many more pictures! Included are pics of Annaliisa buying some gloves, the crowds going to the metro, and our team at work!

It's freaking freezing!

Our apartment is so cold but it's big! It's on the 34th floor, the tip top of the building! It's pretty stinkin cool. We did laundry yesterday which was a new experience. Last night we went to dinner with my sister-in-law and her family. I have never seen so much food in my life! They just kept bringing it out! We had noodles, rice, chicken, and much more! There were some weird things on the table but the stuff I ate was delicious. The fam bought us some things for the place: a microwave and rice cooker for example so now it looks like a real apartment! Every day is a new experience and a new adventure!

P.s. I haven't figured out how to add a tab for Annaliisa's food or how to answer any comments that you may post because I'm doin this all on my phone.

So far Annaliisa has had, among our regular Chinese meals, some steam buns. Yum!

Am I really going to China?!

The Chinese speaker over the PA and all the Asian passengers tell me that I am but I still can't really believe it. We have 200 lbs of luggage and smiles on our faces! We are ready for this adventure. Stay tuned for more from me and soon I'll be adding a tab for Annaliisa eats! :)

Ah, Christmas!

Well, Christmas is over and now that the craziness of the season is behind me I can now focus on the fact that I will be leaving the country in a week and a half. Annaliisa and I have everything in order. On Monday we went to the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco to apply for our Visa. We went with another friend of ours and had a blast! When we applied the guy told me I could pick it up on Thursday. When I asked him if I could have it delivered, he said no. Bummer! When my brother had applied for his visa his was delivered to him. But anyways, no big deal...unless you have no car.

Yes, I sold my car! A wonderful friend of mine was looking for a car and fate brought us together (more like a mutual friend). I was so ecstatic to sell my car for the price I wanted AND to someone who was willing to let me still use it until I was done with work. Miss S was truly a godsend! And she loves the car so it's really a win win!!

Ok, back to the subject at hand.

So we had to go back to SF on Thursday to pick up our visas and to do that we had to rent a car, which was really a whole lot of fun!!!

Let me tell all of you something...the Chinese Consulate is AMAZING!! They are so efficient and fast! When we first went there to apply we got our forms, filled them out then got numbers and waited to be called. In less than five minutes our numbers were called and within another five minutes we were headed to our next destination. The only thing I was worried about was the long line we saw of people waiting to pick up their visas. I did not want to stand in that line!! BUT when we went back on Thursday there was absolutely no line. We were in and out in five minutes! It was amazing!

I have loved how everything has worked out perfectly for this adventure. It should probably freak me out that everything til now has been smooth sailing but it is actually calming me. I am looking forward to seeing my bro and meeting my new sis-in-law!!

NOTE: To those of you (friends, family or strangers) who are looking to get a visa for China, the fee is now $140. This is not reflected on the website yet so I think this is a new change. At the consulate they'll take VISA, check, money order, blah blah. The easiest is to just do VISA charge or VISA debit. It's really quick!!