Recyle Recycle Recycle

Now, if you just read my prior post, this is not the same guy who collects our recyclables each day. But it was too funny not to share.This is all styrofoam loaded up really high and wide on one small bike.

What you can't see in this photo, because we were in the car, on the street, trying to get the picture, is that there is a police car in front of the bike/cart with his lights flashing. This man's load was so large, he was pulled over by a police officer. I think they figured he was a safety risk traveling down the busy road like this. You think? Not an uncommon occurrence for us. I need to learn to take better/more pictures while traveling in a car with windows that I can't roll down. So I can share more regular stuff.  (It's a mini van and I'm in the back - that's another story for another day) :-)

The small things get done, but differently

Hi Everyone. No food post this time. I was telling one of my friends from the states about the people who work in our neighborhood and care for the lawn, the trash, streets etc. She suggested it might be interesting to see how it's done where we live. Here there are not contracted companies with big trucks and names on the side of their vehicles with uniforms etc. doing these tasks. In Green Villas, our neighborhood, there is a somewhat frail looking man in his regular clothes driving a three wheeled bike like this. He collects the trash bags and carefully piles them up on his vehicle and peddles along.

This is our trash can in front of the house. It's small and it's emptied everyday at least once. When we first arrived, I thought, what in the world are we going to do with all of our trash. My thought was it would emptied once or twice a week like home but no, it's never really been full. We have the trash guy who comes in the morning and then later I see another man looking for boxes etc. to recycle. My friend here says it's all gone through very thoroughly and everything that can be recycled, is. Labor is super cheep here and there are no shortages of people to do these tasks, by hand.

More interesting things to see at the local market

Fair warning on this one - it's not pretty and might not be appreciated by everyone. Don't read this post if you are easily grossed out. Just skip it and wait til next time.

 I notice that much of this blog so far has focused on food. After this post, I will make an attempt to show other things that are not food related. I suspect food is where many of the difference are in my everyday life and therefore easily shared with you.
Here it goes.

At the local market you can purchase pretty much any part of an animal. Pictured here is the part of a pig that pigs are known for. Sniff Sniff ................. Okay, I'm Sorry but I had to share.

Now, still part of a pig but the part that keeps him running from the guy who's trying to get his nose. WOW. These were displayed out in the open for anyone to touch and take.

These are eels. Just swimming around in something that looks like a Styrofoam igloo cooler. Again, yours to buy should you need it for dinner that night. I am not sure how you get them home. This is found in the meat/produce section of the grocery store.

 Next to the eels are these cute frogs found in a tank. My friend told me she likes to think that they are there to purchase should you be looking for a pet. Kind of like Pet Smart but in the grocery store next to the seafood. My other friend said she and her children actually bought a couple of the frogs once in an attempt to save them.....

Someone told me she read that the Chinese will eat anything with four legs.

Speaking of seafood in need of saving... this guy was not so lucky. OK OK is know this is gross and you might be thinking... Heather, we have all seems a fish head before. I realize this but this fish head was still flopping around and moving when I took this shot AND it was being displayed to be sold. I'm good but thank you anyway.(those were my thoughts as I saw this )  I promise I will do better with the next post. Please check back again. :)

Happy Halloween

Halloween is not a Chinese holiday so some friends and I were happy to find this store with some Halloween costume and decoration items yesterday.

You can see here some pumpkins and candles etc. nicely displayed on this glass shelf. Do you see the Happy Halloween sign proudly displayed as well? It's backwards! it reads NEEWOLLAH YPPAH!
So funny, and yet so nice at the same time. We were thrilled to see this store and the fact that someone wanted to supply the foreigners (us) with some of the goods we want. But at the same time unable to distinguish that the sign is backwards and looks a bit silly. I did not have the heart to point out the error to the store keeper as saving face is huge in Chinese culture; I would not want to offend anyone.
Happy Halloween to all of you! Hope this made you smile.  ;-)

Hong Kong Disneyland

We returned recently from a trip to Hong Kong Disneyland. Brooke and Collin had the week off school for National Holiday.

It is quite similar to The Magic Kingdom in Florida or Disneyland in So Cal., but smaller. We enjoyed and were glad to experience Disney in Asia. I took a few pictures of some of the interesting differences.

First look, this is just a typical scene of a few Princesses waiting for the Main Street parade to begin, but take a closer look, they are mostly little Asian faces. Mark and I thought this was cute, it's the same but yet a little different. In the middle of the parade, the parade paused and these sweet girls all were able to dance in the street with some of the characters - it was fun.

Here is one of the menu's in the park, we struggled a bit to eat. Food and waiting in line were the two biggest differences that come to mind at the park. In China, if there is space, someone will fill it. Translation: you can't leave a few inches between you and the people in front of you or you could very well loose your spot in line. It's everyone for themselves; common courtesy lacks a bit.

Could not get the kids to try this place... fried fish with tomato sauce, not going to happen. We managed OK but the selection was pretty limited. I found fried chicken cubes thinking they would be chicken nugget type food and we think it may have been duck, but we just called it mystery meat. Oh well, the ice cream was good afterwards.

Something familiar to eat is always welcome

We recently learned that there was a Krispy Kreme in Shanghai. The other night while out exploring a bit, we found it. It's quite far from the house but nice to know it's there to have once in awhile, The most unique thing about it is this flavor of donut, Green Tea. No, we did not get one to try. This same night we also stumbled upon a Carl's Jr. so the kids liked that as well. There are some restaurants here that are familiar but mostly just the fast food variety like KFC and McDonald's so we don't have it often. Actually I don't think we have tried either of those since we have been here. Pappa John's and Pizza Hut are here and we have eaten there. The Pizza Hut is a sit down restaurant with a much wider menu than in the States. Collin really liked it and Brooke seems to like the Pappa John's here. Apparently it's much better than in the States. Then again, maybe it's just because we are here and it's appreciated more :)

She was silly too, in Beijing

My team, The Cracked Ladybugs- Andy, Jake, Harrison, Sarah and me (bottom to top, left to right) ,won the best picture in our scavenger hunt. We had to take a picture under a archway in the Hutongs- alleyways where Chinese people live like they have for many many years. The scavenger hunt was fun and this group of 5 got really close over the trip- we did everything together. - Brooke

The Great Wall was a Great (tough) Day!

The wall was beautiful Brooke said. Eight km in one day was tough though. Some parts were flat and you slipped on gravel while other parts were like clinging a ladder.

Bird's eye view

Brooke spent 4 hours on the Great Wall while in Beijing. She not only walked it but repelled off of it.  It was so hard to climb and felt like a real accomplishment. She walked 8 kilometers on the wall that day. Does not want to ever do it again. Mark and I plan to go as a family so I'm not sure what we will do about that.

Beijing Trip: How not to use chopsticks

Brooke said she failed at chopsticks....ha ha .... All her friends were laughing at her :)

Brooke's taste of Beijing

Brooke flew to Beijing for five days with her 7th grade class. Here she is grinding the corn after she picked and shucked it. A taste of what the Chinese farmers do. She said it was really fun but really hard.

Something a little different

Recently, Mark and I were invited to a dinner with some work friends. We went to the fish market along the river which has blocks of vendors selling seafood as seen here. You go and actually hand select the items you wish to eat. Afterwards you walk back to the restaurant and they prepare the food for you and bring it to your table. So within one half hour, your food is selected, prepared and served. We had every kind of seafood you can imagine and some we have never heard of and made up our own names for. It was quite an experience. We sat at a huge round table with a very large lazy susan in the middle. All the food was served family style and you just took what you wanted. No forks, just eat the best you can with chop sticks and your hands. It was not pretty but the food was good and most of all FRESH.

Home for now

Many have asked what our new home looks like. Surprise, it's not 800 sq feet and in a high rise. This community is very western and these houses were built just for expats and Chinese passport holders are not allowed to live here per the government.

We live right across the street from Concordia, the school Brooke and Collin attend. It's a very nice location and we are happy with the selection Mark made. One friend commented, looks like a house right out of Boca....

Hi Guys - tell me what you think

I have never read much less written a blog before. I will try, through this blog, to give you all an idea of what it means to live here. We live in "bubble" so it is a sanitized version of Shanghai. I say this because where we are is mostly expats and the entire area caters to the non-Chinese and it's much easier than what we call "regular China". We have and will continue to venture out to regular China and I will share what I can. I have many more pics etc already but need to take more time to get them posted and figure out how to manipulate this blog.
The children are doing quite well here and school is going along well too. Brooke is currently on her school trip to Beijing and has already been gone five days - she returns tonight.
I will have pictures to share soon from her trip and also of other adventures we have taken. The day to day things we see will be most entertaining on their own - I just have to stop long enough to capture them on camera. Wait til you see the local supermarket or the way our subdivision is maintained.... more to come.
Thanks and please leave comments as well.

What did you see at the Warehouse store this week?

We have a store call Metro. it is a Chinese version of Costco but not. The smells are a real kicker here and once you attemp to get past that you can see such things as these in the isle.

In case you can't see the package, this is fungas - two different varieties.
There is an actual Sam's Club here as well. It has a few great things but it is again a China version with things that the Chinese people need, not what you find in Plano.

Collin's taste of China

Collin has had a Chinese hair cut now. The hair washer puts a few teaspoons of water on his head and adds soap. No drips or mess, just a nice hair wash and a massage. Takes some time and is enjoyable, I think.

Giving the Blog a try

Hi everyone.
I am trying to get this thing going and now I really know how very tech challenged, I am.