Shao Xing...just some pictures.

No one should complain about getting old....this person was about 900 and still moving heavy loads. The Chinese are very hard workers. Amazing.

There were over...well I have no idea how many stalls of fabric...and any type of fabric you could imagine. This is one of the biggest export areas for fabric in China. These stalls lined about three city blocks and was three floors. Holy crap...you could buy fabric for anything and then get it made in a matter of days. I love it. Bought some fabric for a dress that I will get made for our Christmas in Malaysia.

One the bike was huge bolts of fabric...he was in the middle of traffic.

Three city blocks with three floors. I had to walk by and touch stuff.

Before we could go off on our own and since this was free trip we had to go to an expo show. Just so they had foreign faces there. And there were a lot of foreign faces....people come from all over the world so they can buy fabric for their factories. It was cool but not what we wanted to do...we wanted to buy fabric. But there was a band that met us at the opening...yup it was a really big deal.

Halloween Pictures

Ok...so we have had a few requests for Halloween pictures...so here we go.

Now the pictures were taken in our apartment. We were the first stop in a progressive party. It started at 6 and everyone was at our house until 730 then they moved on. Doug and I stayed behind to clean and then went to the third house. We left around maybe 1030 and there were people still going strong.


Everyone in these pictures works at our school...from the director, down to the TA's...it was a blast and it was nice to have people over to our house!

Now we just let the pictures speak for themselves.


Yes, we have our director dressed up as the devil and her husband the curriculum coordinator as the ultimate Red Sox fan. They were great. Tons of fun...

So this is me...I went as Peter Pan...kind of..I got sick so I didn't quite finish my costume and next to me is Gloria who was kind of dressed as a cat. Well she had her face painted so that's all that matters.

Next up is Avis who was dressed as a pirate...she had the boots on and they were pretty cool and then there is Robbie who went as the spider lady. She helped me make my outfit and I helped design hers. We had a good time...we bought all the fabric in Shao Xing...very cheap.

Next this is my Captain Hook...up he is a pirate...pretty cool huh?

Here I am again but i do need to tell you about the tights...that are now leggings. You have to remember that Chinese people are not that tall so when they say one size fits all it means that you have to be 4'9". So when I tried on these tights it was like trying to fit into a four year olds outfit and the crotch came to about my knees. Well by then I was so pissed I cut off the feet and hiked them up as far as they would go and called it good.

YUP got to remember this is China!

It was a fun night!

Aida and other adventures...

Let see not sure where to begin since it has been so long since we have really written. I promise to post new pictures soon. We have been busy or just plain old exhausted to write in the blog. Though I do think the last post was funny. Doug and I thought of it after we went to RT mart with 150 RMB and bought the umbrellas and everything....we made it under 150 RMB and had enough to buy 2 small ice cream cones on our way home but not enough for a taxi...so we walked in the rain with our new umbrellas. (THE ICE CREAM WAS WORTH IT)

Alright...on Wednesday we went to Aida. It was a traveling tour company that was spending two days in Ningbo to do this show and then they were traveling Hangzhou and then off to somewhere else and all of that stuff. Usually traveling tour companies...well are not so hot...sorry for all of those people that are in them...and I admire you and really miss the theater and I would pay good money to do it again and even be in a traveling troupe...they still are typically not the most amazing shows. Anyway these guys...these voices were amazing. Yeah they missed some of their ques and the acting didn't make me feel moved to my bones but their voices were AMAZING. Actual goose bumps from just their singing. It felt great.

We started in the balcony but when it was intermission...well we moved down to the front row. It was great. We just had so much fun.

Th theater that the show was in was amazing...I mean they had buckets all over the floor to collect water but it is a beautiful theater and I will go back in a heart beat. I will also drag Doug too. It was nice to see real theater and as I said the cast did a great job!

What else? Basketball has started and Doug is coaching the boys team. He has a tournament next weekend in Hangzhou so he will leave Friday morning and not be back until Sunday...the Principal and I are going to travel up there and watch some of the games..his wife is coaching the girls team. We will take the bus up and stay the night and probably travel back with the team the next day...it will be a good adventure and to see a little more of China. Doug is doing a great job with the team and with not having facilities. It is fun none the less!

Things you can buy for 20 dollars or less.

Group 1:
2 knives
1 gallon of oil
1 cheese grater
3 umbrellas...one I already misplaced

Group 2:
You can take your 5 friends out to dinner and order
Three Beers
Spicy Chicken
Eggplant
Fried Rice
Bok Choy
Tomato and Egg
Spicy Potatoes
and Green Beans and you can eat for a week

Group 3:
A six pack of coke
Tofu (really big bag)
10 apples
And a container of chocolate

Group 4:
A taxi to Ningbo which is 45 minutes away and back

Group 5:
Buy 15 DVD's
and laugh at the translations

Group 6:
Have a maid come to your house for 8 hours.

Group 7:
Buy a wireless router

Group 8:
30 tsingtsaos (Chinese Beer)

Group 9:
2 whole Halloween outfits from scratch

Group 10:
2 large house plants
2 small house plants

Changing of the Weather

Wednesday Doug, Trent and I went into Ningbo to go to Metro. Yup we traveled an hour in traffic to go shopping. Fantastic, you wonder why though don't you...they must have stores where they live. And of course we do but not ones like Metro. At Metro you can buy loads of imported things...yes loads. We bought refried beans, tortilla shells, beer (but chinese beer and Australian wine), we bought pasta and spaghetti sauce. Why you ask? Well becuase...even though Chinese food is delicious it does get boring like if you eat hamburgers every night of your life. There are not many resturants in Beliun that have a variety of dishes pretty much you can get spicy Chinese food and non spicy Chinese food. Both great but you can eat only so much Bok Choy before it is growing out of your ears.

Anyway the store was wonderful...there was no one there so Trent, Doug and I could take our time...looking at things and whatever...the taxi that we called wasn't going to get there until seven so we had an hour and 15 minutes...everything going smoothly until we go to check out. Now by the way you have these three white people buying tons of food so you are already being stared at..and then of course Doug and I get in the line where they are training the new girl. For some reason that is always happening to us. Whether we are in Brewer Maine to Colorado Springs...yup took for ever.

Anyway we finally get outside and the humidity is so thick that you can not see across the parking lot. It was amazing. You could have cut it with a knife. Right then and there you knew it was going to rain, funny thing is the gardeners had been watering the lawn all that day. So of course you wash your car it rains same thing happen here, you water the lawn it rains.

It rained for most of the day on Thursday but it still wasn't cool...warm and wet..not always the best combinations when you have first graders running everywhere. When school was finally over after ASA (after school activities) I went running and Doug went to the gym. Now even though it is not hot our the water/sweat runs right off of you. Amazing what a little rain can do here.

Today...Friday it is cool...actually cool...like it could be fall and it smells a little like fall if you use your imagination. I think that's maybe what we miss the most right now the cool air and the changing of the leaves. Because here the leaves are the same...they are still green and hanging onto the trees. Though some have dropped...and turned brown. But you know what is still amazing...it's the flowers that are now just blooming...or the forever red flowers that grace the gate to our apartment building. It feels different...not bad...not good...just different. Maybe that's why it makes everything so special here...everything is so new. Yeah we miss the leaves and the bike rides, but Dad has been good enough to send us pictures...but things here are good.

Everytime we go to the store it is a new adventure and a funny story to tell but fun...today we take a two hour bus ride to Shao Xing where we are going with some co-workers on a free trip. It will be fun...you make it what you want it to be.

That's all for now...and we are off.

Shoreline...ummm..we think

Ok so on our bike ride we decided to go the shore...the ocean...think it would be a huge green/blue ocean that would just call your name to put your feet in...and this is what we got.


Yup this is definitely the second deepest port in the world with enough stuff to keep you staring for years...and it's not because it was pretty.





We carried our bikes up this "road" to get to the top of this huge wall that blocks your view of the ocean. Well the mountains were beautiful...and there are quite a few islands around the port...even one that has a bridge you can bike over. So maybe we can go there one day and it might be nice..or cleaner or something.












On top of the wall we took a break, Drank some water and tried to figure out where were on the map that is all written in Chinese. That was an experience. Once again it was Avis, Alissa, Robbie, Doug and I.


That is the four girls on the top of the wall. This was where we started to think about turning around but ended up going for another two hours. And we forgot to feed the Doug every couple of hours.


So the shore was a long stretch of mud flat and the water was as brown as the mud...none of us touched it...so no third arms are growing.

Biking this past weekend.

A week ago today Doug and I went for an four hour bike ride with a few friends. It was amazing. There were no hills but you had to pedal the whole time. There were no hills to go up this time but if you stopped moving your feet then you probably would have fallen over...well maybe that is just me. We got to see so much of Beliun that we had not seen before.

A lot of the area was a huge contradiction, there is so much growth but at the same time there are these random plots of land growing rice and veggies. Or these areas with pigs and chickens....also don't you worry there were plenty of smells that you wouldn't believe.

Well here are some pictures.


My big butt and some beautiful trees...we are headed to a village that is one of Robbie Daniels' favorites. They even had a communist party house. Beautiful there were mountains right outside the village, and very quiet. The village wasn't too much like the one where people were fishing and doing their laundry in the same small water area.

The big building in the background is a crematorium. Yup definitely thought it was a temple...definitely wrong.
Here's a great picture of one of the random farm areas that we got to see. Doug did such a good job with this photo.
Yes this is a huge contradiction...no idea what the plant was for. It's funny in these pictures you see so much green and clean but in real time...it is really dirty.
The things floating in the water are soda bottles...we think iwas for catching fish or growing fish, but the whole river was covered in all of these bottles. It was amazing.

We had tons of fun we went to the shore...also....more to come.